Baseball Season

This year has been filled with a lot of baseball.

In April, we went to see a Mets game with two friends who had an extra pair of tickets (Mets won, woo hoo)! We felt so lucky to have been invited...it was my first pro game and it was so much fun.

We ate hot dogs and Cracker Jacks, froze our toes off toward the end of the night, and I drove us all from New Jersey, through Manhattan, into Queens and back for the game. And let me tell you…I feel like I can drive anywhere on Earth now that I’ve driven through the city!

And our year only got baseballier from there...

Casy is coaching the bejeezus out of baseball this season!

He’s really good at it.

The parents of the kids he coaches have written to him, saying they’ve seen their kids become more confident. He’s positive out on the field and really hands on.

And his team is getting better and better.

I’ve realized several things this season:

A foul baseball is one of the scariest things ever.

There’s nothing better than sitting under a tree, with a knitting project, watching my husband in his baseball uniform coaching his kids.

If there’s anything in this world that will make me apply horrible chemicals to my skin again, it will be swarming gnats. And the only thing that kept me from doing so was simply that I had none in my possession. I'm sorry, skin.

Love, T.

The Faths Take Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty

Where I work, and probably where most of us work, perspective is critical for maintaining relative sanity. It also happens to be very easy to lose.

Way back in March when we took this trip, I had lost my perspective after a tough few months at work.

My cure was Ellis Island.

This trip has been on my bucket list for quite some time and it was really, really incredible.

I have read about immigrants and their sacrifices, hope, and hardship, but being at Ellis Island was a completely different experience.

You can picture the halls filled with people, weary and hopeful all at once. 

You think about what you would bring into a new life if you could only have whatever you could carry.

You think about leaving everything you know behind for a better life in a foreign country.

And it helps your imagination if you have a tour guide who also happens to be a poet. 

   

It was such an awesome day and it was wonderful to spend it with People We Love.

I decided I'm going to cheat a little bit on my list of 26 Things to Do...we missed the Cranberry Festival last year and since there's nothing we can do about that, AND since this has really been on my General List of Things to Do anyway, I'm just going to swap out the Cranberry Fest for Ellis Island and the Statue.

I knew you wouldn't mind.

Love, T.

The Faths Take Washington's Headquarters

Raise your hand if you and George Washington have stood in the same spot.

This was our first stop during Jill and Tony's visit to NJ...and it's a place I'm not sure we would have visited without them with us! It honestly feels like they were here just yesterday...I'm not sure when time started going by so quickly. It was such a good visit and we were beyond thrilled to have them here!

(In case you were wondering, those trees and that pathway that you can see through the windows weren't there when Washington was. They came afterwards.)

Love, T.

(end of) Winter Walk

Hard to believe spring is only a couple weeks away! I'm looking forward to fresh air, new leaves, and baby animals...but I'll also miss winter. Until next year, snow!

Love, T.

Happiness, Part 1

I have a long list of Things That Make Me Happy.

It includes things that you've already heard me talk about: coffee, knitting, flowers, baking.

And it includes several things that you may not have heard me talk about. Like starting things, taking a nap with a purring cat, rearranging furniture, being on the road, and anything having to do with rabbits.

It includes things like European grocery packaging.

I don't know why I like it so much, but I do. Candy wrappers, especially. 

Even if I don't eat what's inside of them.

Because in this case, regrettably, it's not what's inside that counts.

(I also love accidentally posing with my cat in my pajamas...

...and the fact that I never have a camera in my hand without also having a Wilbur nearby.

What can I say? He's just a cat who likes to be involved.)

All of this European goodness comes from a few towns over, where we met my parents and grandfather for some Polish grocery shopping (hello, homemade pierogies and kielbasa) and for some Polish eating (hello again, homemade pierogies and kielbasa).

We were tremendously successful at both endeavors. And we felt pretty good about that!

Love, T.

#8. Green Sergeant's Bridge

A few weeks ago, we went to see the oldest covered bridge in New Jersey, which has been moved and refurbished since it was built in 1872 (abutments built in 1750).

New Jersey used to have many publicly built covered bridges, but this one is the only one left standing. There are others that exist, I discovered, but those have been privately built.

When we arrived, we drove through it, then got out to take some pictures and a closer look.

The drive there and back was an additional bonus...we saw some awesome leaves through Hunterdon County. Such a pretty day and such a simple, neat trip to take on a Saturday.

Love, T.