Proud to be an American

                                                                               I'm 

proud to be an American...

proud to wear  red, white, and blue..

and

proud to fly the 

red, white, and blue.

So with every July 4th birthday...

we celebrate this 

great land with 

a feast.

A feast 

for the eyes with

booming fireworks...

and PaulA's cannon

on the 3rd of July...

(The 3rd is a Manomet thing.)

and a feast for the belly

with a barbecue of

burgers, beans and beers.

Tell me more...

I'm  all ears.

Anywhooooo…..

I love love love 

singing our National Anthem.

Nothing makes me feel prouder

and feel more patriotic

than facing our flag and singing the national anthem...

standing with other Americans and singing…

"O'er the land of the free 

and the home of the brave."

I sing it loud.

I sing it proud...

and

singing it 

with a large crowd...

I am always wowed.

Happy 4th of July

my fellow Americans.

We Need You, Elon Musk

 We're back

in the air

flying the friendly skies...

although some flight attendants might attest to 

some not-so friendly passengers.

I suppose a path for a smooth ride, 

with less bumps...

can be found in a little alphabet soup...

by 

following the 

ABCs of passenger etiquette…

minding our P's and Q's…

having no Xcuses…

and

getting some ZZZs. 

I may not be the perfect passenger…

especially after getting reprimanded by TSA 

for not using the “bins” correctly. 

huh?

I used to be in the zippy TSA Pre-check line, 

but I forgot to renew my TSA clearance 

(dumbo mistake)..

hence,

 I was back in the security line that wraps around the terminal…

adding stress and wasted time to my experience.

A DD line wrapped around the terminal, however, 

is not a waste of time. 

Will wait for coffee.

 

However, I have to say waiting months 

for my TSA clearance interview

has been particularly tough…

especially watching PaulA 

speed skate through the short TSA pre-check lines…

while I’m stuck behind first time fliers…

a family of 6 with 

12 shoes to remove…

not to mention

backpacks, luggage, laptops and 

stuffed animals and pillows for days.  

Adorable to watch tho, for something to do.

The question remains 

why are we all 

hoisting our carry-ons into bins, 

removing our shoes, 

emptying pockets,

removing coats and 

pulling out laptops

?

Can’t someone with AI intelligence and  $ resources help us? 

Enter...

Elon Musk…

we need you on this.

If 

(and that's a big if)...

Elon, or one of his equally smart and successful cohorts, 

Bill and Jeff had to fly 

cattle car moooover style 

and  be subjected to all the human gymnastics 

that we do to get through security…

things would be different.

They would have figured out a better solution 

in a nano 

of a nanosecond.

Anywhoo…

Here’s a big picture idea to get Elon Musk started.

 

Create people movers through security...

a human conveyor belt.  

The public gets on the people mover

 wearing their shoes …

and keeps their carryon and belongings with them

 as they proceed through a scan.

Elon, you figure out the technology 

that scans for illegal possessions.

Do I have to think of everything?

I'm pretty sure Elon reads my blog

and will want to help.

Anyway,

after waiting months for my TSA interview, 

I finally have TSA clearance.

Yahoooooie

So now

I’m back with PaulA 

speed skating through the Pre-check line.

To those back in the security line…

“It’s been real

standing cheek-to-cheek with ya.

I’ve tried to help…

but until Elon is 

"on board"...

I’ll see you on the plane.

This Kat has got some 

speed skating to do.”

Happy BriDay to Brianna

 This birthday is extra special for Brianna...

 

she’s celebrating her first birthday as a 

married lady…

and

her first birthday 

as the First Lady

in their first owned house.  

Bri and Christian are now proud homeowners

 in the 

Boston neighborhood 

of Dorchester or

"Dorchestah" 

as the locals pronounce it.  

Bri and Christian may not 

have the 'honorable distinction' of being

OFD …

”Originally From Dorchester"

but 

they are most def

DBC ...

“Dorchester By Choice.” 

 

Anywhoooo…..

I remember 3 decades and one year ago…

trying to come up with a girl name for my 3rd bambino.

I hadn't settled on a name

(whoops, meant to say "we")

until I first heard it at a 

 "Newcomers group" craft demonstration.

The instructor mentioned her daughter "Bri" and 

told me it was short for  "Brianna."

  I scurried home (with my crafty craft in hand),

looked it up in my Book of Baby Names…

and found the name was 

Irish Gaelic for  "strong one."

"Brianna" seemed like the perfect name 

to go with her Irish last name. 

WE loved it.

Little did we know, 

that Brianna would fit her name to a "T." 

With each year that Brianna grew…

she grew 

                                                                           and grew

 to resemble 

“strong one” ...

strong in 

her convictions, 

her will, 

her loyalty, 

her love of family, love of friends

her compassion, 

her empathy,

her party planner, thrower and goer skills,

physically strong…

(that time Brianna and I

went to get a wardrobe closet  in a huge and heavy box at IKea,…

and I may have whimpered out loud to get someone to take my end.)

If you are looking for someone who will 

have your back, 

keep a secret,

be a sounding board, 

mediate a problem, 

stand up for you,

be a loyal and trusted friend,

work hard,

play hard, 

attend a concert with you,

party with you,

AND

take your end of an extra heavy IKEA box,

Brianna is your girl.

If they could bottle Brianna….

Brianna would be a 

Bourbon Old Fashioned...

Strong 

and 

Sweet.

"Bartender, 

I'll have the BriBourbon Old Fashioned, please."

Cheers to Brianna on her 

BriDay.

Congratulations Brianna & Christian

 I'm in burst mode...

the pictures are in.

Brianna and Christian were married February 19, 2022 

and I have been waiting for photos of their 

most perfect wedding day.

Granted, the word “perfect” is often 

overused, overdone and over said.

  They say "nothing is perfect," 

but that day, 

their day, 

was next to Perfect.  

Basically, 

Perfect’s twin sister.

With a wedding in Boston in February…

we could have had a Nor’easter dump on our plans.

A major storm is guaranteed to happen at least one weekend in the winter.  

Luckily the Blizzard of 2022 for Boston

was 3 weekends before their big day.

For the lucky couple, the weather was clear..

so we could see the Boston Harbor skyline.

Thank you weather gods.

And many thanks to our God above, 

PaulA was there to walk his “Sweet Wishy” down the aisle after 

living through a sudden cardiac arrest in September and 

having a  subsequent double bypass 3 weeks before the wedding.  

If that ain’t enough to give a 

bride and the mother-of-the bride extra stress,

not sure what is.  

PaulA wasnt missing it tho...

he was there to walk Bri down the aisle,

give his FOB toast and to 

dance with his little girl to "Yellow" by Coldplay.

Brianna…

our sweet wish

bringing joy, happiness and sunshine into our lives.

Our version of the color yellow.

And with friends and family

we witnessed the beautiful heartfelt vows they pledged to each other…

and their first dance as a 

Mr. & Mrs.  

"Love You for A Long Time" by Maggie Rogers.

I had never heard this song before...

but now I have it on repeat.

Anywhooo…

So many details go into planning a wedding…

but as time goes on…

you never remember every detail..

okay, Brianna and Christian might…

their pictures and video will help…

but you do remember 

how you felt.

When love fills the room,

love is all you need.  

That is truly the icing on the wedding cake.

looks like the bottom of Bri's dress is a cake...yum

As a country Rascal once sang,

My wish 

for you

Brianna and Christian.... 

is 

may your love be forever present…

and may your love propel you through all the days of your lives.  

The other “stuff”….

what you do, where you go, what you have, 

is sweet…

but true love is the 

sweetest

icing on the cake 

of life.

And to Christian,

 we are thrilled to have you as a part of this fam damily.

You're a perfect fit.

 

Love filled the room that magical evening…

and love fills my heart for Brianna and Christian.

2/19/22, Brianna & Christian's wedding day....

Perfect’s Twin Sister.

Manomet 2.0 HOMEwork

 For some time now we’ve been busy 

building Mano 2.0 

which has been exciting 

but has required lots of HOMEwork…

lotsa visits to plumbing stores, tile stores, floor stores, 

kitchen stores, quartz stores, 

you name it stores….etc etc etc

I’m hoping now that all is said and built…

I get an "A" on my HOMEwork  

Or at least Extra Credit for the work involved. 

I remember a particular visit to a plumbing store 

where after too much time there…

I got the freaky feels.

As I walked through an aisle of toilets, 

I was caught off guard when 

a few toilets raised their lids.

 After I put 1 and 1 together

and got Number 2, 

I realized the toilets weren’t alive. 

So then, 

 I did what every mature acting person would do.

I walked back and forth to get them to raise and lower again  

and again 

and again.

There is nothing like a 21 toilet salute.

I am not a fan of automatic lids on toilets for a 

couple of reasons.

Number 1:  they would be especially creepy at night.

Number 2:  ….ummmm

Number 1 and Number 2 ….

That pretty much sums up toilets.

From the bowels of the store,

 I moved up the pipeline 

to faucets.  

After staring at kitchen faucets way too long…

the long goose necks seemingly came alive.  

No longer were they mechanical devices for delivering water…

they were evil creatures …

twisting and turning themselves toward me…

in an effort 

to grab me and pull me down the drain. 

It was time to plumb and run.

As months upon months 

rolled by 

with unending waves of Manomet 2.0 HOMEwork,

I hit the plaster wall 

when it came to choosing paint. 

Paint ain’t easy, folks.  

There’s so much to consider like

undertones and 

LRV (Light Reflectance Value.)

Apparently

if the room is facing east/west/north/south...

our guys,

Ben Moore and Sher Williams, 

can look differently on your walls.  

 So don’t forget your compass, Columbus.

There may be 50 shades of gray, 

but I found there are 100 shades of white…

super white, pure white, simply white, alabaster white, etc etc.

I went round and round with so many different whites 

that I painted myself into a corner.

The whole paintful experience had me turning 

Ghostly White…

which could have been the perfect white 

but I also had to consider…

Sickly White.

Anywhooooo

Manomet 2.0 HOMEwork is finally finished

and turned in.

All we need now for finishing touches is…

visitors.

If you’ve managed to read 

this blog 

thus far….

you are cordially invited.