A Good Man

A good man – those three words seem like an old cliché but they are not. I think a person knows when they meet someone special. I think you know or can tell that they are good; maybe not all the time. I have met people, who seem nice and they turn out not to be. Appearances don’t always make a person good.

 

My brother was one of those good men. He talked the talk and walked the walk. He was the genuine thing. He was the real deal.

 

This past week, my brother-in-law Jim Gauntner died. He was the second oldest in a family of eight; one sister and six brothers. Jim was a typical, hard-working, good man. He grew up in Cleveland, attended Benedictine High School, John Carroll University, received two master’s degrees, and worked 38 years at NASA as a senior aerospace engineer.

 

Jim was married to his wife for over 50 years and has four children and a number of grandchildren. Jim worked hard. He played hard. He had a big heart and did a lot of volunteer work. He truly gave of himself to others.

 

To me, Jim was the real deal. I saw him as a sweet, kind and caring man. He was a special man of high morals. Jim was that special Christian man, who was true to himself, his family, and others.

 

For all the above, Jim will be missed. I know I will especially miss his gentle caring and his sweet smile.

 

R.I.P. Jim…you will be missed.

Here is a great tribute to Jim from the West Shore Sun – Person of the Week

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Jim Gauntner

Gauntner’s record of volunteer work is out of this world.

As a player on the Benedictine High School football team, he helped the Bengals defeat St. Ignatius High School 47-6 in the 1955 Cleveland City Championship Game.

A 1956 Benedictine graduate, Gauntner remains loyal to his alma mater, participating in fundraising and other events.

The Westlake resident will be inducted into the school’s Hall of Honors at a special event March 3 at Windows on the River.

Aside from his devotion to Benedictine, Gauntner has been involved in professional, church and civic activities for many years.

In 1991, Gauntner received NASA’s prestigious “Silver Snoopy” award for his effort in contributing to the success of the manned flight missions.

In 1995, he was honored by the Federal Executive Board for his significant impact on the community.

He retired from NASA as a senior aerospace engineer after a 38-year career.

Gauntner has a pair of master’s degrees, including one in mechanical engineering, which he earned from the University of Toledo in 1978.

He is a volunteer with the Hunger Center at Blessed Trinity Church in Cleveland. Gauntner also volunteered at the St. Patrick West Park Hunger Center until the church closed last May and became part of the new Blessed Trinity parish. He also is a hospice volunteer.

Since 1997, Gauntner has been a eucharistic minister for Rae-Ann Center nursing home. He was chosen for the Volunteer of the Year Award in 2009.

Gauntner and his wife, Marilyn, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on July 1. They have four grown children.

Working Women vs. Stay at Home Moms

With the recent hateful blog post put up by Amy Glass, titled: I Look Down on Young Woman who Get Married and Raise Children – I realized that this will always be an ongoing fight between working women and stay at home women. This has been going on since the Feminist Movement began in the 60s, when I was a young married woman.

 

I mean really – women who stay at home, don’t work? Don’t work! Ok, I was always a stay at home mom. I worked outside the house for a while before I had children. I was lucky to have a spouse who supported me to be a stay at home mother and it worked.

 

I didn’t have to get up early, put on work clothes, make up, and drive to work. I know that being a working woman has a lot of stress but they do get a pay check; something I never saw in all the years I stayed at home, raising nine children. But I did get a lot of hand-made presents, which were priceless, and which I still have.

 

On the other hand, I did get up early too. I threw on sweats and a sweatshirt, stained with baby formula. My clothes were like wearing hand wipes, because my kids used me to wipe their hands on.

 

I didn’t get off from work at five and didn't have to drive home. I stayed at my job, long after five; I stayed helping my children with their homework or projects, driving them to their extra activities or practices or games, getting a decent meal on the table, and cleaning up. I helped with baths and making sure that the towels had been washed and dried for their nightly ritual. Long after the kids had gone to bed; I was still cleaning, still washing the usual 6-7 loads of laundry and making sure they had clean clothes for the next day.

 

Oddly, I never got a pay check for working overtime; never had nights off, weekends off, summers off, or went away for a week. It wasn’t until years later that we were able to take a weeks’ vacation at the beach. In the beginning, I was the one who packed everything, got the towels, and sheets ready for the trip, until the kids were old enough to do this themselves.

 

But the biggest slap in the face is never getting respect from working women. Why does it always have to be working women vs. stay at home moms? Why can’t women support one another and their decision to work or stay at home? This has been an ongoing dispute since the feminist movement, and it will go on and on forever.

My advice to working women…mind your own business and don’t be so judgmental and the same goes for the stay at home women.  Don’t presume to know what is best for each other because you don’t know. As for the writer of that hateful blog…maybe just getting your 15 minutes worth of fame was what you aimed for…congratulations, it worked!

A Leap of Faith

Here is an excerpt from the novel, A Leap of Faith, which can be purchased for your Kindle at Amazon or the Nook and Barnes and Noble


St. Louis

           Laurel laughed as she read Maggie’s email.   “Good morning. What’s going on?” asked Ellie as she walked into the back office of the catering kitchen. She placed her purse on the hook of the sturdy antique oak clothes tree, and put on a clean, long white apron.

            “Hi, yourself,” answered Laurel. “I just finished reading Maggie’s email. She said ‘hi’ to you and will work on the menus and Blog. She wants a sample of the food,” Laurel remarked, as she looked at Ellie with a big smile on her face.

            “Food and Maggie – why am I not surprised?” chuckled Ellie. “Here is the list for the party on Friday. I also worked on a few menus and we can send those to Maggie. See what you think,” Ellie added, as she sat down in the black office chair next to Laurel’s.

            Laurel took the list, pulled down her reading glasses that were perched on her head, and put them on. Fingering a piece of her short frosted hair, and jiggling her foot, Laurel looked over the new menu. “Looks good,” she murmured, complimenting Ellie.

            “Here’s the printed menu for this Friday night’s party,” Ellie said as she handed the menu to Laurel.

1. Appetizers: Coconut Shrimp, Pineapple wrapped Prosciutto skewers, Chicken Sate with Peanut Sauce, skewered Buffalo Mozzarella with Cherry Tomatoes in Balsamic Dressing, Corncakes with Mango Sauce.
2. Ancho Chili Glazed Ribs with Southwest Sauce.
3. Salmon Wellington with Crabmeat, Asparagus and Roasted Red Pepper Cheese Sauce.
4. Roasted Red Skin Potatoes with fresh savory Herbs and Garlic Butter.
5. Rice Pilaf with Pine Nuts and Lemon Dill Sauce.
6. Green Beans Almandine. Glazed Baby Carrots with fresh mint.
7. Chilled Cucumber Salad with Dill and Yogurt Dressing.
8. Vine ripe Tomato and Onion Salad with Balsamic Dressing.
9. Freshly baked herb Focaccia Bread.
10. Decadent Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Ghirardelli Chocolate Ganache, assorted mini Napoleons, and fresh mini Strawberry Tarts.

            “As Maggie would say, ‘yum.’  Now we just have to check and order what we need and start preparing.”

Ellie took back the list, looked it over, and said, “We have to send this menu to Maggie. I bet she eats the paper. Everything sounds so good.” Both women laughed at the visual picture of Maggie reading the menu, salivating, printing it up and eating it.

            “Let’s get our food list together, and place our order. If we get the order in by 9:00, we can pick it up by 10,” said Laurel.

            “I’m on it. I’ll see what we have here and then call the list in. Did you make any coffee?” asked Ellie.     

“There’s a fresh pot in the kitchen.”

While going into the kitchen to get coffee, Ellie looked to see what they had on their shelves, and in the freezer. She wrote the rest of the items that she needed to order.

Laurel emailed the menu to Maggie as a teaser:

Maggie…

Check out this menu for our Friday

night party that we are catering.

 L

Granddaughters Sleepover at Grandma's House

A few weeks ago, three of my older granddaughters stayed over for a sleepover. Having a 12-year-old and two, 13-year-olds sleep over is a lot different from having them sleepover when they were younger.

 

When they were younger we would play one game after another, I would make popcorn and we would watch a special movie. Eventually, after they went to bed, I would have to keep going into the bedroom and tell them to – “be quiet,” “turn off the light,” “settle down,” “go to sleep!”

 

But this time it was different. The girls hadn’t been together for a long time. They wanted to hang out and talk to one another. They set up their own game, Hedbanz and got to be goofy and downright silly. All I seemed to have to do was make sure the refrigerator and the pantry was stocked with food. They could eat whatever they wanted to eat.

 

At a certain time – I said good night and went upstairs and read. I know they were a little bit loud but then that is what kids do at a sleepover. They did have fun and didn’t go to bed too early or too late. They exhausted themselves from talking and laughing.

 

For me – I had a good night’s sleep and the next morning, we all enjoyed our choice of doughnuts that I bought for them that morning. As for more sleepovers at Grandma’s house – I’m in.

Indoor Waterfalls

With the frigid temperatures, something had to happen. I felt safe at home despite all the bangs and loud noises. But last night was different. I fell asleep reading a book and awoke with a start. Whatever it was, my two cats were on high alert themselves. I jumped up and armed myself with my trusty Louisville Slugger baseball bat. I thought I heard water running. I ran quickly to my laundry room and nothing was amiss nor was anything wrong in the upstairs bathroom. But I was sure that I heard water running. I managed to run downstairs, and that was when I found an indoor waterfalls gushing through my back hall ceiling. At first my mouth dropped open and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Then I ran back upstairs, wishing the waterfalls would stop. I called my son, and he came over, promptly turned off the water and showed me where the water valve was, just in case this ever would happen again.

 

He and his wife and I stood looking at the water, and then pulled out buckets and trash cans to catch the water. I ran upstairs and got all my towels and blankets and sopped up the floor. My daughter in law did the same. My son poked holes in the ceiling releasing the water. Then he pried off parts of the ceiling and was able to find two breaks in the pipes, which he capped.

 

It took a while before we got the water wiped up. Thankfully it wasn’t in my living areas. There was enough damage to the ceilings in the toy room and the back hall. Besides, there would be a need to clear out the damaged toys. The small carpet was soaked and would be thrown away.

 

The next day, I would have to call a plumber to come over and file an insurance claim. I realized that I was lucky because I did have water and could live with my minor problem. On the following Saturday, a plumber arrived and fixed my pipes. Now I am patiently waiting for a call from my insurance company’s storm team to assess the damages in person. I am still waiting for a claims adjustor.  Everything takes time, and patience isn’t my strong point. Neither is staring at the holes in my ceiling. But I figure, by spring everything should be taken care of…right? I hope so!

Time Stood Still

Who thought time would come to a halt and not because of a snow day? Time stopped, schools were cancelled, as were a whole lot of other businesses and activities. All this because of frigid temperatures, which seemed to have touched our state,  and  most of the other 50 states across the U.S. Frigid temperatures have halted life as we know it, grounded airplanes and stranded travelers; travelers who are now stuck in the airports which has become their home away from the comfort and warmth of their own home.

 

The frigid weather has temporarily silenced the global warming critics. Oddly, the frigid temperature would have killed off the dinosaurs if they had still been around.

 

Usually on snow days, kids would be out in the snow making snowmen, snow forts, having snow ball fights, sledding or making snow angels. The frigid temperature has kept the children inside their homes. It kept me up in my bedroom, the warmest part of my house, snuggling under a blanket and catching up on all my missed television programs.

 

The only time I ventured out from my warm space was to go into my frigid kitchen for food. Every window that I passed by, and even my front door felt like a freezer. I could feel the cold air inside. It wasn’t until I was in my kitchen that I realized how cold it really was outdoors. My kitchen was freezing. Looking through my small kitchen window, I actually saw frost on the inside of the wood and the lock. I scrapped it off with my finger nail and proceeded to find some food.

 

Armed with my food and hot chocolate, I quickly retreated to the warmth of my bedroom, thankful that I didn’t live in an igloo. Thankful that tomorrow would be warmer and one day closer to spring.

Welcome Back Downton Abbey

First, it was wonderful to see the start of Season 4 for Downton Abbey. It makes my Sunday’s something more special. I really missed the series and the Crawley Family.

 

This season picks up 6 months after the death of one of the major characters, Matthew Crawley. He had died in a car accident, shortly after his son was born. Crawley might be dead but his spirit was very much present in Episode 1, Season 4.

 

What I like about the series is how the writing skips through each catastrophe. The series will jump ahead of the events, and through the acting, the viewer’s learn what has happened. Now the family is back with their problems. The servants are also back working, and with the usual gossip and maneuvering.

 

Mostly, it’s the Dowager Countess of Grantham, Violet Crawley, played by veteran actress Maggie Smith, who I love the best. She delivers her wonderful lines at just the right moment. Violet Crawley is the backbone of the family and really shines along-side Matthew Crawley’s mother, regal but feisty Isobel Crawley, played by Penelope Wilton. Because of Violet Crawley’s age, she can say whatever she wants and seems to get away with it, no matter how offensive the comments seem.

 

It’s great to have the family, the servants, the beauty of Downton Abbey, the music and the costumes back. Bring out the tea and crumpets or sherry and enjoy Sunday nights with the excellent series Downton Abbey and the Crawley family!

Phipps by Candle Light

 I have been going on and on about visiting Phipps Botanical Garden in the evenings for the candle light tour. I finally went on Friday night with a friend. The night show with all the candles and Christmas lights just sets a totally different background and mood to Phipps.

 

The two Christmas trees by the entrance, decorated with ornaments and different colored lights, was a welcoming site as is the beautiful Dale Chihuly hanging fixture inside the atrium. The yellow and orange chandelier radiates a spectacular evening sunset.  The beautiful Poinsettia tree in the main exhibit is the center point when you begin the walking tour on the second floor.

 
 

Each room is decked out with the candles hanging from a black iron holder, guiding the visitors on the walkways. The candle lights add a warm glow to more Christmas lights of various colors. Besides, the candles add a strange glow to the glass figures in the Orchid Room, making them appear more like aliens from another world. But the friendly creatures seem right at home in the pond with the gold fish, and placed strategically among the orchids.

 

The different colored Christmas lights throughout each room add a real holiday feeling along with the perfectly arranged beautiful poinsettias of reds and whites with red ribbons adding more to the festivities.

 

In the Fountain Room large there is a beautiful Christmas tree, decorated with lights and a number of gorgeous large butterfly ornaments giving it an ethereal look. The high point for me was the outside gardens decorated with all sorts of lights, and large colored balls with different shapes, that kept changing colors. Each person that came out through the doors, stopped and held their breaths in appreciation, or gave out an exclamation of delight. Everyone had to snap pictures. Even though it was 8 degrees outside, I had to walk slowly, drinking in the sites and taking pictures of absolutely everything.

 

As I walked along taking each step and taking each picture, I could feel the tension leaving my body. The whole evening I felt calm and totally happy. If I could choose a place to live besides the beach, it would be at Phipps or the greenhouse.

 

If you’re looking for something special to do in the evenings – I encourage you to visit Phipps and take in the Winter Light Garden and Flower Show. The candle light tour is from 5-11 pm, and runs until January 12.

 

Let’s just say – don’t take my word for it, go and see the Phipps display for yourself.