Shelby and Taylor's Summer Visit

Over the past few summers, Shelby and Taylor have taken a week and come to spend it with "auntie".  We have a great time and this summer was no exception.  Here are a few pictures that they took while they were here. They also edited the pictures for some great "special effects".  Enjoy!

Daughtry Concert

DaughtryCavoDaughtryChris DaughtryLifehouse

Shelby and Taylor

And the curtain goes up?  Or does it come down?

Theresa and I took Taylor and Shelby to the Daughtry Concert at the Cumberland County Civic Center on the 17th.  The girls had a great time as did Theresa and I.  I'm not if the musicians actually have gotten louder as I've aged or if it's just because I've aged, but over the past few years I've started wearing ear plugs to these things.  While it doesn't muffle the music to wear them, it does cut down on all the background noise.  And at times it actually hurts if you don't wear them.  For those of you that don't know who "Daughtry" is, his name is actually Chris Daughtry and he came in third a few years ago on American Idol and has actually done quite well for himself along with his group.

Another year older and deeper in debt?

Remember that song from Tennessee Ernie Ford?  Right now that fits the elders in Birtville.  Celebrated the beginning of my 55th year on this terresterial orb today and while I must say I had a very uneventful day, it was also a very nice day.  I spent the whole day essentially just reading a book.  Justin and Adam were both home, Art was at Habitat for the day but we had a nice barbeque for supper all together.  I even had the chance to finish the book I was reading.  Jen Lancaster's newest, "My Fair Lazy".  Any of you who know me, know that I just love her and her writing, and while her book "Bright Lights, Big Ass" will always be my favorite, all of her others have entertained me immensely.  Our latest news?  Art is now working for MONEY at Habitat for Humanity here in the Portland area.  While this is only a temporary situation, he is enjoying it and plans to continue with his volunteering even after the paying job is finished.

Another Nursing Class Graduates

Pinning on May 15, 2010 at SMMC. Not all students were there but the ceremony was very tasteful and many thanks go to Victoria Quinlan for making this possible for the students!

Two of our students--Victoria Quinlan towards the middle right with the wide gold stole on, and Kerri Mayo on the far right. Victoria was top student in the whole Nursing Program

Melissa Cantara, RN, Tanya Pike, Debbie Poirier, and Kerri Sullivan. Tanya, Deb, and Kerri will be taking their state board exams soon. As you can tell Melissa has taken and passed her boards! Congratulations to them all!Faculty in waiting

Karen and Penny getting ready.

Another of our nursing classes from York County Community College graduated in May. These are some of the pictures from Graduation and of the pinning on Saturday evening.

AFV Audition

Shelby auditioned for AFV

HP Weekend

Shelby and Carla at the Rainforest Cafe, Burlington, MA

Shelby and Taylor at the MOS, Boston

Well, I said I'd be back with some postings of stuff that went on during the winter. So here is the first entry.

In February, the folks from Memory Lane and the Mama and Papa from Birtville took a trip to Boston so that the womenfolk could tour the Harry Potter Exhibit at the Museum of Science. We had an excellent time--a few rough spots on the trip down, but all in all a great trip. The ladies were thrilled with the exhibit since they are all crazy, fanatical Harry Potter fans. After a nice dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, we scooted back up the turnpike to Birtville. Here are a couple pictures that Steve took. We missed the most priceless one of all, and we should have been thinking ahead. As any good exhibit would, the end of this one emptied out into a "gift shop" of sorts. As as any good women would, the ladies wanted a souvenir so they spent a great deal of time looking for something to purchase that wouldn't cause the menfolk to have to take second mortgages on either Memory Lane Manor, or Birtville. But since that wasn't to be, the ladies decided not to purchase a souvenir (wooden carved wands were at least $45). So the ladies wandered back to the museum entrance to wait for the wandering men. While waiting, Taylor decided she needed a picture of the dome roof of the museum that had the HP logo on it, so she went out to take a picture. When she came in she had a stick with her just about the size and shape of the wands for sale in the gift shop. Long story short, after much laughing and discussion the stage was set for a good laugh. When Art and Steven caught up with the waiting womenfolk

they of course asked Taylor and Shelby if they liked it, if they had fun, and the winning question, "Did you buy anything?"

Taylor was priceless as she used her poker face and said, that yes, she had found a souvenir--a wooden wand and she only paid $35 for it. No one said anything and both Theresa and I said after that we should have had a camera on Steve's face. The progress of emotion and thoughts that were going thru his mind were incredible! You could actually see his thoughts...well, of course after this no one could keep a straight face and before Steve could have a stroke, Taylor had to come clean and admit that it was just a stick that she picked up off the sidewalk....ah the missed chances in life!

Catch Up

It's been quite a while since I have had time to update Birtville but will start doing so this week. The school year is finally over and it's been a long one for some reason. I was ready for this one to be done. Our new program in Brunswick/Bath got off to a good start and we are looking forward to the next new group of students in the Fall of 2011. Next year, Barb and I will be doing some teaching in South Portland and I will have some projects to work on to keep me busy while we are waiting to start another Freshman class. Another of my and Lisa's classes in York is graduating this coming weekend and we are proud to say the least. So until I can get back here sometime in the next week, everyone stay safe!

Ice Fishin'

Alex has been taking the little Morrison's ice fishing this winter. As you can see Jett enjoys the sled and Jude caught a "Big Fish". And he caught it with a Scooby Doo fishing pole. It also earned him a spot on the local TV stations news in a segment called "Big Ole Fish". Here is the link. He is about 1:06 into the clip!

http://www.wcsh6.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=62837738001

On the cusp of the New Year!

As I've been cleaning up the Christmas here in Birtville, and another year has gone by, I've been trying to think of profound things to say to welcome in the New Year. But, I really am all "profounded" out by this time of the year. For the new year and decade though I want to encourage all my family and friends to look for the good in things. The past few years with the recession, the unrest in the Middle East, the war, and all the other trials and tribulations, many people have not had many reasons to be happy. Art and I both lost parents this past year, as well as other family members.

On the upside we have many things to be thankful for: friends, family, new happenings, our health, our jobs, our home, and the list goes on and on. So what I want to say is simply this: Treasure every moment you have. Treasure your Lord, your family and friends and every blessing. Because there are some people who really have no reason to celebrate. Stay warm!

Christmas Day 2009!

Well, Adam got the pictures to me from his camera before March so I thought I'd share them before March. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Here are some pictures of our quietly Merry Day!

Christmas Eve in Birtville

The Christmas Grinch has caught Jude and Jett

Julie Morrison and Justin

Art and Jett

Alex and Jude

Adam

Christmas 2009 was very nice indeed. Friends and family were able to join us for the holiday and a good time was had by all. As you can see the kids had a great time as usual, although we did miss Erica and Brenna who were spending the holidays with family in Presque Isle. They will be here for New Year's Eve/Day and will be able to get the gifts that Santa left them. My sister took these pictures of Christmas Eve and hopefully within a couple days Adam will give me copies of the pics he took Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas Week!!

Well, I had hoped that this week I would be able to post some pictures of Birtville at Christmastime but alas my little camera died. Now, since Santa probably won't bring me a new one this year, I'm going to have to rely on Adam to get me some pictures. This in and of itself shouldn't be too difficult BUT getting them out of his camera to me seems to be an issue. Being a good mother though, I will nag to best of my ability and just to shut me up, he will come through. So until I can get some more pictures out here, everyone have a very Merry Christmas week!

More Wedding Pics

Happy parents of the groom

Best of friends

Art

Adam and Beth

Adam before the wedding

Wedding

Beth

The mother of the groom reads the "Irish Wedding Blessing"

Steve and Amy Rolfe

Whispering Pines Main Lodge

Whispering Pines Campfire Area

This past weekend, we went to Rhode Island for the wedding of my best friend's son. We had beautiful weather and the wedding was lovely even if it was a bit cold during the evening. The wedding was held at Whispering Pines Conference Center in West Greenwich, RI which is associated with the University of Rhode Island which is where Steve (the groom) and his fiancee Amy went to school.

Just a brief catch up

Well, school starts on Monday and once again I'll be busy enough so that I can barely catch my breath but it has been so much fun getting the new program up and running! Things are falling into place and we will be ready to go on Monday.

Meanwhile, the weather has been much nicer since it started to cool off. The 9 or 10 days of summer we had, (9o degrees and 90% humidity) were oppressive and many folks felt that they would have preferred the rainy June and July over the heat and humidity. For me, it's coming up on "sweater weather"...my favorite time of the year.

Once again, I am holding my own. All my testing has finally been finished and I think it's safe to say that I'm in remission again. It's a good feeling, my friends and I want to thank all of you for your good wishes. I love each and every one of you very dearly and because of you all, my life is so much fuller!

The Last Hurrah

Taylor holding the bag

This one is going to be one classy dinner date someday! You should be proud, Steve...

Since Taylor and Shelby have to start school in a week, their Auntie Di took them on a mini-vacation after they were here visiting with the old folks. They had a great time as you can see.

Beach Pics

Clouding up at the end of the day

Shelby enjoying her book

A Day at the Beach

We took Wednesday afternoon and went to the beach for a few hours to see the "sights" that one can see at the beach, to relax and and to read. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. According to the the kids the beach we went to isn't even one of the best but so far I kind of like it and best of all, I KNOW HOW TO GET THERE!

Here's a pic of Taylor just kind of zoning out in the sun.

Just some sunbathers....the lighthouse off in the distance actually sits on the beach in front of Southern Maine Community College where I teach.

More random sunbathers and the ocean

Shelby and her blue tongue from the Gatorade

Time to change position...it was a nice afternoon and like I said, we saw a few interesting sites.

Vacation Week!

This week has so far been one of the best of the summer. While Taylor was here a couple weeks ago with me and we had such a great week, just the two of us, I've got double the pleasure and fun this week, with Taylor and Shelby both here this week. We've done quite a bit of "stuff", and had some great discussions. We've been shopping, to see Harry Potter #6, shopping, to the beach, shopping, and oh did I mention, we've been shopping? Tomorrow, we're going to Boston to let Shelby experience some of the things Taylor and I did last month. And yes, we might even do a bit of shopping. Thursday, we will help my friend Beth find a dress for her son's wedding and Friday, possibly more beach time. We have had movie afternoons, and afternoons where we've just spent time together reading. It's been a great week and as usual, "auntie" is enjoying herself to the fullest. Thanks girls!

"Upta Camp"

Shelby and Taylor on vacation....they are just too cool for words! Next week they will be back here for another "vacation" with their old "auntie"....I can't wait!