Category Archives: flashback

Jul24

Replay America

Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2014 by Dianne

Since I have the laptop open, I decided to do another quick post tonight! It’s easier than the tablet too.

So I love a good deal. We see lots of musical events and enjoy restaurants through LS and GO….you know who I mean correct? 😉

So a concert called ‘Replay America’ was touring with Martha Davis, Patty Smyth, Naked Eyes and the Go-go’s! I had to look up some of the artists just to refresh my memory a bit, but after I did I thought it would be a fun concert to attend. Their music is still on the radio! It was on the grounds of the PPL soccer stadium in Chester, PA. We had never been. I didn’t see where it said ‘grounds’ but Brian did and said to bring chairs. I didn’t listen to him and he didn’t push the fact that it would be a good idea, and he didn’t show me the website either. I’m thinking seats in the soccer stadium-no.

We got here a little early and found a geocache right outside where we would be standing. As we walked toward the cache area or ground zero, another cacher was coming around the corner with his GPS pointed there! I said ‘oh a cacher’, pointed to the lamp skirt, and he grabbed it first. That was funny! He said there were a few others around the stadium. We got one more later.

We got our tickets, and walked over to the grassy area, behind the reserved seats. I should have paid a little more to sit down! We ended up near the metal barrier and I was talking to a nice couple from Reading, PA. Even though we stood for a few hours, it went by fast. It would bother my left knee though. (Urgent care visit a week later)

The lady from Reading took our photo at the venue.

When the final act, The Go go’s came on, we moved to the other side of the venue to kind of beat the crowds when the show was over (Ya, they’ve got the beat-lol). That’s Belinda Carlisle in the middle. She is a year older than me and has great moves and her voice sounds the same.

I really enjoyed Patty Smyth! She is the ex of John McEnroe and hasn’t been around for a while. I liked ‘I am the Warrior’.

Everyone sounded great! One group pulled from the tour, Cutting Crew. I don’t remember them.

Here is a link with some of the performers hits.

We paid $17 each. Cant’ ‘beat’ that!

We were almost under the Commodore Barry Bridge to NJ, that was pretty neat.

Aug14

Who Do You Think You Are?-non celeb edition

Posted on Wednesday, August 14, 2013 by Dianne

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I hope you are catching this series (Who Do You Think You Are?) as it is now on the TLC cable channel. Last night featured singer/actress Zooey Deschanel who has local roots near where I live now! First she went to the Philadelphia public library, then Swarthmore, PA and finally Christiana, PA where she found out her great grandmom (times 4) was an abolitionist for the underground railroad around the time of the Civil War! Christiana is about 16 or so miles from here.

And get this, we have been to the Sadsbury Friends Meetinghouse cemetery where Zooey’s relative (or relatives) are buried.

We went there as a geocache was there (back in February)! I have one placed myself around the corner near a supermarket. I thought that was pretty neat. Zooey was far right to where this photo was taken. I think they had her walk from the back there to the front. That one part of the building wasn’t too attractive.

So I decided to look up some family stuff, but my paternal side, the Knowles family. My gr-grandfather was one of the first forest rangers in Oregon. His wife, Margie wrote a book called ‘Honeymoon on Horseback’ about their early marriage and his work as a forest ranger and how they lived in a primitive way out of a tent, etc. I have a copy of the book. Sean, my son has read it too.

So I found on my search where the campground named after Archie was closed down. Then I ran across a youtube video and the man took us on a tour of the area.

This man is into geocaching too! My mouth fell open when I started to watch this video as he nabbed a geocache there.

But this is a bittersweet video for me also. I never met most of the Knowles family as I grew up in Pennsylvania and my 3 brothers and me didn’t go out to Oregon. I correspond with my cousin Ann and I’ve met her sister Shirley and her husband Dwayne when I was a little girl. Ann and Shirley’s mom, Dessa was very nice to me and wrote to me when she was alive. She is the daughter of Archie and Margie. My parents were separated and then divorced and my father lived his days out in his home state. His ashes were scattered in the Knowles creek in 2008.

If you watched the video, you can see where this campground was probably closed down for good this year. I appreciate Kenny (I have a brother and nephew Ken/Kenny also!) for showing me this place. I hope to see it someday, but we’ll see if I am able to get to the west coast.

The back cover of ‘Honeymoon on Horseback’, great grandfather Archie and

Margie, his wife and author.

Again, the internet truly amazes me!

Mar4

The best time for a long time

Posted on Monday, March 4, 2013 by Dianne

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As previously mentioned, my classmate from high school had a new movie that came out a few days ago called ‘Phantom’. So my other friend John suggested a bunch of us go see the movie last night (Sunday) and we did, many with our spouses. There were close to 20 of us there and we of course got all excited when we saw Wayne in shots (another class mate who is an actor) and I recognized Todd’s daughter who played Ed Harris’ daughter in the movie. Todd really had to do his research on Russian submarines! The year was 1968. Lots of action and a twist at the end. The guys will love this one!

At the end of the movie, Scott, our reunion coordinator had Todd on the phone and we were all cheering him on. That was very cool.

Afterwards, about 11 of us went to a sports bar a bit down the road for a late dinner. We gave my other pal Tom a ride in the Cruiser. It wasn’t too noisy and we got to catch up with my ‘back yard’ neighbor Bethann who came to her first reunion/mini reunion get-together!

I’m next to Tom and John is on the other end. We play ‘Song Pop’ on Facebook and usually are pretty neck to neck.

All in all a great time! So glad Brian and I went.

Feb14

Show a little Love today

Posted on Thursday, February 14, 2013 by Dianne

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I heard that Valentine’s Day was an invented holiday, but so were Mother and Father’s Days. It is a nice distraction during the gloomy winter months. I love hearts, cupids and chocolate!

I made the kids at the preschool a little collage card too.

I need to thank my Flickr pal-here’s her page

There’s a new movie called ‘Safe Haven’ and the funny thing is, I was writing a little story back in 2011 about my Grandmom and growing up that I called ‘Sheltering Haven’. Here’s a portion of the little I did write.

My grandmother Ruth was a sheltering haven to me for most of my life and I didn’t even realize it until she passed away. When she died, something in my subconscious was brought up to the surface from my memory bank and what was old became quite new and fresh in my mind again. Perhaps these memories were meant to be buried all that time as when I remembered them, I felt new love and appreciation for my ‘mom-mom’. A few things; not everyone gets to live with their grandmother or will get a much older person’s point of view about things. But more than that, she was there not only to fill a void where a father should have been, but to be someone we could count on when we needed advice, a hot meal or maybe a ‘talking to’.

So:

“Shower the people you love with love, show them the way that you feel….. (JT)

Have a lovely day of love! ❤

Jan27

Lil’ Diads

Posted on Sunday, January 27, 2013 by Dianne

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I scanned an old photo of my older and younger brother and me today. Mom’s nickname for me is Diadsie (dyed-see) and Brian calls me little Diads sometimes. So this is from 1961 and in bad shape. I was trying to photo shop it using my laptop. I’m not saying I’m finished with it, but I think I resemble my own son at about 1.5 here. He also had straight hair in the front and curls in the back. We both had those chubby cheeks.

I like how I’m holding my brother’s ear-lol.

It’s also not too exciting around here because of the blasted cold. We had a bit of cabin fever and went down to the local stores. Big Lots had a customer appreciation day Saturday (if you have their Buzz card), and Brian and I went and save over $20!

I decided to clean up my African violets. I had 16 of them and lost 2. Many are special varieties from a seller at the Philadelphia Flower show. I do have to clean up the rest of the plants and the windows they are in.

I went through dozens of cross stitch books as a friend in the Philippines is a beautiful stitcher and has trouble finding patterns. I’ve stitched at night more lately and I did find some for her (she wants landscapes) and me (I like ornaments especially). I found a pattern to make as a 1st birthday gift for a sweet girl.

I hope the weather holds out so I can see my mom soon!

Nov25

Get togethers

Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2012 by Dianne

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My friend Angela (who I met through a local pal on the internet about 13-14 yrs ago) was down in southern Chester County to go to….can you guess? Longwood Gardens! She arrived in the afternoon of Thanksgiving when I was a tad busy, but Brian and I were able to have dinner with Ang and her hubby Bob the next evening. We had a nice Italian dinner and they really enjoyed it as that’s the kind of food Bob likes the best. We exchanged birthday gifts. Angela made me from sweet items, a little book made with cardboard houses and she decorated each front differently. And she made some cute hanging decorations, one with a ‘D’. I’ll have to photograph them. I gave her one of the 4″ x 4″ collages of with an antique print of a lady and child and birds in a pretty frame.

Here we are after dinner

Brian has a little problem with the camera phone,

because with the same camera I got this shot last night:

Brian is standing there in the white and red hat looking like he is getting ready for Christmas!

A fella from my high school has a bonfire event at his house each year, but usually on Black Friday. He switched it to Saturday and boy did he have a crowd. There were people from many different years of high school, but I only knew about 8 people at the time we were there. That fire sure got hot. There were about 3-4 large tables of food-barbecued meats, chili and mac and cheese, desserts. I took a bean dip and finger foods not knowing what I brought would be such a small amount. Bill was so nice. He said they have a little cooking competition with the chili and when we left he hugged and kissed me, thanking us for coming. : ) I saw a few of the same ladies who were at the pumpkin carve a few weeks earlier.

We stopped by my mom’s house as she wanted me to get some birthday gifts. I had asked for sheets and she delivered. Also got a big red mercury glass owl and Brian had gotten me a smaller one. I see a Christmas vignette in the making. We had a good time, and Brian seemed to loosen up a bit at the bonfire. It’s been a rough year for him. My brother had decorated the front windows of my mom’s house with clear lights and mostly red decorations. Inside he had started to set up his lighted houses-a harbor scene-very nice!

Oct31

Happy Halloween 2012

Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2012 by Dianne

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Halloween owl and witch shoes, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

It’s a cool, damp day here. We don’t get trick or treaters as we live on a busy road with no sidewalks.
It’s a rather low key holiday, though I enjoy decorating for it. Enjoy my ‘flashback’ post!

Sean, age 2-a magician

Tori, age 8. We both love The Wizard of Oz, or at least I think she still does.

Kenny age 3 trying on Sean’s last Halloween costume hat of a Titanic sailor and as a teen

My mom and 1.5 yr old Tori as Tinkerbelle

Sean as Dracula (photoshopped)

Oct29

Places I loved all my life

Posted on Monday, October 29, 2012 by Dianne

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We’re waiting on the ‘monster’ storm Sandy to arrive. Today I picked up a few things outside that I thought would get tossed around in the wind and rain we are expecting within hours. We put tarp down in hopes that the water would run away from the foundation and not go in the basement. We have lots to drink, enough ice for a few days and flashlights and candles. It seems she will take her good ol’ time coming inland and staying a bit. Right now it’s rainy and a bit breezy.

So I am worried about our beaches and coastlines…we have seen on tv and FB the flooded out streets of Wildwood, NJ and the waters covering Route 1 between the Delaware beach resorts of Dewey and Bethany. It’s going to be a mess and it’s probably going to be a while before things will be like they were when people are going on vacation in the summertime. I am glad I’m not on vacation now (if we were in NJ/DE/MD) as I’d be scared about where I am and what’s going on at home.

Brian’s a bit under the weather and I hope that Sean and him can tackle any labor this may make them go through. I won’t be able to do much leaning over as my hip has been bad this weekend. I did have one good night, not sure what I did, I took one glucasomine chondroitin that night.

Wish us well and again…we are on standby. We will be filling up pitchers of water and the tub tomorrow morning. We need the tub water for the toidy. Not fun.

I think this is Atlantic City, NJ about 1975

Cape May, NJ

Ocean City, MD

Rehoboth Beach, DE

Fenwick Island, DE

Oct24

Happy Birthday Sean

Posted on Wednesday, October 24, 2012 by Dianne

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Wow, Sean is 26 today! I can’t believe all those years have gone by. I scanned a few of my favorite photos and the years seem to melt away if just for a short while.

It’s nice to share special times with him. These are also of him and his Mom-mom Jeanne and Girlfriend Mary.

Love this shot from Virginia Beach this past summer.

I will him luck and happiness always.

Sep30

Fun times with the Class of ’77

Posted on Sunday, September 30, 2012 by Dianne

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I think I can speak for many in our humble, but mighty class of ’77 that our reunion was great! I got so many smiles and hugs that my head is spinning. I brought my camera and took some candid shots, but when Brian came after dinner for a visit, I was able to get in a few of them too!

Before we left.

There were 4 of us there from Mrs. Davis’ Kindergarten that was held in the basement of Sandy Bank School (now Walden). This was 1964-65! Yeah for Carol, Bill, Rona and me!

That’s Bev-we were pals over at Springton Lake Jr. high and Carol (mentioned above)is in the middle.

BTW, I loved my dress and shoes! I was comfy all night until the darn chairs put holes in my stockings.

My pal John was saying that there were lots of the same names last night-John, Carol, Bill, Janet, you get the idea. That could make it a little confusing.

We had our famous alumni, a very nice guy Todd who is a film director, screenwriter, etc. out in CA. His new movie is coming out next year-Phantom (The haunted Captain of a Soviet submarine holds the fate of the world in his hands. Forced to leave his family behind, he is charged with leading a covert mission cloaked in mystery). Cool…a submarine movie!

Todd and his sister Traci rode our bus and his mom was the guidance counselor at school. Todd was showing us his cute little nephew. He’s a proud uncle and says having a little one sure gives the family some energy.

This is horrible of me.

Then we have the couples who met in high school and got married and are still together. Margie (dark hair) and Karl are going to be grandparents next year. Both Francy and Margie have open invitations to Longwood Gardens.

My old pal Lil isn’t into blogging or Facebook, but she and another former classmate Kathy (not in attendance) have become world travelers! I asked the first place they went-Alaska! They are going to New Zealand soon. Kathy lives in CA and Lil in PA.

We had a classmate John come from Sweden to the reunion. He was sporting a cool braid and sandals. He brought his girlfriend (from Denmark) who hasn’t seen the east coast.

(Julie’s photo-thanks!)

We had the host of our beach get togethers come up too. Jim also installed one of those big satellite dishes for us many years ago-long gone. I swear it’s a small world.

A few people hadn’t come to a reunion for 25 yrs.! So nice to see the star of our senior play Sara and her hubby.

Lots of dancing and loud music…but I didn’t dare dance until I get my back checked out. My back has been better!

I sat with Darcy in the silver top and her hubby John-good pals. John and I were in more classes back in junior high.

Pretty marble staircase. I was waiting for Brian to come along.

We have lots of nurses, doctors and teachers in our group. : )

Libby and I went all the way through school together. Patty in the middle is a vet in Florida.

So in a few months, we’ll have a couple of mini reunions-one a bonfire that I haven’t attended due to the fact it was on Black Friday. It’s now the next day Saturday!

Until next time-cheers!

Thanks to Scott D and his helpers for always showing us a great evening.