State College, PA

Home of JoePa and the Nittany Lions

The Monday after Thanksgiving I picked up my daughter, Lena at Hollins Manor Home for Adults and we headed up Interstate 81 on our way to State College, Pa. We arrived at Thomas and Ann's house after a dreary, rainy, foggy but safe and uneventful 6 hours.

As soon as we walked into the house, my 15 month old grandson Ben



gave me a great big hug. I grinned from ear to ear and told Ann, “That made the 6 hours worth it – anything else is just icing on the cake." And there was lots of icing over the next few days !

On Tuesday, Ann fixed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner for all of us, and her Mom and step-dad joined us. Then she left early to take Casey to get ready for her role in The Central Pennsylvania Arts Council version of The Nutcracker. While Ann stayed backstage and herded little girls, Lena, Thomas and I sat out in the audience and enjoyed a wonderful performance by the Ballet, the LIVE orchestra and the Children's Choir. It's been years since I've been to a Nutcracker with live music. It makes such a wonderful difference. Casey was beautiful, of course and it was so much fun to watch her dance in that beautiful theater.



On Wednesday night, Ann went with her Mom and step-dad, and Sarah and her friend Nina







to enjoy the show as part of the audience instead of the back stage crew. Thomas and I stayed home and babysat Ben while we watched Penn State's men's basketball team beat VA Tech – on TV, but we did get to see it!!

Sarah is now going to Kindergarten at Corl Street Elementary School where Casey is in the 4th grade. I had lunch with each of them on separate days. When Ms. Davis, Casey's teacher from last year saw me in the hall, she yelled, “Grandpa's back” and gave me a hug. I got to spend some time in each of their classes after lunch. They seemed pleased to have Grandpa visit and I know I had a ball.

Ann and the girls were busy making cookies before I arrived.



Lena and I picked up the girls from school on Thursday afternoon and we went to the Creamery for some of the world famous Penn State Ice Cream. The new Creamery is big, bright and airy, but somehow lacks the charm of the old building, which was torn down this summer. The ice cream, however, was as good as I remember when I was there 40+ years ago.

Here's another picture of Sarah



We got up bright and early Friday morning to return to Salem on a beautiful sunny day. The Shenandoah Valley is such a pretty drive. I started missing the Grandkids almost before we got out of town. But I'll see them again in a few weeks for Christmas.

Life is Good !

Thanksgiving in Salem - VA, not MA

The Milan family "adopted" me three years ago when they invited me to their family Easter dinner. Some years before they started having their Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners in the community hall of our Church. And they invited a few lucky friends to join them. I had a wonderful time, met many Milan's that I had not met before, enjoyed the food, the games and the conversation.

The following year they decided to do Easter at Nancy and Barry Trent's home. I hesitated to go. It just seemed less appropriate to crash a family party at someone's home than it did in the Church Hall. But two different Milan's invited me, so I went. I had even more fun than the first time. I sent Nancy a thank you note. She replied that the thought was very sweet and appreciated, but for future reference, family did NOT send thank you notes to family for family gatherings. I'll not miss a Milan gathering of any kind when I'm in Salem !

This year was great, as always. Wonderful dinner, fun games and lively conversations. I sat for dinner with Rick Milan and his two daughters, Laura and Emily, and his son, Kerry. We then retired to a side room where Rick taught us all that you should never play Blogger with the guy that brought the game. I won't embarrass us patsies with the scores. But Rick's score had more digits than anyone else's.

The "Emily" is the young lady I introduced to you in my October 10 blog as "Another 13 yr old that I've known from Church since she was 2 or so..." An incredible young lady. When I went back to find the date, I re-read what she had said the day before..."even school's been great - you know that warm feeling that you get when you're spending the day with friends, all laughing, smiling, joking, and you suddenly really appreciate life and your spirits rise to the point that you could almost start crying from joy? I have experienced that at least five times every day for the past, I dunno, two weeks or so. It's been wonderful."

Can you see why I love to talk with her? We weren't able to get together before this dinner. So it was great to catch up on her school, orchestra, and acting news.

Here are some pictures

Some of the kids



Food Line



Nancy and Barry with their son, Will



Emily's family plus Laura's boyfriend, Nathanial

left to right, Kerry, Nathanial, Laura, Rick, Emily



Emily and me



So much to be thankful for on such an appropriate day !

The Monday after Thanksgiving I drove to State College, PA to spend a few days with Thomas, Ann and the 3 Grandkids. Stay tuned - I WILL catch up and it will NOT be a month between posts again.