June 2011

On June 16th, Ed and I celebrated our 27th anniversary. It was a weekday so it was a typical workday; however, we did celebrate the following weekend.


For Father's Day (which was the weekend after our anniversary), we went to see the Red Sox. The three of us went (me, Ed, and Dan) and we started the day by having breakfast at The RoadHouse in Belchertown. It was a beautiful day...hot and sunny and I even brought sunscreen with me (versus last year when we brought raincoats and sweatshirts!)!

An added bonus was that this was two days after the Bruins won the Stanley Cup and so the Bruins made a special appearance before the start of the game!

All-in-all, a nice day!

June also marked the end of our "choir" year at our church. It's been about 6 years that I've been singing in the choir. We had our party at the new rectory and spouses and family were invited as well. Ed and Fr. Vern get along quite well and enjoy the opportunity to get together for food, drinks, and conversation. I love the picture below, so just had to share it!

Ed and Fr. Vern at the Choir Party (end of June)

June 1st Tornado

Okay, I'm back tracking to catch up on missing posts in this blog. June...June 1st to be exact...the day a tornado ripped through western MA. It was quite devastating and touched many lives.

On that day, Dan and I were both working at ES. I was in a meeting and he overheard how a tornado touched down in Springfield. We both checked online and saw the video. At that time, though, we did not know the full extent of the storm. We thought it was an isolated tornado that touched down in one location...that's typically the only thing that happens when a tornado touches down in western MA.

It was a Wednesday, so Ed was playing golf in Northampton. No TV so he had no clue about the tornado. Because of the rain, he got out early and we all met at Arizona Pizza for dinner together. At Arizona Pizza there are TVs at most tables/booths and we all were glued to the news and the extent of the storm/damage began to unfold. We ended getting home before a second string of storms were coming through. We did lose power that night for a few hours, but that was it.

Overall, we were very thankful that losing electricity was our only inconvenience. Our nephew and his family live in Brimfield and the tornado hit less than a mile from their home (see photos below) but they were all safe and there was no damage to their home. As we watched footage and saw the damage in Springfield, Monson, and Brimfield it is amazing more lives weren't lost.

Most importantly, though, we were reminded to be thankful for each day and we were reminded how quickly, in an instance, lives can change.

Below are some pictures we took on Paige Hill Road in late September, four months after the tornado hit.