Fix You

For those of you who missed "Young at Heart", here are some clips:



And finally, Fred Knittle, an original member of the chorus, sings Coldplay's "Fix You". He can't breathe on his own and is on oxy­gen while singing. Fred, a machine gunner in WWII, passed away on January 1, 2009.


Young At Heart - Fix You

June Marie Martinez-Roldan MySpace Video

pink glove boogie

This video features more than 200 doctors, nurses, lab technicians, administrators and kitchen and janitorial staff from the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Ore. In the video, they all wear pink latex gloves, and they dance and sing to Jay Sean’s R&B song “Down.”

The video was shot at the hospital to help raise money in the fight against breast cancer. A portion of sales from the pink gloves will provide mammograms for uninsured women.
Enjoy!

Young at Heart

The most amazing documentary is currently playing on your local PBS station. It's called "Young at Heart" and, although it premiered January 12th, you can still find it rerunning for a few more days under the heading "Independent Lens" on your TV directory. I don't know why I was so emotionally affected by this film but I was. I laughed and cried as the film followed the lives of a group of chorus members from Northampton, Mass. who are all in their 80's and 90's as they prepared for a big concert. The grit of these people was an inspiration, yet they showed such humor and positive energy to perform in the face of serious health issues. This one was right up there with the Susan Boyle performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" for me. Here are some links with more photos and biographies as well as PBS viewing times for your area:

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/young-at-heart/

http://www.youngatheartchorus.com/index.php

I went on Amazon and found the DVD of this documentary. I ordered two...one to keep and one to share with family and friends. If you would like to order one, here is the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Young-Heart-Joe-Benoit/dp/B001BBAVKQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1263677042&sr=8-1

The DVD is only $9.99 and I wish I had the money to purchase one for every member of the "Greatest Generation" I know and for every nursing home and senior center in the area. It would make a wonderful gift!
I hope you get to watch "Young at Heart " and share this amazing story with others.

Cheaper by the Dozen

Our grandson, Brian Lawson, auditioned in November for his first "professional" theatre role in Cheaper By the Dozen at the Portland Players and got it! He will be playing Joe Scales, a flamboyently dressed cheerleader, who is one of Anne Gilbreth's "suitors".
Opening night is this Friday, January 15th and the play runs through January 31st. Showtimes are Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $20.00 for adults, $18.00 for Seniors and $15.00 for students. The box office phone number is 799-7337 to reserve tickets.
Portland Players is located at 420 Cottage Rd. in South Portland.
Break a leg, Brian!!!

Mom is home!

Mom was discharged from the hospital on Sunday afternoon and is glad to be home with Tabby.

Welcome home, Mom!

Back to MMC

Mom is back in the hospital. She was admitted at about 1 a.m. Wednesday morning with shortness of breath. She is resting comfortably after a couple of difficult nights at home. We are not sure how long the doctor will keep her at MMC but we are glad that she is getting some rest. She was home almost three
weeks after her last hospitalization and maybe her body just wasn't quite ready to resume all the day to day activites being home involved. She is in room 361 and her bedside phone # is 662-7561. Hopefully, this will be a short stay...just until she gets her medications regulated and more of her strength back.

So... I think I have already broken yet another of my New Year's resolutions...the one about spending as much time having fun as visiting hospitals and doctor's offices. By the way, only two of our esteemed blog readers have added their resolutions to my list on the previous blog - Roger and Kathy -
I'm still waiting for yours...

Aunt Ann called tonight to see how Mom is. It was great talking with her. I remember that when I was about 12, I thought Aunt Ann was so cool because she wore red shoes and drove a VW bug! (Don't worry, Aunt Ann...I still think you're cool!)

By the way, Happy Belated Birthday, Maureen...I had forgotten that you and Grampa Smith shared a birthday on January 6th. Hope it was a good one...

Happy Birthday, Grampa Smith!

Happy 110th Birthday, Grampa Smith...if there's vaudeville in heaven, we know you're still doing the old soft shoe... love you forever.

Arthur W. Smith 1900 - 1977

What's your resolution?

Thought we'd have some fun to start off the New Year on the blog...how about sharing a few of our (probably soon-to -be -broken) New Year's resolutions! I'll start with a few of mine:

In the "tried and true" category:

1. Lose weight

2. Grow my hair

3. Quit smoking (already broken)

4. Learn Japanese

5. Be nice

In the "new this year"category:

1. Make my "bucket list" so that I'll have time before I'm too old to do anything on it

2. Stop making so many lists (already broken)

3. Overcome my fear of colonoscopies

4. Make the blog even more exciting (???)

5. Spend at least as many minutes doing fun things as I spend in hospitals and doctor's offices

6. Have another "cousins weekend" in 2010

7. Learn all the words to the "Maine Counties" song

8. Drink more Margaritas

9. Be nice

Now it's YOUR turn...just click the "Comment" button and have at it...I triple dog dare you!!!

Happy Holidays! (Finally!)

Well it's New Years Eve and I've been meaning to write this post since Christmas! I don't know where the week has gone since Christmas-but I think that it took the whole week for me to recover and at least two days to put it all away! We had a busy, holiday and of course, received the best gift of the season in that Mom was home from rehab. in time for the holiday! She's recovering at home and getting stronger every day-of course not fast enough for her. She says she's never come home from the hospital feeling so exhausted, but then again she's never been sick for so long. She went to the hospital November 9-home December 16-that's a long time. She had a followup doctor's appointment Wednesday and checked out well. The doctor said for each day she was hospitalized it will probably take a week to regain the strength she lost, so she will probably be all winter getting back up to speed, but at least she's on her way! We are all very proud of the strength and grit she's shown! Go Mom!
We had Christmas all together at our house. It was crazy, loud, chaotic and fun! We decided not to try to have a sit down dinner-way to much for my house, so we all made a number of dishes and had a few crock pots, so people could just eat whatever when they were hungry. Tons of food-meat and cheese platters, lasagna, homemade macaroni and cheese, sausage, meatballs, scallops, about a thousand desserts-the list goes on and on! If anyone left hungry-it's their fault! Some pictures of the fun...
























I'm sure that most of you reading this recognize the usual "cast of characters". The last picture is of my daughter-in-law, Erin's parents, Carolyn and Dale Shaw. The very last picture is of Dale Shaw and me. The significance of this picture is to represent survivorship! Dale battled pancreatic cancer this year and of course I continue my fight with ovarian cancer. We both have a lot to celebrate!
With the coming New Year I have been reflecting a lot on 2009. I am ever so grateful to be in continued remission. Tomorrow is the start of a new year, a new beginning for each of us, and it is a time to take stock of our lives and what we would like to see for the future. For me, I am thankful to be alive and in remission, and I am thankful for my wonderful husband, family and friends. This year, I will try to find a way to deal with life's stresses, I will pray more, and I will live my life to the fullest. I will love and laugh freely. I wish for all of you a very happy and healthy New Year, filled with love, laughter, and hope! Nancy

an early Christmas gift

...a new grandchild! Rob & Wendy are expecting in July 2010! We can't wait!

Robert, Wendy, Brian & Rob Lawson

Now you can search the blog!

Look to the right of your screen and you will see the new SEARCH feature for our blog. I tried it out and it works! Want to read about yourself or a relative? Type in the name, hit "search" and up will come any blog entries in which you or that person were mentioned. Want to read about a place (Wells Beach, Bayberry Hill, Black Mountain...)? Just type in the place name, hit "search" and any blogs about that place will come up. It's cool, it's fun, and it WORKS...enjoy!

Christmas with Great Friends

Tonight Aaron and I hosted our "gourmet group" as we celebrated Christmas early. Our group is a little more scattered than Cheryl's. We don't get together as regularly as they do, something we need to work on, and our food isn't really gourmet. We don't care if it's take out Chinese or pizza, we just love catching up with old, dear friends. Our group consists of Aaron and I, Betsy and Sted Seavey, who have been best friends since high school (over 35 years!), Joanne and Hank Metz, and Debie and Mickey Chabot, from Wells. I first met them when Kit went to be babysat in their neighborhood in 1979! We shared a lot of good times as our children grow up together. They were my support during my divorce, and more recently as I travel on my cancer journey, and Kit's "other adoptive families". Hank and Mickey were also my "go to guys" when I needed something fixed or had an emergency as a single Mom.
Tonight we decided to make it an English Christmas dinner. It was a lot of work, but a great time. We decorated the table places with ornaments with each guest's name in glitter, and had English "crackers" on each plate.

For those who haven't ever popped a cracker, you pull the two ends, it makes a loud noise, and a sprinkle of confetti and treats fly out. Everyone gets a paper crown, a small toy, and a fortune or riddle.Here are a few shots of us in our fine crowns.






For dinner we served roast beef and gravy with Yorkshire pudding, an English and family favorite,which reminded me of the fun we had when Hilda visited from England and give me a lesson in preparing "authentic" Yorkshire pudding (miss you, Hilda). We also had potato, and corn. It was great!
For dessert I made a Mint Mountain White Chocolate bundt cake. It is a recipe I got this fall, and Hank made for us to try for Thanksgiving. Thanks, Hank, for sharing. He bought a bundt pan that makes it in the shape of mountain peaks/trees. We also had vanilla ice cream with homemade hot fudge sauce.

It was a great night. It really reminded me of the true meaning of this season of giving. We get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of buying, wrapping and decorating that we sometimes forget to celebrate whats really the best gift...the gift of support and life-long friendship. I hope you all receive these "gifts" this holiday season. Merry Christmas! Nancy