Sunday, September 23, 2007

Is it just my husband or would all men do this?

So last night Larry told me when he shaved that morning his face was very dry and flaky " ............but I opened the top drawer and found some moisturize and it worked wonders." I stared wondering to myself which moisturizer he used.

In the top drawer there are a number of small sample moisturizers from Clinique and Lancome also wondered if it was the Mac one I just bought myself as a special gift. I responded " That is great honey which one did you use" His response was the green one!

I sat there for about 10 mins thinking - the Clinique one is yellow, Mac is white in a silver container..........I don't remember any green ones. As I continued to play Jewel Quest, I forgot about this until I went into the bathroom later last night. I was busy on the loo and I caught sight of a tube of cream on the vanity. I picked it up and stared to laugh out loud.

My wonderful dear husband had used "Earth Therapeutics Gardner's Hand Repair" on his face! I read the back and it says " Use everyday, year round to promote softer, smoother, younger-looking hands. Also works on knees, elbow and other dry skin areas" It has shea butter and oatmeal so I suppose it cannot be that bad for his face.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Lee Rowing Club

My Dad has been involved in Lee Rowing Club, Cork City, Ireland since 1959. Rowing has always been part of my childhood memories from Saturdays and Sundays at the Club while Dad trained the crews, to making sandwiches on regatta days, to running up the banks of the Lee shouting " Come on Lee" as the crews were reaching the finish line. Summer weekends were spent driving to regatta in places such as Clonmel, Dungarvan, Limerick, Skibbereen to name but a few. I never actually rowed myself but Brian, my older brother, did for many years for both Lee and University College Cork.

For many years Dad was a coach, cox, captain and President of the club. He is the only cox in the history of the club that was never thrown in the water after a win - they were just too afraid to do it!! The crews just didn't realize that under his tough exterior is a big soft loving heart.

On Friday night, Lee Rowing Club, honored my Dad by dedicating a boat in his name. This honor is normally reserved for someone who has passed away but my Dad is so much respected they wanted to show him how they appreciated all he has done for the club in the last 48 years. Here are some pictures taken on Friday night:












There is a joke in my house that Dad loves anything named Lee the most! The river that goes through Cork City is the Lee, his beloved club is called Lee Rowing Club and his only daughter (Me!) is Leona but has had "Lee" as a nick name for as long as I remember! My brothers used to tell me I used to smell like the river which to be honest is not a compliment but I suppose that is what brothers do! My name came from Dad's as he is Leonard.

We as a family have made some life long friends with people we have met through rowing. To name a few:

Mary Keating was like my third grandmother. Dick her husband died many years ago and since then every Tuesday night my Dad had a date with her and was know to everyone as my Dad's girlfriend. Mary's birthday was Christmas eve and we visited her always on this day. Her home was also a place to visit on family occasions such as College graduation etc. My fondest last memory of Mary was dancing with her at Brian's wedding. I last spoke to her on Christmas Eve 2005 and she told me she had her maxi dress all ready to dance at my wedding the following September. Unfortunately she died a few weeks later and never made it to my wedding but we did light a candle for her on the altar that day! My memories of my childhood are filed with Mary and Dick at the club.

Visits to Jim Ryders farm was always exciting. I grew up in a city but only about 15 mins drive away was the Ryder farm. Here I learned where milk came from and remember running through the fields picking blackberries for Mom to make jam. The highlight of any visit to the Ryders house was the smell and the taste of Ita's home baking. Jim died the same year as Mary and one of the boats was also dedicated to him.

From about age 12 I spent my summers at the home of Richard Hosford in Sandycove outside Skibereen. We went for the last two weeks of July for Dads summer holidays. After two weeks, when Dad had to go back to work we always begged to stay longer and mostly went home the last week in August to get ready for school in September. Memories of early morning fishing trips, late nights climbing the cliffs, helping the local farmers bring in the hay, eating Edith's ( Richard's Mother) chocolate biscuit cake and listening to her stories are just a few and have lots more, too many to recount. It was a wonderful place to spend our summer holidays. I also can say that I have been in nearly every house from Lough Hyne to Glandore, as well as fishing Richard's other job was to read electricity meters and I used to go with him in the car. I think I made his work days longer as, of course, I had to chat to everyone!

Len O'Flaherty was honoured on Friday night for his commitment and years of hard work at Lee Rowing Club and my only regret is I was not there to share it. Love you Dad!

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Are we Apple obsessed?

On June 29th we both got new iPhones and LOVE them. A few days later I bought myself a new MacBook Pro and also LOVE it! We go to Palo Alto for dinner a few times a week and dessert is a visit to the Apple store. Who knew that that would be fun!

Thursday of last week we even went to Los Gatos for the opening of the new Apple store and it was so much fun and we got a couple of free T-shirts.


Today I was out doing some errands and Larry called me on his iPhone to check in to see where I was and to confirm where we would have dinner. I was chatting away telling him I was on the way to Hillsdale to go to the Mac store and then going to St. Bart's  5pm Mass. He was on his way to Palo Alto Apple store to get a new Apple iPhone Bluetooth headset which was my anniversary gift to him. We arranged our meeting point at Max's in Redwood City.

About 10 mins later I was parking at the Hillsdale shopping mall and my phone rang again. It was Larry who said " Hey, Honey, do you know that there is no Apple store in Hillsdale? The nearest one is in Burlingame" My exasperated response was garbled by my laughter as I explained to him that I was going to the Mac Cosmetic store to get some new moisturizer!

Do you think we are Apple obsessed?