Operation Leonard - Part One

So today we started getting ready for my Dad visit. Our second bedroom is currently and office with a futon, computer table, bookcase, chair and lots of what I could call "junk" that we do not have room for anywhere else. The plan was to move some of the stuff our to the garage and move my old bed back in to make the office into a second bedroom. We really couldn't expect Dad to sleep on the futon, could we??


Here are a few pictures I took today as we began the process:

The futon in the hall way:




Contents of the office in our bedroom:






Moving the filing cabinet:



Hmmmmmmmmm Not sure what he is doing:




Moving my Swiss princess bed from the garage:




The bed get reassembled in the bedroom:





Lar was exhausted when he was done he had to take a nap.


Next step was to put new art work in place:






Pooh knows which flag to fly the highest! :-)




So the Princess Swiss Bed is back in place ( Gwen you can stop laughing now!! ) and Part Two of Operation Leonard is to air the mattress, make the bed and make the room pretty. We are so looking forward to your visit Daddy!

By special request by Gwen - My Mom........

.......... Here is a picture of my new hair do from my day playing hookie in The City.






Eyes are shut due to October sun in Mountain view :-)

Hope you are happy now Mum!

Leona

How scary are they???

Aoife and Aislinn pictured at the UCC Halloween Party.










Here is some of Aoifes Halloween Artwork:








And Aislinn's:

Little Joys give us our wings

As you can see my Blog is called "Fly my butterfly wings", I have loved butterflys for as long as I remember and I am excited to know that my two nieces especially Aoife loves them too. Here are a few of the butterflies that "fly in my home":




The little joys that give me my wings are my three wonderful nieces. Here is a picture of a butterfly that Aoife painted for me:





On the back it says "Aoife 07" in Nannies handwriting and then in Aoife's handwriting it has a love heart three kisses and says "To Leona love Aoife". It holds pride of place on my bookcase.

In my Easter basket from Larry, I got a beautiful softbound bible with a butterfly on the front (amazingly enough at Costco):





Also in my basket was the following oven mitt which is never used and is only there to ornate the kitchen:





Recently Larry has been working with clay and he made me the following:



Here are a few of Aoife on her birthday this year, how cute is this:

Playing hookey in the City

Tuesday I spent the day in the city and had a great time. The sky was a clear blue, sun was shining and it was 82 degrees very unseasonal for October 23rd. As I was coming up from Mountain View where the weather is usually warmer I put on my jeans and a black warm sweater, boy was it a wrong choice.

I walked the streets as if it was the first time I was there. On Market I stood and watched the shoeshine guy and enjoyed his jazz music. I wandered around watching the tourist waiting for the cable car and watched the hot dog vendor on Union square.

First stop was to Cinta Salon and got my hair done! Left feeling great, Dymphna and Jackie are always fun to spent time with and do a good job with my hair.

Lunch time came and the tourist and shoppers were mingled with those who work in the city out enjoying the sun and eating a salad or a sandwich for lunch.

During the weekend, as I cleaned up in the office I came across two gift cards for Talbots and Ann Taylor so after my tour of Union Square I headed to Post Street and did some shopping. I left the stores with lots of new tops and only spent 91 cents of my money. I was great to shop with free money!! :-)

As I crossed back over Union square towards my car, I passed the flower seller and some sunflowers caught my eyes. They reminded me of my friend Therese who used them as her wedding centerpieces. She is now in Moldova for a year and on Tuesday morning we spoke on the Skype for a few moments. It was so great to hear her voice and hear Marcus coo in the background. I bought two sunflowers, one for her and one for me. They sit on my coffee table right now and make me smile when I look at them, Therese and I have lots of wonderful memories and I know we will have lots of them in the future.
Here are the flowers:




I had such a great day, I need to plan a few more days playing hookey in the city!

Welcome to the family of the Catholic Church Eimear Gwendolyn

Yesterday in the Church of the Incarnation, Frankfield, Cork, my newest niece Eimear Gwendolyn was christened. Here are a few pictures of her big day.

Arriving at the church with her Daddy, my brother Brian.



She is dressed in a crochet gown made with love by my Mom, Gwen which was also worn by her big sisters Aoife (5) and Aislinn(2 1/2).

Niamh making sure Eimear is all ready for her special moment and Granddad O'F holding her candle looking very proud.




As Fr.Crowley started the prayers Aoife and Aislinn sat quietly taking their job of holding the water and candle very seriously.



Getting ready to have the water over her head - will she cry????









What a wonderful O'Flaherty she was she didn't even cry!

Cork City is having a water problem at the moment and that morning the south side of the city had no tap water therefore Eimear was baptized with Ballygown, a local bottled water. Fr.Crowley said Eimear was the first baby in the history of the church to have blessed bottled water and he thanked God for Ballygowan.


Brian and Aislinn lighting the candle from the Pascal candle




Brian, Niamh, Aoife, Aislinn, Eimear and Fr. Crowley after the cermony:



Eimear with her Mammy, Niamh and her sister and two cousins Caoimhe and Aine



Thanks to Brian for sending the photos to me so quickly and for Dad for telling me the little stories behind the photos. It made me feel like I was there. Need to plan my next trip home so I can hold my newest niece before she gets too big!


Update:

Brian sent me some more pictures take later in the evening of Eimear on her own and then with her Grandparents.

Look what a happy baby she is:




With Nannie and Granddad O'Flaherty:


With Nannie and Granddad McMahon:

Flowers at Holy God

Today I was on Skype with my 2 and half year old niece, Aislinn, and she told her Auntie Leona a really cute story!

My Dad is the Sacristan at our Parish church in Ireland and today Nannie and Aislinn went to visit him as he got the church ready for a wedding.

Here is what she said "Oh the church was beautiful, flowers at the door, flowers up the sides, flowers at steps and flowers at Holy God"

" flowers at Holy God" translates to flowers on the altar. I just wished I was in Ireland to give her a really big hug and soak up her innocence.

Isn't she the cutest? Here is a picture taken of her on her summer holidays in Killarney, Co. Kerry: