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My parents got divorced when I was 10 years old. We were living in suburban Chicago at the time. My father stayed in the Midwest, while my mother packed up four young children, two dogs and a cage full of caterpillars and moved east to New York State to begin the rest of our lives.

That was 44 years ago. My siblings and I ultimately settled on the east coast, got married, and had seven children among us. My father remarried and moved around a lot, but never made it father east than Missouri.

My stepmother Angie passed away last fall, after which Dad moved to the east coast to be closer to his children and grandchildren. For the first time in years we celebrated Thanksgiving together.  For the first time in years, we sat around the same Christmas tree.

And, the first time in 44 years, my siblings and I are spending Father’s Day with our father.

I hope that your Father’s Day is equally special.

Sitting with my Dad: (L-R, also youngest to oldest) Mindy, me, Chris and Greg

Sesiun groups found anyplace they could to play. Here, two groups play about 50 yards apart.

If you’re an Irish musician and you live in or near Rochester, chances are very good you were up at the lake yesterday afternoon.

The occasion was the annual “Stand Around and Play” gathering hosted by Lynn Pilaroscia, whom my husband and I have known for about 20 years.  Once a year Lynn (who plays the fiddle himself) books the White House at Webster Park and invites all of his Irish musician friends to come on by and … well, stand around and play.

It’s really a sight to see. At any one moment in the afternoon you might see anywhere from four to seven small groups of musicians, each of which has found a corner of the White House property — on the front porch, on the back porch, under a tree, in the main room — jamming. Once one tune is done, someone starts up another one, and if you know it, you simply join in. There’s no set list, no applause, just a bunch of musicians doing what they love most.

No matter where you were, music surrounded you: bluegrass, waltzes, folk tunes, and traditional Irish. Jigs, reels and ballads. And the variety of instruments was astounding. I saw a flute, concertinas, banjos, guitars, an electric guitar, string basses, mandolins, accordions, tin whistles, a cello, bodhrans, a hammer dulcimer, and lot and lots of fiddles.

What a wonderful way to spend a sunny summer afternoon at the lake.

Click on the photo to see a short video clip of some of the musicians.

Dear Erin,

So, tonight is your Senior Ball. It’s fun to see how excited you are about it.  Who’d have guessed that someone could talk about one thing nonstop for three straight months?

I’ve enjoyed our pre-ball mommy/daughter time, dress shopping and jewelry shopping. I didn’t mind at all ordering and picking up the boutonniere, or taking you to your mani-pedi appointment, or taxiing your friend to our house so she could do your hair.  It was never a bother. On the contrary, these simple moments we have together now will become few and far between, much sooner than I’d like, and I’ve been trying to capture and absorb every single moment.

Senior Ball. The last big dance of your high school career.  I know you’re going to have a wonderful time and make some great memories.  You’re going to look unbelievably beautiful and grown-up. You’re going to have a very nice guy on your arm who loves you a lot and whom I trust.  And when all the photos are done, and you finally head off for the evening’s festivities, all will be well.

But.

Bad things happen and people do stupid things. Don’t drink (that goes without saying). Don’t get into a car with someone who’s been drinking.   Be careful when you’re driving home, and watch out for idiots on the road.  And deer.  Don’t stay out too late. Make good decisions.

Come home to me safe.

Love, Mom.

So the DOT is tweeting its Bay Bridge construction schedule. But this is the tweet from yesterday, and I’m having trouble making sense of it:

FRI 06/01: No Work Today. SAT 06/02: WBound down to 1 Lane 6:00AM-2:00PM; then 2 Lanes 2 PM- 4 PM; EBound only to 2 lanes 7:00AM-4:00PM

I’m not sure if that means two lanes will be closed or two lanes will be open from 7 am to 4 pm.  All I DO know is that Ridge Road traffic is unbearable today, and when I left the YMCA this morning, Bay Road was backed up father than I could see.  So something is happening up there at the bridge.

So try to avoid Ridge Road AND the Bay Bridge today.  And DOT, give some more thought to how to use your 140 characters (for example, how about “6am-2pm,” “2-4pm” and “7am-4pm”) and put some verbs in there.

Yesterday, like towns large and small all across America, Webster celebrated Memorial Day with a parade and a beautiful ceremony at Webster Rural Cemetery. The weather was gorgeous, there were tons of people lining the streets with their folding chairs and blankets, there were lots and lots of flags and patriotic shirts, and the parade sported sharp marching units, the always impressive Webster Marching Band, fire trucks, Boy Scouts and Brownies, and lots more.  The ceremony following the parade was moving and Taps made people cry.

At least I ASSUME that all happened yesterday, because for the first time in a long time I was not able to attend the day’s festivities. I was out of town with my daughter, visiting my father in Greene, NY, a little town north of Binghamton.   But I dare say, if I couldn’t be in Webster for the parade, being in Greene was a pretty good second.

If you’ve never been in Greene, picture Webster, but smaller. It’s a quiet little village of about 2,000 people, tucked in a valley along the Chenango River. Its downtown about 2 blocks long, and cars park in the middle of the street.  They’ve got tree-lined sidewalks, an old five-and-dime shop, a couple of diner-type restaurants, and historical markers on pretty much every corner.

And they have a Memorial Day parade.

I was very excited to find out that I could see a parade, since I was missing the one at home.  So yesterday morning at 10 am, when Webster’s parade was just ending, my father, daughter and I were standing on Main Street in Greene, watching for their town’s parade to begin. We had gotten there a few minutes early to find a spot, but we needn’t have worried. Even though the parade would stretch for only about half a mile, there were plenty of empty places to stand. And we didn’t worry about setting up chairs, either, since we’d heard from several people that the parade wasn’t very substantial. I believe the way my brother-in-law put it was “Don’t blink.”

But they had nothing to be embarrassed about. It was a nice little parade that oozed small-town charm. Sure, there were only seven or eight  units, and it lasted all of 12 minutes (including five minutes when the whole parade paused for a wreath-placing ceremony). But the fact it wasn’t an hour-long spectacular didn’t seem to matter to the veterans who marched with fierce pride, the high school band members who played their hearts out, and the Scouts who waved and grinned broadly, clearly enjoying their brief time in the spotlight.

I took a lot of photos (of course), so if you’re at all interested in seeing what another small-town parade looks like, click HERE or on any of the images to go to a gallery.