May in photos

It’s been a slow month around these parts on the blog front, but that’s not to say it’s been a slow month in my life. When the month of May is said and done, I will have spent about the same amount of time here at home in Massachusetts as I have spent in Pennsylvania. One trip was planned — my annual Pittsburgh weekend (for baseball games) this year also coinciding with my niece’s 21st birthday and (the following weekend) the annual somewhat-infamous Newton spring shindig. But the first trip was not at all planned: the death of my paternal grandfather, Russell H. Yeany Sr., or as I called him, simply “Pop.” I’m not going to try to describe how close a relationship we had, but to give you some idea here’s a photo showing how close I lived to my grandparents’ house when growing up. And I often ran that distance as fast as I could with mom yelling my name because I was late for dinner (or “supper” as I would have called it then). Pop was a gentle giant, and he lived a life full of love and cherished memories. He was 86 years old when he died peacefully at home, in his Lazy-boy, watching a ballgame on television. He had spoken recently to my grandmother about the fact that his father (my great-grandfather M.M. Yeany) died when he was 86 years old. Which of course lead to an interesting conversation between me and my dad, who just turned 66 in May. But in all honesty, I can’t think of a better way to go — at an age old enough to have enjoyed it long enough before your body totally starts falling apart, with little warning, at home, with a spouse of 50+ years at your side. I’ll miss you Pop, but a part of you is always alive in my heart for as long as it beats. (The beautiful portrait here was taken last summer shortly after Pop got his new Cub Cadet. The photo is courtesy of my cousin Susan Matthews.)

On both of these trips to Pennsylvania, I did something I should do far more often … take along the friggin’ camera. So here are some various photos I took, strung together in a bit of narrative, in lieu of a more detailed blog entry. (A picture tells a thousand words and all that …)

The daffodils (or what’s left of them) were in bloom when I was unexpectedly called to my parents. The trip for the funeral also coincided with my sister’s birthday. We had a belated birthday dinner the day after the funeral. Me with my niece. The birthday gal and her hubby. Mom and dad. On the second trip of the month, I have no pictures from the Pirates games this year. It was cold. It rained. A Sunday game was cancelled which meant a Monday doubleheader, and thank goodness we could duck inside the club box area to get warmed up. Pirates win 2 of 3 games I attend, but still can’t get back to the .500 mark. Now some more pictures … Sled, Barb, and I went to the Mattress Factory, a Pittsburgh art museum. Back home to my parents for my niece’s 21st birthday dinner (family pics) followed by a bar outing with my niece, and a surprise gathering of her 21+ y.o. friends. I also walked around in the woods and took some photos. Then it was off to New Castle, where the first night was spent around the fire with Jack, Jan, and the Rev. Bob. Then Jack burned some of Jan’s things. Then Jack appeared to become the fire and we ran like hell. Not really. The next day (day of the shindig) it rained. It poured. We kept the fire going and the umbrella steaming. But the clouds parted, it became a beautiful afternoon, and we all ate and drank too much. After Jack fell in the pond (HA! HA! You knew I had to get that in here, Jack!) and Ryan (the official pyromaniac) left for the evening, I took over fire duty and burned everything that wasn’t nailed down and went to bed when the daylight was nudging night. Then I flew back home and have been trying to get caught up ever since. All links above lead to gallery photos, and the pics within this entry also click through to larger gallery versions. More photos to be posted from this trip … eventually.