Private Shawn Brady May 2009

Our nephew, Shawn, joined the Army in the fall. He left for Oklahoma and basic training right after Christmas. So, the last time we saw him was at Christmas 2008.

This was the new haircut. When Shawn was small he loved having his head shaved in the summers, so this wasn't a shock to us. (smile) Of course that serious, kick a-- look on his face was scarey!

He graduated boot camp March 19 and stayed in Oklahoma for 6 weeks of extra training for ground artillery (I think).

This would be a pic of Shawn enjoying his first good meal after graduation!

We were lucky enough to have him home for 3 weeks. He arrived home on May 12 and is leaving tomorrow, June 2 to head to Ft. Bliss in Texas. We're sorry to see him go again, but thrilled that he'll still be here on US soil.

His folks had a welcome home/graduation party for him on Saturday, May 16. The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time with lots of food and fellowship.

Below are some pictures from the day.

Shawn & his sister, Kristin (wrong date on photo)

This would be the good looking kid in his dress uniform!


Shawn with his 'favorite aunt'! When in the world did he grow into a man?

Etta James & The Walshs'

WOW! It's certainly been a while since I've updated the blog. Once we returned from Singapore and Malaysia it was non stop.

However, I've been working the last 3 years on slowing down and it's finally happening. After traveling 40-45 weekends a year for well over 6 years, I will only be traveling 23 this year.

I've been lucky enough to be working 2 fire halls on weekends here at home. That allows me to be home at least 2 weekends every month. Yippee! I had to make some choices of giving certain events up, which wasn't easy. But I must say, I actually have a little more time on my hands and I am enjoying that.

So much time that on Friday, May 15, my friend Pam Boulden and I took a road trip. Our first stop was to visit Pete and Betty, dancers who moved to Wildwood, NJ last year. We miss them at our weekly classes and upon our 1:00 arrival they were waiting to see us as anxiously as we were to see them.

Pete, Pam and Betty

Shortly after moving, Betty was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She has been through so much and has bounced back like you wouldn't believe! Pete says she's 'usually' a very good patient.

Pam & Pete

Pete putting on Betty's necklace. Now this was a sight to see; only because the catch on the necklace was very 'dainty' and we all had a hard time seeing it. Pete finally got it on and all was well.

Joanne and Teacher's Pet (Pete's Alias)

We had a great visit and a fabulous lunch. Pete, who has now learned his way around the kitchen decided to 'call out' for sandwiches. Betty tells us he has certainly done a good job taking care of her and their home.

We enjoyed some great stories about how they both have coped with this life threatening situation. Pete seemed like the perfect care giver to us. Well, until he tried to show and tell.....Betty Stopped Him! Poor guy has his own method of trying to help Betty dress......We learned that years ago, he could get a bra off 10 times quicker then he now gets it on.

We had so much fun that time slipped by and it was nearly 5:00 pm before we headed out. It was hard to say goodbye, but Betty came downstairs and outside with us. While we headed out, Betty and Pete were taking their daily walk. We're all so happy that Betty is doing so well.

Pete's new punked up haircut

From Wildwood we headed to Atlantic City, NJ. Not bad for 2 people who really don't care for sand, sun, heat and beaches. The Etta James Concert was scheduled for 9:00 pm at the Trump Taj Mahal. We had a couple of hours to kill so we made a quick, spur of the moment call to our other dancing buddies, Doug and Evie who live in Lindwood, NJ.

We visited with them briefly at their house and then headed to The Shore Diner. It's their favorite diner, and ours too. You know, Jersey has loads of diners throughout the state. Wonder whatever happened to them in Delaware. Well other then the Smyrna Diner....which has never been one of my favs.

Anyway, after a great visit and an even greater dinner Pam and I headed for the concert. It was nice of Doug and Evie to drop what they were doing and take us to dinner. We always have a good time with them.

Etta James, 71 years YOUNG, was awesome. Her voice is still strong and she has spunk like no other. She was a good entertainer and kept the audience clapping, singing and cheering the whole concert. She still has that off color side to her, nothing nasty, just onary and we loved it.

Her band was absolutely one of the best I've heard in a long time. The drummer was her oldest son and the bass guitar player was her youngest son. Below are some shots I got. It was hard to get up to the stage so I used my zoom lens. We had good seats and enjoyed every minute of it. Even while Pam was dozing, she was enjoying it. (smile)

We left AC at 11:20 pm in a mist and slight fog to head home. After dropping Pam off I managed to be in bed and asleep by 1:30 am.

Any Etta fans living in Delaware.....she has a concert at Longwood Gardens in August!