January
· Snow, the cold weather, sledding, hot chocolate, tomato soup
· 1985- Penn State wins the National Championship and the whole town comes out for a parade. Anyone, any group was allowed to enter a float. As I watch with Doug, we are kicking ourselves for not coming up with some sort of crazy entry into this small town parade. Just then, the Hari Krishnas for Penn State drive by in their modest float and now we are insufferable with regret.
2 2021- MAGA fuckheads try to take over the US capitol in an effort to overthrow the election. This is a dark day for our country and democracy.
· 2014- too many members of Congress were making too many stupid, thoughtless, offensive comments about women and rape. I drove to Washington, DC and filed papers to run for US Congress. I had had enough of this despicable behavior.
· New Year’s Eve Celebrations
o 1978- Time Square, NYC
o 1982- Piccadilly Circle, London
o 1980- Chinatown, Philadelphia
o 1992- Grateful Dead Concert-
o 2000- San Francisco
o 2003- Galapagos Island
o 2008- Athens, Greece
o 2010- Bermuda
o 2004- Belize
2017- Katmandu, Nepal
2022- Barbados
2023- Antigua
February
· 2004- a weekend trip to London
· 1970- my brother, Brian’s birthday. Even though he was a boy and not a girl, we all fell in love with him.
· 2015- Snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef- Australia
· 2012- The Great Wall of China- Beijing, China
222018 and 2025- The Eagles won the Superbowl and my world went crazy.
March
· St Patrick’s Day: the most wonderful holiday of the year.
· 1975- New Orleans Madri Gras
· March 24, 1986- Ida, my grandmother died. She had a stroke the week prior. By the time my mother and uncle got to Florida to intervene, she was alert and fussing about how ridiculous it was hat they came all this way to see her. “I’m fine, go home to your families,” she told them. But they stayed for a few days to make sure her treatment was as it should be. They had a great time and on the day they were to leave, she had another massive stroke and died. She died the way she deserved to die: quickly, painlessly and surrounded by her family.
· 1987- I defend my dissertation at Penn State University
· 2008- A few weeks in South Korea to visit with my niece, Heather.
· March 5, 2005: Sharon called me at 6:00 AM. “Dad’s been rushed to the hospital, he’s passed out”, she tells me ever so sadly. “Stay by your phone, it doesn’t look good. I’ll call you again when I have more information.” She hung up and I resigned myself to the thought that he died. An hour later, she calls to confirm my suspicions. “We are all at the hospital. Dad is still here with us . We can wait until you get here before we move him. Do you want to come over right now?” I tell her “no” and hang up the phone. I let out a sigh of relief that he died quickly, before the cancer had a chance to eat him up.
2023- I went with Sally to celebrate St Patricks Day and her birthday in @ the Geniuse Brewery in Dublin, Ireland
2025- I took a two week road trip through Florida.
April
· 2005- Dog sledding in Wyoming
· April 26, 1959- Patricia, my parents’ sixth child, is born.
· Easter Sunday, we rarely got Easter baskets.
· Sunrise services on the beach on Easter Morning.
· On Good Friday, we frequently went to the Italian Market in Philadelphia. When we returned to school the following Monday, my mother instructed us, “don’t tell the nuns what we did on Friday. Tell them we spent the day together as a family.”
· April 12, 1998- it is my mother’s birthday so I go out to buy her a present. But then the task overwhelms me. She is dying and only has a few more weeks to live. What kind of present do you buy for a dying person?
April 2025- I went to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan for three weeks.
202025- Pope Francis dies and I worry that we will lose ground on his effort to be more inclusive around the world.
May
· May Processions and May queens in grade school.
· My mother would open the back door and the first whiff of lilacs would jump right on me. Now, whenever I smell that whiff, I think of my mother.
· May 9, 1954- my brother is born.
· May 2, 1998- my mother asked me to get her a mother’s day gift for Cindy, her new daughter-in-law. Cindy is giving birth in July to her first child. “Let me offer you what will probably be my first and last bit of advice on childbirth”, my mother says, “When they offer you drugs before the delivery, take it. Don’t be a hero. Take everything they offer you because they aren’t going to offer it a second time.”
· May 9,1998- my mother dies after a four-year battle with cancer.
· 1963- my grandfather has a massive heart attack on our front porch. I was 7 and I remember feeling so helpless.
· Memorial Weekend- piles and piles of horseshoe crabs would gather around the bulkhead, in the bay, right outside our back yard on Long Beach Island. My brother would grab one by the tail and 4 or 5 other crabs would be locked tight together.
· 1981- I earned my MEd at Penn State University
June
· 2013- a trip to Northern Europe- Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Latvia, Russia, Germany and England
· Gradation Ceremonies filled with students on the verge of a whole new life.
· The end of another school year.
1 1900- My grandfather is born on June 5.
1 1901- my grandmother is born on June 25.
· The quiet after the storm: the day after school lets out and everyone has gone home. I have the school building all to myself.
· “O”: Cirque de Soleil, Las Vegas- 2015
· 2007- The Artic Circle- Alaska
· 1963- New York World’s Fair
2019- I travel to Borneo to see the organatangs and then we wander off to Bali.
· 2000- Ireland
20 2024- I went to see the Rolling Stones for the first time and it was magical.
July
· 1992- Thailand, my first trip to Asia
J· 4th of July Celebrations at the Cameos. We went to their house in the suburbs every year. Their back yard was a long, open field the length of three or four football fields. We would run and run and run and play outside in this open space that seemed like an endless world.
2200
025- Jameson married Rebecca.
· July 9, 1995- my birthday. I had the only summer birthday in the family so my celebration always seemed a bit more special to me. We usually did something fun on my birthday. We went to a matinee show or had a picnic somewhere or went to he zoo.
· I went to Summer school for several years. I hated it.
J
· The school building is empty and it is my favorite time to wander around. The floors are freshly polished. Walls are painted. All the blackboards are cleaned. But I know this sanitized moment will all varnish on the first day of school.
· Fireworks, barbeques, ice cream trucks, snow cones, afternoons at the pool at Llanarch Country Club, PA
· Candy Striper- 1970, 1971, 1972- Lankenau Hospital, PA; earned a 500 hours of service pin.
· 2000- Ireland
· 1999- Tibet and Katmandu
· 2001- Safari through southern Africa- South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe
· 2005- Viet Nam and Cambodia
· 2006- Mongolia- Naadam Festival
· 2008- Morocco- the Mareskess Express
August
· 1997- my mother wakes me up to tell me, “Princess Di died. She didn’t make it.” Her voice is filled with sadness. Her body is emaciated from her own losing battle with cancer. “Can you believe it,” she continues, “I’ve outlived Linda McCartney and now Princess Di. Who would have thought it.”?
· Beach House rentals- 1971, 1972, 1973
· Expo 67- Montreal’s World Fair
· August 5, 1962- Root Beer Day. This day would become our family holiday.
· August 6, 1962- moved into our house in Overbrook
· 1969- One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” said Neil Armstrong as I watched take that historic step on the moon. I thought I would burst with pride.
· 1977- I earned my BS from Penn State University.
· 1973- I worked at Hartman’s Amusement Park as a cashier clerk (a dreadful job).
· 1988- Moved to Stroudsburg, PA
· 1974- Richard Nixon resigned. We sit in front of the TV and watch our president as he fumbles for words to explain away his bad behavior. I watch with horror at this man’s loss of dignity, integrity and sincerity disinigrate right before us.
· French fried lobster dinners at Howard’s Restaurant on Lon Beach Island, NJ
September
· First Day of school, for almost 30 years, the excitement of a new school year never got old. I was always happy to see everyone again.
· The days begin to get shorter. At night, I need a sweater. My garden begins to disintergrate.
In 2024, I visited my 400th brewery. This is becoming an obession.
· Labor Day Weekend- the migration flight of the monarch butterflies. Thousands of butterflies would make their way through our yard on Long Beach Island, NJ.
The first few days of Septemebr, right after Labor Day, the community pool closes and I liment all the days I did not use the pool during the summer months.
20 23- Iceland and Greenland
· 2013- Fashion Week in NYC. Kathy and I were guest at Ralph Rucci’s show.
20 2025- I visited Tunisia
2024- Rwanda- to see the Silverback Gorillas.
2022- I get COVID.
October
· 2010- a trip down the Nile River, Egypt
· Halloween in the city, running from one row home to another with the sole intention of filling up our pillow cases to capacity.
· Jumping in piles of freshly raked leaves
202008- I become a great aunt. Rocco James Monteleone is born to Caitlin.
· Halloween costumes, schoolyard parades and classroom parties. In the evening, we were obligated to visit the nuns at the convent. They gave out crumbs of the leftover popcorn from the afternoon classroom parties.
· Pumpkins, mums, sweaters, the smell of burning leaves
· Pumpkin Ales- beers worth the wait.
· 1980- Pope John Paul II comes to Philadelphia and the whole town explodes with excitement, good will and joy.
· Friday night football games in the crisp, cool air.
· Homecoming celebrations at Stroudsburg High School. We have a parade. The former homecoming queens come back and so do lots of alumni.
· October 9, 1971- it is Chris’s 14th birthday. He is in 9th grade at Devon Prep. We had plans to go out to dinner. My mother reminds all of us to come home right after school and get our homework done. We have to leave at 530 for our dinner reservation. As he is leaving to go to school, he confesses that he has detention and won’t be home until after 6 PM. We go to dinner without him.
2020- I am diagnosed with uterine cancer.
October 3, 2024- I climb the side of a mountain in Rwanda to see the silverback gorillas.
22024- I went to Tunisia.
November
· Thanksgiving dinners. For years it was with Ida and Jack, Margaret and Howard and just the 9 of us. Then spouses started to be added and a new generation of nieces and nephews and more tables needed to be added to accommodate all of us. My mother had a large turkey with creamed onions and asparagus and stuffing and potatoes. There were pumpkin and minced meat pies and wine and scotch and soda. My aunt always had a “highball”.
202016- HRC lost the Presidential election and all is wrong with our country.
202020- Biden wins the presidential election and I feel hope again.
202024- Harris losses the presidential election and I am filled with despair.
· 1963- I am a third grader, eight years old, sitting in my classroom. I see an older student come in to the back of the classroom and speak to Sister Angela Marie. I think I hear her say that the president was shot. I tell the girl in front of me but we are not sure what all of this meant. Moments later we are dismissed from school so we can be with our families. Sadness seeped into the pores of every adult I see. I run home to tell my mother this very important news. As I get to our front door, I ring the doorbell and a very large black woman answers the door. She startles me and then I remember that my mother had just hired someone to help with the house cleaning. “I have to find my mother," I blurt out to her, “The president’s been shot. I have to tell my mother.” She lets me in and points to the TV room upstairs. I charge up the steps and find my mother and Mrs. Hunt sitting on the couch. Both women are crying. It had just been announced that he was died. For the next few days, everyone cried.
· Turkey Day Games: Stroudsburg vs. East Stroudsburg
· Spirit Week at school; the tension and excitement would be palatable and so very hard to contain.
2 2018- I travel to Churchville, Canada to search for th polar bears.
2 2018- my gall bladder is removed.
2 2021- I am diagnosed with uterine cancer. I have a radical hysterectomy.
2025- I went to Mexico for the Day of the Dead celebration.
December
· 1974- December 5- my grandfather died at 1:20 PM. Every year, I seem to remember this moment when my world fell apart.
· 1980- we are sitting at the Brick House Bar in State College, PA. It is snowing outside so the comfort of this small bar is greatly welcomed. The place is so small that we can talk to everyone in the bar without straining our voices. So when Deb and I hear someone yell “Oh, no”, we look up. On the TV screen is a photo of John Lennon. He had just been murdered. No one speaks as we listen in disbelief to this very sad news.
· 1995- River Dance at Radio City Music Hall. Ive seen it two more times in 20 years.
· 2007- Antarctica and the Wedel Sea
· December 25- Ida and Jack’s wedding anniversary
· December 27, 1988- Trisha and Bill’s wedding anniversary: this is the best time to get married. The church was beautifully decorated with hundred of bright, bright red poinsettias and the marble alter looked snowy white under the gold filtered, holiday lighting
· December 29, 1951- my parent’s wedding anniversary
· Christmas mornings were magical.
2024- Sidney Staudt is born in NY.
202024- I take a trip to Hawaii and visit my 50th USA state.
· 1980- I became an aunt; Kevin is born and my world is filled with love
2003- Clay is born, the last of the N&N generation
2024- Sidney is born. He is #12 of the N&N2 generation.
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