He's got a target on his back.....

Ok, we are only six games into the season and Jackie is perplexed by the amount of attention his hot bat has received from opposing pitchers.  Six games into the season he's been beaned three times.  Mostly he's okay, but the fastest pitcher in the league really gave him a shot in the back with a fastball.  I was about twenty feet away when it happened and it was a solid hit in the small of his back.  He bounced back but had to come out of the game because it really, really hurt.  He laughed the other two off but this one left a good bruise.  He told me it would feel better the next day and sure enough he was back at it the next day.  Jeez, during the next game during his second at bat the wild pitcher threw three pitches over his head or behind him.  He was dodging all over the place.  He had a good laugh over that...because of course they didnt hit him.
So far in the season he has been doing very well.  This weekend he had five games between Saturday and Sunday.  He doesnt seem to mind and actually loves it.  I'm impressed at how well he is doing......he's a good kid and very funny.  I very much enjoy watching him play

LEO RACICOT

     Have you ever had a memory from childhood that you thought of occasionally and didn't know if it were real or not?  You don't know if they came from a dream or if they really exist.   There are several in this mind of mine.  I had this memory of being in this fenced tunnel with wooden planks going through a walkway, behind a mill building with a famous street lady named 'The Cat lady'.  Everybody from where I came from knew the Cat lady and there were more stories about her, either real or imagined.  This was a recurring memory of mine until one day I finally couldn't take it any longer and I called my brother Patrick and told him about it.  Yes, he said, we were walking home from the Strand Theater after taking in a double feature and during our walk home we encountered the Cat Lady in the walkway.  I just remember being petrified of being in close quarters with such a woman, a woman who would walk with a grocery carriage full of dead cats, or so the story went....but Patrick validated that memory so I felt a little bit better about it....
     Another memory I had was a good one, one of a kind man, that, for years, I thought was a character from a television show that I watched as a child.  I knew this character as 'Leo Racicot'.  He wasn't just Leo, or Mr. Racicot...he was the full name Leo Racicot.  Occasionally he would creep into my mind as a man who was about 9 feet tall with very strong characteristics and size 18 shoes.  I always remembered Leo Racicot as a gentle character who was kind and was your typical, gentle PBS character during that time.  That memory I hadn't asked Patrick about because I was sure he was an actor in a television show, much like Mr. Rogers....he wasnt just Leo, he was Leo Racicot...full name and all.  Its a strong name, a catchy name and the memory had to be from about first or second grade.
     About five years ago I was at the Snack shack inside City Hall and stopped to get something to eat.  I couldn't believe it !!!  Leo Racicot walked by me!!  I think I yelled out LEO RACICOT !!!  He was actually a person, a living and breathing person, not just a false memory of a character long, long ago.  I couldn't believe that I actually ran into him and that he was in front of me.  I think he thought I had grown up to be a weirdo adult!!  It turns out that he had been a teacher at our elementary school and knew much of our family as he had taught them all at our elementary school. I asked him if he knew me and he did!!  Wow, it was Leo Racicot.....I knew him because he was my teacher, just not my homeroom teacher,  but he left a mark on me through all these years.  It was a positive memory of a nice man who was very kind.   He wasnt actually 9 feet tall and his foot size has shrunk to normal over the years......I dont even remember the name of my first grade teacher, i know she was a nun, but I wouldnt remember her if she walked by me at City Hall.
  I have got to know Leo Racicot a little better these days through interactions on social media and i'm glad about that....I like to look back and remember the good old days of my childhood.  I had a great childhood, a happy one and no doubt because of those around me, people like Leo Racicot!!!

Lola at the walk

Umple with the toilet paper ready

walkathon

         Another very successful MS walkathon is finished.  We had a very good time finding our way around these mean streets.  A pretty decent turnout which included many regulars and some newcomers.  

     Dee is there every year with us..and this year the ump walked without presenting a doctors note  .  Jackie jumped on his back at one point and those two just had a great time.  Jack just loves his ump.  .

     Paula and Bobby also came around again this year.  They are regulars also and have a blast.  This year I stuck back a little with the old folk so i didnt get to mingle as much during the walk.  I'm working on the legs.  The old folk being Maura, Theresa and Big Bill....I guess that would include me too.  Nana and Kara and Jamie were also flying over the course too with Emily, Jacob and Erin. Their friend Jeff also once again joined us.   We had some newcomers Emma, Alice and her mommy Krista.  Laura's favorite little guy William came walking with us and his mom Brooke, dad Miguel and his sister Sophia.  Jimmy's friends Clayton and Jake drove there with Jimmy....yes, Jimmy drove....imagine that.

     And what would music and a microphone just laying there if  we didnt get some Barry on.  Oh my audience demands it and I just have to give in to them.

Easter 2018

     How did this picture below get into the Easter Blog??  I was going to delete it but that place had such good food I just cant!!!

     Ohhh Easter Sunday we gained Erin for the day......she loved getting the Easter Eggs on the lawn.  The Easter Bunny must have known she was sleeping over and coming over for the day because he left ample  eggs for her here and at uncle Timmy's house.

     Of course Auntie Jo made Catherine her special Birthday cake for the Easter Eatin

Uncle Timmy's house picking what the Bunny had left us

Florida

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     The two youngest took a couple days off of School to go to visit Nana and Doe in Florida.  As an added bonus their cousins were visiting also.  They absolutely adore the girls and were very excited to see them.  Erin went also to see the kids and Nana with Mommy.  Mommy had just go off the plane from Texas and was boarding another plane the next day for Florida.