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.

Texas for swimming....and Eatin !!

Great time at the University of Texas for Laura and Emily's swim meet.  This is the sectionals

Yes, thats right we were there for swimming, but the food was first in the minds of the gals.  Somehow we ended up at this weird donut shop called Voodoo donuts..Leave it to Laura to find such a place.  Ya see, the tables were all lined with obituaries, how morbid.  I guess everyone raved about how great the donuts were, as you can see they all look a little weird.  I had the banana fritter.  We come from a donut mecca so everything else is a disappointment i suppose.  

     One of the days we ended up doing the touristy thing and taking a horse drawn carriage around the streets of  Austin.  That was really neat.  The downtown in Austin was very nice and we even found a hat store where i could go in and buy myself a nice old cowboy hat.  yeeee haw.  laura and emily both got hats and shirts for themselves and for the little ones at home too.

and then there was some great eating at Stubbs Barbecue restaurant.  Lyn noticed the place because her father used to buy this Barbecue sauce and she said we should give it a look.  It was in a questionable area but my oh my was it some good food.  They had some types of people that you would expect to find in a rowdy Texas bar on a Saturday night but the ribs were finger licking good....yeeee hawww!!!

We went into the hills (well, closest thing to the hills they have) of Austin.  Thats where the upper class lives.  They has some really nice houses up there.

    

     And what is a trip to Texas if you dont go to the In-n-out burger.  I'd never heard of it but i guess its a bucket list kind of place for kids nowadays

Now this place....eeeee doggie was is good.  Rich had told us about going to the Salt Lick Barbecue place and after driving a little off the beaten path, well, quite a bit.. we pulled up into an area that was packed with cars and people.....It was out of the blue and the place had an hour and a half wait.  Alot of people travel quite a distance to get here and it was surely worth it.  I"d be fixing to go back next time i'm in these parts..yeee hawwwas

There is quite a lovely state house i reckon

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Guess where we went today

     Ohhhh, how nice is it that when i ask them if they want to go to Black Gordon they both excitedly jump in the car and say lets go!!!  So we piled up with snow all aroud us and brought the football and thew it around and they happily posed in front of our old friend.

     Jack was trying to be cool with his one handed catch.  Of course he is very cool!!!

    Smiles all around in the Train that doesn't move.  Ring that bell and yell 'fares please'

Meet weekend

 Catherine had her gymnastics meet on Friday in Boston.....I just love watching her compete...she is so confident....and she has so much fun with her teamates!!!

      On Friday, Saturday and Sunday Laura had the New England Age groups in Worcester.  Its so tough on the swimmers because once you qualify for the Age groups(which is no easy task, but more on that later), you race in different events.  If you finish in the top of the event, you then have to come back at night for finals and race all over again in that event.  Laura reached the finals on all three nights......

     After Sunday nights finals she wanted to go to Moe's for some grub.  I've never gone there before so i had to overeat and try it out.....wow, it was good!!!