Miss Ann Says

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• snowy with a chance of frozen meatballs

  Posted at 7:43 pm by missannsays, on November 26, 2014

  With the weather forecast for a snow storm, I decided to travel to the Barn (my secondary residence) a little earlier than originally planned. As I loaded the car this morning the rain started to include a few frozen droplets. The roads were clear and travel was uneventful. I drove through Dunkin Donuts purchased a cup of coffee and continued traveling west thinking I am going to beat this storm. I still had grocery shopping to accomplish so I stopped in Shop Rite. Wow, when I came out of Shop Rite there was snow everywhere. Oh, no that is what I forgot a snowbrush. wait, CD case is a good substitute. Car cleared off and as I pulled out of the parking lot I realized I forgot two items my daughter had asked me to pick up. How did I do that? Duh!! Should I go back in Shop Rite or wait and go in the little grocery store in town? Ugh, I don’t want to get out of the car maybe I will call my daughter and tell her to pick it up herself.

  The highway now snow-covered resembled a slip and slide. A big truck stopped right in the middle of a lane. Not good! Praying “Lord, please keep the idiot drivers away from me.” Oops! “Forgive me, Lord for calling them idiots but please keep them away” Felt bad for the truck drivers – “Lord, help them to get their destination and home to their families”.  Safely in town, I decided to run in Pecks and get the two missing items – frozen meatballs and grape jelly. “Hi, Ann. You made it.” It was my across the street neighbors. Greetings are exchanged and I left the store.

  It is 3 miles from the start of my road to the Barn and most of it is up hill. It is truly uphill both ways. This isn’t the city or the burbs. This is wide open spaces, trees, a few houses and very little traffic unless you count the wildlife – deer and bears. I stay in the middle of the road and proceed very slowly.  And then it happens, the tires are spinning and the car isn’t traveling forward. It is sliding backwards. Car stops. Not sure what to do. I turn on the flashers and sit a moment. A car coming the other way slows down, rolls down their windows and ask if I need help. “I can’t make it up the hill and I don’t know what to do?” the older gentlemen suggests backing down the road and pulling off by the power line gate until the snow plow comes down. “we are going into town. We will tell them to send the plow truck.”  I make it safely to the side of the road remembering that my neighbor will be coming by at some point. I sip my coffee and decide to check my email  and settle in to wait for my neighbor or the plow truck. Within five minutes there are my neighbors. They gave me a ride. A few hours later, my neighbor and I ventured back to the car and I was able to get further up the road but still can’t get up the last big hill. I gathered more items from my car and came back to the Barn. Car is safely in a driveway of a house that is empty and for sale. Tomorrow is another day. And I can’t complain I am inside, warm, have food, water and I was truly blessed today. Not just by the kindness of my neighbors but by the timing of seeing them in the grocery store. That was a God moment. To think God used frozen meatballs and grape jelly. 🙂

  Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment | Tagged Dunkin Donuts, friendship, frozen meatballs, little things, randomness, Shop Rite, travel

• Travel Tuesdays – S2E4 – USA

  Posted at 1:30 am by missannsays, on November 18, 2014

  

   

  One of the current quizzes on Facebook is “which states have you visited?” I have visited 44 states. It is easier to list those I haven’t visited opposed to listing those I have. I haven’t visited Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, North Dakota, Idaho or Hawaii. So a visit to the Deep South, the far North and Hawaii are in order to be able to say I have visited all 50 states.

  Each area of the USA has amazing sights to see, regional food to taste and interesting people to meet. Many times while traveling I have marveled at the very size of the USA. Let alone the diversity. To me it is amazing the concept of the United States of America works at all. Some would argue it doesn’t work but it does work on some level.

  Some of my favorite spots are:

  Grand Tetons

  Black Hills

  Outer Banks

  New York City

  Washington DC

  Seattle*

  San Diego

  Lancaster County, PA*

  Alaska

  *where my girls and their guys live 🙂

  Personally I think the best:

  1. way to see the USA is by car or train (on my bucket list)
  2. places to eat are where the locals eat and the local cuisine (within reason)
  3. places to stay are with family or friends

   

   

   

   

   

   

  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged Facebook, little things, travel, travel thoughts

• Oh, this is random but…

  Posted at 8:07 pm by missannsays, on November 3, 2014

  

   

  1. The other day was my mum’s quarterly care meeting. She resides in an excellent long-term care facility near my sister. Last Tuesday wasn’t a day that I could travel in that direction, so I was conferenced called in on the meeting. Everything is status quo – mum’s health is stable, she is participating in some activities, she is a delight, so cooperative. All I could think of was the Bill Crosby skit about “this is not the woman I grew up with”. Towards the end of the meeting a staff member mentioned there was a little confusion recently. Oh! It seems that they kept trying to get my mum to fill out the absentee ballot to vote. She kept insisting she couldn’t vote.  She finally informed them she isn’t a citizen. Or as my brother always said “she is an alien.” If you are a citizen, please don’t forget to vote tomorrow.

   

  2. Today I spoke to a group of high school juniors and seniors from Connecticut at the Tribute Center. I actually spoke to two groups because it was 56 students and their chaperones so the group was divided in two.  The interesting thing that happens when I or any of the docents speak to groups in gallery 5 is that other visitors to the Tribute Center stand around and listen. After my first presentation as we were switching groups and I was instructing the students to sit on the floor (I was already sitting on the floor), something fell on the ground in front of me. It was a little pin that said Danish Firefighter. I glanced up and a man said “for you”.  I said to him “thank you for what you do everyday.” He nodded and left.

   

  3. After the second group, a woman came over to me and said “may I give you a hug”. She hugged me and then she said “I lost my son this year. Thank you for your words.” I looked at her and said “can I give you a hug.” We hugged. 🙂

   

  4. As far as fall television – I like “Madam Secretary” and “The Mysteries of Laura”.  Scandal is getting on my nerves and I gave up on “How To Get Away With Murder”. I may subscribe to HBO for the month of November to watch “The Newsroom.”

   

   

  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged little things, random thoughts, randomness, television, telling the next generation

• the love of wonder

  Posted at 2:37 pm by missannsays, on November 1, 2014

  Recently, I read this poem by Samuel Ullman. May you also have “the love of wonder”.
  

  “Youth is not a time of life – it is a state of mind, it is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over love of ease. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair – these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust. Whether they are sixteen or seventy, there is in every being’s heart the love of wonder, the sweet amazement at the stars and starlike things and thoughts, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing childlike appetite for what is to come next, and the joy and the game of life. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear, as young as your hope, as old as your despair. When the wires are all down and all the innermost core of your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then you are grown old indeed. But so long as your heart receives messages of beauty, cheer, courage, grandeur and power from the earth, from man and from the Infinite, so long you are young.

   

  

  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged kid stuff, little things, randomness

• Oops! I picked the wrong battle.

  Posted at 1:46 pm by missannsays, on October 17, 2014

  

  This week after reviewing the lesson during children’s Bible quizzing, a student commented ” Well, Moses left and went back to Egypt but he killed his son.” I was totally confused and replied “what are you talking about? Moses didn’t kill his son. Moses killed an Egyptian” Child proceeded to inform me that in her Dad’s Bible it says Moses killed his son. I am totally confused so I ask “where did you read this?” Child reiterates with great authority that in her Dad’s Bible that she read in the car on the way to quizzing it said “Moses killed his son or wait maybe it was Zipporah who killed the son. Anyway someone killed the son”

  Now I was on a mission to prove to this child that her information was wrong. I checked the scripture references from our lesson – Exodus 4:1-21,27-31. As I glanced down the page I saw the verses that weren’t included in the lesson and began to read them aloud:

  Exodus 4:22-26 New International Version (NIV)

  ^22″ Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, ²³ and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’” – “This is talking about the plagues, remember the plagues.”

  ^24″ At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses^[a] and was about to kill him.” – “You know how sometimes, a friend or whoever pushes us to the limit. Well maybe that is how God felt.” To be honest this verse has always confused me.

  And then I started to read aloud the last verse and I realized where this is going. “Oh, my!! Maybe I should have let her believe that Moses killed his son. “

  ^25″ But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it.^[b] “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. ²⁶ So the Lord let him alone.” 

  🙂

   

  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged following Jesus, kid stuff, little things, telling the next generation

• Dr Seuss was right…

  Posted at 4:16 pm by missannsays, on October 13, 2014

  “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go”
  ― Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

  I currently belong to two book clubs one at the local public library and another with a few friends. The public library book club tends to read classic literature. For October’s meeting we read The Essential Tales of Chekhov. It was short stories by Anton Chekhov and it was enjoyable – humorous but also dark but come on, he is Russian so it is going be dark. For the next meeting we are reading The Country Girls Trilogy by Edith O’Brien. We are just reading the first book of the trilogy. I haven’t started it yet because the friend’s book club meets in a week and I needed to finish The Children Act by Ian McEwan. I did finish it and it was worth the read. The book we had read previously was The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt which was good by a little long (800 pages). I am also reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and Replacement Child by Judy L. Mandel both of those books are more for research than for pleasure but I am enjoying all that I am currently reading.

  I also have had opportunity to visit a few interesting places recently. Two friends and I walked the Walkway over the Hudson (https://www.walkway.org/) last week and had lunch at a delightful little café called Lolas. We had beautiful weather. I would encourage you to take a stroll on the Walkway and then enjoy a yummy lunch at Lolas and then walk back. You get a view and exercise.
  

  The week before I  visited the State Museum (http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/) and New York Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Albany. My intention for visiting the State Museum was to see the 9/11 Family Room exhibit. The weird thing is I only visited the 9/11 Family Room once when it was in One Liberty Plaza and never went when it was on the site. I was curious to see the exhibit but in earlier years I had no need or desire to visit the space. I will say the State Museum’s September 11 exhibit is a good exhibit for children.  I thought it tells the story without being overwhelming like the National 9/11 Museum. The area is bright, there are few large artifacts, information on all aspects of attacks, rescue and recovery. There is a section on rescue dogs and a statue to honor the dogs. I also learned something I hadn’t realized that at the original World Trade Center there had been bomb disposal units on the plaza. Already, then. I started wondering what on the new site is the equivalent.

  When you exit the museum if you walk  all the way to the other side of The Egg you will come to the New York Fallen Firefighters Memorial. It is a beautiful memorial. As I approached I noticed a man “working” on the Memorial. I assumed he was fixing names but I would come to find out a few days later he was adding names. I asked him if the names were in any particular order. He said “no, after September 11 I added almost 400 names.” I commented that I recognized some September 11 names but they didn’t appear to be all together. He said “I just put them where they tell me.” “Thanks for your help. I will just keep looking.” After about 10 minutes of scanning up and down every panel I found Bruce’s name. At that point the man was leaving and I said to him “Thank you for the work you do here.” As he finished picking up his tools and headed towards his truck, he said “it is my pleasure.”  Suddenly he stopped walking, turned  and said “no that is wrong, it is my honor.”

  

  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged reading list, September 11, telling the next generation, travel

• random use of imagination

  Posted at 6:13 pm by missannsays, on October 8, 2014

  As I headed into Manhattan yesterday, I heard on the radio the dreaded words “the President is in town”. Not something I wanted to hear when I was planning on quickly driving in, speaking to a school group, leading a tour for friends, having lunch and getting back in time to teach ballet at 4pm. All was going very well until after lunch. As I drove out of the parking garage, I realized there was an added police presence. I looked around to make sure if everything seemed okay. At first it wasn’t “clicking” but then oh, right! the president is in Tribeca. I could tell the NYPD were starting to get ready for the commander-in-chief to be moving around every intersection had police vehicles, uniformed officers and blue barricades.

  As I drove a little further north, the police were directing all south bound traffic off of West Street/12th Ave. They were definitely preparing for something. Then there were no more south bound traffic and motorcycles or random cars drove past me on the “other side going the same direction as me.” The police then started making every vehicle on my side turn right and off of West St/12th Ave but by the time I got to the front of the line they just made us stay where we were. The three blocks ahead of me were void of traffic and there were police vehicles across the road. The traffic lights kept cycling through green, yellow and red but we were not allowed to go. A few cars back, a few “clueless” people kept honking I wanted to jump out of my car and say “really”.

  The police “boss” person stationed officers on each corner because even with the barricades New Yorkers still squeezed through and crossed the street. I put my car in park, rolled down the windows and waited. I heard a helicopter overhead, saw a few more motorcycles, I glanced in my side mirror to catch a glimpse of the motorcade but nothing was coming.

  So, I started people watching. There was a person with what looked like a camp chair slung over his shoulder and suddenly I thought I hope that is really a chair as he started pulling out black pieces of piping. Looking in my rearview mirror, I realize there is a big white truck with three guys sitting in the front seat. As I am looking one guy jumps out. And then my imagination goes wild. I start thinking about recent headlines and the secret service not doing a perfect job but then I think don’t worry the NYPD will have it under control. I start thinking of every movie or television show where there has been an attempt on the President’s life. Now I am hyper vigilant and ready to throw myself under my dash-board if it goes bad. I am sure at any moment there are going to be explosions and gun fire. I am ready to put my hands up in the air and say I didn’t do anything. I am not even worried about being late to teach ballet. After about 5 minutes of a crazy imagined scene playing out in my head, the President’s motorcade finally goes wheezing by, little flags on front of the car waving, security people in vehicles looking scary but all is good and it was actually pretty cool.

  I told my daughter how I was getting all “nuts” and she commented “Mom, you watch too much Scandal!”

  Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments | Tagged little things, randomness

• Living his dream

  Posted at 6:30 am by missannsays, on September 11, 2014

  On March 12, 1990, my hubby would recive the letter that he never thought he would receive. The letter from the FDNY stating “Congratulations! You are being offered the opportunity to be appointed as a New York City Firefighter. The appointment is to be effective on Sunday March 25, 1990 at 9:00AM followed by a one year probationary period.”

  Below is the text of a letter my husband wrote to me:

   Dear Ann, I never thought that this day would ever happen, only a dream. I want to say to you thank you for the past 8 or so years + putting up with F.D.N.Y. all the time. You have been a real encouragement to me as we walk side by side down our married life. Just think, this now ends career of the week. In 1973 in California I read Report from Engine Co. 82. Never did I ever dream that I would be a NYC firefighter. Those people in the book seemed out of reach. I never thought I had what it took to be a firefighter in the Big Apple due to my low self-esteem. This could not have been possible with out your encouragement and love. I thank the Lord for you and this day.

  I’ll always love you, Bruce

  See you later

   

  He was living his dream on September 11, 2001. What I love about this letter is the little footnote -“See you later” because I will. 🙂

  

  A photo of the letter and his class photo. Bruce is last row, second person from the left.

  Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment | Tagged family, following Jesus, little things, September 11

• FAQs about 9/11

  Posted at 4:41 pm by missannsays, on September 10, 2014

  A few of the Frequently Asked Questions about September 11 that I have  answered many times while leading tours or speaking to school groups.

  In regard to my personal connection:
  1. Did you talk to your husband that day? No, but I didn’t expect to. He was on duty. He was working.

  2. Were you worried about your husband?  As I watched the events unfold on the television I was worried about us as a nation. My main concern was how was I going to handle things and protect our daughters until he could get home. As a firefighter’s wife, I knew Bruce was well-trained and that his fellow firefighters had his back.

   3. How are your daughters? Since September 11, 2001, they have graduated from high school, college, and graduate school. Meet wonderful men and married. Bruce would very proud of the women “his girls” have become. My daughters appreciate when people say their father was a hero but they didn’t lose a hero, they lost their daddy. I am a very proud mom and will talk your ear off about “my girls and their guys.”

  4. Isn’t difficult for you to come here (WTC site)? It is more difficult for me to go to Bruce’s firehouse. It probably sounds strange but I don’t associate him with being here. Before I started volunteering at the Tribute Center I didn’t have a strong connection to the WTC site. I had only been here twice in my entire life. Once as a teen and once with Bruce on July 4, 1976.

  5. How do you deal with the hate? I don’t  have time to hate. I had two daughters to raise, a business to run and life to live.  I believe Bruce died in the line of duty so no one took his life, he gave it.

  6. Were you excited when bin laden was killed? I hadn’t spent 10 years waiting for bin laden to be killed (5/1/11). A long time ago I read or heard the following “the opposite of love isn’t hate, it is indifference”. The truth is on May 28, 2011 as on August 4, 2006 whether bin laden was dead or alive, my husband wasn’t there to walk his daughters down the aisle.

  7. Have you ever read the names on September 11? I have been invited to participate in the name reading each year. The one day of the year I don’t visit the WTC site is September 11. I don’t think I can handle the grief of all of those people.

  General information questions:

  1. What do you think about the conspiracy theories? I think when the unimaginable happens one of the ways we try to explain it is with conspiracy theories. Popular Mechanics had a great article a few years back that debunked many of the theories.

  2. What do you think about the mosque and where was it going to be built? I believe if we stop a mosque from being built this week, next week we will stop allowing Protestant churches and then the week after Catholic churches and then Jewish synagogues. There is freedom of religion in the US and that is freedom for all religions. I will add “that all things are permissible but not all things are beneficial.”

  3. What do you think about the government in relation to September 11? One of the things I remember my dad saying after September 11 was” the first job of a government is to protect its people.” I believe that the government let us down but I am hopefully that the “alphabet agencies” are talking to each other. I am proud to be an American. I support those who serve our nation in the military and foreign service.

  There is one question that always surprises me when it is asked. It has made me wonder if I have told the story in a way students can understand. But then I realized even hearing all of the facts the one thing that is impossible to comprehend is hating someone so much that you would kill yourself.

  “What happened to the terrorists that hijacked the plane?  Did we capture them? Are they in prison?”

  Now I actually find comfort in that question because it means the chid asking can’t comprehend that kind of hate.

  

   

   

   

  Continue reading →

  Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment | Tagged September 11, telling the next generation

• A September Monday

  Posted at 11:33 pm by missannsays, on September 8, 2014

  On a Monday in September of 1975 I lost my job, started a small business and meet my future husband. Really, that all happened on the same day. My employer, teacher, mentor called and cut my teaching hours to a minimum. Shocked and totally dismayed I told my dad, he said “what to do want to do?”. Tearfully I said “teach little girls to dance.” “So let’s figure out how you can do that.” My dad and I sat at the dining room table, planned and the result was The New School of Dance Arts. Did I mention I was 21 years old?

  Later that same day the phone rang, Carol said “Craig is here and he has some guy he wants you to meet. We are coming over.” That guy was Bruce Van Hine. A week or so later Bruce would ask me out. We started dating and on June 14, 1980 were married. Side note: Craig would also introduce Carol to her hubby.

  In 1976, Carol would “buy” into my business. Actually she matched the funds that were in the checking account ($100) and we became business partners. It doesn’t matter that isn’t the right way to do that because we retired from that business in 2011 after 35 years. Oh, and she is still my bestest friend.

  With much apprehension in the fall of 2001, I would check the calendar to make sure that September 11, 1975 was not a Monday. It was a Thursday.

  

  Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment | Tagged friendship, little things, September 11

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