A Sullivan Girl Holiday Card

Thanksgiving Day

Well the Brown, Drechsel, Smith, Stout, Sullivan clan all gathered for a wonderful meal at the home of newlyweds Jimmy and Joanna Drechsel! Among the dishes served were a delicious blue cheese/mandarin orange/walnut salad, a rich and wonderfully warm crab dip, and macaroni and cheese - to die for! Everyone had a great time, ate ourselves silly and then Cindy, Cork, Mom, Dad and I headed over to Atlantic City to pay our Jersey state taxes! See the slideshow

An unbelievable day! Central Park's Conservatory Garden

Daddy, Colleen, Casey and I spent a beautiful day visiting Central Park's Conserv-
atory Garden. It was another lovely warm autumn day here in the Northeast and I had decided to strike out for the garden thinking we'd view some fall colors.

Silly me! By the time we reached the garden, located near the 105th Street entrance to Central Park, it was approaching 65 degrees. A brilliant, sunny day.

I had always wanted to visit the Conservatory Garden, which is much further north in Central Park than I usually travel. We usually wander around nearer to Strawberry Fields, located at approximately 86th Street and CPW.

I was excited to finally take the time to visit the garden and was enjoying the beautiful scenery, even in the absence of the fall foliage when we rounded a corner and saw THIS!



A huge garden, at least a quarter acre, of the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen, in full bloom, like it was June all over again! It was just astounding and all of a sudden I forgot all about the fall leaves! I was grateful for being granted another day of late summer weather and decided that all this means is that we'd have to return a couple of weeks later, when the leaves really DO start to change!

Click here to view the entire slide show.

Halloween Madness!

HOLY COW!!! This year's Halloween crowd here in our little Palmer Township townhouse complex was a bit much. My neighbor actually stopped counting at 250 kids!

I know shipping 'em in from south side is a common occurence, but COME ON people!!!

Trick or Treat is supposed to be from 6-8PM and we were out of candy at 7PM. Luckily my neighbor shared her candy with me, but even with that, we were both out by 7:20.

Nana and Pop-pop came by early, with a dinner of corn beef and cabbage, which was delicious. Colleen dressed up as a dead aerobics instructor, or as we put it the only good kind of aerobics instructor! Casey was a witch.

It was a balmy "What-global-warming?" 60 degrees out.

Our Phoenix Trip

Casey and I spent a great Labor Day weekend visiting friends in Phoenix. Now, I didn't think it was that hot, in fact I realized after I came back that I really never even checked the temperature while we were there. On the way to the airport Monday morning the radio said it was going to be "another hot one, going up to 109." So I'm guessing that's about where it was, but I'm not sure.

But I've got to say, the humidity, or lack thereof, makes a huge difference. There was a day here in PA a couple of weeks ago - the Sunday after that whole week of rain we had, that felt worse to me than anything I've every felt in Phoenix. Even 120!

The difference is, though, it cools off here at night. You can go months in the desert without getting that cool breeze we experience here on most nights. I guess it all evens out...but I am dreading the winter. I'll probably be on here in a few months just moaning about it!

Anyway, enough about the weather. Casey and I had the opportunity to visit with many of our friends - Carlene, Maria, Andy, Calli, Al, Lori, Leslie, Carly, Amaris and Jill!

Of couse we also visited many of our favorite places to eat and shop - the Ranch Market, Oregano's, Trader Joe's, Desert Ridge, The Original Pancake House, Arcadia Farms and In & Out Burger.

On Sunday morning we took a three hour off-road tour in the mountains north of Phoenix. It was something we'd never done while living there and it was amazing, especially seeing the wild horses that live there.

Our room at the Millenium/Scottsdale was just wonderful. They have a salt water pool overlooking Camelback Lake and the McDowell Mountains.

We had such a wonderful time - thanks so much to all of our friends for making time for us. I know some of you cancelled plans to leave town or otherwise rearranged your schedules to see us. If you are ever anywhere near the NYC/Philadelphia area, please let us know so we can do the same. We miss each of you so much!

Phoenix slideshows

A Bike ride down the Rail Trail

Tuesday morning I took a nice long bike ride down the Rail Trail through Palmer and Bethlehem townships. The weather was just perfect and the scenery was at it's late-summer greenest.

The photo at below is of a large spider web. It was probably about 1.5 feet across.

The trail runs nearly in a loop...the only problem is there is about a 1/2 mile gap where some VERY busy, shoulder-free roads need to be traveled to make the ends meet. So what I usually do is ride what I believe is about three miles to the other end of the trail. This loops around and puts me only about 1/2 mile as the crow flies, from my house, and turn around and ride the three miles back, so I can avoid walking in traffic.

It would be nice to get active with the township and see if they can work on a plan to connect these ends so there is actually a loop. Also, a plan would be good to develop some sidewalks along William Penn Hwy.

I was at Weis this morning at the corner of William Penn and Greenwood, attempting to walk home from car dealership where I left my car for inspection. When I looked straight across William Penn AND left across Greenwood there were no pedestrian-crossing signs both ways. These were the only two ways I could possibly walk home!

So I ignored the signs, hoofed it across William Penn and down Greenway (another street with no sidewalks) until I could cut through the apartments and back to the bike path.

Honestly, I don't know how we are supposed to reduce our total dependence on oil when there really is no way to walk or bike to some places without risking your life. It's really a shame!

So that is my rant for today. Sort of got away from my point that what does exist of the bike path, especially the portion nearer the Lehigh, is very beautiful and peaceful.

View the whole Bike Path Slideshow

Back to School

Colleen and Casey started back to school today!

Casey started the 5th grade, which is her first year of Middle School.
Colleen is beginning her sophomore year of High School.