We spent July 4th up in Blacksburg again, a very relaxing break. Jeff and Hayley ran a 5k with Jeff’s parents over in Shawsville. I helped set up their new iMac (another convert to Apple). Jeff and I went back home after the holiday and Hayley stayed longer to hang out with her grandparents and Uncle Jay.
Co-pilot
Post-race
Jay is excited to have won a gift certificate in a raffle despite not running, lol
We brought Annabelle with us, she and Clayton enjoyed pinning Hayley down
Hayley’s sister Faith came to stay with us for a weekend and we had a great time. The girls hit the pool a few times, hung out with our next door neighbor, went to Winterpast Farm and went horseback riding.
A friend of mine (in fact my former HS Brit Lit teacher) has been in Ireland the past few weeks and I was stunned to see she ended up in the town some of my family was from, Doolin in County Clare. Doolin is a lovely small town on the western coast of Ireland and she was kind enough to take some photos for me. There in/on Fisherstreet, my third great grandmother Mary O’Connor met and married Peter Donahue (O’Donaghue). Around the same time she married, someone in her family started the pub in town, Gus O’Connors. Not long after, Mary and Peter took off for the USA with their brood of three and settled in Boston. Three Peters later, along came my dad Thomas.
The pub has long since been sold outside of the family but it is still a working pub, renowned for it’s traditional Irish music, . We still have family in the county too, we’ve emailed some in our genealogy research.
Hayley spent two weeks at a great teen film workshop St. Augustine’s. 16 kids, a college professor and some of her students – they had access to the entire campus to shoot and the film department’s gear. They all really worked hard on stuff and I’m really impressed how much technical stuff they’ve done with sound, filming and photography.
Most of the time, she did still photography which can be used for checking continuity in scenes, transitions and for fun slide shows. She was lugging camera gear and her laptop all over the campus. She did makeup for a lot of the actors and then acted in one of the shorts.
In this one, she acted one plus did the makeup and blood. She doesn’t mind acting but the makeup and blood part was her favorite.
The Kestrel Eighth grade semi-formal was really fun. Jeff and I chaperoned for much of the evening. Hayley got ready with her friend Sandra over at our house and then meet her boyfriend Andrew at the dance.
The Kestrel eighth grade graduation was really lovely, we didn’t take a ton of photos since it was rainy. Hayley got one of four scholar-athlete awards for playing three sports and keeping up her grades. High school, here she comes!
Jeff’s folks sent us some cute photos the past few weeks…
His grandmother Faye turned 90!
And his folks raced some more…
The 2013 picture shows the seven members of the Blacksburg AARP United race team that competed in the Summer Solstice 5K race. L to R Bob Wheeler, Paul Smeal, Sally Paulson, John Hillison, Sharen Hillison, Angela Little, and Don Creamer.
The 5K winners picture shows the five members of the AARP United team that received medals. L to R Don Creamer, Paul Smeal, Sally Paulson, Sharen Hillison, and John Hillison.
We drove down to Charlotte to see Fleetwood Mac, one of my favorite bands. I’ve been waiting for Stevie Nicks to tour with them again and once she agreed, I knew we had to go. Initially we were going to have to go to Atlanta to see them but they added more shows and luckily Charlotte was one of them!
Weird night in terms of the protestors out front and the drunk girls in front of us but it was still a great show! My 70s super group list is almost done – Eagles, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, Doobie Brothers.
Jen from next door and I went to see Barry Manilow Friday night. Now please stop laughing and compose yourself.
I’m not a ‘Fanilow’ but I can’t help loving his music. Like Jen says, it’s basically the soundtrack of our childhood. You know you know all the damn songs too. It was a perfect setup – we had an awesome parking pass that let us literally pull up out front the PNC Arena and walk in, club level seats and then the show was just under two hours with no opening act.
Oh and free glowsticks! People you haven’t lived until you’ve held up a glowstick and sung I Write The Songs with Barry Manilow and 10,000 new friends. Or danced to Manilow singing Copacabana live. I’m telling you, BUCKET LIST stuff right there people.
It really was an amazing concert and he puts on one helluva show. We laughed, we got choked up, we sung all night. It was fantastic and bit hysterical too. We laughed so much a woman moved away from us. I prefer to think it was our laughter and not our singing but it could have been both that drove them away.
Manilow is about to turn 70 and holy mackerel, he still can sing and dance up a storm. He paces himself and changes to conserve energy when he can but he worked his rump off on stage. I can’t tell you how impressed and charmed we both were with him live. The man is one helluva showman and entertainer.
I was going to tape more but I was too busy having fun but I snagged one video at least, This One’s For You. The video screen was playing clips of him as a child with his grandfather.
Next up – Fleetwood Mac this summer in Charlotte with Jeff & Hayley. I’ve been waiting for Stevie Nicks to agree to tour again with Fleetwood Mac so I’m just over the moon for this show too.
Jen from next door and I went to see Barry Manilow Friday night. Now please stop laughing and compose yourself. 
It really was an amazing concert and he puts on one helluva show. We laughed, we got choked up, we sung all night. It was fantastic and bit hysterical too. We laughed so much a woman moved away from us. I prefer to think it was our laughter and not our singing but it could have been both that drove them away. 
