Year 2_Day 192

Spent the day driving my son back to college after his Thanksgiving break...three more weeks and he will be home for his month long Christmas/winter break. I can't believe that he will be finishing his fall semester of his Junior year already...wow...seems like he just graduated from highschool.

As always i enjoyed the time i got to spend with Scott this weekend and the drive home and back to school....Only issue we had today was that we had snow during the 2 hours bringing Scott back to College and rain during the 2 hours back home.

Yeara 2_Day 191

11:33 a.m.
My dear friend Kim got married today in Connecticut. It was a very small wedding and I was honored to be able to share this day with Kim and Bob. My wedding gift to them was to take photos documenting this happy day.

Kim's lucky number is 33. So they planned to start the wedding ceremony at 12:33 p.m. When I got home tonight and starting going through my photos, I noticed that the very first photos that I took of Kim, selected her jewelery in her bedroom was at exactly 11:33 a.m. I think that is a sign...a good sign.
Best wishes for a long happy marriage Kim and Bob...love you both.

Year 2_Day 190

Where is amyloupics?

Year 2_Day 189

Happy Thanksgiving...
I am thankful for a wonderful, loving son. And thankful that I was able to spend the holiday with the people who mean the most to me..my husband, my son and my parents.

Year 2_Day 188

If you want to make an apple pie, you must first cut the apple
~proverb from the book of amyloupics

Year 2_Day 187

This is one for the photo album.....today's gas price and what I filled up at. Can you believe this?? Just yesterday the price at this station was $1.81. Never thought I would see this day!!

Year 2_Day 186

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Year 2_Day 185

Peace of Color
A good colorful world
Is the key to
A good colorful life
Remember that without color
The world could
be a dull place.
Listen to your Heartsong
with color in your spirit.
Then, you will be
A part of the Harmony and Peace
Kaleidoscope
that reflects
Our Changing world.
~Mattie J.T. Stepanek January 2000

Year 2_Day 184

The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall! Decaf! Cappuccino!
~Quote from the movie "You've Got Mail"

Year 2_Day 183

Tranquility
The calmest and serenest hours of life, when the passions of nature are all silent, and the mind enjoys its most perfect composure.
- Isaac Watts

Year 2_Day 182

Please wish my friend Joanne Happy Birthday! This girl is a fantastic friend, a fabulous photographer and simply gorgeous!

Year 2_Day 181

"Our days are a kaleidoscope. Every instant a change takes place in the contents. New harmonies, new contrasts, new combinations of every sort. Nothing ever happens twice alike. The most familiar people stand each moment in some new relation to each other, to their work, to surrounding objects. The most tranquil house, with the most serene inhabitants, living upon the utmost regularity of system, is yet exemplifying infinite diversities."
- Henry Ward Beecher

Year 2_Day 180

Went on a photo phraming phrenzy this weekend. Another display of my photos in my home. Thanks everyone for all your support and encouragement.

Year 2_Day 179

When it snows, ain't it thrilling,
Though your nose gets a chilling
We'll frolic and play, the Eskimo way,
walking in a winter wonderland.

Year 2_Day 178

I went on an adventure today to locate the Danvers State Hospital Cemetery behind the grounds of the old Insane Asylum in Danvers Massachusetts

As I walked along the dirt path to the cemetery, this was my view looking back at the State Hospital wich is now a condo/apartment complex..The brick building is one of the original buildings.

Danvers State Hospital Cemetery Restoration: From Numbers To Names

All across the United States there are forgotten cemeteries at state hospitals. Historically, people who died at state hospitals and whose remains were not claimed by family or friends, were buried on the grounds. Most state hospitals buried former patients and marked their resting place with numbered markers. Patient confidentiality and tight budgets often comprised the rationale for burying people in this way. Over time many state hospital cemeteries fell into neglect, and were subsequently forgotten.

In 1997 Pat Deegan stumbled upon two abandoned cemeteries at Danvers State Hospital in Massachusetts. Small, round, numbered markers lay beneath jungle-like overgrowth and the state had lost all record of the names of those buried there. Pat organized a group of ex-patients who called themselves the Danvers State Memorial Committee. Over the next five years this grassroots organization successfully restored the cemeteries and replaced names with numbers.

Year 2_Day 177

“The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
~Dr. Seuss

*note: the 5th book from the right , "Trial of Souls" was written by my son when he was a senior in highschool (three years ago). www.lulu.com/content/309738

Year 2_Day 176

Yesterday I had lunch with Joanne at our Danvers facility (Beverly Hospital @ Danvers) to celebrate their 1 year anniversary. Had a yummy turkey dinner cooked by the hospitals own wonderful chefs. After lunch we went up to Joanne's office and did some "elevator shooting" on the way there...i know...we are crazy girls. Thanks for the laughs Joanne

Year 2_Day 175

“Tears are the safety valve of the heart when too much pressure is laid on it.”
~Albert Smith

Year 2_Day 174

"She will fill our lives with sunshine....
And our hearts with love."
~unknown

Year 2_Day 173

In an article titled "Too Many Patients to Treat, Human Flood Turned Hospital into Madhouse," which appeared in the September 6, 1987, Lynn Sunday Post, reporter David Marrs wrote: "Stories like the tale of a boy whose mother could not discipline him anymore and decided to place him at Danvers State Hospital for 'treatment' are not unusual. Forty years later, when asked to sign his name, he held the pad and pencil, and in a rough free-hand sketch, drew a picture of--the hospital."

Photo of an old road leading to the property of the former Danvers State Hospital, Danvers MA.

Year 2_Day 172

“Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new day as another special gift from your Creator, another golden opportunity to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Be a self-starter. Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is certain to echo through your entire day. Today will never happen again. Don't waste it with a false start or no start at all. You were not born to fail.”
~Og Mandino

Year 2_Day 171

Autumn on the Cochecho River, Dover NH

Year 2_Day 170

On January 14, 2008 I took a walk during a snow storm in my neighborhood and took a photo of the backside of two grave stones leaning together and titled it Sweethearts.

One of my friends wondered who the headstones belonged to and if they were indeed "sweethearts". Today, I finally went back to look at the fronts of these, and YES ..they are Clarissa and Joseph Fuller...husband and wife.

http://amylou365.blogspot.com/2008/01/day-237.html

TIMOTHY FULLER CEMETERY
A.K.A. OLD FULLER BURYING GROUND
MIDDLETON MASSACHUSETTS

Inscriptions on the two headstones:

Joseph Fuller
Died
May 28, 1870.
AEt. 75 yrs. 4 mos.

Clarissa,
Wife of
Joseph Fuller,
Died Dec. 8, 1853,
AEt. 52 yrs. 9 mos.
Sarah Ann their dau.
Died Nov. 22, 1826,
AEt. 16 mos.

Year 2_Day 169

My friend Joanne and her beloved Blackberry phone.

Year 2_Day 168

I love the people that i work with....these kids are so much fun and always keep me laughing.
(Erin, Gerald, Stacey, Mary)

Year 2_Day 167

After selling 3 of my photos in two weeks, i finally felt confident in myself and in my photos that i printed up 9 of my favorite photos and put them in this 32"x32" frame which i will display in my home. Thanks everyone for your continued support.

Year 2_Day 166

Put yourself in a state of mind where you say to yourself, "Here is an opportunity for you to celebrate like never before, my own power, my own ability to get myself to do whatever is necessary.”
~Anthony Robbins

Year 2_Day 165

My friend's husband owns Cape Ann Brewing Company in Gloucester MA and they were kind enough to make an in-kind donation to our employee giving campaign raffle.
Thanks Jeremy and Mary.

Year 2_Day 164

Meet Nicole. I had the pleasure of spending the day with my friend Mary and her daughter Nicole. We went hiking at Purgatory Chasm in Sutton MA. Purgatory Chasm runs for a quarter of a mile between granite walls rising as high as 70 feet. Popular with picnickers and rock-climbers alike, the Chasm is believed to have its origin in the sudden release of dammed-up glacial meltwater near the end of the last Ice Age, approximately 14,000 years ago. Had a great day...Thanks to Nicole for suggesting this really neat place.

Year 2_Day 163

Pet Cemetery - Maudsley State Park, Newburyport MA

~"...he will be our friend for always and always and always." ~ Rudyard Kipling