Mary Has A Cow

• "How now brown cow"
• train to the shore
• cleaning out the little house at 428
• exploring the closet under the steps in the kitchen at 428
• waiting for everyone to arrive at the shore on Friday nights
• preparing the house for everyone to arrive at the shore on Friday nights (did I just write that?)
• thinking Kakki was a doctor and telling everyone I knew
• taking the train to the hospital (where she was a doctor) to pick up Kakki to go to the shore 

The Girls Respond to Meg's Panhandling

Maureen responds: "Oh that's right - you were that cute you could panhandle for money. Me, they would have arrested for vagrancy. I think you talked about panhandling on the first list. Is that how you earned your money for the summer? I am laughing, yes, out loud and it is great fun!"

Mary responds: "I was laughing out loud also, what fun!!"

Meg says "reminiscing about things is great fun - you girls are so ahead, I am digging deep into my memory trove". (and the sand and other people's pockets for change)

Meg - The Pinball Wizard

• standing at the edge of the ocean and digging our feet in deep, almost up to our knees
• standing on a raft floating over the waves - hey, I was standing up "paddle boarding" without any paddles
• my first pair of sunglasses - they were round with pink rims
• everything in Morrows Nut House
• bumming quarters to play pinball
• using one quarter all night because I'd win, then match, then win, then match, then.........

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 9.7" Display, Graphite, 3G Works Globally – Latest Generation

Colleen - The Surfer Girl

• beach combing
• surfing
• sand castles
• digging for crabs
• running undercover to the tents on the beach
• hot sand underfoot
• blisters
• climbing rocks on the beach
• walking out on the rocks on the beach into the ocean
• searching for interesting shells in the rocks on the beach
• moss on the rocks on the beach
• pilings in the ocean
• dune grass out
• dune grass in
• Gloria's
• Henri's
• Tarpon
• Shore Bar
• Ugly Mug
• Pilot House
• fishing for blues (that would be bluefish for you amateurs) at night and holding my own
• watching the fireworks on the 4th of July in the middle of the ocean in Joe's fishing boat
• beach tags
• beach tag maneuvers

Live At The Troubadour [CD / DVD Combo]
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Karen Goes to the Zoo at Home

• Stryder, Terry's favorite dog - - as the world traveller of ten siblings, he was sure to have a canine companion
• iguanas in the house, four boys, six sisters and iguanas.....priceless
• chameleons in the house, four boys, six sisters, iguanas and chameleons
• box turtles in the house, four boys, six sisters, iguanas, chameleons and box turtles
• Robin, our cocker spaniel
• mice that travelled from the third floor to the second floor on Perry Street
• "katydids" in the tree in the yard on Perry Street - birds that sang at the same time every evening
• a chicken we got as a pet for Easter and Grandmother cooked for dinner

Karen Goes to College

• Mary Beth waiting at the corner for me after school - she thought I went to college - I was in high school
• Mommy sitting on the sofa in the corner with the newspaper on her lap, snoozing, after dinner
• Little tiny white Missal that I got for my First Communion. It had really thin, crispy pages with god edges
• First Communion greeting cards
• Sitting around the dining room table after Mary Beth was born - we got to pick her name out of a paper bag
• Receiving blankets when a new baby arrived
• Rob and I to the TV studio on City Line Avenue to tape for the Jerry Blavat Show
• Daddy coming home from the hospital after Kevin was born - he told us Kevin had red hair and was going to be named Moishe
• Terry's big, round, beautiful grin coming in after surfing
• Telling people I had nine brothers and sisters
• Mommy and Daddy dancing

Maureen Spies a Sailor on the Sofa, His Ship Ran Aground

• The year Daddy took, at least, seven of us Christmas shopping to Center City for our Mommie's gift. We parked illegally on the side of Wanamakers, did our shopping, bought the brass early American magazine rack, and left for the car. Daddy took the parking ticket off the windshield, and everyone was happy!
• feeling that I could taste the ice in my lungs on frigid, snowy days
• building a snowman, any time of the day or night
• waking to find a sailor in the living room asleep on the sofa - Rob was home on leave - a boy was in the house and he was not related - yippeee
• The Platters
• checking out lots of books from the library and feeling privileged
• reading in the middle of the night with a blanket covering me, the lamp, and the book as I sat on the floor - serenity
• signing yearbooks, signed yearbooks "love ya" "you're my best friend forever" - memories
• Meg going to college - knowledge
• Terry trick or treating with Kevin and Gerald and coming home with 100 pounds of candy himself - full

Little Miss Karen Sits on a Pile of Laundry Eating Her Pie Away

• Carroll Villa and the linen closet when I was 15 - Mr Thoden baked his special pies in the morning and placed them out on a long butcher block table in the kitchen and Katherine Gibbons and I would go down the back stairs, each take our favorite pie and hide it in the linen closet. When our shift was over, we would sit on a huge pile of laundry and eat our pie.
• As a chambermaid, I loved to look at the clothes the female guests brought with them. I would imagine a whole story about the kind of life they led by the material of their clothes and the labels. Some were so different than any I had ever seen.
• Jean Nate
• Breathless Mist
• Old Spice
• Aqua Velvet
• baby powder

Meg, Busloads of Nuns and Jawbreakers

• red and white striped beach umbrella with the fringe
• walking under the umbrella on the way home from the beach in a rainstorm
• walking the cobblestone streets in Cape May
• Boston baked bean candy and jawbreakers at Stegers
• saltwater taffy
• watching busloads of nuns driving to Cape May Point and waving, wondering what they would be doing there
• checking every pay phone for forgotten change

Maureen - Freckle Faces Bask in Bug Spray

• fruit and vegetable trucks selling produce on Kenny Avenue during the summer
• running into the wake of an enormous white cloud of chemicals as we followed the mosquito spray trucks in the early evenings of summer - how morbidly fun!
• open windows with screens - don't waste that bug spray
• painting white picket fences white over and over and over......
• fishing trips with Daddy - bait, sandwiches, and finding our sea legs
• Mommie won't go to bed until she sees the weather forecast at 11pm
• big, beautiful plastic hoop earrings
• freckle face times ten
• taking the ferry to New Jersey from Chester before we had roads to Cape May - yikes - how old are we?
• never realizing what 12 people looked like driving in a car until people pulled up beside us and started counting
• Bug-Eye Sprite
• Kindness

Mary - Ready, Aim, Fireworks

• Cape May
• Fourth of July
• everyone at 428 Perry Street
• cook out on the 4th of July
• peanuts with money stuck in the shells and tossed on the lawn - 4th of July
• finding the perfect stick to toast marshmallows
• corn on the cob
• walking to the beach to see the fireworks
• climbing Stegers stand to watch the fireworks
• jumping off Stegers stand into the sand

Maureen, Elvis and The Michelin Man

• Elvis concert, 1971 - Meg, Honora, and I took Grandmother. Grandmother danced in her seat and was the happiest I ever knew her to be - she loved Elvis.
• Elvis concert Colleen and I attended - we had front row seats and were given notes to meet the King backstage and chickened out - I was one of the fortunate ones  he handed a scarf to from the stage - I still have it - anyone wanna buy it?
• jump rope - fudge fudge tell the judge Momma had a newborn baby almost every year
• eating a cheesesteak for the first time and vowing to be rich so I could eat one every day for the rest of my life
• snowsuits -my arms stuck straight out and I looked like the Michelin Man - an arctic wind wouldn't have penetrated those snowsuits
• basketball hoop in the driveway - hoops after dinner
• bike with one pedal and faulty brakes - Geronimo with a Beware sign!
• awnings on Kenny Avenue - the first sign of summer
• Eileen sending us University of Miami decals every time we asked, no matter how many times we asked - go girl!

Colleen, Bud Holmes and Go To Helen Wait

• honeysuckle aroma in Cape May
• tire swing in Cape May
• The Girls luncheonette on Washington Street
• taking Gerald, the baby, out in the coach - running into the Girls luncheonette out of the pouring rain
• taking Gerald for a special birthday outing - a portrait sitting on the boardwalk, July 22nd
• swimming out to the last buoy on the ropes and waving to the whistling lifeguards
• Steger's penny candy
• RC Cola and a bag of cheese twists with Beth and Maureen
• Taylor pork roll and Eileen
• the old Acme where the Towers is now
• playing mahjong at Caroline's Boutique in the Bubbling Well where I worked and played - random people stopped in to shop and often ended up playing mahjong
• working at the Wicker Store where the surf shop is now on the Mall in Cape May
• watching Mary Beth blowing glass in a store window on the Mall in Cape May
• Bud Holmes Customer Service sign..go to Helen wait

Karen Remembers - Mommy Has a Cowl

• The Walking Mustache
• Kakki reading my horoscope, with authority, at the kitchen table in Cape May
• going to the photographer in Landsdowne to get our photo taken and getting everyone together so Mommy wouldn't know what was going on
• going into town with Daddy to buy Mommy a blue plaid, cowl neck dress at Wanamaker's - I may have been in the 8th grade
• standing on the sidewalk on Chester Pike when JFK rode through Sharon Hill
• choir practice
• lunch brought to high school...soggy white bread with lettuce, lunch meat, mayo and a tomato slice...the soggier the bread, the better the sandwich
• the first spring trip to Cape May; when we reached the bridge, I could smell the ocean; when we approached Perry Street, I could smell the hedges.
• Eileen and her boyfriends
• Eileen and her Christmas and birthday gifts
• Eileen and her hand-me-downs - to me

Karen Trains Her Bra

• playing under the "deck" on the back of the house on Kenny Avenue
• rolling my knee socks down for the first time when "conservatives" were in style
• looking at the Sunday Magazine in May with all the senior high school girls photos - wishing my photo would be there one day
• looking at the back of the newspaper with the training bras - oh how I wanted one
• stepping into the "hot tub" when we came home from the beach
• celebrating Daddy's 50th birthday at the ice cream parlor
• when Mommy put on her Cutex lipstick....that meant happy times
• hi-balls at the house....company...yeah
• cream filled donuts Daddy brought home
• lunch roll sliced extra thin
• the ferry to the shore

Maureen Discovers Boys, 'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy

• Azalea bushes planted for the Blessed Mother's May Procession crowns
• Tea rose bushes in the back yard
• patio furniture flipped over to become amusement rides
• bike riding with Rob
• lights out in the living room - fireplace ablaze
• lights out in the living room - watching television
• Mommie decorating for Christmas
• Daddy painting for Christmas
• hula hoops, hula hoops
• pogo sticks
• carmel popcorn after the dance at Convention Hall in Cape May
• basketball games at Holy Spirit
• babysitting in Sharon Hill - making money
• shovelling snow - making money, being fed
• book fairs at Holy Spirit - selling books to the parents
• typing and shorthand
• the beach
• The Little Church - Sharon Hill
• The Big Church while it was being built - we got to walk around inside and walk on the altar as our voices echoed, echoed
• discovering boys and how I felt
• Hope

comments hi5

Maureen, Zip a Dee Doo Dah Geronimo

• cardigan sweaters
• jokes - laughing at silly jokes - telling silly jokes
• storytelling
• field behind Kenny Avenue
• field where the Acme was built
• first day of school schoolbags
• the smell of new schoolbags
• carrying a new schoolbag
• lightning bugs
• bodysurfing - geronimo
• bodysurfing with Lyn - double geronimo
• hymns
• springtime
• Easter baskets
• Love Story
• Palmer Method
• Zip a dee do dah, zip a dee ay
• It's a Beautiful Morning
• Whitebird by It's a Beautiful Day
• Spelling Bees
• Holy Spirit Grade School
• Hope

Maureen and A Guitar Playing, Singing Boyfriend Concert

• frayed jeans
• tan Levi's - before denim- from store at Food Fair
• the butterfly I embroidered on the backside of my jeans
• french t-shirts with tiny bows
• french bikini from Aunt Helen
• Palmer method
• asdfjkl; (typing class)
• Nancy Drew books
• winter nights - washing dishes - filling pots with water and throwing them into the driveway so the driveway would freeze for our own ICE SKATING RINK
• ice skating at the tennis courts
• Bob - Barb Watson's guitar playing, singing boyfriend and the night he gave a concert at our house
• Pidgie and Paulette
• Friday nights - treat nights. Sometimes pizza, sometimes hot chocolate, sometimes donuts
• Daddy playing the piano
• Mommie running up the stairs after the "nudnicks"
• Mommie smoking after her morning coffee
• oatmeal, stew, meatballs
• Mommie and Daddy have tea at 11pm
• 69th Street with Mommie - soda and peanut butter crackers on the way home at the drug store counter

Christine - Profile

Christine is number four of the sisters and the fifth of ten. She is quiet strength and fortitude. She lives her life in almost complete devotion to her faith.

Christine uses her many talents doing administrative work for the Diocese of Philadelphia, as well as designing and sewing extraordinary wedding gowns, bridesmaids dresses, and memorable window treatments. She has added graphic designer to her resume as she recently began designing collateral material for the Sun Threadz company.

Since the time she was a little girl, she has demonstrated outstanding talents in art and design and a quiet countenance as she masters her skills.

Christine spends her time between Drexel Hill and Cape May where she lives a life full of family gatherings and work obligations.

Meg's Yellow and Black Hair and Topless Cartwheels

• my white mohair dress with black velvet trim I wore to Eileen's wedding - my first lined dress
• straw Easter shoes with little baskets at the toe
• burgundy patent leather Easter shoes
• forgotten shoes for Church left at the shore, having to sit with my feet tucked under a chair
• brown paper bag packed for a weekend getaway in the spring and fall - heading to Cape May
• returning to school with "yellow and black" hair - it was sunbleached but a classmate didn't know that
• blisters on my nose and shoulders, peeling them all summer long
• hand-me down bathing suits I coveted, even though they were too big
• borrowing rafts and skim boards from girls and boys who had them and never returning them til 5pm
• cartwheeling on the hard sand and losing my top every now and again - weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Maureen - Three Wheeled Bikes and Sheep Dogs - The Gifts

• Terry giving Mommie a 3 wheeled bike, her refusing to go near it, and us laughing as he laughed returning it
• Terry giving Mommie a sheep dog for her birthday, her refusing to go near it, and us laughing as he laughed returning it
• wondering what Terry would give Mommie next year and laughing
• wondering what my teacher would be like in each new school year
• Peter Pan collars
• pearls
• gaucho pants
• prayer
• High Mass - the scents, the sounds, the power

Maureen - The Be-In and the Woodie

• Be-In - Belmont Plateau - the people, the music, the joy
• Earth Day - 1970 - I worked at Rohm & Haas and our bosses let us leave early to celebrate on Independence Mall across the street
• casts on, casts off
• Rosie's cast-off party til the wee hours of the morn
• Joanne planning her wardrobe for the T-Bar Christmas party the day after the Christmas party the night before
• Ouija boards at Candy's - they told us our boyfriends names and how we would all be married within the year
• 10 speeds
• smell of leaves burning
• thinking piles of leaves were like puffy, soft white clouds and bouncing into them - ouch
• taking the boat out with Terry and breaking every law of the sea
• poker nights with Kevin in Cape May
• Mommie joined the Ladies Club - plays and lots of singing
• waking at Grandmother's during the holidays to the perfume scents from Kakki's room as she and Eileen prepared to go to work
• exploring Fairmount Park with Colleen, Lyn, and Cathy
• mystery books
• fountain pens, ink wells, nibs
• Fr Finnerty
• coal in our stockings
• laughing at ourselves before someone else did
• the "Woodie" station wagon - Mommie loved that car
• bunk beds
• Joy

Karen - A Hail Mary and a Bow

• saying a Hail Mary when we heard the sirens in the neighborhood
• "be sure to thank them when you leave"
• hold your sister's hand on the boardwalk
• bowing my head at the name of Jesus
• "remember you have 'class' "
• "did you brush your teeth"