Shana's Birthday 2023

 Fun Shana's most precious shelf, is now a little tortoise that Annie got from the galapagos. Made from resin, it represents Annie's love of Shana, her first preschool teacher, knowing that Shana loves Tortoises and wants a tortoise of her own.  My birthday gift for Shaner every year is always a short trip, and this year it was to Wiki Watchie.

Florida 2023 : Self Portrait of Mom-Mom , The Girls' Paternal Great Grandmother

Florida 2023 : Self Portrait of Mom-Mom , The Girls' Paternal Great Grandmother

 I was really excited to see that Perri found a self-portrait done by Mom-Mom , the girls' paternal great grandmother. She was not only a sketch artist but a seamstress enclosed designer in the 1920s and 30s. In fact, I am blessed to have 2 of her original sketches hanging downstairs! Certainly a family heirloom!

Florida 2023 : Visiting Perri

This is Perri, my cousin and the girls' first cousin one generation removed (I think?).  I spent my entire youth, every holiday with Perri.  The whole compare family would gather at my uncle Paul's house.  Paul is the girls great uncle. She is the one who gave me the little cat Qui  When I was about 3 years old. That little stuffed animal now belongs to Leia and is one of her most beloved toys.

 Similar to how I always felt at uncle Paul's house, I was struck withe beautiful wealth that Perry had acquired through her determination and hard work over the years. Uncle Paul was a contractor and Perry and her husband Colin own design service in a very affluent part of Jupiter Florida.  She even had one of those huge indoor aquariums  With all of the finding Nemo fish inside. 

 The home itself was remodeled by my uncle Paul and showed the expert craftsmanship. It has an outdoor pool that looks out over the Florida intercoastal waterway. Upon driving up to the house it looks like a fairly modest ranch Florida home and the mediocrity of it surprised me, until I walked inside!

 They also have a set of his and hers boats! And Perri took me on a ride on the intercoastal waterway.

 This is a picture very indicative of my spunky cousin's sweet personality.

Florida 2023 : The Lucie in Jensen Beach , Florida

 The rest of the trip has to do with visiting old friends and family, so after Shana left I checked in to this resort in Jensen beach Florida.  This goes down in history as the first time that I've stayed in a hotel on my own. And in a big success for my mental health, I  really enjoyed it!  I had a beach front room And I slept with the windows open all night!  This was probably the most beautiful resort I ever stayed in ... With the exception of the wakaloa resort in Hawaii.

Florida 2023 : Shorty's Barbecue

 And finally was the main reason why I came down to Fort Lauderdale in the first place, Shorty's barbecue! This is their secondary location, the original one is in Miami which was the 1 my dad went to in the 1940s with his parents and had the same waitress, Wilma, until I was in grade school. The reason why I wanted to go here is I wanted to get a huge amount of barbecue and freeze it for my dad. I wanted to make his 80th birthday the best birthday ever by bringing him his favorite barbecue! Yes, I would have to freeze it until October, but it is worth it! I have memories of going here as a young teen and to the one in Miami as a young child. Very good memories with all of the Compare family.

Florida 2023 : Burnham Woods

 Now this was the neighborhood that was my true childhood home from age 6 to when my parents moved in 2008: Burnham Woods.  My students always thought it was funny that I grew up in this neighborhood because it is named after the woods in Macbeth.

 And here is the house at 8301 Southwest 20th street,  North Lauderdale Florida.  The same female ficus tree is out front. But the front of the house looks totally different. It used to look more like a barn with large wooden x's at the front of it. And the 2 windows above the garage were not there instead it was a porch.

 I can't tell you how many times I played Chinese jump rope and jacks on this driveway.

 This fence is definitely the one that my mom put up herself in the early 2000s. You can tell because it has a bottom 2 / 4 at the bottom to try to keep cats out from getting her chickens.

 And here you can see the porch and the sliding glass door that leads to the master bedroom.

 And here was my backyard with many palmetto palms and it used to have a great fruit tree in the back corner. It also used to have the 2 stories swing said that my dad moved from the townhouse.

 When I was in high school and we had our boat, my parents had this side of the fence rigged to open up fully so we could pull our boat in its trailer into the backyard. Mom used to have pineapple plants growing here inside these little cement edgings.

 Finally I had to take a picture of our kickball field. Home plate is in the bottom picture. The sewer grate in front of my house was first base and the manhole cover was second. I was a typical Gen X kid growing up in the suburbs, so I knew to come home when the street lights came on.

 And finally come up to take a picture of Allison's house!  I spent more times than I can count walking from my house to hers on 20th street and playing with her cats in the yard going to birthday parties and learning to dance to The Beach Boys. I even saw baby kitties being born in her garage!  I sent this picture to Allison over Facebook, And her response was, "Why is it blue?" I have no idea, but my guess is that it is to keep the bad spirits away.

Florida 2023 : The Boulevard of Champions

 The boulevard of champions is the road that my neighborhood was connected to. This is the neighborhood where I grew up from age 0 to age 6. I was looking for the apartment in Pompano where I was first born, but neither of my parents could remember where that was.  It was amazing that I found my house simply from the memories when I was 5. But here it is, on Seaview Road.  I knew I could find it because it was on a very prominent corner lot.

The boulevard of champions itself had these strange sculptures out in the front of it. I never really knew what they were, but now I think they represent first second and third place.

 I don't remember there being any trees in the backyard when I was there, only the 2 story swing set my dad built.

 Over the fence here was my backyard, and dear God, the fence! I am pretty sure this is the original fence in that it was in a huge state of disrepair.

 This was the sight of my fifth birthday party with the Ernie cake from sesame street, and many fun times with friends when I was little.

 I also had to take a picture of the sewer grate out front which still had the railroad ties that mom put there. The reason why this is significant is because it was the reason I was spanked the only time I was. My mom had just gotten me white sesame street shoes, and I decided to wear them and balance on these railroad ties but stepped in the mud beside them. Mom got so mad that she spanked me.

Florida 2023 : Saint Thomas, Las Olas & Pine Crest

 Today I also went to visit my high school, saint Thomas Aquinas. All the schools I went to visit gave me a route awakening because of all of the school shootings in our country. When I went to these schools they were all out in the open and you could walk anywhere. Now they all have huge 12 foot fences made of iron or concrete. There was no getting inside without permission and there were police stationed outside of each of them. I suppose I could have gone to the office and asked to take some photos, but I thought outside pictures might be enough.

 Next I went to a famous street and downtown for Lauderdale called Las Olas .   This was the place I would frequent when I was a junior and senior in high school mostly trying to catch a glimpse of my favorite teacher and crush Mr. Balkcom.  But there were many times that my friends and I would go to the art festival there as well.

 And if you had told me that I would see this house someday when I was in high school, I would have gone crazy. This is Mr. Balkcom's house. I wasn't brave enough to knock on the door or call because it sounded too much like a stalker.  But quite frankly, we have been friends ever since I left high school. This was the place that I wished that I could go when I was 16 and 17.

 And this is Saint Coleman Catholic Church.  It was where I was baptized 49 years ago, 5 days after my birth. There is a picture of mom and dad holding me by these very Stone grates.

 Then I went to Pinecrest. Pine Crest day camp was my workplace of choice and camp of choice from fourth grade all the way until I graduated college. Every single summer this is where I was!  I learned so much about the jewish faith here and socialization. I also learned that I wanted to be a teacher. But unfortunately, I couldn't go and take pictures because they too had a huge fence.

Florida 2023 : Visiting Saint Helen's Catholic School

 It is hard for me to express how precious Saint Helens Catholic Church and school is to me. I spent 8 years of my life here and probably the most important part of my Catholic upbringing. There is a beautiful window in the back of the church this is the view from the inside and the next picture is from the outside. This is where all of our school photos were taken. 

 On the outside I noticed a plaque in honor of the founding pastor Father Murnane. I remember him well! He was the priest who used to wear vestments made of Mickey Mouse sheets to get the smallest children interested. He used to say mass in our classrooms sometimes, and was known for his 20 minute masses during the weekday.  The other priest at the time was Monseigneur Powers.  He was special because he served as a chaplain in World War 2.

 This was a new statue of who I believe is the blessed mother that wasn't there when I attended.

 Here is the inside of the church from the back. I remember this view well at very important events such as confirmation and graduation. It was also the view we saw on the first Friday of every month when the entire class would file in to confession.

 The crucifix here is not the one that I remember they changed the place of the original risen Christ.   The square shaped stain glass to  The left and right of the crucifix is the original from the 60s.

 But the original risen Christ that I remember that used to be on the class is in the back of the church now. All of the statues used to be plain wood, and now they are painted. The stained glass here is the original when I first started going here in first grade.

 When I first started attending saint helens, these were pea green 1970s transom windows. By the time I was in fourth or fifth grade, donors donated in order to have these beautiful stained glass windows put in. I was by one of these windows during each grade of my 8 grades of great school. So I know them well, in that we would go to mass every single Friday and I would go with my family every single Sunday.

 This is where I made my first confession and would go to confession every first Friday of the month. Traditionally, the light would go on when you knelt on the kneeler. Always felt lots of anxiety that turned into a lot of peace.

 This was where I sat in the choir for many years. You can see some of the stations at the cross near the top, but they are different from the wood stations that were originally there.

 The altar is a bit different, but the tabernacle is the same. Anything with the mottled brass metal was from the 70s when I attended.

 The red light showing the eucharist present was the same one from when I attended.

 The cross that the altar boys carried in was also the same.

 Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist to the right of the altar was also something to look at during mass.

... As was the holy family on the right. These used to be plain wood and now are painted. I had never noticed that Mary was stepping on a snake. And you can see that her head is ready for the Crown of may crowning.

 These holy water reservoirs near the doors are the same from when I attended, I must have dipped my hand in these thousands of times.

 And the bell the altar boys rang during the consecration was also the same.

 And for a final picture, which is a weird 12 take, is a wall that used to be the 2 bathrooms outside the door of the church. You can see the outlines if you look closely. I had to run to these bathrooms when I got sick during my eighth grade graduation.