Family

I got the art work for the banners done and the “pin the grape on the vine” printed last night so I am done with that stuff. Hit Rita’s Water Ice at like 3 min to 10 right before they closed, my neighbor was working so she gave me here free quart of ice that she gets every night. She is a good kid and hope that she gets some good karma out of it.

Well off to picnic central…….more later…..

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Pour me somethin’ tall and strong
Make it a hurricane before I go insane
It’s only half past twelve but I don’t care
It’s 5 O’clock somewhere

This lunch break is gonna take all afternoon
half the night
Tomorrow morning I know they’ll be hell to pay
Hey, but that’s alright

I ain’t had a day off now in over a year
My Jamican vacation’s gonna start right here
Get the phones for me
You can tell ’em I just sailed away

Tomorrow it looks like the sound system is going to go in and then it will really be picnic week. Avery has been helping Clora and doing a great job.

Ira and I hit Triangle Art and got a cool looking Tie Dye kit and am planing to tie dye a our shirts….It just seems right for me to do it since I am always wearing a tie dye shirt so wearing a white shirt would be wrong….As you can see I am dragging and rambling pretty much now………..

As Dean searches for his photo paper that is right in front of him so I am going to get some dinner and go home to sleep soon……..

Working on the picnic today and hanging out with my Uncle Fran and family….

Yesterday started nice and early. Avery had two shows to do one at noon and the other at 3:30. We had tickets for the first show. We had invited all the relatives and our friends Iambe and Engel. Well we owe Iambe and Engel big time. There were 35 performances one from every class and a few solos. Avery’s was 5 from the last. Now my aunt Clora had gone to the dress rehearsal to take pictures and knew the schedule. She must have forgotten to tell me that Avery didn’t go on till after the intermission so she and my Aunt Bea and Uncle Dean didn’t show up till then lucky guys. I have to give these kids a lot of credit..some of the classes were a little ragged but they got up there and gave it there best. My sister-in-law and I cringed a lot at some of the production flaws, but that’s what happens when you have worked backstage and in the lighting and sound dept for a long time.

Finally, Avery’s class was on stage and my heart got real big. I have seen this dance so many time from Avery practicing around the house but put it all together with the other kids and the music it was great. They were one of the classes that got the biggest applause and they were great. I was so proud of my daughter.

At the end of the performance, the teachers came out and announced the awards for the school. Avery won a scholarship for next year for ballet. That just made me feel great and Avery was so surprised.

So after 3.5 hours at Rider watching the kids, Carolyn and I went to dinner with Iambe and Engel while Avery did the second show. After dinner, Carolyn and I wandered back to Rider to get Avery. We got there right when intermission was getting out. I snuck back in to see Avery’s performance once again and then got Carolyn so we could watch Avery actually go up and get her certificate from the teachers. We are so proud of Avery and hope she keeps enjoying dance. I also hope my parents can make it next year I know my dad would have had such a big smile on his face and telling everyone around him that that is his granddaughter.
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To days lyrics are from the song Avery performed to yesterday.

You’ll Be In My Heart

Come stop your crying
It will be all right
Just take my hand
Hold it tight
I will protect you
from all around you
I will be here
Don’t you cry
For one so small,
you seem so strong
My arms will hold you
keep you safe and warm
This bond between us
can’t be broken
I will be here
Don’t you cry
‘Cause you’ll be in my heart
Yes, you’ll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forever more
You’ll be in my heart
No matter what they say
You’ll be here
in my heart always
Always

My mom, Carolyn, Avery, and my youngest cousin Lou worked most of the day coloring Easter eggs while my dad de dandelion my back yard and allot of the neighborhood to get enough of them to make dandelion pie for Easter Dinner. In the afternoon my uncle Fran came over to recover my dining room chairs seats. As he was working on those my dad and I stood around as the 3 of us talked and just kicked back and had a good time. We ended up at my aunt Clora’s for a good fish meal cooked and eatin’ outside by the big fire that Fran had gotten going to keep us warm so Carolyn could join us due to her allergies from the dog hair.

Saturday was my parents 38th wedding anniversary so we took them to the Philadelphia Art Museum for the Manet at the Sea exhibited and then out to dinner at the United States oldest family owned Italian Restaurant. Nat and Del joined the Bilancio’s on this great journey into the city of Brotherly Love. You can read Nat’s view and experience of following me from the museum to the restaurant here. The dinner was fabulous. I had muscles in red sauce on Spaghetti..they were wonderful…..After dinner Nat and Del headed home and we headed to the car but made a nice stop at a local coffee house on the way.. Some of the best espresso I have had in a long time…..

Sunday started out a little rocky because I got up in a bad mood and some stuff on my mind that carried over to the great breakfast at my aunt Cloara’s house. It was a great breakfast with all the traditional Easter foods that my grand mom use to make. Pizza gain, Wheat pie, and others that I can’t think of right now. The breakfast broke up and I headed home to start cooking the Easter dinner that was going to be held at my house. We had a nice beef roast that had been marinating in a great red wine concoction, green beans, salad, fruit salad and more of the traditional foods left over from breakfast. Nat and Del, Fran, Lou, my aunt Bea, and my parents started showing up around 4 and the party kicked off. I found that the kitchen in the house can really only hold about 6 people….so Nat and Del sort of got juggled out of the kitchen while the Bilancio tribe all started to get into the cooking and talking old times.

We finally sat down around 5:30 to eat. After a great grace by my dad Nat introduced us to one of her family’s Easter tradition of egg breaking. You take an Easter egg and hold it and your neighbor takes his/ her egg and wakes the top of the egg the person who’s egg breaks loses and the winner moves on to the next person until there is only one unbroken egg. It came down to my Uncle and me..I am now Champion…
The food was passed and the wine was poured and the stories started to be told We heard allot of great ones about our grandparents and my dads family. It was a great time. Things broke up around 8pm with my dad, mom Fran and Lou and Bea heading out to the house. Fran and Lou were heading back to Michigan this morning around 4 and my parents were heading back this morning at a saner time…All in all it was a good weekend….no major blow ups between my mom and me or Carolyn. Avery had a good time with her cousin Lou and I felt proud to be able to host the Easter dinner this year…maybe next year we can get Clora and Dean to make it…..

Thanks all for coming and making it a great Easter this year…..

Bebop baby, how can this be
I know you’ve been out a cheating on me
Round and round and round and round
Don’t take much to get the word around
Cross my heart and hope to die
I was just hanging out with the other guys