Better Late than Never!
O’Connell Newsletter 2015
NEW greetings!!!! January 27, 2015
Blizzard of
2015.
This is a good day to finish this newsletter and send it
out. While I know the fall out from this storm is
to be about 2 feet of snow with more coming on the weekend I can’t help but be
excited to finally have snow to ski. I
am trying to add YOGA and skiing to my plans for spring. NO school today for most of Maine and we
will see what tomorrow brings. From the
sounds of the weather reports we probably won’t have school tomorrow
either. I would rather go to school in
June anyway. All cat and dog are
sleeping tucked up in warm places. I
didn’t get the snow blower yet so more shoveling. I
hope this finds everyone well and I am sending this by email, facebook
and snail mail to those who still use it to try to connect with you all. I look forward to hearing from everyone
throughout the year. I know I usually send
pictures so check some out on facebook if you can.
Greetings from cold and wintery Maine. This is the year of the “O”s. Orono
Maine the home of the family O’Connell.
In residence 2 working parents, 3 crazy cats and 1 very funny dog.
Oakland CA: the
residence of Fiona: adventurer
extrordinaere, currently a barista [coffee, tea and other beverages], working
2-3 jobs from bagel queen to nanny: figuring out next steps.
tORONtO, Ontario Canada Moira:
social media/marketing/business program finishing in Feb. and figuring
out next steps and back to US.
Steve: working for Office Max, keeping busy listening to the scanner for
accidents and news.
And last but not least the writer of the newsletter-Tracey:
in search of the bike and ski trails that are fun, working for the 13th
year at Leonard Middle School as a school counselor.
I always start backwards with this letter, as I can’t
believe where the time went. When I look
back I think really what did we do. Long
distance is the theme and it is really not a fun place to be in for our quiet
house. Steve hunkers down to almost
hibernation. Since he is growing a beard
he looks like a bear too. If I am not
doing SCHOOL work, I am keeping busy with friends and activities more on that
later. We had visits via Skype and face
time with the girls plus lots of texting and emails. I try to read a lot into “YUP”.
Both girls visited at two different times this year but the joy was our
Christmas. Moira and Fiona were under
one roof for 7 days. This was the gift
we gave ourselves this year, to be together.
We spend time watching movies,
making great meals together and with friends AND finally playing music
together. The old family band was up and
rocking. Both girls play guitar and sing
separate from each other but what is funny is they both love the old songs of
Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan. Then we get to
add new artists for some fun. Both are
very private but some fun did appear on Facebook.
SCHOOL: My year has
been filled with change at work. This
year my dear friend and principal moved on to another challenge. This opened up movement in our school. So within the school changes happened and I have a NEW principal and assistant
principal. There were also many staff
changes and new additions so sticking with the same old isn’t where it is
happening in my life. And change is hard
at any time but I am going forward. My
school year is always fraught with many challenges the biggest being
adolescents but add poverty, homelessness, academic woes, and the big one: BEHAVIOR.
Life is never dull. So when you see or hear something about school
in the world think of me because I am probably experiencing it.
ACTIVITY: I did a lot
of skiing and biking the whole year. December and January are very tricky months
but my first ski day for 2015 was January 9th. There was just enough snow to get out there
and have an enjoyable ski. Orono is a
wonderful center for activity. Every day
I can hop on my bike and ride anywhere on some great trails. I try to steer clear of the roads and traffic
but that cannot always be avoided. I do
love my bike. These same trails are also
groomed but I like to venture off to other fun areas. February and March saw me off with my skis in
tow. Off to Kittery for a cousin weekend
and ski, Belfast trying some new ground and Acadia of course. I skied on a fun trip last March with a friend
at Moosehead and then had a Kathy Lena family adventure on a ski trip on the
Maine Hut to Hut trail system. So I am
not in one spot long. I try to get out
be active and be social.
Over the summer a splendid opportunity arose with family and
cousins. I spent A LOT of time at Orr’s
Island summer home of the Dennis cousins.
I know the ocean is in my blood, as I love being seaside. A big O’Connell family event happened in
July. Our niece Emily married her
partner Heidi. We welcomed a new fun family
to our midst and it is amazing to me how the world opens up new friends and
adventures. This was a weekend event and
we had Fiona home for this one, Moira couldn’t make it from Toronto as she was
working on her marketing certificate for the last summer stint. We had semi-big Siemion family gathering
over the summer with visits from and Jode, Brandon and all the extra gang at
the beginning of August and brother Bob and Christine the end of August . It was SO fun to be together and every one is
growing up.
I think the biggest change this year in my life and my
siblings life is our Dad. After 37 years of being away from Maine we
had to move Dad to a memory care unit in Bangor. He will be 90 in March and can no longer care
for himself and needs 24 hour supervision.
He is in a nice place and has wonderful care providers. But he is an escape artist. After several dangerous escapes we made this
decision. This is an extremely
reflective process, which I am not that psyched about. But we continue.
I am still reading lots of books and I am having fun with a
web-based program called Good Reads.
Look me up. I have a nice cat picture.
I continue with genealogy and hope to have a break through with a few of
the family trees. It is so fun and
relaxing.
Take care everyone.
LOVE TO ALL. Tracey
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