What do May Flowers Bring?

Frank's Mother's Day flowers to Trish

Neilson's birthday flowers to Kate

Frank's Mothers Day flowers to GrandMary

One of Geneva's many lilac bushes

Sarah's Mother's Day Flowers to Trish and GrandMary

Go Speed Racer??

Calvin and I went to see Speed Racer on Friday night. It was one of the silliest movies I have ever seen. Silliness doesn't necessarily put me off, particularly when joined with amazing visual effects and super saturated color. I have never seen anything that looks quite like this, but the really bad dialog (kind of a specialty of the Wachowski brothers) and the bad acting were a little annoying.

It did feature Rain- here is his dance-off with Stephen Colbert.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Rain Dance-Off
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Mark Sanford

No more teachers no more books!

I took my last final yesterday morning! I will know on Wednesday whether I am graduating, so keep your fingers crossed. Although there is no reason why I wouldn't graduate there is just something about seeing my name on the official list.

Happy Birthday, Kate!!!!

A woman of many accomplishments, of whom we are very proud. Click here to see just a few reasons why!

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

How are Molly's last weeks in law school going? How are Kym's last weeks in her beloved Spokane going? How are the spider plants doing?

A Room With A View

As some of you know, I made a quick trip to Florence last week. It was a little insane, but I have a friend living there for a year, and I have failed to visit other friends living in fabulous places in the past and always regretted it. I told Hosmer I was thinking of going the last weekend I spent with him, and it was one of the few times he seem really engaged and excited. (Also I remember him talking about visiting Florence with Florence once, and he put his arm around her shoulders and said "It is your city dear." At which she gave her signature eye roll.). The living room in the apartment where I stayed had a view of Duomo. I saw many martyred saints and ate many plates of pasta and cups of gelato. What more can you ask of a trip? Here are some photos; you can see more on flickr.

Yankee Stadium, May 3, 2008

Yesterday, several of my friends from college, their husbands and wives, and their children, and my mom, made a pilgrimage to the "old" Yankee stadium, to say goodbye and watch the Yankees beat the Mariners. Many hot dogs were consumed, and the children (all boys, for some reason) were great--only one two year old left before the end of the game. Later, in one friend's hotel room, things went south when one child bit another one, but by the end of the night everything was smoothed over.

Iron Man!

Calvin and I went to see Iron Man before going out to dinner on our anniversary. Robert Downey Jr. was born to play this role, he is fabulous. How often do you see a Hollywood blockbuster where the hero solders integrated circuits? There are a few unfortunate stereotypical bad Muslim villains, but I guess that's what you get these days.

Here is an article on Wired about the soundtrack.

Happy Anniversary Jody and Calvin

I've been uploading some of my old pictures to Flickr, including some of Jody and Calvin's wedding. You can also re-live Molly's graduation and Christmas in Oswego, 2002.

TV

I am so grateful that the writer's strike is just a memory now- Thursday evening now has The Office, Ugly Betty and Lost (which continues to be really good this season).

On another note- what's up with Spike's hats on Top Chef? They remind me of Ricky's caps on Project Runway, though I don't think we are in any danger of seeing Spike cry. That leads me to another question: Why do designers cry so much more than cooks?

Spring in Oswego

I spent 2 days in Oswego doing a few things- it is glorious spring there now. Here are a few pictures. More on flickr.

Eric Cullinan mowing.

Byrne Dairy

Earth Day Pics

Beautiful photos to celebrate Earth Day on Wired.

Oswego Videos

For some reason, I'm very lazy about downloading videos from my camera. But here are a few from Oswego.

Lake Ontario on a windy day.

Last Drive Across Bridge Street Bridge, April 1, 2008

Calvin and Hosmer talk at breakfast table.

Test Your Footprint for Earth Day

A quiz.

More Pics of the Con

HellBoy creator Mike Mignola

Afro Samurai

Kate on the floor with her new cell phone

Javits Center lobby

iPod Touch

My iPod Touch- I love it, as most of you already know.

NY Comic Con!

New York Comic Con hit the Javits Center today- it will continue through Sunday. Marianne Petit was the moderator for a conversation with Scott McCloud and Douglas Rushkoff- hearing the comics theorist and the new media theorist wrangle over comics and the internet was fascinating. Calvin moderated a "buzz" panel with editors from Simon and Schuster, DC Comics and Abrams. Other highlights of the day included taking pictures of my friend Chris Stein and his daughter Maya with the Man of Steel.

Scott McCloud, Douglas Rushkoff and Marianne Petit

Calvin, Charlie Kochman of Abrams, Ginnie Seo of Simon and Schuster and Dan DiDio of DC Comics

Chris Stein, daughter Maya and friend

A Tense Moment

IMG_1896, originally uploaded by neilsonabeel.

Mao and Josephine are getting along pretty well, but sometimes there are a few tense moments.

Happy Belated Birthday to Janelle and Aidan!

A couple of birthdays we forgot to post here in the stress of the last few weeks... Happy birthday!!!!

Music Suggestions?

I am in a music rut, it is deeper than a rut, I need to listen to something other than what I started listening to in the 90's supplemented by opera recordings from the 30's. Any suggestions?

A year ago today

I'll miss Eric's annual birthday celebration at John's.

Happy Birthday Eric and Molly!

Hot Yoga

During the time we were all in Oswego for Dad's illness and funeral, there were many trips to Sandy Eby's for hot yoga classes. Sandy is an excellent yoga teacher, and I was very happy to be initiated into hot yoga by a family member. Yoga at 105 degrees is intense, particularly with so many members of my family sweating nearby. I loved it. It seemed like everyone else did too. Pictures of the weekend on Flickr

Yoga toes

Sandy at Rudy's

Pat and Sandy at Patz

More Pictures from Oswego

Pallbearers at Cemetery

Linda and Terrie at Patz

Beers at McGrath's

Bets and Jody Act Silly

Molly, Jane, Anders and Jerry

IMG_2062, originally uploaded by neilsonabeel.

Neilson put a few pictures of the events on his flickr account too.

Edited to add: link fixed

More pictures

Joseph, Adam and Marc, originally uploaded by Red Peonies.

I added my pictures to the flickr set as well.

Some pictures from Hosmer's Service, April 3rd & 4th, 2008

Visiting Hours at Dain Cullinan Funeral Home



Flowers from Vincent Connelly and his family


St. Mary's Church


St. Paul's Cemetery



Bill Culkin and Graham Morrison at Patz



Frank Culkin and Jimmy Franklin at Patz





See this Flickr Link for more pictures Barb and I took at Visiting Hours, the Service, and the after parties. Help on captions for the flowers and other comments are much needed.

Eating at the Cornelia Street Cafe, July 2005

IMGP0247, originally uploaded by Red Peonies.

Thanks for loading the pictures, Mom. I am going to add some information on the pictures which I can identify.

More Culkin Photos

More Culkin Family photos from 2004-2005 on Flickr

Hosmer & Family ca 2004/2005