Kathleen Smith's Blog, page 12

10 Days in India

India is one of the many countries my husband and I have on a somewhat of a long list of places we would like to visit. What we didn’t know was how soon that visit would be. This past year my husband started a job with a company named MTX. MTX is a very fast growing software consulting company with offices in the USA and two offices in India. At the end of the year they have a big award ceremony and party to recognize their workers, promote their charitable giving, and get employees together to work hard and have a #FunCulture! When we had the opportunity to go on this trip we took it!

 

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First of all let me say getting to embrace the Indian culture was a privilege to say the least! I was able to purchase a traditional Indian dress and wear it to an MTX end of the year awards party. Oh how I love that dress! I’ve had the chance to “try” to do Indian style dancing. Something I love watching, but getting to actually try it myself was beyond fun. Even my husband tried to dance. I was able to purchase some other Indian clothes as well that I love. I have always loved the clothes Indian women wear so having the opportunity to wear it myself is pretty cool to say the least. By the way that party was beyond super fun and there is a very short video at the end of this blog of me trying to dance.

 

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Getting to meet my husband’s coworkers from India at MTX was a pleasure. They are some of the nicest people I’ve met. They are fun to be around and so nice to talk with. I have made some nice new friends, which is always a plus where ever I go. They welcomed us with open arms. Going to India has given us a chance to make new friends and experience a different culture. Some of my husband’s coworkers took time out of their busy schedules to take us to different local sites and to the Taj Mahal, which is another dream come true.

 

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So about my stay in India. What can I tell you about this place. For one thing I can tell you ten days isn’t enough time to see everything. Which I imagine is the case for any place you visit for the first time. For my husband this trip was all business. For me it was all pleasure with the except of starting this blog and trying to promote my books. While there we had the chance to visit one of their old Forts. Fort Golkonda. This was a cool place to visit! We had our own private guide, thanks to Vishnu and Gaurev from MTX. The guide showed us different parts of the Fort. There was this one spot where when you clap your hands, the sound can be heard from every corner of the fort. There is also a part of the fort where you can speak into a corner wall and the person standing at the opposite end of you can here you clearly. That was cool!

 

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There was one night when we all went to a team building cooking place that’s like one of those competing cooking shows and we were all put into groups of three or four and we had to compete against each other. That night was beyond fun and it gave us even more of a chance to get to know members of the MTX team better. There was so much laughing going on that night I don’t know how any of us got any cooking done.

 

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We were able to go to a local market with two of my husband’s coworkers. That was quite the experience! I found the people there who were selling their goods or trying to sell their goods were very aggressive. Not something I am use to. But I did manage to buy two tops there that I really liked. My husband bought what we were told was for the table, which we found out later is really a scarf. Since I don’t wear scarfs it’s making our table look nice.

 

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Our journey to the Taj Mahal from where we were staying in Hyderabad, India consisted of about a two hour plane flight and then about a four hour drive. During that drive we saw lots and lots of cows roaming around here, there and everywhere. We also saw some pigs, dogs, and one or two camels. Not something I see every day–which made it quite fascinating to put it mildly. When we finally got to the Taj Mahal we couldn’t believe we were there. Yes, another dream come true and an incredible sight to see. I mean, seriously, my husband and I stood there staring at this monument thinking “wow!” The Taj Mahal really is an amazing place to see and walk through. There is history behind the making of this building that I wasn’t aware of until our guide told us about it. If you’re ever in India I would highly suggest you visit the Taj Mahal. You won’t be disappointed. It’s a memory that I had the chance to make with my husband and so glad we did.

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As you probably know India is known for their spicy food. I know my husband enjoyed every spicy dish he was able to try. Me, on the other hand, I can’t eat spicy food. My stomach says no to it every time. This did make it challenging for me to eat, but we made it work. In fact my husband’s coworkers were so sweet doing their best to find foods for me to eat that had no spice in it at all. I felt bad that they had to go out of there way for me. However, on our last night there I was given a sweet dish to try and that was so so good. Absolutely no spices at all. It was simply delicious! (I think it was Moong Dal Halwa)

 

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This first trip to India was surreal! I think that may be the best way to describe it. When my husband and I got off that plane in India we kept saying the same thing “we’re in India!” It all felt unreal to us and yet we were there. It truly was an amazing opportunity to say the least. And in all honesty 25 years ago if my husband had told me we would go to India one day I would have called him a liar.

 

 

Kathleen Smith is a blogger and author. Her book “Good-bye Brooklyn, Hello Upstate” and other memoirs are available on Amazon and other book stores.

 

 

The Swiss Alps (A Dream Come True)

If you had told me five or ten years ago or even fifteen years ago that I would be traveling to Switzerland and going up the Swiss Alps I would have called you a liar. That might not be nice of me, but that would have been the only reaction I could think of. Me, Kathleen going to the Swiss Alps, Yeah right!

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Well guess what? That dream came true. I mean I’ve been dreaming about visiting the Swiss Alps for way more then five years. More then ten years and yes even more then fifteen years. I can remember when I was little seeing pictures of the Swiss Alps. I remember watching movies where there were scenes filmed on the Swiss Alps and all I could think was “man would I love to visit there one day”. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that one dream would come true. I can tell you those Alps were worth the trip for me.

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It was on the last day of our vacation that we had the chance to go to the Swiss Alps. We had a rental car so we took that and drove up part of the mountain to where you can take the gondola that takes you to the top of Mount Titlis in the Alps. Or at least as far up as it will allow you. The drive up the mountain was super fun and seeing the snow was nice. There is a quick video at the end of this blog that I took of us driving up the mountain that you can watch. It’s only 47 seconds.

 

Getting to the gondola was a bit of a process, but we did get to it and on it. I have to be honest since I’ve never been on one I didn’t know what to expect. I can tell you I was scared. My husband, our daughter and I were all sitting together, facing the same direction and when we finally left the building, I’m pretty sure my eyes were a slight bit popped out of my head. The gondola moved up the mountain slowly and as it did we took in the scenery. Those mountains are absolutely beautiful. They were so perfectly white with snow. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was so scared at the same time that I think I might have had my husband hold my hand for a few minutes. There is another quick 47 second video you can watch of us going up the mountain above this paragraph. And I’m pretty sure you can hear how scared I am in my voice.

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After we got to the top of Mount Titlis, the first thing we did was walk through a glacier cave. Again something I never thought I would do. That was pretty cool all by itself. That was cold! We walked all the way around it. That didn’t take long. I’m guessing no more then a few minutes. After that we went to the cafeteria type place they have and we had some hot chocolate and some soup. Not sure what kind of soup it was, but it was good.

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When we were all done with our food and looking around we went down to the second level on these Alps where you can go outside and walk up a trail they have. No we didn’t venture out onto that trail. but we did step outside for a few minutes and looked around. What a sight it was too. By the time we got back into the gondola to head back down I wasn’t scared. I’m guessing because I knew what to expect this time. The ride down seemed to go faster. And it was just as beautiful to see the snowy mountains going down as it was seeing them going up. Seeing the Swiss Alps was truly a beautiful dream come true and I am so thankful to my husband for taking me. I absolutely love traveling and exploring new places with him.

 

 

Kathleen Smith is an indie author, blogger and she has her own podcast. You can read about her personal experience with miscarriages in Miscarriages My Story

 

Food in Alsace, France

Eating food in France is fun, exciting and at times challenging. If you’ve never eaten food in France here’s some good choices to make. If you have you can still keep reading.

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Over the Thanksgiving Holiday I spent some time in France along with Germany and Switzerland. I had the pleasure, for the most part, to try new foods and eat some familiar food. The familiar food was without a doubt really good. I absolutely love eating ham and cheese with butter on a baguette and the best place to get one in my opinion is at a Patisserie in France. At least that’s where we tend to buy them. Another food I’m familiar with is a pretzel. Alsace, France has some pretty good ones. The pretzel comes either plain or with cheese. Both taste good.

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I have had fondue before and Crêpes as well, but in France it tastes so much better and the experience is awesome. Especially when you’re experiencing it with the people you love. My family and I found a cute little Crêpes place our first night in Strasbourg, France. I had Crêpes with banana’s, chocolate ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate drizzle. Yeah, that was good. So good we went back there on our last night in Strasbourg and I had a Crepe with Nutella and banana’s.

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The fondue place we went to is quite popular, so we made sure we got a reservation for our second day in Strasbourg. That place was cool. They gave us a platter with about twelve different types of cheese to try. I ate what I could and ventured as much as my palette would let me. However I don’t like any kind of soft cheese. The fondue on the other hand was fun. Dipping each piece of bread into the mixture of different cheeses and oil was super fun.

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I did get to try a tarte flambée one night and liked it so much I had it one more time that week. I got to try choucroute which tastes so much better than sauerkraut does in New York.

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Oh, before I forget! We found these chocolate covered marshmallow type snacks called Schaumkussen (no I can’t pronounce that word, but feel free to try) at the Christmas Markets in Strasbourg, France that taste so amazingly good. My family and I tried one each and loved them so much we bought a nine pack for the next day as snacks.

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There was this one restaurant that was rather out of the way to get to (Auberge du Ried). All I can say about that place is it was quite the experience. It was one of those days where I had to try something new in a foreign land and I happened to have a headache that day. All I can tell you about that place is I liked some of the food which is better than not liking any of it. The dish that was ordered for me was a type of ham with potatoes. Sadly it was way to salty for me to eat. However the dish that was ordered for my daughter was a meat pie of sorts and that was delicious. So when she got full, I gladly finished it. Dessert at that place was also good.

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Our last night of our Thanksgiving vacation was spent in Zürich, Switzerland. On that night we went to a restaurant and I ate the most delicious sausages I’ve ever had. That says a lot coming from me since I don’t like sausages that much. There was also a very buttery hash brown type side dish that was just as delicious. That made a perfect end dish to my vacation in France, Germany and Switzerland.

Kathleen Smith is an indie author, blogger and she has her own podcast. You can find out what it was like for her growing up in Brooklyn, NY in Good-bye Brooklyn Hello Upstate

Christmas Markets in Strasbourg France

Oh my goodness! The Christmas Markets in Strasbourg, France are Amazing!

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But before I tell you about them let’s go back a couple of months. So back in September my husband suggested going to Strasbourg, France, Germany and Switzerland for Thanksgiving to do something different this year. We figured since our oldest daughter hasn’t spent Thanksgiving with us in five years and our adult son doesn’t care to fly or what he does for the holidays, why not. Of course we took our youngest daughter with us. Oh and by the way the plane tickets to Zurich, Switzerland are seriously cheap for Thanksgiving.

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Okay so let’s get back to these Christmas Markets. In all honesty I had no idea what to expect with these markets. I watched one or two YouTube videos about them, but that’s about it. So pretty much what I thought I was going to see were a couple of booths with Christmas ornaments and stuff in a town square and that was it.

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When we finally got to the Markets I was completely blown away. It wasn’t just a simple market area in a town square. It was more like tons of different sections in the middle of a city that was dedicated to Christmas. I mean these Markets were unreal. There was a section for decorations, a section for food, a section for drinks, a section for jewelry and the list goes on and on.

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We ended up going to two towns with Christmas Markets. One in Strasbourg and the other in Colmar both are in France. Oh, and we went to a small town Christmas market in the town of Munster, France. These Christmas Markets are so ridiculously big that we got lost a bunch of times which had us laughing and walking in circles. Our first time at both markets we mainly looked around.  We bought very few items because we wanted to be sure of what we were buying and who we were buying for. The second time around we shopped till we dropped hahaha. We went crazy! We found so many cute Christmas presents for our family and friends. We also found some cool presents for each other. I found a bracelet, a ring and lots of teddy bear items for myself.

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Let’s talk about the food and drinks now shall we. We tried almost all the hot drinks they had and we bought the cute little cups the drinks came in. We drank hot orange juice, hot strawberry/apple drink. We tried some mould apple cider and mould red wine. All the drinks were tasty. Oh, the food! We ate pretzels, chocolate covered marshmallows and crepes.

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All in all I would have to say I had an amazing experience at these Christmas Markets in France and I would highly recommend them to anyone. They are beyond fun to walk around and to shop at. Yes, they are well worth flying to no matter where in the world you live. I can’t tell you how many time I thanked my husband for taking us to these markets. And I can’t tell you how many times I kept saying wow, but it was a lot.

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Kathleen Smith is an indie author and blogger. You can read about her Christmas’s growing up and after she got married in Good-bye Brooklyn Hello Upstate

A Late Blooming Fall

I’ve been thinking about what to write for this weeks blog all week long. I like writing about things that I’ve done or places I’ve been. Only problem with that is I have to wait for the weekends to come so I can do something writable. If I’m not writing about that stuff then I’m writing about what’s on my mind or how I’m feeling. Well there isn’t anything on my mind this week and I’m feeling pretty good. I suppose that’s a good thing. At least for me as a person. For me the blogger not so much.

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So while I was driving around some local and not so local areas with my husband Saturday, I told him I needed a blog idea. We both knew whatever he came up with wouldn’t work. Those ideas of his never seem to go well with my readers. They tend to me a bit on the boring side or no one cares. That’s when I looked out my car window and noticed the leaves have finally changed colors.

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I was like “hey look at that the leaves have finally changed from green to yellow and red and even bright red.” Normally in Upstate NY the leaves change color in the beginning of October. And usually by the end of October they have finished changing color, have all fallen to the ground and are ready to be mowed or put in trash bags. This year I imagine because of the strange warm weather we have been having the leaves waited until now, the beginning of November to change color. I suppose there is also the possibility that they have been slowly changing color and I’ve been to busy to notice.

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Either way it was cool to see the different colors today. And it was nice to see the ground covered with the leaves. It’s a wonderful time of the year watching God’s creation doing one of the many things it’s meant to do. Going from one season to the next. Going from green leaves on trees to cool looking yellow and red leaves, falling off the tree branch’s and quickly falling to the ground, waiting for kids to fall in them and throw the leaves around. It truly is a wonder thing to see!

Kathleen Smith is an indie author and blogger. You can read about how she got through three miscarriages and kept her marriage and faith in God strong in Miscarriages My Story available on kindle, paperback and nook.

Madame Sherri’s Ruins in the Forest

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Far far far into the New Hampshire forest lies an old castle ruin. Well it may not be that far into the forest, but there is an old castle ruin and that’s as best of an imagination you’re going to get from me. Truth be told there really is a castle ruin in the forest of New Hampshire. How far into it though I’m not sure. It is a walkable distant from where you can park your car though. And I believe it’s a long a walking trail.

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This old castle ruin belonged to a lady named Madame Sherri. In all honesty I’ve never heard of the woman. At least I didn’t until a couple of weeks ago when my husband was looking for places to go and stuff to do with our daughter and her friend. Leave it to him to find an old “castle” ruin of sorts for us to explore here in the states.

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It was not that far of a drive for us considering we like to drive to places. and once we got there I was some what impressed. There isn’t a lot left to Madame Sherri’s castle. But there is enough to get some cool pictures and we were able to go in her basement of all places. From what I understand of her, she was a well know costume designer in her time and famous people who lived in New York City liked to take a train, or whatever transportation there was back then, to her house and they would have parties on the weekends. I’m guessing she gave rather good parties if people wanted to stay all weekend. Either that or they were all so drunk they couldn’t go anywhere if they tried.

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There really isn’t much to see of these ruins like a said, but what is there is nice and you could get some pretty cool pictures especially during the Fall season when the leaves are changing colors and on the ground. There is also a nice walking path near by that we enjoyed walking on.

The forest is about 2 and a half hours west of the New York Capital Region. It is located in the Madame Sherri Forest, Gulf Rd, Chesterfield, NH.

 

Kathleen Smith is an indie author and blogger. You can read about her adventures or lack there of growing up in Brooklyn in Good-bye Brooklyn Hello Upstate

We All Have Our Struggles

I’ve been thinking about what I wanted to write my blog about this week. I looked through my — mom’s writing prompt book — I didn’t want to write about pets or my favorite relative this week. Since those were the next two topics in that book I decided against it. After giving it some more thought and seeing a bunch of posts from some FaceBook friends about struggles. And knowing that I’ve been going through some of my own this week, I thought that might be a good topic.

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I’ve been told a number of times that people like to read upbeat blogs. Something that makes them happy or feel good about themselves, blah blah blah. I’m always trying to make sure my blogs are some what happy, but you know what, this week I figured if this blog is a bit on the downside then it will have to do for now. I might be able to put a happy spin on it. I guess we will find out by the end of this post.

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Okay so here’s the deal everyone at some point in their life goes through a struggle or two. Most likely way more then that. Some people struggle with weight. They either can’t figure out how to loose it or they can’t seem to put enough on (My husband says that’s genetics). Some people struggle with exercising. They want to, but they don’t have the time or they have no where to go. Some people struggle with physical problems that they need medicine for. Some people struggle with their emotions. They may feel like they aren’t good enough for something. They might think they don’t have what it takes to do something or get through a rough time in their life. There is always some kind of a struggle for someone, somewhere.

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I’ve been going through enough of my own struggles lately. I know this might seem silly, but I find if I don’t get a good sweat going when I’m exercising, I feel like that means I’m not doing it right or I’m not getting enough exercises done. Sometimes when I look in the mirror I think I look pretty good other times I think I look terrible. Then there are times when I struggle with my books. I see other authors I know doing so well with their books selling or people helping to get them promoted and I feel like why can’t I get my books to do that well. That might sound silly or maybe selfish, but that’s how I feel sometimes. There are times when my emotions will get the better of me through these struggles and more. Sometimes it almost feels like a constant thing.

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I think when it comes right down to it, it depends on how each person deals with their struggles. Some people might be able to talk to a good friend, others their spouses and I think sometimes other may even need to talk with a phycologist. I imagine it all depends on the struggle and how bad it is.

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I think for me and my struggles it would be a combination of things. I know I let my emotions get the better of me most of the time. Over coming that isn’t easy. Sometimes talking with my husband helps. Sometimes a word of encouragement from a friend helps. Sometimes waiting it out helps. Sometimes a good cry helps me. Sometimes I pray about it and ask God for help. You know what though, I really should be talking to God about it more then what I do. It’s funny how it can be so hard for me to leave my struggles in God’s hands. It shouldn’t be, but I am human after all. I wonder how we would all do if we gave ALL of our struggles to God ALL the time and let Him deal with them. I’m guessing we would all have way less struggles on our hands and we would feel a lot better about ourselves.

 

Win a free copy of my book Good-bye Brooklyn Hello Upstate by entering my Amazon Giveaway

Kathleen Smith is an indie author and blogger. She writes about miscarriages, what it was like losing her mom to cancer, what it was like growing up in Brooklyn and what’s it’s like living in Upstate New York. For more info you can read either Miscarriages My Story  or  Good-bye Brooklyn Hello Upstate

Purchasing Pictures Four Months Later…

In all honesty I had no idea what to write about on today’s blog. I looked at my next thing to write about in the “Writing Prompts for Mom’s” book I have, but I didn’t think anyone was going to care about what my favorite pet was growing up. I’m mean that sounds like a real snoozer to me. And if it sounds like a snoozer to me, the person who is trying to write this blog, then how do I expect my readers to care. If you want to know what my favorite pet was growing up feel free to ask other wise let’s talk about something else. Something that has more meaning to me.

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With all that being said I decided to write about wedding pictures. More specifically my daughters wedding pictures. Again, you may not care about my daughters pictures, but that’s what I have for you this week. Okay so if you read my blog – A Beautiful Wedding Day – Then you know my daughter got married the weekend of Memorial Day, back in May. And you will also know it was a great day and you got to see a few pictures from that very special day.

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What you don’t know is it took no time before we were able to see some samples from the photographer. Those samples were beyond beautiful. I was doing a lot of oohing and awing over them. My husband and I knew we were going to want some copies once they were all ready and available. The night we finally had the chance to see all the pictures we were running late for something. So we figured we would take a look the next day. Well guess what happened? The next day turned into a couple of days. When we finally took a look at all of them we knew we wanted to get some copies made. We needed to sit down and figure out which ones, how many and what size. So as usually we put it off.

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Well after that days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Here we are four months later — almost five and my husband and I finally sat down, looked at all the pictures and decided on what we wanted and we actually ordered them. Yes, we are super good at procrastinating, but hey we did get the pictures ordered . I would say it was because of how busy we have been. Plus the fact that we were away for the entire month of August. But when it comes right down to it, we are just lazy and kept forgetting. On the bright side we did get them ordered. And I am looking forward to hanging them on our walls as soon as we can. HA, Who thinks that’s going to take us another four – six months?

 

Kathleen Smith is an indie author and blogger. She writes about miscarriages, what it was like losing her mom to cancer, what it was like growing up in Brooklyn and what’s it’s like living in Upstate New York. For more info you can read either Miscarriages My Story  or  Good-bye Brooklyn Hello Upstate

Best Presents Growing Up

Well now that I’m back home and back to my normal routine, I am also back to using my writing prompts for mom’s book that was a present. The next question in that book is – Mom, what were some of the best presents you ever received when you were a kid?

 

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I had to think about this question a lot. And I don’t mean for a couple of minutes either. This took at least a days worth of thinking. I was trying to remember what presents I received as a kid that I loved. Didn’t matter if it was my birthday or Christmas. I was having trouble remembering. Maybe it’s old age hahaha, or maybe most of the presents weren’t that memorable, who knows. What I do know is I needed to come up with an answer for this blog.

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From some pictures that I have of me growing up I can remember a few things that I loved. Like a sweater that was given to me by my aunt or a teddy bear calendar from my parents. I imagine there were other pieces of clothing that I loved. And I remember getting a pair of boots from my parents that I wore every winter from that one Christmas until the day they started to come apart. Of course any thing having to do with teddy bears I would have loved and still do.

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But when it comes right down to it the present that I remember so clearly, the present that was a surprise for me was during the summer of 1977. That was the year my parents and two great aunts surprised me with a trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. That was also my first time on a plane. What an amazing surprise that was too! I couldn’t believe I was going to Disney with my family.

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We had so much fun that week. We went on as many rides as we could. I remember the castle or what I think was the castle. There was an indoor ride that took some time going around and I remember sitting with my dad on that ride. And I remember the song It’s A Small World playing. We had such a good time on that ride. I don’t remember all the rides we went on, but that one was very memorable. Then there was the Disney parade that was held at night. I remember that being spectacular. Since I was seven at the time I couldn’t see past any adults head, so my mom had me stand in the front of the crowd and kept a good watch over me. Every once in a while she asked me if I was tired. My answer was always no.

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I remember we stayed at some hotel there. I also remember one afternoon eating subs for lunch in that hotel room while we watched TV. I remember the news was on and we were all casually listening to it until a major news announcement came on and we all stopped eating. We heard the news anchor say “Elvis Presley has died”. We were all shocked. We watched the news coverage for a few minutes and then went back to eating. However with Elvis being my favorite actor at the time I was the only person in that room who wanted to cry over the sad news. I didn’t, but I wanted to. That news made for a sad rest of the day for me. Overall Disney was a great birthday present with that one sad exception. It’s certainly one present I will always remember good and bad.

 

Kathleen Smith is an indie author and blogger. If you would like to read more about her time at Disney World you can read about it in her book Good-bye Brooklyn Hello Upstate

Mixed Emotions

Two weeks ago I came home from a four week stay in Ireland. I had so much fun there that by the time it was time for me to say goodbye to Ireland I didn’t want to. I found it difficult to leave it. There was still so much to see. My family and I were able to spend some time in Bundoran, Belfast, Dublin, Tipperary, Waterford, Sligo, Donegal and other towns. We explored as many ruins as we could. We went to a couple of museums. Spent time with friends and made some new friends. We ate at places like the Ramore Wine Bar in Port Rush. We enjoyed Irish Soda Bread with coffee for breakfast on most mornings. We watched sheep grazing in the grass and cows crossing the road.

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After we got back home to New York we needed to get use to the time difference again. Our bodies were five hours ahead and we were getting tired sooner rather then later for about a week. During that first week back home as we drove to different places or went to our local gas station for gas and breakfast, I noticed the little or not so little differences between Ireland and New York.

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I think the first thing I noticed was Upstate New York has way more trees then Ireland does. I mean a serious amount of more trees. Now, granted Ireland’s trees are a cool color of green, but Upstate New York definitely has more trees. On the other hand we have more mountains then they do. So I guess it kinda evens out. Another thing I noticed was the coffee at the local gas stations. Here in New York the coffee pots are on heaters and you pour it yourself. The gas stations in Ireland have coffee machines with different options. The options are americano, black americano, latte, cappuccino and a couple of others. You also choose what size small or medium and then you press the button. The gas stations in Ireland also have fresh scones, croissants and other pastries along with a hot food section with sausage rolls, white pudding, black pudding and other stuff. in New York the gas stations have stuff like a buttered roll, a roll with peanut butter & jelly and donuts.

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Lets see what else is there. Ireland has amazing green colors. They have light green, dark green and even neon green. New York has green. That’s it, green. On the other hand here in New York during the fall season our green leaves change into vibrant reds and yellows. It’s an amazing sight to watch and see. We also have apple cider and apple cider donuts, I don’t think Ireland has apple cider donuts, but I could be wrong. Although when it comes to other types of donuts I think Ireland wins with Offbeat Donuts compared to our Dunkin’ Donuts. Another thing is New York has four seasons. It feels like Ireland possibly only has two.

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Of all the odd or maybe I should say weird things I noticed different was the way the flushing of a toilet works in Ireland compared to New York. I found most toilets over there had the button on top of the toilet for you to push down on. That would flush it. Some had these big buttons you needed to push hard into the wall above the toilets. And then there were some where all you had to do was touch a sensor. Here at home most if not all toilets have a handle that you push down with your finger. Usually on the front left side of the tank. We also noticed over there they mostly use shower stalls with these electric power showers. I have to say they give you some nice hot showers, but the idea of something electric being in the shower is a bit nerve wracking. Here in New York the water gets heated in a water heater in the basement or somewhere. Pretty simple.

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There is one particular thing that Ireland has that I absolutely love that New York doesn’t have. Ireland has ruins. Castle and abbey ruins which are amazing to see from a distance and incredible to walk through up close. New York doesn’t have any ruins that I know of. Of course New York also isn’t nearly as old as Ireland, but still the ruins are amazing and they are filled with such history. It’s funny as soon as we got back home I was feeling home sick for Ireland and it isn’t even my home or Country for that matter. I love my family and home, but at the same time I love Ireland and LOVE spending time there. Four or fives weeks never seems to be enough. Who knows maybe one day I’ll get to spend more then a couple of weeks in Ireland. Maybe then I’ll get tired of it. Maybe not…

 

Kathleen Smith is an indie author and blogger. Her books all memoirs can be found on amazon. If you would like to get to know her a little better try this book – Good-bye Brooklyn Hello Upstate