Grandpa Mack's 101st Birthday

Last weekend we were in Michigan for my wife's father's 101st birthday. The pictures are found here and a video is found here.  We had a wonderful time in spite of the miserable weather - cold, windy and rain.  I'm at a loss as to how anybody can live there year round!

On the Road

Last week Nancy and I were in Miami Thursday thru Saturday babysitting our granddaughter, Alexa. Today we are off to the Detroit area for my father-in-law's 101st birthday and we will be back home on Monday afternoon.  (By the way, the temperature in Boca Raton right now is 79 with a high forecasted of 86; in Detroit it is 56 with a projected high of 59.  Just lovely!) After that we will be home for four weeks and then we will off for a week in Scottsdale, AZ with three of our daughters and their family for Thanksgiving.

Cemeteries in Rochester, NY

For the thirty or so years that I lived in Rochester, I knew that Rochester had two large cemeteries: Holy Sepulchre Cemetery on Lake Avenue for Catholics and Mount Hope Cemetery on Mount Hope Avenue for everybody else.  I guess that I may have heard of two smaller ones, the Rapids Cemetery and Riverside Cemetery, although at the time I probably couldn't tell you where they were.  I have subsequently learned that the Rapids Cemetery was located in my neck of the woods, the 19th Ward.  It is on the north side of Congress Avenue just about seven lots from Genesee Street.  Riverside Cemetery in located on the east side of Lake Avenue just north of Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.  I suspect that if I had gone north on Lake Avenue I would have assumed that Riverside was just a continuation of Holy Sepulchre.  Looking at a map the two abut each other.

When I started looking at my family's history I found that some of my Eagan Grandfather's siblings had been originally buried at St. Patrick's cemetery located on Pinnacle Hill.  When the large plot of land on Lake Avenue was purchased by the Diocese of Rochester for a cemetery (and also St. Bernard's Seminary) all bodies from Pinnacle Hill were removed to Holy Sepulchre.  Also were removed to Holy Sepulchre were those buried at other Catholic cemeteries that I did not even know about.

Here is how William F. Peck describes the Rochester cemeteries in his History of Rochester and Monroe County, New York: From the Earliest Historic Times to the Beginning of 1907.

One of the first duties of the new common council was to provide a suitable resting-place for the dead. The early settlers had used for that purpose a half-acre lot on the corner of Plymouth avenus and Spring streets, by permission of its owners. Rochester. Fitzhugh and Carroll, who finally deeded it, as a free gift, to the village corporation in 1821. Three months later it was exchanged for a lot of three and a half acres on West Main street, where the City hospital now stands, and all the bodies were removed thither. This was always known as the Buffalo street buryingground, while a smaller one on the east side of the river was called the Monroe street bury ing-ground. But both together were too circumscribed and too near to a growing population, so in 1836 the common council, approving a selection unofficially made by a committee of citizens, purchased of Silas Andrus a piece of ground comprising the first fifty-three acres of what is now Mt. Hope. Fortunately for posterity Silas Cornell was the surveyor of the city at that time, to whose rare skill as a landscape architect, and equally perhaps to his wise forbearance in altering as little as possible the undulations of the ground, it was owing that Mt. Hope has always been one of the most beautiful resting-places for the departed in nil the land. The spirit of the original design has been adhered to by successive superintendents, notably by George D. Stillson, who held the position for sixteen years. Additions were made to the necropolis from time to time, the largest being in 1865, when seventy-eight acres were purchased, so that it now contains about one hundred and eighty-eight acres. The first interment, that of William Carter, was made on August 18th, 1838; on the 1st of June, 1894, the fifty thousandth burial took place and up to this time some sixty thousand have been laid away there, a veritabla city of the dead, a silent city.

While there were some few Catholics interred at Mt. Hope in early days, the great majority of that communion, practically all of them, preferred to bury their dead in ground consecrated by their church, and so the trustees of St. Patrick's bought an extensive tract on the Pinnacle hills, southeast of the city, in 1838, and for the next thirty-three years the interment of English-speaking Catholics was made in the Pinnacle burying-ground, as it was always called, since which time much of the light, sandy soil of that eminence has been removed for building purposes. The German Catholics have had three cemeteries—that of St. Joseph, on Lyell avenue; of Sts. Peter and Paul, on Maple street, and of St. Boniface, on South Clinton street—but almost all the bodies have been removed from these and deposited in the Holy Sepulcher cemetery. This comprises about one hundred and forty acres, situated on Lake avenue, north of the city line, in the town of Greece, and extending to the bank of the river. The location is a most desirable one, and since it was opened, in 1871, it has been increasingly beautified, so that it has become very attractive to all visitors.

Perceiving the advantage that the Holy Sepulcher had over Mt. Hope in being located so far from the dwellings of the living, several persons formed themselves into a corporation in 1892 and bought one hundred acres of land just north of the former, where the grounds were at once laid out in a suitable manner and were tastefully decorated, the result being that lots were speedily purchased and interments are very frequent in the lovely Riverside cemetery. One other place of the dead might have been mentioned before, on account of its antiquity. Although within the city limits, near the southern end of Genesee street, it was doubtless intended for the use of the dwellers ir Scottsville and Chili, for it is said to have been established in 1812, when there were no residents here. It has always been known as the Rapids burying-ground. 

Trafalgar Street in Rochester, NY

Yesterday we looked at my home until 1950 on Flint Street.  Here you see my home from 1950 until 1961 when I enlisted in the Marine Corps.  While in the Corps I was married and when I returned to Rochester at the end of my enlistment my wife and son moved into my father-in-law's house on  Shelbourne Road.  Originally when we moved here the front door was in the middle of front with a window on the right.  Inside there were relatively small halls/rooms and the living room.

My father wanted a large living room so he (with my help) tore down the walls for the smaller halls/rooms and made one large living room.  I'm surprised that the second floor didn't fall into the first floor and then into the basement as at least one of those walls that were taken down was a load bearing wall. To take the place of the load bearing wall, my father laid two very long "two by tens" against the studs and up against the ceiling and then cut the studs.  After some time he also had to but a jack in the basement to keep the first floor living room from sagging?

The details of the house at the City of Rochester property site note that there are seven rooms.  I guess that they don't count the three rooms in the attics.  Also it lists one bathroom but no mention to the toilet ("the throne") in the basement; the one that my sisters and I painted!

The house on the right was the Websters and on the left were the Hartwell.  Next to the Hartwells on the corner of Trafalgar and Montgomery were the Griffins.  If you look at a map of this area of Rochester you will note that we were three houses from West High School (now Wilson Magnet High School). My sisters could leave for school minutes before it started and be there on time.  Not me, I went to Aquinas Institute on Dewey Avenue.  For me to get to school I took a bus downtown to the Four Corners (Main and State) and transfer to the Dewey Avenue bus (number 10 bus if I recall).

Flint Street in Rochester, NY

Here is the house I lived in on Flint Street in Rochester until 1950 when we moved to Trafalgar Street. This wasn't very far as you can see on a map of Rochester. It was just the other side of Genesee Street.

The small stoop at the front door is not the way it was when we lived there.  Then there was a porch with railing that went the entire front of the house.   One spring just before Easter (I think) we were getting ready to take the bus downtown to shop for Easter outfits.  Because the railing was to walk on (what else would they be there for) my sister, Kathy, fell.  Naturally, she broke her arm.  I don't for the life of me recall how she got the break set and the cast put on.  If I had to guess she went to St. Mary's Hospital just up Genesee St. at Bull's Head.  (I'll talk about Bull's Head and other locations in Rochester at some other time.)  I'm pretty sure we didn't go downtown that day!

It's funny but I can remember more of the neighbors on Flint Street than I can on those on Trafalgar Street.  The neighbors to the right of our house was the Trimbles (Herb and his wife) and next to them was Mr. Trimble's mother and sister.  As I recall, the two houses were always painted the same and had shared garage in the back.  (In those days almost all garages were detached from the house.)

On the left was the Dipples.  I don't think I ever knew Mr. and Mrs. first names but I just looked in the City Directory for 1929 and Mr. Dipple was George.  Mrs. Dipple was a regular crone.  Their back yard was a regular jungle and if anything went over their fence you had to hunt for it.  More often or not Mrs. Dipple saw you and she would come out the back door screaming.

Next to the Dipples were the Schwartz (I think that was the name).  They had a garage in their back yard where my father kept his car.  Next to them was the Porters.  They had three older girls, an older boy and Billy.  Billy was probably five years older than I or more and quite stocky.  No, not stocky, he was fat.  He was taking flying lessons when he was in high school (Edison High) and crashed and died.  I don't recall whether it was at the Rochester Airport or Hyland Field, a small air field in either Brighton of Henrietta.

Next to the Porters, at 502 Flint St., were the Neary family: Jim (a policeman) and Helen, and Fred, Barbara and Bob.  They were probably our closest friends on Flint Street.  Until about 1944, the grandfather, Patrick J. Neary, also lived there.  I recall when he died as he was laid out at home (as was common then) during a terrible storm.  That was probably my earliest recollection of Flint Street.  Quite a neighborhood.

At another time I'll introduce you to the Denices (assholes), Johnny Montuli (or as my father called him, Johnny Ma-got-no-teeth), Annie Conner, and the rest of the crew on Flint Street.

Ireland Does Not Have A Prime Minister

This morning's New York Times had an article relating to Secretary of State Clinton and her visit to Ireland accompanied by a photo with Brian Cowen. Although the article refers to Cowen as the Irish Prime Minister, the Republic of Ireland has no Prime Minister. The head of government in Ireland is the Taoiseach, an Irish term meaning Chief. 

President Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

I'm not sure that he has done anything yet to warrant that prize but one thing is certain. It certainly will piss off those cretins on the right!

Heat Index 104 in Boca Raton

Right now (noon) in Boca Raton it is about 90 degrees and the heat index stands at 104. That has been the norm for the last five days or so. As a result, after my morning bicycle ride and a shower I strapped my beach chair and umbrella on my back, hopped on my motorscooter and headed to the beach. Breakfast at the beach was Gatorade, a bagel and the New York Times. It doesn't get any better than that!

Travel Planning

It is travel planning time again. Because we have been home a month now I thought it was time to start planning our new escapade. It's not that we don't like it at home, it's just that we do like to travel. Last week I made reservations to travel to Michigan in a few week for my father-in-law's 101st birthday but I don't consider this an "escapade." We are thinking about a trip next summer similar to that we did this year - a transatlantic cruise followed by a European river cruise. We will probably do that in May and June and we have netted out dates and locations but no reservations.

However, what should we do in the mean time? Nancy suggested that we fly to California in December and visit the "west coast daughters" - Laura in Los Angeles and Colleen in Eureka. And I suggested that we take a Panama Canal cruise to get back home. So that's what we are doing: fly to Los Angeles using frequent flier points, fly to Eureka on Air Alaska or United, take a Holland America cruise from Los Angeles to Ft. Lauderdale via the Panama Canal.

The cruise is 14 days and starts in Los Angeles on December 23 so have to back up from there so we spend four days at each daughter's place. We will fly from Miami to Los Angeles on December 15 and we have enough frequent flier points to fly coach but not enough for Business Class. Fixed that by "sharing" 10,000 points with Nancy so we can go Business Class. (Before last month to take a one-way trip the number of frequent flier points was the same as a round trip. Now a one-way trip is half as many as for a round trip.)

We want to end up in Los Angeles so we want to go to Eureka first. So, we have round trip tickets on United from Los Angeles to Eureka where we will stay until the 19th of December when we will fly back to Los Angeles. We will stay there until the 23rd when the cruise starts.

This morning I talked to our travel agent (she didn't answer her phone yesterday as it was Yom Kippur) and we will take the ms Amstedam to Ft. Lauderdale. We have been on the Amsterdam before for our 64 day Asia/Australia/Polynesia cruise in 2007. We pick a category (outside cabin - obstructed view) and hope that we will be upgraded. We almost always do but we'll see.

Now with that out of the way, we can work on next summer cruises!

Grandchildren

I have been remiss in keeping this blog up to date since we returned from our cruises. I neglected to introduce my thirteenth grandchild, Alexa Grace Charouhis, who was born on the 28th of August. She is my step-daughter Julie's daughter.

As a result of Alexa's arrival it was necessary to update my "Irish Grandfather" sweat shirt which now has the name of my 13 grandchildren - nine girls and four boys.

Return of the DA

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Originally uploaded by pjeagan2001

Do you remember the DA (duck's ass) hair style from the 1950s? Well, this is the real thing in Luzerne, Switzerland. (Actually they are swans rather than ducks but whoever heard of a hair style called the SA (Swan's Ass).

Updating My Travel Map

Following our latest cruises, I have updated our travel map generated at World66. We have added Greenland and Iceland. (Alright, I know Greenland is not a country. It is part owned by Denmark but I'm going to count it. World66 counts Puerto Rico and that's not a country.)

create your own visited country map

Cruise Photos on Flickr

The photos from our transatlantic and Rhine River cruises are now on Flickr. They are a collection titled Transatlantic & Rhine River Cruises - 2009. Comments must still be added.

Back Home

After a very enjoyable trip (really trips) we are home at last. Left London Heathrow at 10:35 AM with Mrs. Eagan in First Class and Mr. Eagan in Business Class. Now to put the photos on Flickr but not tonight.

London - Heathrow Airport

We got up at 4:15 AM this morning in our hotel in Basel and took a cab
to the EuroAirport serving Basel. Because we had paid extra for "Speedy
Boarding Pass" we were the first on the plane and got aisle seats in the
second row. Almost like First Class but not quite! Arriving in Gatwick
airport and going through immigration (we came from a non-EU country) we
got our luggage and bought a ticket for the National Express coach to
Heathrow. This is a little over an hour trip. At Heathrow we had to
hunt to find where the hotel shuttle buses but eventually found them.

Had a late breakfast (actually an early lunch) in the restaurant of the
hotel. Right now (3:40 PM) we are relaxing and go to eat later. The
first shuttle bus in the morning is at 5:19 AM and you can bet that we
will be on it! Got to get our name on the stand-by list and hope we can
get a seat to Miami at least in Business Class. We shall see. Should
be home sometime in the afternoon.

Still in Basel

We are still in Basel. Our original plan was to take the train and go to
Luzerne for the day. This was contingent on the rain. The forecast for
today was rain all day and this morning it looks like it was ready to
rain. As a result, we canceled our plans for Luzerne and stayed in
Basel. Guess what happened, the sun came out and it was beautiful for
most of the day until this afternoon when it did rain.

We will be leaving hear early tomorrow morning for London. Our EasyJet
(can't wait to try that sucker) is to Gatwick so from there we take the
hour and a half coach ride to Heathrow and from there a shuttle to our
hotel. It looks like this vacation is beginning to end but it has been
very good. Let's see, we visited eight different countries and each was
unique. Quite a vacation.

Luzerne, Switzerland

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This morning after breakfast we took the bus to the train station here
in Basel to catch the train to Luzerne to spend the day. The
transportation in Europe is great whether it be train, tram or bus. The
hotel gave us a "mobility ticket" that is valid for all public transport
in the city of Basel and its surrounding areas. However, this does not
cover the train. The trip to Luzerne was just about an hour and the
trains between Luzerne and Basel run about every half hour so it is
pretty convenient. In addition, as with most cities in Europe the train
station is in the heart of the city so when you arrive at any place you
are in the town or city center.

On the train ride as we came closer to Luzerne you could see the
mountains in the background. Luzerne is the beginning of the Alps. The
city is very picturesque with the water and the mountains. Lake Luzerne
is right there and the city wraps around it. We took our walk around
the city with a map that we picked up at the tourist center in the train
station. On our Rhine River cruise someone told us to not miss the Lion
Monument carved into the side of a granite hill. It is a monument to
Swiss mercenaries that were killed fighting for the French King during
the French Revolution. These same mercenaries are those today that
guard the Pope.

Another site that we wanted to see was the church of St. Leodegar that
sits at the end and overlooking the Schweizerhofquai, a main waterfront
street. The church has a main high altar and many side altars, all very
ornate. Near the baptismal fount is a 'mural' with pictures of about 75
or so pictures of babies that had been baptized there in the last couple
of years. Around the outside of the church are burial sites of members
of the church. No dates were very old, most within the last 50 years or so.

While we were walking along the water looking for someplace to have
lunch we ran into two couples from Tennessee that were on the Rhine
River cruise. They had come to Luzerne yesterday directly from the
cruise and were taking the high-speed train to Paris and then flying
home. We picked a spot outside for lunch on the water and the menu had
something I had never seen before - horse. That's it, horse, as in
equine. Turns out the horse (roast horse) was more expensive than the beef.

We are back in Basel at the hotel now and tomorrow we will probably take
the train in the morning to Zurich. Zurich seems to be the same
distance as Luzerne was. We will have to see what the weather brings then.

Basel, Switzerland

During the night, probably sometime after midnight, we arrived in Basel,
Switzerland after going through three or four locks in the Rhine.
Unlike ocean cruises we have taken where the luggage has to be packed
and outside the cabin door around midnight, eight o'clock was the
appointed time for us so we put it off the packing as long as we could.
After breakfast and last minute good-byes a taxi picked us up at 9:15 AM
and we were at the Dorint Hotel twenty minutes later or so. Luckily our
room at the hotel was ready so we were able to get in it right away.

After a short nap we took the tram to the Marktplatz (Market Plaza)
where we strolled around, had lunch, strolled some more and then back to
the hotel. Tomorrow we will probably take the train to Luzerne as we
understand it is only a one hour trip.

Black Forest in Germany and Colmar, France

On Saturday morning were arrived at Breisach, Germany to go to the Black
Forest. Docked in Breisach I was impressed by the large numbers of
swans in the Rhine on both sides of the river. And also the number of
people water skiing on the Rhine.

We boarded a bus to visit a church (the term among the cruise folks was
ABC - Another Bloody Church!) and on the way spotted a large stork nest
atop a tall building. The storks spend summers in the this area and
spend the winters in Africa. I would include the photo but it was too
dark so I have to adjust it. We will see additional stork nests in
Colmar later in the day. The first stop was at the Church of St. Peter
in the town of St. Peter. Again inside the church everything was very
ornate. The guide noted that this was the site of a seminary but was no
longer used for that. While we were in the church was either practicing
or tuning the pipe organ and if nothing else it was loud.

The scenery along the way to St. Peter and then later to the
cuckoo-clock place was spectacular. It was everything that I expected
the Black Forest to be. The guide on the bus had an accent that I could
not place. I knew that it was not German but found out later that he
was from Wales. I guess you'll find Germans as guides in Wales, too.

The next trip was a cuckoo-clock 'place' (I don't know what to call it)
and there was a huge clock on the side of a building. At the hour and
the half hour dancers dance around the clock. A video of this will
eventually be found on YouTube.

In the afternoon we took a trip to the town of Colmar, France across the
river. I Colmar we took a couple hour walking tour of the town and it
was here that we saw another stork nest on the top of a church. In
Colmar we visited on of the homes of Bartholdi, the designer of the
Statue of Liberty.

Strasbourg, France

I am trying very hard to catch up on our stops and ports along the
Rhine. (Today is Sunday and we are in Basel, Switzerland.) Friday
morning we had the opportunity to visit wheelhouse while we cruised down
(actually up) the Rhine. This was possible because we did not reach our
destination for the day until 2:00 PM. This was Kehl, Germany just
across the river from Strasbourg, France.

After the ship docked in Kehl, we boarded a bus for Strasbourg, France.
There we toured the city passing the Council of Europe, the Court,
library and eventually the Cathedral, a very impressive structure. As
with most of the large, old churches in Europe the stained glass windows
are works of art. Quite a few of the stained glass panels were in the
process of being replaced. The high point of the cathedral was the
astronomical clock which not only gives the time but gives the month,
season, moon phases. Everything but football scores!

After viewing the inside of the cathedral we were looking for a rest
room (a/k/a toilet, WC, etc.) which we thought was to be to the right of
the Post Office but could not find it. We found an alley behind the PO
to search the other side of the building and what did we find behind a
fence but a lone tomb. I did not find out who it was buried there but
never passing up a grave I took a picture of the grave. And so much for
Strasbourg.