Nothing like family...

A birthday gathering at the old Boone's Restaurant on Custom House Wharf for Aunt Connie... great food (lobster, corn on the cob, mussels, strawberry shortcake... awesome), wonderful people, plenty of kids, lots of hugs and laughter.

Thank you, Johnson family! Great to see the Oklahoma crew. Great to see everyone. Hope you enjoy the pictures. (Let me know if you want me to send you a specific jpg sent so you can have it printed.)

Happy Mothers Day Mom.

missing you...

Friends

Somehow, every year or two, when the stars align just so in the heavens, an opportunity presents itself for we band of brothers to come together.

Gordon was in Maine being the good son to his infirmed, elderly mother. Bob drove down from his new home in Harpswell. We ate good food, drank margaritas and stayed up into the wee hours catching up on each others lives. We walked the beach, laughed until our belly's ached and enjoyed being in the company of real friends, people who know each other as well as anyone can know another fellow traveler. We are older, grayer, bad knees and sore feet, less hair, but wiser, more content, egos diminished. Still we are "better men".

What a treat. Thanks brothers. Until next time...





25 years ago... give or take... during the duck hunting era. What a crew.

just before the water went over his boots...

Good to be home...

It just ain't right...

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/sites/all/play_music/play_full.php?play=430

Poem by Mary Oliver

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Sunset on the Marsh

STS 133

Ken, David and I drove 3 1/2 hours down I95 and took our place with 300,000 other people to watch the final flight of Spacecraft Discovery. She had already flown 143 MILLION miles and she proved herself worthy of one final mission before being parked in a museum. The 6 astronauts were all veteran spacemen and, as of this posting, they are safely docked at the international space station.


An amazing sight to behold, once in a lifetime, check it off the bucket list...





Here is a picture of us on our way home... good times!

Grandma’s Eulogy

Grandma’s Eulogy
02/07/11
Christina Marie Goulette Murphy
Oct 16, 1927 – Jan 30, 2011
By: Ryan Joseph Foss

I am one of 18 Murphy Grandchildren. As we celebrate our Grandmother's life today, and I gather with all my cousins, the first thing that comes to my mind is how blessed we are.

I am in awe of the talents and the qualities the Grandchildren in this family possess. We are scholars, teachers, caregivers ... athletes, musicians, actors … hard workers, and good cooks. We all live our lives to the fullest, following our passions. We value family first and foremost and go through life maintaining a sense of humor; we laugh together at any chance we get. We are filled with tenderness, kind heartedness, love, and are strong in our faith. Most of all, we give.

Now, one could argue there was something in the water up there on the top of Brewer Street, starting all of this, flowing down throughout our family.
I would be more inclined to look with certainty that our Grandmother possessed all of these talents, qualities and these family values. Her faith and her love has carried through the generations.

She nurtured and cared for us, and not to mention, when given the chance, she would sustain us with three square meals a day.

Wherever Grandma was, Brewer, Winslow, New York, or at her Grandchildren's house, the Grandchildren would gather around her. While her grandchildren were her passion, It would not be fair to leave out the countless neighborhood kids that would come knocking at the door looking for Mrs. Murphy.

We cousins share some common memories of times with Grandma. She would lead games of Red Light Green Light and Mother May I. She would take us sledding. She would make Pomanders with us. She would write, produce, direct, and act as the costume designer for extravagant plays. Somewhere in between all the days fun, she would find the time to make dinner, where we would feast upon the world's best Mac and Cheese, finish dinner with talks of religion, faith, and God, and then retreat to bed for bible stories, fables, fairy tales, and stories of Mike and Spike ... only to be awaken by the smell of Grandpas bacon and treated to the best crepes in the world.
Our Grandmother was a teacher of many. I even had the privilege of attending her CCD classes, although at the time, I didn't always see this as a privilege ... Consequently, I ended up spending some time with the nuns transcribing the bible.

Our Grandmother passed on many things to her Grandchildren:

She taught us to eat until she saw the flowers on our plate.

Grandma taught us music and song. Her amazing gift resonated joy through us all.

She taught us to sew. It was in this act that her patience and attention to detail shined.

Grandma taught us cooking. Her cooking was gourmet.

She taught us to marry well, in that she married the best dishwasher on earth.

Grandma taught us grace as she attended pretend masses at the Bean House.

She taught us humor. She and Grandpa would fill the room with laughter. Boy did they love to laugh. She may have even been coerced by her grandchildren, once or twice, to take out her teeth, which was followed by shock, and then laughter by all.

Grandma taught us honesty. Although, there were times she convinced every one of her Granddaughters that she was the real Cinderella. In her defense, she even showed them her glass slipper..

She taught us French. Grand-mère, repose en paix.

Our grandmother instilled us with discipline. This discipline she conveyed was in something as simple as a session of Quakers meeting before dinner, or a tale from Essops Fables. More often, it was grounded in lessons only derived from a life of loyalty, sacrifice, and faith.

She taught us prayer. Our grandmother prayed for us, and we know this is another reason we are all so blessed. At some of the harder times in my life, she taught me how to pray. I was praying for the things in life that I thought were important and that I thought I should be praying for. Grandma taught me to open myself to God, so that I may be show what is important. She taught me to pray for discernment.

Our Grandmother taught us faith. She taught not only through her understanding of the word of God, but she taught us faith through the way she lived her life. Her faith stood at the center of all that she was and all that she is.

Considering all this nurturing we received from our Grandmother, I wish I could say that I was always well behaved for my dear grandmother. Yet, there were times that this may not have been the case. We never broke melmac plates over each other, but there were times Grandma would have ask, 'what had happened to the other Ryan, the other Eric, and the other Chris.

It was usually Chris and Eric's fault.

Grandma would then ask us to travel through the Brewer St. house, into the upstairs, through the bedroom, past the cat sheet bunk beds, where we would then proceed down the back stairs. Upon emerging from these back stairs, a transformation would occur, and the other boys, the good boys, would be revealed.

This transformation infinitely pales in comparison to the transformation our Grandmother has made.

The mysteries of her faith have been revealed, and she has gone to be with God.
In reflecting upon all that she has shared, all that she has given, all that she has nurtured, and all that she has taught, I look out at this moment and see all that she loved. I see the picture of the family she created.

It fills me with great joy to know that Grandma has given us the ability to see how blessed we are.

Here's to you Tina...

Mother's Day with the Foss girls.

Ericka's wedding, Nov, 2010.

Geaghan's Restaurant Bangor.

Mothers Day... Mom had scallops.

Mother-in-Law, you were #1.

Arriving at the Veterans Home in Bangor, 2009 wearing Dragonflies.

Rest in peace. We know you will always be with us.