Thursday, December 09, 2010

From London

This is a view of the River Thames from my hotel. I was really surprised by how tidal the river is. Here the tide is up. When the tide is down, this plank to the ferry descends at more than a 45 degree angle down.



This is a famous pub in London. You may have seen it recently on a commercial for the iPad. This area was famous for its whaling trade during the 18th century. Ships would return here from Greenland to process whale bone and blubber.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Monday, November 22, 2010

Jody Birthday 2010


Just a small gathering of 14 of her friends from the old Monk 'hood.
Happy Birthday, Jody!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween 2010 from Andrew and Jody




They were perfect. I had to ask them ?what they were going to be for Halloween? since they looked so real!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Lauren and Taylor Wedding

The view from the rehearsal dinner was spectacular!

Mostly we had a great time at the wedding and in Chicago, except there were too many hookers on the street corners.

The future is here...



Friday, October 22, 2010

Homemade Pita Bread


So, we are at the store and Mary says, "I don't like this Pita; I think I'll just make my own." Well... here it is.

Saturday, October 02, 2010

Reds Clinch


Close to the field


Notice the Pitch Speed is 100 mph!!


Post Game celebration!


Grandma's favorite manager. I took this just for you.


A rare photo with me in it. I asked the kid next to us to snap this.

Danny, Mary and I went to the Reds game and watched them clinch the division. Pretty exciting. We sat in the 4th row, between home plate and the Reds' dugout, right behind the on-deck circle. Andrew went to the game with friends and sat in the nose bleed seats.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Mary's Garden


The sweat potatoes are big. I should have taken a pic of the earlier one; it was massive.
... And they are very good to eat.

Komen Walk, Mary Monk 2010






A ton of people on the walk here in Cincinnati on Saturday, September 25, 2010.
The day started really early with us arriving at GABP (Great American Ball Park, home of the Reds) at 7am. The race snaked around downtown Cincinnati, crossed over into Northern KY, crossed back over the next bridge back into Cincy and ended at GABP.

Mary is posing with Joe Nuxhall, great Cincinnati Reds player, announcer, humanitarian and person who lost his battle with cancer in 2007. Joe is special to us. We enjoyed his many years of announcing. I especially enjoyed his signature sign-off after the game, "This is the old left-hander, rounding third and heading for home".

Joe crossed our lives several times in person. The last time was when we went to Reds Spring Training in the Spring of 2007. Andrew leaped across the stadium, as only he can do, taking Mary's pink bat, and asked Joe to autograph it. Of course, he did. The bat still sits on the mantle in our family room. Mary and Joe had radiation treatment together on the same day at the hospital back in the 2006.

Note the cap Joe is wearing. It has 5 pink ribbons on it. That's right, Mary is 5 years from diagnosis.

We finished yesterday by going to the Apple Festival in Lebanon, OH and visiting the Pyramid Hill Art Show in Hamilton, OH. We celebrated life and it was great!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Danny Monk headlining at Newport on the Levee, Newport, KY


Danny Monk headlining at Newport on the Levee


Danny Monk


Nick Varney


Danny and Nick


Jordan Youtz


Danny Monk played at Newport on the Levee last night. Outdoors and hotter than Hades. The Cincinnati skyline in the background made for a great venue. Joining Danny was old friend and star Nick Varney and teen heart throb Jordan Youtz.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Andrew and Jody at Tour de France


I took this picture off the TV. You can see them at the top of the highest climb of the Tour, Col du Tourmalet. World wide proof of where they were on July 20, 2010!!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Andrew in Pamplona running with the bulls

The report is back, Andrew ran with the bulls today and survived. There seems to be brief video proof, but until I can translate the file to something that I can show on the blog, no video.

I wasn't really in favor, but said nothing. Based upon having two other sons (one might be optional if family jewels ruined by a bull) and based upon possibly being a beneficiary of life insurance (not sure) I said nothing.

Glad he's OK.