PaulPallazola
Happy little mermaid
Hot day cool water spash, play!
aquatic emotion
One thing our kids love to do is swim. When they were toddlers we took them to Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester and to swimming lessons at the YMCA so they would have no fear of the water. They grew to love it and we are truly greatful that they have something fun to do that doesn’t involve technology. When we travel we seek out hotels with indoor and outdoor pools so that the kids can swim regardless of weather or season.
Violeta was offered the opportunity to join the Sterling YMCA swim team this past year. She decided not to swim competitively because she wanted to balance the time she has available for her artwork. Viterbo has often said he hopes to work on a Whale Watch Ship and perhaps do a stint serving in the Coast Guard as a Rescue Swimmer. I’m sure their grandfather (who survived the sinking of three fishing boats) would be proud.
Swimming is something that must be taught to kids — I never learn altho I grew up very near the sea
They may say if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all, but saying “nice’ with sixteen periods to make twenty characters seems like cheating. I’d rather have a sincere nasty comment to a bunch of punctuation marks that only say “I want virils”.
Well that was better. Thank you 🙂
It must be a sign of success I haven’t been paid yet but I’m threatened with a boycott lol.
If I printed that dotted line I could sign it 🙂
Going down with one ship and living to tell about it is impressive. Surviving three is miraculous!
The first boat sank before I was born. My mom was terrified and asked dad to seek another line of work. he spent a month as a migrant farmworker picking potatoes in Maine, and returned to fishing.
I can certainly see where your mom was coming from, but I can kinda see where your father was coming from, too…
He had served in the Merchant Marines and spent several years working fishing boats by then. He would ultimately spend 4 decades at sea until one day when skipper of the Tina Marie told him they had grown tired of not making much money during the 1980s quotas. My dad had told him that if they planned to sink the boat for insurance, smuggle drugs or run guns to the IRA he would sit the trip out. They gave him advance warning so one summer night as the short wave radio messages sent my uncle’s into a panic my dad was watching sitcoms at home in his pajamas washing down a Skippy’s Chunky Peanut Butter and Hershey Bar Sandwich with a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. They called my mom asking if dad was okay. Initial reports of the Tina Marie burning off shore had rattled them. They called my mom asking if dad was okay. Initial reports of the Tina Marie burning off shore had rattled Uncle Carlo & Uncle Serafino. My dad laughed and said he was fine, just needed to figure what to do with the rest of his life…
I applaud your father’s policy!
When I turned 18 (which was the legal drinking age in Massachusetts back in those days) my dad took me to the Schooner Race a local bar frequented by Gloucester fishermen to buy me my first legal drink. When he walked over to greet one of his friends the barmaid Margie told me “You’re dad is one of the nicest, most respectful and decent guys around, a real gentleman”. Margie would later become the first policewoman in Gloucester, and have to deal with a lot of harassment because many of “Gloucester’s finest” unfortunately weren’t respectful decent gentlemen.
Really lovely photo great memories.
Thank you for commenting Pamela 🙂
What great memories you have shared.
Thank you for commenting Carol 🙂
Nice picture. Kids deserve to be happy
Thank you for your comment Lacho 🙂