15th Annual Polish Fesitval

A few weeks ago in our church bulletin I saw a notice about the 15th Annual Polish Festival at St. Stan's, a Catholic Church maybe an hour or so away. For those of you who don't know me too well, I am very Polish. My Babci (Polish for grandmother) is 100% and is fluent in the language, as are her sisters. We always knew they were talking about something good when we were growing up because they switched to Polish so us grandkids couldn't understand. Every birthday on my mom's side of the family we sing in English and then in Polish (Sto Lat) and all of us know a few phrases at least. My Babci makes the most amazing Polish food that I miss dearly so I knew we had to go to the festival.

Saturday we slept in and made our way down to Castle Hayne NC. The festival went from 11-5 and we arrived around 2:30 or so. It was perfect! Free parking and free admission. There was a ton of Polish food, crafts, beer and music... a live Polka Band! We naturally started off with the food.

Clockwise from the top we have potato pierogies (dough like dumplings with potato inside) with buttered onions, glumpke (meat, rice and spices wrapped in a cabbage leaf with tomato sauce) and kielbasa (a sausage) with sauerkraut and a roll. Ryan and I split the plate and were perfectly content. After we ate we walked around for a bit.

We did miss out on the potato pancakes (by the time we were hungry they sold out) and only managed to get some small cookies from the bake tent. Still delicious. We also browsed the crafts (I got a Coca Cola airplane made from a can to put in my bathroom) and it made me really miss my Babci. The afghans and blankets were like the ones she knits. We skipped out on the silent auction and made our way to the music and dancing.

 Have you ever seen andyone Polka before? My grandparents did it at our wedding (and many times growing up) and let me tell you, there is no such thing as a fat Polka dancer! It is fast and fun and those old people can totally cut a rug! They were spinning around us like it was as easy as walking.

 Obviously in a still picture you can't see the speed, but these people were flying around the floor!

 We joined in for one or two dances. I know some basic steps and Ryan and I basically just hopped around a lot! Luckily I was able to bribe him with Polish beer so he was much more cooperative about dancing than usual.

The band was fantastic too. I heard songs I remember hearing at Babci and Poppy's house on the radio growing up and they even made some modern songs into a polka (see Boot Scootin Boogie and You Are My Sunshine). Naturally I wanted to get a tshirt, and a Christmas ornament, and my husband only rolled his eyes a little at my cornieness.

 Regardless we had an amazing time and definitely plan on going back next year! I also heard Jacksonville does a Polish Day in January that we also may have to check out.

Normally you don't see a lot of chubby cheeked, blonde haired, blue eyed people in one place but you could tell at the Festival that I was among my people! I was a dime a dozen in Castle Hayne!

Sunday we donated blood to try and help with the shortage from the Hurricane. Ryan is O- (and naturally afraid of needles) but we both knew we had to try and help out. We also have made financial contributions to the Red Cross and Americares. Please donate if you are able; whether it be time, money, blood, clothes or prayers all are appreciated in New Jersey and New York and all the areas hit by Sandy.

Post blood donation we made our way to the Olive Garden and had a nice dinner (and did that special deal where we took home dinner for another day, awesome concept) before coming home to watch the Giants lose. Sigh. Can't win them all! Overall we had a wonderful weekend and hopefully many more like them to come!

And if you didn't already, don't forget to vote today. I am off to the polls.... hopefully the lines aren't too long.

My give away is almost done! Have you entered yet?? Another awesome give away will be up later this week!

Winners and a bit else...

Congratulations!!! Ladies, send me an email with your address and your prizes shall arrive shortly. The top winner wins the Emulsion Pens and the bottom winner wins the Daisies.

Thank you to all who entered.... expect another give away very soon!

Also, just an update. Although my parents do not live in New Jersey anymore they still own our house (it is currently being rented). Today my dad sent me the pictures of the storm and damage and it broke my heart. I know it isn't as bad as it could be, but seeing all the trees I grew up with lying flat and our barn hit plus our roof damaged.... well it wasn't a great email to receive.

Luckily no one was hurt and everything of course can be repaired. In the top right picture of the collage you can see the tarp covering the roof which was exactly over my old room and my parents' old room. Sigh. I hope everyone up north is safe and recovering and gets power back soon!

Also, this is my 600th post. Crazy.

Enjoy your Halloween, stay safe!

Hurricane Sandy

Here in Eastern North Carolina Hurricane Sandy wasn't very bad. Friday I went to Ben and Chelsea's to celebrate Ben's birthday and when I woke up Saturday morning the rain had started. It was a day of staying in my pajamas and watching TV and snuggling on the couch with Rylie. The wind picked up last night but it wasn't too bad. I ordered Chinese and did not leave my house.

So for the past two days that has been my main source of sustinence. No need to cook when the hubby isn't home! I woke up this morning and went to church and by the time I got out the rain had stopped. I made a pit stop at Lowes for some spackle and then came home. All day it has been pretty windy but the rain hasn't come back. It is definitely chillier today than it has been since we have moved here but its not bad. The sunset made everything glow pink for about half an hour.

Now I am done with my weekend football games (victorty to both South Carolina and the Giants!) and catching up on my poor blog. To all my family and friends up north, especially in New Jersey, please stay safe!!!! I am thinking about you and praying for you.

Don't forget to enter my give away!

Irene

Alexandria luckily was not hit too badly. I went to my audition Saturday early afternoon and hunkered down for the night. My neighbor Antoinette and I watched Ryan Reynolds movies and played video games as the night went on. Once it picked up we filled our bathtubs (so you can flush when power goes out) and made sure we were good to go.

It was quite windy and rainy, but not too bad. The major part of the storm wasn't expected til after midnight, so curiousity got the best of us and we bundled up and decided to go check out the river.
It was a little too dark for pictures but it was higher than normal even at that point.

See, very bundled. But still soaked through.

Ahhh wind!

So much rain.

News crew filming on the dock

Hurricane suit = Husband's work jacket + husband's swim trunks + wellies with cherries on them.
The rain was really starting to come down at this point.


Antoinette fared a little better than me in her gortex.

The view from our front door during the storm.

Like I said, Alexandria was very fortunate. Some large trees went down but the river did not flood over and our apartment never even lost power. I fell asleep on the couch watching a movie and was out cold for the worst of the storm. Like I said, we were lucky....

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New Jersey on the otherhand got clobbered, especially with rain. The Raritan River, which is in walking distance from my old house, rose over 40 feet.

This is around the block from my old home.


You have to pass this to get to my street...

I drove over this bridge on a semi daily basis in high school.

Duke Island Park always floods in the rain, but I have not seen it like this since Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

I used this road to go home coming off the highway, like all the time. It is between the river and the cow farm and it floods, but not like this!


The Raritan River rose over 40 feet and flooded most of my home town and the surrounding areas.


Our Minor League Baseball Stadium, where I briefly worked as a mascot one summer, is under water


And our "highways" even are blocked, like near the IHop... which also did not do so well...

We have so many little creeks and rivers that have bridges connecting all the towns that a lot of people cannot go far. I know in 1999 we didnt have school for nearly a week since the school bus just could not reach us.


The Jersey pictures I borrowed from facebook and this website, but NJ got hit pretty hard and there is way worse damage than that. Irene was a serious storm. I am glad VA was pretty unscathed, at least by me, but I am keeping my thoughts on my old home.