Sunday, September 14, 2014

The Sad Anniversary of 9/11/01

      Any event in our lives can change us, but some do so more profoundly than others.The events of 9/11 have reshaped the way we think. Children and adults alike have experienced a paradigm shift, a reformulation of our views on our world and each other. The brave people who defended us, who put our safety ahead of their own, are the ones who should really be the focus of this day of remembrance. Ultimately, it is they who revitalize our lives for the better through their selfless deeds.
     The sacrifices of the police and firefighters on 9/11 were commemorated in a special way in Vancouver this year and in past years. My cousin Craig, now a Port Authority police officer and formerly an NYPD officer, was asked to represent the Port Authority at this ceremony. The video below shows him  (at 13 seconds) . He is the tall, blond officer on the right. He also appears later in the one-minute video at the following link: 9/11 Ceremony in Vancouver Last Week

Vocabulary:
profoundly (adverb) -- deeply
reshaped (verb, past tense) -- changed, shaped again
paradigm shift (noun) -- a change in a way of thinking
reformulation (noun) -- a change or alteration
remembrance (noun) -- memory
revitalize (verb, present  tense)  -- bring to life  in a new way
deeds (noun) -- acts
commemorated (verb, past tense) -- remembered, celebrated
ceremony (noun) -- special event

Vocabulary Exercise: Fill in the blanks with the correct vocabulary words.
1. The government officials at  the _____________  in Vancouver _____________ the heroes.
2. A cemetery is where we pray for the dead. It is a place of ______________  .
3. The violence of 9/11 caused a ______________________, so now we see the world differently.
4. To make a change is ___________________.
5. The police officer was a good man and did many good __________.
6. Our lives were made different and new. They were _______________ and _________________.

Grammar Point: The prefix re- comes at the beginning of a word and means again. Find 3 examples of words with the prefix re- in the paragraphs above. Use each of the words in a new sentence.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Family and the Holidays


This holiday season my family and I were lucky enough to spend time together. The photo is of me with my mother and my baby brother, George. Unexpectedly, this weekend some of my cousins also arrived for visits, so we had some fun lunches and reminiscences. When family members get together, they invariably remember those relatives who are deceased. We talked about my paternal grandmother and great aunts, who always created the most delicious feasts for the holidays. I gave my cousin some recipes from our Aunt Doll, and we tried to figure out how my grandmother and Aunt Doll made the scrumptious stuffing for the turkey. We decided to get together again in May and share old photos and more memories.

Vocabulary

reminiscences (noun) -- memories

deceased (adjective) -- dead

paternal (adjective) -- father's

delicious (adjective) -- tasty

recipes (noun) -- instructions for making food

figure out (verb) -- guess

scrumptious (adjective) -- very tasty


Vocabulary Exercise:

Our father is no longer with us on holidays because he is _______________ (not alive).

My __________ grandmother had many ________________ for ________________ holiday food that we can use to make the food again.

We cannot remember how to make my aunt's favorite cake, so we want to ________________ what ingredients go into it.

One of our favorite _____________  or memories is of  my mother's ____________ popovers that we loved so much.


                               Popovers
Grammar Point: Adjectives are words that tell about a noun: big, small, happy, lovely, interesting, beautiful and thankful are all adjectives.  The adjectives scrumptious and delicious have something in common in addition to meaning. What is it? Can you think of any other endings that adjectives have? Write sentences using the adjectives from the paragraph I wrote.