The Magee Family Newsletter 1 st Edition January 2008 Happy New Year to all of you!! The year 2008 is dedicated to new beginnings, happiness, wisdom & abundance! The idea for a family news letter was to keep in touch after our fabulous reunion in 2006. Please feel free to send any news big or small, that you would like to share with us all. Most of the news this time comes to us from England. Dan checked in and wrote: We are as you left us, Thank goodness. Helen has moved back from New Zealand with her new husband, Greer. They stayed with us from April through to October. They have managed to get good jobs (Greer straight away, Helen after a more protracted search) and they have moved into their own house 3 weeks ago. Needless to say they are now involved in major renovation and decoration work, all of which involves Mum and Dad help, so that s how our weekends are
spent at the moment. We are not sure how long they will stay in England, and we are pretty certain that they will move back to NZ in the fullness of time, but we will enjoy the proximity whilst it lasts. Melanie is still up in Newcastle. She has had a promotion at work and she seems to spend a lot of her time dealing with major people from the sporting world. We will all be spending Christmas together, at our house. I hope everyone is in good health and spirits. We saw some pictures of the Hobbs Girls trip, with Aunt Annie. Lovely..I continue to entertain (?) the locals in the local pub every fortnight. I am always looking to expand my repertoire but am limited by technique! I enjoy it immensely and if someone else gets a bit out of it, that s a bonus. He mentioned the Hobbs sisters visit to the States and Canada We were all very excited to have them here, even if it was for such a brief visit. The only thing that could have made it better is if Deborah was able to visit with them. We have some photos which I will attach, in case you want to print them but at the end of the newsletter I will also copy them, just in case you can t open the attachments.
Anna summed up the visit like this: Louise Trudy and Cecily Hobbs arrived in WNY on 10/19/07. Unfortunately their plane was delayed coming from Newark so they did not get to go to our local Italian restaurant for dinner. Instead they had to have sandwiches and snacks at our house. Louise and Trudy stayed with Billy and I and Cecily bunked in at Patti and Lenny's house. This is where Cecily met her new best friend, Griffin, the Border collie. The day after they arrived, Patti and I took them to the American side of Niagara Falls. It was a beautiful sunny day but much TOO windy for a trip on the Maid of the Mist (boat) or even a trip down to the cave of the winds. (See attached picture with our hair all blowing to the right) After the falls we went to the casino where some of us did a little gambling, but we all ate very well at the casino buffet. (Carvery) We were then off to shop at the outlet stores. Here again some of us bought and some of us just looked. On Sunday we all went to St. Catherine s, Ontario Canada to see the last Magee, Aunt Anne. She look pretty good only she is now pretty frail but still able to live on her own at 92, with the help of Terry and Nancy. The Canadians in attendance were Nancy and Jim Parton, their daughter Colleen and husband Paul, their daughter Jennifer, husband Mike and their beautiful 2 year old daughter, Olivia. Terry was there with Dave, her daughter Michelle and husband Shane and son Cooper almost 3. Michelle is going to have a new baby in March (?). They had a wonderful lunch ready for us and plenty of Canadian beer. Pictures were taken and sad good byes were said.
We then attempted to see Niagara Falls from the Canadian side but because of the beautiful day there was not a spot to park and just tons of people walking around the railing viewing the falls. We had to tell the sisters to look out the car window as we drove by so they could get a glimpse of the Falls. That evening the ladies were taken by Charlie and Diane to listen to some fantastic music. Monday we slept in a little and Patti treated the ladies to a tour of Buffalo and its finer points of interest. Dinner was out and all returned home happy but tired. Tuesday there was more shopping at the Galleria Mall and lunch at a nice Italian restaurant. After that it was back to Patti and Lenny's home for a gathering of the relatives. We sent the ladies on their way back home early on Wednesday morning. Trudy and Cecily were off to their British Airways flight home to England and Louise back to New York City for a few more days in the "big apple" A good time was had by all. Hope to see everyone again soon. There was talk about a get together of the cousins in Florida at a future date and time to be determined. What s this, another reunion in Florida? Does anyone have any feedback on this idea? Nov 22 nd Cecily wrote: I've got a bit of news. My play is going to be given a reading at the Royal National Theatre, which is precisely that, royal and national!
A reading isn't a full production, but individual actors rehearse and read the play to an invited audience. The play is called Riven Court, and it's about one rather intense night in a spooky old house in London, in which people who should know better behave rather badly. The model for the house was the old place in Annacloy, which was always a place of great mystery and wonder to me when I was very young. It's on Dec 10th and I will update you as to how it all goes. From CapeTown: Where in the world are the Kaplans? Claire and Miles are taking the most amazing honeymoon. They left Dec 6 th and will be traveling to London, Amsterdam, Munich, Venice, Rome, Florence, Lucerne, Paris, Belfast (For Christmas) Dublin, Glasgow, Manchester, back to London and home again on Jan 9, 2008. They have been instructed to pass out hugs and kisses to all the Rels from us. From State side: We are asking that you all keep our cousin, Peter Lawley, Aunt Kate s son, in your prayers as he has recently been diagnosed with colon cancer and is starting chemo treatments this month. In the spirit of a true Magee descendant, once he was diagnosed, he took a cruise to Barcelona, bought a house and moved into it. (You Magee s have an amazing gene pool!) You can email your good wishes to him at: blueskies_10@comcast.net.
Also, the big news from the Charlie O Neill s is that we are expecting a grandbaby! I know, I m much too young to be a grandparent, but they didn t ask me and it turns out that we are more than ready to spoil a little one. Marty s girlfriend, April is due in June. The wedding will also be in 2008. We are all very excited. From Ireland: Many thanks to Cathy Smyth, who sent the hilarious links to Elfyourself.com, where we saw the dancing Magee men and then their wives. To view the Ladies card, cut & paste this link into your browser: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1159619186. The men: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1148335332 and just for giggles my family Charlie, Marty and his girlfriend, April: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1203791825. Not much news from Ireland this time but hopefully, There will be more bit and pieces for the next edition. Now, I am certainly not the most competent writer or graphic artist in the family, but I am willing to keep this going if there is an interest. (I only mention my inexperience so that you will over look any errors that I have made.)
If you would like to send me news as it happens, I will put out a letter whenever I get enough information or every 3 months. Please print out a copy for those who do not have access to a computer. Please remember our family members who are facing the challenges of mind, body or spirit and pray that in 2008, those prayers become reality. Also, a prayer for all of those who have gone before us. May the road rise up to meet you, May the wind be at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, And rains fall soft upon your fields. Until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand. This picture is courtesy of Nancy & Jim. It shows the Hobbs sisters (Trudy, Aunt Anne, Cecily & Louise) with Aunt Anne:
Many thanks to Anna who had a few shots: Front: Trudy, Anne, Louise. Back: Nancy, Anna, Cecily, Terry and Patti.