The Sisters

May 7, 2012 by Casey in Family | Leave a comment

Susan, Ronnie, Connie, Kaycie, Joanna, Sally, Teresa, Charlotte, Charlotte, Elaine, Linda, Alicia

Some of Clan Karbowski got it into their heads that it was about time for “the sisters” to get together. Since our departure from Spencer a couple years ago, the many yearly parties we liked to host have just not been happening and, as a result, fewer “family moment” opportunities have come up. So, why not just call an audible (football term), “Party, party, hut, hut, hut!” …and Maxwell Silverman’s in Worcester became the spot. Yeah, there were some mixed signals about who should come (it was “The Sisters” not “ladies only…sorry about that Bobby), and, in addition to Ronnie (in photo), Bob M. and Casey D. did attended. Where were they? Taking the darned photos, of course. What else do they ever do?

 Speaking of photos, did we manage to get more? Well, yeah. It takes time to assemble such a massive collection of of photographic and cinematic splendor. We’ll get to it. For now, here are Joanna, Sally, Teresa, and Charlotte, well fed after a wonderful brunch at Maxwell Silverman’s.

Mmmm…can’t wait to do it again!

Here’s a link to a short video: The Sisters Family Gathering Movie

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We Can Talk About It Now

May 5, 2012 by Casey in Family, McColley, Video | Leave a comment

Patrick's TattooCongratulations to Patrick and Jennifer for their contribution to the The Avengers Movie. If you haven’t seen it yet, please do. Stay to the end. Watch the part of the movie where there are screens passing by showing appreciative citizens thankful that The Avengers have saved the world. Patrick is there. He is one of them. He’s the one getting a Captain America shield tattoo.

Jennifer, Patrick and the tattoo artist got credits in the movie too. Almost at the very end of the credit roll, you’ll see a line where Jennifer’s video (she shot this on her iPhone) is given attribution.

BTW – you can watch Jen’s video on Youtube where it was first posted back in 2009.

Why All The Secrecy?

We were sworn to secrecy by Marvel Comic. Really. Here’s what happened.

Patrick had designed a version of the Captain America Shield. Patrick’s version had cracks in it to show how well worn it was from all its battles. While in Connecticut one day, he decided to get this tattooed onto his arm. Jen was right there and captured the magic on her iPhone. They posted the video onto YouTube.

A few months ago, Patrick got an email from someone claiming to be from Marvel Comics. They wanted to use his video in a movie. They needed releases from him and Jen.

What movie?

The Avengers.

Now, for those of you who know Patrick, you know he’s a big fan of the comics and his favorite character is Captain America. As it turns out, Captain America is one of the Avengers. So, for Patrick (and his tattoo) to be considered for a roll in this movie was more than he could handle. He was ecstatic!

Would he give permission?

Hell, yes!

So, the first challenge they faced was to locate the tattoo artist. Marvel Comics didn’t know who he was and, for the next three weeks, it was iffy as to whether they, or Jen and Patrick, could contact him. Patrick remembered where he got the tattoo, but the artist wasn’t there. It turned out, he was somewhere in San Francisco on vacation. Patrick and Jen tried emailing him, but didn’t get any replies. Without the tattoo artists permission, Jen’s video clip might not make it into the movie. The release date for the movie was coming up and everyone was getting nervous.

Well, eventually, Marvel Comics tracked him down. The artist agreed. Jen and Patrick agreed. They all had to sign releases. Patrick and the artist for their image to be used in the movie and Jen for her copyrighted video to be used.

The releases made it very clear that no one could talk about this until the movie was officially release on May 4th. It was a secret.

That’s right. We couldn’t tell anyone.

But what about Youtube? …well, there’s no mention of the movie on Youtube. It’s just Jen’s video that’s there, as it has been since 2009. So that was OK.

Could we really keep the secret? Yeah. Sure. Besides, there was the danger that Marvel would decide not to use the video at all. It could drop Patrick to the cutting room floor, as they say.

Anyway, all of that is moot. We can talk about it now! It’s there!

An so, on Friday, a bunch of us were at the theater…the Patrick America Clan? And, sure enough, when Patrick’s smile came up on the big screen, we all whooped and cheered. Folks around us had no idea about why. We did this all over again when the credit roll came by.

(FYI – Jen and Patrick attended the midnight showing earlier in the day. So, this was their second time to celebrate.)

How did we like the rest of the movie?

Amazing! …it’s exciting, interesting, very funny. We loved it. Highly recommended…especially the Patrick part.

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The Old St. V’s

April 9, 2012 by Casey in Family, Friends | Leave a comment

Susan Warrick brought over a postcard she had acquired at a yard sale. It was a picture of the old St. Vincent’s Hospital in Worcester where she and a number of friends and family were born.

 

This building is no longer standing. There has been a lot of construction atop the Vernon Hill area. But, for those who first started their lives as infants here, it’s a memory that now lives on beyond a postcard. You can download a larger version for your scrapbook if you’d like…

St. Vincent’s Image – larger version -  (right click on this link to download it to your computer)

Leave us a comment if you were born here.

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Kaycie Goes Solo As A Cooking Show Star

February 28, 2012 by Casey in McColley, Video | Leave a comment

We had some fun with our latest Thyme In The Kitchen production. We set up our kitchen so that Kaycie could do her own show all by herself. Of course, she needs her “grownup” to do the stuff kids shouldn’t be allowed to do on their own, but Kaycie managed everything else quite nicely.

 

Kaycie In The Kitchen

We will probably incorporate some, or all of this, in our next TIK release which may make it out to some of the cable access stations in various towns. If not, it’s always available online.

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March 5th – DanekWorld.INFO goes dark!

February 28, 2012 by Casey in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

March 4th is the last day danekworld.info will be viable. After that, you’ll have to use the generic URL –  rcdanek.us/dw.

Of course, everything on DanekWorld is still available using the new URL. It’s just the address that changes, not content.

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Reorganizing Our Website A Bit

January 6, 2012 by Casey in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Take a notePlease note: with the change going away from DanekWorld.INFO, it made sense to reorganize things a bit on our sever. Over the years, our web strategy was complicated because we kept changing. We had stuff in several places and it may have been difficult to follow along. This may still be the case, but we’re hoping that by putting everything here on our blog page, using links in the navigation panel on the side, well get some sanity back.

In Blogroll, there are many links to web stuff that’s active and gets updated often.

In the Archive section, you can find web stuff that is many years old. It’s not going to update much and some of the links there may not work. Sorry about that.

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Renewing Domain Names?

January 6, 2012 by Casey in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Can until you can'tWill we be renewing the DanekWorld domain name in March? Probably not. We’ve already said as much in previous posts. GroundGlassProductions is already gone. Once again, here’s why…there’s an expense to maintaining a website and we’re all about keeping expenses to a minimum. Sometimes, you can do web stuff for free – like using Facebook – but then there are usually limitations on what you can do.

We think we have found a good compromise.

Since we like having a real web server on the Internet (where you can do your own thing), we will continue funding that. That means we will continue with RCDANEK.US and it, in turn, will host web content. We are also going to keep Thyme In The Kitchen there, and Patrick will continue with his excellent Mojo Going stuff there. Art has his Art Danek Photography website living here, too. Sweet. These domain names will just work as always.

But what’s going to happen to DanekWorld?

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Holiday Photos

December 30, 2011 by Casey in Danek, Family, Friends, McColley | Leave a comment

Christmas plate with cookiesWith the holidays behind us, it’s probably a good idea to post some images here. For the most part, images are already up on the Internet in a few places. Here are some of the pointers to them…

Christmas with the McColleys on Facebook and the same photos on Google+.

Christmas with the Daneks on Google+.

So, what’s up with the Facebook and Google+ stuff…and can anyone see these photos? Maybe not. In Facebook, you probably have to be a Friend. In Google+, you may need to be in the Friends or Family circle. We’re still getting used to this social networking stuff.

The picture here is actually posted onto Twitter from an iPhone capture on the day of one of the parties. (Assuming that Twitter actually lets you see this here.)
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Our Close Call

June 5, 2011 by Casey in Danek, McColley, Video | Leave a comment

Tree damage three miles directly East of our home in Feeding Hills…as if cut with a dull razor.

I remember being in Colorado Springs in the 1970′s visiting with a coworker at his home. During the late afternoon, we were discussing his new life there and we heard a siren nearby. We didn’t know what it was so we kept on talking. The next day, he told me that, as he was new to the area, he hadn’t yet learned about the tornado warning siren. We really should have looked for shelter. I don’t recall if there had been an actual tornado touchdown reported for that day…probably not. Live and learn, though.

Click here to look at before and after images.

Years later, in Spencer, Lee was driving home with Jen when she was very young – early grade school. I was in another part of the State photographing bicyclists. The storm clouds were horrendous and during the thunder storm at Breezy Bend, Lee said she thought she could see electricity sparking off of the hood of the car. Her only thought was to get home to safety. The closer she got there, the worse the storm got. It was really a bad idea and in the end, she was carrying Jen in her arms across the railroad tracks to get to the safety of the house. Lee said the water under the bridge in front of the house was several feet deep and she couldn’t drive through. So going over the tracks was the only option. Just before that, while she was still in the car in front of the bridge wondering what she should do, someone drove past and told her her a tornado was coming and she should turn around. Still, the safety of the house was too tempting, so she got out and went over the tracks on foot. Inexperience in such situations can be dangerous. Should she have just turned around and driven away in another direction. Just get away.

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A Gentle Heart

May 15, 2011 by Casey in Danek, Family | Leave a comment

I couple years ago, I wrote a song called “A Box On A Shelf”. It was about someone who would often remember someone he missed deeply. He referred to her this way, “You were so beautiful, a gentle heart”. I chose the words gentle heart because of the rhyme with the previous line and the cadence the sung words imparted to the song. I didn’t think much about what a gentle heart really was. I just know it fit the mood of the song.

Last week, we said goodbye to my Sister-in-Law, Teresa. She had been in our lives, my life, for about 50 years and as I thought about the kind of person she was, I realized that I never, ever had an angry, ill thought towards her. In anyone’s life, you find friends and family with all manner of personality and character. Every once in a while, someone does something that drives you a bit crazy, or you drive them crazy. You get angry, or they get angry. You get over it. Life goes on as if nothing happened.

There was never such a moment with her. It’s as if an angel spirit live in her. Her kindness and generosity were boundless.

So, now, I think I know what a gentle heart is. She had been showing me all along.

 

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