Happy BDay to Joe tomorrow (the 16th!!) and Happy Bday to Shannon on the 17th!

We are dying to see what we missed at the ChamJohn Triathlon last week.

Please Blog It!!!!!!

Happy 87th Bday to Mom and 19th to Nick today!!!!

The Thornhills hope you both celebrate well this week! We started Mom off well on Saturday with a celebration at Jerry & Maria's house.

Making the big move

Hello my wonderful family!

I am almost out the door taking my last load of ish down to Portland. Yep, the rumor is true, I am indeed moving there...today! I decided in July that moving to Portland is probably the [most reasonable] next step in Miguel and my relationship. He reminded me a couple months ago that we haven't lived in the same city in almost THREE years. geesh, I had never really put it together like that before. (time flies when you're having fun in San Diego, and then at home with the 'rents, and then at the Sammamish summer vacation spot!) Dispite the fact that it is not exactly the circumstances in which I imagined moving there, I am very excited! I am living right on NW 23rd with my best college friend and roommate for 3 years, Sara. It should be awesome. If any of you need a place to crash in Portland for a night or two, this is seriously the place to stay! I will be working with my same company I work for now ( per diem at various hospitals around the city), it just will be through the portland office. Hopefully I will pick up a travel assignment soon and make as much as Colleen does! haha. :) I am excited also to be closer to my favorite sister and to 5 of my 7 closest college friends. Plus, I think the best part about all of this moving thing, which I surprisingly often forget, is that I am only, only, only just three hours from Seattle and Pasco! WOO!

(WARNING: GRAPHIC PICTURES) On another note, many of you are wondering what has happened to my eyeball. Last week I was having strange symptoms in my left eyeball, as if I had a crumb or something stuck in my contact. My eye got redder and redder, and more painful each day. By Thursday I was doubled over in the worst photosensitivity eye pain/headache ever. (picture attached of what my eyeball looked like) I finally went to the optomitrist at that point. (I know, I should have gone in earlier, I have already been lectured like 67 times). Turns out I had/have one huge bacterial ulcer (ulcer means hole) on my cornea from not cleaning my contacts well enough. (SUUUPER embarrassing since I am a RN myself, they must think I am the worst nurse ever if I can't even clean my stupid contacts correctly!) I started a regimen of antibiotic eyedrops every 30 minutes for the whole weekend. I went back and saw the Opthomologist on Friday. She added two more eyedrops and basically scared the crap out of me saying that I would end up blind in the L eyeball if I don't keep up with my meds. I still have a visible white mass on my cornea, but it is getting smaller each day. Anyways, I am now only having to put eyedrops in every 2 hours, and I think it's going to be okay without any visible damage. I am telling you all this story because I want you to understand how important it is to clean your contacts every day, change the solution every day, etc. They doctors also stressed the importance of going to the eye doctor if you are in eye pain for 24 hours, and going immediately if you have photosensitivity. Oopies.

I really gotta go pack up, but love you all, and hopefully see you soon!

~Cait

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY FIONA, AILIS AUG 14TH, AND TOM AUGUST 21ST!!!!!!

Fiona is 18 today, Ailis was 17 on the 14th, and Tom....how old were you on the 21st?????

Hope all celebrate/celebrated in style!

Reading material

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a new looking used book at a local bookstore that piqued my interest. It was about five guys who entered a Carthusian monastery in England in the early 1960s. It's a pretty good read that gives some insight into the mindset and lifestyle of the men who are members of what the author claims is the most austere of all orders of cloistered monks. It's called "An Infinity of Little Hours" and was written by Nancy Klein Maguire. (As an aside, over the past 22 years of raising our children I've heard Jacquie say 50 times if I've heard it once, "I should have been a cloistered nun." She hasn't read the book yet - if she had I'm not sure she'd give up even those toughest child-rearing days for the cloistered life.)

For our birthdays, shortly after starting that book, Bill and Mary gave Jacquie and me a book called "The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality" by Ronald Rolheiser, a Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate priest. I read the first couple chapters of it last night. Wanting to know a little more about the author (who you all may know but who I have never read), I googled him this morning and see that he has a website where he posts a weekly column.

I viewed the archived columns and came upon one he'd written sometime back called "The Secret of a Monk's Cell". That brought me back to the book on the Carthusians. The monk's room in the monastery is called his cell and there were lots of references to those cells in that first book I mentioned.

To get to the point, the Rolheiser column about the monk's cell is good so I am posting the link to it below.

http://www.ronrolheiser.com/columnarchive/archive_display.php?rec_id=408

I know John and Nancy are pretty high these days on Franciscan priest Richard Rohr who I have not yet read much of and who I know little about.

And I know that Fr. Beaver thinks a lot of Peter Kreeft who Nancy has turned many of us on to through her gifts of his books at Christmas.

Does anyone in the family have any current favorite contemporary authors in the Faith development genre whose name or works you'd like to share?

(I have a list of 100 works called "A Lifetime Reading Plan" put out by a bookstore in Washington, D.C., called the Catholic Information Center that I'd be glad to share with any of you who might request it.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOMINIC!!!!!

Dom,
Hope you're having loads of fun on your birthday today!
Love,
Your Godmother

Colin Roach, 1st Lieutenant

I was just thinking that Colin Roach is the only Roach relative in (my)(our) generation to join the military. If you really dig down deep and think about that, what he has done, and what he has committed to, is a pretty big deal. When I was in College, my best buddies were all ROTC guys. Which is wierd, because I was not a military type. But something about them, for some reason, made them my best of the best friends, and the only guys from college that I still stay in touch with daily. I think we should all contemplate for a brief moment what this cousin of ours has committed to, and acknowledge that most of us dont have the cojones to do it. I have a lot of respect for you Colin. You are a lot bigger man than I. And I mean that. I hope we can chat about this sometime soon, as my kids took me away from the party too early tonight ( I still love them...!) to be able to chat with you. But I was seriously wanting to congratulate you, and talk to you about your future endeavors. I appreciate what you have done.



bpr

Happy Birthday to ED!!!!!

Ed, for you I'm thinking your birthday was yesterday, but for us it's still today so we will celebrate for you over at Dan & Jacquie's house!!!!! Hope it is/was happy!
Love,
The Thornhills

Piano! Going...going...

All,

I want to give you all a chance to to speak up if you would like Pat Magula / Uncle Rex's old piano. I got it when Pat went on the lamb years back, and since Fr. Beaver so gratiously offered his old piano from Aunt Liz's house, so we now have 2 pianos. The Magula piano is in my garage and needs tuning. I had a guy come out last night and take a look at it, and he said it can be fixed for $300 in hardware and $200 in labor.

It is a decorative piece and was made around the early 1900s. Obviously it is free for any takers in the family. I want to give you all a chance to claim it before it gets posted on Craigslist and in the Giant Nickel. It is heavy as hell, so take that into consideration.

Any volunteers are more than welcome to move it and store it if they don't want it going on the market (probably as FreeSale), I'm totally fine with that. I am advertising this in a public Roach forum because I don't want to hear any complaints down the road if it doesn't end up in Roach possession. I would prefer to keep it in the family, but understand that it is going to take about $500 to get it up to speed. It may be worth much more than that after a tuning, so if someone wants to pick it up as an investment, have at it.

Any interest, shoot me an email or give me a call and we will make arrangements. Hope everyone's doing fine, and see most of you in W^2 on Saturday!

JDR

Happy Birthday today to JACQUIE and Wednesday to DAN!!!!!

Hope you are celebrating in style this week! See you soon.
Love, The Thornys

Migrant Work for Hire

Hey All!

I am in Caffeine Dreams, my favorite coffee shops almost ready to study for my "final" in radiology tomorrow. Anybody know what a cephalometric image is used for in dentistry?? I know a few of you have had them taken....

Anyhoo, I cant wait for this week to close so I can hop one last jet this summer and see all of you! I get to Seattle Friday night, and plan to stay a few days to meet my new niece (!) then carry on to Pasco.

I will be twiddling my thumbs, or thumbing through the pages of a book unless you all have projects that you have not gotten around to that you need done...

I cant wait to see you all!

hasta pronto,

barto

Europe

As some of you may know, I recently went on a 2.5 week wirlwind trip across Europe with Father Beaver. We left Seattle on May 21 and arrived back home on June 7th. We traveled to 13 countries and I drove about 3000 miles on our rental car. The trip was an incredible experience and I was blessed to have been able to travel with such an experienced and knowledgeable companion as Fr. Beaver. He wrote up a summary of our trip that is attached below, along with some pictures that we took throughout the trip.

-Kevin



Fr. and I in front of the Cathedral in Helsinki

Fr. and I bought some Cuban cigars for our three hour ocean ferry from Helsinki to Tallin, Estonia

Us in front of a Russian Orthdox church in Tallin, Estonia

We visited King Ludwig's Versailles model castle at Herrenchimse and then two days later visisted his famous "fairy tale" castle at Neuschwanstein


Thirteen Country European Adventure
Father Beaver and Kevin Roach
21 May to 7 June 2008

Hellen Keller said: “Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing.” I am not sure I can say that,
but she has a point. I travel a lot because I hate having my life disrupted by routine . . . and moreover, I want to live before I die. And I want to do it while I am still young because next
May I will be 80. Actually it is far easier to travel than to write about it. I always see more than
I can remember. Obviously, I haven’t been everywhere, but it is on my list.

Once again, I stress that more important than the itinerary, is the person who travels with you and
Kevin Roach (my cousin’s grandson) is an undeviating champ and an unsynthetic partner. We did
it all: planes, boat, bus, train, and automobile.
21 – 22 May We flew non stop from Seattle to Amsterdam and then on to Helsinki where we spent our first night. Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (3d largest in Europe) was a challenging source of congestion and confusion with a tight interval and security stations making it difficult, but we made our connection and arrived mid afternoon in Finland’s capital. We walked the city and road the trolley until we felt we had seen the highlights. The Russian Orthodox Cathedral is the “space needle” of Helsinki and our pictures prove it. We crashed in the most expensive hotel of the trip at an early hour after dinner in a Chinese restaurant.
23 May We took the 11 am Superstar (new) Ferry across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn, Estonia arriving
arriving at 2 pm. On the ship we were able to pickup a box of Cuban cigars to enhance the quality
of our trip. Neither of us smoke, but no one is perfect. St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral
dominates this small city and we spent time checking it inside and out. It was “Kevin first!” It
was here that we had our only Italian Dinner. We did spend about 5 hours walking the old city and
it is indeed a charming place. When you go stay in Hotel Central . . . very nice.
24 May 10 am we boarded a “luxury” bus in Tallinn destined for Riga the capital of Latvia arriving
at 3 pm. We had plenty of time to get to the Russian Cathedral (all a bit different) and the Opera
House (couldn’t get in) and enjoy the public market. Had dinner in a Mexican place. We decided since there was such limited commercial transportation, we had better take the overnight bus through Lithuania to Warsaw in Poland. We encountered two Canadians from B.C. who were coming from Mongolia and we learned a few things from them. We left Riga at 6 pm.
25 May We pulled into Warsaw at 7 am . We took a taxi from the bus station to the train station and a quick walk in the morning shadows of the Soviet style buildings and got the 9 am train destined for Prague. It was Sunday, we were alone in a compartment, so I celebrated Mass on the
train. We had a couple of hours to hit the hot spots in Prague, one of which was the celebrated clock in the central square. Our time was limited and Kevin, in front of one of the most famous clocks in the world asked me “what time is it?” and we rushed off to the train station. We took
an overnight train to Frankfurt.
26 May We arrived in Frankfurt at 6:30 am, picked up a Fiat Panda from Avis and headed for ULM
on the Danube River where Kevin climbed 510 feet through the tallest church steeple in the world.
Next stop was Ottobeuren where one finds the largest Barouke Church in existence. This has always
been a favorite place to introduce people to an atmosphere of devotion. We arrived in Munich and
stayed at the Hotel Asta (I always stay there.) We had plenty of daylight to see the major sites of
the Bavarian Capital. We had dinner and ended the evening at the Hoffbrau House.

27 May We departed “the silent capital of Germany” at 10 am and arrived at Hararon Chimsee,
the Versaile style, lakeside Castle of Ludwig. One has to take a 30 minute boat ride to get there.
Salzburg was our next stop and we enjoyed several hours visiting the scene of “The Sound of Music.” We then headed through the Bavarian Alps to Bercheshgaden to see the original stone
carving of the “Prodigal Son” (A miniature of it is over the altar in my chapel.) After dinner we
drove to an Alpine Gashthouse to spend the night.
28 May By noon, we reached the Military Guest House in Garmish (George Marshall Edelwise Inn) and enjoyed an American buffet. We spent the time visiting with other Americans and Kevin met some people who knew friends from Gonzaga.
29 May Departed for Oberramagaou (wood carving center of the world and scene of the Passion
Play every 10 years.) And then off to what could be the hightlight of any trip . . . the Fairy Tale Castle of Neuschwanstein. A few hours later found us in the Black Forest on our way to Frieburg.
We lodged at a Gashthous . and witnessed a mighty storm that hit the German and French press
the next day.
30 May We left driving again though the mountains to Nancy and Vitry le Francois (lunch) and
pulling into Paris at 5:30 pm. Stayed in the St Vincent district at Etap Hotel. We took the subway
into the city where I was “mugged” in the Moulin Rouge district. I had may hand on my wallet in
my front pocket, but it was a scarry encounter. Kevin was ahead of me so he did not see the whole
thing.
31 May Next day was Saturday and we experienced long lines at many of the popular sites, but we
still saw everything to include: Opera House, Arch of Triumph, the Grand Arch (new section of Paris) Eifel Tower, Tomb of Nepolian, Notre Dame, Pantheon, Sacr Coer and Lovre. We saw it
all as we enjoyed the salubrious climate of “Paris in the springtime.”
1 June Left Paris at 7:15 am arriving at the Bascilica of St Threse in Liseaux at 10 am. It was Sunday and I celebrated Mass for Kevin at table in the park in the shadow of this great shrine.
We were ahead of our schedule, so we drove north to Amsterdam arriving at 6:30. When you
go stay where we did . . . .Hotel Falcon Plaza on the edge of the city center. We met friends
of Kevin’s ( Sean Evans and Ryan Shelddon) in Rembrant Square from Gonzaga and spent the evening with them.
2 June We spent 2 hours at the VanGogh Gallery and visited the home of Ann Frank (I am just
23 days older than Ann.) In the afternoon we watched some very talented street performers.
3 June We left for Germany and picked up Mathias (family member Kevin’s age) and we
headed north where we spent the night at an excellent Bed and Breakfast on the Mosel River.
4 June After breakfast we started driving to Colone to see one of the major Cathedrals of Europe
on the banks of the Rhine River. We had plenty of time to visit the Cathedral Treasury and walk
around the city. We headed south following the road that passed the Castles on the Rhine and spent the night near Koblens.
5 June By mid-afternoon we reached our family’s home in Wiesbach where we spent the evening
visiting with Peter, Ingrid and Mathias. Great dinner Ingrid fixed.
6 June Peter took Kevin and me (Kevin drove our Avis car) to Strassberg and the concentration
camp on the French border called Struthof. This place did not take in the Jews, but concentrated
on the dissidants, resistence and POW. They were brutal in so far as the did “medical research”
in a barbarically bloody manner. We returned to Peter’s house where the family (about 19) gathered
for dinner. It was pleasant event for all. Lots of German food and wine from Peter’s well-known

celler. As always the German hospitality of our family goes unsurpassed. Ane when we cannot
speak with a common language, we communicate with warm hearts. “Cor ad cor loquitor.”
Mathias gave Kevin and me shirts and everyone left about 11 pm.
7 June Kevin and I left Weisbach at 5 am and arrived at the Frankfurt airport in time to turn
in the car (3000 miles . . . gas $10 per gallon) and board the airplane for Detroit and Seattle at
5:30 pm.

All,

In light of the recent dearth of blog entries and the subsequent (and well-deserved) call-out by Aunt Katie, here is what has been happening in my life. On May 17^th I commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force in a formal ceremony with all of the other cadets, as my parents, maternal grandmother, Father Beaver, and childhood friends looked on. The evening prior to that, I had a private commissioning performed by Father Beaver. We were both in our dress blues (he in army, I in air force). The ceremony consisted of Father saying a few words (attached in comments per Father's request), the administering of the Oath of Office, my parents pinning on my gold second lieutenant bars, me saying a few words, me receiving my first salute, and then lots of pictures with friends and family (full video available). On May 18^th I graduated from Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. The ceremony was certainly full of pomp and grandeur and guests Cardinal McCarrick and Martin Sheen each spoke.

After moving out of my house, I departed South Bend with four of my friends from Walla Walla and we drove home, stopping to stay at Bart’s in Omaha, and in Boise at another friend’s house. Following that, I spent one night in Walla Walla before attending Chris Campbell’s wedding. The next day I left for Orlando to spend a week with several college friends for one last hurrah. I then came home for my sister’s high school graduation and two more nights in Walla Walla before beginning my next journey.

On June 2, I left Walla Walla and picked up Kevin Johnston in Portland and then headed down to San Francisco. We spent the night at Matt Baumel’s and the next day I headed up to Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield for my first day of work. I have been slowly getting acclimated to my job (official title – project programmer, which means securing funds from congress for construction projects 5+ years down the road (yawn?)) and more quickly getting acclimated to the fun of San Francisco as I have spent every weekend there with a couple of my college buddies.

I am spending the 4^th of July in Laguna Beach with several other college friends. To continue on with my immediate future plans, I leave here at the end of July for 7 weeks of school in Montgomery, AL followed soon after by 7 more weeks of school in Dayton, OH which leads into Thanksgiving. If you are still reading, there is the rundown of my life for the last 2 months and the next 5. I cannot wait to get settled in down here and start having visitors. I look forward to seeing everyone for Thanksgiving (as I have missed the last 4 -so it better be a great one!).

Colin

Pipe Stress

All,

Since most people don't know what I do, and verbalizing my occupation is often a better sedative than a conversation starter, I sent my family this email to give them a visual. Enjoy.

Family,

Pop quiz, what the hell is it I do? Most couldn't answer, so while I'm waiting for this program to run it's computations, I grabbed a snapshot of the pipe system I'm analyzing to give you an idea. It's part of a nuke process plant in Savannah River.

Each pipe has to be analyzed to make sure the stress and deflections are below allowable. Most of the pipes you see are 2-6" diameter, about 50' from floor to structural steel. I find out where and how the pipes need to be supported during normal and occassional (seismic) loading conditions. The calculations are anywhere from 600 to 2,400 pages when complete, and I had 2 weeks to finish the 2,400 pager.

Good times…

Looks like I have the Record for Posts for the month of JUNE!!!

You are a sad lot who have no time to post a simple blog for our enjoyment!

John, maybe everyone needs a little refresher....I have heard several comments in the past about people not being able to blog because they don't have a password or were not invited or something.

We haven't heard what Eammon is studying these days and we miss him. Haven't heard what Dom is doing lately, or Will or Maggie, etc, etc..........
Come on...give us a thrill!

Love,
Katie

While I'm at it......Aggie Steeves is in the hospital

I just spoke with Mom who heard from Rosie Campbell last night that Aggie Steeves is in Lourdes Medical Ctr.

They aren't sure exactly what is wrong with her....possibly pneumonia, but sounded like other things also. She's been there for a few days apparently and didn't recognize her kids the first few days. She does recognize them today and she's in ICU.

Please pray for her.

Eat Your Hearts Out!!!!!

Okay, don't be too jealous....we had lumpia today at Tere's office for lunch made by his new employee who is Filipino. It was very good and then he had Avocado Icecream for dessert for us!!!! Yes, It was very good....had to share.....have a good weekend.

Happy Birthday Clare and Sean the Johnston!!!!

Hope you guys are enjoying (or did enjoy, Sean!) your birthday.....we've been thinking about you today.
Love, The Thornhills

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARY CHAMBERS & COLLEEN COOKE!!!

Girls,
The Thornhills hope you have great birthday celebrations today (this week!) Update us on what you are doing!
Love,
Katie