Mary Notarfrancesco: 1921 - 2011

On September 8, 2011, shortly before 9pm EDT, Mary Notarfrancesco, the matriarch of the "Philadelphia Mullens", died peacefully at Holy Redeemer Hospital in Meadowbrook, PA. She was two months shy of her 90th birthday.

Mary was the oldest daughter of Patrick Mullen (born in Ballina, County Mayo) and Bridget McHugh (born in Glangevlin, County Cavan). She lived her entire life in the Philadelphia area and is predeceased by her husband, Dominic Notarfrancesco.

Although her health had been failing in recent years, she had hoped to be well enough to attend my son, Andy's, wedding to Rebecca on August 28th. Unfortunately, Mary's health took a severe turn for the worse a couple of weeks prior to the wedding. Her wish was that no extraordinary means be taken to extend her life, and that wish was granted.

Below is her official obituary, along with a few photos of her throughout the years.

Notarfrancesco - Mary A. (nee Mullen) , age 89 on Thursday Sept. 8. 2011 formerly of Rockledge, and Olney. Beloved Wife of the late Dominic Notarfrancesco ‘Notar’. Loving Mother of Peter M. (Marie), Anthony C. (Cathey), and the late Michael C. Notarfrancesco (Kathleen). Devoted grandmother of 5, great-grandmother of 8, and Sister of Nancy Oswald, Joseph Mullen (Winnie), Patricia Sears, and the late John, Thomas, and James Mullen. Family & friends are invited to Mary’s Life Celebration Sat. Sept. 17th, after 10AM and to participate in her Funeral Mass at 11AM Church of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton 1200 Park Avenue Bensalem, Pa. 19020. Int. Our Lady of Grace Cem. In lieu of flowers, a donation in Mary’s name to American Macular Degeneration Foundation, P.O. Box 515, Northampton, Ma. 01061-0515 (www.macular.org) would be appreciated. To share your fondest of Mary please visit www.lifecelebration.com. Family Service by Dean-Geitner-Givnish of Fox Chase.

With her Dad, Patrick Mullen


1926


1936



1942



Mullen Christmas, 2006


Raising a glass to the Extended Mullen Family, 2010

Tour de Cure 2011

The Tour de Cure is a fund-raising bicycle event to benefit the American Diabetes Association. An extremely worthy cause, to be sure, but a ton of fun as well. This year was no exception. On Sunday, June 12th, Marilynn and I, along with Mary and Tom Kinslow, were part of Team BMS, riding 62.3 miles (a metric century!) in the Princeton Tour de Cure.

I've been riding in this event since the mid-90's, and, in order of importance, here are my keys to a successful ride:

1. No one falls and no one gets hurt (other than sore muscles).
2. No flats, broken spokes or other mechanical problems with the bikes.
3. Good riding weather ... not brutally hot and no rain!
4. No one "bonks" (look it up if you don't know what that means).
5. No one gets lost.

I'm here to tell you that, for Tour de Cure 2011, we were five for five!

Earlier in the week, the weather forecast was bleak, calling for rain all Sunday morning. By race day, though, the situation had changed completely, and we ended up with biking weather that couldn't be beat. It was slightly cool with no wind and total cloud cover. How total was that cloud cover? Well, my Irish skin was outside for over 4 hours without sunscreen and didn't get burnt!



Although labeled the Princeton Tour de Cure, the ride never even entered Princeton. It started at the Grover Middle School in Princeton Junction and stayed completely east of Route 1. As such, we didn't get to experience the "Hills of Hopewell" or the Sourlands Mountains which were marquee attractions for Tours of the past. I must confess to missing the old route, but I'm sure that I'm in the minority.

Three rest stops were nicely spaced out in intervals of approximately 15 miles and were staffed by friendly and enthusiastic volunteers. Needless to say, all of the riders appreciated the usual rest-stop fare of PB&J's, orange wedges, and Cliff Bars, washed down with Gatorade or an antioxidant low-calorie drink called Bai (which was pretty tasty!)



Just as important, though, were the port-o-johns, even if the lines were long!

For such a well-run and organized Tour, there were a number of gaffes on the cue sheets and road markings. At one point in time, even the Ride Marshalls were baffled! Despite the confusion, we only made one wrong turn (costing us about a quarter of a mile); but there were a number of anxious moments along the ride as we frantically sought out road markings.

After a little over four hours (averaging about 16 mph) we returned to Grover School to an enthusiastic reception, live music, free massages, and as much food as we could eat. More importantly, Team BMS had raised over $18,000 for the American Diabetes Association. Thanks to everyone who supported the cause, and we'll see you next year!

Anna Naughton

Congratulations to Oliver and Eva Naughton on the birth of their daughter, Anna. I'm not exactly sure when Anna was born but, based on Eva's Facebook page, it had to be between February 10th and February 11th.

Eva sent me the above photo on February 28th with the note, "I hope this photo of Anna is ok, we haven't organised ourselves yet with regard to photos but will get to that job soon enough hopefully. This photo was taken the day Anna came home from hospital, she's three days old in it - she is a whole two weeks now and growing all of the time!!! Give our best wishes to the family."

Best wishes to you, Oliver and Eva!

Relationship Finder 2.0!

Those of you that attended the Mullen Family Reunion in Ballina way back in 2008 might remember -- in addition to the huge Family Tree displays -- an Excel application that I put together called Relationship Finder. It looked like this:

It was pretty simple. It allowed you to enter two names on the Mullen Family Tree and then displayed the relationship between the two people (e.g., "Hannah Davies is the fourth cousin once removed from Paul Mullen"). Neat, huh? Well, not really. For one thing, it was trapped in Excel and required a desktop or laptop to run. For another, I couldn't distribute it to the Family without constantly sending out updates whenever the underlying database of family names changed. Well, all of that is a thing of the past with Relationship Finder 2.0!

I often toyed with the idea of turning Relationship Finder into a web application, but I never got serious about it until I had a conversation with Marc Slovak, the future father-in-law of my son, Andy. (Andy and Rebecca are getting married in August!) Marc and I were waxing poetic over the wonders of the iPad when, at one point, I mentioned something about some day writing an application for it. Marc (who knows a thing or two about web programming) told me about a book called "Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript". Since I happen to be married to the Director of the Cranbury Library, it wasn't long before I had that book in my grasp. Now, I've never held a true programming job in my life, but I've always liked to program. I can honestly say that I've written functioning programs in Assembler, Fortran, Cobol, PL/1, Basic, Pascal, APL, Lisp, Perl, AWK, C, and C++. With Relationship Finder 2.0, I can now add Javascript to that list. And with the use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), it should format itself to whatever device you're using, be it a mobile phone, a tablet, or a full-size monitor. Below is a screen shot of what it looks like on my iPhone:



And here's a shot of what it looks like on my iPad:

It's not rocket science but, hey, it allows me to bring the Family Tree around with me wherever I go. But more important, it allows me to distribute it to the entire Mullen Family! There are over a thousand names on the Mullen Family Tree and I just know that there are a ton of errors waiting to be found and corrected.

So, click on this link and check it out. It's easy to use and should be impossible to break. It doesn't have a whole hell of a lot of bells and whistles, so just click away to your hearts content and explore the Mullen Family Tree. But, when you find an error or omission (and you will), you must report it by sending an email to me at mullenpj@gmail.com.

Tada gan iarracht ...
Paul

Declan Ryker Sankowich!

I'm a Grandpop! I'm a Grandpop! I'm a Grandpop!

Sorry ... what I meant to say is "Congratulations Sara and Pete!!!" Declan Ryker Sankowich was born at 3:40am on New Year's Day. He weighed in at 7 pounds 6 ounces (I think my guess last weekend was 7 pounds 5 ounces, so I didn't quite win the game). That's all the information I have at this time -- Marilynn and I are packing up and heading north to Providence, RI, in a couple of hours. Sara has to be totally exhausted though. She started experiencing notable labor pain at about 5:30pm on Thursday, December 30th! Yep. that means her labor lasted over 34 hours!!

It was certainly a New Year's Eve that I'll never forget. At one point early in the evening, Sara called to give us the latest status and we timed a contraction over the phone! So, Happy New Year's everyone! If you're showing up at Mullen Christmas next weekend, I'll try not to wear you out with a thousand photos of Declan, but there will be a few. And more than a few toasts!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Pat!

Harry & Pat Sears

I'm one day late, but "Happy 75th birthday Aunt Pat!" I hope you had a great day. The photo is courtesy of your son, Danny.

Reflections on the Rally to Restore Sanity

So ... why, exactly, did I go to the Rally to Restore Sanity? The only answer I have is, “Because Jon Stewart asked me to!” For at least the last 6 or 7 years I’ve relied on Jon Stewart and The Daily Show to be the voice of reason and to restore my faith in the general United States population whenever it wavered. When Glenn Beck called President Obama a racist, there was Jon Stewart making it laughable. When Keith Olbermann called Republican Scott Brown "an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model”, there was Jon Stewart the next night with a parody. When everyone was pointing fingers during the financial meltdown, there was Jon Stewart hammering Jim Cramer of Mad Money who openly encouraged short-selling by hedge funds as a means to generate profits. And when President Obama inexplicably stated that the Cambridge police acted “stupidly” when they arrested Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates as he tried to break in to his own home, Jon Stewart commented, “I also don't have all the facts, but I think it's fair to say that Obama handled that question -- oh, what's the word I'm looking for -- stupidly?"

That’s the truly refreshing thing about Jon Stewart: he plays no favorites. To be sure, he’s a liberal Democrat, but he will skewer anybody or anything that is idiotic, illogical, or just plain stupid, whether it’s the NYC mosque hysteria, the ponderous speaking of John Kerry, Rick Sanchez having himself tased on CNN, John McCain’s willingness to backtrack on any issue in order to stay elected, or NPR’s firing of Juan Williams. After watching an episode of The Daily Show I usually find myself thinking, “Yes! People do get it, they do recognize the insanity! Things aren’t so bad …”

So when Jon Stewart suggested a rally at the National Mall for anyone who was frustrated and/or disgusted by the insanity of our national discourse, I knew I had to be there. And I’m damn glad that I went! While it couldn’t possibly compare to the historic Inauguration of Barack Obama almost two years ago, it had the same underlying vibe. The Metro was packed, there were crowds of people marching in the streets, everyone was happy and smiling, and a good time was had by all.

Surprisingly (and noteworthy!), the Rally did not target any specific personalities of the far left or far right. Not Glenn Beck, not Sarah Palin, not Keith Olbermann, not Rush Limbaugh, not Nancy Pelosi, not Christine O'Donnell, not George Bush … not even Joe the Plumber! Instead, ideas were attacked, intolerance was attacked, and inciting baseless fear was attacked, using comedy sketches, video montages and, in one case, a “poem”. Like The Daily Show, it was both funny and deadly serious.

Jon Stewart ended with a short speech that did a great job of summarizing why over 200,000 people traveled to the National Mall on a Saturday afternoon in October. If you haven’t seen it, click here and view it on the Comedy Central website. It's the clip labeled "Jon Stewart - Moment of Sincerity" and it’s worth hearing.

On the way to the Rally

Some clever signs!

Welcome to the family, Rachael Gilmartin!

Congratulations to Ashling Gilmartin and Tomas Munnelly on the birth of their daughter, Rachael. Rachael was born at 5am on September 14, 2010, and is my newest third cousin once removed. Test your skills and see if you can locate her on the Family Tree. (Hint: start at the dead center.) She looks like this:

Unfortunately, that doesn't give you the slightest clue as to how cute Rachael is in real life!



Welcome, Rachael ... hope to see you in person some day soon!

Rally To Restore Sanity!

I know that you all wish you could be at this event, but rest assured that the Extended Mullen Family will be well-represented at the Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington, DC. tomorrow. Tom and Mary Kinslow, Marilynn and I will be crashing at Chris Kreamer's house in DC for the weekend and checking out the Rally from noon until 3pm. For those of you who may not know what this Rally is all about, click here for the official web page and here for a fairly short but accurate analysis of what it's all about.

To tell you the truth, though, I'm not sure what to expect. Sure, there will be Tea-Party bashing and a stream of jokes at the expense of Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell, but how could there not be? But I'm also expecting the ineptitude and political cowardice of the Democratic Party to be skewered as well. That's the genius of Jon Stewart and what sets him apart from other pundits. Like The Daily Show, I'm expecting the Rally to be funny, silly, occasionally vulgar, but, at its heart, thought provoking and deadly serious in its attempt to point out the truly asinine actions and statements that dominate the U.S. political process. In short, this should be both fun and a catharsis.

I'll do my best to post a couple of blog entries tomorrow to give you a little flavor of the event. Or, even better, just turn on Comedy Central tomorrow at noon at watch it yourself!

Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Kirkwood!

Cara Mullen and Christopher Kirkwood were married on Saturday evening, October 23, in Syracuse, NY. My iPhone, incredibly handy for so many things, came up woefully short in the picture department. As such, the only wedding photo I have (above) is courtesy of my sister, Karen McGarvey. Rest assured that additional photos will eventually make their way to the Mullenium website.

I think it's safe to say that everyone at the wedding had a tremendous time, and not just because it was an open bar (although that certainly didn't hurt). The food was excellent, the company was outstanding, and, other than one glaring exception, the dance floor was packed. That one exception? When Cara and Chris were blindfolded and swinging a stick in a vain attempt to break a piñata! I may be wrong, but I'm betting that's the first time that a piñata has made an appearance at a Mullen wedding!! Other highlights:

• Cara with a picture of her late father and my brother, Tom, in her wedding bouquet.
  
• Aunt Mary, at 89, being helped out to the dance floor (at her request) for one dance.
• Aunt Nancy, at 82, coming off a marathon session on the dance floor and saying to me, "I used to be able to dance five fast ones in a row; now, I can only do three!"
• The DJ playing the entire 7 minute album version of "Light My Fire" by The Doors. In honor of my brother, Tom, every one of my brothers and sisters were out on the dance floor.
• An impromptu Rockettes-style leg kick dance to Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" by a bunch of New York Mullens who should have known better. No, our kicks were not "eye-high".
  
• A heartfelt toast to the mother of the bride, Janet Mullen, by my sister Chris Kreamer.
  

Following the reception, a large contingent of the family -- including the bride and groom! -- made their way to the hotel bar and continued the party. A bunch of pizzas were ordered and we conversated, laughed, and played pool until about 2:30 in the morning when the bartender (who had mistakenly thought that he would have an early night) finally kicked everyone out.

But the wedding festivities weren't over yet! At 10am the next morning Janet hosted a brunch in a private room in the hotel. Over 60 people -- including the bride and groom! -- showed up. Everyone laughed and ate and conversated for another 2 hours until we all finally packed up and began heading back home.

For those of you in the family who need a little orientation on how Chris and Cara fit on the Mullen Family Tree, click on the excerpt below of the NY branch of the Philadelphia Mullens:

Congratulations Andy and Rebecca!

Every other year, the "New York Mullens" (as we have come to be known), have a family get-together called a Mullenium where we eat, drink, recreate and conversate for almost a full week. A Mullenium is officially defined as "a time of great happiness and human perfection." Well, this year my son, Andy, took that definition to a new level. Right in the middle of Mullenium X, he hiked to the top of Mt. Chocorua in New Hampshire and proposed to his girlfriend, Rebecca Slovak, under the stars. With the karma of the Mullenium swirling around them, how could Rebecca refuse? They're in the process of planning a late 2011 wedding.

Congratulations Andy & Rebecca!

Pop Pop or Grandpa?

That's the decision that I'll have to make sometime around January 10, 2011, the date that my daughter, Sara Sankowich, is expected to give birth. Yep, Sara is pregnant!! My sister, Karen, already knows what it feels like to be a grandparent, but this will be a brand new experience for me. Here's a recent sonogram of the latest bud on the Mullen Family Tree:

Sara is in her 5th month and doing very well. At this point, she has no idea whether it's a boy or a girl, and isn't going to go out of her way to find out. Stay tuned ....

You Otta Go To Ottawa!

I have been waiting almost three years to see a Canadian band called Arcade Fire. Don't ask why I love them. I just do. So, a few weeks ago I was thrilled to find out that they were touring in the northeastern U.S., playing in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and NYC (in Madison Square Garden no less!) Surely, I’d be able to attend one of those concerts. Not so. Sadly, the concert dates corresponded exactly with this year’s Mullenium gathering in New Hampshire. I had resigned myself to missing out on the entire northeast tour until Marilynn saved the day and bought me tickets to see them at the Ottawa BluesFest on July 13.

Ottawa is about 460 miles from Cranbury and the concert was on a Tuesday, so Marilynn and I had to take 3 days off from work. But we hardly ever go to Canada and know almost nothing about Ottawa (it's the capital of Canada?), so this sounded like a different and potentially fun vacation. That turned out to be an understatement. Marilynn and I spent four tremendous days in Ottawa. It felt like a mini-European vacation without needing an airplane or a power adapter. What follows may appear lengthy, but it's actually a very brief synopsis of why you really otta go to Ottawa.

Bed & Breakfast

We stayed at a B&B called the Alexander House, about a mile from the center of town, where all the action was. It was a small B&B -- only 5 total guests -- but talking to the proprietors and with your fellow guests is a great way to get a feel of a place (in my opinion). On top of that, the breakfasts were fantastic and we didn't have to clean up or leave a tip.

The ByWard Market

Named after John By (who supervised the construction of the Rideau Canal), the ByWard Market's claim to fame is that it's the oldest continuously operating farmers market in Canada. But it has become much more than that. There are bars and shops and restaurants of all types and varieties. And because of BluesFest, the entire market area was packed with people of all ages and nationalities. As such, it was the perfect place to watch the World Cup final between Spain and The Netherlands. The photo below is of an outdoor bar called "The Grand" where we watched the end of the game. If you look closely, you can just see Arjen Robben blowing by a Spanish defender (Sergio Busquets??)

After the game, Spanish supporters were riding around ByWard Market all evening, honking their horns and waving their flags. It was great to see!

Rideau Canal and Locks

I'm a lockaholic. I freely admit that. I love looking at canal locks! Luckily, I'm married to another lockaholic. As a result, Marilynn and I spent parts of three days looking at the locks of the Rideau Canal from every possible angle. We strolled along the side of them, we walked on top of them, we looked at them from above, and we kayaked up right to the edge of one and peered over. Hell, we even walked across the Ontario River and looked at them from Quebec! We just couldn't get enough! And since they're the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America, they're also famous. Go see them.

Marilynn, showing off her back muscles during our three-and-a-half hour kayak ride on the Rideau Canal. What am I doing while she's paddling? Well, someone has to take the photos!

Parliament / Parliament Library

Marilynn has the uncanny ability to transform any conversation into a library story. Those of you who know her will agree that I'm not making this up. Well, in the case of Canada's capital city, the story of their Parliament turns into a library story! As you can see in the photo above, the Parliament building itself is extremely beautiful. (Unfortunately, in my desire to keep Marilynn in the photo, I cut off the top of the Peace Tower, requiring me to add a cheesy insert.) But, back in 1916, most of the Parliament was destroyed by a huge fire. Due to the ingenuity of the Parliament Librarian, however, the library was saved. Read all about the fire here. Below are photos of both the outside and the inside of the Library. Both are much more spectacular in person, believe me.

The free tour of Parliament was excellent and, in contrast to similar tours in the U.S., visitors were encouraged to take pictures and, believe it or not "touch the walls"!

Mosaika

I'm a little torn here. On one hand, I want to tell you everything I possibly can about Mosaika. On the other hand, it's best if you know as little about it as possible before you see it. I'll tell you this much, though: it's basically a sound and light show which tells the story of Canada using the Parliament building as its "canvas". But the technology they use and the effects that they are able to achieve are like nothing I've seen before. For those of you who can't stand the suspense, click on the Mosaika web page to get a taste. But be warned ... it's nothing like the live experience.

Balanced Rock Sculptures

On Monday afternoon, after three and a half hours of kayaking, Marilynn and I were looking for some down time. We decided to take a scenic drive along the Ottawa River Parkway and find a place to rest, read, and watch birds. Instead, we stumbled upon the scene above. It turns out that the National Capital Commission (NCC) has been sponsoring an artist by the name of John Ceprano to create "balanced rock sculptures" for over two decades. We ended up spending a couple of hours walking around the beach, checking out the sculptures, and talking to the artist. A few additional photos are below, but you might want to check out his website here for some truly stunning creations.



The artist himself (shown above in red shorts and white tank top) was a pretty colorful character as well. He was born in the U.S. but headed to Ottawa during the Vietnam war to avoid the draft. AfterI joked with him about the SDS, he claimed to know Jerry Rubin personally. He might have been blowing smoke, but he appeared to be the real deal: an ex-hippie who has found his niche in Ottawa and is living life on his own terms.

BluesFest
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Bluesfest! The actual reason that we decided to go to Ottawa in the first place! I had never heard of the Ottawa Bluesfest before this summer, but it has apparently been going on for over 15 years. This year, it began on July 6th and ended today, July 18th. Now, I like to think that I'm fairly up-to-date regarding music, but I have to admit that I recognized less than 10% of the artists that performed. That being said, here were some of the major groups that were there over the 12-day event: Iron Maiden, the B52's, Santana, Taj Mahal, Joan Jett, The Flaming Lipps, Rush, Crowded House, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Weezer, The Moody Blues, Hole, Steve Winwood, Kevin Costner, Jimmy Cliff, Passion Pit, The Cat Empire, Derek Trucks, Renaissance, and, of course, Arcade Fire. Marilynn and I only went for one day, July 13th, but managed to see two other groups besides Arcade Fire: "The Aggrolites" (a ska band) and "Steve Dawson’s Mississippi Sheiks Project" which was just superb. If I ever go back (and I might!) it will be for multiple days!


"Mississipi Sheiks Tribute", "The Aggrolites", and "Arcade Fire"

One last thing: Arcade Fire is appearing live on the Jon Stewart show on August 12. Click here to see their performance on Letterman a few years ago. Man, I love these guys!!

Lake Ontario

OK, technically Lake Ontario is not in Ottawa. But it is partly in Canada and you skim right by it on Route 81 in New York just before crossing into Canada. So, for the purposes of this blog, it counts. If you've never seen a Great Lake, find an excuse to do so. They're mind-blowing. As you can see from the above photo, it's like looking out into the ocean. Keep in mind that Lake Ontario is one of the smallest of the 5 Great Lakes!

Wrap Up
Yeah, this ended up being longer than I intended, but I was truly impressed by Canada in general and with Ottawa in particular. Not only was it a very clean and safe city, but you got the impression that everyone was extremely proud to be Canadian. And well they should be. If it wasn't for the extremely cold weather ("Portage and Main 50 below") and Reynaud's Disease, I could easily imagine living there.


Further Reading:

Discovering Canada's Cool Capital
Arcade Fire Concert Review
Arcade Fire and Charity Work for Haiti

Audrey Ryan Ferguson Has Arrived!

I'm a Grand Uncle again!

Audrey Ryan Ferguson was born at 4:13pm on July 15 to Katie and Ryan Ferguson. Audrey weighed in at 6 pounds 7 ounces. Both mother and daughter are doing fine. Below is a photo of the happy Ferguson family:


Audrey, Katie, Chelsey, and Ryan Ferguson

But this blog entry would be woefully incomplete without a photo of the proud Grandma, my sister, Karen McGarvey:



Congratulations! Now to update the Mullen Family Tree ...