I have one birthday memory of a Pop-birthday, when he turned 60. Mary and I drove down from New Hampshre and joined David and Paula and Matthew for a birthday dinner at a Marlborough CT restaurant. Since we had no money in those days, we mimeographed 60 coupons, with things like 1 free dishwasher emptying, a car wash, a bag of kisses, a gutter cleaning, etc. His weekly letters to us, in all parts of the world, often included a coupon in it! There were still a few left when we cleaned out Pomfret.
And, today is an open house in Fairport NY, a retirement party of sorts for David. We learned that Jeffrey and Melodie went north for the weekend. I spoke with him this week, and he sounded like he likes it!
What a great photo of Peter and Janie at reunions. Sounded like fun. Peter said he and Janet enjoyed it so much, he didn't even have time to check Mets baseball for the first no-hitter in Mets history.
It has been a fun baseball season for family, except we're still waiting for the Red Sox to catch fire. It has even been nice to have a home town team here doing so well. Except when they play the Reds.
Joe finished school, and got his diploma almost right away. He is now on, in his own terms, f-un-employment, reading books he has wanted to for a year, and taking sailing lessons on the Charles River. Sounds like fun-employment.
Mary is winding down her school year and her tenure at her current school. Normally, this is a hectic time of year, and this time around it is not much different. When people talked about a going-away present, she came up with a brilliant idea in these hard economic times. She asked for cuttings from people's gardens so she could start a garden in Pittsfield, named the Highland Garden (after the school!)
We spoke with Andrew as well, and he said they had a great time up at Green Lake over Memorial Day weekend. Lots of talk about colleges for Claire, so we can all help her when we see them in July, give her advice and actually choose the college for her. Daniel graduated from his middle school, so the family connection after many years with the church school has come to an end.
You should check out Annie's blog to hear of her trip to the ocean at Laolongtou, the end of the Great Wall. We haven't seen Margaret since Memorial Day when we took D up to Pittsfield while she and Andrew went to her 5-year reunion at Wesleyan. Sounded like a lot of fun. She sent us a funny video of D trying to grab a ball out of a swimming pool, before giving up and just jumping in.
We saw John and Marilyn while we were up in Pittsfield, but unfortunately I spent too much time on the phone back to work, trying to unravel a couple of what seemed like crises at the moment. I have forgotten what they were about.
Mary also heard from Dan a couple of times, most recently with the news that Timmy is in the hospital with an intestinal ailment. Sounds a little like the blockage Johanna had a couple of years ago.
Next week, Mary retires, and so do I, for a second time. I love the idea of retiring so much I wanted to do it a second time. Not so sure that Mary likes it, though.
Hope you all are enjoying the start of summer. Isn't it great and worth the wait?
Love from down here.
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