I was on a journey to circumnavigate the US and Nova Scotia this year, but a miracle birth happened in my family, causing me to put on the brakes—in fact to put on the parking break for a month.
Read moreOne foot on the dock...one foot in the boat.
Boys + Bear playing in the bed
After spending Spring Break week in my motor home I woke up in my apartment, in my own bed, disoriented; couldn’t find the bathroom for a nighttime visit without putting a light on.
Read moreThe Blues
The best Easter ever!
A lot is happening every day, but it is so hard to write about stuff as it is happening. I'm going to have to get used to live-blogging I guess. Don’t think I’m a tweet-grrl, but “never say never” as my bro always reminds me.
After the kids went home, I got the blues. No. Capital B Blues!
Read moreLeaving Folks Behind
I can't leave my boys for a year! Jack is eight, Ted is seven, and Charlie is four-and-a-half. I have been watching these three fabulous grandsons grow up since they were born. I've been in their home to visit or to babysit, or go on an outing, three times a month. I feel like I'd be breaking something in that covenant with them--the promise of being available, being present in their lives
Read moreHappy Thanksgiving!
Hogwarts in East Harlem
Today is Thanksgiving. Yesterday was The Feast @ Park East. The teachers cook, we rent tables and chairs, and set up a Hogwarts style-dining hall in our gym. And we feed everyone: turkey and the traditional sides, or ham and macaroni and cheese to kids who don’t like turkey. We also feed forty or sixty alumni who come back to visit and help out. They visit the current classes of students and we set up panel discussions for them to tell of their adventures out in the real world of college and work. It is always the high point of the day for me. I get all teary to see these young men and women who, (just a minute ago) were scared little pups fourteen-years-old, first days of high school.
Read moreVeterans Day
Bill Hartmann
We miss you Billy Hartmann, and thank you for your service.
A.J. Fussalva, I thank you for your service.
It’s funny, but when you know a veteran or two it is much more difficult to keep your head in the sand about what all those people are putting up with, the risks they’re taking for us. The disruption to their lives is huge. For better or for worse, they’ll never be the same. Yes, it’s a volunteer military right now, but that doesn’t make it any less of a sacrifice in my mind.
Read moreMoving the Dream Forward
Hi Al, Tom
Just wanted to keep you in the loop of what's going on in my head.
I reserved a small, nineteen-foot camper for our trip next summer, and I seem to have got the RV bug. (I owned a van/camper 30 years ago), and I'm thinking about looking for a used one, and hitting the road for six months or a year after I retire. Maybe I could sublet the apartment, and go travel around to all the places I've always wanted to see, or to see again, while I am young enough and healthy enough to do it.Read more
Acadia in my past. Acadia in my future.
For my first trip to Acadia as an adult Barbara and I bought a van, turned it into a camper, and took Tom, Brian, and my Tommy to Acadia National Park when he was about five. It will be fun to go there now with the next generation. The grandkids can play and we’ll take them hiking.
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