Greenfield, NH July 19, 2009

We are in new Hampshire now, arriving last Friday. Yesterday we spent most of the day in Greenfield, my home town. There was a celebration there in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Greenfield Fire Department. There was a parade with several fire trucks, some current and some antique from many of the surrounding towns. (See one of the antique fire engines on the photo on the side.In addition, of course there were marching bands, horses, a few floats. For those of you from Greenfield, you should know the parade went from the East Road and ended at the Fairgrounds, now known as Oak Park.Today there will be additional festivities with some competitive fire-fighting events. We will probably pass on that.

After the parade, at the fair grounds there was a concert by bag-pipes and drums. This was all fun to see.

On the way home, we crossed a covered bridge on the Hancock Road. this is a pretty bridge --- see the accompanying photo.

Kathleen and Sean

This is a better picture of Kathleen and Sean (taken a couple of week ago in Virginia).

Visiting Friends and Cousins

We have spent a lot of time the last two weeks in Ithaca, NY, a place where we have a lot of friends, and Madeline has numerous relatives including many cousins. Some of you may recall these people, so we took a few pictures that you will enjoy.

On the left are Ken and Doris Abbey. Gloria used to work with Doris as a waitress at Willard Straight Hall some fifty-plus years ago. Later when we lived out in the country at Dousenberry Hollow, we would stop at their house in the winter to warm up before the long ride up the hill on the way home.

The couple below on the left are Susan and Jonah Maine. Susan is Madeline's first cousin. She bares a remarkable resemblance to Madeline's mother, and has that same sweet disposition.



The couple below on the right are Charlotte and Carlton Plunkett. Charlotte was one of Madeline's best friends in High School. Carlton is another one of Madeline's first cousins. Gloria and I also knew Carlton and Charlotte well when we lived in Ithaca.

The couple on the left are Gil and Ellen Stoewsand. They were very close friends to Gloria and me. Gil and I were graduate students together at Cornell.

Well, it nice to see old friends and relatives again. This is in some ways like a reunion, as we have not see many of these folks, quite literally, for decades or even scores of years.

Washington, DC

While in the Virginia area, accompanied by my daughter Diana, we visited Washington, DC. We moved our RV up to a campground near Fredericksburg, and then took the car to the Metro Station (about a 1-hour drive) and then took the Metro into the City. We got off within walking distance of the Mall and the Smithsonian museums.

The Smithsonian Museum of American History has been redone. I think this used to be the Museum of Science and Industry. However there is to be a Museum of Industry that is being refurbished and is now closed. It is nearly impossible to go through even one of the Smithsonian Museums, in one day, and absorb everything. We spent several hours reviewing history of transportation, or at least most of it -- canals and railroads. One of the exhibits was named something like the "GM Hall of Fame" -- a somewhat sad thing after all the terrible times people of GM are encountering.

This is the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth. In recognition of this, there was a special exhibit on Lincoln's life, with a lot of memorabilia from his presidency and also from his early years in Springfield, ILL. It is amazing how a man with so little formal education, and a reputation at the time of just a politician, became one of our greatest presidents. I suppose the lesson is that when the times demand it, people can rise to accomplish what has to be done.

Later we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Again, it is impossible to view all the exhibits in a day, let alone in an afternoon. I did go through an exhibit explaining the use of forensic analysis on the archaeological examination of burials. There was a lot of attention to ancient graves found in Jamestown, yielding information on the hardships these early settlers experienced.

On another day, we returned to Washington. We walked by the White House, where there were demonstrators asking that Obama intervene in favor of the recently deposed "Tiger"regeime in Ceylon (Ceylon has a modern name, that I cant recall.) They were not getting a very sympathetic reception. The area on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the white House, as most of you probably know, is now closed to traffic, so it is now filled with tourists and demonstrators. The wide street between the White House and Lafayette Park is noisey, and not particularly attractive. I guess the tawdry nature is the price we pay for free expression, as well as enhanced security, needed now. I recall how dignified and peaceful the same area seemed fifty years or so ago, I visited the area as a teenager, when I came to Washington with my brother.

We spent an afternoon at the National Portrait Gallery. Again, it is impossible to go through the whole museum in just an hour or two. We did look at the portraits of all the presidents. This also gave us a chance to review a little presidential history, as there was a brief review of the accomplishments of each president. Buchanan and Pierce did not accomplish much, so there was a little difficulty saying anything nice about either of them. (My mother always used to complain about Franklin Pierce, the only president from New Hampshire.)

There was an interesting exhibit of art by Jean Shin.This is modern art, that some might not think is art at all. For example, one presentation, titled Untied consisted of hundreds of neckties hanging over a twenty-foot length of chain link fence. ( The exhibit has an interesting history. At one time it was on a street in new Haven, Connecut. At that time it was named, Fringe. It was supposed to show the divide between wealth and poverty in the city. Over time, pedestrians from a near-by bus stop would take and exchange neckties,. Also people would pull the ties through the mesh to face the street rather than the vacant lot. So now the piece of art has changed from being a barrier to -- in the museum --- so we are told, as giving us a chance to see life on both sides of the fence. Hmmm.

Another interesting piece, titled TEXTile , consisted of thousands of keys from discarded computers arranged on piece of fabric about six feet wide and perhaps twenty feet long draped over the floor, although elevated on each end. The keys are arranged to spells out Email messages between the artist, Shinn and her project staff. A large presentation ---- not something you would put in your living room. Is it art? one wonders, but still it is a presentation depicting emotions and ideas, so I suppose it is. There were other interesting presentations, involving thousands of discarded lottery tickets made into huge houses of cards, and one of towers made from discarded pill bottles.

For a look at the Shinn exhibit, see:

http://americanart.si.edu/pr/library/2009/shin/shin_key_images.pdf

Diana and I also went out to visit Mount Vernon one day. Again there is much to see, and there is a new exhibit (new to me anyway) depicting the life of George Washington. There is is also a nearby grist mill and distillery that Washington operated with his plantation. For anyone visiting Washington, I would recommend spending a day at Mount Vernon. it is set up well for tourist, and has a lot that would be of interest to school-age children as well as adults.

Family in Virginia, continued, II

A poor picture of my grandson, Sean.

Family in Virginia, Continued III

Daughter in law, Beth and Granddaughter, Kathleen

On the Road Again: Family in Virginia

We finally hit the road again, June 16. Our first stop was in the Richmond, VA area to visit Tom and his family. Above see a picture of Madeline and me and our three grown children: Debra, Tom, and Diana (aka DD). It is always a special time when you can have a family get-together -- and this indeed, was a special time. Tom and Beth and their two kids were hosts. Diana drove up from Louisville, and Debra flew in from Boulder, CO. We had a wonderful weekend sight-seeing in the Richmond area --- more about that later, barbecuing, and playing games.

One day we went into Richmond, and visited the James River District. There is a canal along the James River, which at one time ran all the way to Lynchburg, a small city nested in the Blue Ridge Mountains. At one time there was a plan (instituted by George Washington) to run a canal all the way to the Mississippi River, but it never got further than Lynchburg.Once, there were a series of locks circumventing the extensive rapids at Richmond, which unfortunately were destroyed by the Highway 95 Bridge over the James River. Even so up the canal remains, up as far as that first lock, and our family took a sight seeing cruise down the old canal in a modern canal boat.

Following that we went to a City Park in Richmond, which was formerly the estate of the James Dooley family. Dooley was a self-made millionaire, who built railroads after the Civil War and built a Victorian House on his estate. He gave the home the name Maymount. This wonderful home has been preserved --- with almost all the original furniture and is a prime example of luxurious living in the late 1800's and is termed a "Gilded Age Estate". It was an interesting tour with a well informed an engaging guide. The house is furnished with fussy Victorian furniture -- lots of scrolls and curly-ques -- well-gilded, I might add. There was a room where Mrs Dooley received visitors for tea. I was surprised to learn that visitors were not expected to stay much longer than 20 minutes. We were told these visit were way for Mrs Dooley to keep abreast with her neighbors since at that time there were no telephones or texting. The house was one of the first to have electricity from a facility not -too far away.

Following that visit, we went to Maymont Nature Center, where Kathleen is working as an intern this summer. Kathleen gave us a very nice behind-the scenes tour.

We had a wonderful time visiting Tom and Beth and their family. Tom loves to play games (also Debbie and I) so we spent a lot of time playing games the next few days.

Boulder, CO Memorial Day, May 25, 2009

Today, Memorial Day, is the time for the annual Bolder Boulder celebration, here in Colorado. The main event is a 10 K (6 mile) race/walk along the streets of Boulder, ending in the University of Colorado Stadium. The race starts with the fastest, competitive runners, then the joggers, then the jogger/walkers, and finally the walkers. Debbie and I participated as walkers. I have been having some foot problems, which just recently were alleviated, so between that, being terribly out of shape (little walking for the last 2 months), and altitude adjustment, I was concerned that I might have trouble. I am happy to report that I finished the race just fine, a little under two hours I think, which is a fast pace for me, but not for most people).

At the end of the race, all the participants are given a pack lunch, containing healthy snack chips, a power bar or two, an orange, a couple of other things and a beer or a soda. Then we went up into the stands and watched teams of runners run the course. Duane will be interested to learn that an Ethiopian man won. Usually runners from Ethiopia and Kenya run very well. We can watch them on a big screen in the stadium. After that, there is a short patriotic speeches, a 21 gun salute and skydiving --- landing in the stadium, and finally the National Anthem. That was the end of the festivities, and a good thing too, as it suddenly began to rain -- very, very, hard.

Yesterday Debbie and I took a short hike out on the prairie at Boulder Ranch County Park. I heard a meadow lark singing, prairie dogs clicking (a sound I have never heard before) and frogs in a pond, peeping (peepers). So --- my new ears are doing quite well.

It Has Been a While, May 22, 2009

Hello Everybody,

It has been a while since I have brought this blog up-to-date.

On my last blog, I was recovering from surgery for a cochlear implant on my right ear. That was successful; so successful, in fact, that I found I could hear far better with the implanted ear than with the a hearing aid in my left, formerly, good ear. This led to a quick decision to get the other (the left) ear implanted, and now I am the successful recipient of bilateral cochlear implants.

How is my hearing? Well not completely normal, but far better than it used to be. I do quite well on one-on-one conversations, even in a somewhat noisy environment. Group conversations, such as at a dinner table with six people is difficult, although it gradually getting better. Last night I went to a lecture in an auditorium. I could only really understand about 10% of the lecture, so I guess assistive listening device will be needed in those types of situation. I can understand my granddaughters perfectly, something with which I formerly had great difficulty, even with hearing aids and assistive listening device.

My present challenge is learning to listen to music,. A special program is need on the processor, and it is a two-step process. I have had step 1 installed for a few weeks. Some music sounds OK, particularly small orchestras such as trios and quartet's. Complex music is difficult. The main problem is trying to pick out the main melody out of all those instruments playing. Vocalist are very difficulty, and I have trouble identifying even vocalist, I should be able to identify instantly, such as Patsy Cline, Frank Sinatra, or Ella Fitzgerald. I think rehabilitation to hear music takes work --- lots of practice listening. I do feel I am making progress.

We have spent most of the last three months in Southern Florida in a county park in Lake Worth, near West Palm Beach. It has been quite pleasant and we have enjoyed visiting our son, his wife, and daughters. One very sad thing happened just before we arrived. Hank, formerly married to Madeline, succumbed to cancer, after a long, extended, and often valiant fight. He was on good terms with us. He was cheerful, and well-liked by a circle of friends. He will be missed, particularly by his son, daughter-in-law, and two grand daughters.

I am presently in Boulder, CO, visiting my daughter and participating in the Boulder Boulder Memorial Day celebration. which includes a community fair, a 10K run and a couple of a 10K runs by groups from countries such as Kenya, Italy, etc-- the later races to be viewed ,start, middle, and finish on the grounds and the rest of the race on a gigantic screen in the CU football stadium. Poor Madeline, in the meantime is still in Florida braving the rains and hot weather --- but of course enjoying her son and his family!

We are now making summer plans. In late June we will be in Virginia visiting my son Tom and his family. Debra and Diana will also be there for a weekend, so we will have a mini-reunion --- always a treat when you can get all your adult children under one roof!

After Virginia, we will day commute to Washington, from Fredricksburg for four days to see some of the sights, and possibly do a little genealogical research. After that we will go to the Ithaca area for a week or two, followed by a visit to the Greenfield, NH for a week or two. After that we are off to the Gaspe peninsular, with a possible interim stop at Arcadia National Park. We leave Canada, by going down to Burlington, VT and check in with a niece whom we have not seen for a number of years.

So as you can see -- soon we will be real busy.

It's all about me -- Dec 8, 2008

I seem to be self-absorbed for the last week or so, hence, it is all about me!

Five weeks ago I had the cataracts removed from my left eye; three weeks ago I had the cataracts removed from my right eye. I had been told the operation would be easy , and that was true. I had lenses implanted that correct my astigmatism and far-sightedness. They are made to focus at 20 feet. I now can see quite well to drive, and was surprised how many things one can actually see when driving after dark -- so from that standpoint the operation was a success. I need reading glasses, and at present I am using Walmart reading glasses. I miss my old trifocals, and have trouble with stuff that is 5 or 6 feet away. I expect I will still need glasses, but they will be nowhere nearly as strong or thick as the ones I formerly had.

Last week I had a cochlear implant on the right ear. This operation was a little more taxing than I expected. I was feeling pretty rough for about 5 days. Part of the problem was that the doctor did not want me to use the CPAP machine for several days. (CPAP machine is to overcome sleep apnea.) So I was steadily getting more and more out of sort each day, finally Saturday I capitulated, got a good nights sleep, and felt like my old optimistic self on Sunday. I am still trying to get my sleep awake cycle adjusted, but that will be OK in a day or two. meanwhile, I am completely deaf in the right ear, well almost completely deaf -- curiously I can hear through the bone, the electric tooth brush when it is on the right bottom molar. Well isn't that little chunk of information interesting? I told you, this is all about me!

I have been doing a fair amount of reading, and watching TV. I am now an expert on the People's Court, so I probably can help any of you needing legal advice. I also have been watching with increasing fear as Congress and the Treasury try to stop the financial melt-down. I was impressed for a while that Henry Paulson really knew what needed to be done. It is now apparent that no one knows what needs to be done, and some period of time is needed for all of the unfortunates finish losing money on investments that were as we now know, a bad idea.
It seems very discouraging to me that after all these years, there still is no way to soften normal business cycles.

I am reading a wonderful book, that i would recommend, "Dreams from my Father" by Barack Obama. He is a very good writer, and his account of growing up, and dealing with both the issues of race, and the issue of his father - an overbearing, but brilliant man, apparently -- who Barack Obama admired, but really never knew, is interesting. Watching Obama as president-elect is fascinating. Usually the present-elect takes it easy until of inauguration, and leaves all the messy problems to the incumbent president. That is not what is happening this time -- I am surprised Bush is not a little more resentful, and does not do everything he can to get things going right before he leaves. I think perhaps he is wrapped up in ideology, that the free market will solve all this mess. We are paying the price of having a spoiled rich man as president. I am always surprised how short Bush is. He usually surrounds himself with people shorter than himself. lately he seems just go out and mix with anyone, so it easy to see he is shorter than most men.

Bushnell, FL Nov 22, 2008

Here is another report from Northern Florida. It has gotten quite cold a couple of times, below freezing a couple of nights. I am not sure what that does to the citrus crop. Much of the citrus farming has moved further south of here because of the years with frosts which destroys the crop, and if bad enough kills the trees. However, in our campground there are a number of orange and grapefruit trees, that seem to be doing just fine.

This week I went to Jacksonville and had the cataract removed from my right eye. I now only have reading glasses purchased from Walmart. However, I think am eventually going to need glasses. Already I miss the trifocals, I used to have. I think I still have a little astigmatism in one eye that was not complete;y corrected by new corrective lens put in to replace my old cataract-ridden natural lens.

While walking about the campground, late one afternoon this week, Madeline spotted an owl in the tree-top. It was a fairly large bird. It was calling to another bird out in the woods near the campground. It is a Barred Owl -- called by some, erroneously I believe, a "Bard Owl". When we have been here in the past, in the spring there often were a pair of owls, with a nest. I suspect these are the same owls, or possibly their offspring.



We are enjoying the political news. Those who know us, know we would and did support Obama -- so we are pretty happy with the result. We now are pleased with what, so far, seem to be good cabinet appointees. We are NOT enjoying the stock market gyrations. One wonders just how much worse things can get. Well, if we live long enough, this will be one can can tell our grandchildren about. I barely remember, the tail-end of the Great Depression, but it certainly had an indelible impression on the generation before me. I suspect, we may be in for some of the same in the years to come.

Bushnell, FL Nov 15, 2008

There is little to report. We have made a couple of runs to the Mayo Clinic, and the cataract from one eye has been successfully removed. Next week, the cataract from the other eye will be removed. Right now I am viewing the world through glasses with one lens removed, and reading by covering up one eye with the cardboard bookmark.

On the way back from Jacksonville to our campground we stopped at Marjorie Rawlings home. This is now a Florida State Park. Marjorie Rawlings wrote "The Yearling" and "Cross Creek". I must confess, I have not read either book, but I did see the movie, "Cross Creek".

Marjorie Rawlings moved to Cross Creek Florida, to a small citrus farm, in 1928. She and her husband (they later were divorced) hoped that the income from the farm, would provide financial support sufficient to support their writing careers. I have been told, that indeed, the citrus farm was successful.

The Marjorie Rawlings House sits in an orange grove, and is surrounded by numerous outbuildings, such as a barn, chicken house, tool shed, tenet house, and a large vegetable garden. Much of the original furniture is in the house, and it reminds me of the way our "cottage" on Sunset Lake was furnished. I begin to realize my age when I see these older homes furnished the way I remember homes furnished when I was about in the late 130's and early 1940's.

The house is a rambling house, described as a typical Florida Cracker House. We have had some discussion as to what that means, but I would describe it as a house, surrounded by porches, with lots of window for cross ventilation, an supported off the ground with some type of stone or cement piers. The walls of the house and the ceiling were of fairly narrow tongue and grove boards, whitewashed --- giving the house a fairly open and airy feel.

Madeline probably best described the home and the surrounding grounds as "Old Florida"' The farm was very pleasant, and it is easy to see that it would be a good place for a writer . The way the home is furnished, I felt as I someone was living there, and had just stepped out for an hour or so.

There is little more to report from here. Watching the financial markets crash has been unpleasant and worrisome.

Bushnell, FL Nov 9, 2008

Wow, it has been about a month since I have checked in. Lots has been happening since I last posted, but mostly of a personal nature, as I will relate.

When I last wrote, we were in Gaffney, SC, where we were getting routine maintenance on the Freighliner chassis part of our RV. (This involves, oil change, grease job, and that sort of thing.) From there we drove over to visit our niece, Robin and her son, Colin. They live just south of Charlotte. it was good to see her, and we are happy to report she is doing well. She has a new job, that involves a fair amount of travel which seems to agree with her.

From there we worked our way down to Jacksonville, FL, for some medical attention. The doctor there has been following some lumps on my lungs for over a year. The happy report is that the lumps are getting smaller and are almost certainly benign ---- Good News, Indeed! I have been having some vision problems, and it was decided to have cataracts on my eyes removed. One was operated on about a week ago, and the other one will be done in about a month. We moved from Jacksonville to Bushnell, FL -- about 200 miles, and are commuting for the eye work.

We went to Tampa, and I got evaluated suitability for cochlea implant. I was found to be a suitable candidate, and will have implant out in the first week of December. Our campground here in Bushnell, is about 50 miles from the hospital in Tampa, so we are staying here for a while. After the implant is completed, there is a one month healing period. then they turn the electronics on. Then, I am told, sound reaches your brain as a series of squeals. Voices sort of sound like Donald duck talking. Eventually your brain begins to interrupt these as sound, and speech. I look forward to a fairly long period of learning to hear again, and a period that will test poor Madeline's patience.

Meanwhile we are here in a RV Park owned by our RV club, and we have many fine neighbors, who are people like us, in their late 50'w through late 70's, mostly full time RVers. so we talk about where we have been, where we are going and our wonderful children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We are playing games -- mostly dominoes and of all things, poker.

There have been a couple of Sandhill Cranes that visit every morning. They walk through the campground, squawking with a rather unpleasant call, picking up bugs. I suspect that as the park fills up with snowbirds, the birds may find there is too much activity for them.

Above, see the male Sandhill Crane, strutting his stuff through the campground.

Although it is in the shade, I thought this profile of the pair of Cranes rather striking.

We are fortunate that my sister and my niece live near here, so i go visit them periodically. All in all, it is quite pleasant here -- good company, nice weather, and getting some medical stuff fixed, that should give us a marked improvement in the quality of our lives.

Picture arrangement 2

I am again trying to learn how to arrange pictures on the blog. So here goes

This is a picture taken some tome ago of a waterfall along a trail west of Schofield Pass going toward Chrystal Canyon. This is north of Crested Butte. We had been advised not to drive down this trail, unless we were expert 4-wheel drivers, which we are not. The advice was good, we would have been in trouble a long ways from a tow truck.

A beautiful waterfall, is it not?

Several days ago we were taking pictures for my profile on Facebook. this is one of them.

Well this seems to be working OK!

Gaffney, SC Oct 10, 2008

We are now in Gaffney, SC. This is the small city where the Freightliner chasis are manufactured used in RV and Firetrucks, etc. The headquarter service center is here and it is the best pace to get routine service done. Since we only change our oil about once a year, we try to come here. Here they also handle recalls; since they only work on RV's, we like to come here. They are excellent on preventtice mintenaince.





I am trying to work onblogging techniques. here are two size photos. If you have a preference, leave a note. I am also trying to experiment on ways to mix the text and the photos.

Well, I am not having much luck with this. Anyway the above is a picture taken north of Schofield Pass, in Colorado, next to a waterfall on the Crystal river. We drove to within a quartermile of here, and then walked on the good advice of a sign sayint the roas was only suitable for expert 4-wheel drivers.

Red Bay Alabama, Oct 4, 2008

I am working on my Fall resolution to work on this blog once a week.

Last Monday we left Lyons Colorado and spent three days driving to Red Bay, Alabama. These were, for us, long driving days --- leaving around 7:30 to 8:00 am and arriving at a campground around 5:00 (or 6:00 counting the time zone change. We would have perhaps an hour rest for fueling or lunch. Anyway roughly 8 hours driving time, fairly equally split between Madeline and me.

We arrived in Red Bay, AL, late Wednesday afternoon. The campground, which is located by a now defunct airport, was full, so we spent a night boon docking "On the Runway". We are here to get an air conditioner worked on and one or two other minor repairs. Although the work schedule here is largely first-come, first-served, there are several "Express Bays" for jobs taking less than three hours. We were happy to hear we qualified for that, so we expect to be out of here the middle of next week.

We have been here several times, so we have pretty much seen the sights around Red Bay. However there is a house in nearby Florence, Alabama that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This home was donated to the city of Florence some ten or so years ago. it was in poor repair, with leaking roofs, termites, etc. The City spent considerable effort in restoring the home, and it is now open for guided tours, that last about half an hour. (A picture of the house is at the beginning of this blog.) The inside of the house was interesting. there was a lot of dark wood, and a lot of indirect lighting The kitchen was remarkably small. The owner had Wright design an addition, to which an new kitchen was added. Even the new kitchen was quite small.

It was a thrill to be able to walk through the house and see the various rooms.The furniture in the house, which while interesting, had lots of straight lines and did not look very functional (read comfortable). Much of the original owner's furnishing were still in the house. The furnishing were mostly of Japaneses design, which added to the beauty and simplicity of the home.

Tomorrow, we will probably stay around Red Bay -- walk around a bit , read the NY Times on the computer, watch the talking heads on TV and perhaps watch a football game - or two. The campers here are having a get-together, where everybody brings about a half pound of food -- meat, vegetables or pasta -- to be cooked for three hour to make hobo stew. I think it is the same thing as slumgullion stew.)

Oh yes, I am now a member of Facebook. If some of you readers wish you can contact me there as well, leave a note here.

I am also happy to report I am starting my 76th year this week. I never thought I would declare my youth my saying I don't feel a day over 60! But I do feel pretty good, and don't feel my age. (Knock on wood!)

Lyons, CO September 26, 2008

Well, we have spent a wonderful summer in Colorado, but we have been so busy having fun, that I have neglected this blog.I will try to bring you up-to date with a brief recounting, and then get back to my pledge of a weekly posting!

I think on my last post, I was rejoicing that we were back in the Rockies. Later, in July, we had a family reunion at the YMCA Camp in Estes Park. This was attended by all our children, and many of their families. we are still assembling pictures of the reunion, and when we have them all together, I will gather about 20 or 25 of the best one and post them on the Google site. The reunion lasted 6 days,arriving on a Saturday, and leaving the next Friday. We had two cabins rented with a number of bedrooms, so we had plenty of room for everyone. The YMCA had a number of programs for kids, so there was plenty for the tads to do, such as horseback riding, fishing, building bottle rockets, craft activities, and, of course, swimming. Many of us went hiking at Rockey Mountain National Park and got in pretty good shape. I, personally, finally got up to about 8 miles hiking at 8,000to 11,000 feet, and managed to lose a little weight (which I unfortunately, have gained back).

Evenings were especially a lot of fun, Every evening a different crew of about four people prepared dinner for the rest of us (about 25 people in all). After the meal there were usually one or two card games --- most often Spades.

I thought the Reunion was a great success, and I hope we can have another in two or three years.

After the Reunion, we took our RV and Hap and Jeannine's family to Pioneer days in Cheyenne, WY. We saw a great parade in downtown Cheyenne, and the following day went to the Rodeo. the Rodeo, which is a 5-day affair (We only went one day.), was a lot of fun, and some of the most skilled cowboys in the world were competing there. I was surprised, how rough it was, and several of the cowboys were injured and had to be carries off.

Hap's family flew back to Florida, and Madeline and proceeded down to Creede , CO. In Creede we attended a rally held by our RV Club (called Escapees). The rally was mostly involved with four-wheeling. Four-wheeling is especially good in Southern Colorado because there are many, many abandoned mines. These mines all have roads or at least tracks leading to them . Thus there are many four-wheel drive roads, some of them exceedingly rough, through the forest and up into the alpine areas, and some times even over or along the Continental Divide.

We spent more time in Southern Colorado after the rally. We visited our friend Duane and Arleta, and then went up to the Gunnison and later to Buena Vista area. we did some hiking, but primarily did some geocaching. The geocaching again took us on to four-wheel drive roads, up canyons, over to old mines, to ghost towns and through grazing area of ranches. We seemed to go and see places that we would not normally go to.

We finally returned to Lyons (about 7 miles from Boulder where our daughter lives). Madeline went to Florida to visit Hap and Jeannine for a few weeks, and only returned a few days ago. Monday, we plan to hit the road, and will move on toward Red Bay, AL, where our rig was manufactured.. We have a few things on the rig that we need to have looked at. We are about to start working outs way toward Florida for the winter.

Rocky Mountain National Park, June 27, 2008

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Yesterday, we moved from Lyons up to Estes Park. we are now camped in a commercial campground, just outside Rocky mountain National Park. With the gain in altitude, we are working our way to get used to it so we can hike on a trip of decent length.

Yesterday, we went around Bear Lake, where we saw trout, swimming up a brook to spawn. There was still the remnants of a snow drift by the lake, and we learned that the trails up to some of the higher elevations are still blocked with snow!. I guess that is the usual thing this time of year, here, but it is always a shock to think there is snow interfering with what you want to do, when it is almost July!

After the short walk around Bear Lake, we drove a little ways and took a short hike to Alberta Falls.

The pictures here are of a view of the river from above Alberta Falls. and of Bear Lake, with mountains in the background.

On Sunday we plan to move to a campsite in the park (first come, first served). Since we are so long (40 ft) there are not to many spots that will accompany us. So -- we will have to get there early. No hookups, so we will be boon docking, which is OK.

In Colorado, June 27, 2008

Since our last posting, we have moved west! We left Florida a couple of weeks ago, and started our journey to Colorado. On the way, we stopped at Louisville, KY to visit our daughter, Diana. Diana now, as most of you know, has left her husband and is living in Louisville. She recently purchased a very nice condo, which is about a 30-minute drive from her the school, where she teaches as a school librarian. Although school session for the year is over, we had a chance to visit the library and help with a book-inventory project. I must say I was quite impressed with the library. It is quite large, with a separate classroom, and a media room. Diana teaches four classes a day, as well as supervises the library, which involves purchasing books, and developing programs to promote reading.

From Louisville, we drove on to Lyons, CO, a small town about 10 miles north of Boulder. While crossing Missouri and Kansas, we could see that the creeks and rivers were very full from all the recent rains. Kansas was green from all the rain, and looked entirely different than it usually appears this time of year.

Now we are in Colorado; Iam enjoying it very much. The weather is good -- cool nights and warm days -- although the last several days have been perhaps a little too warm. We are catching up on chores, and plan to go up to Estes Park next week, where we will enjoy even cooler and pleasanter summer weather. Meanwhile we are preparing for a six-day family reunion which will be held in Estes Park in July.

Smokey Mountain National Park, and Back to Florida

Gosh, I now see it has almost six weeks since I have posted a note. We have done so much, that either we have been to busy to post, or there was so much to tell, that It seemed too much to write.

Well, anyway, at our last posting, we were at an Escapee's RV park a little east of Knoxville, TN, and a bout an hour east of Smokey Mountain National Park. shortly after our last posting, we decided to move to the west side of the park, over in North Carolina. We ended up in a pleasant RV park, about five miles outside of Cherokee. We spent about three weeks there, hiking and driving about enjoying the Spring flowers. You can see a new picture of us on the right-hand side of the this blog, taken at Clingman's Dome, the highest peak in the Park, and I think the third highest peak in the Appalachian Mountains.

We really enjoyed the Spring flowers. it has been several years since we have experienced spring in the East, where flowers are abundant in the spring. what made it especially nice was the fact that by traveling higher, we could see flowers just coming out, while at lower altitudes, we could watch as new waves of flowers came into bloom. Unfortunately we did not stay long enough to see the mountain laurel or the rhododendrons come into bloom. that will happen in early June, we are told.

We saw a few Pink Lady's Slippers. Mostly these were seen on top of a high hill about two miles away from the road, on a hike. we very much wanted to see Yellow lady's slippers. Neither of us had ever seen them. We asked various rangers at several visitor's Centers and got directions for all sort of out of the way places, but alas no yellow lady;s Slipper. Then on the last day we revisited a site, where we were told yellow lady's slippers could be found in abundance. We walked in the woods, and could not find them, then i saw some people taking pictures on a bank on the side of the road --- and there they were --- lot of Yellow lady's slippers on a bank, perhaps fifteen feet of the side of the road! Yellow Lady's Slippers are smaller than the pink variety and seem to grow in bunches, with lots of leaves, so that three to ten flowers may be found in a group. The pictures, above, are of the Yellow Lady's Slippers.

We saw lots of flowers and have lots of pictures. Of particular interest was the variety of trillium we saw. We saw Painted Trillium, White Trillium, Catesby's Trillium (a large white trillium), Red Trillium, and Yellow Trillium.

After enjoying Spring in the mountains, we started working our way south. (i have a doctor's appointment at Mayo Clinic on June 2.) We stopped to visit our niece robin for an evening at Fort mill, SC, which is just a suburb of Charlotte, NC. We have spent the last week back at Lake Worth, FL. it is pretty warm here, now -- temperature in the high 80's during the day and in the 60's at night. Madeline has spent most of her time being a grandma, which is a full-time job for her.