Summer 2008

We arrived back in Massachusetts at the end of May. Besides friends we've been missing our subscriptions to Newsweek and National Geographic. We know we could go to the library to read them but we just didn't make it a priority.

We spent June bouncing back and forth between Ogunquit, ME and Don and Melissa Kroodsma's house in Amherst. (Thanks Kroodsmas!) We rented Sandy Davis' condo in July and August which worked out great. We've become so flexible that it's not a big deal for us to live out of a suitcase as long as it's not for too long.

Sandy's condo is in a great location and a very comfortable condo. (Although Sandy became allergic to something so was taking allergy pills the whole time.)

It was great to be back in New England and we had lots of fun visiting friends (and some relatives) we hadn't seen for a year: in Amherst, at the James Taylor concert at Tanglewood, the McNiven reunion in Maine in August and The Bittersweets concert in Northampton on 9/8.

We did some sightseeing in Vermont in June. We loved our visit to the scenic Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park in Woodstock. There's a working dairy farm and museum. George Marsh was a pioneering environmentalist in the 1800's!! Frederick Billings continued Marsh's reforestation and scientific farm management. They had jersey cows which produced the most fat of any cow. Consequently they had the best butter around. They bred the cows, started being very productive and people came to find out their methods. The Rockefeller house, owned by Mary and Laurance Rockefeller (son of John D. Jr.) was gorgeous. (Mary was the granddaughter of Mr. Billings.) We took a tour and really learned a lot about the places in which he was instrumental in turning into national parks.




























Our next stop was the Quechee Gorge and the Simon Pearce Glass Blowing and Pottery. We loved the covered bridge in Taftsville. And it was amazing to watch them "blow" a goblet!














It was super to see Scott and Libby for the McNiven reunion in Ogunquit, ME. They were also able to stay for a week after. They're doing great and are just starting to plan their wedding in Duluth, MN, Libby's home town, on Labor Day weekend 2009. Julie couldn't come. She and Michael are happily living in Santa Monica as of June 1. In August she finished filming "Mad Men" season 2. She's in episodes 1, 2, 8, 10, 12, and 13.

Sandy had a great time playing a lot of golf. I practiced golf a little. Sometimes it hurts my shoulder so we'll see how it goes down in Florida.

I bought genealogical software and have put on much of our family tree. I had fun finding out more family info on Ancestry.com. I'll need to add a little to it and also do a little more research. It has great options for different kinds of reports.

Sandy started going to yoga with me and really liked it. Yeah! So we'll continue that in Florida.

We saw some great plays at the New Century Theater in Northampton.

We went to Debbie Mullins wedding to Lucien at the Lord Jeffery Inn. Others friends at our table: Doug & Denise Gagnon, Chuck Dauchy & Judy Weinthaler, and Kathy Melhorn & John Lemly. Great dancing! Great fun!
We both did some volunteering. Sandy: did hours of maintenance for the ABC House. Becky: a little for the Fort River Library and about 6 weeks at the Hitchcock Nature Center. We both volunteered for some Big Brothers Big Sisters fundraisers. We plan to continue volunteering for different organizations in Florida.

Next blog entry: our trip to the Maritime islands of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island with David and Betsy Mullins.