MONTICELLO

On Sunday, August 2nd we left Taft and headed to Virginia. We visited Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. We had a fantastic tour of the bottom level of the home and was also able to walk around the grounds. There was a nice film we saw before we headed up to the house which gave us some great information. I wish we had had more time to check it all out.

Southport, CT

On Saturday, July 25th, I went with my friend Sue, down to Southport, Ct to visit the Pequot Library which had a huge sale on books.

Pequot Library was founded in 1889 by Elbert B. and Virginia Marquand Monroe, residents of Southport, Connecticut. Mrs. Monroe was the adopted daughter of successful Fairfield businessman Frederick Marquand. On his death, Marquand left his daughter his mansion in Southport and his fortune and out of these assets grew one of the most remarkable libraries in the country.

This is a picture of one of the homes that was near the water in Southport. Pretty huh? We had a great day. I spent time sitting on a bench under a tree in the shade and watching people.

Time to play catch up!

We've been so busy that I ha ve gotten behind in posting. Also I have pictures, but they are on other people's cameras, so that makes it hard to post! When I get the pictures I will post them along with the adventure.

In the meantime, school is over and we left Taft (in CT) yesterday and headed SouthWest, going through NY, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and landed in Winchester, West Virginia. Long day of driving.

We plan on arriving in TN on Wednesday to see Jack's girls and family as well as my neice. We will be there until Sunday. I will probably fly home while Jack continues across the state visiting old Taftees (sp?) from the class of '61.

We have a big day planned today, but I don't want to spoil it for you, so that's all for now.

MY NEW YORK CITY TRIP

I was able to go to New York City because of my friend Sue. She knew I wanted to go see a show and took me yesterday. We went to see the most fantastic, cute and hilarious show called "The Marvelous Wonderettes" I don't remember when I laughed so hard.



Then we headed down to Times Square where it's a real treat to "people watch" and we did. They were videoing "The Naked Cowboy" sitting on top of a hummer limo while it moved through the street. We saw a guy selling "Obama Condoms", a new twist on the "stimulus package".



I wanted to see where the famous New Year's Eve ball dropped and got this picture!


Then our final stop was to an Italian Restaurant called "BELLA VITA" where they served Brick Oven Pizza. I guess we must have gone to an "upscale" restaurant because the pizza was "so-so". I really wanted a slice that dripped with tomato sauce, cheese and grease! Shoulda gone to the corner pizza vendor.



Then there was this guy, I believe he was from Italy, who sat next to me. He and his wife/girlfriend were speaking what I thought to be Italian. Anyway, the table next to theirs had a freak accident where the pizza, pan and all, flipped off the holder and onto the floor right at the feet of this guy. Mind you there was pizza everywhere on the floor, but none landed on his feet or on him. The lady was apologizing profusely and offered him a napkin to clean his shoes. What else could she do? But what do you think the guy did???? He bitched because they were "$200 shoes". Well you idiot, why would you wear $200 tennis shoes to NYC??? Of course "something" would spill on it, how could it not??? I really wanted to go over to the lady who spilled the pizza and whisper "screw him AND the shoes he walked in with" but being that Jack has told me about New Yorkers, I heeded his warning and kept my mouth shut!

There is more exciting things to share but right now I'm focusing on the actual time we were in New York.

More pics from today

Teachers and Kristina who runs the Taft Summer School (in black). Kristin, who set it all up THANKS KRISTIN, had a stiff neck and was not able to attend, so George (Kristina's husband) was a lifesaver and picked up the cake.
Teachers and interns!
More of 'em.
Barclay admiring his birthday cake.
Helena giving Barclay an air kiss!! Steve McCabe, who is the nucleus of the summer school, is in the back on the left side! Andrew (in the red next to Barclay) is his intern.

Barclay's 75th Birthday

Barclay just turned 75 today. He graduated from Taft in the late 50's and then returned sometime later and taught here for 40 years. The interns, teachers, staff and friends all showed up to wish him a wonderful day. Everyone sang happy birthday to him and I think for once, he was speechless. Even the students joined in as well. I was so busy singing I forgot to get out my camera. Finally I came to my senses and took a few pics....I hope you enjoy them.

Why did the geese cross the road????

to get to the other side!!! Here is a bunch of geese (or is that a gaggle?) who crossed the street from the pond. Don't know where they were going but evidentally the grass was greener on the other side.

Thursday, Stamping Night

I took my friend Kristin to a stamping get together last night and we made a really cute gift box. It was so fun to get out and stamp with other people. Kristin really enjoys it and I think she's hooked. I can't wait for my Stampin' Up! order to arrive next Tuesday, then we can play with the NEW stuff!

Jack was so nice, he volunteered to do my Library Duty while I went stamping. I heard there were 40 kids there too! What a guy!

Wednesday, Girls day out!

My friend Sue and I took off for the day and headed to Milford for a massage at Massage Envy. It was a beautiful sunny clear day. Puffy white clouds and blue skies. It was the first time Sue had ever had a massage and now I believe she is hooked!! We thoroughly enjoyed our time there and actually needed a nap afterwards but chose to go shopping at A.C. Moore instead. She found a ton of things there and I just made a small purchase of glue dots. (thats because my HUGE order from Stampin' Up! is on the way) Then we went to lunch at On The Border and had a wonderful mexican lunch. It was certainly a nice change from the cafeteria food we get everyday. We headed back relaxed and with a full tummy. We even found a parking spot in front of the school! What a wonderful day.

A View from our place!

This first picture is taken from the stairs overlooking the pond.

The next picture is from our bedroom window. Lovely eh?


This last picture is what we see when we prop open our door everynight. This is where the kids rooms are. When it's lights out at 10:30 you can hear the handles on the doors squeek and the door barely opens, then it's like looking at prarie dogs, they see our door is open and "bam" the door closes real quick. Also they know to use the facilities and get a drink BEFORE 10:30, but they come waddling out and get told "get back in your room!!" You'd think they would learn....well they are, slowly but surely!

WHAT A CALENDAR!

There are several folks we want to see while we are here and after trying to figure out who, where and when, we came up with a calendar. Gosh here are some of the thing we are doing:

• NYC
• Boston (over night)
• Giving Stamping classes
• Spa Day
• 2 Museums Trips
• Visiting Stamping Friends
• Library Duty
• Dorm Duty
• Birthday cake/card Lady

Then in between that, we have to figure out when we can meet up with 3 other couples. One in Long Island, one in Hartford and another in Wilton.

So much to do, so little time!

CELEBRATE!!

View from our bedroom window. Of course when by the time the picture actually took, the fireworks were gone. But I was able to get some of them!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

Blue skies, white clouds and Old Glory waving in the air. Let freedom ring and GOD BLESS AMERICA!!


View from the 3rd floor stairwell overlooking some of the campus. Just gorgeous!

My latest card

Of course this looks way better in real life. I just LOVE my new spellbinders LABEL ONE.

Stamping, OF COURSE!!

My crafting table...if you are a stamper, then you know this is NOT a mess!!

These shelves hold my ribbon, cuttlebug stuff, inks, envelopes, dew drops, punches, and stamps.
My little corner of the world. Stamped yesterday afternoon and have several people who want to take a class from me. I'm not a good teacher and I'm going to be teaching teachers??? uh oh!

These East Coast Beaches sure are different

DONT FORGET TO CLICK ON PICTURE TO MAKE LARGER.

One of these houses is where Jack's family visited every summer. It was fun for him to try to find out which one it was.

Some lifeguard training.

Huge hotel, pretty!


Another hotel right on the water.

Well evidentally I'm doing something wrong!

You've heard of Dairy Queen, well this is Maine's version...DAIRY KING!




Cute little place called "HUCKLEBERRY'S".

A little town called Ogunquit, Maine

DON'T FORGET, YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PICS TO ENLARGE.

This looks like one of the Three Little Pigs house.









Look Jennifer...it's The Little Inn!!

Pics from here and there

This is Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts. We drove by so I had to take a picture of it. We like Payton.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

Sunday, June 28th.....we've been here since Thursday night. Have a nice apartment on the SECOND floor!!! *doing the happy dance* It could have been the fourth floor!

We have all the younger boys on our floor and two other guys (one intern and one teacher) who will help us. We should have about 15 all together. We had 5 come in yesterday and the rest today. We have one student who has flown 17 hours from Thailand, never slept and cannot walk a straight line.

Here is what it is like being the dorm parents:
first child, I forgot my key and am locked out
second child, I need an eathernet cable for my computer
third child, I lost my password information and the schedule
fourth child, here are my passports, I forgot to turn them in
then about midnight one more arrives so we get settled in and about 5:45AM I hear a knock on the door, Jack answers it and informed that the trouble is.......they cannot get onto the internet!!! It's the child who came in late and the sleep deprived student who are now awake.
Ok so he informs them that the internet is turned off from 11:00 at night till 6:00 in the morning. Jack comes back to bed....knock, knock......ok now who? It's the same two.....they locked themselves out of their room. Welcome to being a dorm parent!!

I've been able to help out with things like typing up the names of the students to be posted on their doors and took some parents down to K-Mart for them to shop for their kids. So I'm handy to have around. I've also signed up for Library duty on Thursday nights.

I'm very happy that the new eating area is done (not the main one, that's still under construction) and we don't have to eat outside in the heat, rain and mud like last year.

It's great to see so many familiar faces. Everyone is happy to be here, especially us!

FRIEND DAY

Today we visited our nephew Jeffrey at his new "digs" in Woburn. He is now living at an assisted facility and doing very well. We are happy for that!

We headed over to "Joe's American Bar & Grill" in Woburn to meet up with Jack's classmates from Taft '61. "Burley" Brad Tomlinson and his wife RobbAnn, Jerry Mitchell and his wife Margaret. Oh the stories!!!



















We left to go North to Maine to see our adopted sister, Suzanne. Due to lack of planning, we were not able to spend as much time with her as we wanted. But we were happy she came after working an 11 hour shift the previous night and two other two hour shifts before she met up with us. We had an enjoyable dinner then headed over to "Big Daddy's" Ice cream hut. Do you see an ice cream pattern here? My butt does!!

Visiting

Today is Tuesday (right?) I think so. We are in Woburn, MA near Allen and Johanna. We had a wonderful time with them last night. We went to eat at a local restaurant and then headed to their favorite Ice Cream place. I couldn't believe it was cold and rainy outside and the people were standing in line to get Ice Cream!!

When we were leaving we noticed a woman sitting at the front table by the window. We stopped and chatted with her as she was sketching a portrait of a soldier. The more we talked the more we learned what she was doing. She gets photos of local soldiers who have died in the war, sketches them and personally delivers them to the parents. By word of mouth the locals have found her and bring the photos and their stories to her. I grabbed her card thinking there is a website, but there is only a phone number. Here is her name and number: THE ARTISTIC TOUCH by Gina (781) 937.3835 (Regina Johnson) She truly has a gift!

It seems there is more to post, but right now I can't think of it. More later as we have a fun filled day planned.

Rain, Rain GO AWAY

It's been raining like crazy, either hard or drizzle, but nonetheless wet!! I find myself sleeping a lot so I don't have to look at the crazy people driving as fast as they can to get where they want to go. I just want to get to my destination safely!!

We stopped by The Taft School (our summer home) http://www.taftschool.org/ and dropped off some of our "stuff".





Headed north to Boston area and visited cousin Bart and family...what a great time. We never did take any pictures...what's wrong with us?

Spending the day with Jack's brother and wife, Alan and Johanna. More to report later.

RAINBOWS

Somewhere over the rainbow..........

Sunday, June 21st

There have been lots of thunder showers and Tornado Warnings as we cross the country. Not used to that after all, we are from Southern California!!

To play catch up....Jack and I met up on Thursday morning to continue our travels. We went to Nebraska to see our niece, Rebecca, and her family. She is in charge of VBS and it was really fun to see all of the children enjoying themselves. They had it from 6-8:30 at night and the parents were there helping. Sounds like a great idea!!

Friday we ended up in Indianapolis to see a Dr. friend of ours, but we ended up having breakfast with him on Saturday instead. Nice to see him and catch up on his life. He said that going through a bad divorce is kinda like having a colonoscopy....AWAKE!!!

Then we headed north a little bit to South Bend to see a long time friend, Pengy and her two girls, Amy and Laura. Amy will be a junior in high school and is in the marching band. I asked her "what instrument do you play? The piano?" She got it and started laughing!! It was a delightful 2 hours, wish it was longer!!

We went through Ohio and found our FAVORITE ice cream place, HANDEL'S! Yummmmmy!


We are now in Pennsylvania (somewhere) and heading towards CT to drop off some of our stuff. Then going up to see family in Boston, Maine and New Hampshire.

Tuesday, June 16th - Nancy

Tuesday morning.....staying at Ruthie's home in Aurora, CO. So good to see a very good friend. I've known her for about 15 years. We talked constantly and enjoyed every minute of it. Our day consisted of a massage, pedicure, manicure then a wonderful dinner at Red Lobster. I REALLY needed to see her! She's better than a psychologist!!

Monday, June 15th

Took off from Grand Junction and headed towards Evergreen. Now I know why they call it Evergreen...cuz it's GREEN......light green, yellow green, dark green, green green!! So beautiful. We went off onto Route 6 around Eisenhower Tunnel and saw some even more beautiful country.

This is a ski area called Arapahoe Basin where only 5 star black diamond slopes are.
















Then we headed up higher and stopped at the Continental Divide. We met two Dutch cyclists who had started a journey in San Francisco and were heading East. It was enjoyable chatting with them.

We met up with Vicki and Karley (daughter in law and grandaughter) at Historic El Rancho Restaurant (http://www.historicelrancho.com/history.htm) We were the only folks there at the time because it was between lunch and dinner. The waitress knew them by name and was very sweet. Jack had a shirt with cars called Woodies. The waitress came up to him and touched his back and said "you have a Woodie on your back". Silent pause.......then we all started busting up and she realized what she said. Yeah our minds did go "there". But the best line was "Hey! You touched my Woodie!"

Later that night we enjoyed a BBQ steak dinner with Matt (Jack's son) and the family including my ya ya sister Ruthie. She moved from California to Colorado and I just had to see her! We took off to her house to spend a few days together.

DAY ONE

We spent all day Saturday packing...cuz some stuff you just can't pack ahead! Jack packed the car up and off we went to Orange County to a friend's retirement party. Left there at 9:00 at night and headed to STATE LINE!! woo hoo I had enough players points (now there's a surprise) to get a comp'd room. We got there about quarter to1 (can you say we flew?), got checked in and off I went to play KENO. Can't say that I did that well, but I still had $$ when we left. Went back to the room about 7:00 AM and Jack was still asleep. He let me snooZe a while and we left about 10:30 and headed out.



We drove all day, going through Nevada, AZ, Utah and ending up in Grand Junction, Colorado. We stopped at Devil's Canyon in Utah, what a marvelous view! This is a shot down the throat of the canyon onto the plain where the huge rock formation is.

We are heading out soon to his son Matt's house to visit him and his family. Then my really good friend (my ya ya) will come get me and I will spend some much needed "girl" time with her till Thursday.

Taking one day at a time and enjoying every minute of it!

TOMORROW!!!

*singing* TOMORROW, TOMORROW, I LOVE YA TOMORROW, YOU'RE ONLY A DAY AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!

Can you tell we are a little excited??? I'm waiting for Jack to do his happy dance when he gets home tonight!!! I should take a picture...that would be worth a thousand words, but this jpg will do for now.

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN!!!!

We are about to depart for our summer trip and many of you have asked if we will make available the tracking url we had last year and the answer is YES! Here is what you do.... go to :

http://aprs.fi/?call=w4kh-2&mt=m&z=11&timerange=21600

it will ask you for a password:  w4kh

and once you've been there you don't need to re-enter the password each
time.