It is pretty cool to live near a town that dates back 300 years! It is a neat town, lot’s and lot’s of history. They had a big celebration day with a parade and activities. We brought Xander’s best friend Jake with us so they could play together. They have missed each other tons since Preschool ended!

The parade was I have to admit a bit disappointing. There has been so much talk all year long about 300 year celebration stuff going on I guess we just imagined the parade being bigger and better than it was. There were several great floats but several lame ones too. Susie got to perform in it for Color Guard. They were the best of the many marching bands in the parade.

They had a Pirate Ship the Elizabeth II out in the harbor so we could tour it, ok… it actually represented a merchant ship but Katie and Xander and Jake were much more impressed if we called it a pirate ship! They really liked wandering around on it, poking their heads out the portholes and checking everything out. There were even fake rats on it, of course that was Katie’s favorite part!

September 22, 2010

Our stay in Boston was brief but sweet. We met Susan Vachon L’Itlien, my “cousin.” (My Mother and her Father were cousins.) Sue graciously had us out to her home for home-made blueberry muffins and coffee, and we pored over genealogical records and pictures of the Vachons. A very special lady.

With Sue’s help we found the Bureau of Vital Statistics and located the cemetery where my Mother’s aunt Grace MacLellan is buried, but no one was in the cemetery office so we left Aunt Grace at peace with the other 20,000 souls in that place.

Downtown Boston is like Gotham City. The streets are so narrow, the buildings so tall and so close together, one’s perspective is always a little skewed. Beacon Hill is so beautiful; the ultimate in urban living.

We be tickled and agog at Provincetown, Cape Cod. The real world of sandy beaches and home-made ice cream looks a little pale after you’ve been to P-Town. This old fishing village, with its narrow, narrow roads (one lady coming our way yelling, “It’s two-way, you’re okay!”), and hundred-year-old, tall shingled houses, with lots of outdoor stairs these days, has become a destination resort for gays and lesbians. The local population appears to be artist and old people, so when you throw in the tourists and the gays, it was colorful, to say the least.

Crawling down the street next to the harbor in the car we saw two guys – they could have been suntanned twins, wearing only Ray-Bans and matching briefs. The briefs were an alligator pattern and must have been custom, because they both had this little carrying pouch in front. There are a lot of clubs in town, including Purgatory (“Halfway to Heaven”) and lots of dances, tea dances, theme dances, underwear dances.

The P-Town entertainment guide lists the action for the month. We just missed “Six Naked Guys Singing;” half the club acts are in drag; the photo page was a pinup of a guy with well placed autumn leaves.

We found it incredible that a community with such a history of conservative values & traditions could co-exist with such alternative lifestyles. Part of it is money, of course. These are not street boys, the shops and galleries owned by gays are high end, very posh, a cultural addition. The people themselves are educated, talented and probably bring a little looseness to a town that might be a little tight without them. This is a very health conscious community – Tofurkey & Tosausages?!

We spent an evening with our Bluebird friends Suska and Lou and, as always, enjoyed ourselves immensely. We met at Suska’s house down the  down the cape from where we were parked.

Suska is an artist, currently working in mosaics and mostly on commission, and it was wonderful to see her studio and share a great meal at their favorite pub.

Dave road his bike down to Suska’s on a great rails-to-trails bike path, but ended up on the main drag where a guy in a pickup yelled “Get off the road, Lance!”

From Cape Cod we hit the road for Connecticut to see dear friends Angelo and Teresa. (Dave met Angelo on the bike ride across America 15 years ago.) We stayed at a Super 8 motel in Stamford, CT – no RV parks around – and had a wonderful, bountiful meal with our friends, homemade eggplant parmesan, everything right out of the garden. (Well – not the ribs.)

A day in Noo Yawk will stay in our memory tapes a long time. The four of us took the ferry to Ellis Island; it was a very interesting tour, very well done. Then we had a genuine NY pizza at Waldy’s, a surprising and MOST delicious treat! Doesn’t seem like we would like real healthy stuff on a toasted cracker (fresh basil, hunks of mozzarella) but we sure did. Angelo drove us to and around the city with such skill we were awed and grateful, as we got to look at stuff. Ground Zero is all under construction now, so nothing to see, no place to stop.

Still heading south, we were amazed at how wide the Hudson River is. Signs on the bridge say “Life is Worth Living.” We’re in New Jersey now, getting ready to do a job at the Yogi Bear RV Park in Elmer, NJ. We got here on the New Jersey Turnpike, which is good traveling, but kind of expensive. You take a ticket when you get on and pay by the mile. Before the turnpike we took a loop road around to the west and avoided all the New York area traffic. Quite a pleasant trip. It was Sunday, so that may have made for less traffic.

My face is nearly back to normal from the Bell’s Palsy. Unfortunately, the fall I had in Digby, Nova Scotia (stepped into a hole at the bottom of the bakery steps) is still bothersome. The sprained ankle is okay, the elbow almost healed but the shoulder has gotten worse. Went to the ER yesterday and got X-rays; the doc said he thought it was a torn rotator cuff, and referred me to an orthopedist here in Woodbury. I might not even mention this whole thing but I’m so irritated: the doctor’s office refused to see me! Even after my insurance company approved the visit! They say they aren’t familiar with Clear One Health Plans and “don’t want to start anything,” plus “the injury was a month ago, so you probably can . . . . ..” Can What?!? I called the ER coordinator and suggested she not refer travelers to Dr. Bundens. In the meantime I’ll find an ortho guy, hopefully get a cortisone injection and find its just bursitis. As long as Dave can keep hooking and unhooking my bra I’m okay.

The weather is still sunny with cool nights. The song sparrows are fighting over my feeder, and this morning a huge turkey showed up and ate all the squirrel food!

Life is real.

Love,

Sam

Dear friends,

We be have had a great time in Gloustah. This little fishing village on the coast of Massachusetts is one of the few places we’ve visited where history has not been captured in theme parks and boutiques. At one time Gloucester was the largest port in North America.

It is still a blue collar working community. Labor Day was festive; we walked the promenade along the bay to watch the parade of ships going out to sea to race during the annual Schooner Days. There were about 20 schooners, 60 to 100+ feet.

We sat on a bench with a retired fuller brush salesman from Gloustah who gave us the town’s history; Birdseye Frozen Foods started here, Gorton’s is still a big employer, supplying all the fish filets to McDonalds. There are a lot of wealthy people here, but no Wal-Mart, and McDonalds is VERY hard to find. Mickey D’s is not only without its golden arches, it doesn’t have a fish filet on the menu!?!

Hurricane Earl was just something to talk about for a few days. It was good for the grocery business. Best line was heard by Dave in the liquor store; lady in line next to him with a big purchase: “Hurricane Supplies!”

We visited Rockport and the whole area around Cape Ann. Museums were good. Great ship models. We stayed at Cape Ann Campground, with good views of the Jones River Salt Marsh. I’ve had lots of birds at my feeder: Cardinal, Blue Jay, Purple Finch (or House Finch), Song Sparrows, Eastern Towhee, Tufted Titmouse, Cedar Waxwing, Red Breasted Nuthatch, Black Capped Chickadee, Downy Woodpecker. It’s been fun.

We got a surprise souvenir from our Canada tour. The phone bill was $185 and Verizon computer service was $432! Wuh! Who knew?

The weather is still great, occasionally an overcast morning. In spite of the warmth, we’re seeing some maples turning red.

This country is one big rock. We’ve seen lots of big rocks before (Texas, Utah, etc.), but these people build on it! Must have been tough plowing for early settlers. Huge boulders are often worked around to great effect in landscape and architecture.

There are no RV parks close to Boston so we are now in Minute Man RV Park in Littleton, NW of the big city. Thanks to my cousin Andre I have connected with another Vachon, Susan, who is the granddaughter of my grandfather’s brother Robert. She has been a big help in directing me to find the graves of my grandmother’s people in Newton, close to Boston.

Love,

Sam

Hi Everybody:

Earl passed by in the night and we barely noticed. A little rain storm. We’ve seen much bigger storms in N.C. in an afternoon. Awning breakers, for instance. Anticipation caused more schedule problems then the actual hurricane. Most of the weekend Schooner Festival was cancelled, except the big ship parade tomorrow, which is what we wanted to see anyway. We so seldom hit an area during an actual event; we are usually out of season or “just missed it.” Lot of campers came in today; now that Earl is gone they will have a nice weekend here after all .We took a car tour around today . . . . it is really and interesting place.

Gloucester, of course, is where the ship from The Perfect Storm was based. They shot the movie here, too, as well as many others. Home to Gorton’s Seafood, which is right downtown, sandwiched into the dock area. Still considered a working man’s town, others nearby, like Rockport are more upscale.

Dave

August 30, 2010

Dear friends,

We be in Maine now, still having the time of our lives, but I have to go back and fill in some Digby gaps. It took us longer than we realized to get from Petit Cap, New Brunswick, to the coast of Nova Scotia, along the Bay of Fundy. There are not a lot of roads, and even the good ones aren’t very good, so you have to go to Halifax, way down at the south edge of NS and then turn due north and go all the way back up to the north edge and turn left. I don’t know why we chose to stay in Digby; almost all we have to go on is the RV Directory, Woodall’s. But once again, we intuitively made a great choice.

By this time our travels were hampered by a bad sprain on my right ankle. Same ankle I have introduced to a hole in the ground at least three times in the last 30 years. This time I took a header off the bakery porch in Petit Cap. I went home and iced it off and on for about six hours and then, because it seemed not TOO bad, I proceeded to walk on it for a couple of days. Mistake. I hurt my elbow and jammed my shoulder during the same fall, so have been very sore.

Anyway, Digby is the scallop capitol of the world. And Nova Scotia is the blueberry capital. Who knew? Continuing my study of the Acadians, I learned that when the eight years of deportation and exile were over, many Acadians came back to Nova Scotia. Their land, however, had been sold to others and all that was allowed them was property along the Bay of Fundy, a rocky, hostile area of huge tides. They made it work, of course, and the red, white and blue flag with a gold star is evident everywhere.

Nova Scotia towns have a gaiety about them that we didn’t see in New Brunswick. The whole area is alive with goldenrod, and flowers abound. I couldn’t quite figure how this cold country could host such an array of flowers that grow so well in the Willamette Valley, but Dave looked it up, and we found that we are right on the 45th parallel here, so it is more temperate than we thought. Little town such as Annapolis Royal have window boxes and hanging baskets on every building. The day we visited they were having a town picnic and everyone was out and about. A bowl of fresh dog water sat in front of every business downtown, and the local artist’s group was painting. There were painters everywhere, and folks watching them. At 6 PM that night the paintings were auctioned off. What fun!

The area maintains a close relationship with the Mi’kmaq Indians. This was a tribe which helped the Acadians hide from the British and fought with the French. Mi’kmaq legends are woven into local lore and their art is evident.

We tried the local cuisine; Dave enjoyed the old Acadian Rappie Pie, a potato dish in which all the starch and water are squeezed out of the shredded potatoes, and it is baked with chicken. I tried the Dulse, a seaweed collected from the beaches, washed (one hopes) and dried. It resembles very thin shoe leather and tastes exactly like what you would expect beach flotsam to taste like! We found packages of french cigarettes with not just a warning, but a color photo of diseased gums and rotting teeth on the outside of the package! wuh! The one attorney we spotted on Digby’s main street is James L Outhouse (or maybe it’s Ooot-hooose). As my mother would say, “it’s the children who suffer.”

We have had fantastic weather this whole trip. It rained the day we took the Acadian Princess Ferry from Digby to St. John, New Brunswick. Heading for Damariscotta, Maine, we finally laid over just outside Bangor and made it to Damariscotta the next day. The rains quit then, and we have had an idyllic few days here on the Maine seacoast. Idyllic probably doesn’t do our time justice, sounds too tame. Idyllic is sitting around on the deck in a cool breeze. We did that too, but overall, we ate (lobster, ribs, haddock to die for), drank, talked, laughed, almost constantly for two and a half days, courtesy of our dear friends, Dan and Carol Perry. The Perrys live in McLean, VA, but have this 15 room “cabin” on Round Pond. In between the eating and drinking events, they showed us the local sights. It is such a truly beautiful area and these people are such wonderfully generous and smart and funny hosts. Dan worked at the Bend Bulletin years ago and Carol taught at Bear Creek Elementary; we are so lucky to be able to maintain their friendship.

We are staying at the Lake Pemaquid RV Camp, I’m trying to stay off my foot for a couple of days. It is getting better. I bought a cheap cane; by the time it breaks I won’t need it.

We leave in a couple of days for Gloucester, Massachusetts. We’ll be there for almost a week, through the Labor Day weekend. I thought we might have to reserve a spot in northern Maine or stay in the Wal-Mart parking lot, Labor Day is so huge on the east coast. We are keeping our fingers crossed that Hurricane Earl doesn’t hit the New England coast. Or the North Carolina Coast!

Love to all,
Sam and Dave

August 12, 2010

We are still in New Brunswick, having newness every day, and soaking it up. The weather is still just great: in the high 70s or low 80s every day, down to 60 degrees at night. It was windy yesterday, but just perfect for the kite flying festival in Dieppe, about 15 miles inland. It was so great, the PA system was very, very good and the music was matched to the kites. The performance of Jean Lamoureaux with the 20 kites hooked together brought tears to my eyes, it was just so beautiful.

The other night we watched the northern lights at midnight. At first we thought it was lightning without thunder, but the sweeping green and pink smears across the sky became very definitive. A very moving show. Tonight we are promised a spectacular meteor show: the Perseids are supposed to appear in the northeastern sky. We have a really dark night here, so are looking forward to seeing the meteors.

New Brunswick has a somewhat stark look to it. Houses are plain, for the most part, and set on ACRES of mowed lawn. Much larger lawns than we see on southeastern estates. Two story, with small windows, painted in light gray or white, with dark trim, and no trash around. No dead cars or boats, no blue tarps, and the garbage is set out in wooden crates, some quite decorative.

The Veterans Highway translates Vets to Anciens Combattans (!) Bologna is a staple on lots of dinner menus. The lobster season appears to be better than last year but not newsworthy. They sell lobster claw meat for about $6 per lb, cooked and shelled; tastes a little like crab. Seems like I forget to put on my earrings most days, and sometimes forget to comb my hair! I told Davey I was either very relaxed or getting senile; he says we’re going to go with relaxed.

Love,

Sam

August 3, 2010

Seems like we were there a long time ago (a week) and we’ve seen a lot since, but we LOVED the Finger Lakes area of New York. When Dave rode his bike across the United States this was the one area he wanted to come back to. I can see why. It is an area of five or more lovely lakes with pockets of population, pretty homes, beautiful gardens and flowers. People always ask us which area do we find the most beautiful. Now we have to say Utah AND the Finger Lakes.

The RV parks in upstate New York are filled with people staying for the summer. Hard to do a map for those parks. Actually, we are having such a good time, feeling like we are really on vacation, or finally retired (!), that I don’t want to work anymore! Dave is hoping the feeling will pass … and it probably will, although I don’t see the potential for mapping this part of the northeast.

Crossing the border into Canada was uneventful, except the official kept asking us if we had any guns. Do we look like people who have guns? We laughed for miles remembering the story about Larry Baker. When they asked Larry at the border if he had anything to declare, he declared “Amnesty for all!!” I can’t remember how long they were detained.

We thought the stiff attitude was just the border guard, but we encountered the same demeanor from folks in Ontario. My smile is still kind of a sneer, so I tried to make my eyes soft and friendly. Dave’s jokes did not go over well.

The roads are bad. Hwy, 20 East between Montreal and Quebec are every bit as bad as Jackson, Mississippi. We had a hard time finding an RV park reasonably close to where Andre and Louise live. Many parks can’t accommodate us: “Ure equeepmen ees too beeg!” Dave is dealing with it very modestly.

We finally found a “Camp Transit” near Levi on the South side of the St. Laurence River about 12 miles downriver from Quebec City. It is a 230 site park (with four washers!) almost full every day. Construction workers all take their vacation the last two weeks of July, which could explain some of our problems finding a park.

We are having the same culture shock in Quebec that we had in Georgia six years ago. It is not what we thought we knew. We thought Quebec City was maybe mostly french. Wrong. Quebec City is totally, rigidly french in every way. The civil laws are french, all the signs, packaging and instructions are in french and an english speaking person is not very welcome. Ontario met us with open arms compared to Quebec.

Everything is a little bit of a struggle for us, because we don’t know the language. For example, we could not spend as much time in the old part of the city because we could not find a parking space. We could not understand all the instructions on the parking signs. So we will probably not explore more of the province, but we are loving our experience here in the city. Andre and Louise Vachon graciously had us to their lovely condo for a wonderful meal and visit. And yesterday they took us to St. Raymond to look at my grandfather’s birthplace and where he grew up. Johnny Vachon, my mother’s father, was one of 13 children (9 boys); his brother Alexandre was Archbishop of Ottowa, a very well known, progressive leader in the Catholic world. Andre has published a book about Alexandre and is gathering information about John, Peter and Andrew Vachon, who went to Alaska at the turn of the 19th Century.

It has been wonderful to see the roots of my mother’s family. (And maybe my father’s as well – Louise is a Plamondon. Simon Plamondon was a french trader who married into the Cowlitz Tribe; his daughter married Michael Cottenoire.)

The gulf between English speaking and French speaking has existed since the earliest settlements here, although it apparently was not a point of contention in the early days. My great grandmother, Mary Davidson, was a protestant from Ireland, who spoke only english. Immigrants were so wanted it didn’t seem to matter what language they spoke. Although the Vachon children grew up with both french and english spoken in the home, there was only one religion; Mary converted, without her parents approval.

Andre’s family was also from St. Raymond. along the St. Anne River, and he was able to bring boyhood memories to our tour yesterday. It was an unforgettable journey and Andre and Louise themselves are the real treasures of our trip. We share core beliefs and values and are very glad we are family. We could be happy living next door to them. Alas, we cannot read the lease, so we will have to move on.

Quebec City is full of Volkswagens! We have never seen so many! And more cyclists than Eugene, Oregon! We realize that Canada has a short summer, but we find it extraordinary to see so many walkers and cyclists, and the downtown parks are large and full of families, strolling and picnicking. RV parks are full of Canadian families (mostly Quebec plates) on extended stays. Maybe these are the same folks who spend six months each winter in Florida! The rate of exchange is almost even but we find the prices high. Gas is $4 per liter, and my $l coke is $2.30. We have made some great discoveries, most by accident. Trying to order in a small restaurant last week, we ended up with a strange soggy plate of what sort of looked like french fries. Lucky us! They are poutines, a french fry served with chunks of white cheese and a delicious sweet, beefy sauce. So good!

It’s all good, dear friends. Today we are taking the ferry across the river to old town Quebec City, to walk and browse. We think of you with love.

Sam and Dave

July 21, 2010

We’re on the road again. Excited about seeing new places and looking forward to a cool breeze eventually. The Bell’s Palsy has gotten better. It’s been a month now and I can wink and almost smile (only a slight sneer, as the left side of my mouth still doesn’t work well). My pucker is back, though!

It occurs to me that this is the first time in my life I have been able to look at a trip with no worry or concern about getting back or checking in or leaving someone who depended on me. As much as I miss my mother, her death has released us both.

We are in Woodbine, MD this morning, on Hwy 70 west of Baltimore. The traffic on I-95, as you can imagine, is dense and fast, with occasional slowdowns due to construction. The heat is pretty bad; we don’t have A/C in the bus when we are driving. The freeways up to the Capitol are in awful shape; you know the minute you pass into Maryland. Built for transport, these freeways are tree-lined chutes, you can’t see anything through the leafy borders.

I loved noting the rivers we crossed. I have read so many books which featured one or the other: Appomattox, James, Chickahominy, Chesapeake Bay Watershed, Rappahanock, Potomac. Looking at the map last night, we have decided to go to Syracuse and up to Canada on Hwy 81. Might not escape the traffic, but it seems like it should be a little lighter. We are going to take a detour today and go to Gettysburg; can’t be this close and not go. I’ve got my can of Monkey Butt Lady’s Anti-Chafing Powders, so look forward to walking. Seems like a very un-genteel thing to find in the South, but it works.

Keep the wind atcher back! Sam & Dave

Dear friends,

A note to check in with you all before we head north. We’ve been here at Jason’s much longer than we planned, mainly because I’ve developed Bell’s Palsy. On June 26 I woke up completely paralyzed on the left side of my face. Couldn’t close my eye, couldn’t open it either; droop and drool. Talked like a cartoon character and smiling made me look deranged. Felt like I couldn’t go out in public, but have to say a few days later we met Dave’s sister in Nashville – there was a Moose Convention and a meeting of little people in town – and no one noticed me.

We went to the ER to make sure my self diagnosis was right, and when the CT scan and labs came back okay we celebrated with a lunch. An hour later we were racing home trying to beat one of North Carolina’s epic thunderstorms. Too Late. Our big awning filled with rain & broke as we drove up. We never go anywhere and leave the awning out, but we were preoccupied that morning. The steel end tube cost $200, and $260 to ship it from Illinois. Dave & Jason fixed it last Saturday,

We had a special 32nd. wedding anniversary on July first. The Swan kids prepared and served us a special dinner, complete with candles and mood music; just the two of us in the specially decorated dining room. It was maybe our most memorable anniversary meal ever!

So . . . . we are getting ready to start our journey north. I am just starting to see improvement in my face; still can’t drink w/o a straw. Our insurance doesn’t cover health care in Canada so we want to start out feeling good. The plan is to drive straight through to New Brunswick, see Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, then go to Quebec City to see Cousin Andre and Louise Vachon. We hope to spend a month, around Sept. 10 to Oct.10 in New England and New York, then come back to North Carolina and work.

We’re still living in the heat and humidity, both running close to 100. Dave is comfortable most of the time; I’m just one large fierce looking rash.

Love to all,

Sam

Dear friends,

Not much travel news from Swansboro this time; just family stuff. Kevin gave us tickets to fly out to Tacoma for Morgan Ann’s graduation from Bellarmine Prep. It was a wonderful few days; big party, big graduation ceremony, big milestone, big gift for us. Morgan has grown into a beautiful blonde, reed-slim young woman, with beautiful big eyes and Lord knows how many thousands in her gorgeous mouth (teeth). She has turned out well. Wants to be a vet and will head to Washington State in late August. She and best friend Lindsey are currently on a graduation trip to Maui; Mom and Dad only mildly stressed. Not worried about Morgan getting into trouble, but you can’t help but be concerned about trouble wandering down the beach.

When we were in Tacoma seems like all we talked about was North Carolina and smart kids, beautiful kids, warm weather, etc., etc. Now all we are talking about is Tacoma and how special Morgan is and the yard was gorgeous and Kevin and Shelly took such good care of us. Why do we do that?

Last job was in Greensboro, North Carolina. We really liked the area, halfway between Raleigh and Winston-Salem. There are ten colleges in the immediate area, and an important history of civil rights. They have taken the old Woolworth’s Dime Store where the first sit-in occurred and made it into a civil rights museum; really interesting. We have been in other cities that were predominately black (Montgomery, Alabama) but Greensboro was very comfortable.

We are parked in Jason and Jamie’s driveway, sweltering. Found a really good dentist and are getting our teeth stuff done. When we were in middle Georgia I saw a Chiropractor for a low back strain and he did such a good job, I said, “My bite is off a little, bit, is there anything you can do for a jaw problem?” One of my bigger mistakes of the year. By the time we got here, 6 weeks later, I was in constant pain, and it was big pain, right up there with brain surgery pain! Wuh! I couldn’t tell whether it was my jaw, a broken tooth, or some kind of abscess. Awful. Anyway, getting my teeth worked on made it worse, of course, but the doc put me on a muscle relaxer and now, two weeks later, I’m nearly cured. Feels like a miracle.

Jason has been tapped as Bishop of the Havelock, NC ward of their LDS Church. We always knew he would serve as a Bishop somewhere, and even though this may not be the best time for him to have to invest the time and effort, they need his leadership and he will do well. The Mormon Church operates as kind of a WINGS personal growth program: They get together and evaluate and pray, and pick someone for each job that needs to be done. No one is a professional at the task assigned, but somehow everyone ends up doing what he is supposed to be doing, and doing it pretty well. They help one another and humility is embraced, vulnerability is acknowledged and success is celebrated. The ritual of ordaining a new bishop was very touching and we were very proud to see how Jason is respected and loved. We were also impressed by the Church’s tradition of approaching Jamie first, asking if she could sustain Jason in his role of Bishop. This is a huge thing, as he, of course, still works full time and is taking courses for his PhD, and as Bishop will have a flock to attend to. Jamie doesn’t get much of his time now, let alone with this new role. So they are in it as a unit, for the next five years or so. I’m sure there will be rewards (Dave was hoping for a car, but I think the rewards will be more in the area of spiritual strength). (Maybe a lawn mowing from time to time.)

Today is a typical Saturday for the Swan family: Jason started digging out the ditch in the front yard, to shore up the driveway, but he has gone to officiate his first funeral. Dave is taking an apprenticeship on brick cutting (for the ditch project) from neighbor Charlie, hoping to help Jason later. It is Jamie’s birthday, and she has already made two trips, before noon, to deliver/pick up kids for parties, shopping. We are taking J and J out to dinner tonight for her B’Day while Susie stays with the kids. That’s if Susie and Becca get finished with the makeover they are giving Jamie for her birthday. Xander and Katie had a sleepover with us in the bus last night and are still reeling around in pajamas, cartooned out. I’m watching the World Cup and making a quilt for my brother’s newest grandson, due in August. Life is good. (As good as it can get living in a metal tube at 94 degrees in North Carolina. We’re trying to work the air conditioners to keep it cooler, but we have limited amps available.)

We are going to Nashville early July to meet Carole, Dave’s sister, when she is inducted into some big, secret role in the Moose. This recognition is long overdue for her and we are very excited for her. I was especially excited, because I have discovered where the large black ladies shop and made some happy purchases. Actually, Indians and Blacks have similar tasted: Indians prefer things that flutter and sparkle, whereas Black seem to like sparkle and drape, but we both like bold color and the bosom reigns! Wouldn’t you know I can’t go to Carole’s coronation (because it’s SECRET), and I just know my new Tops would be admired, with a corsage of course. Poop. I’m going to wear them in Nashville anyway.

Love you all,

Sam