December 2013

Happy holidays everyone,

This turned out to be a banner year for Sally and Rodney although neither of us can take much credit for the timing of the two major events that shaped our lives at the end of 2013 and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. As we reported would happen in last year's letter Rodney was 'severed' from Fidelity as his job moved to North Carolina in September. He is still getting used to the idea that this may really be an early retirement. The coincidental arrival of Sarah Hazel Swartzbaugh (aka Zuzu) on the same day Rodney retired was something we did not know about as we were writing last year. She is a 9th generation Sarah.  Our photo collage has a picture of 4 Sarahs, one on a screen from California.  Needless to say we are very very happy here at 22 Hayes Lane.

We spent a good part of the year looking forward to the arrival of grandchild #1 and it has proven every bit as wonderful and exciting as we expected. When the time came she took her own sweet time in coming but even her poor Mom, Meg, would agree that she was worth the wait. If her two grandmothers have anything to do with it she is going to the world's most photographed baby. Although she the most precious thing in the world and well worth photographing.  BTW, Sally is borrowing her grandmother name from my French Canadian friend Kris, which is Mémère pronounced (mem-meh). Rodney is Granda, which follows his Blair/Lowe traditions.

Spending time at 'Coniston', our Vermont home, has allowed us to see lots of her even if it is still never enough.  Her mom and dad coordinated a switch in their jobs as they planned for her arrival, with Chris getting a promotion to Operations manager with Citizens bank which means that although he is the road a lot visiting bank all over Vermont and New Hampshire he does get to work from home some of the time. Meg is taking a nice three month long break (nice for the US I mean, it not quite as civilized as Europe) and will be moving to a more predictable 9-5 job in the new year. I understand both Grandmothers will be getting 'permission slips' in their Christmas Stockings which will allow them to take ZuZu out of daycare.  

ZuZu's arrival was the prefect way to take Rodney's mind of what retirement means as did a couple of weeks suffering through his 4th Kidney stone. As we write, the stone has been blasted with lasers and he will be returning to hospital on the Dec 24 for the final step in the process of that troublesome little event.

We just got back from a week in southern Florida visiting Sally's sister Dau and family in Cape Coral as well as her Mom and Charlie in Vero Beach.   This was Sally’s third trip to visit family and friends in Florida this year.  Since September 30th, we have also taken two road trips in New England.  It does feel strange to not have to arrange traveling around a 5 day work schedule.  I think we will get used to it.  And we are preparing to leave on Christmas day for a UK trip, spending a few days in London catching up with friends Andy, Miriam and Jake, who moved there a few years ago, and then north to visit Rod’s family.

Retirement plans for Rodney involve much more art and travel wrapped around a good amount of grand parenting.  We both remain involved with the First Parish choir and Sally also sings in a group that serves hospice patients which complements her other volunteer role as a hospice volunteer. Rodney remains involved with Communities Without Borders supporting Zambian Aids orphans (see cuddle dolls in collage) and has began working with a local group doing 'barn raisings' to help insulate houses of poor neighbors. Sally entered her 5th year on the board of the Star Island Corporation which means we had an extra couple of trips out to Star Island this year for official meetings (as a 'hanger on' Rodney just got to relax and read for a few days).

Bethany and her boyfriend Bryan moved from Watertown to Somerville and both moved into new jobs. She is still Director of Social Action at First Parish in Concord but also now runs their youth programs. So between her now full time job at Concord and classes at Divinity school Bethany is a busy lady. Bryan is now playing in two bands and Sally and Rodney bring the average age up when we go hear him play.  Recently we went to Johnny D's in Somerville to an all Monkees show.  9 bands playing 2-3 songs each.  Sally and Bryan's mother Linda, sang along with a lot of the songs.

It would be remiss to end without mentioning the sad events of the Boston Marathon this year. None of us were directly impacted but as was everyone else in the Boston area we were all impacted by the subsequent (and some of us would say over reaching) police action in the area. Living in Watertown, Bethany was the closest to many of the events of the final day's wild end. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who were injured by the two blasts near the finish line. We remain Boston Strong.

Last weekend we celebrated an early Christmas in VT with Swartzbaughs, Lowes and Russells.  This is our second annual early celebration complete with stockings, eggs benedict and staying in our PJs all day.  It was great to watch to snow come down and have no where to go.  Zuzu played with her favorite present, which was some wrapping paper (see picture in collage).

We have been blessed this year in so many ways, for which we are grateful. Our blessings go out to all of our friends and relatives for 2014 and hope the new year brings you happiness, love and satisfaction in abundance.

Love Sally and Rodney

Lahey Burlington customer service - for the most part an A-

Many of my blogs have been about customer service because I like to tell the good, bad and ugly stories I have had.

Last week, my husband had day surgery at Lahey Clinic in Burlington to remove his ornery kidney stone.  The overall experience was fantastic.  I find that Lahey is very well laid out and organized.  Parking is a pain, but I am not sure how they could improve that except to lower the age by a decade of their visitors and patients, since the 2 mile an hour speed in the parking garage makes for long lines of traffic trying to find a spot.

The check-in for surgery was easy and I left my beloved there to go finish grocery shopping for our impending Christmas celebration in VT.  At check-in I said I would be out and about and would like it if they would call my cell phone.  The doctor would call my cell when the surgery was over and the recovery room would call when I could come visit him.

I finished my shopping and decided I would rather wait at the hospital and given the timing they had told me, I would be waiting about an hour there.  The family waiting room is in the basement of the hospital right near the operating and recovery rooms.  That makes a lot of sense.  What does not make sense is that there is no cell phone coverage there.

I told every hospital employee that I encountered that I was not at home but was waiting in the family waiting room, and that means I told about 10 people in my 2.5 hour wait.

Every 5-10 minutes a doctor would walk into the family waiting room and announce a patient name and then leave with that family and discuss the surgery privately in the hall.  Also every 45 minutes a recovery nurse would come into the waiting room and go around the room asking if you had any questions.  All three times I said yes, I wanted to make sure the doctor knew I was here not at home.  The last time she said, "Yes he is out of surgery but usually it was 45 minutes before family could visit."  I knew he had been out for longer than 45 minutes, because the really nice monitor of all the patients first names and last initials, indicates what stage the patient is in and that had been 75 minutes not 45 minutes.  I did not argue with her, and I knew it would be another 45 minutes before anyone came back in.

My grip about the family waiting room is that the person is not sincere who kept coming in.  She was going through the motions, and got defensive when I said the second time, that I was in the family waiting room not at home.  The doctor NEVER got the message that I was in this room.  She left a voice mail right after the surgery BUT you don't get cell coverage in the family waiting room, and you cannot leave there in case that is the 2 minutes when YOUR doctor comes in looking for you.  I did leave 3 times to use the ladies room right down the hall, but did not risk going up stairs in case I missed someone looking for me.  I knew he was in recovery, but I did not know the surgery started 50 minutes late.  People are anxious waiting for family post surgery so please over-communicate not under-communicate.  They are doing their best to try to communicate to families but there are a few improvements.

One funny aside, as one family member stepped outside the waiting room there was a robot moving down the hall and she kind of freaked out.  As she said "We are anxious enough, but to step in the hall and see the robot moving in front of you is kind of freaky."  I am not sure what kind of machine it was, maybe paperwork, maybe a cleaning machine but it was pretty funny to see.

Improvements for the family waiting room 1) get cell coverage, in this day and age you have to be able to use a phone there.  If this is not technologically something we can do then I am very disappointed.  As an aside, there are parts of Lexington where I don't get coverage so maybe I am just being an eternal optimist on this one.  2) Be sincere when you come into a room of family waiting for their loved ones who have just gone under the knife 3) Have one log where you can update the status of waiting family and communicate this in the patients record rather than on a piece of paper you fill out when you initially register, which apparently you can never update again.

Now for my biggest grip.  The recovery nurse was wonderful.  When she was telling me about the drugs Rod would be on post surgery she made sure to tell me everything she told him, because he was dozing and woozy and would not remember what he had been told.  She said, "The pharmacy up stairs is very slow!  Let me call in your prescriptions!"  Which she left immediately to do.  I went up 20 minutes later, and they said 15 more minutes.  I was trying to make it so that we did not have to wait up there with Rod dozing in the wheel chair in the middle of the pharmacy department.  We went up 45 minutes later to pick them up quickly from the pharmacy and head to the car and then home.  THEY STILL WERE NOT READY!  I asks how long.  5 minutes.  Apparently we were on pharmacy time and 15 minutes later they were still not ready.  I went up to window and asked for them back saying "I am going to fill them at Walgreens".  Suddenly they were ready.  I was pretty snarky (really snarky is not a word when I did a spell check?)  at this time and said "If I were you, my main objective would be to get them filled quickly so patients who had been operated on 4 hours earlier could get home to bed and not wait in a wheel chair in the middle of the pharmacy area."  "That is my goal too"  she said.  "Really?"  I said, gesturing to Rod dozing in the chair.

Their own peers know they are slow and I might add, not customer focused and they are defensive.  The original person I talked to insisted on the paper copies of the prescriptions before she would even start, which I agree with, BUT recovery had called them in (their process) and when they call them in you only need the paper copy to pick them up.

OK, rant over.

Rod is 4 days post surgery, nearly back to normal and this whole kidney stone episode is almost behind us.  Lahey is general gets an A- from me.  Almost everyone we met was friendly, polite, concerned, and efficient.  I think their organization and processes are very good EXCEPT for the family waiting room process and ALL of the pharmacy employees.  I repeat, even their peers know they are slow and not efficient.

Have we gone too Digital? Just wonderin'

Don't get me wrong, I am all for being green and not cutting down trees.  I support storing documents and photos on my computer or in the cloud.

However, in the past week, two organizations to which I belong have experienced the loss of organizational knowledge because a binder with paper documents was lost, misplaced, or thrown away. 

We have a church administrator who is very organized and she keeps everything you need in a binder and most of those binders are at her finger tips.  I asked her a question yesterday and within 2 minutes she found the information for me from five years of history in our church newsletter.  She pulled out five binders, flipped to the correct month and found the information for me.  I wonder if we could have done this search as quickly digitally.  Probably with a good search function we could have.  Yes, and there is something about seeing the hardcopy which is a different experience.

I think about this as well, as I sort my pictures and try to put them into some kind of order.  My digital ones are all by year and month, but hard to search, BECAUSE there are so many of them.  Some of my non-digital photos are in photo albums, and the experience of searching through for a specific one is just a different experience.  Touching those old photos brings me back in a way that viewing on a screen does not.

So I really sound like an old fogey but I miss hardcopy sometimes and I hope to find some of those lost binders, because I know there will be valuable information, we might need for a future task.

Yoga studio versus YMCA

I have just finished a month of a special at Black Crow Yoga in Arlington.  $30 for 30 days of unlimited yoga.  I probably attended 12 classes and they were all terrific.  They have excellent instructors there, and I felt challenged every day that I went.  It is a small, aesthetic studio in Arlington Center, and with no traffic I can get there in 12 minutes.  As well, a friend joined at the same time an we have a coffee date at Barismo in Arlington Center after our yoga.  Go there if you are in the area.  It is a real treat.

I started looking for a studio when my favorite teacher was not rehired at the Woburn YMCA, because she visit her home country and family every summer and they did not rehire her the last two summers she has gone.  I understand that they cannot keep the slot open for 6 weeks, while she is away.  However, she is technically the best instructor.  I tried the other classes and they were not up to the quality of Ruth's classes.  They were too gentle, too short and not personal enough.  Some of them were just not good yoga teachers.

SO now I have a decision.  Join Black Crow for $89/month for unlimited yoga or try to piece a yoga practice attending the ones at the Y that challenge me, and finding Ruth, or Ruth like instructors in other venues.  My considerations are 1) flexibility, 2) timing, 4) my travel calendar and 4) quality of yoga.

Black Crow wins on the 4th one, and the Y wins on the other 3.

I met with the new operations person at the Y on Thursday, and shared with him my concerns and the history of yoga and yoga instructors.  I don't think he knew what hit him when he scheduled this meeting.  He is only a month on his job and promised to get back to me after doing his research into this.

In my 5 years there the yoga/wellness programs have deteriorated.  I attend primarily for the yoga however, I do other things as well.  When I had injuries last year, I used the recumbent bike and elliptical, and I did some water aerobics.  For flexibility the Y wins.

My decision is made and staying at the Y makes the most sense.  I will then take one class a week at Black Crow when they have their $10 community drop in.  It is not perfect but the best for me right now.  I will miss my coffee dates at Barisimo after yoga though.

Sabbath - Weekends last forever now

I don't mean to rub it in, but our family no longer has "weekends", as in the two days of the week to travel, get errands done, socialize, tour, visit etc.

I realized this last night when we planned our next visit to our grand daughter.  My thinking is still locked into having to travel on the weekend to see her, oh and her father and mother.  I had a sinking feeling in my heart that it would be months before we could get up to see her.

"Well, we could go up in the middle of the week!" Rod said.  Yes we can and we will!

This is going to take some adjustment in my thinking.  We have segmented our daily living into weekdays and weekends, and in fact they have these names.  I sometimes wonder how we did all we did when we had two children at home, both worked full time and in there somewhere I got my Master's.

Recently our minister preached on the Sabbath and it has gotten me thinking about what 24 hours we could celebrate the Sabbath.  The challenge would be to put away our electronics, and TV.  It means to really honor the time period and rest and reflect and enjoy life slowed down.

I guess we could start in a shorter segment, which we did by attending the Vespers last Friday night at First Parish Lexington.

SO if you are looking for us in the middle of next week, we will be in Vermont visiting Sarah Hazel Swartzbaugh and her parents.  I guess we should let them know.........

Zuzu pictures are like greeting cards from Bermuda

When Rod and I met in 1985, it was prior to email.  After I left Bermuda, having met him and fallen totally over heels in love, our first cards to each other crossed in the mail.  For the next 18 months we both wrote 1 card a day to each other.  At first, I would read every card every night.  That became unwieldy when I received more than 20 cards, so I would read just the most recent ones.  Occasionally, when I was really missing him, I would read them all.

Similarly the same feeling is happening with Zuzu pictures.  My wonderful son and his wife are supplying me with daily texts of photos of Sarah Hazel Swartzbaugh.  The first day of her life I spent many hours looking at recent pictures.  In fact, at George and Judy's house the night of her birth, 5  devices were being looked at with pictures of Zuzu (her nickname).

I have been putting the pictures in a Picasa Web Album and when I get bored, curious, angry, happy, content, depressed, etc, I pull up that album.  She is now 16 days old, so the album is getting BIG.  I know the novelty of having a granddaughter will wear off, but my delight of looking at the most recent picture will not and I will occasionally go back when she is 20 and look at the entire album.

Technology has changed in the last 28 years, but not the delight at reading/watching communication from/of loved ones.

Black Crow Yoga versus the YMCA

I joined the Woburn Y over 6 years ago, and immediately started going to their morning yoga class on Thursday mornings.  At the time I had Lenore, and loved her.  I just did the yoga and left for the final relaxation pose, because I was off to work.  Very silly looking back at that, but this is how I got into a regular yoga practice.

Upon retirement, I attended yoga at the Y at least 2 times a week and fell in love with Ruth who is a fantastic practitioner.  I tried other instructors as well, and Marilyn at the Y is a close second to Ruth in terms of her expertise and depth of yoga training.  The Y also has some other teachers who are not as good as these two.

Ruth is from Switzerland and goes to visit her daughters and grand children every summer for 6 weeks.  For the last two summers, the Y has refused to rehire Ruth for her regular Wednesday and Friday morning classes.  She has a regular following who were disappointed by this.  I have filled out no less than 10 comment cards about this, 3 in the last 3 months.  I decided yesterday that I needed to kick it up a level.  At the front desk I asked to talk to the person responsible for hiring the yoga teachers.  Lucky for me, maybe, the Executive Director was walking by at that moment and listened to my concerns.  He took my email and we will see what happens.  I don't want to leave the Y, because I like to support the community.  However, I have to have a regular yoga practice and I now know the difference in instructors.

I belong to the Y primarily for the yoga.  I am definitely in a minority given the size of their small studio dedicated to yoga and the size of their space dedicated to weight machines and cardio machines.  I understand that they have to satisfy all of their constituents and that many people do not attend the yoga classes.  Maybe I have gotten an incredible bargain by paying $40 a month for over 7 years and getting Ruth and Marilyn's expertise.  It is possible to attend Ruth's classes at the Winchester Senior Center as a drop in or to attend her classes through Arlington Continuing Ed.  I have thought about doing this but have resisted, because I want to go one place for my exercise.

Three weeks ago I researched yoga studios.  Our local one in Lexington would cost me $14-$18 a session and after paying $40 a month that seems like a lot.  In my research I found Black Crow in Arlington.  I bought their 30 days for $30 deal and am attending whenever I can.  I love the challenge on my body of this studio and all of their teachers; so far I have taken 4 classes.  They have similar rates as our local Lexington Power Yoga studio.  After my 30 days runs out, I may try Lexington's, as much yoga in a week as you can take for $20.

So I have gotten an incredible deal for 5 years at our local Y, and unless I can get the quality of Ruth or Marilyn in a morning yoga class, I may be paying triple that amount at Black Crow or Lexington Power Yoga.  Yoga feeds my spirit, body and soul and $140 a month is worth it.  This means that I will have to get my cardio by walking or biking. In the summer I do that outside anyway.  The winters will be the difficult when the ice and snow prevent walking the bike path.  Then I can go walk at the mall I guess.

We will see if anyone calls me back from the Y.  I don't feel listened to so far having left 3 comment cards in 3 months with my call back number.  I don't expect them to cater to my need for yoga if the rest of their constituents want other exercise programs.  I will be taking care of myself though and intend to make sure my body, spirit and soul are kept healthy with a good yoga practice.

Mémère

Polaroid gave me some important things.  Two of those are Bethany's name and my grand mother name.  I worked with someone who's daughter was named Bethany.  We worked together on a Holiday party.  I heard the name that day and pretty much was sold on the name over any other one we talked about.  Fortunately Rod agreed, because this event was before I met him.

Mémère comes from my friend Kris (Priscilla).  She was a Mémère when I worked with her and she was a damn good one.  She is of French Canadian descent and this is what they call the grandmother.  It has such a wonderful sound and of all the names I contemplated it seems to work for me.  I knew almost since I heard Kris use that name that if I were ever to become a grandmother, that was the name I wanted my grandchildren to call me.  Truth be told, she will call me whatever she chooses, but if the parents refer to me by Mémère, we stand a better chance.

She is only 6 days old and I have described the name and it's pronunciation to many people so here is how it is pronounced,  MEH May.  A lot of people try to pronounce mere like the French say mother but there is no R.

It is interesting, this naming of the grandmother.  We called my grandmother Mama, but our first cousins called her Dody and everyone else called her Miss Jo.  It was very confusing as a child.  We called our other grandmother Grandma Katie.  I often wondered why we did not call Mama, Grandma Jo or Grandma Josephine.  We called my one grandfather, Grandpa, because the other one died before we were born.  That made more sense.

So who knows if Mémère will stick but I really like the sound of it and the anticipation of Sarah Hazel Swartzbaugh calling me that one day, melts my heart once more.

Typing this post also helped me find out how to type accents acute and grave ; )

Grandparenthood - Just call me Memere

Many people described being a grand parent as the most wonderful experience.  They did not use a lot of detailed description but there was that look in their eyes that indicated it was unique, unusual and indescribable.

Last Sunday morning, my mobile dinged, indicating a text, at 5:30 am.  They were on their way to the hospital.  I have been sleeping next to my mobile for a week just in case they texted in the middle of the night.

We were up and awake already so we stayed up to watch the sunrise at Coniston.  The anticipation was similar to our own labor but obviously not as intense.  We distracted ourselves with a ride up the Hero Islands over the bridge to Rousse's Point NY and back on the ferry to Mike and Pegs' and a dinner visit with cousins Linda and Becky.  We contemplated going to Montreal but did not want to be that far away.  As it turns out, we could have made that trip.

We then drove to Burlington and just caught George and Judy coming back from the airport.  We had Old fashioneds with them at the Hotel Vermont and then we were invited to stay the night with them, in case there was a text in the middle of the night.  Nothing overnight.

We spent Monday distracting ourselves again with shopping and Starbucks and long walks.  We made lunch and in the middle of lunch we got the text "She's here".

My wonderful family can describe better my excitement but I was shaking so much I could not even compose the text to let my Mom and siblings know.  I continued the message to them "Crick just texted me "She's here"".  We texted back, can we visit, and 20 minutes later we were in the elevator of the hospital.  I almost got on Fox TV as we were joined in the elevator by a hospital executive and the news crew.  "We are new grand parents!"  I blurted out.  I had also told most of Church Street that I was about to be a grand mother.

As we entered the room, I will never forget the sight of my son holding his new daughter.  Meg was exhausted and also looked lovingly at her husband holding their daughter.  I have only held my two children in the first hour of their life so it was such an honor to be there. I got to hold her for a few minutes before handing her back to those capable hands of her father when she got fussy.

We have had two other visits since then including one with Bethany who drove up from Boston on Monday night.  She was going to wait, but when we were there for the first time, her niece whimpered and she heard that.  There was no stopping her from coming up as soon as she could.

We get daily texted pictures from Crick who has a permanent smile on his face as he watches Meg hold their daughter or he holds her himself.

This newly expanded family is settling into their new life with this little one.  We are adjusting to having another dimension to our lives, this unconditional love and legacy of family,  AND the birth of our grand daughter.  The magnetic pull from Vermont which was already pretty strong just got stronger.  I now understand that look in grandparent's eyes.  I am starting to understand that this is a very different relationship that any I have had with anyone before.

If you wonder why I am Memere, that is the topic of another post.

There has to be a better experience than this

No one likes poor quality, however, sometimes what you have is worth dealing with versus changing when you don't know for sure that the new product or situation will be better.  As well, with time our expectations of service change based on what we have.  As an example, my first wordprocessor only saved 1/2 page in memory, and my Yahoo mail account used to have a storage limit.  I had to actually delete emails to get below the storage limit.  Same with my work email.  This would be unacceptable in today's email environment.

We bought Coniston, our house in Vermont in 2008.  It is in the boonies of Vermont and for a few months we went without Internet.  We quickly decided that we needed to add some technology to this paradise of quiet.

Rod did quite a bit of research including having one provider come visit the house for a microwave dish, but they could not find a signal.  We ended up with a local provider Wild Blue which provided up with a satellite dish and very very very very slow speed for browsing, reading mail, searching google, etc.  We stuck with it since this is not our primary residence, and for the last year we have been considering Fairpoint, a DSL through the existing phone line.  NO, we are not putting in a land line although for billing they had to give us an unworkable one.  Our last dozen visits we have used the hot spot on Rod's iPhone which was faster than the satellite dish.  This is just unbelievable that an iphone has faster connectivity than a huge dish.

We brought the Fairpoint wireless modem up with us last night and after one call to tech support, we installed the wireless modem.  Ipads, iphones and my Mac are all connected.  We do not even have to have a computer hard wired to the modem.

The difference in speed was unbelievable.  It is not painful to browse websites and check mail, and make casebook updates about the impending birth of our granddaughter.  We immediately got on the phone to cancel Wild Blue.  I do not want to pay one more cent to them for inferior service.  We have choices about what we use for service, but I feel like they are not being competitive and their prices is high for the service we get.

What I do not understand is why it took us so long.  We complained a lot about the speed.  When Chris and Meg lived here they installed Direct TV because of the slow speed and never updated iTunes or any other updates on their phones or iPad through the Internet.  They went to Starbucks for that.

The learning for me is to listen more quickly to that inner voice which says, "there has to be a better quality experience for me available for less cost".

I have had a similar experience with another professional lately.  I went to her for 3 years and after most visits and that amount of time, and that inner voice saying, "there has to be a better experience", I switched to a different professional.  The experience is 100 times better.  Again, why did I wait?  Inertia, loyalty, stupidity, lack of knowledge, comfort.

So Wild Blue, you lost us as a customer because you refused to upgrade the speed of the satellite dish.  Yes, we are in the boonies, but I am telling everyone I know about this experience, including this blog post, which might tell people I don't know.

All I want for Christmas is bags of trash to leave the house

About 10 years ago, as we examined our needs and desires for Christmas Rod said "All I want for Christmas is for bags of trash to leave the house."  Since then, whenever I am in a cleaning mood and walk through our front room on the way to the bin or with a bag on its way to a charity, I wish him Merry Christmas.  It is a silly thing, but it is still true, that we have very few material needs and what we need is simplicity, and pruning of material possessions.

Partly because Rod just retired and partly because of the time of year, we have spent the last two days getting lots of trash out of the house.  We are setting up my old sewing room as Rod's art studio and I am moving my fabric into the guest room built in wardrobe.  My sewing machine will be kept in a cupboard in the kitchen/living room, because this is where I sew.  It is sunny, I can watch TV and this is where people are.

In the process, I am packing all of Bethany's possessions into boxes and most of her stuff is now tucked into a closet in the guest room.  It feels so good for the three of us to clean out stuff and sort the house out.

Funny story, Bethany had a friend in grade school who came for a play date, and we were moving furniture from the front living room to the family room.  A month later, we decided we did not like it so we were moving it back.  Bethany had another play date with the same friend who said "Does your family always move furniture around?"  Well, I guess we do, I guess we are always changing things and trying to make our house work better.

So about 10 bags of clothes to Goodwill and trash have been packed up and the carrying through the front room is always accompanied by a "Merry Christmas!"  I guess we can have Christmas in July and every other month of the year if we want.

Latest Technology Challenge

After one week, I am still not sure about my new Macbook Air.  The first night was painful with lots of profanity and "What is happening?" and "Why would they do that?" and "Maybe I should have bought an IPad with a camera".

I know change is hard, in fact I teach change management but when it is happening to me it is different.  I am getting over some of the initial frustration and in fact like some of the features and functionality.

However, yesterday when my video camera did not work on two back to back calls, one Google Hangout and one Gotomeeting, I was irate.  Of course I naturally went to the internet for resolution and found out that with the new OS update, there is a problem with Macbook Air computers and Skype, Hangout and Gotomeeting.  However, there is no problem with Facetime and Photo Booth.

So, it is not a hardware problem, because the camera works.  It is a software problem, but Apple software or the other companies?  Apple apparently claims it is the other companies problem.  One solution is to use Time Machine, which is another Apple product, hmmmmm!

So, NO Apple I am not going to buy another piece of equipment, to backup my machine.  If I back up this machine it will be with Carbonite which has saved me three times this year when the desktop had to be reimaged from scratch.

Last night I was so mad I was going to the Apple store ASAP today.  This morning after sitting on it and doing some research, I am going to wait until the software people in which ever company have the problem, sort it out.

It is reported on enough forums as a problem, so hopefully by the time my next video meeting comes along it will be fixed.  I do have a solution that I can use for my Google Hangout calls, which is a workaround but will enable me to be seen on a video call.  This is after all, why I bought a new machine, so I can take part in video calls.  They are so much better when you can see the body language of the other participants.

My next challenge is to sort out my shard Contacts and try to eliminate the duplicates on my iPhone and get the phone numbers in contacts on my Macbook Air.  I have tried to solve this challenge before and have lived for years with duplicates.  Anyone have a suggestion on this challenge?

Trip to Maine to visit Susan and her family of dogs

There is nothing like an old friend, and visiting them to relive old memories and create new ones.  They knew you when you were still making silly life mistakes, were not quite as wise and old, and in some cases were wild and crazy.

I just returned from a quick trip to Maine to visit a friend who I have know since Chris was 3 months old, so 33.5 years.  She moved there 2 months ago from upstate NY where she has lived for a long time.   It was great to be in her house, see her dogs and to sit on couches in front of a wonderful view or marshes and the ocean.




There are a few people in my life who I really enjoy shopping with and she is one of them.  Otherwise I HATE shopping.  I bought a wonderful new shirt, some stocking stuffers, greeting cards and a present for my soon to be retired husband.  It was not just any shirt, it was one I have been looking for forever, but finally found what I want.  BTW, I did not know I was looking for this shirt until I found it.

One wonderful thing about Susan is her love of dogs.  She has two pugs and two labs.  I re-met the pugs last January when I visited her in Florida, but had not seen the labs for 5-6 years since I visited her old house in NY.  They energetically and warmly greet you as soon as you open the front door.  One of the pugs sat on my lap for a lot of the visit.

We walked twice on the beach with the labs.  I love to watch labs in the water.  Both of hers are pretty old so Susan does not want them to chase things except sticks and balls in the water while swimming.  Yesterday morning we walked at low tide out to some rocks which at high tide are not reachable.  It was not quite low tide so at times I did walk through 6 inches of water and my feet were pretty wet.  We reached the rocks, and some cairns that people built.  It was an amazing walk.

We ate a picnic this lunchtime on some rocks in Biddeford Pool, along with a seagull who sat watching us for a pretty long time.

It is really wonderful to know someone for this much of my adult life.  Susan knows a lot of my history, and remembers details that I don't.  I remember details that she does not remember.  There have been periods of time when we are not in contact, but with each visit we agree to make the time for each other.  We like to spend time together and I for one feel better about myself after a visit with her.  That to me is the definition of a good friend.

She is only 90 minutes away now, so I anticipate more frequent visits to see her, and the dogs and for walks on the beach.  I realized that life is too short to not make time for quick visits like this and for longer ones too.  We almost were on our way to NYC tomorrow for a quick trip but thought better of that.  Soon though, a trip to NYC!

Does everyone know about Freecycle?

I am in the process of getting rid of stuff that I don't need in the house any more and I don't want throw it away and have it end upin the land fill. I have felt that way for quite a while and one website that I just love is Freecycle.

I am actually shocked when people have not heard about this great Website. It takes a little bit of effort, but you pass things on to others who need them and the items leave your house.

I even helped a friend last year when she was moving. I took several car loads of stuff away from her house to mine, and got rid of most of it on Freecycle. First, I invited all of the neighborhood kids over to pick through it and then I put it on Freecycle. I believe that this is a local issue which is why we have tag sales and why I invited the neighborhood kids over first. Freecycle is local, since many towns/cities have their own group.

For the uninitiated, the way it works is you join a group and post items as OFFER, with a picture attached if you think that will help someone take it. People reply that they want it, you get to choose who gets it and you mark the item as TAKEN. Often, people reply within 5 minutes to my items so I monitor my email right after I post, so I can reply quickly and then take it "off the market".

I started using Freecycle for green and sustainability reasons. Now it is a game. Over the next month, I am going to post one item a day on average and feel better because my house is less cluttered. So far I have gotten rid of fireplace tools and screen, pet door and a box of CDs and tapes.

If you have not tried it, DO! If you already use Freecycle, what has been your experience?


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This is it - Thich Nhat Hanh

This quote was one of those we saw on Saturday at ABC carpeting in NYC. The exhibit was of calligraphy that Thich Nhat Hanh made of some of his quotes. In a corner of this huge busy store was a sanctuary of altars surrounding quotes hung on the wall. It was very simple and quiet. Our visit to the ABC Thich Nhat Hanh exhibit was initiated by Karen, who three of us visited for our third annual Star Island Girls weekend.

Each of us focused on a particular quote and the one I latched onto was "This is it". It is another way of saying live in the moment. We repeated it to each other in the remaining time together, at opportune times. It is very freeing and soothing to hear and say.

I have a few books written by him and will definitely open them soon after I get back from this weekend. Since he was in Boston this weekend, I missed him locally but maybe will make an effort to see him soon and at the very least open those books.

What I love is that meditation and stopping to absorb the impact of quotes like this are nearly mainstream. ABC had a lot of floor space dedicated to this exhibit, right off of the first floor! In the busyness of NYC we spent 30 minutes in quiet reflection and absorption. We were moved by whichever one struck us at that moment and on that day.

Mine for now is "This is it". It says it all for me today.
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Karen who we visited, reflecting.

A sad Passing yesterday - Mother Moffett

I hear more often of people dying the older I get, but hearing of Bette's death has really struck me deeply. She was such a unique person, and an incredible presence when she walked into the room.

I met Bette when her family bought our house in Brandon, Vermont. They had just moved back from Paris. Mom nicknamed her Mother Moffett. Her son Joe was my boyfriend during most of High School and into my first year of college. He died his senior year of high school, bunting a ball that hit his heart mid heart beat. His death was my first major loss.

After he died, Bette and I did a lot of things together to comfort each other. We saw movies and plays and kept each other company in our grief. When I left home permanently, she was always present when I came back to Brandon and we kept caught up during those times. She became a friend of mine in our shared grief.

Mostly I saw Bette and her husband Hugh, at the tennis courts on our property. Dad and Mom had wonderful parties down at the tennis courts and that group of friends watched over me from teen age years, into adulthood and motherhood. I saw Bette last at a funeral for another one of our family's friend.

I still have letters and cards she wrote to me. They are in the same box as all of the notes and letters that Joe wrote to me. As part of my grief process I am going to go read all of those letters. I tried to find a picture of her today, but could not find one. It is easier in the digital picture stage to store and have pictures. The memories I have of her are in my head and the sound of her voice is clearly stored in my mind.

Bette had one very peculiar behavior. When you talked to her, she never looked you in the eye, she looked at your shoulder and continue talking. It used to freak me out a bit, but later it was charming.

As I watch my parents generation pass away, I face my own mortality. It also allows me some time to revisit who I was in high school, who I was dating her son, and who I was in a small town in Vermont.

So, I imagine Dad and Bette and Hugh and Frank are having a mini-reunion tonight. They are catching each other up and laughing at old stories from the tennis court days. Hugh has his orange broom ball sneakers on, Dad is smoking a cigarette and listening to everyone, Frank is laughing as only Frank did, and Bette is staring at their shoulders and catching them up on Brandon news. If only I believed in Heaven it would be easier, but I do believe in Heaven for them to be able to have this reunion.

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Remember 12 years ago

Like many of us I will never forget where I was 12 years ago. It was a glorious sunny day and what happened at the World Trade Center was beyond understanding. It was prior to mass use of social media, so we logged into a desktop news channel to see what was happening.

I am trying not to judge, but I am struck as I watch the news this morning about what the news is as we approach the time when the first plane struck. I don't know whether to watch CNN or NBC because neither of them are talking about it yet, but promise a moment of silence. Grief is like that though, each year we get further away from our intense feelings of loss and we move on.

My first reaction was to connect with my family members. My Mom and Charlie were in Bermuda and George and Judy were in Europe and the rest were accounted for in the US. My immediate family were all accounted for. Bethany's school was not telling the children what had happened.

That evening we gathered at First Parish in Lexington and fortunately many others had come to this house of worship to try to process the days events.

I was in the middle of a quilt that I later named "Shattered Comfort" that is on the wall in George and Judy's bathroom. Quilting allowed me to listen to the news but not have to review those awful images again, and again and again.

Our company lost an employee and many friends living in Manhattan were incredibly impacted by this horror. Everyone we talked to knew someone in Manhattan or on a plane. It was too close for comfort, this attack on the World Trade Center.

Where are we 12 years later, Obama is faced with a horrible decision in Syria, home of more of our enemies. I am quilting the exact same quilt pattern that I was quilting 12 years ago. However, this title will not be the same, it will be "New Beginnings".

What I do every year on this date, at this time is review where I was 12 years ago and then allow the optimist in me to gradually pull myself out of that grief and focus on what is good in this world and in human nature and in humanity.

But first, that moment of silence..........

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Invisibility - none of us want this

My latest thinking of human behavior is oriented around being invisible. Some of us want to be invisible at times, but that is not what I am talking about in this post. That is a choice ones make. What I am talking about is when you are made to feel invisible.

I have often said that when someone acts up, they are afraid of something, My latest thinking is that often people act unusually when they are being ignored, dismissed or in another way made to feel invisible. This could be that they are not being listened to, or are talked over in a conversation.

Most frequently, it is in a meeting when they say something and someone else says the exact same thing 2 seconds later and get listened to or credited with the initial thought.

The behavior shows up as talking louder, physically inserting themselves further into the center of the conversation, or even saying, "What about me?" Extreme behaviors are passive aggressive behavior, or even lashing out at someone for no apparent reason.

How did I get to this thinking you ask? Because I have been observing myself and when I get irritated with others. It is usually because I am feeling invisible.

I recently ran an exercise for a board and asked them to think about a time when they were not listened to or felt invisible. It was very helpful, because for the rest of the 2 day board meeting we could refer to this ice breaking activity. I was struck by one response where someone said "I don't feel badly at all when I am not heard, listened to, or made to feel invisible." BS BTW. I think this person is just not as aware of themselves and their reactions.

These refined thoughts are in my tool box for now, ready to pull out for a coaching session, or interaction when I need to use them.

When do you feel invisible and not listened to, and how do you behave when you have that feeling? Just curious........


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But, I want it all

As Apple is releasing their new iphone and ipad today I am very confused. I was an early adopter so I have an iphone and ipad which are first generation. I am also a frugal yankee, so unless something is broken, I do not feel as if I should buy the newer model, and I could NEVER buy two things.

Recently, as I continue to adopt technology, I have been meeting with people on a video call. Neither of my old pieces of technology allow the video call. I can participate on my old and ipad with audio but not video.

Concurrent to this, I have been contemplating a new laptop and it WILL be an Apple product. I am eyeing the Mac Air. There are only a few things I still need a laptop for, but when I need it, I need it badly. Examples are emails older than my ipad will store, marking spam in my email inbox, typing long documents, some apps on the ipad have less functionality, tagging posts in my blog, etc.

So ideally, I want a new Iphone, Ipad and Mac Air. Santa? Can you hear me now? The frugal Sally steps forward and starts a pro and con list and a limitation of only buying one piece of hardware. I usually end up with the Mac Air as my choice.

Help me friends. What should I buy?


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Learning to free motion quilt through frustration

If I were like my husband I would not be as frustrated right now.  He once said that he does not golf because he wants to know how to play before he gets to the golf course.  I laughed quite a bit saying "How will you ever learn then if you won't go out until you know how to play?"  I am eating my words and fabric right now.

Over several years I have pursued learning how to free motion quilt.  I stipple quite adeptly, however, I want to refine my quilting skills and not just do the same easy stippling every time.

I took a class, I browse a website, observed others quilting, bought some tools to make it easier to quilt and I have a practice piece that I have been working on, that is not a real quilt, just a test piece.

So today, I took a REAL quilt, and started to do some of the new techniques that I have practiced, read about, and studied.  I thought I was ready to pursue a big quilt.  HA HA HA!  Wait, I need to go to this step in order to learn.

However in my endeavors, I have made every mistake possible.  I continued to quilt with a loose bobbin causing puckering, I quilted double layers of quilt for an entire star design and I am doing designs that are too complicated for the square I am putting them in.  This is how I learn, by making mistakes.  My most recent mistake is a rookie one but boy is it a big mistake and a big learning.  I have spent about an hour ripping it out.

Fortunately I did not start this project on a quilt that I really care about otherwise right now I would be in tears.  This quilt will be my sampler of learning free motion quilting.  That is what samplers are after all.  They are for practicing.  How will I ever learn how to better free motion quilt if I do not practice?  I could continue to send my quilts out to be quilted but I want to take my quilting skills to a new level and I know I will be happy with the results.  That does not mean I won't need my seam ripper or that this quilt will be given away.  No, it will be hung in my sewing room to remind me of my learning style.  Off I go to rip out some more......

Thinking of Writing a Book

I have thought a lot about writing a book lately. What would I write about though?

I can definitely write about my experiences coaching leaders in corporations. This would be the most obvious and logical idea. I have helped 100s of people be better leaders of their people and I have some skill/magic in that arena.

I could also write a book about the experience within First Parish of making quilted jackets. A warm and fuzzy community building book.

I could write a book about women in corporations, and taking their place among men. The foundation of this is a father who told me to get out and beat the boys at anything, because I could, and I did until they were a foot taller than me.

Th possibilities are endless, so I need to narrow down to one option. Maybe I will continue to write more frequently on my blog until an idea surfaces. In fact, content for the book is already in this blog somewhere.

This is such a different world in terms of technology. I am already writing, this blog as an example. I just need to keep writing here, tag them appropriately and then collect, edit and electronically publish the synthesized results.

Wait, if you got this far you are reading a chapter of my "book".

My thoughts have already changed just by putting them down here. Thanks for reading!


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It's not a terrible idea

We spent some time with Gary and Michelle on Tuesday, having been on Star Island with them at a Star Board retreat. We offered them a ride to the airport and we had a few hours to do some sightseeing before dropping them at Logan Airport.

While riding along in the car, and brainstorming, to one of Michelle's ideas, Gary said "That's not a terrible idea." I whipped my head around to see if my husband had replaced Gary in the back seat, because this same tenor of response is often his. All four of us repeated this at opportune times during the afternoon. Rod and I have repeated it 100 times in a week.

To Gary and Rod, every idea starts out terrible and after reflection might actually have some merit. Michelle and I love every idea until it proves to be terrible.

Rod claims that he would still say things like this but I have broken him of it with glares or looks of disgust.

So for translation and for the future conversation with Gary and Rod, a terrible idea is one with merit and is actually a good idea, or at least still in the hopper. As Michelle said, "Welcome to my world."

It is events like this that reinforce our differences, and help us to survive conversations by understanding ourself and others. We never stop learning about each other.




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Story Telling - Others' stories

I am a story teller and often it is not my story but some else's.

While on Star we sat at lunch with a man who had not been back to Star for 50 years. The last time on Star he was a Pelican (college age worker at Star). He talked about stepping back on the Island after 50 years and he had tears in his eyes as he tried to communicate that feeling. I noticed those tears and the level of conversation deepened. I of course had a million questions and in reporter mode I asked them. "Why did you take so long to come back?" "Have you thought of coming other years?" "What has changed?"

He answered them conversationally and I had his story near my heart. Later I talked to
other conferees, and staff about him. He was there for some of that and at one point called me his PR agent. His story touched me so much that I knew it had to be told and retold.

As a corporation, we are trying to get people back who love the Island and have wandered away for whatever reason.

Beautiful sunsets are icing on the cake

Rocks remembering those Shoalers we have lost

A result of me telling his story had an effect. There will probably be a newsletter article about his return in an upcoming Star Island newsletter, and he got the 50% past Pelican discount for coming back after an absence. BTW he his returning that discount around as an annual gift to the Island.

Lanterns in the Chapel

If you have been there you understand his tears when he told his story of stepping on the Pier. Some people tell their story, and others like me are so touched that we tell their story as well. This is one that stays and will stay close to my heart, and I will retell appropriately.

Star Island is our spirits home..........

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Coffee and Baths

The only two things missing on Star Island for me are good coffee and a nice bath.  However, I can last a really long time in Paradise without these two leisure activities.

Returning from Star yesterday, I was really cranky.  Some close to me would argue that this was caused by the lack of good coffee.  Maybe!

It gave me the opportunity to reflect on what I get and what is missing from my Island experience.  Yes, I miss good coffee and the showers, whereas they have been improved, are still not very good for their sole purpose of cleaning the body.  A pitcher of warm water and wash cloth only go so far to clean yourself.

Last summer, while volunteering, I made the coffee early one morning, so I know how the sausage is made of the coffee in this case.  When I get organized I bring my own coffee and filters and conduct a coffee ministry on Island.  This year I was not organized for any of my visits there.

So those two things are missing but what is present on Star is: natural beauty, good friends, spontaneous spirituality, rocking chairs and conversations you don't have in your normal day.

I was there for a Star Island Board meeting, so it was not my normal conference.  But other friends arrived on Island and unexpected greetings happened.  A friend from our July conference brought her new boy friend and we got to meet him and see her so happy.  We talked at dinner one night to a man who has not been back in 50 years, his last year working on the Island as a pelican (college age workers who run the Island).  He had tears in his eyes when he told us this.  You cannot described the experience of touching your foot down on the Pier, and being there again, even after 50 years, or a few weeks.

So I can do without the coffee and bath, for a pretty long time.  I am not sure however, that I can do without regular visits to Star in my life.

My Achilles Heel - tendon

I finally understand at least one reason for the term Achilles heel.  For about a year now I have had an inflamed Achilles tendon.  I probably wore the wrong shoes last summer, and then really injured it in January walking on the beach barefoot.  Honestly for about 2 years it has been bothering me and I worked through it for a long time which is exactly the wrong thing to do.

Finally in January for my annual physical, I mentioned to my new physician that I had this pain.  She prescribed PT which I did for 6 weeks until the woman gave up on me.  She cured the acute pain, and now I only have the chronic pain and boy is it chronic.

I finally saw an Orthopedic surgeon in March, who gave me a soft brace to wear most of the time and a boot to wear at night.  I have read a lot on the internet  and you really have to stop injuring the tendon in order to get over it.  That is why I wear the brace all day and the boot at night.  I can actually feel the little micro tears when I re-injure it.  Stretching it all the time is also very important and building up strength. And ice, ice, ice.

So anyone who knows me knows that patience is not a strong suit of mine and I am being very patient, in my mind anyway.  I wear the brace and boot, I stretch before and after exercise, and when I get up after sitting.  I am now icing it at least once a day.  I am riding the bike instead of walking on the treadmill, although I do walk some of the time for my exercise.

Just when I think it is getting better I slide back and it hurts again.  I sometimes wonder if I will be wearing this damn brace and boot forever.  I also think maybe I can just continue this amount of exercise and it will always have a bit of pain or tightness.  To be honest, at times it really gets me depressed, that I cannot exercise the way I used to.  I cannot go for an hour walk without thinking of the consequences of maybe hurting it again.

I will not stop playing golf however.  Even though it hurts at the end of a round, I still play every Monday with my lady friends.  If I have to be in a wheel chair on the course I am going to play golf.

For now, I stretch, ice, exercise, and wear the support mechanisms and hope that someday this injury will be behind me.  I will probably have another one to nurse along at that point but for now this injury is my Achilles heel.

Retirement time filling

I have been retired for almost 3 years and my better half retires in just over a month. This gives me cause to reflect on filling time in retirement.

What do I currently do with my time? I sleep past 6 am, I sit and read a book for as long as I want, I volunteer, I belong to groups which meet during the day, I run errands, I have coffee and lunch with friends, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Now that we will both be retired, we are planning our big trips. My wild idea was to rent our house out for a year, and just travel, or live in VT in our house there.  I said it was a wild idea, but it would help with the trip budget dilemma.

We are also planning smaller trips to sight see and visit friends and family. We could go during the week to NYC for a quick trip or visit Chicago and do that boat architectural tour that has been recommended.  We can stay a few extra days in the Berkshires, when we are there for a regular Star chairs meeting instead of having to be back to work.

Oh, and we will have a grand daughter to visit.......

Given that we have plans and that they change on a whim, we will be busy but not sure exactly of timing of some of them.

However, how will we continue our current commitments of choir and groups, and volunteer activities?

This is an exciting time as we launch into joint retirement and grand parenting. We will talk about a lot of ideas, and slide into a schedule that works, and we will feel torn by competing communities and activities.

We are always available to be reached by mobile phone and email, so we won't lose touch, but we will be less regular.

We are so fortunate and blessed and excited......Bring it on!

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Ball Game Chants - "Throw it Back"

One fun part of being at a live ball game are the chants. Last night against the Yankees, there were way too many Yankees fans and there was the battle for the loudest of "Let's go Red Sox" versus "Let's go Yankees".

During one of these the Yankees actually sounded louder so the Red Sox resorted to their most civil chant "Yankees Suck"', because they could not outshout the Yankees fans. It was just so humorous. I asked Rod if the Yankees fans have a counter chant of "Red Sox Suck" and we don't think they do.

Last night Arod hit a home run and for 30 minutes sporadically the fans around the person who caught the ball, and sometimes the entire stadium chanted "Throw it back, throw it back". We think that the fans who caught that ball were so perturbed by the chant that they moved their seats.

There was also chants when Arod was batting of "Afraud" and most of the Yankees fans as well as most of the Red Sox fans booed him when he came to bat.

We watched "42" on Saturday night and baseball really has changed since that time. I think some of the chanting is the big stadiums and the sound of that many fans all in unison chanting. You miss this part of the game watching on TV.

Memories of last nights game will be with me for a while and a grin on my face as I remember the silly fans chanting. Yes, I was one of those silly fans chanting.


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Local Tourists - Lexington and Concord

Walden Pond with George and Judy

Having family visiting this weekend allowed us to be tourists in our backyard. My brother and sister-in-law have never been to Walden Pond or to any of the sites along the Minuteman Battle Road National Park between Lexington and Concord. Yes, that battle!

Early Sunday we set out for Walden, and walked around the entire pond with brief stops at the foundation of Thoreau's cottage. We have been to Walden many times with other visitors and also by ourselves to swim or hike. Seen though their eyes, they expected a small pond, and did not expect it to be a destination on a beautiful summer day for swimmers, kayakers and picnickers.

We then visited the Visitors Center and watched a 30 minute show recreating the battle.  Next we traveled to Old North Bridge in Concord to see the diorama and view the site at the bridge of the standoff and retreat of the Redcoats. A nice lunch at the Colonial Inn in Concord completed our morning of being tourists.

Living in Lexington we see the Patriots Day reenactment early every Patriots Day on our town green, so the history is well known to us. Yesterday we saw it again through our family's eyes and hopefully they will join us next year for the 5am reenactment.

In our joint retirement which happens October 1st, I expect we will do more tourist trips like this to destinations, we fly by now, on our way somewhere.

More stopping to smell the roses and learning of local history is in our future.


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Life size Settlers Game

Just now, while trying to find a new facebook profile picture, I happened upon some great pictures of this last past Labor Day at Coniston.  BTW, I did not find a profile picture, because now that I have a new camera I am usually behind the camera, not in front of it.

Brother Mike and sister in law Peg had a wonderful party early in August during which they installed a life size settlers game on their property.  They were kind enough to bring it up to Coniston on Labor Day and we installed it there.  For those of you who are addicted to Settlers of Catan you will totally understand what you are looking at.  For the rest of you wikipedia might be a good resource to understand the game.

Mind you, we spent most of the time setting this game up it was pretty dark by the time we started playing.  Coming from a family of engineers, that did not deter this group, they strung up some lights so we could keep playing.

So this was our robber, and when you move the robber you move the wagon he sits in.  Yes, it did almost tip over once or twice.

Here is an overhead shot, where you can see some of the resources.  The little flags were the roads and the taller flags were settlements or cities.

And as it became darker, some lights

I think everyone is imitating Mr Bear, aka The robber.

Rod fertilized the hexagons, so hopefully next spring the game will still occupy our front lawn up there.  In the meantime, we can dream about warmer days and nights as the temperature this weekend at Coniston is below zero.

Mobile phones and technology - Who else thinks about these things?

Maybe not every body, but I am sure some of you have done the following:

1. Sent a text and then put the phone to your ear to talk expecting a call to have been made
2. Tried to turn the cable box off with your cell phone
3. Looked for your cell phone while you are talking on it

I regularly do the second two things on this list, and just now I did the first one, which was a first for me.

With all the technology we have for someone easily dis tractable, I get confused.  Every time I try to turn off the cable box with my phone, I think that someone should invent this feature.  Actually, someone probably already has invented this, but it has to be a one click feature.  It cannot involve getting into an App.

Now that I think about it, I have another technology desire which I think is being worked on by smart people.  I pay for my coffee right now through the Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts preloaded cards on my iPhone.  Starbucks has had this for a few years and I was an early adopter of that App and DD just released it at the end of last year.

I would like ONE APP, which allows me to pay for everything, everywhere from my phone.  Because of the Starbucks and DD apps, and being able to pay by phone, I have left my house a few times with just my phone and no other means of payment.  Unfortunately for those who live with me, I can only buy coffee if I forget my wallet.  Starbucks and DD have lulled me into being able to leave with just my phone. 

How soon will we be able to pay with just a chip implanted inside our body somewhere.  Maybe I should have asked the wrist surgeon this when she put the plate in my wrist.