Cape Cod Vacation June 2012 Paul, Sally, Heather

This is my favorite ice cream and hamburger shop in New England.

In front of my childhood home in Westfield, MA.

Charlie and Kathy Smith (brother/sister) live in my childhood home. My mother sold the house to a "Dr. Smith", and Kathy's family bought the house from Dr. Smith in 1962 and have lived there since. Kathy and I talked non-stop about mutual knowledge of neighbors, community, and details about the house.

My elementary school. 100 yrs old now, and has 200 kids who all walk to school

The Carollon at Stanley Park, Westfield MA. I remember the slate walkway and holding the train of the newly crowned "Stanley Park Princess" as a very young boy

Big Copper Beach tree, which was the focal point of my outdoor play. I had a favorite branch about six feet up the tree, which was my favorite place to sit.

We met up with my niece Pamela in Easthampton for coffee. As we sat outside, a random woman walked up and asked her to watch her dog while she ran inside. He's a bull Mastiff, named "Baby Bull". He's only 10 months old and will gain another 100+ lbs before he's full grown.

Massachussetts is home of Dunkin' Donuts. Yes we had some.

Highland Lighthouse, Eastham Mass

Heather and I exploring Ellis Landing

Locals say this is the oldest general store in the US. Brewster, MA

Chatham Light and Coast Guard Station

Heather gathered seashells

Nauset Light, logo for Cape Cod potato chips

I took this picture because it's classic old Cape Cod architecture.

Heather in a fresh water stream on the beach

View of Sandy Neck, Barnstable, Cape Cod

Heather and I at the Cape

Old Sea Pines Inn, Brewster MA. It used to be a school for girls and is now a B&B. Built in 1850

Comments

The Gentle Smith Matriarch

We met in 1966 when she was 18 and I was 22. We began dating soon afterward, and as I recall never disagreed on much. Our childhood homes were 3000 miles apart and we loved Minnesota and each other, so we got engaged in July 67, married in December and moved into a house with a teenage foster daughter. This was followed by , Daughter 1 the following September, Daughter 2 three years later, Daughter 3, a year and a half later, ..and eventually Son, 3 years later. There were also about 15 different short-term teen-foster boys in those years. The gentle matriarch has worked her whole life, hard. I went to college nights for a few years, she worked outside the home part-time while the kids were growing. She spent frugally, loved lavishly, and has always cared first and foremost about her family. She is a gentle giant who has brought love, fun, discipline, imagination, good food, and artistic, creative homemaking to our big family....and as I write this she's preparing for Easter Dinner...

Red fiche- table with impatiens

It's an odd practice, in a way, but one I've come to like: you set a piece of old indoor furniture outside, and just let it weather, ......forever. I grew up in New England,where there were a lot of roadside antique (or junk) stores, which converted to fruit and vegetable stands in the growing season, or Christmasy craft stores and maple syrup places in winter. At any rate, I'm accustomed to indoor furniture outdoors, and since Nana likes it, everybody's on board at our house. She's selective, however, and requires that the pieces have some interesting, enduring quality. In the case of this red table, it served it's first 30 years as a sturdy table for fiche at Bethel College. When BC became BU, the fiche lost out to digital media, and the sturdy table hitched a ride 45 miles south to our Lakeville back yard, where it is now learning to give itself to a new audience of human admirers, plus a few daddy long-leg spiders, and a specimen or two of summer-sno...

I was invited back to Paragon for a day of fun

On a gorgeous August 13 morning, Sandie picked me up at home so that I could tour the new Paragon office and hang out with lots of great work friends for lunch on a river cruise aboard the Mississippi Queen. Jesper and Bill Lunch was a banquet of fine food, drinks, and desserts, which we enjoyed while leisurely cruising the vital Mississippi, including a couple of the locks, and a great view of the Stone Arch Bridge near downtown Minneapolis. Martin met me with a huge cucumber, which made it seem just like the old days for me. Paragon occupies a bright new suite with terrific views in all directions. Mid- morning I got called into Martin's office. When I stepped in, there were already people there, and they presented me with a handsomely-framed collage capturing many of my fondest days with this extraordinary collection of work-friends. I am a blessed and lucky man!

PTCPapa

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