Beautiful Gift from Dave Ginsburg

We recently received a beautiful gift from Dr. David Ginsburg, currently at UCLA.  It was a book entitled, "Menorah Under the Seas".  Dave was a colleague of Douglas at the University of Southern California where both spent considerable time doing marine biological research at McMurdo Station in Antarctica.  The book describes a dive made by Dave on the first night of Hanukkah.  Since they were at McMurdo during the height of the Antarctica summer, there was essentially no darkness at night.  Dave found a unique way to "light" the traditional Hanukkah candle in the darkness 80 feet under the icecap.  It was a wonderful story, one that we are grateful he shared with us through this very beautiful tome. 

Gang of 8 Does New York

For the first time since 2005, the Gang of 8 (the Almonds, Kneebones, Paces, and Thomsons), joined back to New York for a pleasant and "challenging" long weekend.

After our usual stop at the Troy Diner, we enjoyed a pleasant Amtrak ride into the City.  We stayed at the Midtown Club Quarters, had dinners at La Grenouille and the Water Club.  Tried a little "mod" living by going to Brandy's Piano Bar on 84th Street (great fun).  Did a long morning tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art.  Took in a play (the Paces saw a wonderfully moving West Side Story while the others saw Jersey Boys).  We had our usual brunch at the Algonquin followed by a tour to the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center (see the Gang of 8 above).  Pixs of trip at http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaN2blo0aNmZ1.

On way back to Ludlow, we stopped at "The Man Of Kent" , a bar in NY State that several of us had always wanted to stop at but never had the time.  It was great fun.

First Snow of the Season

After taking a foliage picture yesterday, we awoke to the first snow of the season this morning.  Janet took these photos.  It was the earliest snow fall we can recall.

Fall Foliage Scene in Ludlow

Visit to Doylestown

It's been awhile since we last visited Maryanne and Jubie Stryker in Doylestown but we finally made our way down to Bucks County to help Maryanne "celebrate" her 70th birthday.  It was great to renew acquaintances with the Strykers.  We even had a chance to visit with Skip and Dee Burcaw in their new home.  Pictured above are the Strykers and Paces having dinner at the Water Wheel in Doylestown.

Driveway Gets a Small Facelift

We finally decided the driveway needed a little cleaning up and refreshing. So we had a load of surefire surepak dumped and spread out and repaired the drain at the front entrance to the porch. Still needs some touching up - but it should last for another 10 years (unless we have another torrential rain that rutted out the old driveway). A few more photos of driveway are at share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaN2blo0aNmZX.

Andrea Sings Songs from WW II

We journeyed down to the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, MA on Monday to enjoy the music of Andrea Marcovicci, our favorite cabaret singer, as she performed her program of love songs from World War 2. It was a marvellous experience. For those not familiar with Andrea, she not only has a beautifully compelling voice but is a great story teller - with both wit and ease. Accompanied by a pianist and bass, she sang such memorable songs as "We'll Meet Again", "White Cliffs of Dover", and "Sentimental Journey". Her program was well-researched and her commentary almost as much delight as her singing voice. It's such a delight to listen to such a performer sing songs where you actually understand the words. We were very pleased to discover the Colonial Theatre in downtown Pittsfield, a nicely restored theatre from the "old days".

At Last, Summer

After what seems like days of rain and otherwise damp (even chilly) weather, it looks like (and feels like) Summer has arrived. The dahlias are opening earlier than usual, the monarda is as tall as an elephant's eye, and the hummingbirds are visible again. Hopefull, this will last long enough to call it a real Summer.