New England 6

June 13 - 30, 2025

Granddaughter Lily "Bridged Over" to high school. 

Lee’s 1st Annual Pride Day, combined with No Kings protesters and the Farmers Market, made for a vibrant, bustling experience in downtown Lee. 

Went to the Elks in Whitehall while there for doctor appointments. Who shows up but Scott and Dan, long time friends of Rich’s. 

Randy’s 50th birthday pool party! Kristie prepared a meal beyond compare to celebrate, topped off with a chocolate cake topped with ganache and raspberries.

Dance class instructor, George, taught us a section of America from Westside Story - lots of sweat and fun!

 

Had a nice visit with Sandy and Sue at her house. Sue is such a good hostess.

Rich is now wearing hearing aids! What a wonderful thing...

 

Went to Mario’s Restaurant for an early celebration of Rich’s birthday!

Had a very profitable day at Lee Farmers’ Market this Saturday! 

Trip to Maine was a glorious mini-vacation to Panther Pond! 

I was grateful to spend a brief amount of time with my son and his family before they hit the road. They had to get Lily home to her new job washing dishes at the Locker Room - she loves it. My first job was dish washing at Camp Wa-Klo in NH and I have to say - I will always cherish that experience. 

We had lunch with Charlotte, my friend and former renter of my condo in Florida. She is always on the move like the energizer bunny. ❤️

Margaret is the neighbor behind us who often has interesting notes after she reads my blog. She owned a bookstore and read everything she could manage to so is a wealth of wisdom. She swims daily from our beach, so we had a couple of catch-up conversations. I regret that I did not have time to visit with others on our shoreline, but this trip was short and sweet.

 

Shannon and the boys arrived mid-afternoon with their 2 dogs. We stayed in the little house - this is the sunset view from my bed. 

The pond was so calm in early morning that it looked like a mirror. All you could hear were birds singing and chipmunks chirping. I couldn’t resist a shot at kayaking for the first time in 10 years due to 2 bad hips, 2 new hips and rehab… It wasn’t pretty getting out of the boat - I had to roll out into the water!

The jet ski ride of a life time was next - Shannon loves to take my life in her hands on the water. Having Zach on the tube with me was my insurance - I thought.

We still got dumped in the middle of the lake and clung to the handles to be dragged slowly to the raft to climb back on. After a short, reasonably calm ride inside the wake, Zach wanted to go alone at high speed. I climbed behind Shannon on the yellow monster and hung on for dear life as Z was zipping back and forth across the wake as we opened to full throttle across the lake!

Afterwards, we had some quality hammock time - I love looking up at the towering pines above. It was quite the feat for Z to help me out of my hammock which was a little higher than it should have been - lots of laughs and giggles! 

Danica and her two boys arrived to join the fracas - they have been vacation companions for years now. It gets more interesting as the boys are 13, 14, 15, and 16 now. What could possibly go wrong?

We were only there for two nights, but had a ton of fun while there, including a lobster dinner. We left midday so that I could go to my ukulele group in the evening and last dance class the next day. I have signed up for an International Folk Dance class to keep on moving.

Stay tuned…

New England 6

JUNE 1-12, 2025 

Jimmy’s Funeral was a military send off which always stirs me deep inside - 3 gun salute, soulful bugling of taps, marching in step, crisp hand salutes, solemn folding/presentation of the flag and bullet casings, et al. This will hopefully bring some closure for his beloved family and friends... 

 

Afterwards, we went to the Captain Charles Leonard House, an old stage coach stop, for a buffet and a look at the house.

 

Great picture of the four sisters together...

Musical Theater Dancing class is my next attempt to keep moving. I was planning to teach Western Line Dancing in the church community room, but when I stopped in to drop off the paperwork, I saw a class happening with people moving. It was an OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) class on musical theater dancing. PERFECT! I absolutely love theater and the thrilling music that goes with it. So I took this as a sign and withdrew my application to teach in lieu of a professionally prepared class. Can’t wait to start next week. 

 

John and Eileen’s 60th Anniversary Weekend was held at Lake George, New York. If you recall, Rich and I spent many a day in Surprise, AZ with them. John’s mother was Rich’s mother’s sister and so it goes. The cousins grew up together in Whitehall, NY and it is amazing how many links there are to these folks. Sister Eileen and John’s wife, Eileen, have been BFFs since childhood; they all went to school together in Whitehall. 

 

We arrived on Friday and spent time with Eileen (sister) and Steve at their home and had lunch together.

It is always a trip down memory lane with these folks as they have so many people they know, owning a local popular diner where everyone knows everyone and everything about them. Sadly, the conversation often comes down to who is ill, or just died, and recall of every family’s status. We know we are blessed to wake up in the morning and put our feet on the floor. 

 

Checked in at the Inn at Lake George at 3pm and waited for the bar to open at 5. This little boutique hotel was the perfect size for the 30 party goers to eat, drink, and be merry. 

What a pleasant surprise when we entered the bar right on time to find Rod and Steve sitting at the bar. These are dear friends and former neighbors of John and Eileen in Surprise. However, they moved to Charlotte, NC 2 months ago to get closer to their families. We first met them on Thanksgiving  2021 when we gathered round the table filled with a plethora of delicious foods which Steve (chef), Matt (son) and Sue (daughter-in-law) prepared with loving care. They are all foodies and take great pride in their culinary creations. We spent the evening catching up with them while sipping on $10 wine, $12 Titos and $15 pizza! It was a great kick-off to this mystery weekend about which we discovered more details. 

We took a ride along the Lake Shore Drive to Bolton Landing in the rain after an early breakfast. The Sagamore Resort is located down a long driveway toward the lake. It turns out that Rich used to work here as a boat cruise chef back in the day. We drove in with permission from the gate guard to check it out.

Stone churches are very common in this area due to the glaciers 12,00 years ago which left stones everywhere. Farmers used them when they cleared land to build stone walls to mark their property. 

Mansions also made of stone quarried nearby.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at cousin David’s house for a nice visit. 

We can look forward to a commisioned drawing of his gazebo by Rich Colomb.

We got back to our room and rested a little - then I took a walk since it stopped raining. Here is a tour of Lake George Village:

Warren County Court House Museum

Para-sailer in spite of the chilly, dreary day. My daughter, Shannon, and I parasailed tandem there to celebrate her graduation from high school - many years ago. 

Minne-Ha-Ha - we also took a cruise on this vessel back then. 

Fort William Edward where The Last of the Mohicans movie was filmed. 

Canoe Carving

Our party invitation instructed us to meet in the bar at 4pm Saturday; John and Eileen would arrive at 5pm. So naturally we went down at 2:30 even though the bar doesn't open until 4pm in hopes of meeting people as they straggled in rather than all at once. I have heard the names of the family members, but have not met so many of them. We watched as they set up the buffet and cake table with a picture of the bride and groom’s wedding day. A cute little lavender Polaroid camera was used to take developed pictures to sign/message for a small album keepsake.  

The special couple with a replica of their cake…

These the Trainors - Eileen and siblings...

Open bar from 4-7 with a delicious meal catered by Ridicci Italian Restaurant (Glens Falls) included salmon, pork, chicken piccata, meatballs w/rigatoni, salads and a delicious chocolate and white cake made for a memorable culinary event.

Skene Manor in Whitehall was the last gathering of this celebration. Judge Joseph Potter, NY State Supreme Court Judge, built it in 1872-74 for a mere $25,000. The gray sandstone was quarried from Skene Mountain by stone cutters from Italy. The roof is slate and there were 8 fireplaces originally - 7 remain. He and his wife, Catherine, lived there until 1902. After a couple of other owners, Clayton Scheer opened the very first restaurant in 1946, naming it Skene Manor. It operated under several other owners until 1980.

This gorgeous historic home fell into disrepair in the early 1990s and concerned citizens organized S.O.S. (Save Our Skene). Trustees now volunteer to serve light lunch on Sundays and care for the structure. 

 

Entry hall

Gift Shop which used to be a bar in one of the restaurants. 

Theresa, Rich’s wife, donated this couch years ago to the manor - it was her mother’s and is stuffed with horsehair. 

Dining room

China Closet of tea cups

Tea Pots

Sitting Room

View of the village, Champlain Canal, and Rich’a high school is amazing - better when the leaves are down in the Fall. This canal used to be loaded with yachts. 

Meet Isabella Annmarie born 6/9/25 - Rich’s first great grandchild. 

BUB (Berkshire Ukulele Band) is an enjoyable group of musicians - ukes, guitar, harmonica, u-bass, mandolin, banjolele, and voices, of course.

Musical Theater Dance Workshop is my choice of movement this summer with George Pinney as our leader. "Nominated for a Tony Award and National Broadway Theatre Award in choreography for blast, George received an Emmy Award for outstanding choreography for the PBS broadcast of blast.” It is pretty amazing choreography including marching band instruments, flags, et al. He’s the real deal. I put a link in the body of this email. This is a participatory workshop with the emphasis on the joy of moving in space in a group dynamic.

 

I went to my first class with confidence since I have been Line Dancing 3 days a week for 5 years now. I knew that this would be very different, but I love theater music and dance enough to give it a try. It was a workout indeed with no breaks (water or sit down) until 70 minutes in. George did indeed choreograph a waltz from A Little Night Music for us which we accomplished and after the break, we did some Rockett (low-kick) lines to New York, New York! I was sweating my butt off in the end - well worth it though. I finally realize the value of the ballet classes I took as a child. 

 

June 12, 2025

Can’t believe it is 5 years ago today that Rich and I first met in person at Lilac Park with masks on due to Covid! It’s been a fun ride… ❤️❤️