New England 3

September 8, 2023 - Friday

Met up with long-time contractor friend, Scott, at the Elks Lodge in Whitehall, NY. It’s certainly not like Wickenberg, but was great to visit and see other local Elks. 

September 9, 2023 - Saturday

Rich’s granddaughter, Emma, was married today to Devin Jenkins in Whitehall, NY. Rain threatened, but it turned out to be a lovely day - a little warmer than those in tuxes, suits and gowns would have liked, but better than rain. Everyone gathered and dressed at the Colomb homestead.

Though Rich didn’t wear a tie, he tied everyone else’s. 

Three generations of Colombs...PJ was unavailable for this picture😩

Miss Kearin was glowing…

Flower girls extraordinaire…

It was a brief ceremony on the Champlain Barge Canal which included a handfast, breaking of the glass, and memorial to the grandmothers who have passed on (Tress and Mimi). Young Nora is in Florence, Italy studying for a semester (Wells College), but her dad, Eric, Face-timed her, so she was able to witness the entire ceremony. 

 

Tracy, PJ, and Lyn - Lyn’s shoe strap broke so she had to go barefoot. Tracy said, if one Mom (step-mom) is going barefoot, both moms are going barefoot!

Love the colors, black and cinnamon...

Emma, Perry and Kearin

Immediately after that, the reception was at the American Legion just down the road. What a fantastic job the family did decorating it the night before. 

A delicious meal was served with a choice of salmon, 1/2 chicken and pork roast with asparagus and fried potatoes.

 

Let the party begin - the cook, Bill, was also the DJ and he kept things hopping - disco lights and all. 

Dollar dance with Grampa…

A beautiful cake was served (or choice of cupcakes) 

September 10, 2023 - Sunday

We stayed in Whitehall today to spend time with the family. Nora moved her belongings into the family homestead which her mother’s great-grandfather built in 1860. She knows the history behind every piece of furniture and recalls the events that happened there. 

 

Emma and Devin opened their card and a gift from special Grampa - a triple pencil holder.

September 11, 2023 - Monday

We drove over back roads through small country towns in Vermont and New Hampshire to get to our family camp in Maine. 

It was a cloudy day, but the scenes were beautiful. A lot of the trip followed rivers which were spanned by several covered bridges. There are more than 100 covered bridges in Vermont which caused me to wonder why they were covered. Thank goodness for Google and Autio as that is where I get a lot of my information. The covered bridges originated in 1820 to protect the wooden tresses and decks from snow and rain.

Since we are only here for a couple of days, we planned to eat our meals out rather than deal with shopping, kitchen clean up, etc. We stopped for breakfast - 2 Egg McMuffins and one hash brown - $14.01! What a surprise when we went to our favorite seafood spot in the evening and found it was closed on Mondays. So we went down the road toward home to another informal seafood joint. Here is the menu:

We each had fried shrimp with sweet potato fries and ordered a seafood chowder for lunch tomorrow = $60. It’s going to be an expensive couple of days. 

 

September 14, 2023 - Thursday

Between sports practice and games, it is not possible to get the whole family together, soooooo, took them out to dinner individually before we leave. 

Hibachi at Koto’s with Randy and family...plus 1 (Zach)

September 16, 2023 - Saturday

Lee Founders Day Parade - Lee is a proud town founded in 1777 and we celebrate its birthday every year.

 

Managed to get together with Shannon’s family at the Panda House… windy day!

September 17, 2023 - Sunday

As he does every year, Randy played in the Greenock Member Guest Golf Tournament with Mark Kelly. Last year they won; this year they came in second. Still, we were so proud to be there and see the "horseshoe putt" he sank on the last whole. The crowd went wild! 🥳

Unexpected photo op with granddaughters! 

 

Getting to as many soccer and football games as I can:

Zach in orange 

Leanna in white 

Jake’s football game was cancelled due to heavy rain - dang!

Ten more days before we hit the road on Wednesday, 9/27 - closing up the yard, planning the packing, getting to as many soccer and football games I can, packing up the art. What will go with us? What will stay behind?