September 20, 2010

Hi, Hey and Hello there!  Here it is Sept. and the MonDAY messages seem to have devolved into the MonTHLY messages.

We’re back.  Were Back in Boat  (Digression: if you haven’t see Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin in “All of Me” to recognize that I’m alluding to the hilarious line “Back in Bowl” rent the dvd.   Silly laughter--the best medicine!)  We WERE back in Boat---drove to Hilton Head when Hurricane Earl reared it’s ugly head.  We believed that it would go way off shore (it did) but we wanted to see for ourselves that all was well.   So we drove down and  spent 3 days on YA in the ultra calm waters at Shelter Cove.

Shelter Cove is a great marina, and Dock E is just opposite the pavilion where Shannon Tanner performs twice nightly.  First show for children, and the later one for adults.  We really got a kick out of his music and engagement of the kids--and he had noticed YA, and so had a tour.  We expect to see more of him when we return.

We attended the UU of the Lowcountry in Bluffton, spent an evening with an old friend from Newburgh, and the boat time passed all too quickly.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation In Rock Tavern, NY has completed the rebuilding of the church that was destroyed by fire in 2006, and the official dedication was scheduled for the weekend of 9/11-12.  I’d returned to Newburgh in May for the first service int the new bldg. but we both wanted to be there for the dedication.  So we once again locked up YA and headed north by car. 

First stop was Charleston where we spent several hours taking pictures at the Cold War Submarine Museum in Mount Pleasant  Fred’s 2 years of  Navy service aboard the Cutlass 478 made this an especially interesting place.  And the crews of the Cutlass were gathering in Pittsburgh that week for their bi-annual reunion that very week, so our next destination was, you guessed it,  Pittsburgh, PA.    Very nice to renew old acquaintances, and we got to go on a  boat ride on the three rivers of Pittsburgh.  We duly noted that but for the torrential spring rains in Nashville and the oil spill in the Gulf, we probably would have arrived in Pittsburgh by boat.  That was our Plan A for 2010. This was just not the best year to go upstream, so we didn’t.

We were in back Newburgh on Saturday, 9/11. With the national news espousing man’s inhumanity to man, it felt very reassuring to attend the dedication service at the UU, where the inherent worth and dignity of every person is celebrated, and all religious faiths are deemed worthy.

Hope springs eternal for people to learn tolerance and spread peace on this fine old  earth of ours.

On Wednesday evening we gave  a Power Point presentation on locks to the members of the Mid Hudson Power Squadron.  They’d asked for info about unusual locks, and Peterborough and the Big Chute on the Trent-Severn Waterway certainly fit that qualification.  It was a fun evening with about 25 folks gathering for a pot luck before the slide show.

This week we continue to straddle both worlds.  Enjoyed visiting with family as my niece Mary, her daughter Kyra and their friend Nick stayed with us before and after they participated in a Warrior Dash at Windham ski lodge.  The grueling, messy, and apparently hugely fun 6K obstacle run was quite the event.  We helped them recover with pizza and birthday cake.  (September B’days, Kris and Linda Lee).  We also tucked in a visit with Klaus and Betty from MOON BEAM.  Missed out on the mini-rondesvoux with Brooke and Dee (EAST PASSAGE) and Mike Jackson (SEA GLASS) at Mike’s home in Warwick, NY.  We’ll catch up another time!

We’ll  be around the condo until after Fred’s board meeting for the Condo Association on Wed. Then it’ll be time to pack up and return to the sunny climes of SC. Mornings in NY are deliciously cool  now, and the pumpkins are out, awaiting the frost.  Time to think warm.

Until next time,

Be well, and keep in touch...Linda and Fred