Quincy makes the evening news

We arrived at SOU just in time to watch a local reporter struggle with her camera. Video of the Q is here.

Heading north to Salem

The Q allayed parental worries this morning by calling for a quick chat.  All seems to be well, and she is looking forward to a full day.

Heading to Salem now for an evening with Jacob.  The fog is pretty and reminds me that I do sometimes miss weather.

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Mimi goes to college

Q's room at SOU.

We dropped her off at SOU today (slowed down enough to push her out the door...). So now we have another kid to worry about far from home. Sigh.

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Bagpipers at City Hall

Honoring court officers who lost their lives on 9/11. These officers ran toward the chaos when everyone else was running away.

At the memorial service today, the speaker pointed out that none of these officers asked for religious affiliation before they decided to offer assistance at the Twin Towers. He did not point out that as court officers, none of them had to go -- their job was at the court, not as a first responder.

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Quince and I have had a very nice weekend in Delaware. We had Sunday dinner in Felton with Lawn and George. Yesterday we saw more family: nephew Christopher, his kids Alex and Riley, and mom Jesse. They are all doing well.

Also spent time yesterday at Longwood Gardens. Despite good intentions to see more, we barely got out of the Conservatory. Kent (left) is in the Children's Garden, where we (me, Quin, and Kent) spent more time than is maybe seemly for, really, people our age. Also saw their pipe organ, which had 10,010 pipes and an absolutely beautiful ballroom for the console. Kent and Dad seem to be doing well.

Today Quin and I hop the Amtrak for the Big Apple. We have theater tickets and have studies NYT reviews for others we are interested in.

Long time, no blog

Stu and I on a Sunday hike. Annie (age 11) and Rosie (age 10) are still happy to go walking with us, if they appreciate 4 mile hikes now more than 6 or 10 mile hikes.

Back from Summer travel part 1: Kid travel. Quincy needed to be in Ashland in Late July, and Jake needed to return from Pullman (summer job) about the same time, so we did a grand circle up the west coast, east to Pullman, and down the Rockies to home. Long days in the car, but we had good conversations with the kids.

This weekend, Quincy and I head east for a visit to my dad and brother, then on to NYC for her graduation trip. We have a studio apartment about a block from Times Square, and it should be a good time. Stu will join us for a long weekend.

Then at the end of September, Quincy heads to college, and we officially become empty-nesters (although Annie and Rosie are hoping to step into the void).

The end of an era

My mother died July 5 in Delaware. Stu and I arrived home from Delaware just yesterday from the family gathering. We saw lots of family and friends at her viewing, and that part was good, but it was a sad occasion. She will be missed by many people.

For two weeks in a row, Stu traveled to Delaware on a Wednesday and home again on a Saturday. I was in Delaware for a visit two weeks ago, but the Tuesday night before I was to return to New Mexico, my mom was taken to the emergency room with pneumonia. Her heath was very fragile, and Friday, before I left on Saturday, as a family we decided to transfer her care to Delaware Hospice. In the meantime, a doc in the same emergency room as my mom confirmed that my stomach ache was appendicitis, so had an appendectomy while I was east. The whole situation seemed kinda surreal. Stu came out Wednesday the 30th (appendectomy day) to help me recover and to get home on Saturday. The surgeon did a great job, and I recovered quickly from the surgery.

My mom died the following Monday, and we were back in Delaware by Wednesday. The rest of the year is packed with travel, but we will squeeze in one more trip to Delaware over the Labor Day weekend to visit my Dad and Kent. They both are handling this with great strength.