Raichart.com

    Happy Birthday to Randy!  

The bride wore white, the groom blue polyester with ruffles.  She carried wheat in her bouquet.  We recited passages from The Prophet by Khalil Gibran.
It was groovy…

Thirty-seven years ago today, I did the smartest thing I have ever done.  I married Joanne Driggs in Driggs, Idaho.  It was a chilly 42 below zero but that didn’t stop us.

I am so thankful to have a friend and soulmate like Joanne and eternally grateful to be able to be with her forever.

Happy Anniversary, Joanne

I love you.
 

   Within this monument on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth lie unidentified bones of some of the Pilgrims.  When the separatists left Holland and England for America, there were only about 2000 Europeans living on this continent.  Dorothy Bradford sailed but would not make it this far–with the Mayflower moored at the initial landing site on Cape Cod, she either fell or jumped from the ship to her death.  No one will ever know which.

   Also on Cole’s Hill, a monument erected by the Town of Plymouth on behalf of the United American Indians of New England, commemorating a National Day of Mourning.  The National Day of Mourning is observed each Thanksgiving Day.  Something to think about when we share our abundance.  

  Paula asked for some fall foliage from this year.  I didn’t get out to take photos specifically–partly because I am seldom satisfied with the outcome, partly because I wanted to enjoy them for what they were at the moment.  Nonprofessional photos seldom take in the scope of these hardwood forests.  The color saturation is so complete–if fills your soul, makes you want to weep.  So all I got was a few drivebys.  The first and third photos were taken on Cape Cod on the day before Columbus Day, and the middle photo is near the Massachusetts/New York border, just west of the Berkshires, on Columbus Day.  This year we had very brilliant reds, the best I’ve ever seen.  Fall in New England is everything it’s cracked up to be.  And that thing I said about winter being a long distant memory for us–forget that.  It’s 17 degrees outside right now, with a 30 mph wind.

    January 28, 2008, American University:

“…I believe there is one candidate who has extraordinary gifts of leadership and character, matched to the extraordinary demands of this moment in history.  He understands what Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. called the “fierce urgency of now”…He will be a president who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of the past.  He is a leader who sees the world clearly without being cynical.  He is a fighter who cares passionately about the causes he believes in, without demonizing those who hold a different view.  He is tough-minded, but he also has an uncommon capacity to appeal to “the better angels of our nature.”  –Senator Ted Kennedy, endorsing Barack Obama. 

(Flag photo from JFK Presidential Library, Oct. 31, 2008)

  Go Vote.  Obama.

  This is the mother of all casinos.  Foxwoods, near Mystic, Connecticut.  It’s owned by the Pequots.  Wonder where I was when I took this poor photo?  (It really is a massive complex that you have to see to believe.)  We were high atop the observation tower at the pequot museum. 

   This guy sat on the chamber pot on the Mayflower II and answered my questions.  He was friendly enough.  When I asked if I could take his photo, he said “I haven’t got one.”  Then he rambled on and on about how pleasant I was.  Ok.

  When disembarking the ship, we had to go through customs.  I’m not making this up.  The Wampanoag Immigration Patrol Customs Division was set up at the end of the gangplank.  (Is that what they call that board you walk on?)  Some sample questions on their form:  Destination in Wampanoag Nation: (Patuxet, aka Plymouth)  Other Native Nations visited since arrival on Turtle Island (this continent):  I answered Pequot.  The girl at the inquiry table loved that we went to the Pequot museum. She was, of course, Wampanoag. I had to agree to attend a minimum of one powwow or public cultural event and learn the history of the Wampanoag Nation.  Also, to refrain from participating in any practices that would, among other things, use sports logos or gestures perpetuating old stereotypes.  So I won’t be attending any sporting events at Teton High School.  (As if I ever did.  Time to retire the Redskin logo, folks.)  At the end of the inquiry, I did receive a passport stamp.  So I’m here legally.  Randy sneaked away and is on the lam. 

  The second generation was taking the photo.

  My current favorite photo of Claire.  She really loves to pose.

  Dad was amused with Gavin.  Gavin was amused by Great Grandpa.

  Tiffany-Ann doing what we do.  Read to the kids.  Ginny estimates that Claire does 100 books a day.  Yep.  If you skip a line, she says “please read it properly.”

   Saturday we hit the Tuxedo farmer’s market for tomatoes, and eventually they joined the peppers, onions, and spices in a big pot.  I have an old family recipe for chili sauce, sans hot chilis, and while it’s cooking, the wonderful aroma reminiscent of fall wafts over the neighborhood.  It also clears sinuses.  To say it’s a strong aroma is an understatement.  It’s more than that–it’s a traditional, comfort thing.  I’m sending some to Mom.

  Ta-Da!

  The Pemaquid Lighthouse again.  So beautiful, this coast.

  On the rocks below the lighthouse.  You can see Randy, and Ginny with Claire exploring the rocks.  Everyone played for about an hour out there.

  I sneaked away just before five p.m., because I had a hunch they would close the lighthouse to visitors at five.  The guide closed the gate behind me, in fact.  They allowed groups of four to climb into the top to the lamp room.  Luckily for me, I was a group of one, and I was able to sneak into the third to the last group going up, since there were only three of them.  I didn’t have to wait.  After climbing the very narrow and steep spiral staircase nearly to the lamp room, I had to shimmy up a vertical ladder to a platform above, sans handholds at the top.  Gees, Louise, it was an adventure for this vertically phobic person.  But I did it!  And this view was my reward.

  The top area was so small, it was difficult to take a good photo of the light, since it was so close. 

       We took a little drive, this time up the Taconic, through the Berkshires, across Vermont and New Hampshire to Maine.  Fourth of July picnic time.  On the way, driving through Vermont, we came across (quite by accident) Brigham Young’s birthplace.   While driving along a little country road, we came upon this historical site sign:    Across from the sign was a little general store with a post office in it, too.  I went in and asked the storekeeper about Brigham, and he was happy to direct me up the road a few blocks, where Brigham was born.  The monument was under a tree, sort of.  The tombstone-looking monument says he was a man of Courage and Superb Equipment.  OK.  Then we motored on up to Maine, to the Beisel’s place.   Here is Claire running through the sprinkler in their backyard.      Noah didn’t really like his picture taken too much this trip, but he was too busy having water fun to care when I snapped this one.           I caught Claire having some babydoll fun in her bedroom.  She’s a good mama to her baby Blue.  We went to the beach on the 4th, but I left my camera home.  Craig spent about an hour and a half actually swimming in the ocean.  The water temperature was 63, I heard.  It was a fun day.  Later he used his new bbq grill for the first time, and we ate heartily before we took a walk in Baxter Woods.  We hope to go back in September for a bike ride.