Ahhhh .. home at last. Diane and I made it home at about 7:00 PM after a 3.5 hour flight and a 6.5 hour drive. I’m glad to be sitting still. It was a wonderful trip.. not because of the places we went.. but because I was  traveling  with Diane. It was a totally different dynamic than my normal biz trips.. instead of coming back frazzled and fried, I’m coming back  already chilled out.. I’m going to see if I can take family with me more often now….

    Yesterday I posted a bunch of pictures about going back  to my childhood schools and house..   The real reason for the trip to Houston was to visit my brother Billy, his wife Shaun   and their kids Ben. Betsy., Billy. ‘Berto and Christopher.  They had moved back down to Houston from Boston nearly four years ago . I’m embarrassed to say that  even though we see my Bro and his family pretty often, this is the first time I’ve seen their new house in Houston. In fact, this was my first trip back to my home town , in more than 6 years since my parents moved up to MA.  Diane and I were excited to see Billy ‘s family and the house. We got there mid-afternoon yesterday and just hung out with them for the rest of the day.   It was great hanging out with Billy ,Shaun and the kids.. I love talking to Billy, he is the person on the planet who thinks most like me. Talking to him is like having a conversation in my head. Shaun is a free spirited and creative thinker too. She’s very spontaneous and loving. We love being with her. The kids are all quite different. All are growing very fast.   It was fun checking in with each of them during this trip.  We miss having them so far away from us now.

 Billy

Shaun

Betsy
‘Baby” billy (no baby anymore !)

Christopher (the bobblehead)

Chris on drums




On the porch





Me and Tintin


Billy and Chris





More Chris


‘Berto

Billy and his trombone practicing

Their place is really great.. First of all, it’s huge !.. Is a big two story brick building on a tree lined quiet street in Bellaire TX.. an embedded suburb of Houston. The house is spacious and airy and has all sorts of amazing features e.g.  the whole outside of  property, including the tree house,  is plumbed with small jets that spray a natural repellent  to keep Houston‘s famous voracious mosquitoes at bay. They have a great pool with a spa, an outdoor kitchen, and a full guest house with full kitchen. Downstairs from that was Billy’s shop where he does much of his inventing.

Welcome !

The front of the house

The rearof the house

The guesthouse.shop and outside table

The pool

Their ceder works glider.. jsut like the one I rode on with all three of our kids. (We’d sing ‘Doggy-doggy-doggy meat !’)

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Yummy Texas food (you couldn’t make me eat okra as a kid.. now I love it)

My grandfather’s desk !

The inside kitchen

Our three boys are present

My brother is a world renowned  heart surgeon (http://www.oberlin.edu/alummag/oamcurrent/oam_winter99/hearts.html) , He’s invented many amazing devices to help in heart surgery.. most of them were prototyped in his how shop out of ordinary equipment such as spoons, PVC pipe, ti-wraps, film cans, etc. His shop is pretty nice.. I particularly love his desktop mill/lathe combination.   Billy is also a semi-professional musician. He’s currently playing in a tongue-and-and cheek Disco revival band )’Disco Expressions”) complete with white leisure suits and white platform shoes . Here he is practicing for an up coming gig.

    We stayed up late last night , cooked some food out on the grill  and hung around in the pool. Around midnight we wandered off  for a few hours sleep before leaving this morning at 5AM to catch our flight.

     Our flight was about 3.5 hours .. but I only remember about 30 minutes of it.. the rest I slept. We arrived at JFK around 11:30.   As we waited for our bags, I saw this add for Spamalot.. ‘Spam’ or ‘Spamus’ was always my nickname for Sam. I always collected  ‘Spam’ stuff for him. When I saw this add I instinctively started to take a picture.. but then  almost stopped … ‘Why stop’ I asked  myself ?

   We got our stuff, and boarded the Airtrain back to our car. On the trip I managed to fall against the emergency alarm button…. I had to explain my clumsiness to the Transit police  via intercom..  Oooops !   We found our car with out issue and began the long but smooth trek back to Vermont.   As we crossed the line back into Vermont we both let out a sigh of relief. Our trip had taken us through  Newark, the Jersey Shore, Austin. Houston. NYC., Urban CT, etc..  The unspoiled green of Vermont really felt like home to us. It’s quite a different world up here.. maybe not for everyone.. but it’s heaven for us.

Here

there

   We got home around 7PM. Max and a few of his friends were hanging out. The house was spotless which was nice to see. Max asked me to go get a voltmeter out of my lab.. he followed me over. I opened the door to see that he and Scott had completely cleaned and organized it for me as a Father’s day present. I almost cried I was so happy. You would have had to have seen it before to know what a huge labor of love that was for them to do.. what a wonderful gift.  I love Max so much.. he is such a loving guy..   Scott, that was so cool for you to help do !

Surprise ! Clean Lab !

   Diane, Max and I then headed off to Mexecali for dinner. It was a great homecoming. Now… time for sleep. It’s nice to be back in my own bed.  G’nite everyone !..

-me