AN amazingly full day… Diane woke up at 5AM and started getting us ready to drive back to Vermont. We said goodbye to Marcia and Gabe got in the car and were driving by 6 which is pretty good for us !. On the way out, we stopped at the old IBM site for me to place a SamStone.  Somehow that felt like the right thing to do.

In the Steps of the old IBM Building

That’s about the last thing I remember of the trip.. Diane was driving.. I feel asleep immediately and slept for 225 miles. The boys slept all the way home to VT.. We made it home in 5 hours.. which is record time for us.

   We came home to a quiet and clean house. Meredith had been staying here and keeping the home fires burning.. we almost needed a fire it was so cool and wet when we go home.      IWe spent a few hours puttering around the house . I noticed a strong smell coming from the ‘old lab’ in te front of the house.. I poked around and found 2 dozend very ripe easter eggs sitting in there.. Yuck !.

We kept cleaning until Sam’s friend Pucket and his family showed up. Tomorrow is Pucket’s  16^th birthday and they were throwing the party at our house. Which was great…

The almost birthday boy, Puckett

We could only stay for the first part because we’d been invited to a picnic by our friends Joan, Bruce and Dan. They’d also invited our mutual friends Lori, Paul and family. Paul and I have worked together for 25 years and Lori was Max and Sam’s 2^nd grade teacher ..  We had both our  boys and our friends Meredith and Ruby from  the Voices project in tow.. so we had a pretty good group of people. It was great seeing everyone .While the others played Bocce, Paul, Bruce and I retired to Bruce’s shop.  Bruce is a fantastic welder/artist. He was working on a design for a ‘fire organ’.. which is a pretty simple thing. You put a torch underneath a length of heavy steel pipe and it resonates.. It’s a really ethereal sound. Paul and I helped Bruce fiddle with the design for awhile until we got it working (more or less) . The clue was to use a small torch which could fit up inside the pipe.. It was a pretty cool sound.

   After a nice dinner Paul, Bruce and I went back out to the shop and Bruce showed Paul and I how to TIG weld Aluminum.. it was really fun and much easier than I thought it would be. That said.. I’m pretty lousy at it.. but it’s something I would like to practice.

Pual trying TIG welding

Our results.. not too pretty

It was fun hanging out at Bruce and Joan’s.. they have a nice little pond in their back yard, an active birds nest with a mother on eggs.. and a very, very cute rabbit called Fuzzy Russell. .. It was a really nice visit.

Johna nd Bruce’s Gazebo and pond

Fuzzy Russell

Mama bird with eggs

.. and papa bird none to happy that we were in there looking at his family

    Around 7, Diane took the Voices kids up to MMU for their Kick off meeting while Gabe and I headed home. Pucket’s party was still in full swing so we played with those kids.. The trampoline was really getting a  workout..  We even hooked up the strobe and used it with the tramp once it got dark.

    Around 9, Diane and Max showed up with our 4 new house guests from the Voices project. John. Corrio , Nathaniel and Jordan (who show’s up tomorrow) will be staying with us until Aug 18th  when the Voices movie shooting is complete. The kids will be working about 10 hours a day 6 days a week.. should keep them very busy… It will be fun to have all that activity in our lives.

   Now I’m up in the Bell Tower writing this blog post and  trying to get myself ready for being back at work after a good week off.  I think I’ll be doing more of my writing from up here in the next few weeks because of all the people in the house..

     Before I end.. I wanted to share some pictures I found when I was working on my mother and father in laws old computer.. they had asked me to wipe it clean.. but before I did.. I went through and took off some great old images.. They are so precious to us now.. Here are a few I liked…  Beautiful kids.. really beautiful..

vinvent, sam and victor

 Our 3 boys

victor and sam

soccor sam

what a face !

Sam and gabe

He boys in costa rica

near halloween

In belize

max and baby sam

legs !

me, sam and gabe

Cousins

sam and 2 gabes

Gnite all.. gnite Sam !

-jc

 ps.  Here are some others I found of my brother and sister in law tat I thought were pretty goofy.

Not much time to write. We change our mind and decided to spend tonight here in Endicott .. That means that we need to leave before 6 tomorrow morning in order to get hom in time for our obligations tomorrow. We’ve had a great visit here in NY.. it’s the first time we’ve been here since Sam’s passing.. and that’s made it an emotional visit for me.   Last night Diane and I made a late night visit to Dave Linda and Andrea .. We had a really nice time sitting out on their candle lit patio..  We spent the time tlakign about Sam.. Andrea and Linda needed to do that.. and we love to talk about him… It was tearful and fun.. if you can imagine that.

Andrea, Me, Diane

Linda’s cool candle thing

Linda and Andrea

Their Sam ‘shrine’

We spent today just hanging out again. In a repeat of yesterday, Diane and Linda went for a longish bike ride and I went for a run. I found a loop that was just short of 6 miles.. which felt good. The hot sun fried my brain and I forgot to think on my run.. it was sort of a relief.

   The boys stayed here and hung out with their cousins and Andrea..   Lots of video games, basketball and swimming. Gabe managed to stick his foot inside of a water balloon.. Max gave us a musical serenade of ‘Hot Cross Buns’. While that was going on, What talent ! 

Gabe as ‘Balloon Foot Guy’

Diane and Linda took the dogs down to the river to place a  SamStone.

Dane and Linda

Chai and Colby

     Mid afternoon. Big Gabe. Andrea. Max and I went out on an errand to a local electronic store to find some components I needed…

Max with his eye on me

On the way we passed the old IBM sites.. Endicott was the home of IBM… but very little of it exists here now. Most of the old buildings are owned by other companies. It was somehow strange seeing those old IBM buildings with other companies logos on them.. I took the opportunity to grab a piece of the main building while I was there.. There’s so much IBM in me, I figure I deserve it.

The old main IBM building

The piece of the building I ‘borrowed’

   Shortly after we came home. David and Linda showed up.   David was in his scrubs.. He changed careers about 5 years ago. he’ been an electronics technician then decided he wanted to do soemthing more meanigful. He went back to nursing school and became an RN. He finds it fulling and exhausting. I’m really inspired by what he did.   As I mentioned Linda’s studying Reflexology.. and she practiced on me.. Felt great !

David checks out my heart.

We all had an early dinner.. then all went outside to play. We played about an hours worth of ‘capture the flag’.. a game the three boys, their cousins and I always played. Diane and Andrea joined us to round out our teams.. It was a hoot !.. The kids are so much faster than us old guys…  we kept having to remix the teams so we didn’t keep getting creamed. It was great !

Gabegrabs the flag

Trying to sneak around the house

Our flag hanging on the barn

Our flag hiding place (and where Sam used to play Guitar)

After capture the flag.. we did a little of our own flag flying.. A Cohn family specialty..

Monkey Max

Vincent does the flag

Diane gives it a try

Gabe does it

So does Max

So did I

When it got dark we all went in and packed… In the process, we found Chai camping out on Marcia’s bed… Chai !?!

We’re off tomorrow morning..  Sam… everyone here misses you …

-me

We’re down at Diane’s parents. Marcia and Gabe’s in Endicott NY.. just outside of Binghamton.

We got here around midnight last night and found our two nephews Victor and Vincent waiting up for us. It was nice getting off the road.  I  have to admit it was hard for me walking in the door without Sam with us. Diane, Gabe and I were last here when Sam was in Florida.. about 3 days before he died. The memories of that came back to me very hard.. I sat out on the stairs for awhile before coming in to go to sleep.  This house is full of pictures of Sam and our family.. I love it.

The kids made this poster for a play they did in 2000

Marcia just had these cups made

Here are the names of all the Mariano Grandkids as of early 1995. Susan was the name of the My brother- and Sister-in-law’s Steve and Denises baby that didn’t live

   This morning was bright and it felt very good being here. We’ve had a very relaxing day. Max and Gabe hung out with Victor and Vincent. Playing basketball and video games.. I always remember playing capture the flag with our three and their two boys.. . Diane went for a bike ride with here long time good friend Linda and I went for a run  up and over the hill that Gabe and Marcia live on. I used to do that run when Diane and I were just dating almost 25 years ago.. that damn hill has gotten quite a bit higher in that time  .

   Mid afternoon, Linda, her daughter Andrea, Victor, Vincent, Diane Max, Gabe, Chai  and I walked down the creek bed to a branch of the Susquehanna river that runs nearby We’ve always gone down there to skip rocks and look for fossils. Being there brought back so many great memories of the three kids and their cousins hanging out here.

Flowers down by the river

Sam was here !

We broke open ta rock and found fossils !

Max and Andrea

The culvert under the Highway

   Linda’s husband and our good friend David showed  up  we all  spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out in the pool, reading, talking, not-talking.   It was really relaxing.

Marcia

Gabe

Colby

Andrea

Linda

Sister-in-law Pat

Nephew Vincent

Nephew Victor

Brother-in-law Joe

Gabe as swamp monster

Linda and Diane

Linda is studying Reflexology and messed   around with Diane’s feet.. from what I could experience vicariously.. it felt pretty good .

I don’t think I could get anyone to touch my feet !

Around 5 Diane and I went out to get dinner. First stop was Chinese take-out.   I’d ben Jonesing all day for Tofu.. that’s what a vegan diet will do to you.. Next stop was Phil’s Chicken House.. a Mariano Family Tradition forever.   We all came back and gathered together to think of Sam  and wish Gabe and Marcia a happy 50^th anniversary.. then we dug in..

Aqua teen graffitti on the way to the resturant (Our kids love it.. Sam liked Meatwad)

   Right now we’re sitting outside in perfect weather… later tonight we’re going over to Linda and David’s … It doesn’t get any more laid back than this….

Sam.. we’re all thinking of you here… More tomorrow.

-jc

On the road again… I’m writing from the passenger seat as we drive down very scenic I 87 in the Adirondacks  of NY.

The four of us (+ Chai) are heading down to Diane’s folks in Endicott NY. Maria and Gabe’s 50^th anniversary is in a week or so.. my folks 50^th was in May.. big milestones !Last time we were down there was the weekend before Sam’s passing. Max hasn’t been there since  one of our college visiting trips in 2005.. It turns out that this weekend is the only weekend that the four of us are able to get away together this summer between camps, Max’s movie filming and my work travel. It’s remarkable to me how busy we are this summer given our emotional state.        On that front, last night and today have been pretty hard for me. The Fourth of July was always one of Sam’s favorite holidays… Actually, Sam loved all holidays.. Diane and I were talking about it last night.. he really lived every day like it was some sort of big holiday.. Last night, the rain let up enough for us to go down to Richmond to watch the fireworks…I was feeling a little low.. but the intensity of my reaction to the fireworks  surprised me.  broke down after the first couple of bursts .I lost it again during the finale. I’ve always had the tradition of hugging   each member of my family  at that point of the show.… It’s so strange how hard it is to predict my own reactions to things..

   I woke today in the same sensitive state…It’s a familiar pattern to me now.. kind of a backlash after any sort of celebration.. . Diane, Chai and I went for a run, then I got to sit in on Diane’s morning yoga class. Which was just what I needed… I broke down again during meditation… my emotions have been stronger these last two days then anytime since Sam’s birthday.    I think I’m a little worried about this visit to NY.. I know that I’ll be reliving many memories on this trip…

   The rest of the day passed pretty uneventfully… We did some house cleaning after the busy 4^th.. and packed for our trip. Gabe and I hung out for a few hours  and just goofed off. We spent some time playing on the trampoline which is really fun and a major workout.. I tried to see how high I could double bounce Gabe.. He’s  trying to help me get to a good back flip.. so far I’m too chicken to try.  When we got too hot we went and hung out in the pool.   I had the  weird idea to try and take some pictures underwater.. I put my camera in a couple of zip lock bags and  took it in the pool.. Iyt was pretty cool.. Here are some murky shots we got…

   Now we’re about an hour north of Albany.. We’re going to drop Max’s college friend Emma (aka Lydia, aka Mary, aka Otto) at the Albany bus station for her ride to NYC.   Emma’s been hanging out with us since Sunday.. it’s been good getting to know her.. It’s very cool to see how quickly she dropped into the the rest of Max’s friends.  The kids are in the back of the car playing Guitar Hero on the Van’s TV.. it’s fun to listen too.. They just tried some tongue tattoo’s .. wierd !

   OK.. I think I can get enough bandwidth to post on this stretch of highway.. Let me try..   More tomorrow.. Gnit’e all.. Sam.. we’ll be thinking of you ant Grandma and Grandpa’s

-jc