Monthly Archives: November 2007

Sunday evening – Chili !

We had a great day today. Today was the Chili cook-offf that our friends at Hettena Wright and Horton (HWH) were throwing to benefit the Friends of Sam and the Sam Cohn Foundation. HWH is a local accounting firm that does estates, trusts and personal income taxes. Every year they choose a local charity to sponsor for their chili cookoff. This year they pciked up Sam’s caused from the coverage in the newspaper. It was a wonderful event.

The Ethan Allen Club had generously donated the space to hold the cook off. The club has been an institution in Burlington for more than 100 years. It was a perfect place for an event like this

We arrived around 1 and the place was already filling up. There were long rows of chafing dishes holdinggllons of everyones best efforts at chili. There were three categories: hot, mild and veggie.. I beleive that there were 26 entries in all.

Folks milled about with cups and spoons and sampled the various wares. I was particulaly partial to this one.. (Ok it. was mine) a spicey checki pea concoction from India called Chole OK chile .. chole.. what’s the difference.. ?

The Friends of Sam had set up various tables with info, contests and handouts.. Here’s Phoebe and Marie watching over the chili voting bins

Here Diane, Matt and Paulo hang out at the donation box

Here’s Gabe hanging out with some of his friends

Ian and Nate played soem great spanish guitar for the folks milling around.. I thing there were about 200 people who came through ..

We had lots of Sam stuff around, pictures,SamStones, posters

There was a silent auction in the back with lots of great stuff.

Jen K made these awesome pottery bowls for the auction.

Her’s Conner the DJ keepign things lively.. (We later learned that Conner is our good friend Jackson’s older brother !)

Here’s Morgan with some Organ Donor info

Some folks were watchinga football game as they chomped on their chili

The tension mounted as it came close to teh time to announce the winners. Chris and Conner kept it lively with trivia contests as the votes were being counted.

And the winner is !!!!!… Believe it or not, The Freinds of Sam ! They won in the Hot Category.. It wasn’t even rigged since all noone knew who’s chil was who. They won based on the wonder taste of their secret ingredient : 5 cans of Red Bukk.. Sam’s favorite drink !


Here they are accepting their prize !

It was really a fantastic day.. We don’t know yet how much they made, but including the generous matching offer from HWH, we think the Friends of Sam made more than 3000 dollars today. Thanks so much to Chris and Judy and all the fine folks at HWH for making this Chili Cookoff a great event.. It’s jus tthe kind of thing that Sam would have loved. Spicey food, red bull music and lots of friends.. (about 200 I think) We all cetainly felt Sam there..

We’ll be back next year to defend our title !

Good night and good digestion all.. G’nite Sam
-me

Friday Evening – Anniversary Day

Today was a busy and full day.It’s really late now as I’ve just come back from Homer’s birthday in Vergennes. It’s so late, that I’m going to wait until tomorrow to download the pictures from the hooked rug show we saw today, Gabe’s night at gymnastics and Homer’s party. Hope that’s OK with everyone.
   Today also  marks the 22nd anniversary of the day that Diane and I got engaged. We were living in Winchester in the south of England. Diane was working hard grad school work. We dressed up and went to the Chessil Rectory, a 14th century church rectory that had been redone into a very nice resturant. After dinner we walked back home along the river. It was a cold and drizly evening as many were in England. I got down on my knee and asked Diane to marry me.. and then she did the same. I gave her a ring I’d made for her in my blacksmitthing class.. Pretty delicate for soemthing made out of 1/4 inch  steel barstock.. but a little clunky just the same… After that we wandered home. I remember that night so well. Diane, I’m so glad you said ‘yes’ !.. I love you very much.
  
One picture I do have to upload is the wonderful poter that our friends made for the upcoming Sam Cohn Foundation concert.  It’s on Saturday Nov 24th at the West Monitor Barn in Richmond. Please pass the word along..!

G’nite all, g’nite Sam
-me

Thursday morning – Adam Muller

I woke up this morning and read that MMU grad Adam Muller was killed in Iraq this week. . I didn’t know Adam.. but we know his familly… and our hearts go out to them.  It would be wrong for me to say ‘I know how they feel’.. because we’ve learned that everyone’s experience with loss is different. I do know that the family will need the  love and support of this community. Please keep Adam and his family in your thoughts
-jc

Tuesday Night – Ehnebuske house

It’s about 1 AM and I’m just finding my way up to bed at my friend’s Dave and Jean’s in Homes, NY. Dave and I worked together in the Academy for several years. They’re both amazing people with many interests. It’s so much fun to come here and see/here what they’ve been up to since Dave retired from IBM .
The day was really good. I can tell that this new job assignment is going to be very exciting (and challenging)/ My day started in Armonk at the learnng center. I always love the wildlife I see there.. this morning there were wild turkeys all over the road.



I had a great set of meeting in Somers. One of the meetings was with my buddy Susan.. she’s Lebanese.. she brought me a huge plate of hummous and baba ganuj. What a great way to start the day !

I met with several friends in Somers then headed back to Armonk for meetings with my new group. Here’s the cube I’ll be borrowing while the real owner, Grace, is out having a baby.

My next door neighbor is Neal.. We had a great conversation about Sam and his nephew Mark who died in an avalanche. Neal still wears marks beads around his neck 11 years since his passing.

I finally dragged myslef out of Armonk with a bit of work. It really a beautiful place

I made the 45 minute drive up to Dave and Jeans and found their beutiful house way out on a small country road. It’s full of the most interesting things… (including Dave and Jean) . For example, was pleasantly surprised to see a pile of lockpicks in their kichen.. they were pretty much just like mine.. Interesting hobby to share.

Here’s Dave

Here’s Jean

They have a ton of interesting original artwork here… Including Maurice Sendak


And soem original Dr. Suesses .. (Suess’s… ? Suessi ? )

Dave collects and plays interesting instruments (recorders, guitars, concertina’s, etc). I got him to play a bit for me…

Dave even made a concealable spud gun that fires gum drops..
g

We talked a long time about Sam… and about life. It was a really nice evening.. of talking and goofing around.

OK.. I’ve fallen asleep several times in writing .Better quit now More tomorrow.. . I love you all .. Gnite Sam

-me