Lots of good stuff happened today.. but I’ll  bring that stuff in tomorrow Today I wanted to talk abotu Brandon Kilburn’s memorial service. The service was today at 11 AM at the Congregational Church in Jericho Center. I had gone back and forth on whether I should go.. I wasn’t sure how i would do in that setting. This morning, I decided to go.. it felt important to me to be there . I got there just as the service was starting.. th whole green in Jericho Center was surrounded by cars.. I had to park a good way down the street and walk.

By the time I got there the upstairs church was full.. there were about 100 more folks in the basement watching the service on remote TV. I parked myself in the back of the room and watched.  .The service was very warm and very sad.  Our friend Marvin did a truly wonderful and beautifully told set of stories about Brandon/ These stories really defined this great kid.  an athlete, an outdoorsman,  a loyal friend and family member and a great prankster. I felt I knew Brandon much better through those stories. The director of Camp TaKumTa, the camp for kids with or survivors of cancer,  got up and talked about  Brandon’s great service to the camp and campers.. Since loosing a kidney to cancer as a baby. Brandon had been a camper at TaKumTa from the time he was a little kid until this past year.    Rocky. the school councilor from MMU also got up and said some great things about what a good  guy Brandon was…  Finally, Brandon’s Mother and Father, sister, cousins and grandmother got up to speak. I was fine for the whole thing except for when I saw hi mother and father speak. When I heard Brandon’s dad talk abut his fine son… the last year dissapeard for me and I was doing the same thing at Sam’s memorial. I could feel it as though I was just in that place.. I remembered the pain just as it felt then… I sent some love back to myself on that very hard day.. then came back to ‘now’ and sent some love to Brandon’s parents.. I know every one is different in how they cope and heal.. but I feel a deep and sad kinship to these people. When the time comes we’ll reach out to them…

 I know it might seem weird to take pictures at a funeral.. but this blog is such an important way for me to record my days.. I hope folks would forgive me doing this.. I do it with all respect to Brandon in his family.

After the service… most folks came downstairs for lunch and to watch a slide show of  Brandon’s pictures..   I loved watching the pictures… but it was so, so hard to watch the Kilburn’s watching the slideshow.. Again.. the year just telescoped away and I was there doing the same thing. I had to turn away and go outside for a bit to catch myself.   As I stood there many friends came by and hugged me. I got lots of caring comments to the effect of ”ll bet this brings back lots of  memories’.  The truth is.. every day is full of memories about Sam.. this event is sad because of Brandon’s death.. it’s not about us or our situation. I felt sad.. but at the same time, strong and centered. I loved that the community was there for the Kilburns as the have been there for us.

I hung around for a while talking to folks and watching the slide show… eventually I had to get going.. I said good bye and walked upstairs. the Sanctuary was empty now.. Its a beautiful building..

Again it was so sad to see another great kid taken from us at such an early age.. This community is really struggling to take this in. at the same time I see the strength of our community in how they support the folks that really need it.

OK.. that’s all for now..  I wish peace to all of you in the Richmond?Jericho community.. and you too Sam. ..Peace out

-me

We stopped in Colchester to consolidate cars and get soem snacks.. Then headed north

Our caravan made it  up to the boarder in no time.

It’s amazing how quickly the scenery changes once you’re in Quebec.. It’s pretty flat and treeless along the route in to Montreal .. Last time I remember coming up here it was with Diane.  Gabe and Sam on our way tot eh Red Hot Chile Pepper concert in Quebec City. Sam was on my mind all day today..

The drive is about 1.5 hours.. but luckily we were able to put the kids in suspended animation… so they didn’t notice the ride.

We crossed the Champlain Bridge and got our first view of the city

I’m always amazed that such a large city could be so close to the us.. and to the rural backwater  (which I love) of Vermont.

The place gets more impressive as you drive in.

We found a place to park near Drumont and St. Catherin.. We ducked into a hotel to use the facilities. They had this cool fountain.

while the other folks were waiting, I dipped into a Lebanese restaurant next store to get an early afternoon dolma fix.. Yum…

The prices were not as cheap as we were used to .. the US and Canadian dollars are almost at par..

We dawdled a bit as some store and a coffee shop waiting for our 4:10 slot at Laser Quest..    During the wait I called my long-lost friend Milton back.. Milton called me out of the blue 2 days ago. He and I went to high school together.. I haven’t seen him in just about 30 years.. We’re slowly telling each other our life stories. . So far I have heard his up to about 2005. From me.. he’s only heard about my kids.. and about Sam’s passing. The rest will come tomorrow. I had to tell him about Sam before we talked more. It’s hard for me to talk to anyone when they don’t know.

At 4:10 we all met back at Laser Quest and signed up. There were 18 of us and about 6 other folks in the group.including a couple that some of us knew from Bolton.. which just happened to be there. They led us in to don our equipment.. then let us loose in the 3 floor laser tag maze..

I wasn’t even that in to it at the beginning… but something about it was so… I don’t know… cathartic ? Stress releasing ? …

They wouldn’t let me take pictures in the maze.. but it was a very cool setting.. lots of stairs and catwalks.. and lots of stuff to hide behind.. You waited for someone to come buy then you shot them with your laser.. If you hit them.. their lights would go off for a few seconds.. and you’d get a point.. if they hit you, your vest would rumble, the lights would go off.. and you’d loose a point.. You then spent 30 minutes running around like a mad person shooting at anything that moved..   Well…it surprised the hell out of me.. but I was good at it..  very good at it it seems.. I was the high scorer of the group (by nearly 2X).. .

. actually the high scorer for the day… and the third highest score the place had had  since the beginning of December. I can’t figure out exactly why I’d be good at it.. … unless this is like the Bourne Ultimatum… hey.. wait… I’m starting to remember now…..  🙂

We did a second short game of guys vs. girls… Winner buys dinner.. we bought dinner.. but the ladies fought valiantly.. There’s something just so wrong about pointing a laser at your wife and friends.. but man is it fun.. what’s that say about all of us ?

We were hot and tired by the time our session was up.. We went out on the street .. which quickly fixed the ‘hot’ part. 

We headed down St. Catherine to find a restaurant.  It’s an amazingly lively, colorful and pleasantly seedy place.

We found one we liked on the 2nd bounce.. A Mexican place. It was really very good…

After dinner.. it was time for home. I loved seeing how much fun all the kids were having.

We had a full moon that was like a searchlight. We had moon shadows all around us.. It made the city look even more beautiful.

Lazy evening after a good day outside.   I have some pictures left over from yesterday. I didn’t want to post newsy stuff about my day at the same time I posted about Brandon Kilburn’s death. I realized this morning when I read his obituary that Brandon was our friend’s Wes’s brother in  law. Wes’s dad, Marvin, is a good friend of most folks in Richmond. He runs Bridge Street Cafe.. My heart goes out to all those guys.

I was thinking about Sam all day… yesterday I had to go to Advanced Music to pick up one of Sam’s guitars… His Les Paul SG.. his first good electric. . It had been broken accidentally at one of our parties. Matt from Maple Street Guitar Repair had done an amazing job at restoring the broken neck. no matter how close you look., you cannot tell that it had been broken.   Matt told me that his 18 year old nephew was killed in a car accident a few years back. We sat and tlaked about life for awhile.. He’s a great guy.

On my way home I popped into Talent to buy Gabe some shoelaces.. No sign of Hannah, Dave, Adah or Senyah.. but  found the laces. I always appreciate the signs of Sam they keep there.

Last night was pretty quiet here. Gabe was up at the mountain. Kevin came down.. He’d passed his driving test yesterday !! (as did Hannah B and Alex B)
Unbeleiveable.. (not that he passed.. that he’s old enough to drive !)

Kevin doing his ‘drivers licence face’

Kevin took Sam’s newly fixed guitar and went out to the barn to play for awhile. That made me feel good.

This morning I managed to sleep until 9.. I think that was 11 hours ! (not counting 2-3 AM when Chai woke us up by having a really good/loud tail wagging dream)  I hadn’t gotten more than 5.5 hours any of the nights I was in NY last week. I guess I was tired..

Diane and I were eager to get outside today before the really cold air showed up this evening. We called Kathy and Lou and invited them to snowshoe from their side to our side of Robbin’s Mountain .

It’s an easy climb up from the Wes White Hill side.. and a not so easy descent down to our back yard. It’s only 2047 feet.. but the descent down to our house at 300 feet made it the steepest ascent/descent on the old long trail route.. The trail has been moved down Duxbury Road to the Banforth Ridge trail..

I’d inadvertently worn socks that were too small for me.. Wonderful Diane offered to swap with me.

It was a beautiful climb up.. not too steep.. not too cold..

I asked my favorite glacial boulder to pose for me…

There used to be a really rickety fire tower at the top of Robbin mountain. You could climb up it and see for miles in all directions.. if you held on tightly enough. One time Diane and I slept underneath it.. then hiked down in time for work. Now it’s been replaced with a huge (and ugly) radio, TV and Cell tower,,

But at least the cell reception is pretty good up there…

There’s a look-out right behind the tower with a great view of Camel’s Hump and Honey Hollow

… and a great view of Diane !

We ran into tow women hiker up there.. One of them, Krista, works at the Montior Barn where we had Sam’s concert in November.

We started getting cold so we headed down the western side of Robbins. There are soem great views looking North West and East  from there.. Here’s a pview of Bolton.. Hey.. I think I can see Gabe up there 🙂

Here’s looking over at Bolton Notch road.

It’s always a little dicey finding the old trail down that side of Robbin’s. The old Long Trail blazes have been painted over.. and many of the trees that were marked have since fallen down. We were happy to find these gray blazes. Even though it’s literally our back yard, it’s easy to get off the trail and have to bushwhack.. not always easy given the steep terrain.

Sam was very  much in my mind as I slid down the hills.. I took a sec to write his name in the snow as I always do..

We loved seeing all the  signs of life out there in the woods. We saw bear scratching, critter tracks and wood pecker holes.. Here’s someone’s home neatly chewed above one of the old trail blazes.

Home looked pretty inviting as we came down the last bit over the sledding hill. As I said.. it’s not far.. but it’s steep. We went in and had a hot bowl of chili

…then took Lou and Kathy back up to their house and picked up our car. .. Now.. I’m so sleepy I can hardly keep my eyes open.. and it’s not even 7PM..
I’m getting pretty lazy in my old age I guess..

Oh… one cool thing..While I was taking a bath to warm up my stiff and tired bones,  I was reading Dava Sobel’s excellent book ‘The Planets’ that came out in 2005. The book has some interesting stories, histories and poettry about each of the planets. Tonight I was reading about Mercury. She mentioioned the MESSENGER spacecraft whhich was headed towards Mercury. MESSENGER,which stands for Mercury Surface Space Environment GEochemestr and Ranging. was launched in 2004.   The book mentioned that it was scheduled to approach Mercury in Jan of 2008. Well. .. I checked.. it had it’s first good look at the planet 4 days ago.. and the first good pictures came back today…. Pretty cool coincidence.. no ?  Here are a picture that MESSENGER took of Mercury earlier this afternoon

Well.. that’s all for now.. have a good night folks.. Good night Sam..
-me