6 oclock came and I’d been on th phoen without a break since 7AM.. we were supposed to have gentle yoga tonight.. but everyone but elln was out of town.. the three of us all decided that we were too lazy to relax…
we sat outside in the unseasonably warm 70 degree breeze and drank wine and ate apples and cheese until it got too dark to see…
and then sit there a little bit longer…
just what i needed after a busy day
nite all,nite sam
-me
Happy birthday Chai Baby !.. our oldest dog Chai turned 11 today.. hard to believe. Thats quite a mature lady. I remember so clearly the day when we first got her. We found her online … she was born in Ottawa to a German family.. who flew her to Montreal to meet us. I remember taking the whole family.. Diane, Max, Sam and Gabe up to meet our new family member..
she was so small and cute !
here she is with Sam.. a handsome pair.. no ?
she quickly grew to be one of the best friends we’ve ever had.. She ‘s kind, emotionally intuitive and whip smart.. I know dogs cant talk.. but somehow she does. She’s been there with us through great times.. and really sad times.. shes always there when i need her. .. we love her so much ..
we ran up Libby’s lookout with Chai and Satori in honor of Chai’s birthday. it was another magnificent day..
Diane made Chai a special dinner tonight. .. (Satori got some too)
. we had a party for her last night too.. hjen and TIm even brought a cake for her..
You’re one very loved dog Chai baby.. happy, happy birthday.. we love you girl
nite all. nite sam
-me
We were grateful to be back in Vermont in time to spend another day out in the woods. The leaves are still brilliant.. at east below the hilltops.
We drove up bolton notch road and hiked the 5 miles back to the house with the dogs. It was so beautiful. It’s our favorite section of the longtrail.. and in the whole hike.. we didn’t see another soul. It has a collection of woods trails, streams, cliffs, and ponds… we can never remember in what order. Turns out its bond then cliffs, pond then cliffs.. pond then cliffs.. gotta drill that into my head. Here’s how it looked today.. at least via an iphone.
Ahh.. gotta go pick up gabe. more tomorrow
nite all, nite sam
-me
Really great day in Pittsburgh, seeing friends and visiting our old stomping ground. First port of call was mike and Laura’s. We got there around 9 which was a perfect time for a bloody mary.
Mike and laura and their daugter molly were in the baby group that was our main social network when i was in grad school. Mike and i used to take the kids to the zoo then go hang out in a bar wiht the kids in tow. good memories. It was so good catching up !
Mike is a painter and laura teaches Italian.. We got to see some of mikes recent art.. which I really liked ! This is a portrait mike did of laura recently.. pretty geometric !
and here’s some of mikes art recently prinited in a catalog form a show he did in Berlin last year.
From there we went to a lovely reception for engineering alumns and faculty. lots of folks to catch up with .. and wonderful food and drink. The big event was the mounting of a beam that everyone had signed as part of the new Scott Hall which will house the new bioengineering program as well as several other cross disciplinary programs. Both Dean Garret and President Suresh gave some short remarks.. Both gave a shout out to me for the award which was very nice of them
on our way out of CMU, we stopped back into Hammerschlag to go and visit my old office on the third floor.. and to go up and see the roof.
Here’s roughly where I worked. I say roughly, because the layout has changed..
and here’s the beautiful view form the roof.. Don’t tell anyone we went up there.. you’re not supposed to be up there ;-).. same as it was 25 years ago when I used to take max up there as a baby.
One time I took a bunch of pictures of him up there as a mothers day picture for Diane.. We did a little reenactment 
We left,, then took a quick visit to phipps conservatory.. again.. a frequent place we took max there was a nexibit of soem wonderful glass peices in among the plants.. We left a few sam stones..
of the
from there we headed over o tou our old house 2331 pittock street. Such great memories from there. We parked our car and walked up to frick park just like we did most every day when max was a baby
as we walked up.. we walked by alderdice high school . Here I could look back a tthe window of my study where I worked on and wrote my thesis.
it was so great visiting Frick park.. The famous blue slide was still there.. Max used to go up and down that for hours, He and I both took a quick turn for old times sake !
Next stop was to walk tot he convienince store that I used to take max after the park for ‘Ach-Orch-Dich’.. or 2 year old for ‘ice cream on a stick”
the place was unchanged and we hung out on the same school steps across from the store to eat our treats !
from there we looped back to murray drive and headed back to the car. on the way happened to see the place I used to get my hair cut (yes.. i used ot have hair !). my old friend and barber Safi was ther eand he recognized me immediately. He remembered a story I used to tell him of the King that was so afraid of getting his throat cut that he had his beard cut with fire… it was great seeing Safi !
on the way back to the car, we also saw another ‘schoolhouse yoga’.. just like dianes.. how cool is that ?!
from ther ewe headed to the airport.. max was on the same flight with us to Detroit.. ther ehe wenthis way and we went ours. It was great having him there with us..
it was a very good trip.. thank you CMU !.
now were’ back home and happy to be here..
nite all, nite sam
-me
gota sleep now.. more tomorrow