All posts by johncohn

Thursday night – Juneteenth

Happy Juneteenth everyone.. It’s a day set up to commemorate the Emancipation Proclamation of June 18th, 1863 that freed all slaves in the US. I remember that we celebrated it as kids in Texas.. I don’t hear much of it up here.. Anyway.. it’s good cause to celibrate the end of that dark part of American History.

Well.. not much time to blog agai.. It’s 1 AM and I’ve ben working for several hour. I had one of those days when I got firther behind the more I worked. I finally feel caught up and now I’m beat. I’m really trying to fight the crazy business from taking over my life again.. today I didn’t win… there’s always tomorrow 🙂

Before sleep, I do have a few days of pictures I want to share..

Yesterday I stopped by my firend Chris’s stone worksop on my way to dinner.. He’d made soem new SamStoens that he’s takign on his cross country trip.. Ilove these real stone SamStones. they were the originals ..

When I got there Chris was excited to show me his ‘word garden’.. he’s ben takign all of his scrap sandblstin masks and making random word rocks.. It’ just so amazingly cool. You hve got to see it to get the total effect. I told him that if he keps this up. Snoflake Bently won’t be the only wonderful eccentric that Jericho Center is proud to call its own. Here are just a tiny fraction of the dictionary o stones in Chris’s garden

After playning witht he rocks, I went and met up with my firends at Kitchen Table.. I spoke of it last night.. here’s the picture to prove I wasn’t making it up. from lef tto right it’s Chang Suh, Aiden, Jens (our guest of honor), Sue. me and Bill.. Itwas a delicios and fun night..

At 9 PM Izoomed home, threw on different clothes and Diane, Jane, Geore, Garry, Amy and I started our hike up to the cliffs.. Again.. Idescribed that last night.. so here’s the visuals..

Stuffed looked so cool in the darkness !

Here are George and Jane at the cliffs. it’s about 300 feet straight down right in forn of where they’re sitting.. Whatchout !

Here’s Amy

.. and me asleep on the rocks

Qw got home.. then I stayed up till 2:30 working and Linux hacking just for fun (like a dummy I paid for that lack of sleep today !)

THis mornign Diane and I took a run.. then off to work for me. On the way I passed the ‘hunt’ happening across the street.. note.. no real foxes abused here

Today’s work day was very full and very frustrating.. too much to do and not enough progress.. again.. I will try for better tomorrow. After work I met Diane and Gabe and a bunch of our friends at the park in Essex to calibrate our friend David (as in Hannah and David’s ) completion of the new Essex skate park. it’s absolutely beautiful !

We helped make it complete by adding a SamStone.

I saw Nate there.. he claims that I’ve never posted a nice picture of him in my blo.. that he always has a strange face on.. Hmmm.. doesn’t look strange to me !

Here’s Adah

And Gabe… riding the bronco

And Adah and me on the jungle gym.

Here’s the gang..

I took off around 7:30 and went and met my friend Garry at the Inn at Essex Garry is visiting from New York. Norman and Miles were therefor a bit then left. I also saw Jessie ! . When they left, Garry and I took a good walk in the golf course and talked.. It was a good quiet end to a hectic day

Eek.. it’s late.. time for sleep.. Gnite all .. Gnite Sam
-me

Wednesday night – a man who used to like onions

Hi friends…
I’m getting a bit behind.. I had an interesting and busy day..which included a ton of work meetings, a trip to see Marci and Tim F, a great dinner with my friend Jens who’s visiting from Germany.. and then a full moon hike up to the cliffs with Diane, Gary. Amy. Jane and George.. The moon was a no-show.. but the view and the company were great. I then came home and started working. I just noticed it was 1AM.. so I’m going to make this post very short.
The one thing I was thinking about today was the many changes I’ve experienced in my personality as well as my likes and dislikes since Sam’s passing.. When I actually write this stuff down. I see that the list is getting quite long…It includes:

  • My office and my workspaces (eg.. my lab and other workshop) used to be perpetually messy.. Now I manage to kep them clean and in order..I even have labels on all the boxes. I know where everything is.. I’ve NEVER done that in my life !
  • I now love long quiet times at home, in car rides and airplane trips. I love times when I’m doing absolutely nothing.. I could stand that for about 10 minutes before
  • I used to strike up conversations with anyone I was sitting next to in a meeting or a plane.. Now I don’t talk to anyone unless someone makes and effort to talk to me. It’s not shyness.. or unfriendliness.. I still enjoy meeting new people.. I’m just much happier being by myself
  • I used to wander the halls at work constantly talking to people.. Now I stay in my office with my door shut if I’m in the building and not in a meeting. Again.. not unfriendliness.. I’m just more comfortable in my cave
  • Similarly I used to spend hours on the phone talking to people for fun.. Now I hate talking on the phone unless I’ve got something specific to accomplish.
  • I used to read several books a month… and watch a movie or two a week.. Now I’ve read no more than 4 books in the last year and a half.. and watch less than a movie a month.. (I think blogging takes up my reading/movie time)
  • My rest heart rate is about 15-20 beats per minute slower than it used to be. I just used to be far more stressed
  • I used to get 5 hours of sleep a night.. now I need 7
  • And .. here’s the most shocking.. I find that no longer like mushrooms.. cooked garlic.. or cooked onions… and…I always thought of myself as a man who like onions..

    Interesting stuff… no ?

    OK.. I’ll post pictures tomorrow when can find my cable. I’ll end here… Before I do, I’d like to share this picture that my friend Jake up the street took on his porch last week.. I mentioned it a few days ago. This bear was sitting there drinking out of their hummingbird feeder.. So cut.. But.. keep in mind the feeder is probably 5 feet tall and made out of 1/2 inch steel. Cute.. but maybe not so cuddly.

OK.. all for now.. Gnite all. Gnite Sam
-me

Tuesday night – Happy birthday Max !

 

it was 20 years ago today… ! Today is Max’s 20th birthday.. unbelievable !. My first kid is a grown-up.. and a really, really good one at that. He’s such a an amazing person.
I spent the day thinking about that day 20 years ago when we became parents for the first time..it was one of the happiest days of my life. I remember it was fathers day.. and one of the hottest days of the year. Diane had a 36 hour labor then we were holding this guy in our arms.. He can lift me as easily as I can lift him now.

We all came together this afternoon to do the birthday thing.

We put max on the birthday ‘throne’.. ie/ the big wooden box that serves as our table.. and he opened presents..

Satori wanted a piece of the action too !

My folks found Max the most amazing toaster for his apartment. Is that not amazing ?

Max wanted Chinese take out from Silver Palace.. so Diane and I hopped in the car and went and picked it up.. On the way home, Diane snapped this picture of the sunset in our rearview mirror

There were about 6 or so friends over when we got back.. so we all dug in to the birthday meal..

It was Gabe’s last day of school which the girls celibrated by painting the boys nails. good color on him.. no ?

Then it was time for cake.. 20 candels.. one whole package !.. Now there’s a milestone !

Out in one blow ! The Sam candle is still lit ..

The birthday crowd looks on approvingly.

The candles are too tempting..

Out with one snort !

Happy birthday Max.. we love you so much !

Gnite all. gnite Sam
-me

Sunday night – happy fathers day

Happy fathers day friends.. It’s a been a pretty good day.. bittersweet as you mightt expect.. but my family is around and that feels good. We’ve layed pretty low today.. I am really, really  missing Sam..

 I did my posting early yesterday so let me pick up with what happened after Diane picked me up at the plane.   No wait.. I still have a few pictures form my trip for some reason.. I had a very short layover in London yesterday. I used my time to drop a SmStone in a very nice looking vending machine.

The flight back was uneventful.. I worked the whole way.. I watched Casablanca as I worked.. Ahh.. now there’s a movie.. “Play As Time Goes By for me Sam”… that line has new meaning to me now.

The flight to JFK went by quickly as did the flight back to BTV. Diane picked me up at the airport.. and I was feeling pretty good.. We decided to do a little Graduation party hopping on the way home. First stop was Tim R. .. It was great seeing Ron, Paula and family.. Tom and Beth were there as well.. nice bonus.

We then headed back to Richmond to see Aaron L. On the way back we passed this little guy in the middle of the road on 117. Diane circled back just  in time. I jumped out of the car and redirected him/her into the weeds again.

It was great seeing Aaron and family..at his graduation party.  Aaron’s dad Jake showed me a great picture he’d taken last week  of a bear he’d found sitting on his porch and drinking his humming bird feeder .. It looked like a tiny cub.. until I saw that the feeder was about 5 feet high.. Yikes !  I’ll try to get a copy of that picture

One more stop before home.. We went up to Tim and Jen’s to congratulate Marie.. I can’t believe that all of these kids are graduating !

It was after 6 by the time we got home.. First thing I notices was Satori’s new haircut.. Diane had gotten her trimmed because of the heat.. and they’d given her a Mohawk !  They;re goign to trim it off this week.. but she looks so cute.. She’s a completely different animal without her long coat !.

I was still feeling pretty awake and un-jet lagged so we decided to go crash our friend Deb’s wedding . She married ran who’s such a nice guy.. The wedding was in the afternoon before I got in.. but 6 hours later there was still a party going on over there..   Bed and Fran looked so happy together !

It was a great time.. we had some great talks with Deb’s son Nick and his cool girlfriend .. They are both such great kids. Nick and I had the best talk about Sam.. he really misses Sam..   I cant believe I didn’t get a picture of those two..

I did get a picture of Jeremy and his girlfriend.. they were the bartenders. Jeremy told us a great SamStone story about a Samssone he left near Panama city.. I’ll get a picure and post it..

We got home around 10.. Wow.. 3 graduations and a wedding .. and a 25 hour plane ride.. I was beat..   One last thing for the day.. Max opened a gift we’d received from Emma.. it was this awesome flower arrangement made out of fruit !..  She’s such a sweetie..

That was it for me yesterday.. I was asleep by 10:30 and slept all the way until 6AM this morning..  I woke up feeling great..   I took a quick run then got ready to  go with Gabe to his early Lacrosse game in Middlebury.. an hour away.   It was the second day of a tournament.. and the last game of the regular season..
The fields were SOAKED form last night’s rain.  Here’s beautiful ‘Lake Lacrosse’.

the water on the field came up over my ankles  in places..

.. and Otter Creek behind the field was out of its banks and running muddy brown.

The kids had a great time collecting earthworms that were driven up by the water.. but they let them go.. this was strictly ‘catch and release’

Gabe had another good day playing.. he cored  bunch of times.. It was brutally hot (in the high 80’s)..

We got the team together for a team photo during one of the breaks.. Gabe’s the tallest on the team.. And.. Diane reminds him that she was the tallest kid in her 6th grade.. so who knows…

We sat under the shade for the first game.. then spread out with Tim and Wendy and family on the hill for the second.

Gabe was so hot after the game, his face looked like a beet. .. This was the last game of the regular season.. Just the allstar game next week and the season is finshed. it’s been a good year for Gabe.. I love this game.

We got home from Gabe’s game about 3:30.. and we spent the rest of the afternoon puttering around the house. I was trying to figure out something to make, but my creative juices just weren’t flowing, so I did some odd fixit jobs around the house..

Lots of friends stopped by today during the late afternoon which was nice…  Andrew and Elsa  and Elsa’s boyfriend Paul came by to borrow the inner tubes to raft the Huntington.

Tyler, Tom, RJ, Julia and Liz came by with Selene and Carolyn.  Carolyn was back from college and Selene has been oversees for most of the last year.. she’s been in Thailand and Cambodia mostly.. She loved Cambodia.. 

Liz and RJ were here.. RJ’s gaged his ears up to an inch .. we’re going to put SamStones in them !

We had a nice family dinner around 7 …  Diane put 5 plates out without thinking.. We lit our Sam candle and sat down to eat. It was so nice having all of us around the table.

After Dinner, Max, Diane and I watched a movie in the barn after Gabe went to bed.. (The Dewey Cox Story.. good and strange)… It was only after the movie.. when everyone else was in bed that I walked outside and talked to Sam.. I cried for about 10 minutes..   and realized that was what I needed to do to make this fathers day complete..

It was a good day..   Happy fathers day to all you dad’s out there.. Happy fathers day Dad.. and Big Gabe.. We love you both.. Happy Fathers day Sam.. I’ll always be your dad…
-me