Saturday night – Happy birthday Grandpa Gabe

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Happy 77th birthday Grandpa Gabe..  (It’s also Max’s Girlfriend Jac’s birthday.. as well as Neil Young’s and Charles Manson’s ) Diane’s dad is 77 today.. we’re down in Endicott to celebrate with him.  He’s such a great guy.. kind, gentle and smart. He’s been a machinist for 60 years and has taught me much over the past 30 years. After a peaceful and lazy day, Diane’s brother Joe, is wife Pat  came over for Chinese food and cake .. It was really nice all being together..


As a joke we got Gabe 7 lottery tickets as a birthday present.. With our Gabes lucky touch he won 53 dollars ! I didn’t think people really won these things !

THis is the first time I’ve been down to Endicott since the terrible flooding they had in September.. Marcia and Gabe’s basement was destroyed and had to be comeplety orn apart.  The small neighborhood they live in (West Corners)  was hit so badly that it made CNN !

Driving around today even months later it is stille asy to see the destruction

Gabe and I went running on the flood wall this afternoon and saw the water line from the flood.. it was 1 foot from crestign a 20 foot earthen damn. if that had given way  the destruction would have been even worse !

It’s good to see Marcia and Gabe and their neighbors getting back to normal.. though the town will take a long time to recover..

 

OK.. time to watch scooby doo ! (we don’t have TV at home.. so I catch up when I visit here.. .. and Sam loved scooby doo:-)

note all, nite sam

-me

 

 

 

 

Friday night 11/11/11

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one one – one one – one one.. how we’ve waited for this day.. and now… what ? the calendar clicked over today to the 11th of November, 2011… many things were queued for today..weddings, contracts,.. stunts.. all because of an arbitrary clicking of our social odometer.  I was thinking about that on the drive down here to Endicott.. (we’re visiting my inlaws).. In 10 days. we’ll mark the 5th year since Sam’s passing.. Nov 21st.. 5 times around the sun since the universe changed. completely .. I’m trying to figure out what i want to do to mark that day…

nothing more to say tonight..

 

nite all, nite sam

-me

 

 

Thursday night – tools bouquet

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Friend Jen just asked me to make a ‘tools bouquet’ for her hooked rug show that begis this weekend at Shelburne Museum and runs from the 12-through the 20th. .  It’s called “Hooked in the Mountains” and it’s put on by the Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild . I’ve seen the shows before and it’s really amazing artwork.. paintings.. really.. but done with yarn. I recommend you take a look This years theme is “All the Live Long Day – A celebration of working, industry and innovation” . Evidently there are many themes there this year including technology, biology, art, industry etc.. all depicted in hand made hooked rugs. . Jen is runnign the show this year and asked quite a few folks to put together ‘tool bouquets’ that showed the tools of their trade. I had originally thought I’d just put some soldering irons and stuff in a flower pot.. but Jen asked me to jazz it up a bit more.. soemthing a little  bigger more flashy. I only had a few hours to think about it.. so I put together a  pile of tools: an oscilloscope, a frequency generator , a frequency meter and a power supply all hooked together in a way that invites to viewer to play with the knobs. and see what happens on the screens. Then I sprinkled on a bunch of blink bling just to make it a little less sterile.. Not beautiful.. but certainly geeky enough..   I still have a few hours to think about it if anyone has an idea how to spruce it up.. or make t look a little more presentable..   Any idea most welcome..

 

nite all.. nite sam

-me

 

Wednesday night – 11/9

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Today is the 9th of November.. 11/9.. or.. 9/11 in some parts of the world.   It’s the day that Diane and I got engaged in 1985. We were living in Winchester in the south of England. Diane was studying for her midterms for her graduate program. .. ..We went out to eat at the Chesil Rectory.. a nice restaurant in Winchester that was first opened in 1450 (yes.. 1450 !). We had a nice dinner then walked back home along the river.. At one point I dropped to my knee and gave diane the ring I’d made her in my blacksmithing class.. no diamond. just a thin twisted band of mild steel I’d hand forged out of 1/4 inch bar stock. I asked her to marry me.. she said yes.. then she got on her knee and asked me the same.. it was one of the best decisions I ever made..26 years later were still very much in love..

There is an interesting story around the date.. It may come as a shock to you .. but 911 has always been my lucky number.. as a kid.. it occurred in my life all the time .. it was our locker number at the swimming club, my bike combo (by accident).. and many other things like that.   in 1982 I even put it on the inside door of my first bedroom in this house where it remains today

I had planned to get engaged on Sept 11.. but that didn’t work out for reasons to complicated to explain here..   We opted for 11/9 as being the next closest thing….  911 remained my lucky number up until 911 when it became one of the least popular numbers in history..   strange but true

 

anyway.. I’m happy to remember 11/9 as anniversary day..  I love you Diane

 

nite all, nite sam

-me