As usual, way behind on my news updates. We've been very busy, so lots to report. There is a collection of photos that go with this report, too.
We'll start with a kayak trip we took on the Charles where we saw these huge lily plants. Around Labor Day we went up to Highland Lake with Rick & Gitte. We did some swimming, some kayaking, and lots of eating and relaxing. Highlights were swimming and paddling very close to the loons that were hanging out all over the lake, plus a bunch of turtle hanging out near the island.
In mid-September, our favorite brewery (we're investors), Mystic, had a little party at Mead hall in Cambridge to celebrate the first anniversary of shipping their first beer. After that Kathy and I walked around East Cambridge a bit and ran into a nice international festival. Cool stuff.
At the end of the month we rode in our fifth Hub On Wheels ride around Boston. It's getting to be quite a crowd, but it was a lovely day and we felt short-changed when the 50-mile option turned out to be only 47.
The following week Kathy and Ben flew to Italy for a week of biking at the Hotel Belvedere in Riccione, with a day before in Bologna and a couple of days in Florence following.
We popped down to Long Island to visit with Ross and Hollie. The weather was quite warm, so the four of us played outside a bit in the park. We went out to dinner at a place called Jewel. Good food, and the most interesting men's room. The following morning we went out to brunch in Brooklyn with nephew Jeff and friends Stephen and Hope. Very pleasant!
Just before the election, Ben and several friends and colleagues put together a program in New Hampshire that we called "Job Creators for Obama". We had a little get-together in downtown Manchester, and several of our members spent the day canvassing businesses to bring in some folks. The event was smaller than we might have hoped, but we did bring in NH for the President anyway!
At thanksgiving Celia and Dan came over from Ithaca, Jeff came up from Brooklyn, and Andrew came all the way out from Boston to celebrate. The usual suspects appeared on the table - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, peas, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce. The weather continued to be very pleasant, so we also got to take a walk through the woods.
At the beginning of December Kathy and Ben flew out to visit daughter Ariana to pre-celebrate her birthday. We went to a performance by Eddie Izzard out at Pomona College. He's a very funny guy and we had a great time. We also took a walk in the hills above Malibu. There was some pretty spectacular scenery with the clouds from the Pacific getting hung up on the ridge. We had rented a little Fiat 500 for fun, and it indeed supplied that.
At the end of the year we headed off for vacation sailing off St. Martin. But that's another story.