I arrived in Amsterdam - NY, not the Netherlands - on Saturday, 10/29 and stayed with Mary Beth's brother, Bob. He was having a garage sale that weekend so I made sure to arrive late enough on Saturday so I missed most of the excitement. I did get to help out on Sunday, but it was pretty slow that day. Amsterdam is about 40 minutes from my previous hometown, Saratoga Springs, so I visited it and many friends while I was there. Abbey got to go to her favorite old stomping ground, Spa State Park in Saratoga a number of times and I got to go to my chiropractor, the dentist, and the RV service center. I did get to go out to dinner with friends several times so she didn't have all the fun. It was nice to be back in the area and I realized how much I liked Saratoga. I really like the mixture of the small-town feel and the cultural amenities that you'd expect in a larger city. I also stopped in at my old house. The new owners were happy to see me and luckily they didn't have too many things to complain about since they moved in. Plus they haven't really redone anything. I'm always afraid of going to see an old house after I've sold it and finding that the new owners have done a ton of remodeling. It would make me feel like we didn't do a very good job on design, upkeep, etc. All in all they are very happy with the house and the surroundings so I feel good that they were the ones to buy it.
While in Amsterdam I got to spend some time with my nieces and nephew (Bob's kids) which was real nice. Living in Saratoga gave Mary Beth and I a chance to see them quite often, but being on the road I had only seen them once in the previous 6 months. Since I have no kids of my own, I try to be real nice to all of my nieces and nephews hoping that one or two of them will want to take care of me when I get old and senile. Wishful thinking, maybe?
I was also able to get together a few times with Mary Beth's close friends from childhood (who also became good friends of mine over the years). They are more like family now so it is always nice to see them. Besides whenever you get four Italian women together (oh yea, and their spouses too) it's quite - how should I say it - maybe exhilarating is the best word. At the very least, it is loud. It was a good idea for the restaurant to put us in a corner by ourselves.
After leaving Amsterdam I got to catch up with some friends from my IBM Kingston days. Friday night I stopped in Kingston for dinner with one group - Mike Parkes, Jim Brown and Marianne Devine, Shari Wingard and Stephanie Moore - and I spent the weekend with Rich and Nancy Beckert, who now live in Connecticut. I lived with Rich for a year when we first started working, and they lived up the street from Mary Beth and my first house in Woodstock. I hadn't seen them in several years and was quite shocked at the size of their kids. Another couple from Kingston, Ed and Rhonda Alt, live nearby so they came over for dinner Saturday night. During the day Rich and I drove up to Ed's house and he was out front smoking a cigar. Of course we had to stay for a few beers while I got the tour of the house, much to Rhonda's dismay, and a glimpse of Ed's Christmas yard ornament collection. Let's just say he could make a few bucks if he sold them on e-bay, not to mention it would make Rhonda pretty happy. We were hoping to take Eddie's Vette out for a testdrive until one of his neighbors pulled up and blocked the driveway with his car and started drinking whiskey. That's when Rich and I knew we weren't getting a ride so we headed out. Before going down to Wilmington to my parents, I made one last stop at yet another cousin's - Mary Anne (Dailey) Grilli and her husband Mark. They have 3 adorable kids who love dogs. Last year Abbey was allowed to stay over at their house one night and the kids were real excited. Abbey was the first, and only, dog who has been allowed to stay overnight at their house. Mary Anne is a little skittish with dogs, but relented figuring that Abbey is older and calmer (good thing I didn't try this 3 or 4 years ago!) and the kids would never forgive her if she didn't let Abbey stay. So they were excited to see her again, and they got a kick out of my RV. I'd like to think that all the kids I've been seeing have been excited to see me, but it's probably more that they like getting a tour of the RV and playing with Abbey.
I finally made it to Wilmington a few days before Thanksgiving, one day before Susan, Tim and the boys showed up. At least I had one day of calm before the storm! On Thanksgiving, we all went to my sister, Terri's house. My oldest sister, Maribeth, and my brother, Michael, and their families were there as well. There were only 20 of us this year (last year she had 27), but we still managed to have a good time. Could've had something to do with the numerous bottles of wine that we drank. Black Friday shopping is a huge occasion with my mom and sisters. Somehow they are able to acquire superhuman stamina for a daylong shopping expedition. Smartly, the men now avoid it. When I was young and foolish I also partook of this tradition, but I've gotten wiser, or, more likely I've lost patience and stamina over the years. I went geo-caching with, you guessed it, Michael, Sandra and a bunch of the kids. I'm not sure this geo-caching thing is all it's cracked up to be, but at least it gets you out of the house, and most of the time out into the woods to get some fresh air. Some of the caches were located in shopping plazas or very close to a parking lot so they weren't too exciting.
Last weekend my brother John came up from WV for a conference for work. Part of his job with Verizon is lobbying the WV state government. There was a State Government conference in Wilmington for the weekend and he and some other lobbyists came along to wine and dine their respective legislators. It's quite a boondoggle. He was nice enough to invite me along one night to let Verizon make up for some of the difficulties I've had with their service over the last few years. (I must say that I still have Verizon wireless and would still recommend them - your welcome, John.) I had a good time, and I gained a better appreciation for what he does. I'm not sure how he keeps up with these guys though. They sure know how to eat and drink. One night was enough for me, but it was a lot of fun.
Well, I'm sticking around Wilmington 'til Christmas at least. It's been quite cold here so I emptied the RV of all the water and blew out the water lines so I wouldn't have any frozen water line problems. It's a little too cold to be camping in it right now and since I'll be staying with family and friends for now it's the easiest thing. Amid Christmas shopping I'm trying to catch up with friends in the area. I'm heading down to DC for a few days this weekend and will update you more later.
Bob and the Kids
Bob and the Girls
