Principia 30 year reunion

I flew from Raleigh to St Louis and was met by a driver who then also collected my friend Tim from another part of the airport. We checked into the Marriott hotel in Town and Country and I promptly headed off for my band rehearsal on the campus. That all went fairly well and it was great to see Martha Stitzel (who is retiring as the Music Director and who had organised the whole Alumni Band concert). 

We had 2 practice sessions: Thursday night and then Friday morning 10-12, with the performance at 2 pm. It was actually a great concert! We sounded really good and I loved being a part of it.

Meanwhile and afterwards, we got to tour round the campus and notice all the things that were the same, and all the aspects that had changed. 

Here is Aubree and Tim

In my year group of 81, and combined with the year group of 1992 which had a count of 90, there were only 6 of us there for the whole weekend: Debbie, Tim, Annabel, Aubree, Babe and me. The photo below is missing Babe but showing Keri who actually was in our year group but she lives at Prin so is in a different category.

Tim still has 4 swimming records on the board!

In the evening there was a catered dinner on the [old] football pitch, and there was a ceremonial lifting of the Principia School beam into place on the new Simon Athletics Complex which is being built.

After dinner there was a football game on the other pitch which we all watched

And at halftime there was the Parade of Banners, so here are Babe, Debbie and I with our class' banner

On Saturday morning, we all went on campus for a run and to participate in the female athletics event. It was raining for most of that, but we had a great time regardless.

Then we had lunch in the old cafeteria, which was noticeably brighter and more modern than what we had back in the day

We headed downtown to the Arch for an hour or so of walking around before getting ready for the evening banquet dinner

The whole event was incredibly poignant and impactful for me. I cherished every moment and I was so grateful that I could make it here for this special event.

Other special memories

 One detail that really touched me was the custom made chocolate that said "Welcome Aunt Lisl" on it. I was so impressed! Heidi has an amazing workspace where she designs stuff and now can create moulds, stamps and all kinds of things. She is so creative and inspiring.

Meanwhile, both Luke and Jordan were keen to play chess with Grandma.

It's been really cool to stay with them. Now I am off to go to my 30 year Prin reunion and Mom is going to stay one more day before she goes home.

Day out with the kids

Today Heidi, Mom and I took Jordan and Luke to the Museum of Life and Science and spent the whole day exploring around. It was a brilliant day. Here is the Griffith family early in the morning

One of the highlights of the museum was the butterfly exhibit, which included a chrysalis section that had all kinds of butterflies in the midst of hatching. It was really cool to see, and we talked to the museum host for ages to learn about the butterflies.

We had a lot of fun at other parts of the museum too.

And then later in the eve we went for dinner at an Indian restaurant with John.

So fun to be with Heidi and family. I love that we got to see where they live and spend time together.

On our way to Heidi

After my visit with Katie, we checked out of the hotel and drove back to Boston, returned the car, and flew to Raleigh where Heidi met us at the airport and took us to her house.

Heidi and John have a beautiful house and they graciously settled us in. The next day, Heidi, Mom and I went into town and walked around then had lunch in a cute cafe.

We went grocery shopping at Heidi's favorite shop

And then we joined up with the rest of family and had a lovely dinner at a great restaurant that i can't remember the name of

Long lost Katie

 Mom and I had an early night last night and then I got up early to drive half an hour to visit my old friend Katie. We went for a lovely morning walk around her neighborhood, and it was gorgeous and incredible to be spending time with her.

Jackie, Take 2

This morning we called the Lodge again to see if Jackie was up for visitors and they said no. Yikes. So now there is a real possibility that we won't get to see her. That thought triggered an idea which then put us in motion. We realized that Jackie might not know that we came all this way to see her, so we decided to do an art project. We bought some art supplies and made a poster in the parking lot of the Lodge, then got the Receptionist to take a photo of us.

We then were on our way to get the photos printed, and when I nipped in to use the restroom, I saw Jackie coming down the stairs! We got to have a lovely visit in the lobby and then moved outside to enjoy the fresh air and the autumn leaves on the terrace.

When Jackie went in to have lunch, Mom and I headed off to get the photos printed and finish the art project, which was a big poster that had photos glued onto it and the big poster on the back side. We came back to give it to Jackie and have another visit in the afternoon. It was really special to be with her. 

In fact, she even played her saxophone for us.

After our visit, we went out for an early dinner at this place that I was initially skeptical about, but turned out to be really good.

The mission to see Jackie

 We got up this morning and headed out to visit Jackie at 9:30 am as agreed with the Stroudwater Lodge staff. However, when we arrived she wasn't quite in a state to visit so we headed off to explore the area a bit. It was a gorgeous day and I ended up going for a swim, then we had a lovely little road trip up to Freeport and some of the promontory

In Freeport, I discovered a really cool little shop that a lovely lady called Tammy owns. I found some perfect replacement shoes and some nice clothes as well. We had a nice chat with her.

She gave us some suggestions to drive and explore, so we did that and appreciated the waning daylight with all the beautiful Maine scenery around us. There were several weddings going on and it was fun to see that. We had been looking for a fishy seafoody place to eat, but in the end we found a really cool place near Yarmouth called Gather.

In the end, we didn't get to see Jackie today but hopefully we will tomorrow.

Leg 2: Boston to Portland

After saying goodbye to Rob, I headed up the coast and visited Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower replica. 

It is an interesting story about Plymouth rock that I hadn't realized (from Wikipedia): 

In 1774, the rock broke in half during an attempt to haul it to Town Square in Plymouth. One portion remained in Town Square and was moved to Pilgrim Hall Museum in 1834. It was rejoined with the other portion of the rock, which was still at its original site on the shore of Plymouth Harbor, in 1880. The date 1620 was inscribed at that time. The rock is now ensconced beneath a granite canopy designed by McKim, Mead & White.

Then I continued my drive to meet my Mom at Boston airport and then drive up to Portland. We settled into the Fireside Inn and Suites, then went for dinner at Applebys nearby. 

It was so nice to relax and have dinner after the hours of driving through pouring rain between Boston and Portland! And it is wonderful to be on a little road trip with my Mom.

Leg 1 of solo USA trip

 Today started out a bit rocky, since the taxi I had booked to take me to Heathrow didn't arrive on time and I had to ask Rhodri to take me in the end. But at least he could, and he did, so I was able to get to the airport in time to have a breakfast and get on my flight to Boston.

The rest of the day went according to plan: I landed, picked up the rental car, and drove ~2 hours to Onset, Cape Cod. My friend Rob kindly arranged for me to stay near him and we met for dinner and a walk on the beach. 

Then this morning I walked around Onset and found a lovely coffee shop, then did some yoga on a grassy knoll overlooking the beach.  Onset is a really cute town.

Later on I met Rob again and we went for a walk along the Cape Cod Canal and managed to find one of those awesome huge jumping mounds along the way. 

It was really great to see Rob and to catch up with him after these years.

Rhod's birthday dinner adventure

We've had a few days of celebrating Rhodri's birthday. First of all, on Sunday night we joined Naresh and Jules (who shares the same birthday as Rhods) at their place for a sundowner beverage. 

Then on Monday we gave him a morning birthday welcome at the start of what was a sort of normal busy Monday. 

We saved our birthday dinner outing for tonight, and it turned out to be a little bit of an adventure. He wanted to go out for a Thai meal, so we went to the Stand Up Inn, but we didn't realise that under-16s had to be out of the facility by 8pm. So we just ordered some appetisers and then went in search of another Thai restaurant in Haywards Heath. We actually couldn't find one that was open and so we just walked up the main street until we saw this place which served Spanish tapas called La Campagna. It was busy with a good atmosphere, so we went in and had a great meal.

So it was a surprising and fun night out for a Tuesday, and I think we celebrated Rhods' birthday right.

September weekend

Lots going on at the moment, but all good. From swimming at the beach to the village market and the winding down of the vegetable growing season, things are ticking along and we are so grateful for it all.

My girl is growing up so much. She is busy working various jobs through out the village. Today she was working at the village market in the used book stall. We are so proud of her.

In fact, there was a band playing at the market today and I noticed they had a big female sax section. I approached one of the members during a break and showed interest in joining them. We will see if anything happens!

Fancy dinner at The Ivy

Sophie's 16th birthday is today, and Rhiannon was invited to go for dinner at The Ivy in Brighton (a fancy place). She looked stunning and so grown up as she headed out the door.

The school year begins

 And they are off! Today was the first Monday of the school year for both of them, and here is the traditional photo in front of the garage.

Goof

Look at this guy. Honestly, what is he thinking?

I came downstairs to find this on a Friday morning. I think he is ready for school to start again.

Rhiannon started yesterday, but Tryfs still has a few days until his school year starts at Chailey.