August 12, 2014 - a Brief Update

Hello, legions of readers!

The blog has been silent for a few months.  The main reason is this: somewhere in there, I lost my employment.  Like most honest and competent employees, my life revolves around my work to a certain extent.  Plus, the primary activity I've been engaged in is a job search.  For many reasons, one of which is the likelihood that a future employer finds this blog and reads it, it seemed wise to keep quiet.

But life has moved on despite my lack of time spent recording its twists and turns.  So here are a few neat things and thoughts from the last few months.

 We had the first real poison ivy incident in June.  Looks like Christian is not immune.  This was really uncomfortable and unpleasant for him, we all felt bad for him.

Libby learned how to play Canasta as well.  She has won and lost, both with a sweet grace.

 I have continued my hikes on the Appalachian Trail.  I'll spare you the hundreds of photos I've taken, and just share this train station in Pawling, NY.  You can get on a train at Grand Central Station with your hiking gear on, and step off the train here, where the trail crosses the train tracks.  I've currently completed the NY section from Rt 9 near Garrison up to the CT border.  My goal before the end of the year is to complete the trail in CT, NY, and NJ.  There's maybe 50 miles left in CT, 20 in NY, and I don't know about NJ.  Haven't started that section yet.

In Pawling, there is a large boggy area, and this boardwalk takes you over it.  The boardwalk gets a little wider at one point, and there are 2 Adirondack chairs that face each others.  One is labeled Maine, the other Georgia.  I chuckled when I saw them: it was almost a physical pun.

The photos below are from a visit to Six Flags.  We bought season passes in February, and finally used them a few times.  That's it for this update.  More to come later.