Chugging into Summer

Late May brought us to Boston to help Tyler celebrate his graduation from Boston College. On hand were his Swedish sweetheart Sofia (on left in photo), his sister Corinne (on right) and his parents and grandparents...and us. Tyler and Sofia visited with us a few days in Guilford. We showed them the usual spots: the Thimble Island Cruise, Chaffinch Island, Lenny's for seafood, Stony Creek.

Also in May I attended a wonderful outdoor poetry reading at Poets House in NYC, heard Bob Hass and Brenda Hillman, sat with Dan Bellm (a nice surprise to see him there!). In early June a group of us drove up in pouring rain (well, Norm drove, thank you, Norm!) and heard Galway Kinnell in a reading at the Sunken Garden poetry festival. And at the Poetry Institute reading that month I was asked to participate in a panel to present a Favorite Poem program--got to share some of my favorites with the lovely crowd at the Young Men's Institute Library in New Haven, always a nifty venue.

Fourth of July weekend we spent in Gilmanton and we're glad we did. The weather was glorious and we got to see so many friends. Wendy's grandchild Marisa was there with her parents Lisa and Mark. Carolyn and John Dickey had their annual brunch after the Fourth of July parade, and the Wilsons hosted a lovely cookout at their place. Saw Jay and Alaiyo and then at the pond we chatted with Francesca and Graham and Josh (part of the younger generation not always present)--met some new folks, too.

In mid-July we went for the day to Mystic, met Toby and Bill there, friends from a trip to Mexico in 2004. We had a nice lunch at Kitchen Little on the Mystic River, then drove to Rocky Neck State Park where Bill and I took a dip in the Sound, and finished by coming back to Stonington, a lovely walk in the Conservancy meadow, and dinner at the Water Street Cafe, which was excellent!