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| Lunch with Corinne at Hudson Eats |
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| Whitehall Building |
In early July we went to a great exhibit of Folk Music at the Museum of the City of New York (a few albums on display were ones I own), and then toured the new Whitney Museum. At the end of July our beloved Corinne came to visit us. She was game for everything. We went bicycling (twice!) and she joined me at the U.S. 1 workshop. She brought a poem that was critiqued with great reviews by my poetry friends. I took her on our special route to New York, via ferry from Jersey City. We walked along the Hudson River, went to the Museum of Jewish Heritage, then met Bill and ferried over to Staten Island, and later had dinner at Sant Ambroeus. The day she left I drove up to Chester, spent a week carousing with our very special group for its fifth year.
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| Drew Farm |
Then on to Gilmanton, lots of croquet, swimming, a day at Ogunquit, Old Home Day, and a special visit with my old family friends Steve and Vicki, who have bought a home over in Gilford, such a coincidence! Bill and I started a new tradition by attending a concert at Castle Hill in Ipswich. In the afternoon we visited the John Whipple House and the Heard Mansion across the street. An added bonus, we drove to Smith Point at Manchester-by-the-Sea and found Alfred Perkins Rockwell's home (Bill's great-grandfather) and even spent a few moments on the beach nearby (which Bill remembered visiting as a boy). The next day I drove to the Florence Griswold Museum to participate in their Tour in Verse program, reading my poem "The Bass Have Vanished" after a painting "Hell Gate" by Michael John Boog.
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| Cool Women Poets |
In September, as a new member of the Cool Women Poets, I performed with them at the Macculloch Hall Historical Museum in Morristown, and then later in October at the St. James A.M.E. Church in Hightstown.
In early October Bill and I took one of the Hackensack River cruises, this one down the Hackensack to where it meets the Passaic in Newark Bay. Earlier in the day we found William Carlos Williams' house in Rutherford. It was the day the firehouse was having some sort of anniversary and about hundred police car sirens and fire truck horns were blaring all at once.
In mid-October we joined the Chester group again, this time in Washington, D.C. where Anne's play "Hannah Alive" was being performed (in Silver Spring). We managed to squeeze in a workshop, visited with Karen and Fede and the girls, went to the Newseum and attended a concert at the Folger Library.
In late October Peggy and Bill, who were driving across America on an amazing trip, stopped to stay with us for a couple of days. We had a great walk along the canal, had dinner at the Blue Point Grill, and the next day Peggy especially loved Grounds for Sculpture. When they left, Audrey and David arrived. Of course, they wanted to go to Grounds for Sculpture too--by this time I can give anyone their own personal guided tour.
For my birthday we went to Carnegie Hall to hear the St. Lawrence Quartet, and stayed for the first time in an Air Bnb, this one was in an interesting Art Deco building on Exchange Place in lower Manhattan. For Bill's birthday we got to go to NY again, of course. We had brunch at Marco and Pepe's in Jersey City, then had dinner at Boqueria, and heard Artek at Immanuel Lutheran Church. A week later we had dinner with Carolyn and other friends and heard the Dryden Quartet at the Miller Chapel.
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| Full Moon Cafe in Lambertville |
For Christmas Eve this year we did something different. We ferried to NY again, had dinner at Po in the Village, then saw Little Girl Blue (about Janis Joplin) at Lincoln Center theater, and spent the night at the Warwick. It was a beautiful sunny Christmas morning walking around midtown, then we came home to open presents. A few days later we had a special visit with Karen and the girls, took them to Jammin' Crepes, Jazam's toy store, and Labyrinth Books. The next day we spent in Lambertville, having lunch at the Full Moon, then Karen went off to NY and we had the girls all by ourselves. They were great fun to be with. The next morning we headed off to NY, met Karen, had lunch at the Urbanspace Vanderbilt Food Hall, and hung out at the New York Public Library and Bryant Park.
On January 2 we went to a ceremony dedicated to the soldiers who fought the Battle of Princeton (in 1777). And the day before was the Rose Bowl, these days watched by us on the television instead of in the stands. This year was especially nice, seeing the Stanford Cardinal, and Christian McCaffrey, have an almost perfect game, beating Iowa 45-16.
