My How Time Flies!

Hard to believe it's been almost a year since the last post. Last summer in Chester, Connecticut we finally had all of our members together for a long-overdue poetry conference. At its conclusion we rushed off to New London to pick up very special arriving passengers, Corinne and Owen, who visited Drew Farm with us our first few days there. 

In October I got my birthday wish to return to Chestertown and the Great Oak Manor, where we had stayed way back in 2007. It was picture-perfect fall weather. We hadn't planned anything but happened to be there during Tall Ship weekend. There was also a Halloween parade downtown for which we were able to grab frontline viewing from our lunch spot. And later we were sitting on a bench near the river, and got talked into boarding a boat for a one-hour tour past all the tall ships that were anchored there for the weekend, a perfectly easy way to view them.

Late October, October 31 to be exact, arrived the newest member of the family: Elio Maro Marangi, born in Berlin, Germany. Photos of him come frequently, so we almost feel like we are watching his steady journey from day one to the arrival of his first curls. We are looking forward to seeing him for the first time in June, when we travel to California for my sister's birthday.

In December we had a quiet Christmas, but a few days later my sister arrived, her first visit to us since we had arrived in Annapolis. She seem positively impressed with BayWoods. She got to meet quite a few of our friends over lunch in the Bistro. Dinner was at Jalapeños, then I stayed with Janet overnight at The Graduate, and the next day we drove her back to DC, stopping for lunch at Harvest Thyme.

In February I was busy rehearsing for the three acts in which I was involved in the Variety Show. One was a skit I re-wrote so three of us could perform the famous "wall scene" from Midsummer Night's Dream. The second was a goofy dance our aqua class did to the tune of the 60s song "The Swim." I was most proud of my (almost) flawless performance of a line dance called "Seduced." Got to dress up a little and swing our boas.

In March I went with a BayWoods excursion to hear a group called The Suits, who sang 60s-80s doo-wop, Motown, and disco tunes. At one point they asked for a volunteer to come up on stage with them. There were hundreds of us in the audience, and I was in the second row. Behind me I imagined lots of people with their hands up, so I stuck mine up, too. It turned out I was the only person volunteering! So of course I went up on stage, introduced myself, and sat on a stool as they took turns singing to me different verses of "My Girl." The audience thought I was singing, too, but I was only mouthing the words, as it was one of my favorite songs. They say I danced, too, but that was only briefly...

Today I happen to be off to Ireland. Road Scholar trip with my friend Beth, staying near Galway, in Kinsale, and Dublin, finishing off with a private trip to Kilkenny, where my great-great grandfather Patrick Henry Rafter came from. So stay tune. This blog should become more timely soon!