We had a nice week. Now that we’re all retired, Circle can meet any day we want. This time, we wanted Monday. Danita and I hosted lunch. Here you see Tony and Donna Sochurek, Tina and Bill Bauman, Claire McCaig, Dwain Sabiston, and Rose Bertch. The last three are all widowed. It’s a sign of our time of life. I guess.

The trim boards on our deck need attention. I had a contractor I trust take a look. He said he would call back with an estimate. He also said his schedule was pretty full. He didn’t call, so I guess the full schedule won out. I decided I could do the repair myself, if I bought a new tool. It should be in tomorrow! (Hey, even chores can be fun sometimes!)

Danita and I spent several days nailing down the last details of our vacation in France. The only thing left is the ride to Dulles airport and packing our bags. We got a really great air fare to Paris on Air France. I checked it out pretty carefully before buying tickets. I verified the fare included a meal, a carry-on bag, and a checked bag. But I failed to check out the seats. It cost $25 each for us to reserve seats. All in all, it’s still a very good deal.

We had neighborhood parties Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a concert — three women singing tight harmony plus a pianist. They were very good. Sunday was an ice cream social and bingo. We ate the ice cream and did the socializing, then skipped the bingo.

Our board wanted a change to our website calendar. I proposed a solution that would meet the needs of the board while also meeting the needs of the majority of residents who use our website. (Web statistics are pretty amazing.) After a month of Emails, we were at a stalemate. When we got back, I sent an ally into the board meeting to explain my plan, which was finally accepted. You can see the results if you want. Go to https://www.snowdenoverlook.com/calendar/. It’s simple and lets people do what they want — get a quick answer and move on. I can’t believe how hard it was to get the board to agree to something this simple. A couple of residents have good ideas about how the web  page can be reorganized. I plan to remain neutral and implement changes after the battles have been fought.

A neighbor and friend moved and left an Emil Fischer vase behind. This was made in Hungary over 100 years ago. It’s an authentic antique. I was asked to place it on Ebay. It’s easy to post the base, but impossible to meet their expectations for what they think the vase is worth. There’s waiting and indecision. I finally announced that lacking a decision, I will post it Friday and, if necessary, donate the proceeds to charity. That at least does something good with the money and places the vase in the hands of somebody who wants it. I was able to get spectacular pictures for the posting. I used a very sophisticated photo technique. I used a blue fleece as a background and a point-and-shoot camera. The fleece was given to me for working at Assateague park. The results were not so bad, I think.

Mark returned from Physics Olympics Sunday evening. The US team did pretty well. He’ll be here a week, then fly out to San Diego for his new job next Sunday.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

It is a cool and rainy day.

This morning, we saw the movie “Incredibles 2”. It was a great hit, even if the kids had already seen it. We went back to the house for lunch, then went out in the afternoon for some frozen yogurt with candy toppings. Our meals today are breakfast bar leftovers, lunch bar leftovers, and dinner bar leftovers. The kids must have liked the Disney Nature movies we’ve been watching. They picked “Disney Earth” for tonight.

We’ll be leaving for the airport early tomorrow morning. Assuming there’s no problems checking in and getting through security, we’ll have a nice breakfast at the Silver Diner. If getting to the secure area is slow, we have the option of a quicker breakfast.

The movie last evening was Cats of Africa. It was good, but not as good as the Chimp movie we saw earlier.

It was another day of spectacularly good weather. We opted for a walk in the park and time at the playground. It didn’t go over very well. But the pool went swimmingly well. Dinner also went well. We went to Pie Five to get customized individual pizzas. We wrote down the ingredients we wanted on each pizza, which made us a big hit with the pizza staff. And of course the ice cream / sherbet with chocolate chips was well received when we got home.

Tonight we’ll be watching a movie about the oceans. Turning the WiFi off was only partially successful last night. I will be collecting tablets at bedtime.

Tomorrow is the last full day together. The forecast is for a cool and rainy day.

The dinner last night was a big hit. The kids weren’t very hungry this morning. Maybe it was the rather large cup of ice cream included with the kids meals at BGR. We watched “Despicable Me 3”. The kids had already seen it, but they enjoyed watching it again.

We went to the Museum of Industry this morning. The museum has improved tremendously since we were last there. B & E spent most of the morning making a video game. You can play the games they made, but you have to really want to. Start Internet Explorer or Firefox. (Edge and Chrome won’t work.) Go to http://videogamewizards.org/. In the search box, type “Bryon”. Scroll down, download, and install the required add-on. Select “Keyboard” game play, and you’re good to go. More than one Elizabeth has created a game. Select the game from July 19.

We went out to a shaded picnic table right next to the harbor and had a bag lunch. Then we went back into the museum for another hour and a half. I enjoyed the antique engines, radios, and TVs. The picture below is of a White and Middleton engine, made here in Baltimore. It was quiet, simple, rugged, reliable, and burned anything from kerosene to natural gas. In other words, it was darn near perfect, and very popular for all manner of industry. I also enjoyed charging our E-car for free while parking for fee in the museum parking lot. Danita enjoyed information about an old factory where her grandmother used to work, information about Bendix (where she used to work), and many of the displays that reminded her of her early childhood in Baltimore. The kids really enjoyed a 1950 sedan that they could climb into and “drive”. It had a 2-speed automatic transmission, heater, steering that really worked, and all manor of old stuff, like window cranks. The car was at a Crown station “gas pump”. They had gas attendant uniform jackets, rags for wiping windows, and in general it was the most fun anybody has had since Jack Benny was on TV.

We came back home in time for two hours of swimming at the pool. After all this, decompression was called for (AKA screen time). The kids went to sleep reasonably early last night, but I plan to start turning the WiFi off at night, just so we don’t start developing some undesirable habits. Dinner tonight will be a burrito buffet.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Bryon and Elizabeth arrived at BWI airport just a few minutes late yesterday morning. They really enjoyed the flight and, according to the stewardess, behaved themselves wonderfully. The stewardess carefully checked my ID against the designated pickup person on record and had me sign for both. I was favorably impressed with her friendly attitude and her attention to security. It was an unusually hot and humid day, and our air conditioning had failed the day before. We went home, had a sandwich bar for lunch in our very hot house. Food bars work really well with B & E, because they have different tastes in what they want to eat. With a bar, they take whatever they want and there’s no fussing about eating.

Bryon, Lynne, Suzanne, Addy, Danita, Elizabeth

After lunch, Danita took them to the pool while I waited for the A/C repairman. We had one clap of thunder, which closes the pool for 30 minutes. But the sun was shining, so Danita and the kids played with some other things at the clubhouse. Twenty-eight minutes later, there was a second clap of thunder. Danita decided to come home. That was a good thing, because shortly after that we had a short but heavy rain squall. By this time the A/C was working, but the squall dropped outdoor temperatures faster than our inside temperature dropped. The kids were tired and a little fussy. It wasn’t time for dinner. That’s when we found the true power of screen time (when kids are permitted to use their tablets). Both went to their rooms, were totally silent, and entertained themselves until they felt more social. We had a baked potato bar for dinner, and retired to the basement for a Disney Nature movie about chimpanzees. The movie was unexpectedly good. We all enjoyed the evening.

E & B at the nature center

Today the A/C works, but it’s shut off because the weather is so delightful. We had a breakfast bar and were about to leave for Ed & Lynne’s house when the handle on the kitchen faucet came off in my hands. It could have broken a couple of weeks ago when we had a plumber repairing the garbage disposal. Lynne was home with Suzanne and Addy. The girls were quite excited. Lynne was relieved when we finally arrived. Lynne was prepared with extra bikes, helmets, and rules so they could go bike riding. We were prepared with swimsuits so they could play in a sprinkler. None of that was relevant. The kids had a good time among themselves without any adult supervision or input. After Lynne served a burrito bar for lunch, we all went to the Oregon Ridge Nature Center in Hunt Valley. This got us out of the house and in the direction that Lynne needed to go to take the girls home, and the direction we needed to go to take ourselves home. It was a lot excitement for the kids. They were cranky, but screen time saved the day again. We plan to go out to BGR for dinner. They serve the best hamburgers in town. They have kids meals with hot dogs optional for those who prefer.

We’ve had a pleasant couple of weeks with Mark. The lease on Mark’s apartment expired June 30. He came to live with us for a few weeks before heading out to his new job in San Diego.

We’ve had plenty of activities. The Columbia fireworks on July 4th were spectacular. We met the Chaprnkas at a rock & roll concert at Lurman Woods in Catonsville. Those concerts are always good. We had a neighborhood party, with hamburgers and hot dogs. Mark cooked a couple of fabulous meals for us. Mark is an accomplished cook, plus he used some very good meats that Ryn gave him when he visited her at Mace Chasm shortly before he came to Columbia. The house needed some attention. The garage and deck are spruced up. I still have the back porch to clean and paint. We also have some minor repairs, but that will have to wait until my contractor gets back in town. I have been riding and Danita has been swimming.

Mark is leaving this afternoon to go to Europe for 2 weeks. He and Jiajia are coaching the US Physics Olympics team. That’s convenient, because Bryon and Elizabeth are coming on Tuesday. They’ll be with us through next Sunday.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

I escorted Mom from WPB to Columbia. Dani had already arrived by the time Mom and I got home. We had a lot of fun relaxing from our travels and catching up. Danita’s food was amazing. We visited Charlestown, a senior independent living community run by Erickson. The visit went well. The next day we had lunch at Gertrude’s, the restaurant at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Then we took a tour of some of the sculptures in the museum. We were hoping to visit the outdoor sculpture garden, but the rain dictated we focus on the pieces that are indoors.

Then we moved up the coast to Bangor / Hermon. Southwest has direct flights from Baltimore to Maine, but they use the airport in Portsmouth, about two hours from Dani’s. Dani and Gail graciously offered to make two round trips to Portsmouth. We enjoyed more amazing food, including an excellent lobster dinner. We visited Solstice, an elderly independent living facility in Hermon. Solstice’s building was beautiful — bright and cheerful. Unfortunately, the rooms were small, they did not have kitchens, and the food at lunch wasn’t very good. We tried to visit a couple of elderly apartments, but they had waiting lists and the owners weren’t willing to show us an apartment.

But we had lots of fun in Maine. The ladies did some shopping while I sat in the “man chairs” and read or played with my phone. We ate at some very nice restaurants. We visited the cabin (very nice!). There was a good amount of rain, but it was mostly at night — just like in Camelot. Mom needed a sun hat and mud boots to make it up and down the trail to the cabin.And Dani and Gayle took delivery of a brand new Kubota tractor. Everybody got to drive the tractor except Mom.

Sunday, it was time to go home. We left Dani’s at 7:30 AM; Mom got home sometime after 7:30 PM. But the travel was all uneventful and everybody arrived safely at their destinations.

There’s plenty of pics below. I hope this finds everybody doing well.