Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2001 13:17:48 -0500
Subject: Weekend Update: December 20-29, 2001

Merry Christmas!

My cousin Kevin and his two teens, Ryan and Kara, arrived from Texas
on Thursday afternoon the 20th of December.  I didn't see Ryan until 
I got home from work on that Friday because he saw "Lord of the Rings"
late the night before his early morning flight; he turned in early. 
They wanted to spend Christmas in New England and I tried my best to
have snow but we're starting our winter out on a mild note.

We took a road trip to Kittery, Maine on Saturday and stopped at the
Kittery Trading Post, the Fort McLary State Historic Site, and the 
Cedar Waters Nudist Park.  We didn't go in that last tourist spot; 
just stopped to get a picture taken by the sign and found out that
it was $28 per day.  Fort McLary overlooks Portsmouth Bay and we had
a good time climbing in and around the place.  It was a bit chilly,
though, even for New Englanders.  The trading post is a retail store
but sports a lot of taxidermy.  I got Kevin, Ryan, and Kara under the
Moose in traditional Maine habberdashery.

Emily was the last one to complete her shopping on a last-minute
Saturday night excursion.  On the Sunday before Christmas, several
of us went for a walk around Pepperell.  There was about three-quarters
of an inch of ice near the Pepperell Falls, which was just the right
thickness to create a sproingy sound as we skipped rocks along its
surface.  A little thicker and rocks would have more of a clunk to
them but this ice was just the right thickness to sound like
a clatter of springs.  The Gonzalez family joined us for the afternoon
because there was no evening service at the church to rush back to.
We gave the girls some coloring books as an early Christmas present. 

Monday was spent preparing for Christmas.  Joy and I picked up the
Christmas ham for Christmas dinner on Christmas day.  Our Christmas
starts later in the morning after a good night's sleep.  We have
Pop-Tarts, a tradition from Joy's childhood, then we can commence the
orderly unwrapping. Many of the presents that get wrapped in my family
get placed in different boxes to disguise what might be lurking inside.
We were happy to have Kevin and his family join us and filled some
Christmas stockings for Kara and Ryan.  Mom and Dad Metcalfe arrived
before we were done unwrapping our gifts. John and his family, then
Stephen and his joined us for a nice Christmas dinner.

On Wednesday, we took an excursion into Boston.  We heard that a snow
storm was coming up the coast and that Boston might get zero-to-one
inch (with the bulk of the white stuff sticking to the Cape).  It was
Ryan and Kara's last chance to experience snow before heading back to
Texas, but all that feel from the sky were a very few teeny flakes,
dashing their hopes of a snowy vacation.  Still, we had a great walk
through the Boston Garden and common to the Crannery cemetary to look
at places where some patriots had been buried long ago.  We trekked
down to Fanuel Hall and Quincy Market then up past the Old North Church.
We grabbed some soft pretzels and headed across the Common again where
I fed the meter a few more quarters.  We then headed down Newbury Street
and back up Boylston, under the Hancock Tower at Trinity Church.  We
stood under the statue of Phillips Brooks and got a few pictures. They
left the house somewhere around 3AM for a 6AM flight out of Logan.
I haven't heard whether their shoes were checked but I assume they made
it back safely.

On Thursday, we did some partial cleanup from the holidays.  I took 
Joy and the girls to some stores for some inevitable clothing exchanges.
We found out that Bob Putnam had died.  I was asked if I would sing at
his funeral and it was my honor and privilege to say yes.  I sang
"In the Garden"; Bob's favorite song.

We're starting our plans for a New Year's get together here at the
Manor.  Miranda says that if no one comes over, Joy and I would turn
in early and just go to sleep.  She is probably right, but we will 
instead prefer to enjoy time with friends.  We look forward to a
good 2002 and hope that yours will be blessed.

Mark
-- 
+---_-----------+ Mark Metcalfe, metcalfe@cadence.com
| c a d e n c e | Cadence Design Systems, Inc.    Phone: (978) 446-6451
+---------------+ Manager, PCB Enterprise Publications