Subject: Weekend Update: July 1-7, 2002 Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2002 15:08:59 -0400 We found out on July 4 that a good friend, Joyce Farmer, has gone to be with the Lord. It was sudden and a shock to us. Twenty years ago, the Farmers came to Wollaston, exchanging pulpits and houses (and families) with my parents. Joy was great with child (Jessica) at the time, and Joyce had hoped that Jessica would appear before they had to return to Paisley, Scotland. I chauffered the Farmers to the mall one day in my father's standard shift car. They thought I was kidding them about being uncertain using a standard, until I had to stop on an incline with a car behind me! Since our first time together, we've always kept touch. Brian and Joyce made several trips stateside in the past twenty years and we were always glad to see them. I extend my deepest sympathy to the Reverend Brian Farmer, and his two daughters Sharon and Alison and their families. Joyce was a great Lady! -- My company designated the 5th of July as a holiday to shorten the work week to three days. The office was sparsely populated mostly with people who hadn't accrued enough vacation time to spend three days to get nine days off. I came to work because there are fewer interruptions and pressures during such weeks. I even got to rearrange my office a bit. The dog days of summer arrived like an open oven door; 90-plus degrees four days straight, enough for stingy New Englanders like ourselves to turn on the air conditioning in the barn. We arose early on Thursday to get the place ready for our annual Metcalfe family reunion, but it was already in the humid high eighties. Nearly the entire clan showed up with only Jennifer, John Jr., and Kara missing. I apparently won the award for greatest sibling midsection, although I didn't recall entering the contest. I guess once you stop putting the pencil mark on the wall for vertical growth, some measurements must be taken. We got a great family photo by the pool. David Young joined our gang (and took the photos). His host family, the Magnusons, were in Maine with their family, so we kept him overnight and took him with us the next day to the Basin in Northern New Hampshire. Synchronizing all of our schedules as the children get older becomes a significant challenge so when we discovered that everyone had Friday off, we decided to pack up a lunch and head north. The Basin, as I have described before, is located 111 miles north of Pepperell at a rest stop off the highway near Franconia Notch and the Old Man in the Mountain. It has trails that follow a mountain stream up to its head water, which is a lake at the top. The hot weather took a break on Friday and it made for a bit of a jolt, with overcast skies and cool temperatures. Cool mountain water goes best with hot and humid temperatures. Despite this, Miranda and Andrew doffed their outer clothing and jumped into a cool mountain pool halfway up the mountain. The sights, as always, were beautiful and worth the trek by both car and muscle. Our small town of Pepperell celebrated Independence Day on Saturday the 6th of July. The Gonzalez family joined us at Railroad Square to watch the parade. Different from the Memorial Day parade, the Fourth of July parade boasts some locals on their riding lawn mowers puttering down main street. There was also a bevy of farm tractors and old cars. Several horse-drawn carriages were also in the parade, giving us a whiff of what the town must have smelled like when my house was built back in 1860! The Shriners were there, too, in their minature cars. We sent out an open invitation for people to come and swim in the pool on Saturday, grill their own dinner, and join us at the Pepperell fireworks display later in the evening. This year, five families (Metcalfe, Bickom, Gonzalez, Chronopoulos, [J] Long, and some additional friends) spread their blankets and portable chairs for the best display Pepperell has ever put on. And Pepperell puts on a very good show. (My brother Steve said that we're becoming less "Mayberry" and more "Mount Pilot" and perhaps he is right.) A very gentle breeze was floating towards us and wafted spent firework debris over the crowd. One ember made it to the ground among us. Chris Chronopolous said that it was an interactive show. It did not dampen the show one bit, however. Katia Gonzalez hopped up into my lap before the show with a bag of popcorn. Before long, she had snuggled in my arms and fell asleep. We couldn't believe it but she slept right through the rockets red glare and the bombs bursting in air! (It was fun to hold a little girl in my arms!) Mom and Dad returned on Saturday for their duties in Nashua on Sunday, but chose to enjoy the sounds of man-made thunder from the comfort of home. Liz Rand and Michael Magnuson stayed overnight keeping the pulse at the Manor quick and lively. There was more to report, but it will have to await another time. Mark +---_-----------+ Mark Metcalfe, Cadence Design Systems, Inc. | c a d e n c e | Manager, PCB Enterprise Publications (CAD) +---------------+ metcalfe@cadence.com, Phone: (978) 446-6451