Subject: Weekend Update: July 9-14, 2002
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2002 15:14:40 -0400

Last Tuesday, Donna Allen sent out a "Shh! It's a surprise party"
email to friends apologizing for the short notice for a Thursday
evening event.  She and Brice were throwing a birthday western
bar-be-cue party in honor of their friend Robin.  Joy, Miranda,
and I accepted and I thought it would be doubly nice because
who knows who could show up on such short notice.  We arrived
on Thursday evening at the appointed time along with about
90 other well-wishers who decided that they could make it to
a free meal without too much of a heads-up.  We sat around
the yard on bales of hay, delivered for Robin's horse, so these
did not go to waste.  A number of people had dressed the part,
too, sporting denims, bandanas and cowboy hats.  We wish we had.
Both Joy and Mandy were dressed for the afternoon, but the shaded
yard got cooler as grill got warmer and sun sank slowly into
the west. A good time was had by all, especially the birthday
girl.

Summer fun continued the next day at Kimball's Farm in Westford,
Massachusetts.  The first time I went to Kimball's, I was just
starting out at Wang back in 1984. My writing group went for
some ice cream and Kimball's was just a small, local favorite
ice cream stand.  We drove for what seemed like a long time
through the woods to get that ice cream; so I though back then.
Eighteeen years later and the only thing I recognized was the
original ice cream window.

Cadence sponsored (or rather heavily subsidized) a summer
outing for its Massachusetts employees and their families.
After work, I met Joy and all of our kids at Kimball's where
we were given pink wrist bands to have our fill of mini-golf,
bumper boats, a bar-be-cue dinner, and ice cream.  Andrew also
got to drive a bucket of balls on the range.

Bumper boats proved to be an interesting activity.  The boat
is a doughnut-shaped tube with a small outboard motor stuck in
the middle.  They don't go very fast but they spin and provide
a satisfying bump against family members and total strangers
alike.  Jessica, Andrew, and I decided that we wanted to finish
up the evening with one final ride on the bumper boats.  We
waited our turn for some time but it was worth the wait because we
each had the same thought of pushing the other boats into the
waterfall that cascaded down some rocks into the bumper pool.
When we started out, I headed to the waterfall to lure others
to their doom.  Andrew and Jessica turned the tables on me, however.
Miranda couldn't wait for Jessica and Andrew to do their dirty work.
She poured cold water on me from an observation bridge overhead.
Then Andrew and Jessica gained the upperhand against me, coordinating
and successfully pushing my boat backside first into the waterfall.=20
They were very pleased, as was the whole family, at my plaintiff cries
to release me from the spray!  I pleased them even more by failing
to return the favor before our time was up.  Lucky for me, I had
my jacket in the car to put on when I removed my shirt in the parking
lot.  I had to sit on Jessica's sweatshirt to protect my car seat, too.
Everyone was happy with the evening and that is worth a dousing to me.

On Saturday, Joy and I stayed home to accomplish some home chores.
We had in mind to spend some time floating away the summer afternoon,
but one thing often leads to another and didn't get in until later in
the day.  We added significantly to our compost piles (separating the
twiggy material from the other stuff).

Joy left me to my own devices while she worked in other areas.
Perhaps she should learn to check up on me every half hour or so
because she couldn't hide her apprehension over one of the vines
near the front walk.  She probably withheld her comments on a few
other bushes, as well, that she might have done differently. But
I was a man with a machine and born to prune!
 =20
Emily and Andrew were off (again) for their Nazarene Youth
Conference (NYC) interview.  This one occurred successfully,
except that it was down in Quincy, MA.  David and Heather Scalera
transported them for us. (Thanks!) They were diverted to a teen
birthday party before coming home, missing out on all of the day's
chores.  Andrew is off to camp this week (kitchen crew I believe).
I was able to squeeze in a military buzz cut before he headed out.

Miranda and Jessica helped out some Saturday morning before Miranda
took off in the afternoon to meet some friends in Boston.  They attended
a free concert featuring "Hey, hey! We're the Monkees!" for the second
year in a row. Jessica went to the church to catch the latter half of
a basketball tournament in which her boyfriend was her star player.

Joy and I rewarded our hard work around the yard with Chinese food
for dinner, leaving the kids to fend for themselves.  Jessica brought
home several hungry basketball players (a whole team, I think) and
whipped them up a batch of spaghetti to replace their depleted reserves.

"Aunt Faith" (which, if you rearrange the letters, can
also spell "A Hi Fat Nut") and "Uncle John" ("Hole n Junc")
sent our family a Christmas present with instructions to open
before Christmas.  Although it was against every impulse
Joy has in her Christmas-spirited body, she opened the present
and installed it in the pool.  We now have lovely fountains
spewing water from the jets.  It sounds like we have a waterfall
in our pool.  They're pretty neat! (Thanks, Faith - and John!)

On Sunday, we were able to relax and float in the pool much
of the short afternoon.  Emily invited friends over as well.

David Young preached in the evening service. Not his first, but
one of his first, and he did a very nice job.  We celebrated
after church back at the house with some ice cream favorites.
(Moose Track and Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream)  We asked
Diane Adams to join us, testing her spontenaity impulse and
she was as successful in overcoming as Joy was with the Christmas
present.  We enjoyed her company out on the deck as the evening
ebbed and the ice cream softened; another summer weekend for the
journal.

Mark
+---_-----------+ Mark Metcalfe, Cadence Design Systems, Inc.=20
| c a d e n c e | Manager, PCB Enterprise Publications (CAD)=20
+---------------+ metcalfe@cadence.com, Phone: (978) 446-6451=20