To Catch a Turtle

There were a lot of “usual” activities for our kids on the Cape, such as  picking blueberries, catching clams, sliding on the sand dunes, and, certainly, swimming in the bay and the Atlantic Ocean and taking a walk on the beach. Catching a turtle was an unusual activity. We did get turtles this year, so everyone wanted to take a picture with them. Here we were! You can see that everyone was excited about this unusual activity.

Plays

There was one big difference between two of the generations of young people on the Cape: our children and our grandchildren. Our children’s generation always had a play of some kind when they got together on the Cape. It could be a variation of Snow White or some other Princess and Prince story. Oh, yes, it could be very elaborate with many twists and turns! It always involved every child in the house, except for some of the older siblings who refused to be included. Some had some words to recite and some provided narrations or sang. it could be very involved and there was certainly plenty of make-up! Can you guess what kind of play they produced in the summer of 1976 from the following pictures?

Cape Cod Cabin

I call Janice’s family  house at Cape Cod a cabin, mainly because it is only used in the summer and is usually closed in the winter. It is not a cabin when you consider it’s size: four bedrooms with two baths plus dinning and living space. We have packed quite a number of people into it. There are usually more activities going on there than you might imagine. Besides swimming and walking along the beach there are always people playing croquet in the yard or Bonanza in the house! I will talk about the Cape Cod place a few times here in this blog. Our children love the place because they were always very relaxed and free of any responsibilities. There is a lot of space here with few people and houses around. The pictures below show the house, which was re-constructed after the war, over the years, by Janice’s father and friends, from an old army barracks. It faces sort-of west and has a beautiful view of the sunset on the water. The third picture I posted below was a picture with a kite on the top, which is one activity everyone has tried there and of which we never got tired. The final picture is a picture of people watching the kite flying or doing nothing, which is what we usually do when we are at the Cape house!

The Old Meet the Young

Whenever we were in the Boston area, we usually tried to see Sister Anthony at her retirement place. In 1976, she had already been retired for quite a number of years, after teaching first grade for more than half a century! She was Janice’s grandmother’s elder sister and the oldest person we knew (she was in her nineties at that time). Our kids were quite young, 7and 5, and, while they did not have much to talk about, it was very nice to see them together, old and young! Fiona Paul was with us on that trip which we made specifically to meet with Sister Anthony.

The Boston Public Gardens

The Public Gardens in Boston is a very popular place. When Janice was a young girl, she often went there for a Swan Boat ride around the pond. When we were there with our children in 1976, we of course had to have a boat ride as well. Janice’s Aunt Flo was very happy to go along with this activity. It is not a big place and the ride was slow and very smooth. It was certainly a very fun activity which brought back good memories for Janice and her aunt. Many, many years later (in 2009) we took two of our grandchildren on this ride when we visited Boston with them. At that time we were on a cruise which stopped in Boston and we also had my sister Kai and Janice’s sister Shari with us. Talk about memories!

Freedom Trail

This is a trail of 2.5 miles in Boston. In order for our children to get some idea about the American Revolution, Janice’s father joined us to walk most of this trail. We went through the Faneuil Hall, the old North Church, the Paul Revere House, the old Meeting House and the King’s Chapel etc. We took quite a number of pictures and walked slowly for a long time. and finally we ended up at the Boston Commons. There we met Janice’s  Aunt Flo. She did not walk the trail with us but she wanted to join us for the final part of the trip.

Lake Champlain Ferry

It was a very windy ride on the Lake Champlain Ferry. We enjoyed the ride on the way to Vermont and Shari’s home near Burlington. Shari is Janice’s sister. She had two children, slightly older than ours. The ferry is the easy way to get to her home when you are coming from the New York Thruway. It is not only shorter than driving, it is also more fun. You save your energy by not having to drive and you can enjoy the scenery along the way too. And, if you are lucky, you could enjoy a rainbow along the shore!

 

Bill and Jo Gazda

The Gazdas moved to Niagra, New York, shortly after we made the decision not to buy the Watauga property together in 1974. Bill was one of the upper level staff being considered by Great Lakes Carbon Corporation for leadership in their American Branch. (Great Lakes was a German Company at the time and Bill went to Germany for training.) We visited them in the summer of 1976, and they were very much involved in boating activities. We stayed with them and not only enjoyed their home (and certainly their sand-box!)  but also had a great time on their boat. The pictures below were all taken then. This year, 2014, our friend, Bill, passed away because of cancer. We went to North Carolina to visit him and Jo six months before his death when he was struggling with the awful disease. He had a very positive attitude and was determined to enjoy the time he had left. We had great visits in both 1976 and 2014. That is life!

陈 文 环 Chen Wen Hwan

The pictures included in today’s blog below were a  big surprise to me as I do not remember that my family met this man and his family in the summer of 1976. But I do recognize his face and, with the date on the slide and it’s sequentially ordered position, I confirmed that we visited his family that summer. He was my Cheng-Kung Senior High School classmate. I do not remember where and to which University he went after our graduation. Somehow, in the summer of 1976, we got in touch with each other and our two families got together to have some pictures taken. And we have not contacted each other again since that day. Apparently he was in the ministry but I am not sure of the denomination. Life is full of surprises! How we got together there in the Niagara, NY area will remain a mystery, perhaps forever!

Child Study Center

Both Margaret and Steven went to the Child Study Center operated by the College of Education. It was located in the basement of the Education building, just cross from my Science Building, not far away. Steven started there in the fall of 1975. I was able to walk there with him in the morning and, in the afternoon, he went home with David Thayer, who lived near Washington College Academy. His father was the Headmaster. Janice would bring Steven home later in the day. This arrangement lasted for one year. During his second year, Steven went home with Alex LaPella, the son of the director of the Civic Chorale. Both Jean Thayer and Jane LaPella were extremely helpful to us with the afternoon care during those two years!

Steven was very happy at the Child Study Center, getting along well with the other children and also well liked by his teachers. He enjoyed the school too, the activities there were always fun. Janice and I were so lucky that our children both liked their schools very much and never gave us any trouble of any kind in that regard. The Child Study Center was certainly a great beginning for both of them. The pictures below were taken there in Steven’s first year!