Update from Grand Rapids

It’s spring here in West Michigan and this old man’s fancy turns to travel. Aside from our brief foray to Mackinac Island last fall, we have stayed close to home since the beginning of the Great Pandemic of 2020, a health crisis that remains largely unabated into 2021 I should add. But both of us are now fully vaccinated (Pfizer, if you must know) and this coming week we plan to test the waters with a road trip back east to visit family and friends. More of that shortly.

This spring has also seen a slight relaxation on the restrictions in care facilities, which prompted us to bring Susie’s mother to our home for my birthday last month — a real treat for us all. Then for Mother’s Day Dick and Dorothy drove out from Massachusetts to spend a few days. We brought Bernice here for dinner and a couple of lunches during that time and a couple of rousing games of Scrabble were played as well.

Back to the future: This week we leave for New York stopping in Prattsville to have lunch with the Archers before pushing on to Douglas, Mass and D & D’s home. Friday we plan to drive into Providence to visit old haunts and to see Lee F. for late lunch and wind up with dinner at Andrea F.’s place. Lee worked with Susie at Hope Artiste Village and Andrea and I worked together at Johnson & Wales. D & D will join us at Andrea’s for dinner.

Saturday, D, D, Susie and I drive to Portland to meet Joyce, Susie’s sister, for lunch. Then it’s back to the Boston area and hopefully grab a cup of coffee with Uncle Frank.

Sunday we’re off to Vermont, stopping at The Clark in Williamstown, Mass. (we have advance timed tickets for 12 noon) before driving up Route 7 to Rutland for a couple of nights. That evening we will meet up with some members of our old wine group for dinner and the next day Susie reconnects with some of her colleagues and friends from her hospital days.

From Rutland it’s off to Watertown, New York, for a couple of nights with the MacDonalds before heading back to Grand Rapids.

Stay tuned!

Ernest Caillat monument in division 2 of Père-Lachaise Cemetery; designed by the French art nouveau architect Hector Guimard (1867-1942), who designed many of entrances to the Paris Metro.