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07/22/2018 |
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ON THE GO 2014 July thru December On July 20 we attended a high school graduation party for Alexei Sondergeld in Canton, CT.
A Russian Bear tried to attend the party. We learned that two skulls are better than one.
David, Owen, and Kyle spent 10 days or so hiking in Peru. They loved Cusco and then hiked into Machu Picchu. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often mistakenly referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is perhaps the most familiar icon of Inca civilization. Here they are at 4150 meters elevation.
We were in Machu Picchu in May 2000.
We had a lot of guests from Saturday July 26 thru Saturday August 2. The Kullgren Family Reunion was held here at Beebe Pond for a week. Tom engineered everything with a little help from Amy. Plan It Sheri catered a dinner at our house on the first Saturday. They stayed in homes owned by Wolons, Chapin, and Weeks on Columbia Drive and Novack on Birch Road. The Principes donated their home and we contributed a few rooms. The kids had many games in the pool room and spent a lot of time in or on the water. About 13 climbed Eagle Rock. We played many card games of Oh Hell. Sunday August 3, was our 57th wedding anniversary. One of a number of loons who visit us on Beebe Pond fished at our waterfront.
On Monday August 4 Don, Mary, and Karla took a 45 minute helicopter ride from the Harris Airport in Ft Ann to Beebe Pond and Echo Lake. Lots of fun seeing the landscape from a short distance in the air. We left the doors off so we could take better pictures. Click here.
On Saturday August 9 the entire Beebe Pond Community was invited to the Wolons compound at the south end of the lake to help Joe celebrate his 80th birthday. A terrific family : Son "Joey" cooked huge sirloin steaks, David made drinks, the beautiful Karen and Kathy damsels helped with everything. His grandchildren and great grandchildren were in abundance. We almost purchased the Wolons property from June Sherline when we had the chance in 1965. Everyone says we were wrong, but I knew someone terrific would purchase it, so I was right. Here is the birthday boy and his cake:
Here are Joe's four children on the morning after. L to R: Kathy, David, Karen and Joey (also with their spouses):
Pilar Pla stayed with us in West Hartford , CT when Amy was a Senior in High School. Pilar was from Madrid, Spain and was also a Senior. Pilar and her 24 year old daughter Maria spent two weeks in Canada (Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City), and plan almost a week in the New England. They had dinner with us on Wednesday August 13, spent the night, and headed to Boston the next day where they had dinner at the waterfront with Karen. . They will spend two nights there, two nights in the White Mountains of New Hampshire before returning to Spain next Monday evening. Here they are in Vermont.
On Tuesday August 26, 2014 we drove 190 miles to Boston via Route 2 in 4 hours. Returning we drove I 93 to Concord NH then I 89 to White River Jct etc. Another 190 miles but only 3.5 hours. On the way we saw Mt Monadnock, also a monadnock near Keene NH. See below.
We saw Karen's lovely apartment on Washington Street in the south end of Boston. We then had dinner at the Top of the Hub (The 52 story Prudential Building) with Karen and Duncan. The sun sets in the west, even in Boston, over the Charles River.
We stayed at the old Parker House on School and Tremont, where Don stayed when he interviewed for a job at Hartford Life in 1963. (Parker House Rolls and Boston Cream Pie were invented there) The next day Karen joined us for a Trolley Tour of Boston and a Harbour Tour after we had lunch at Legal Seafood near the Aquarium. We took a quick walk thru the Old Granary Burying Ground to see a Towne relative (Gersham Flagg's tomb) and then walked over to the Tontine Crescent on Franklin Street (where Don worked from 1963 - 1967). We had dinner with the Whitney clan, including Sara (just back from South America), at the restaurant at which Caitlin works. Caters boyfriend Alex (from Kiev, Ukraine) who goes to Colby also joined us. On Labor Day weekend Phil Rollman brought his Boy Scout Troop from the Reading, PA area to the scouts annual trip to Beebe. They swam, some becoming new turtles, climbed Eagle Rock, went kayaking and sailing, and attended the Vermont State Fair one night in Rutland. Here are some of the happy campers and "Red" their benefactor.
Just after Labor Day Karen & Duncan went for a two week vacation: a week in Malta and a second one in Sicily. They then learned it was announced that Duncan's company Allegro has been sold to Veracyte, Inc. (VCYT), a molecular diagnostics company pioneering the field of molecular cytology. Veracyte then hired Duncan to work in San Francisco. He will commute from Boston for six months. They plan to move to SF within a year. Sara, who recently returned from South America, has decided to move to Denver and find work hopefully as a CEO or COO of a Fortune 500 Company. The Whitneys are continuing to heed Horace Greeley's Western advice. Ryan has been working in Boulder and living in Denver for three years. In mid September Don and Mary flew to San Francisco and spent 6 days with David and Kyle. The southern border of the Olympic Golf Club are homes on Northgate in Daly City. David is the last house at 398 Northgate with great views of the Pacific Ocean
Here is some pictures below. For additional ones, click here.
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On Friday September 26, 2014 we had our 1000 gallon propane tank removed and a 500 gallon tank installed.
On September 29, 2014 Wendy Buser snapped this picture looking south west over Beebe Pond.
Annual Meeting of Society of Actuaries in Orlando, Florida We attended this meeting at Shingle Creek on 10/25 - 10/28/14. We had a great time as Don was one of the past presidents. He hasn't attended a meeting since 2005. He was president from October 1991 to October 1992. Here is a list of past presidents and the annual meetings Don attended since he was president. . Don was the oldest past president at this annual meeting in 2014, and was probably the oldest actuary in attendance. Other than past presidents the only people Don knew were former associates at The Hartford: (Tom Herget who is a Vice President of the SoA, Jim Trimble who is on the SoA Board, Dave Hall, and Mike Bronstein.) A good friend, Jim Reiskytl from Northwestern Mutual was also there. The only past presidents that Don knew were Steve Kellison (2005), Jim MacGinnitie(2002), Rob Brown(2001), Anna Rappaport(1998), Dave Holland(1997), and Sam Gutterman(1996). The sad news was that past president Brad Smith(2012) died of a heart attack playing tennis recently. Brad was a terrific president as he got the SoA to adopt a sixth Fellowship Specialty track: General Insurance, which has upset the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) but was long overdue. See Don's Presidential Address in 1992. Mark Freedman, 2013-2014 SoA president, gave a terrific presidential address outlining strategic goals of the SoA which are consistent with Don's views on reorganization of the actuarial profession. Here are some pics. We are shown below:
On November 13, 2014 Don was 84. A typical birthday card is below.
On Thanksgiving Don and Mary had a nice turkey dinner in Naples FL at the Boathouse Restaurant on the Gordon River. Karla and David Principe have a beautiful new kitchen, so they invited Katie Principe, the Kullgrens, Eric's family and Cindy's mother, plus Karen, Duncan, Caitlin, plus Caitlin's boyfriend Alex and his mother Olga for Thanksgiving. The Baker Museum in Naples FL has a a Wildlife Exhibition. It is on display from November 8, 2014 until February 1, 2015. It contains art from the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole Wyoming and from the Stonehollow Collection. We viewed this on Sunday, December 7. www.artisnaples.org/baker-museum/exhibitions/2014-15/exploring-america
On December 17 we lost about a foot of snow from the big snowstorm we had before we flew from FL to VT yesterday. Very overcast. Our house is barely visible from Route 30 across our lake.
On December 17 we had lunch at the Fair Haven Inn with Amy and Aleksey:
On Friday, December 19, Eric, Cindy, and Alexei came up for the weekend. Cindy won in Oh Hell. Here are Alexei and Eric playing cribbage.
Here are cousins Zach and Aleksey on Christmas day.
Zach Principe Aleksey Magno On Monday 12.29.14 a duck decided to fish in front of our house on Beebe Pond. Is this the loon that visited us back on August 3, 2014. No, it is a merganser. See http://10000birds.com/mergansers.htm
Where will it fish later this week when the lake is frozen over? Mergansers and loons leave their breeding lakes because they freeze up. Loons need VERY clear, deep, open water for diving and catching fish. The ocean is the right place for loons in winter. nhlakes.mylaketown.com/uploads/tinymce/nhlakes/News%20Articles/Lake%20Ecology/2-9%20Loons%20in%20winter. While we were in VT over the holidays, Karen and her family went to St Maarten for a week. David took Owen and Kyle skiing at Tahoe.
Duncan Caitlin Sara Karen Ryan
Kyle David Owen
We had a pinata for the children at our annual New Years Eve Party. The
party was from 4 to 7 pm.
Erin
Aleksey Karen Mary
David Karla Don
Karen Don Amy
Amy Tom Karla David
Amy Karen Brita Tate
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This site was last updated 04/16/17
Incoming 500 gallon tank
500 gallon tank in place
Outgoing 1000 gallon tank
1000 gallon tank on truck
Above: Don practicing the fine art of conversation.
