so cool to hear about a good time in las vegas. now i am getting psyched. as you know, i am a soft touch for a great live performance. it sounds like cirque du soleil did not let you down, lori. here is an interesting one to consider. i was at the house of my best friend from college last fall. i had just picked up a cd around that time of a mexican couple who play acoustic guitar. i was raving about them then and i still do. so, my friend had one of her friends over one of the nights that i was there. rodrigo and gabriela (the guitar duo that i love) was one of many conversations that came up throughout the night. so then four or five months go by and last week the friend of my friend writes to me and tells me that she has two tickets to a rod and gab concert in new york city that she won't be able to use. she says they are mine if i am interested. well, yeah, i am very interested! so now i have put together a trip to nyc for next week and i am so psyched. i have not seen a show in too long and i swear these two have a special magic for life and i will absorb every note. absorbing every note is a special challenge, cuz they play so damn fast, but i will- i will be lovin it all.

Hi everyone. We've been having a really good time with my sister and her husband. Today is their last day here. It went so fast. We'll probably go take a walk by the Santa Monica beach today (no snow for us!). Las Vegas was fun, too. Two nights was just the right time for us. Less than that wouldn't have been enough, and more than that would have been too much. Too much stimulation for the brain to handle...... We loved Mystere. Patti, we decided to pass on Zumanity after hearing your reaction and seeing the pictures!

Debbie Y tells me that there will be a meeting at McKinley's to discuss the reunion. Wed the 14th at 6:30. Please spread the word............

Record cold temperatures coming tonight. Weather channel was saying -24 the record here and it might surpass that...then warming up to the 40s by Saturday afternoon. They were snowblowing special mixtures onto the river in Montpelier to soften the ice jams so hopefully there won't be flooding. Karen said it was 70 something last night in GA and her flowers are all budded. Imagine, Spring!! Don't forget to set your clocks ahead this weekend. Happy Thoughts.

I am sure that Karen will be ecstatic to get back to Georgia after waking up to -12 this morning here in VT. First a foot of snow on Friday and now this...we'll try to have better weather in June just for her! Anyways, Karen it was great seeing you and have a safe trip back to the sunny warm weather...send some this way! Happy Thoughts..........

If you are interested in staying at The Hartness House during the reunion, be aware that they are filling up fast. I reserved a room last evening and I'm glad I did. I like the idea of not worrying about my drinking and driving. I've asked them to consider a package price for reunion attendees abut I'm not holding my breath on that one. They have a decent web site so you can check the rooms, rates, and availability out.

Maybe we could get a local person to tell us what else is available locally for hotel/motel. Things have sure changed back home.

Karen get your homework done, I wanna see you at the reunion!!

Hey there one and all. I got a note from Mike Graham through Classmates this afternoon. He and Steve Ankuda are wondering about a reunion. so were Cathy Capron and Jerry Bolio recently. So I have sent out a messge to everyone that I have an address for. I think that must include all of you lovely people. in i I tell you what we know so far about the reunion. Deb Young told me just this week that she is trying to reach John Laplante as she thinks he has an snail mail address for most people. So that means we have some home town action on the reunion. I'll keep you posted.

Hey Karen V great to see you back on line. Coincidently I had a flash of an email address (yours) in my box just yesterday but then it disappeared. Were you sending me somethings are was it just wishful thinking on my part? Probably the latter.

karen v. as successful student- super! i still think it is great that you are doing the courses and not at all surprised that you are doing really well. i went back to school in 1993- 1/2 time and worked full time. i can definitely relate to watching your health. at the end of four years i had a strange sickness that thankfully only lasted for about nine months. it was one of those things that lasts for an average of three years and then just goes away forever. so i was lucky, i guess. i had two strategies that helped me get through school. one was to start early- like any books for courses that i could buy a couple weeks before the semester, i would buy and read as much as i could. then i would keep ahead as best i could and that usually lasted till there was about one month to go. then it was nip and tuck for about four weeks and then i would really focus for the two weeks around finals. that is when others are letting up and checking out of the hotel early. it is the easiest time to make tracks against classmates and it can have great impact on your final grade. i called it prime time. i am sure it sounds like i was just in it to win. the truth is that i was, but that was secondary after being glad that i was in interesting classes with cut-throat business students that i would happily push off a cliff (kidding!). my other strategy was to find my polar opposite (focused, conservative, well studied and researched) and i did every project with him for four years. i actually held up my end with great content from the fringe. it was an odd couple that was soooo beneficial and we are now friends for life- do anything for each other. as far as my travel goes, i got a late start. i travel cuz of my job and i like it- going to rochester, ny on wednesday- wahoo!! mostly i have loved travel my whole life, but i was not the one doing it. i would always connect with others returning from trips and make them tell me everything about where they had been. a good example is gloria brancaleoni in springfield who had traveled a bunch and always had intersting visitors. once, friends from morocco came to her place. you can imagine how late i kept them up with my questions. you can imagine the look on my face as i heard about life beyond highland road and my lonely goat herd of friends that lived up there.

Hi all!

Wow! Can't believe the last time I posted was in October! And that's about the last time I read the blog. I know I have trouble with time getting away from me, but this is ridiculous...

Pat, so sorry to hear about your dad. Sorry I wasn't aware of it earlier or I would have said something.

Richard, thoroughly enjoyed hearing about Switzerland. You really missed your calling. Your storytelling ability is amazing. And is there anywhere you haven't been?!

Happy to report that I got a 4.0 last semester!!! Yay me!!! Already halfway through this semester and doing well. Last semester I was pushing myself so hard I was always teetering on getting really ill. Doing better this semester, though I was a bad girl and was up until 3 last night.

Managed to get back to VT for New Years sans boys. Spent much of the time fighting something though. Did manage to have lunch with Janice one day and Mary another. Wish I could have done more.

Hope to get back for our reunion this summer, but will be taking a course this summer that starts the end of May, so don't know how that will work. If I can't go, I'll be totally bummed. BTW, really shocked to hear about Paula Taft. Didn't know she had a hard life. Knew her quite well at Riverside, but not so much in H.S. I remember those pool parties, too. Charlie Hawthorne got thrown in the pool with his clothes on once.

I (and my two boys) will be back briefly in April for my brother's wedding. Tom is getting married for the first time on April 28 in Massachusetts. Don't know how long I will have back there since I still have a week of school left afterward. If I can get my last project done early, I will stay longer. That's really asking a lot of me though so don't know how that will play out.

We've been having an unusually snowy and cold winter. Had snowcover since before Christmas. Very unusual. It got up to 60 last week and supposedly will next week, too. Goes back and forth btwn really cold and warm. Wreaks havoc on a lot of people's systems.

Take care and hope to see you in June!

About that Zumanity show. I imagine I'm in the minority in regard to my reaction. Most of the group I was with enjoyed it. I'm just a prude. It's very popular and as with all the shows, hard to get tickets for. We went to that one and then to Mystere to cleanse the palette. LOL