Hope all had a Merry Christmas!
We had quite a road trip, totaling in all over 1,700 miles on the old Volvo.
Left Maine and journeyed back to New York State, staying in Skaneateles, Buffalo
and Sidney Center, NY. We didn't have a formal plan, just wanted to take our time, meander and
enjoy the ride. Nancy brought gift baskets and we tried to visit as many
of our ham friends as we could along the way, if we missed you this year, we'll try again next year.
On the first night we stayed at and had an awesome dinner at the Mirabeau Inn & Spa in Skaneatlus, NY.
We arrived in the early evening and the town was lit up for Christmas, just beatiful.
We found the place by sheer chance, Nance wanted to visit the town and it was a good jumping off point.
Amazingly good food, admittedly we were starved from hours on the road, but we to get two orders of the mushroom fritters, they were that good. We had dinner by a large gas fireplace, in bar area decorated like a library. The Inn rooms are pricy for just an overnight stay, but the Lodge rooms were very nice and done up like a hunting lodge. Trees and tree branches for the bed posts, a gas fireplace, down comforter, very nice, and quite reasonable rates. Skaneateles is a beautiful town, if you are ever in the area, its well worth the visit.
Arrived in Clarence Center Sunday evening and stayed with my friend K2LNU and his gracious XYL Kathy for a few days.
Stopped by to see my old home, very shocked and saddened by the high level of commercial development, former
farm fields are now all strip malls and chain stores, traffic was a nightmare. Made me glad to that I have moved, and gave
some real substance to the old phrase "You can never really go home again.". Visited our friends Patricia NW2I, Jerry N2QLS
and Rudy W2ZIA. I gave Nancy a tour of the scarier parts of Buffalo - read the east side.
and a quick drive by of the old Central Railroad Terminal. Had an awesome dinner at the new Russell's restaurant in Clarence, never had such excellent service, food was also excellent, almost tempted me into switching back to eating meat, almost.
Left Clarence after a few days of fellowship and traveled down to Ithaca. Beautiful sunny day and drive down Route 89 by the lake. Stopped by the Taughannock Falls, quite impressive, and even better looking now that they were iced over. Tried to find the much vaunted Moosewood restaurant, but no success. Drove down to Sidney Center to visit with my folks, had a very nice time. Not much changes down there, a stark contrast to the business of the Buffalo suburbs. I'm always thankful for my folks, both are still here and doing fine. Stayed in my old room, they had fixed up the various holes in the wall from my radio "experiments" when I was a young JN. Drove down to Binghamton to meet Doug and drop off the DX-100, had a nice dinner at an Italian place there. After opening gifts left NY on Christmas Day and drove back to Maine for a few days before Nancy had to depart for her job. Glad to be back in Maine, and home again. Enjoyed some real barn/radio time while working on radio kits in the evenings while Nancy worked on her jigsaw puzzles.
Yes, the secret is out.
I asked Nancy to marry me on Christmas Day, and she said yes.
She was a little stunned, think she knew it was coming, but was not really fully prepared.
I guess after dating for two years it was time.
Photos below.
I hid the ring in the bottom of one of my L.L. Bean boots and put it under
the Christmas tree. :-) A little inside joke as I got her ring size by telling
her the story that a woman's shoe size is the same as her ring size.
The jig worked and she took the bait and got her ring size to show me it was different
than her shoe size. I think she really knew what I was getting at and was just played along.
I think I was as nervous she was, this is not something you rehearse,
and neither of us has been married before, but all went well.
She found the pretty blue box inside the boot without a problem.
Best of all, my folks got to witness the entire event, including me down on one knee,
a very FB Christmas day.
Also in the good news category - the job she was interested in last fall at Bowdoin
College appears to now be open. On our vacation she received an email
stating that the college had not hired for the position, but rather put
it on "hold", and had asked she reapply. Needless to say, we both feel very blessed and fortunate.
Seems each year it is more and more important and meaningful to connect with our old friends.
On the radio side of things, Nancy very kindly gifted me with the regenerative receiver kit which I mentioned a few weeks back. I was quite impressed with the kit, and have been honing my skills fabricating and bending bus wire
for the set. Most of the parts are NOS, but he has thrown in a few newer components. It's been a fun
project, and I look forward to many more late nights at the workbench, makes the cold Maine winters go
faster.
All photos at -->>
http://gallery.me.com/brucehowes#100441&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=29Highlights are below.
Visiting Skaneateles, NY
Nice Place to Stay - Mirabeau Lodge, Skaneateles, NY
Ithaca, NY
Christmas Day - Nancy Finds Something in the Boot
The Regen Set - Nancy's gift to Bruce
Example of Assembled Set
Return Trip to Maine - Stunning Scenery
Home At Last
