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My Dad

Things that remind me of my Dad:

  • Used bookstores
  • The smell of pipes
  • Running
  • Wesleyan University, especially the Alpha Delta Phi house
  • A notebook full of handwritten (in fountain pen) mathmatical derivations, like of the angles between the streets of L’Etoile in Paris.
  • Europe’s cathedrals
  • A ski trip the two of us to Zermatt – in bed each night with our books. Two peas in a pod.
  • Good red wine
  • Faded Nantucket reds
  • Hand-drawn turk’s head knots (also in fountain pen) in every Valentine and birthday card
  • Knots in person, too – learning to tie a real bowline, being awed by his skill at turk’s heads and other tricks with a line
  • Celebrating birthdays where I became an age that was a prime number
  • The note he wrote to authorize no-helmet skating in 6th grade at BB&N (“recognizing that risk is an inherent part of life …”) – I mortified at the time, infinitely amused now
  • The carefully curated and annotated photo albums
  • Exhortations to pack light, get ready fast, be able to read a map, and look good after 2 miles to windward
  • A favorite bowtie that comes with the same joke every time: “I’ve nothing TouLouse!”
  • Playing “Scarlet Ribbons” on his guitar, singing to us
  • Reading thick history books in German, French, and English
  • The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
  • Teaching me to drive our old Jeep in Mattapoisett – being patient when I rammed it into a huge boulder at the edge of the ocean
  • Christmas carols on the stereo at home from October to March
  • His miniature Caterpillar trucks (Cat was a client, and Hilary and I teased him mercilessly, calling them “toys,” and were always told sternly that they were “models”)
  • His diving off the dock in Huntington during our last visit to Gaga and Pops’ house there
  • His beautiful, elegant skiing

Lonesome Lake Hike

Grace, hiking this weekend. Apparently on Saturday afternoon she climbed onto a rock on the edge of a lake, lost her balance, and fell completely in. She then took off her shirt and her crocs and went swimming in just her shorts. I love this about her. She is capable of approaching life with total abandon, of rolling with the punches, and of making an adventure out of an unexpected turn of events.
I could learn a lot from my daughter.

And more pictures



From the top:
August 1993, Nauset Beach
July 1995, Land Ho!, Jessica’s 21st birthday evening
June 1999, Portsmouth RI, Jessica and Jake’s wedding day