Notes from the land of the WEEPING BIRCHES

Within the last couple of weeks, the local TV station had the viewers vote on the worst weather event to hit the state. They selected the ice storm of 1998. A little premature? If you haven't seen the news lately, there was a small ice storm here in New Hampsha [sic]. Only about 400,000 customers without power. Considering the human population only recently exceeded the bovine population here, that is pretty wide spread. Cliff better be working hard to get them back on line. Birches grow here like weeds. And they are about a strong. A drive down the road is a slalom course. The trees on the right bend over and block the lane. You go by and the left lane is block, then the right, then the left, etc. Every thing ice covered looked beautiful, but... We were mostly lucky. We were out only about a day and a half. All those weekends as a kid up at Kemo gave me the skills to keep the fire in the fireplace going. At least I didn't have a chimney fire this time. Unfortunately I had to dip in to my wood stack for woodturning for fuel. Our only source of power was a small generator. Small to the point of only having a gas tank large enough run an hour. And I filled it, every hour until it froze up from the cold at 3 AM. About this time I thought of Bob Piorkowski and his subsistence living in Alaska. I figure he would have been walking around here in shorts, sandals, and a windbreaker saying "What's the problem?" We did have a real generator, propane powered. Unfortunately it wasn't working. My daughter, son-in-law, and 15 month old grandson made a humanitarian trip from CT to help. I helped my son-in-law for the better part of the day in the cold wind trying to get the generator running. No luck but just as we threw in the towel and my daughter came out and said the power was back on. At this writing there are still a lot of homes without power. What makes it bad for some is that your neighbor, or a block over, may have power but you are still out. Welcome to northern New England.. Lou Z

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

MERRY CHRISTMAS from my family to yours. May we all have good health in the coming years. Let us all continue staying in touch and the Spirit of our Class will stay alive. You can always count on me to do my part in keeping our class informed and up to date.

My very best to you all.

Happy New Year. Patty

12-17-08

SEEMS LIKE JUST YESTERDAY.....

ONCE A LADIES' MAN ALWAYS A LADIES' MAN

An early Christmas Gift

Lou Z recently writes, "Here is a picture of "dziadek i wnuczka". (If it is not obvious, Ursala can translate.)

Lou's 38 year old daughter recently presented him with his less than a week old granddaughter Peyton. What a full head of hair for Peyton more hair than her proud grandpa...... Congratulations to all...keep the pictures coming.

Traveling Sign shows up again

The giant red wood trees in Muir Woods near San Francisco.

Hope this winter our traveling class sign will enjoy some warm weather with some of our southern or western classmates. Our sign is available to all, just let me know and I will be happy to send one your way.

Cat Lovers Please help

Sammy, my newly adopted cat.

I wanted to post this for our class of 1968. I'm sure there are animal lovers out there and hope that some are cat lovers. I know of a mama cat named Destiny and her 2 Siamese kittens kala and kona. They were rescued from a hoarder in Canada who had 7 cats. The mom gave birth to six kittens 4 of whom found a home. However three have not. They really do not want to separate the 3 and I know that's a lot of cat to care for, but they need a home. If anyone is interested please contact me Mike Pina at bct51@msn.com or call me at(860) 223-3998. If you would like to take a look at the cats please go to slinkykatz.com. They are in a shelter in New Hartford, Ct. that only rescues Siamese. They really are a wonderful breed. I was going to adopt them but another cat by the name of Sam came through first. If I could take all three cats I would but it's too soon for Sammy, he is still getting adjusted to being with me. I hope that someone out there will find it in their heart to adopt these cars. There are so many homeless animals out there looking for a home. Help! Help! Help! Thanks Michael Pina.

DINNER TOGETHER ONCE AGAIN

Jane, Karen, Nancy and Sue met at Ruby Tuesdays for their October dinner. Our "Where are you class of 1968" sign was too tired to attend. Although you cannot see it, that is what was written on the napkin that Karen and Nancy are holding. Nancy Lamb had to leave early and was not available for the picture. We thank her for arranging our local dinners and hope more classmates will join us for the next one. Stay tuned for when and where we will next meet. These mini gatherings are not only fun but they help in keeping our class together. Was this also a birthday celebration? Happy Birthday to Nancy R. and Sue W.

Six ladies and a night out

Lisa, Jean, Judi, Sue, Pat and Marilyn enjoying each others company for dinner. We were fortunate to be able to get together with such short notice. Little gatherings keeps the CLASS OF 1968 together and the memories alive. Thanks ladies for making my trip home special.

Traveling sign heads WEST

Our Traveling Class Sign resting with friends after a few busy weeks. Next up ??? Please return often to see where it will next turn up.

Alaskan Stop N Shop!!!!!!

Beautiful Alaska

Gathering food is certainly different in Alaska.

Bob Piorkowski and friend taking their catch home to share.

Salmon drying.

Subsistence hunting and gathering opportunities remain an important part of my Alaskan lifestyle. The moose and Salmon were shared with many families. It certainly is a lot different from my life in New Britain. I hope some of my classmates will have the opportunity to visit this beautiful state. Bob Piorkowski

Another Mother and Daughter Lunch

Jane Baxer, her Mom (who will be 91 this November) and best childhood friend Sue Willet had the pleasure of having lunch together recently. Mrs. Baxer was like a 2nd Mom to Sue, yelling at her as much as she did Jane. Mrs. Baxer still drives and recently completed a special Drivers Ed course to receive an extra 5% off of her car insurance. We should all be that lucky when we reach her age. How nice for Mrs. Baxer to hold our traveling class sign. The class of 1968 is certainly getting around. We hope to see more classmates enjoying each others company.

Our Traveling Class Sign

In trying to keep our site fun and interesting I will be posting pictures of our traveling class sign. I hope you will be able to indentify the places we have traveled to. Signs are available for those that would like to contribute to the blog and share their travels or special place. Just let me know and I will be happy to mail you one. I hope you will visit our blog often to see where our class has been. Comments are welcome and appreciated. If you are having trouble posting just let us know, we are here to help. I am running out of ideas, your help is needed to keep our blog entertaining.

Daughters & Mom's How lucky we are!!!!!

Judi says... We had such a good time, our Mothers really enjoyed themselves, they would like to have a monthly dinner night out. Marilyn with her Mom Ann Bindas, Susan with her Mom Stella Woja, Me with Mrs Mags. If there is anyone out there who graduated with us and still has their Mom they are more than welcome to join us, just drop me a line and I'll let you know when and where.

Ladies night out

Jane Baxer, Nancy Lamb, Nancy Roy, Sandi Mazur, Sue Willet and Marilyn Bindas enjoying time and dinner together. We are planning to get together each month, please consider joining us for our next dinner. October 23th at 5 PM, contact any of us for the location. It is so nice to spend time with each other, especially since a few of us didn't really know each other in high school. Let's keep the mini reunions going until the 45th is here. Come on ladies, join us in October.

And the mini reunions continue

Who would have thought that I would have found 2 drinking buddies at the VFW in New Britain on Sept 6th, 2008. Ok you can all stop laughing now. How nice it was to spend some time with and have a drink with Chuck and Randy, two classmates that I have known since Thomas Jefferson Elementary School. I was fortunate to spend time with them and some other New Britain friends while Judi and I attended the 10th Annual Club Reunion. My good friend Bobby Ruel came in from California, he was an ADS member. How could I not drive in from NY even with hurricane Hanna following me when he came all that way. My brother Jim who lives in Florida along with Judi's brother Jimmy Maglio who lives in California were both members of the Earls. Judi and I wanted to attend since our brothers could not. Today our clubs would have been known as gangs, however I remember good clean fun (well not always clean) and trying to raising enough money to hold dances so we could spend a week in the summer at the beach. Storm Hanna wasn't going to keep Judi and I away, however Judi had to leave before I was able to gather up these guys for the picture. Although we may look in the mirror and see that we have aged, the guys at this reunion didn't show any signs of slowing down. Some of us continued on until closing at the Amber Club. I was in more bars this weekend than I have been in since I moved to Long Island in 1971. I will admit I had a great time. When I left that last bar I thought for a moment my 1968 rust colored Javelin would be sitting outside waiting for me, then the rain and wind from Hanna covered my face and I remembered it was 2008, not 1968

Sadness

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to another of our classmates. Barbara Vallario Messina left this earth on August 17, 2008. Barbara was one of the neighborhood kids, with whom I played and went to school, during most of my early life. We had many connections during our early years and we were inseparable during our grade school summers, including the year she lost her mom so suddenly. Later in life, her older brother worked for my dad and we corresponded a few years ago via classmates. I stopped hearing from her over a year ago and never knew she was ill.

You can read Barb's obit by clicking here.

Rest in Peace Barbara,

Rosi

LOOK AT THOSE SMILES

I'm going to write this with a straight face. Ready? I received this photo from John & Lisa. John said something about being in town for a family reunion...... I didn't know he and Lisa were related, did you?

By the way guys, you look even better than you did at the reunion. What's your secret? Inquiring minds want to know;)

pssst, Patti, I think you were right........call me later.

Caveat: (Warning, for those of you who didn't have Mrs. Henriques for Latin) Never send Rosann a photo and tell her that the blog needs something to increase interest, then tell her that the caption is up to her, unless you really really mean it.

WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?

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Too many of you were camera shy. I need more candid shots. Please, please share. If you're not sure how to send them via email, let me help you. If you need my snail mail address, let me know.

I want to thank Cliff, Judi, and Pat for their generosity and speedy delivery of their pictures. All of them used a photo sharing site on line and I know they would be happy to share that knowledge with you.