Safely arrived on Cape Cod, where they had heavy rain last night that they very much needed. Have you heard there is drought and heat all over?

Molli's hotel

for amelia

We spent a few hours on Block Island, where we had never been, after picking Molli and Adrian up at the Boston airport and driving them there.
















 

Block Island north lighthouse

St. Johnsbury building

Before that, we were about 36 hours in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, visiting my 93-year-old aunt El in a nursing home. She is forgetful and repeats herself. She is confined to a wheelchair. Otherwise, she is fine. She enjoyed the company very much. How can we improve the quality of life for people like her? and like we will be?

downtown St. Johnsbury

the "camp" wing

Tom is working on the roof of the old train station, cum welcome center.

view from Tom's house

pond Tom built

My cousin Tom is an amazing genius. He has built a magnificent stone house on the top of a hill. It has a wonderful view of mountains and fields. When we were getting ready to go yesterday morning, we could see three wild turkeys and they have many stories of watching wildlife from their living room. They said they were watching a bear the day before, which made me a tiny bit nervous. He has recently added a giant pond, with stone edging and a diving jetty. It's amazing. They are having a wedding there in three weeks--his wife's youngest daughter, and they seem to host lots of gatherings there. Tom works like an automaton. He is a roofer and drives all over the state. Has been for about 30 years, has a great reputation, worked on the state Capitol building, making copper and standing-seam metal roofs as well as the easy kind. He has no need for computers for the most part, or other technology. The "camp" we stayed in, remade in stone from the one his father had there years ago, still has an outhouse (see bear above). Diane, on the other hand, has her own businesss as an accountant, working from home sometimes, as well as traveling to clients.

Of course, the pond includes a zip line.

you can't believe the scale of this thing

I am amazed at the stone work.

view from the Tower Bar

Ray and Tom S. enjoy Bailiwick's

On Thursday, we took a very early flight from Albuquerque and arrived in Manchester in the late afternoon. We rented a car there and drove north to St. Johnsbury, past very beautiful New Hampshire mountains. Aunt El has been very politically active in St. J. and she was one of the people who helped keep Walmart out of their town. We enjoyed the small downtown stores very much and bought a couple things. When I showed her the photos from Molli's wedding, she asked about the big red flowers and said she had never seen a Gerber daisy. We were able to buy her one and take it to her, so that was fun.

Wednesday morning, Bonney and Hank and Nick drove us to Albuquerque and we left our things at a motel near the airport. We met Chris for lunch at a fun place called Flying Star (I think). Then they took us to the Museum of Natural History. We spent a few hours there and Ray was as happy as a pig in shit...as you can see. It is a great museum and I enjoyed it too. Plus it was cooler than outside. 

I never saw such a bright rainbow.

Just of few things Ray had to buy for his class.

We took a couple of buses back to the hotel and had a swim in the pool before the storm came.