30 June, 2018

...Miles To Go Before I Sleep...*

We've been on an adventure!  Back in April, on his 90th birthday, my Dad told us that one thing he had always wanted to do was cross the Chesapeake Bay via the Tunnel-Bridge. We decided then and there that this needed to happen!  Plans were made, routes were mapped out and the car was packed; it was time to make memories. We drove to New Hampshire to get my Mom and Dad and then we were off on a five-day adventure. We made many stops along the way, ate some great meals and spent a few nights before we got down to Virginia Beach. Bright and early the next day we headed for the Bridge-Tunnel!

My Dad's face says it all. I believe he enjoyed every minute of the experience!
Safe and sound on the opposite side of the bay! Just like that we were headed back up north again.
Once back at their home we celebrated Father's Day together; here Mr. Goodneedle and Hannes are enjoying some time together (along with the rest of us!) over a rip-roaring game of Cribbage. 
My mother celebrated a special birthday while we were back home with them too. 
Sadly, all good adventures must come to an end.  All too soon it was time to say good-bye and to leave for our return trip to NC.  Along the way we visited with Mr. Goodneedle's family in the Boston area for a few days and, this time, it was all about a bucket-list item for yours truly. I have always wanted to visit the JFK Presidential Library and Museum, we were lucky enough to squeeze that in.  
Located right on Boston Harbor the building has spectacular views.
We took the highlights tour which was informative and transportive (back to the 60's) at the same time. As anyone does, who lived through the events of those days, I remember exactly where I was when I heard the unbelievable report that our president had been assassinated. I was standing in the front driveway of our elementary school waiting for the afternoon bus to take me home. I was ten years old. I believe that this was the first time I had ever even heard the word "assassination" or even knew what it meant. Sadly, it became an all too familiar word from that moment on. 
A stop at the Ladies Room as we exited the Library held one more highlight. 
 I thought this was one of the coolest sinks ever! Have you ever seen one of these sinks before?
Lots of time as a passenger in the car allowed for the hand embroidery on these fifteen-year-old blocks to be completed. (Sarah Sporrer for Indygo Junction - "By Wisdom A House Is Built") I only lack two blocks now of having all twelve finished. I may be naming this one: "All In Good Time". 
That's all for now. Since we returned we've been busy running here and there; but that's another post for another day! Thanks for stopping by. I have two questions for you: what is something on your "must do" list; and where were you (when the world as we knew it changed forever) on November 22, 1963? 

Life is Good!

* Today's post title is excerpted from my favorite poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", 
by Robert Frost. It was written in 1922 and published in 1923 in his New Hampshire volume. 

11 comments:

cityquilter grace said...

i was walking home from 9th grade in norwich, ct...thru the downtown and TV was on at the appliance store...my friend and i just stood and watched...as for my bucket list? oh, maybe a class with kaffe fassett...or mary lou weidman...my bro graduated from UMass boston and i've been to the museum a few times...haven't yet seen the ted kennedy school tho...if you have photos, would love to see

Carolyn said...

I was in 6th grade our teacher Mr. Murphy told us and then brought in a tv to listen. My bucket list is to see the Grand Canyon and other canyons .

LizA. said...

I was in kindergarten — mornings. So I was home watching Romper Room or Captain Kangaroo with my baby sister while my mother entertained a friend in the dining room. The news came on so I wandered in to see what my mother was doing. They told me to go back to my tv program but I told them some man was talking — they both went in, heard the news and started crying.

Bucket list - aurora borealis and Antarctica.

Quiltdivajulie said...

Like you I was just off the bus from third grade when the horrid mean girl down the street told me the president was dead. Of course she made me cry and chased me all the way home. My mother was already crying when I got home so I knew it was true. Bucket list? He is staying with us this this weekend - the amazing grandchild we never thought we would have!

AnnieO said...

What a great trip for all. It’s been 30+ years since I was on the East Coast but we did a sailing trip in the Chesapeake Bay I’ll never forget.
I was barely 2 in 1963 so have no memories of the awful event of JFK’s assassination. I’ve seen many a replay of the horror the country experienced.

Just Ducky said...

I was in my early twenties, at work at my job in a dentist office. Out architect called to tell us. I absolutely could not believe it. Double whammy for me because my mother had passed just a few months earlier.

Lilac Joan said...

I think that Robert Frost read his poem at JFK's inauguration. I remember it was a very cold day, snow on the ground and bright sunlight. Frost had a problem because of the glare. If this is not right someone correct it. (Hope it is not a Mandela effect!)

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

How wonderful that you wre able to spend such precious time with your family! I don't really have a bucket list. I have a list of quilts I want to make, but I am very fickle and things appear and disappear from it often (it's in my head not on paper).

45th Parallel Quilter said...

I was a freshman in high school. Moving from one class to the library to do some homework I passed through a hallway that had the PA system announcing his death. At first I thought it was someone playing a tape depicting the assassination of Lincoln ... but when I got to the library I realized it was Kennedy. When I got home from school both my parents were in front of the TV crying. I've often wondered what our world would have been like had he not been killed. Bucket List? Oh, so many things ... road trips to see so much of the beauty of THIS country (travel through the Columbia Valley Gorge, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington State)... visit a few European countries (Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy and many others) with my husband together ... the eternal process of organizing my sewing room(s) (LOL) ... seeing the Northern Lights ... would love to see New Zealand and Australia. Every year the list gets longer ..... Linda

Tanya said...

I can never think of something to put on a ‘must do’list. I hope that means that I am very content. I’m hoping it doesn’t mean that I am just wishy-washy.

As for where and what I was doing, I remember my mother sitting in front of the TV crying.

Nancy said...

I was six, in first grade. We were sitting on the floor around the teacher as she read to us. The room phone rang, it was the office calling each room to tell the teachers. Mrs. Sheldon sat down crying and told us the President had been assassinated.
Bucket list: trip to Europe, England, France, Italy.