February in Grand Haven

Ken turned 60 a week ago, and we went to Grand Haven to celebrate with his family.  We left Albany on the 6 a.m. flight, leaving the house in New Paltz at 3:30.  The flight was flawless (unlike the terrible tragedy in Buffalo this morning - an evil twin airplane story to that landing on the Hudson).  If you leave Albany at 6 a.m. on a non-stop to Detroit, you are there by 7:30, with the whole day ahead of you.  Our one Ann Arbor stop was breakfast at Angelo's, which smelled the same, tasted the same and had some of the same wait and other staff as all those years ago!  If you recall, Ken and I chose our wedding date around the fact that Angelo's was closed in July.  We picked the first Friday in August, so we could have breakfast the next morning.  Thus, 08/08/80. We then drove west, grateful for the weather and admiring again the flat-as-a-dinner-plate landscape.  We got to Grand Haven and went to Ray and Veda's house, where Ray had the most amazing video on his screen:  the very first Washtenaw Community College chorus, under the direction of Ron Fracker, in 1991.  The very same concert where Barbara met David, a fix-up courtesy of Mary Ann Carnegie.  I watched the whole concert, gazing at my 17-year-younger self singing pop music and an adaptation of "I Want To Go Back to Michigan," and thinking of Ron, who would have loved the New Paltz Community-College Chorale and who would have been very approving of the Brahms' German Requiem.  We stayed at the Khardomeh Lodge (http://www.khardomahlodge.com/).      Wonderful.  As was seeing Erica, her three great girls Jessica, Chelsea and Jennifer; Karen and Mike and their two great young women Nicole and Jody; meeting Jeff, Nicole's friend; and of course Nicole's two dogs, whom I met very briefly.  We ate, we laughed, we properly celebrated this zero birthday. Ken is one of the great men of the universe and it is my great luck and pleasure to be his partner.  

We've had a warm-up here, as elsewhere, and the snow is greatly diminished.  Today is supposed to be in the high 30's and with bright sunshine.  Ah, as my sister Fran would say, "there is nothing lovelier than a northern spring."  This may not be spring, but it definitely is a prelude to.  My week has been busy, as has yours I'm sure.  A highlight was a meeting with staff members of the Composition Board, as I am going to teach a composition course in the fall.  Better writing ahead!  For my students, I hope, and for me, definitely.