Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Another month flies by -- Part II: Graduation

So, now on to the next part of the month.  Monday was the retirement party; Wednesday of that week was graduation.  Burt was concerned that we wouldn't get it in, but the weather cooperated, and about 1000 students graduated in under 1 1/2 hours.  It's amazing.

Colleen and I walked with our ninth period classes. We all gather in the auxiliary gym until it's time to walk out onto the field.

Here I am with Kausthubha, a student in my tenth grade class as well as the mentorship this year.
Modeling my master's hood -- first time wearing it!

With Geoffrey - a French Canadian and charismatic student/diver/

Geoffrey and Jules - students in second semester Brit. Lit.

With Sally, one of my ninth period students
Out on the field


Sam giving the valedictory speech
Here's one of the school's pictures of graduation.

Afterwards, I met up with some of the graduation chaperones at the Smokehouse. I had such a great evening that I may just do this again next year!

Aerial view of commencement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjyIAbguh2o


Another month flies by -- Part I.

It's really true -- as I get older, the time goes so much faster.  My last entry was May 26, and it's now June 25.  Many things occurred during the month of June: belated sister birthday lunch, retirement party, graduation, victory lap for another retiring teacher, and the end of the school year.

Connie had been in Mexico for her birthday, so in the beginning of the month, we got together for lunch.

The next big event was the retirement party for Pam Fullerton and Ken Kratz.  I was involved in the planning of the event, especially the entertainment segment.  Pam is the consummate party-giver, so we knew we couldn't  out-Pam Pam!  However, providing entertainment was a perfect choice since she's a big Broadway fan. We got two of our stars from the high school along with a former student of mine as accompanist.  They were fabulous -- such a good idea, if I do say so myself.  Here are the singers!
And here are some random pictures of the party.
Colleen and I

Scott, Linda, Kevin

Larry, the awesome husband

Burt, Jan, and Barb

The retiree!

T.J., Pat, and various retired people

More relaxed retired people

Ditto
Kevin and Pam
Kevin talking about Pam


Janet telling a Ken story
Luke talking about Ken

It was a truly lovely event.  We'll really miss Pam and Ken.  Now I'm the oldest member of the English department...





Monday, May 26, 2014

Coming home.

We had our final delicious breakfast and left at about 9:30am. 
Bob had the ham and cheese omelette.
Ed and Irene!
We waited behind a single car for 15 minutes. Arrggh. Whoever it was ended up being told to park off to the side. We finally got through and drove pretty much without stopping except for bathroom breaks.
The view in NY state...
We arrived at Fran's at 5 pm.

Matinee and Peller!

Today was the day to see Cabaret and have dinner at Peller. After another enjoyable breakfast, we went into town and checked out many shops on a beautiful day.
Lovely. This picture is for my sister, who thinks that it's unusual that Bob carries a messenger bag...
So many lovely vistas.
After our shopping foray, we had a light lunch at Zee's.
Bob had a tallll salad.
I had a cheese plate -- sooo good.
And a bill with a sense of humor!
The view from my seat at Zee's. 
We then went to the show, which was really well-done.  Even Bob enjoyed it, I think! 
After buying fake Bailey's, we went back to Abacot for a few minutes and went on to Peller's. We chose the 5 course tasting menu, which was awesome as always.
Our view -- we were inside, but the French doors right by our table were open to the outside.
Amuse Bouche -- raw oyster.
First course: beef carpaccio paired with rosè sparkling wine.
Second course: stuffed rabbit in chicken broth paired with a Sauvignon blanc.
Trout with fiddle heads and mushrooms paired with pinot Gris.
Water ice palate cleanser
Veal strips paired with a meritage wine.
Another palate cleanser -- pecan ice cream.
Dessert: broken pavlova with Cabernet Franc ice wine.
At sunset. We had a great dinner with very nice servers. We also discovered that Frank, Chris, and friends were a hit at Peller the night before! 
We had some more ice wine at Stone Road Grill before going to bed.















 


 

More fun in Canada!

We had a lovely breakfast with Ed and Irene and guests at Abacot Hall. Two teachers who had been college roommates in the 80's were sharing the room we'd always shared in the past. The other couple were long-time friends of Ed and Irene.
Bob had the Abacot and I had pancakes and sausage -- yum.

It was raining gently as we drove into town, but gentle turned into steady. :(  We gave up checking out shops after a short while and drove to our first winery, Ravine. One of the people there was quite knowledgeable about the damage inflicted on many vineyards this past winter. We bought some delicious ice wine and then moved on to Coyote's Run.
We tried some sparkling wine and a few other varieties -- had another informative chat with our server.
Then it was back into town for lunch at Treadwell Inn, a place we'd never been to before. The place was small but busy. The excitement of our meal came with a reporter and cameraman doing an article on the place -- pretty cool watching them set up shots!
It's a farm to table place with the names of the suppliers on the menu.
And here's the menu.
I had papardelle with mushrooms and asparagus.
Bob had fish and chips  -- both were delicious! We also so had some local craft beer!! Yay, it's come to Canada!!
We shared a delicious carrot cake for dessert.

After lunch we walked around town for a while because the rain had stopped, and the sun was coming out. On our way back, we stopped at the Angel Inn -- again.
And craft beer has arrived there, too!


After our late night the night before, we both needed a little nap, so we chilled until about 6:45 and then walked to Stone Road Grill, a great place that only the cool people know about....
We started out with shared calamari but agreed that Canadian chefs use too much breading.  The taste was good -- just too much breading...
I had southern style pork.
Bob had a Cuban burger -- both our entrees were delicious! 
And our view!
We decided to forego dessert and just go right to the ice wine....