Today is the 7th of May, 1993. Whatever happened to March and April? The “7th of May” was a political thriller a few years back — something about a military conspiracy to take over the Presidency and the doomsday was the 7th of May. As I recall a Marine Colonel — an aide to the President — foils the attempt, but the title somehow stays with me.
Today is the 7th of May and 9 days before I celebrate my 64 years here on earth. I keep hearing in my head a Beatles’ song with the lines “…will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m sixty-four?” I can’t remember anything else about the song, but I can remember when I first heard it think¬ing 64 was old and way off. You can imagine my opinions have altered now that I’m almost there.
Now, what did happen to March and April? Well, March was digested by a trip to Florida and April seems to have gotten lost in Easter and trips to Avalon, Washington and West Chester, with a little spring, grass and yard time thrown in.
Last week on the lst Sunday in May, Mary and I ran down Broad Street -10 miles. It was a first for Mary and a first for her Dad, i.e., having a daughter join him in the Broad Street Run. Bill helped me down Broad Street last year when I suffered a sciatica problem. He passed this year since he’s train¬ing to run a one mile race under 5 minutes. It comes up in July and we may get to watch him reach his goal.
The Sunday before we ran with Mary also. We, June and I, travelled to D.C., actually Arlington, Virginia, to join Mary in a run from George Washington’s home in Mount Vernon, VA to Alexandria – a 15K run or 9.3 miles. Dad ran along with Mary over the George Washington Parkway -a rolling roadway through green Virginia country, ending along the Potomac in Alexandria. We covered the ground in one hour and thirty minutes which included a “dramatic dash” to the finish. Well, almost a “dramatic dash”. The trouble was the finish line kept moving just around another corner, so dramatic became phlegmatic when the finish moved the third time. But we did it and almost crossed the finish line holding hands -the separation of the sexes at that point prevented us from doing so. I saw an old buddy of mine who was the race Administrator, a former Cardinal Dougherty teacher, City of Philadelphia Recreation Department employee, Chris Tatreau. Chris is now a full time race director, or manager. He was also managing the Broad Street Run. I remember planning the “Super Sunday” Marathon with Chris in 1976 -the Bicentennial year. We managed to get him a sponsorship by Provident Bank – a grand $3,000 – so it became the Provident Super Sunday Marathon. The first Sunday in October. Later it lost the Super Sunday title due to a legal hassle and became the Provident-Bulletin Marathon. Today there is no Bulletin and Provident has been absorbed by some other bank and Chris travels the country and the world managing races.
Easter was spent in Avalon. We mixed plesure with work. June and I painted the hall and front bedroom on Thursday and Friday. I did manage to play 18 holes on Friday with Tony Durkin -my administrator when I was Commissioner of Records (twenty years ago) who is retired and lives in Rio Grande.
Our usual Easter Brunch at the Whitebriar is over. The numbers kept growing and living accommodations became impossible, but also, the Whitebriar is closed. Maybe not because we stopped the brunch, but at least they both seemed to end at the same time. The last few visits we had at the Whitebriar forebode the decline. They lacked the excellence from previous years in food quality and service so it probably wasn’t because we discontinued the brunch.
March was devoured by our trip to Florida. We were invited to stay at Rich and Shirley’s home with them the week of March 20-28 in St. Petersburg. We had decided to drive. Rich and Shirley were driving to Horton, VA where they would board the auto-train. We left Thursday morning around 7 a.m. with the remnants of the Blizzard of ’93 all around us.
(Here it is the 17th of May and I’m still trying to finish a few jottings.)
Florida was a suprise. We stayed at Rich and Shirley’s home in Shore Acres -a suburb of St. Petersburg. The home is on a stream-canal. Just sitting out back and watching the water was joy enough, but we did much more. Busch Gardens on Monday, a cruise out into the Bay on Tuesday, Wednesday at “Jon’s Pass” in Maderia Beach, a shopping mall in the form of a pier, with even a pirate’s restaurant for lunch-“Blackbeard” of course. Thursday we were off to Orlando. We arrived around 11:30 a.m. and checked in and then went off to “Universal Studios” from noon until 8 p.m. Friday was more Universal and Saturday Sea World. We drove home Sunday and Monday, arriving about 3:30 p.m. on March 29th.
The time was well spent. We enjoyed Rich and Shirley’s home and company. We, Rich and I, played some golf on Sunday, but after 4 holes and intermittent showers, resigned. I returned home to find June and Shirley out shopping, so I went for a run -across the next isle -called Snell Island and on into St. Petersburg along the Bay. It was warm and slightly humid, but the sights were .a welcome change from the snow and ice covered streets of Philly.
The cruise ship was the “Europa Jet”. It was a test to see how June’s sea legs might develop. The cruise was from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with lunch on board. It also had slot machines, live music and dancing on the deck. June broke the slot machine she was playing and came away a winner.
The highlight of Universal for me was the ride on “Back to the Future”. In common parlance, it was “awesome”! The effects caused by sound, sight and motion, while never leaving your seat or room, was a marvel of technology. I also enjoyed watching, in three stages, the making of an episode of “Murder She Wrote”, showing how sound effects the action and how characters can be removed and replaced by proper film editing. I also congratulated myself on being able to stand in line, a moving, weaving line, for one hour to enjoy a six minute ride, in “Back to the Future”. I highly recommend a visit if you have the opportunity.
We have had two months (today is 5/19/93) since our trip to think about it. The result is we look forward to going back, maybe next time via Baton Rouge and Sr. Mary and then along the coast to the St. Pete.-Tampa area. In the meantime, we are planning a trip to Nova Scotia in October and before that Avalon, Myrtle Beach and who knows where.
I hope to keep in touch, but make no promises. While delaying in getting this out has reminded me of the letter Dad used to issue each “week” addressed to all of the children away individually, as in “Dear Frank, Dick, Pat” etc., etc. I can still hear him dictating it to Rebecca Welsh. It got top priority. Which reminds me, another era will be starting this week, with Judy working only two days, usually Tuesday and Wednesday, as the practice winds down.