Wild West Pix

Bob has been hard at work pulling all our pictures together from the trip.

Take a look!

History Made

It's been 88 years since women got the right to vote.

It's been 45 years since Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech.

And tonight the Democrats nominated the first African American Presidential candidate. And an incredible woman who nearly got the nomination instead of him, led the charge to nominate him. Did you hear the most amazing speech of Hillary's career last night? Regardless of your party, watch it.

Today I'm proud to be an American. America doesn't belong to Republicans. It doesn't belong to Democrats. It belongs to all of us. We love our country because it allows us to tell the truth to power.

Did you hear Bill Clinton just now on the convention floor?

JFK famously said "Don't ask what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

But tonight Bill Clinton said the equally memorable "People have always been more impressed with the power of our example, than by the example of our power."

Here are the squandered uses of our power for the last 8 years...

Iraq. Guantanamo. Unspeakable torture. Secret prisons around the world. The squandering of our best moment - following Sept 11 - when the world was with us, but we went after Iraq - unconnected to 9/11 and built on lies about weapons of mass destruction - and Bush said "you're either with us or against us." Then came the loss of Constitutional Rights. The biggest deficit in our history. The right for the government to legally imprison us without any cause (did you know that is now the law of the land?). How about turning our back on the global fight against global warming? And the free card for Haliburton and Black Hawk. Record revenues - 4 TRILLION in the last 5 years alone - for oil companies with no guarantees for changing our energy strategy. Education initiatives that were championed by the Republicans - BUT WENT UNFUNDED by Republicans. Unprecedented home foreclosures. Unprecedented risk for retired people. Unprecedented movement of American families to poverty. The ignoring of our health care crisis while lining the pockets of health care and insurance industries. Did I go on long enough?

Now is the time. While I have respect for McCain's service to our country, all I can say is I know what we will get if we elect him. More of the last 8 years.

ENOUGH.

Onward to the future our children deserve.

Westward Ho!

From the porch of our cabin in Jackson, Wyoming there is a nice breeze. The sky is clear and deeply blue - a great contrast to the golden hills and the green of the trees.

We've been on the road for a week and a half exploring the great plains and the wild West.

It's been epic.

We've driven roads as flat as a pool table with nothing in sight but swaying grasses and a cow or two, climbed mountains over 10,000 feet, hiked the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, had an ice cold pint of Moose Drool Brown Ale on the porch of the Old Faithful Inn while Old Faithful was blowing off, been caught in a herd of buffalo, gone to a rodeo, seen not one, but two grizzly bears (so far), gone whitewater rafting on the Shoshone River, seen Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse memorials, seen a lot of real cowboys, stood at the Little Big Horn and contemplated Custer's Last Stand, and much more. And we're not done yet. There are still the Grand Tetons to explore and Jackson Hole and then the drive back through Colorado to Denver.

Today we're taking a day off, kicking back by the pool and hopefully uploading some pictures. We've taken 750 of them so far.

Check them out here.

50th Anniversary

Bob and Sue Welch celebrated 50 years of marriage this month.

Just look at what these young kids....

started...

6 children. 13 grandchildren. And all 6 children are happily married to their first spouse. Hey, they had a good model.

A few days after I met Bob way back in 1981 (!!), he invited me to come to a little picnic with his family. Now keep in mind, I really didn't know him, We'd only just met.

So nothing prepared me for this "little" picnic. There I was surrounded by his parents, his five brothers and sisters and probably a few more people too - was Nana there? Schreiner? I can't remember - but it was pretty overwhelming. What was I getting myself into with this guy?

Well, it turns out I was getting myself into one of the great blessings of my life. Little did I know that day that I'd become a Welch myself and even have little Welches, all under the guidance and abiding love of Bob and Sue.

So roll the the clock forward...through marriages, births, uncountable laughs, our share of sorrows, graduations, trips to visit, and innumerable gatherings around campfires, kitchen tables or backyards.

On August 2nd, 2008 we all came together at church and blessed this incredible marriage.

And then on August 3rd we had a "little" picnic.

Ninety people came from as far away as Florida and Arizona. It was a Welch family reunion.

Brothers...
Cousins...
The John Welch extended clan...

And close friends of the family - including a few now-grown boys Bob and Sue had "adopted" as kids and welcomed with arms wide open into their crowded but happy home.

From the moment I met Bob's Mom and Dad, I have always, always felt welcome and loved. They have been there for me through thick and thin - they've been like parents to me.

I guess that explains why I kept crying off and on all that weekend. It was so great to see everyone all together. And at the same time it was totally overwhelming to think of all that Mom and Dad have meant to me, to us. All of us at that picnic felt the same way.

Everything begins with love.

It takes a whole lifetime to realize the layers and layers of truth found in those few words.

Here are a few faces from the day...


More pictures here and here.

Children's Island

There's an island right off of Marblehead Harbor that's owned by the YMCA. It's called Children's Island because all summer long the Y operates a day camp there. Each morning the Hannah Glover picks up the kids at the dock and motors them out to the island for the day.


During July Dylan was a Counselor in Training...

and Drew was a camper...

Dylan didn't like it so much but he had fun on the overnights when they cook and camp out after all the campers head back to the mainland for the night. They get to sleep under the stars. Very cool.


Drew did it all every day. He played hard, got tan and had fun.




It can be a long day. There are a lot of seagulls (think seagull poop!), it can get hot and there's LOTS of sun. When the kids come back on the boat at 4:30 they are wiped out.

Festival of the Schreiners

The 4th of July in Marblehead is all about the Festival of the Arts. It's great. Local artists and craftsmen show their work all over town. There are free concerts at Crocker Park, a street festival, a craft show, a writer's workshop, a film festival...there's even a window box competition. And on the 4th of July there are fireworks over the harbor.

This year the Schreiner clan put in their reservations early for the 4th of July. Well, actually, Jim and Jenna said they would visit. So it made sense that Little (big) Dan would come. And then if they were all coming, it made sense for Dan and Barb to come. And if they were coming, then Jon and Kara had to come. So you see, it quickly evolved to Festival of the Schreiners. What fun!

It started out kind of rough for the Schreiners. Dan, Barb, Jim, Jenna, Kara and Jon had all piled in a van with a broken air conditioner. Hours into the trip they hit a traffic jam, and the van overheated. So you can guess what's next...they had to put on the HEAT.

When they arrived limp, sweaty and exhausted, I thought Barb might pass out. We had to get the cold drinks out right away.

Later Dylan played piano and Jim rapped the whole sizzling van story...priceless.



The next day, instead of going to the fireworks in Marblehead, we went right to the big time...Boston - the best fireworks in America.

First stop? The USS Constitution for a full tour. Fascinating and worth the long wait.








Second Stop? Pizzeria Regina...a Boston institution set in the North End.

Now that's a pizza. For me, it's surpassed only by Santarpio's of East Boston.

We didn't eat much though, because we had reservations at Durgin Park another Boston institution set in Quincy Market (otherwise known as Faneuil Hall).

We met up with Dan, Julie, Mike and Matt. Food was OK and the service was rude. But at Durgin Park you feel cheated if the service isn't rude...so it was perfect.

From there, on to the fireworks.

But first - a great pic of all the cousins hanging out in the park near Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church.

Here's how it goes as the sky darkens over the Charles every 4th of July. The Boston Pops play a free live concert that includes the 1812 Overture. The fireworks are fantastic and there are millions of people all gathered at the Hatch Shell and around the Esplanade.

Even if you're not American...even if you're not typically patriotic...you're patriotic when you're in Boston on the 4th of July.



You sing along during the patriotic sing along, even if you typically don't sing along. Then there are even more fireworks all set to a soundtrack. The best one? Dropkick Murphy's, 'natch.


The next day we spent in Marblehead poking around the Festival of the Arts. Some of us tasted the worlds best lobster bisque at The Barnacle (no kidding - we've tried it worldwide and it is the best).


Some of us did some shopping. And some of us...

...took a dive into the hahbah (harbor)...a Marblehead tradition.

And some of us went down to the Marblehead Lobster Company and snagged lobsta for dinner.

My answer for cooking lobster for a crowd? Cook it outside. Er...I mean, have the Dans cook them outside.

Sure, the lobsters tried to escape.

But they didn't get far. Even Kara helped throw them in the pot.

All told, we had a blast.

Thanks for coming everyone!

Big Chill

What is it about a campfire that makes everything magic? The flickering light, the creaking crickets, the snap and pop of the burning logs, the laughter of children...and Marty's stories. Always Marty's stories. We are transfixed.

Every year we gather around a campfire somewhere in Western New York. Our circle of friends met back in the 80s in our first years at college.

And each year, it's like we've never been apart and we pick right back up again.

We know a lot of stories about each other.

Which is no surprise, considering that we star in many of them.

Our stories are the kind of epic adventures you have when you're launching yourselves into the world. You know...the important ones. The ones that are about who we really are.

These stories are set apart from all the things that came later. Because even if some of us stayed together long enough to toast our 22nd or 23rd anniversaries, what we had then was before all that...

Before our kids...who continuously bring us joy and all form of other emotions...


Before our jobs and careers...which have tested us and which we have discussed and dreamed about all along.

Before we became "grownups." Before we mourned our parents.

What we have is outside of time. A rare thing indeed.

So you can see why it's definitely worth driving 8 hours to sit in the rain and watch your best friend's daughter drive through mud puddles. And talk about how beautiful she is - mud and all.

Or see Joey's smile

Or watch two boys emerge from the woods after hunting crawdads all day...

...and cook 'em up to see if they taste like mini lobsters. (They kind of do - in a fresh water kind of way)

And each year there is some kind of art project, usually inspired by Chaz.

This year: The duck mask.

...which was nearly upstaged by the attack of the giant inflatable Christmas lawn ornament, rumored to be auto-inflated INSIDE Tom's camper. Alas, no pictures survive the incident.

I mean...we may be "grownups," but we aren't actually grown up or anything.

So, a tip of the Red Cat to you all...especially Tom who hounds us mercilessly by phone all year to make sure we keep coming together.

Love you guys. See you next year.

This one's for you...



More pics here.

Changes in Latitude

Bob's got a new Blackberry Tale - this time a recount of our trip to Key West.

It has me pining for a Mojitos at sunset.

Dude Ranch

When I was 10, Dorothy took me on a big road trip that culminated in a trip to a Dude Ranch in Arizona. It was one of the defining moments of my childhood.

Well, perhaps inspired by that trip like I was, Dorothy has always had a burning passion for taking Dylan and Drew to a Dude Ranch.

Well she finally got her chance. She took Dylan and Drew to the Pine Grove Dude Ranch in the Catskills in June for 3 nights and 4 days of rollicking riding fun.

Well OK, maybe not rollicking fun. Dylan, our resident surly teenager texted me the first day saying "it's raining, the girls are fat and the people are kind of disturbing." But hey, it couldn't have been that bad, right?

Drew had fun swimming in the pool though and they did some riding and Dylan put up with it all well enough. Hey, how bad could it have been if they even joined in on karaoke night?

They did however all agree that they would have more fun elsewhere, so the last day they split and headed over to close-by Max Yasgur's farm...site of Woodstock circa 1969 and home to the new Woodstock Museum.

Good call. Dylan and Dorothy especially were in heaven and they enjoyed the day wandering around the Hudson Valley a bit too. And Dylan snagged a great Bob Dylan DVD at the museum and a cooooool pair of shades.

I know Dorothy, Dylan and Drew created some great memories and laid down a few stories that are sure to get better, and taller (!) as the years go by.