Our last full day in Alpine

We'll be leaving for home tomorrow. We've been away seven weeks. Not an all-time record, but quite a stretch nonetheless. We have made a big difference for Paul, I think. He feels he is essentially on schedule with the house he is building. He's produced detailed plans and lined up subcontractors. All that despite a lot of frustrations in his other work at the Sporting Club. He has expressed his gratitude many times. Max for his part has had a good summer, I think. He loves his Nana. They have had a lot of time together. Ellen has read numerous books aloud to him. Top of the list has been the Narnia stories - C. S. Lewis' classics: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and now Prince Caspian, which they have almost finished. I am typically in the bedroom working on my projects just off the living room, so I can hear them. Ellen is extraordinarily patient with Max. They have a lot of great conversations on a wide variety of subjects. They also have made numerous  walks into town - an hour round-trip, talking all the time. I know because I have sometimes accompanied them. This has made a huge difference in Max's summer. He will never forget his Nana, I think. He has also had time with other kids which Ellen has arranged, many trips  to the pool at Star Valley, and also to Afton, Jackson and Pinedale. Also to the Library.  He's had a couple of camps. An overnight camping trip with his folks on the river. Not a bad summer. True, he has also spent a lot of time playing video games. More than we would prefer ourselves. But at least it hasn't been all video games!

Yesterday I once again cleaned the car inside and out. We'll get packed up today and be ready to leave in the morning. I think there will be some time at the house site today, getting it ready for the dig on Wednesday. That's right! It's going to start this week! We'll miss that. Paul has talked about getting Max  involved in making videos of the building process and posting them on YouTube. We'll see! 

We are returning via Boulder. We have a motel reservation in Fort Collins Sunday night and are meeting Rob Monday morning. He is going to work - I guess someone is driving him. So we're meeting on campus. We'll have an hour or so together - just enough to get a good sense of how he is doing and coping with this new reality. 

Wish us "traveling mercies" as my friend Arvel M. Steece used to like to say.

Arvel M. Steece

Arvel and I served for several years together on the board of the Congregational-Christian Historical Society, and had regular meetings in Boston at the Congregational Library on Beacon Hill. He lived near Greenfield, MA and could no longer drive, so I would pick him up. When I would call him to arrange a time for me to pick him up, he always would pick up the phone and say, "Arvel M. Steece."  Arvel had a photographic memory. I have never known anyone who could recall detail in the way he could. On our trips to Boston and back, I would mainly listen. It was fascinating. When Ellen and I went to Detroit in 2016, we went to church at First Congregational Church, and there on the wall was this portrait of Arvel! He had been a former pastor. Arvel passed away Nov. 28, 2015, one day short of his 94th birthday. I miss him.