Jerome's Party

We had a very nice party for Jerome last night - seven of us went to Panda North for dinner, and it was great! Panda North has long been one of our favorite Chinese Restaurants, and it lived up to expectations: the food was fantastic, the servings were generous, the service was excellent, and they even brought out the birthday cake Ellen made, candles burning, and at the right time. The seven were Fred and Patrice, Carole, Kathie, Ellen, me and Jerome. Unfortunately, I totally forgot to take pictures until almost everyone had left. I was so wrapped up in the occasion, I forgot I was a photographer. Oh well. I posed a question which proved to be a good conversation starter: I asked everyone to tell where they were and what they were doing the day Jerome was born: February 11, 1955. Jerome himself was in Brooklyn. Patrice was in utero, I think in Connecticut, but everyone else had been born, two were toddlers (in OH and MD?), as I recall, one was ten, Ellen was 13 and in PA, and I was a first-year seminary student in Chicago, and about to be married to Shirley that coming summer. February 11th, I was about to go to Pittsburg, KS for our engagement party. So that was fun. Ellen's cake was a pumpkin cake with cream-cheese frosting. It was delicious and wonderfully moist. I think Jerome had a good time, as did we all.

This is what my platter of food looked like - including the radish made into a rose.

Panda North Restaurant

Carole and Kathie - after Fred and Patrice had taken Jerome home.************************* Today, Sunday, we went to Dummerston church and sang in the choir. We sang Let It Be, by Lennon and McCartney, and I sang a solo on verse one. I sang in my bass register, and one person said I sounded like Leonard Cohen, and another said like Johnny Cash. Not bad. company, I guess - growly old men! And now we're at Katie and Savanna's for the Super Bowl, and we just had fantastic snacks (including wings!), thanks to Ellen.

Katie and Brendon************************************** Everyone here is an Eagle's fan, but the Chiefs just went ahead by 1 point. (They ultimately won). The Chiefs are the only NFL team I have even the slightest connection with. Back in about 1974, or maybe 1975, I went to Kansas City to participate in a Life-Planning workshop led by Richard Bolles, author of What Color is Your Parachute? As a part of that workshop, we were sent into the city to see if we could make contact with local leaders, using our own personal interests as a kind of "bait." The idea is that if you are looking for a job, you go to the city where you want to live, and you try to make contact with people you've never met but who might be in a position to put you in touch with a possible employer, based on common interests. We were naturally sceptical that one could do that, so Bolles gave us an assignment that would make us believers. What were my "interests?" Well, back then, I was an active cross-country skier; in Appleton, WI, I had even led a class in it! That's because it was relatively unknown at that time, and I had not only done it, I had read one of the only books written about it back then, by a Putney, VT neighbor, John Caldwell. Armed with that knowledge, sketchy as it was, I went into Kansas City looking for a cross-country ski place! Asking around, I found a sports store where they sold cross-country skis. I went there and asked who was considered the top Cross-country skier in Kansas City, and I was told that it was the place-kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, Jan Stenerude. Stenerude was Norwegian, and he was a ski jumper before he was taken on as a kicker for the Chiefs. So it was no surprise that he was a Nordic skier. I asked where we was and was told that he was practicing with the Chiefs, and I actually was told that I could call the field and they would call him in and I could talk with him. This astonished me, and I felt that Bolles' point had been made, but that I was not an authentic enough Nordic skier myself to justify bringing him in off the field. It could be sort of embarrassing. So I thanked the folks at the store and let it go. But it was pretty clear that if I had pursued it, I probably could have met and talked with Jan Stenerude. I am sure that there are people out there who can't believe I didn't follow up on that.

Jan Stenerude, Chiefs' place-kicker in the 1970's