Ron and Sally Jo Blog

August 2013 began with packing up Michelle’s apartment, storing her things, and saying good-by as she set off across country in her 1990 Honda Civic.   A few days later we set off in the opposite direction.  We stopped in East Hartford spending an afternoon at the playground with Lucy and setting up our tent.

The next day we went to Boston airport to pick up our good friends from Zwolle, Netherlands.  We first met Pieter and Gerdien exactly 40 years ago in Blantyre, Malawi, Africa.  We lived on the same compound for three years and spent much time together.  Twenty years ago they came to Goshen to see us.  Over the years we have been to their home (and boat) many times.

 We all returned to East Hartford.  We played with Lucy, went to a nearby park, and talked.  Lucy took very little time in warming up to Gerdien and Pieter.  All seven of us then travelled to J & C’s land in Vermont.  We all loved the woods, the water, and generally just “hanging out.”

 The Kamstras and us left Vermont, crossed, Lake Champlain by ferry, wandered through the Adirondacks, and spent the night with a Mennonite-Your-Way family on a farm.  Then on to Scottdale where we reconnected with Jack and Ruth who had also been in Malawi during the same time.  (We forgot to take photos!)  And then to Goshen.

 During the week in Goshen, Erv and Marian came to spend several nights.  We first learned to know them in Kenya; they were in Zambia at the time we all were in Malawi.  Maynard and Hilda even came one evening.  (Another couple from Malawi-Zambia days)  Fun times!  During the week we took a number of bike rides, including riding to Oxbow for a picnic and one time to Shipshewana.  Unfortunately, we didn’t take any photos.  We did a lot of walking, including to the dam and along the Millrace (several times), part of the Pumpkinvine Trail, and in Chain of Lakes.  And of course, there was a lot of talking and laughing.

 All in all, August was filled with much fun and many memories.

We celebrated Sally Jo’s birthday several days in a row!  First we traveled to Chicago by train, spent two nights there attending two events, returned to Goshen and attended two events on Goshen College campus.

On our first evening in Chicago we ate at a delicious Armenian restaurant, Sayat-Nova, and attended Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.  (no photos – forgot the camera!)

We spent the next day at the Museum of Contemporary Art.  There were some very interesting exhibits.  One exhibit “Color Bind” highlighed MCA’s collection in black and white.  Another exhibit “Goshka Macuga: Exhibit, A” showed two fascinating tapastries among other projects, both highlighting Macuga’s interweaving of art and politics.  A third exhibit was not completely installed but we saw a bit of it, “Destroy the Picture: Paint the Void, 1949-1962.”  This highlighted the effect history of that era had on art.  What was fascinating was that the fact that these events all took place during our pre-college days!  We remember many of them!  We were also fascinated with the spiral stairway of the museum.  Oh, and yes, we had a delicious luncheon at the museum.

That evening we attended a concert with Michelle by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, a group from South Africa at the Old Town School of Folk Music.  We always enjoy their music.

We returned home the next day and attended a concert by The English Concert at Goshen College.  The following evening was the college Winter Chorale Concert: “”An Evening of Opera.”  A fun concert with scenes from operas by Verdi, Offenbach, Gilbert and Sullivan and more.

What a fun four days–and what a variety of activities!