Saturday in upstate New York dawned a bit cloudy and
misty, and very windy. But, Glenn and I hoped the weather would be better than
last year’s monsoon rains, and by noon—the start of the Reunion—it was! Sunny
and not too cold –never needing a jacket—we’ll take it!
Rose, Jill, Jen, Aunt CB and Pat
Kathy and Gordy and Ann and Dennis had done their
magic, with the help of Jess and little Olivia—the place looked great when we
drove up—appetizers already on the tables and smiles and hugs all around.
By the time the group had all arrived, I think we
had about 45 cousins—All the Lochners (Julie and Wes won the prize for coming
the furthest distance) and a good amount of Maneys and Kinsellas.
Karen, Richard and Dan Maney
The food was wonderful, as always. Julie’s Concord
grape pie hit the spot for me, but I am sure everyone had different favorites.
Elderberry pie and Tom Kinsella’s loon cookies, Mom’s baked beans, breads and
soup and salads….one or two plates of food did not hold the many choices!
Olivia and Leah
Mom wandered from group to group talking all the
while, and Dad held court wherever he sat. The younger cousins played and ran
together, digging through Kathy and Gordy’s pumpkins and gourds to see which should
be taken home. And, at one point, I think they cornered Rick Lochner in the porta
potty, as a huge racket of clanging and hitting on the john could be heard. We
all perked up our ears and ran to help whoever was held hostage until Annie
said ‘Oh, it’s just Rick. Well, that’s okay then.’ We returned to our
conversations. I saw Rick later, so he did manage to crawl out somehow.
Patrick and Joe ---Look at those grins--Is Rick STILL in that porta potty?
The day ended too soon, and we were packing up our
gourds and Cub Scout popcorn (thank you Cam and Joe!) for the journey home. It
would not be a short drive, but we had so many memories and stories and laughs
to go over again as we headed east to Massachusetts. Wonderful time, and so
good to see everyone.
Ted, Karen and Dan
As a Walbridge cousin once said “We may yet spend
many happy days where we can see each other and where our little ones can visit
back and forth, as we used to go cousining.”
Yes, it WAS a good ‘cousining’ reunion. Thanks again
to Uncle Harold’s girls!
Kathy, Julie
Glenn, Mike
P.S. These are only some of the pictures. I will put
up more!
2 comments:
Oh, how I wish I could have been there with you all! I got to visit in August and, while in Rochester, read some of the letters from our ancestors who are the ones Pat references as going "a-cousining." Their letters show such deep cousin affection from more than 150 years ago, and the great efforts they made to stay connected reinforce for me how sweet it is that we all go a-cousining at least once a year and, most of us, many times in between as well. Such richness. Love you all! (P.S. I'll put up some stories about those letters soon.)
It was a wonderful day! ONly Missing person was Harold! He was, as always, tied to his Oxygen machine and all the rest! We had visited him earlier in the AM and he is in good spirits.
The older I get, the more all the offspring of my siblings are important! They mean a lot to me and I care what happens in their lives. This gives me a chance to "catch up'!
I am so grateful to Kathy and Annie for all they do and Gordy and Denny also. It all reminds me each time of many before when my sistera and brothers were there! Good memories!!
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