Where to start today? We brought several items to Tim from home today, one of them being the Eagle's profile of West Stockbridge. I hung it on the wall and Tim read it from beginning to end. He thought it interesting that the location of our humble burg was described as "nestled between Alford and Richmond," as if that would clarify it for anyone from more than 30 minutes away who might be trying to find us! Do you think that helps the folks in Hinsdale or Peru or Sandisfield figure out where West Stockbridge is?!? I've always considered Alford and Richmond to be suburbs of good ol' Queensborough, and we had a little chuckle over this not very important conversation.
Which brings me to Richmond, I suppose. I've been cheering on my town throughout this blog, and I need to remember that the community who has been supporting Tim and our family are from all over the place and some of the supporters who have been mentioned earlier are, in fact, from Richmond. Richmond people are great people, and Richmond has been tied to the hip with West Stockbridge for years with Little League, Community Health Association, St. Patrick's, MMRHS and more. Besides, West Stockbridge is Richmond's downtown - it's where they go for hardware, video, auto repair, packaged goods, a quart of milk and loaf of bread, fine dining, pub fare, pizza, happy pancake and quality used books. Not to mention coffee on the way to work! They have a whole lot more going on for them than donuts, believe me - two fine orchards and a winery, a beautiful pond, a great Ambulance Corp. (trust us on that), a lot of beautiful by-ways and, of course, the home of our Governor. Tim's supporters from this fine town include (but are not limited to) Chief Cheerleader Dr. Conor O'Malley, his folks Steve and Mary, the Yarmosky Family, Jordan Nejaime and her family, the Ringlers, the Serkins, the Massieros, and of course the Boxers and Baldwins. Most important, though is our Good Samaritan Andrea, without whom, who knows? Now, this doesn't get Mary off the hook. I will be happy to deliver your dozen donuts any Saturday, but that doesn't mean all 12 will arrive - I leave by 2:00!
Back to today. Other goodies we delivered included a French Postcard from Aunt Carolann in Provence. Ooh - par Avion! Remember when it was so exciting to get something "Air Mail?" Tim enjoyed hearing from her and challenged himself to read the caption en Francaise. A greeting card was wedged into our door last week, and turned out to be from the staff at Chesterfield Scout Reservation, where Tim spent many enjoyable summer weeks, and worked as a CIT. I'm guessing Matt D was behind that. Thanks for the unexpected! We noticed a balloon boquet that had arrived Friday, and learned that it was from the good folks at MACONY. Finally, a package from MASS MoCA had a nice note from Katherine and two CD's - one a special release from Vampire Weekend, which we listened to twice today. Tim thought it was cool and so did I. Tim recalled attending a concert at MoCA with several pals and that it is a great place for that. Amen, brother.
It was a beautiful day in this neighborhood today. The humdiddy dropped as did the temperature, while the breeze picked up a bit. So, most of the day was spent outdoors watching the draw bridge go up and down and the Duck Tours navigate the Charles. Dara, a colleague from the Berkshire tourism industry came by, while in town visiting family, with a nice note and some healthy snacks for Tim. We also had some guests in from the fabulous town of Holliston, where many ex-TGIFridays employees are known to have settled. Jim & Patty, Cathy & Vinnie all came in with some nourishing snacks, Red Sox gear, Seinfeld vids, and great stories of our times together over the years. Patty is a PT and Cathie is a RN, so they were very interested in hearing some of the technical things that Tim has been experiencing. We enjoyed our time together.
After Tim rested a bit we fed him dinner and he enjoyed most of the rest of the Rescue Me season with Jancy (mom and dad left them alone). We also had another nice visit with Uncle John and Noir and we took a walk! Tim left the property for the first time, making his way with us down the sidewalk through the Nashua Street Park. That was cool, and in fact, Tim will be preparing this week to take a serious trip off property - we hope to go to the Museum of Science next weekend. Hopefully the trip will be uneventful, but he must be prepared to get along for several hours with no staff to assist him. That's called "independence."
I downloaded a lot of images from Tim's camera and will try to get some posted soon. Good night, and continued thanks for the emails to us and to Tim, for the posts on the blog, the cards and letters, the phone calls and the visits.
B, A & J
This huge poster/collage came along with an album of hand written notes from each person captured on film. Tim couldn't find the words beyond "awesome" to describe how he felt, but I think you can see it in his eyes.
