Fifty-Fifty

Mary Woolley Hall, Mount Holyoke College

 

Fifty years ago my world changed. In June I graduated from high school on September 15, 1968 I started college. On a bright Sunday morning I sat in our over-packed blue Chevrolet and my parents and I made the hour long trip to South Hadley, Massachusetts. I had my manual typewriter and more clothes than I would wear that year. I had sheets, brand new towels -- some of which I still have -- stationery and a bedspread. Though I was only an hour from home, I had entered a new world and found a new home. 

 

The college I entered that day fifty years ago was very different than it is today, or most colleges are today. I had no computer or cell phone and I was about to spend time in the college bookstore buying my text books. Meals were served in each dorm and on Wednesday and Sunday, we took part in "gracious living," where dresses and heels were strongly encouraged. 

 

With what I know now I doubt if would have gone to a women's college in a small town in Massachusetts. But that was then. I emerged four years later with friendships that have lasted through the last fifty years, a liberal arts education and a strong sense of self.  I'm grateful for the education, the people I met and the opportunities I've had. Thanks, Mount Holyoke, for a second home through the last fifty years. 

 

The second fifty in the title is my fiftieth high school reunion coming up next month. We've been planning this for over a year. I'm so looking forward to seeing the friends I spent the first part of my life with. It's a full schedule -- lunch, evening dinner on Saturday and brunch on Sunday -- but I know, too, that the weekend will fly by, with only memories and photographs to hold on to. I keep wondering how did fifty years go by so quickly?  

 

Does anyone else have reunions coming up soon?

 

Last Tuesday night I didn't need a jacket and today I wore a sweater, long sleeves and socks. It's autumn not just on the calendar, but in New York City.

 

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care.

 

    

To the Class of 1972

May, 1969

 

 

I'm just about ready to leave my apartment to begin the journey back to South Hadley, Massachusetts and my forty-fifth college reunion. Suitcase packed, bag of books for the book exchange by the door and a dozen other errands completed. We've been planning this seriously for the last year, and now, somewhat to my surprise, the time is here. Two of the women in the photograph will be in the car with me and I'm grateful for their presence today and through the years.

 

 

This is a toast to friends I knew forty-five years ago and others I've gotten to know in the last five years. Thank you for laughter and friendship. Here's to another step in our journey together. 

LuXurious Gardens

For one more day we're going to veer slightly off the theme for this month, New York City food. I hope you'll excuse the liberties with the letter "X" and stop and smell the flowers at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. Our reunion group was blessed with perfect spring weather and some of the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen. It was a glorious visit and I wanted to share it with all of Buttercupland. If you have an interest in horticulture, please explore the link.

The tulips were planted by color and I especially liked the pink ones. 

We spent a lot of our visit in the greenhouses...

This was one of my favorite sights in the greenhouses. 

 Glorious weekend! So grateful for the weather -- sunny and just warm enough -- and the sights we saw. Another highlight was the exhibit of "Downton Abbey" costumes at Winterthur. I will be doing a post about that later this week. I'm also grateful for my classmates that put every detail together and did a wonderful job. But I'm eXpecially grateful for the opportunity for the friendship of the weekend. There were classmates I hadn't seen since graduation -- 1972 -- and those years just slipped away. The weekend went by too quickly and it's all over except for the pictures, the memories and the friendships. Thank you doesn't begin to express my feelings.

I'm so glad I could share the beauty of Longwood Gardens. Tomorrow we're back in New York for a sweet treat. I'm back to errands, a program on exercise and real life today. It's a pretty spring day in New York and real life is a pretty nice place to be.

As always thanks for visiting and take good care. 

Just Around the Corner Sunlit Sunday

Broadway...My destination was the cute new restaurant on the corner with the bright red awning...

...and thankfully today was sunny. The giant puddles that made crossing the street an Olympic sport were much smaller. I was happy the sun was out, but I still would have waded puddles and walked through snow for my brunch date. Even without the sun being out it would have been a very sunlit Sunday. 

I was scheduled for brunch with a dear college friend. We'd lived in the same dorm for three years in college and when we both came to New York after graduate school we lived just around the corner and up the street, literally three blocks from each other. We'd fallen out of touch and now, by a benevolent turn of fate, we once again live just a few blocks away. Our conversation flowed easily, and in many ways it was as though twenty-five days had gone by and not twenty-five years. Of course there are big gaps and many stories untold. But what a gift to have the time and ability to fill in some of those gaps and even sweeter, the ability to make new memories. I can't think of a more sunlit way to spend a Sunday afternoon in February or at any time.

We both had walked by this restaurant at least a dozen times and wanted to try it, and weren't disappointed. The food was very good and the restaurant was charming.  As a Manhattan restaurant there were very tight quarters, and though I hoped for a picture this was the best I could do. 

   I'd love to try an arrangement like this.

The rest of the day was quiet. I caught up on the New York Times -- crossword puzzle still to do -- and there's a pot of carrot soup simmering on the stove. I'm looking forward to "Downton Abbey" and then the online discussion. I took one of the Facebook quizzes, "What Downton Abbey Character Are You?" twice. I must have changed one of the answers and I was Lady Edith once and Anna once. I'm not sure I'm either, but they are my two favorite characters and I worry about both of them.  

As always, thanks for stopping by. Take good care and have a sunlit Sunday night.  

My Day/Mountain Day

When I first moved to New York City in 1975 I thought I would live here for at most two years and then move somewhere quieter, cleaner and less crowded. But after two years I had a job I loved at the Museum of Natural History. I had made friends and was beginning to really enjoy New York, though I still thought it was too noisy, too dirty and too crowded. Almost forty years later I still dislike noise and crowds and try to avoid the worst of it. But sometimes, like tonight, I find myself in the middle of the din of the city.

This was my view tonight, looking uptown from Times Square at the evening rush hour, with what seemed like a million honking horns for background music. As much as I try and avoid being in the middle of thousands of people, I had theater tickets a few blocks away and was meeting a friend for dinner. Dinner was fun and the play, Shaw's "You Never Can Tell," was well worth the noise and crowding.

While I was in the midst of the most urban experience it was Mountain Day at Mount Holyoke, where I went to college. Mount Holyoke is in a small town in Western Massachusetts and one day each autumn classes are cancelled and students are encouraged to enjoy the beautiful New England countryside. This tradition began in 1838, the year after the college was founded. It's not announced ahead of time and it's always a wonderful surprise. The scenery looks like this...

 I love New York, but looking at these pictures brings back memories of the glory of New England in the fall. As soon as my boot is history I'm declaring a Buttercup Mountain Day and I'll be off to New England for some sweet leaf time.

I hope you get some leaf time this season. As always thanks for visiting and take good care of yourself.