DAY TRIP AND LENT

I made the drive down to Mesa yesterday to attend the annual Stanley picnic.  It's a reunion of people who grew up in Stanley, North Dakota.  You wouldn't think there would be that many people from a town nobody's ever heard of to hold a picnic but it is a pretty good sized gathering.  I'd guess somewhere between 50 and a hundred folk were there. I linked up with my old buddy from kid-hood, Jim Burbidge.  

Jim is a retired (I assume) dentist who celebrated his 75th birthday a short time back and I have mine in sight.  As I told several people yesterday, every time I write that I can't believe it.  What happened to the years?

I also met one of my classmates that I haven't seen since we both graduated from high school way back in 1958.  And a number of other people I hadn't seen in years, no, decades.  When I called my brother up in North Dakota last night to tell him about all of HIS classmates I had met up with yesterday . . I said these gatherings are a good thing because people are dropping off this mortal coil at an increasingly alarming rate so it's good to see them while they're still alive and kicking.  And he told me about yet another funeral he had attended recently for one of our contemporaries.

By the way, I should thank Jim.  He's become a big fan of Oddball and was promoting it to some of our fellows yesterday.  At my age I can use all the fans I can get.

So, down and back and today it's off to visit a new doctor for a first visit.  No problems, just getting established.  After all, it's a good time of year to take stock.