1956

Few things come without a price, and Larry Morse may know that better than any of us right now. A dozen years ago he reports having purchased "a round-sided dory, my boat of choice short of an 80-foot schooner, made at Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I could stand on the gunnels and not tip her over. The ocean didn't bother her at all, and she was only 18 feet. She didn't get much used, until this summer, I decided it was burn her or repair her." It would cost $3,000 he didn't happen to have so he took "a temp job working at Bean's in the returns building. There are no words for how awful it is, how much my mind and body rebel and try to hide." Not only was it full of monotony, it revealed the larceny in those who try to use L.L.Beans' promised 100 percent guarantee to turn in products they used hundreds of times for new ones rather than pay the company for a new expression of what obviously had been cherished or at least used over and over again. "Oh, somebody please send me back to the farm, where real things grow, where I can split my own firewood and bake my own bread. I stand at my work station and I dream of the Three Bears making its way out into the islands of the Muscongus or Penobscot Bay, some food and drink aboard, some hand lines for a few in-shore cod or haddock, a clam basket and fork in case I hit a little cove where the soft shells are thick. Is it worth it? At 72,1 don't know. Is a fine wooden boat worth all the fiberglass boats in the world? Who can doubt it?" Bless you, Larry.

Herb West reported his "wife's knees are pretty shot and gettingworse." So he inquired of those classmates still active on the listservwhat counsel they might give: Replace them one at a time or both at the same time? Art Zich, who had both hips done back in the 1980s, within six months climbed Bali's io,ooo-footvolcano. Em Houck replaced both of his seven years ago and now plays doubles tennis three times a week. Bill Crate has had one done. His brother, in his 80s, had both done at the same time and says it's the way to go. How about the rest of you bionic gems?

John Parke discovered a picture of Dave Kerr's granddaughter Aly Kerr on page 14 of the December issue of SquashMagazine in which she was identified as a scholar-athlete. Turns out she's also the New Jersey state high school tennis doubles champion! Good genes.

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