1950

1950

In response to my entreaty for grist for the mill, I got replies from a few of you. Joel Leavitt (one of my “faithful four”) reports: “There is nothing newsworthy to report from my and Veda’s quarter at this time.” I might add that Joel and Veda are in “snowdriftless” Florida, back from their summer home on the Cape, Massachusetts. Donor No. 2, “Rusty” (best thing Jacques Harlow did in his waning years), reports she just took possession of a baby grand piano and celebrated the event by playing on the baby grand at the Chaffee Art Gallery in Rutland, Vermont, during a fundraising silent auction. The big noise from the Best is that Bill “Carp” Carpenter had a hip replacement on January 20 and is “doing great,” according to wife Terry. He spent 14 days in the hospital and has been home doing the rest of his rehab with a walker, which has already been replaced by a cane that is soon to be retired. Carp is looking forward to our planned mini in the fall and seeing “you all, then,” he says. That’s all the news I have. I would like a report from Doug Smith on the progress he made on the mobile device he was building in his barn to roll down to their lakefront for he and Meredith to “sort of live in.” It would enable them to have meals, change clothes, and sleep on the lakefront, which is a distance from their actual abode. As for myself: Although I have moved (see address below), my phone number and email address remain the same.

—Tom “Smiley” Ruggles, Timothy Wheeler House, 110 Walden St., Concord, MA 01742; (978) 369 5879; smileytmr229@gmail.com