This is a photo of Jim, L and J stopping on a drive through the Cabinet Mountains of Montana to see the larch trees (Larix occidentalis, a/k/a tamarack trees) turning golden among the deep green pines and firs of the Kootenai National Forest. The photo is significant because the camera is sitting on the bumper of Jim's pickup truck. Forgetting that fact, we drove away. Back home we discovered the error and drove back to the site, but no camera. Two hours later, he got a call from the daughter of the people who found it. How did they figure out who'd lost a camera in thousands of acres of uninhabited forest? They checked the pictures, didn't recognize anyone, showed it to their daughter, who wasn't sure either, but she showed it to a longtime resident of Libby who recognized Jim and who had dated his son, Eric, in high school. The wonder of small towns! Though dented, all the camera's photos could be saved.

One Last Pic

News & Notes

• We spent a week in New York City with Dave. The itinerary included the Delacroix, Armenia and fashion exhibits at the Met, the broadway playThe Waverly Gallery, a visit to the Museum of the City of New York, a birthday dinner for Dave's friend Valerie, and a grueling ascent to the highest (natural) point in Manhattan. Traditionally, strollers shelter along the north face.

  

  Dave and L Summit Manhattan

  
  As many of our friends know, L's nickname for J is Pi. So, we were charmed by the door handles on the National Museum of Mathematics, or as they like to say, MoMath. Regardless of how you and math get along, the museum is both fun and interesting.

  

  Pi, L's Favorite Irrational Number

  
  Dave's girlfriend, Stephanie, joined us on Saturday for a tour of Chinatown. Part of the tour was organized by the Museum of Chinese in America, but that was (surprisingly) a dud. So, we took our own tour, checking out 6 - 8 Chinese markets in search of great stuff for dinner. It's tough work, so we needed a little break.

  

  Happy Hour Interrupts Marketing Through Chinatown

  
  Incidentally our tour passed a thriller-filler-spiller pot Dave's team from the New York Horticultural Society placed at a Chinatown intersection.

  

  Coleus and Sweet Potatoes Beautify Manhattan

  
  ... and the Kid's Cursive Workshop engendered discussion. One of us thought cursive was a great fine-motor exercise and valuable resource when, for example, writing thank you notes. The other of us thought it was a pointless waste of time, verging on child abuse.

  

  Discussion Will Doubtless Continue

  
  

• Our weeklong visit to Libby to see Jim and Julie included much more than leaving an unmarked camera on a forest road to see if someone would return it. We also watched the Met's simulcast of Verdi's Aida in Kalispell, cruised the back country checking out potential Christmas trees and enjoying two picnics in blazing sunshine with panoramic mountain views, harvested the last few hundred tomatoes from Jim's garden to be distributed to his friends and neighbors, and socialized with his friends, Betsy, Doug, Dolly, Alvin, Pat, Don, Alvira and Tom, who have now become our friends, too. As always, it was a super visit.

• Immediately after returning from Libby, we went to Vancouver for a week, where we rendezvoused with L's brother Alden and wife Laura to celebrate his birthday at Whistler. We took the Sea to Sky gondola ride at Squamish BC, which seemed like an apt choice when helping a man enter the next decade of his life.

  

  Alden and Laura In BC's Coastal Mountains

  The spectacular weather encouraged us to take a few hikes.

  

  First Pics, Then Swing, Then Hike

  Exploring Canada's huge mountains is huge fun. We took the Joffre Lakes hike north of Whistler to the lower lake. A and L then went on to the upper Joffre Lake, approximately at the bottom of the tree-horizon "V". Meanwhile J and L returned for a road trip to the village of Lillooet through a spectacular canyon, passing lakes and small streams. Awesome!

  

  Lower Joffre Lake (L) Duffy Lake (R)

  At Whistler we stayed at the Four Seasons Resort, where we received very personalize service.
  
  On the big day we enjoyed a lovely (and delicious!) dinner at Vancouver's Blue Water Restaurant, where the staff saved the birthday boy from having to extinguish the requisite number of candles.

  

  Still Smiling ...