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A Good Walk Ruined

We shortened last week by leaving home on Thursday after work and rendezvousing with Dan and Liz Manz at the Cottage that evening. This was the beginning of our annual (but possibly not the only time this summer) gathering of the Morris-Manz-Swenson adults.

Liz had made gazpacho for dinner and along with a couple of glasses of wine had a cool, early summer dinner. The loons even started laughing at us as the night went on.

We didn’t make it a late evening. Everyone—correction everyone but Liz, did I mention that School was out—had worked this week and combined with the travels and a little vino we were all ready for an early evening.

Waking up early Friday morning I looked out to fog covering the lawn down to the lake. By the time a pot of coffee was made—French Roast…some of what coffee is all about—it had lifted enough that I could see the dock. Within a half-hour, and half of the coffee, the opposite shoreline was taking shape. This was a great time to enjoy the quiet of the morning, a good book, and the view of the lake.

It didn’t take long for the coffee aromas to reach Dan out in the van—Dan and Liz were trying a new form of ‘roughing it’ by sleeping in the conversion van instead of in a tent on the lawn. As is their custom, Dan came in and got a cup of coffee to take to Liz before she even got up.

Dan and I were soon out of the Cottage and heading for Lochmere Country Club to meet James and my brother Bill (Art) for an outing of golf. Dan and I walked the course and found that the course professional was exactly right when he warned us that it is a very tough walk. Bill played well, Dan played well, James played very well and I, as Mark Twain would put it, spent my time ruining a good walk—one of the absolute worst rounds I have played in years, and that says a lot.

We did cut the game short by two holes since Bill had an afternoon appointment and we needed to get back to the Cottage and pick up our ladies for a night out. Fortunately we got back to East Andover in time to take a quick swim in the lake and then get get ready for the evening. Gail Tuscany joined us at this time and we all squeezed into James and Stephanie’s mini-van for a trip to Conway.

Our first stop was at Cafe Noche for a bite of Mexican before the show. We figured that the combination of margaritas and filling food would set us up well for the evening’s performance.

Just prior to the show the effects of the margarita had a little effect on James and Stephanie—who had both seen the show earlier in the week. But they both were fully alert by the time the curtain went up.

Thomas, seen to the left, was a leading character in The Secret Marriage a comedy opera. Fortunately for all of us the opera was in English and the translation managed to keep the humor. In addition, some liberties were taken to bring more current phrases into use. Thomas was, as usual, in excellent voice and performed with outstanding diction. Everyone’s acting was great and we all enjoyed the performance.

By the time the show ended, we congratulated the cast and traveled back to the Cottage it was getting late…even for us. So it was off to bed and leaving a light on for Thomas to come in later—he did quietly come in a couple of hours later without bothering anyone…including our campers in the van and even his mother, and mothers always keep an ear turned to hear their children.

The next morning was clear and beautiful. I took a hint from a picture Jessica had text-messaged to me the previous day from Florida and included a bit of myself in the picture of the morning view.

It was another one of those quiet, comfortable mornings alongside the lake. Once everyone was up and about the Manz’s packed up and headed off to meet their children, significant others, and some of the parents of significant others for a few days of camping in Queechee, Vermont.

James, Thomas and I headed out to the Country Club of New Hampshire for another attempt at this game they call golf. This time everyone played well, including this writer. I played one of the best games that I have in years and had some good witnesses to verify it.

Back at the Cottage we were soon joined by Dad, Nana, and Papa for some cocktails, swimming and beach time.

The afternoon was filled with crackers, boursin cheese, guacamole, salsa and various snacks to tide us over. While we enjoyed the afternoon I placed a couple of large pieces of pork loin on the grill to slow-roast. The previous afternoon I had injected the pig with a marinade of watermelon, jalapeno and midori liqueur to give the meat a distinctive flavor—pigs cooked with watermelon, how much more southern cuisine can you get! In addition, I had sliced up potatoes and onions that I slathered with olive oil and some spices, wrapped in aluminum foil and placed on the grill. Cheri had sliced some summer squash and they got the same treatment and heat applied.

The meal turned out great, although the low temperature slow cooking kept the potatoes and onions from getting fully cooked to a soft stage—that just made them perfect for frying up to have with omelets that I made for everyone for breakfast. Everyone enjoyed the unique taste and we agreed that this is something we should try again…just in case the first time was a mistake.

Later in the evening we played some games, read and told some of the usual stories. It was then off to bed to get ready for another day.

As mentioned we woke up to more fresh coffee, pan fried potatoes and onions, omelets, and Cheri cooked up another pig’s worth of bacon. We did have a visitor down on the raft and soon after he flew off, so did all of us. After packing everyone else off we packed, cleaned, re-made beds and got the cottage ready for the next weekend.

Another adventure well enjoyed.

Test two with Labels

This will be a new look at master thinking and cloud labels.

I want to be forward thinking in setting facilities in the strategic
planning role. This is also strategic thinking in a new way.

It will be interesting to see if the new methodologies catch with forward thinking
facilities managers.

Phoenix Trip

Our week in Phoenix is over and we have made our way back to New England and now is the time to fill you in on the trip. Cheri and I were up early on March 6th to catch a 7 a.m. flight out of Providence to Phoenix (by way of Cleveland). We arrived in the early afternoon, commandeered a rental car, and headed out to Jess’ place in Anthem, AZ.
Jess and Maggie met us at the door and we settled in for the first of several relaxing afternoons. Of course we were still on East Coast time (I mentioned this in the previous London close out note) so we quickly tucked into a couple of sandwiches and beverages. We sat around and visited most of the afternoon. Jess spent some time preparing a nice lasagna dinner for us and prior to dinner Cheri and I took Maggie for a walk (while Jess went to PT).
The next morning we got up fairly early (okay I got up early and had my regular fill of coffee, but Cheri wasn’t too far behind). Knowing the we would be subject to various meals and beverages over the week, we decided to head out for a short run / jog (our first in quite a long time). After we got back we sat outside near the pool and visited and did a little computer work.





Jess soon joined us and we planned the day ahead.

Our First stop was for lunch at Chino Bandido, Mexican-Asian Fusion. Jess first heard of this place on Food TV’s “Diners, Dives and Drive-in’s” and had been there at least once before. As unusual as it sounds, we had a great meal. I had two different types of
quesadillas, one with jerk chicken and the other with spicy Mexican beef(manchuro?). I had jerk chicken fried rice (the Asian part of this meal) along side and would it have been complete without some refried beans on the side as well. The meal included free snicker-doodles or volcano cookies (similar to a lava cake only in a cookie form). We ended up taking back a half dozen of each for snacking on the rest of the week—remember the earlier comment about needing to run while we are in Phoenix.

Then it was off to Squaw Peak in the Phoenix Mountains. This is a popular spot for a hike up one of the peaks surrounding Phoenix and it being a Saturday the trail was a little crowded. On our other trips out here we have commented that it would be fun to go up some of these peaks and they didn’t look that hard. We found out that the view from a distance is quite different from the experience of this type of hiking. The lower portion are steps made out of the surrounding stones and switch back-and-forth up the edge of the mountain face.




After a short distance you start to go from steps to a more rugged path and the footing becomes a little tougher on the stone cut trail. The trail width you see in this picture is about three feet wide and the stone is somewhat chiseled into a pathway.





Here a Cheri and Jess at one of the outlooks on the way up and you can see Phoenix and the Southern Mountains in the background.
We did make it to the top and managed to get pictures of each of us up there.


It was a great to see Phoenix from this point of view and it certainly gave us a different perspective on what it takes to climb these little “hills” around Phoenix.
After getting back down off the Peak it was time to head back to Jess’ place in Anthem and get ready for supper. Andrew, who had been a part of the original three musketeers heading out to Phoenix, joined us for dinner and it was fun to share the stories of their time in the Southwest.

Now I can try typing in this area
but I can not use
the return
key!



However

every







little

change makes a difference

Kicking it into Gear

I know that nothing is finalized and I don't remember if the Board has approved, but I want to start some discussion or thought-sharing (in other words....proceed until apprehended).

As a kick-off point here is a brief article that I forwarded to Dale and Doug regarding our workforce and our customers. It is from the AHA Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD): NextGen Employees

Likewise, here is a link from the AHA with good background: The Road to Economic Recovery

I have also included a link to the McKinsey Quarterly Newsletter in a box to the right. They seem to have some good insight and may lead to some more discussions on our part.

Finally, I am providing you each with Author rights to this blog so you can add information as you see fit. Let me know if you have any questions.