The Curtis Clan - Summer 2023
Summer Solstice to Fall Equinox
Pittsburgh in Summer
The last weekend in June, Randy had a multi-day conference for work in Pittsburgh, so Bethany joined him, and we headed out early the weekend before to hang out with Katie and Don. We visited Don's sister Barb and family (Steve, Bird and AJ) at their new home and joined Katie and Don for their weekly Sunday breakfast meeting with Rocco along with his son Timmy.
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Barbie, Katie & Don relaxing after a shed building morning
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On the Monday, before the conference, we headed westward out of town making a mini-pilgrimage drive on the Lincoln Highway (US Highway 30) to the "Point of Beginning". For the non-surveying nerds this is where in 1785 the US began measuring the Northwest Territories land for ownership (a.k.a. where PA, OH, & WV meet). Its proximity to Beaver, PA, where Bethany spent the first seven years of her life, made the trip an easier sell.
The "Point of Beginning" monument location isn't really the actual point of beginning, which is over a thousand feet due south on private property with no access to the public (actually about 150 feet in the river). It's oddly fitting that there's no access because the point of measuring the land is for ownership and to not allow anyone on your land if you're so inclined. A definite turning point that the land was no longer a communal thing that belongs to everyone or no one at the same time. Land ownership was not an idea the people who were there before could comprehend (Who owns Mars and by what authority?).
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At Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey
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We continued our trip up the Ohio River passing the relics of our industrial past like the first full scale nuclear generating plant in the US: Shippingport Atomic Power Station. We had lunch at the Brighten Hot Dog Shoppe from B's youth and stopped by the River Road near Fort McIntosh near the Beaver Public Library where 6-7 year-old Bethany would walk to all by herself from home (such a pleasant neighborhood).
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Beaver River Road park overlooking the Ohio River
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That evening we checked into the William Penn Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, getting a room with 1 1/2 baths (fancy). Later in the week Randy had dinner with his college buddy Matt and his girlfriend Jen. Bethany caught up with the group in the garage just as they were leaving.
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RnB with Matt and Jen
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On Thursday night as the conference ended, our hotel, as well as the surrounding ones became inundated with Furries for their annual convention over the 4th of July. They weren't always in full costume, but we pretty much were always sharing an elevator with someone sporting a large bushy tail for the last part of our stay. Interesting.
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Furry in the William Penn lobby (Bethany pretending to ignore them)
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We were in Western PA, so of course we made a pilgramage to W&J
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Driving home in peak summer daylight with no kids, Randy persuaded Bethany to finally stop for a couple hours to visit the National Museum of the Air Force at Wright- Patterson AFB (he'd been suggesting such a stop when convenient for over two decades). We only did the WWII room which was the main goal. The exhibits started off disappointingly with a couple of really sub-standard display maps of Oahu and the Pacific, but you expect such gleeful snark from a WWII historian with mapping skills. It was fun for a few hours seeing the some of the objects one thinks about daily.
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B-29 Boxcar, mock-ups for Little Boy and Fat Man (2)
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Elisabeth & Steve's Wedding - 2 July
On Saturday night back at home, we attended the rehearsal dinner for Elisabeth King and Steve's wedding. Bethany got an invite without any of the responsibilities of being in the wedding party. She wore a smart hat from Aunt Katie the night instead of wearing signature ball caps of the last 6 months. The Mexican meal was catered at the Forest Park Hampton Inn Break out room. We had a nice evening visiting with the greater King family.
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Rehearsel Dinner - Trio
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The next day was Elisabeth and Steve's Wedding at the Boat House in Forest Park and as expected for an outdoor wedding in early July in STL, it was hot. Bethany had purchased a wig for the occasion but wasn't at all pleased with it. In a bold move, she decided not to wear a wig or hat of any sort. She looked awesome; powerful and strong. Fuck Cancer! The wedding was a beautiful celebration, complete with a rainbow following a short rain (this is why you get a tent for weddings). We felt fortunate to have been a part of their special day with their wonderful families and friends.
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Maria, Elisabeth and Bethany
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Rand and Bethany
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4 of July
On the 4th of July, we were in the WG Parade driving John Liss's 1969 M715 Kaiser Jeep 1 1/4 Ton truck while he drove his 1953 Dodge Powerwagon as part of the Battle of the Bulge / Mid-America Military Vehicle Preservation Association (MAMVPA) groups (elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, wrist).
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Randy lining up with the 1969 M715 Kaiser Jeep 1 1/4 Ton truck
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Inside the M715 Kaiser Jeep
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Afterwards was the annual pool party at Lucy and Dave's where we hung out with the Lisses and Kennedys. Traditions of yummy food and company.
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Bethany and Jane enjoy the Burns pool
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That Saturday, the Curti all went to the Hi-Pointe Theater to see 13 Going on Thirty
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Rare sighting of all 4 Curti together @ the Hi- Pointe!
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Not as popular as we expected
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In early July Randy set off for a couple weeks of research in DC. Bethany and Jane rescued him after dropping him off by getting him his CAC ID he forgot in an hour (these are required to operate DOD computers). His travel karma remained rocky with flight delays and a jammed luggage carousel at Washington National followed by the rental car firms and the Mero trains all being closed once he had his bags. His phone had enough juice to hail and pay for a Lyft driver so in hindsight, despite a number of misfortunes, it all worked out in the end.
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2nd Goodbye at the airport
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Curti Women at Cheesecake Factory
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It was a two-week trip for Randy, and over the weekend Randy made a day trip to Virginia, including a stop at the Manassas Battlefield, where he got to visit the spot where his Great Grandfather Alan Stonewall Curtis's name's sake got his nickname: Stonewall Jackson (Jackson didn't believe in ducking as it was up to God to know when to call him home; a belief not generally embraced by any rational person).
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I thought it was called Bull Run?
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Being in the embrace of the "Lost Cause" non-sense and seeing the Don't Tread Me license plate got Randy thinking that where he came from, they beat snakes with logs half your height and an a third of you weight and then bite off the heads to be sure (#BestEver#RollaStPats).`
| VA "special" license plate |
Hula skirt of headless snakes in 1986 |
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Reached Kent and Greg's beautiful home in Barboursville, visiting the nearby grounds of James Madison's Montpelier estate (donated by Randolph's Scott first wife to the local historical society) and a local micro-brewery.`
| At Montpelier with Kent |
At Patch Brewing toasting the Constitution obviously |
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Jane at the Corps of Engineers
Besides going in together on the Metro most days, Randy found it gratifying to have a daughter work in the Geotechnical Branch of the Corps where he spent the first part of his career (1988-1994). This was particularly true for the days she conducted inspections of the dam features or read the dam instrumentation like he did when he was in Dam Safety. Unfortunately, the expected project work didn't come through and much of her time was spent scanning in the archives of the recently retired Branch Chief. She got a particular charge out of finding one of her dad's trip report to Lake Wappapello but generally there wasn't much glamour to scanning.
| Lake Shelbyville dam spillway (inspecting the culverts) |
At Locks 27 on the Mississippi River (installing name plates for the Joint Movement Indicators) |
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Randy reaches a milestone
Randy eschewing a party, celebrated his 60th Birthday with just the family. After breakfast at Denny's, we went on the Anheuser-Busch Brewery tour followed by Bartolino's South for dinner and back home for cake from Bello's Bakery (so good).
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At the Clydesdale barm on the A-B Brewery tour
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The biggest treat of the day were the limericks sent in from dozens of friends and family.
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Book of limericks
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Dressed up to see the Barbie movie
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Dessert at Fountain on Locust
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Cate and Randy seeing Openheimer
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The first two thirds of August 2023 were an irregular mix of celebrating birthdays and goodbye send offs as the girls returned back to their respective schools. Irregular because after the first few days all 4 Curti weren't all in the same place at the same time. On Thursday, August 03, Jane instigated a Happy Birthday visit to the Cheesecake Factory for Bethany 13 days early.
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Mod Pizza - as our summer with the girls drew to an end.
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Before last dinner together Summer 2023
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The next day she left for a week of being a Camp Counselor at Camp Echo in Michigan as her "vacation" for the summer. She loves it there and it allowed her to spend her 21st Birthday with friends there. We celebrated her natal day by having Greek with Anthoy and Lesha Holmes in her absence.
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Opa! with the Holmes (No open flames for the Flaming Cheese though)
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Counselor at Camp Echo (floating, sunburned and happy)
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With the Liss Women at Yucanduit craft shop
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Cate goes back to WSU
During Cate's last evening shift at Serendipity for the season before heading back to school (her 3rd summer), R&B stopped in for a cone from their favorite scooper.
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Serendipity Super Scooper Cate
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That following Friday, Cate and Randy took on the puzzle of packing the car to take her and her stuff back to Wichita for her Sophomore year and it immediately became clear that it was a 2 person trip and not three when the twin mattress had to lie flat and not vertical meaning ALL the rear seats had to be folder down and the trailer hitch shelf wouldn't make any difference. Once Cate confirmed she had people on the other end to help her unload the car, it was decided she and Bethany would go, and Dad would stay behind (which allowed him to attend a college friend's brother's memorial service on Saturday).
| Traverse Jenga puzzle solved (but no room for 3 people) |
Cate and Bethany ready to leave for Witchita |
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The apartment move in went super well with her roommate Haley's family swooping in to unload the Traverse in 10 minutes and then insisted on helping them assemble the kit furniture.
| Cate's kitchen at move-in |
Outside her new apartment complex |
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Jane goes back to WPI
Bethany came home and on Monday, we loaded the Traverse back up with Jane's stuff for her Junior year at WPI. The night before heading out, we went to Chevy's for dinner with our new 21-year-old to share margaritas. A good time but it will be hard to go back as the service has become poor in the last several years and all the recipes have changed. The chips and salsa are no longer the treat they had been and the pineapple flavor in the margaritas didn't go over well either. We drove to Pittsburgh the next day, stopping outside Dayton for Skyline and Menards, as has become a habit. In Sewickley, we had dinner at the Eat and Park with Katie and Don along with an evening of conversation.
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Cheese as high as weiner dog eye? Skyline lunch
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Wednesday was Bethany's 53rd Birthday but it was pretty much a day all about Jane as we moved her in to her apartment up a couple flights of stairs above Tech Pizza (mediocre pizza that is speculated to be more a $ laundering front than quality restaurant). After overcoming a few hiccups (e.g., no key left for her, extra /abandoned furniture in her room, no AC, a shallow closet that wouldn't accommodate hangers), we got her stuff moved up without anyone having a heart attack.
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Jane's Apartment bedroom
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Things improved by visiting Voluturno Pizza Napoletana with excellent wood fired pizzas that were cooked in 90 seconds, but the parents were very tired, and the 20-minute drive to the Marlborough Courtyard at 10 pm lay ahead. On a positive note, we were rewarded with a two-room suite at the hotel that was the nicest room we've had in years. We slept in the next morning and enjoyed eating leftovers: Skyline, pizza, and pasta on the huge private balcony of our suite.
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Voluturno Pizza Napoletana - Yummo!
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Mystic Connecticut Seaboard
The next couple of days we enjoyed a vacation on the Connecticut seaboard around Mystic, Groton and New London. While admiring the view of the New London Ledge Lighthouse at the western mouth of the Thames River, we noticed the ferry bound for the western tip of Long Island and the lightbulb went off as we recalled making that same trip 22 years earlier while on our honeymoon. Enough time had passed that that we could laugh at the memory of the trip, the low point of our two-week honeymoon when we hadn't agreed where and when to eat and were HANGRY at one another. There are very few actual memories and they had been blocked out to the point it didn't even occur to Randy when visiting New London with Jane in March 2021 and heading to Fisher's Island. We finished the last hours of daylight at the Eolia Mansion at the Harkness State Park, strolling the Mansion grounds and the flowers of the cutting gardens.
| Shrubbery at Harkness State Park |
Eolia Mansion cutting garden (Bethany is figure to right) |
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Leaving in darkness, in search of dinner, we spent an hour visiting lovely looking restaurants along the Thames River front and finding they had just closed for the night. After a half a dozen failures, we were on the periphery of hanger with McDonalds and Applebee's seeming to be the only choices in the area (remember, this was supposed to be a premium dinner night for Bethany to make up for the previous day's sub-par Birthday fete). We took a chance on a local sports bar called The SPOT that still had lights on and was serving food (and we had belittled earlier in the day when we passed by). A pleasant surprise with a shared lava cake a la mode topping off a terrific day of happy unexpected treasures.
The next day began with foreboding as it poured outside, as we enjoyed omelets at the Marriott's complimentary breakfast buffet. Happily, the rain let up and we explored the recreated seaport whaling village of the Mystic Seaport Museum. The museum was very well done but the horrors of whaling were readily apparent and a more apt description might be the Whale Holocaust Museum.
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Steering a whaler with a heavy heart
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As film nerds who love pizza, was there a doubt where we would get lunch?
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No, you're my Slice of Heaven
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Exploring the area further, we happened on the gorgeous campus of the University of Connecticut - Avery Point and ended the day at Kyoto Sushi which offered HUGE yummy avocado rolls and poke bowls at modest prices but meager ambiance. The next day, we began our trek back home, happily stopping in Pittsburgh, the halfway point with Katie and Don taking us to Rochester Inn for dinner.
Not quite done with Cancer
At the end of August (Wednesday, the 30th), Bethany had Trans Anal Minimally Invasive Surgery (TAMIS) to remove any potential cancer that evaded the original cancerous polyp snip during her initial colonoscopy in December 2022. Her rectal cancer took somewhat of a back seat until after the more critical breast cancer treatments (chemo & radiation) were completed. While, there was no evidence of any lingering cancer from the initial post colonoscopy biopsy of the area or the follow-up one in June, given Bethany's youth, the surgeon recommended the TAMIS to be certain nothing was missed and the rest of her oncology team agreed. The GREAT NEWS was they found no malignancy in the removed section. The downside was she was a homebody for 6 weeks in September and early October with the annoying post-operative recovery and diet regime. We're definitely thankful for great and proactive medical team, good insurance, and beyond grateful for family and friends providing prayers and good vibes.
Meanwhile at school
In Wichita, Cate on top of her required classes in Biological Anthropology and Organic Chemistry 1, Microbiology and associated labs took a 3-credit hour film appreciation that was compressed into the first quarter. The film class was hardly working as she set the curve. Too bad there isn't a good way to earn a living with film criticism with everyone willing to do it for free.
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At the WSU Pool
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She joined the Student Activities Counsel (SAC) working on the committee to bring activities and special acts to campus, being appointed the chairperson after a formal interview process with the University (it included a work study scholarship which is nice but not her reason for doing it).
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SAC Bingo fun with Ashlyn and Lena
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Jane began her junior year with only a few days at WPI before she left for Switzerland to a fall quarter studying abroad adventure. We got regular updates from her quarter abroad in Zurich. Her project involved ways to improve study abroad programs between the two countries with her 4-person team working out of the Rapperswil-Jona campus of the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences. She made the most of her free or leisure time on the weekends with trips to the Lindt House of Chocolate, the Raiffeiesen Skywalk and so many other places. Leaving it to be summarized in the Fall family update.
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Alpha XI Delta WPI Move-in crew
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After over a year of plans, a Dunkin Doughnuts opened in the area, so Randy took the dogs to visit since Jane wasn't around to take them to the new Dunks.
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On a Dunks run
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Kihei Artillery Range - Maui
On Labor Day, Randy abandoned Bethany to work in Hawaii for a few days (a trip B would have joined him on had she been able to travel…F*** Cancer). As usual, the glamour and charm of the islands weren't really part of the trip, as the work primarily involved hiking in the weathered leeward aa lava fields of west Maui of the largest ranch on the island. Although the Haleakalā Ranch web page depicts verdant pastures with pastoral cattle grazing, where we were was rough arid desert with only dry stock tanks and the bones of cattle being the obvious evidence of its agricultural use. During 27 hours of field work, we saw no living cattle but lots of deer (over a hundred in one heard we disturbed). Not a lot of question why the 4th Marine Division used 7,000+ acres "waste lands" as an artillery impact area during WWII. The goal was to confirm / refine the boundary of the impact area. Interestingly we had improved access through the Haleakala Ranch by a decade old 6+ mile long concrete private driveway paid for by the former female TV talk show host billionaire from Chicago with an estate mauka (mountainward) of the ranch (aka Oprah highway).
| Selfie from the east side of Kihei Artillery Range |
Haleakala Ranch "Pasturelands" of Maui (sparce water, sparce vegetation) |
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Gift? from Maui
Upon coming back, the Townie Sages had dinner on Sunday at Amy and Alvan's with their friends Bill and Dottie from the Villages. The conversation included a COVID shots discussion that led to a blood type side panel discussion that O Positive blood types were less likely to get it as both Randy and Gwen had up to that point avoided getting it. Ironic foreshadowing as within 24 hours he would go down, spending all Tuesday, too wiped out to read, scroll or even watch tv (really sick for first day with a gradual recovery over the next week). On Friday, Bethany tested positive too with her doctors putting her on the Paxlovid antiviral regime (he brought her back something from Hawaii after all). Her 2nd bout of COVIDs wasn't as bad initially as Randy's but it lingered longer and made for another few weeks on the sidelines.
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Another picture of Gussie and Pepper (because who wants to see us misserable with COVID
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We were able to celebrate our 22nd Wedding Anniversary on the last day of summer this year by getting Pie Guy Pizza slices followed by free waffle cones without purchased scopes at Serendipity for lunch.