HARRINGTON JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL REUNION

A group of former students of Harrington Junior High School recently arranged a reunion of mainly folks from the Jr. High years of 1959-62...............(Click on the image to enlarge this photo. It probably would be a good idea for all the group pictures. Then just hit the back arrow to return to this blog.)

Although neither of us attended Harrington (however I DID teach there years later when the ceiling fell ), we were included due to the generosity of.......................

Our hostess--Virginia! She invited some of her colleagues from teaching who ended up at Santa Fe High with a lot of these folks.........................

Virginia even invited the non-Gremlins to be in some group shots...........................(Click to enlarge photo)

Mr. Pacheco was the School Secretary at Harrington..................

They begrudgingly even allowed Dwight into one group shot despite the fact that he "ruined" most of the other Kodak moments by shouting out "Harvey Rules!" just before shutter time. Harvey Junior High, Dwight's alma mater, was Harrington's bitterest rival........................ (Click to enlarge photo.)

These girls all ended up Demon cheerleaders, but Nick played for the Horsemen. He is, however, still tall............................

The ever favorite Miss Linda.....................

I'm sitting here pretending that I was not the one who brought Dwight to the party. Everyone else is relaxing after a wonderful dinner in our street-side cafe and are getting ready to dance to the oldies on Virginia's jukebox..................... (Click to enlarge photo.)

The ethereal Miss Margie.................

And a good time was had by all!! (Click to enlarge photo.)

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN 60-SOMETHINGS TRY TO RE-LIVE THE 1960s..........

On Saturday night we proved to the world that we are in no way a 'cool couple" by failing to successfully juggle three parties in one evening. (more on that later.) But, this post is depicting the final event--the 60s Party that I had been so looking forward to......................In this photo, I have made my way back to Virginia's elegant Harrington Reunion party to show her my dress before we left to the next party. We are standing in front of Virginia's vintage jukebox that her husband had stocked with songs from the era when those in attendance had been at Harrington. Of course, we had to leave THIS party just as everyone was getting started dancing to the oldies..........

After getting lost finding the 60's party, we arrived pie-eyed just as most folks were leaving the 60s party.......................................(Far Out and Groovy HAS BECOME Dazed and Confused)

But our gracious flower-child hostess Tita made us feel very welcome--she even offered us some of the "special brownies"........................

These girls are just as beautiful as they were in the 1960s......................

This tie-dyed, bell-bottomed gent also had a long flowing hippie wig and he and his wife also had PEACE placard signs. I think they brought the "special brownies"......................

Johnny enjoyed trying on Dwight's old letterman jacket until I told him that Dwight's special claim to fame about his jacket was that it had never been cleaned........................

Melvin and his girlfriend enjoying the evening................

I enjoy catching up with the parents of one of my favorite former students.............................

"Don't fight girls! There's enough of me to go around......................"

My treasured 60s dress that is truly from the 1960s. I wore this dress in high school and my girls have worn it to 60s parties in San Francisco, New York, Japan and Scotland! I just got it back and mended some wear from some pretty hardy partying. It's like seeing an old friend again.........................

AND A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!................................

THE SEASON BEGINS...............

An excited group is gathering under the portal of First National Bank on the plaza....................

Alice is here, and she's pretty excited too...................

As is the whole group of good looking Santa Fe girls........................

Even the Mayor is on hand.......................

As is Jerry--the President of Bienvenidos.......................

Cyrus, the head of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce begins the festivities--with my former student, Lacey holding the ceremonial scissors--for the opening of the Bienvenidos Tourist Information Booth for the 2010 Summer Season. (May 2010)

There is a bevy of enthusiastic speakers extolling the virtues of the booth and the Bienvenidos volunteers....................

And then the ceremonial cutting of the ribbon.....................

And we're ready for the season!! It looks like our first customer might be a dog...................

Traditionally, Alice and Dorothy take the first shift of the year. But the ladies who man the booth are ready for anything...................

As a later shift demonstrates..............................(Angie and myself)

Multi-Lingual Marsha is a perfect example of the attitude of the club to be of service to visitors to our town........................................Let the season begin..............

Click on link attached to see SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN front page coverage of the workings of our booth. (7/10/2010) http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Deciphering-the-City-Different

JUST ANOTHER SATURDAY IN THE HOOD...........

It's Saturday morning again--time for Garage sailing........................

After a busy morning of finding bargains, I am wondering where to go for lunch.............

How about someplace where you can get a BEAUTIFUL salad?--like Vinaigrette...................

And where Artie can get his non-alcoholic beer.....................

And we can enjoy the company of some one who is so obviously happy to be in our company..............

And maybe see a MOVIE STAR....................

And a darling friend................

The angle of this photo makes it appear that Louie is crushing a tiny human in his hand--like a might Gulliver! Maybe he is feeling powerful as his birthday is approaching next week..............

(Happy Birthday Goo! 7/19/10).................

Homme pensive...................

And now we're off to an afternoon barbecue.......................See ya..............

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF NOAH.................
(Photos courtesy of Pattie, Kelly and Lynn)

Remember Noah?--the little Siamang ape being raised by our friend Lynn until he can be re-introduced to his birth parents at the Rio Grande Zoo. Well, as you can see, Noah is blissfully fitting right in with Lynn's other family members.......................
When you are this adorable.........................
Everybody loves you!!..............................
Even a huge female rhino named Bertha!! Join me in a chorus: "Ahhhh....Why can't we all just get along"..........................like Noah!

NEW YORK TRIP--DAY 15
FINAL POST

Now I am 61 years old, and I am finally posting the FINAL post from the trip we took for my 60th birthday--the I LIKE NEW YORK IN JUNE, HOW ABOUT YOU" tour..............

With just a couple of hours left in the city, I maneuver my way down Fifth Avenue enroute to lunch and back to our hotel for our bags...............I look like a true urbanite, eh?..................

Dwight digs the art.....................

We enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Joe's Shanghai Restaurant in Chinatown with the girls, and today we are going to try Joe's uptown restaurant....................

Unlike it's cozy, busy and noisy Chinatown sister, this restaurant is sleek and elegant with crystal chandeliers.......................

And a second story diningroom overlooking the boulevard................................

But fortunately, with the same delicious dumplings...................

Dwight concentrates--hoping to avoid "an unfortunate nibble"...................................

I am just grateful to get to enjoy another meal of this excellent food.........................

Back on foot, we enjoy some fun window treatments. This dress is to die for--the red wig, maybe not so much...................

Very retro--Swinging 60's................................

What the best dressed New York robots are wearing this season................................

I would love to wear this to the Grand Ball for Santa Fe's 400th Anniversary--I'm talking about the bird head.............................

Enroute to the hotel, we ran into the Immigrant Parade--these are enthusiastic Albanians.............

Some in national dress.......................

Followed by Argentinians demonstrating some fancy footwork...............................

But nobody outshone the Bolivians................................

The most exciting of all!..................................

Parading down the avenue in great numbers--dancing....................

And jumping high.......................

A charmer in the next Bolivian Dance group......................

The bells sounded loudly as these guys danced their way down the street.................

You can see how large just this one group was...............

And it was one of many................................

All in Bolivian costumes.........................

We watched for about 45 minutes and did not even get through Bolivia! When you look at the enthusiastic faces of these young people, you wonder exactly what it is about the new immigrants that scares so many in our society. Our country could only benefit from some fresh new blood. Just saying...that's all.......................

Being the "Cool Cats" that we are, we continue up Swing Street to meet Frannie at the DaVinci Hotel.........................

Where we say "goodbye" to our neighborhood and head out of the city.......................

I have made it a habit to shoot a bunch of parting shoots as we depart--this is Rockefeller Center..............

Apparently this would be a great place to have the ice cream concession................

Some art deco treatment on the Rockefeller Center buildings.............................

St. Pat's.................................

Varying skylines...............................

Typical NY street scene--a little bit of everything..........................

Blue sky over the skyscrapers........................
The comfortable tree lined East Side............................
Our driver--Miss Francesca.........................................
And our FINAL shot of New York City..................................
Thanks to Frannie and all the children for the trip, and you gentle readers for your patience in the marathon that has been my posting of this trip. And finally.........THE END!