old friends

 We sawpeople we have not seen for a while

    We went to an anniversary open house at the Taft Campus in Oregon.  Linda and Terry celebrated their 50th anniversary, and several former teachers were there.

    I say former, because we are not old.  Old is .... well, you have aches and pains, trouble walking, health issues are your main topic of conversation, sometimes you forget what you were  talking about.  Hey, wait a minute!

    Looking around, I noticed many of us are in our 70s.  At one time that was ancient, but now, it is not so old.  90 is the new old.

    I took many classes at Taft years ago.  I have a master's in outdoor education from there, but that program is no longer offered.  At one time it was a world leading center for outdoor ed.

    I took classes there in the 80s.  Among topics we talked about back then were the ever increasing challenges of finding oil, a warming planet, (global warming I  believe was the phrase) the greenhouse effect, solar energy, and in general, how to create a better world for our children and grandchildren.

    Remember...this  was back in the 80s.  What is happening now in our climate is not something that popped up over night.  It has been studied for years. 

I think more people should have taken those classes.

Lorado Taft was a famous sculptor about 100 years ago.  His Native American overlooking the Rock River is now called Blackhawk and is a tourist attraction.

    I had never heard of Taft until the outdoor ed classes, but I had been exposed to his work at an early age.

    There is a bronze sculpture in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago which always scared the bejeebes our of me.  Taft did it.

    We lived near Graceland and I have grandparents, aunts and uncles buried there, so my parents went there often.  As a matter of fact, we sometimes took a lunch and picniked on a little island near Aunt Jean.  When I suggested once to Jackie that we go on a picnic at the cemetery she looked at me like I was whacko.

    So, I visited the Seven Muses at Taft.  The campus is generally closed to the public, so I don't often get a chance to visit another of Taft's work.  I did today, after the party.

    Tonight Kevin, Jen and Sam came over with dessert and we had a nice evening chatting about life in all aspects.  And the desserts were delicious.

Peace and Love

The Seven Muses......

Uprooted tree at Taft

View from the dining room.......in the "old days" the sumac and scrub trees would have been gone.