The funeral for my father's friend, Ben, was well-attended. We talked with Ben's daughter for a bit. "Now you're the only one with these stories," she said to my father.

He related one story about a time when he and Ben were riding the rails during the Depression. The train stopped. A railroad cop rounded up all of the guys who were on the top and in the box cars. The cop made all of the guys stand in a line and show the palms of their hands. He looked at my father's and Ben's calloused hands and said, "You guys can go. You know the meaning of a day's work."

My father and Ben were in their late teens and had spent a lot of time in the local gym, particularly working out on the high bar. Their hands were calloused from the workouts, not work. They'd not worked on anything harder than picking blueberries in the local fields.

Lynn stopped by yesterday afternoon with CasSandra. C. will be christened tomorrow, with a party to follow. Sandra's brother and sister will stay here tonight.

Lynn said that Krista had asked if C. could come in for Show and Tell. So, yesterday, Lynn brought the baby to the school. The kids in the first (Tess) and third (Krista) grades were quite excited. Joe's fifth grade class was more reserved, more cool. The teacher asked if there were any questions. After a few moments of silence, Lynn said, "Alright, I know that there's one question that you want to ask so I'll answer it now. Yes, Joe was this cute when he was a baby.

Last night we went to an art show. Last spring friend spent a week in France with eight other women. They are all artists - pen and ink, painting, and photography. This was a showing of the work that did on the trip and also a chance to tell the story of the trip to a wider audience.

It seems like we're getting out more and I guess that's true. We're just catching up, seeing people we should have seen six months, a year, two years ago. Good friendships are resilient, but we should never take them for granted.

The memorial service for John's mother will be next Saturday morning. She was an interesting and interested person, always greeting us with warmth and good humor. She loved opera and travel.