TORONTO Arrival

Arrived in Toronto by Grehound bus at 7:30 pm. Russell met us at the terminal and drove us to his place. Kaye and the girls had a number of different pizzas warm and ready for us. Kaye has become quite the chef. Her deep dish veggie pizza was delicious.  The girls have grown into graceful and smart young women. 

Saturday Dinner: 25, 50, 75 Reunion Classes

This was supposed to be the highlight of the weekend--weather was perfect, we'd had a little R and R in the afternoon so we could party late without getting too tired, we put on clean clothes. All began well at Barton Hall, old friends tracked each other down, a steady buzz of chatter filled the gym, the wine flowed, then Raphael felt unwell and left without eating a bite. I stayed and finished the food on my plate, made small talk with Gary Ash and Jack Hayes, and left when the speeches began.

With roommate Charlie and his wife.

With roommate Gary and wife Jane.

Others at our table.

Saturday Afternoon Jaunts

BTrumansburg is a little village about twenty minutes from the campus, with scenic access to the gorge and waterfalls. The waterfall is about 200 feet and freezes over in winter. However, this was not the time for lengthy leisurely strolls along the many trails. We admired the falls, took photographs, made small talk with other alumni, and one maharashtrian, then left to continue our mission.

Our mission-- to deliver our homemade mulberry jam to a dear friend, 91 year-old Ruth Kahn-- was accomplished. We spent a pleasurable couple hours with her. She gave us a tour of her yard as well as the history of all the trees. Then we sat in her kitchen and shared bread and jam. She ate our bread from an Ithaca bakery, and we ate her homemade bread with caraway seeds with her quince, and grape-currant jams.

Presidential Address to Alumni

Bailey Hall at 10:30 to hear about the accomplishments of the university and of its alumni-- five Cornellian women made the last Fortune 100 list, etc, etc. 

The weather was still windy and cool at lunchtime so Raphael and I filled up our plates and are inside the lobby of Kay Hall, a women's dormitory where we are staying tonight.

This is the veggie option. The roasted potatoes were excellent as was the lentil quinoa salad. I ate one too many cookies.

Saturday Breakfasts

We got to the Class of 65 tent for our first breakfast at 7:30 am. It was freezing. Cold temperatures, high humidity and a wind chill factor in an open tent with wet lush grass under our feet, made for a less than ideal setting. The only hot item on the menu were the beverages. I passed the platters fruit though colorful and fresh, were cold. Fortunately, we heard about another breakfast at the ILR tent, and not a minute too soon for as soon as we got to the ILR courtyard and filled our plates with warm eggs and frittatas, we joined a table of good old friends of Raphael--Tony, and his wife Phyllis; John and Donna; and Dottie and her husband. Stories flew back and forth until the current dean of the school got up to speak.

Friday Evening at CU

Sculptor and classmate Joel Pearlman talks about his art at a special class event at the Milsteun Art Gallery.  Raphael and Joel roomed together sophomore year at CU. 

BBQ held indoors at the Johnson Atrium because of rain.

ILR SCHOOL

Here's where Raphael attended classes when he did attend class.

Museum of Art, Cornell Univ

Awesome aerial views of the campus from the fifth floor museum building.

1583 East Lakeshore Bed & Breakfast

We're staying at this old mansion of a house on a large property with half a dozen old barns in the back in varying stages of collapse and decay--quite picturesque. We have a fire place and upright piano in our room. The piano is in tune. An old pump organ--the kind Karmatar church had--in the living room. We are about five miles away from the campus. We left about 9 am this morning and stayed out all day returning to our room about 12 hours later.

Cornell University Alumni Reunion

Raphael is back on campus for his 50th class reunion. By the looks of things--he's enjoying every minute of it.