Once our young people are grown and gone from the nest, we sometimes lose track of them. One such is Alden Reed who visits the island on occasion, but you have to be quick to catch him. Currently his spare time is spent doing lots of research on the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club's One Design sailboats. He is also publishing a newsletter for the group known as the BHOD Association. His dad, Edgar, loaned me a copy of the summer 2005 edition in which Alden has traced the origin of the design for that sailboat, and the lineage of the prototype boat. Named Loon , it has been restored and is sailing in Massachusetts, not Maine waters. It is a pretty slick little publication with color pictures and interesting graphics. Many years ago there were several families on the island who owned and raced BHOD's. At least three come to mind; the Reeds, the Nashes, and the Hamiltons. Maybe there were others, but I spent my summers at camp so was not in on the crewing or any connection with them. Nowadays I can look forward to seeing one of these beauties most Sunday afternoons as Tom Tavenner goes by on his way home, past my cottage, to its home berth on Sawyers Island. She is the only One Design that I can remember NOT being painted white. Tom goes by in the varnished hull with a following breeze looking very contented. A wonderful way to end a day off.

An e-mail form Phylis Webster let us in on more of the doings for her 90th birthday celebration, engineered by daughter Judy Underkoffler. Phyl says it was one big surprise after another. Judy and Bill were expected and grandson Dan and two sons arrived next. Another grandson Jay and his family were the next arrivals. There was a big party at a local "Rec" hall nearby on the day before the actual natal day. Phyl was floored that 40 friends were able to keep secret that party, and it was a surprise. On the actual birth day the family took a bus to Miami where they boarded a vessel for a sail to Nassau. The last surprise was that the third grandson and his family were on the boat waiting for them, when Judy had assured her mom that they couldn't make it. It ended up with 12 in all and Phyl was thrilled to have her entire family with her.

The boat was supposed to land them at Cosec Bay, but the water was too rough to launch dinghies for the trip to shore, so the captain sailed them by Key West. One thing Phyl did not make clear was if this was a one-day only venture, but said the kids had a ball as well as she did. She had high praise for daughter Judy who planned all this from upstate New York! Phyl gets to read the Register online, and complimented all the summer columnists. Since this celebration took place on Halloween, Mark's little daughter, Sarah was dressed as an angel for the trip. What fun. Phyl was sorry to learn that Will and Patsy Mckenzie were to be part of the surprise, but a new granddaughter for them was a very good excuse.

I blew the timing to get a birthday card to sister-in-law Betty Eustis so sent my greetings by e-mail and received a thanks in reply. I had asked how things were with her pool repairs after Ivan two years ago. She said that the screening around the pool was finished finally, but the pool is STILL NOT OPERATIONAL! Her birthday was special as all three of her daughters showed up to celebrate, and it was not even a special milestone like Phyl's.

This coming Saturday will be a bit different for our superintendent Mike Thompson. For the past couple of weeks he has been leading a crew of Rotarians in building an outdoor theater for the Y Camp Knickerbocker. This Saturday he will board a plane to Africa, where a group from the Boothbay Baptist Church will build housing for a village compound for orphans in Uganda. Some of you will remember that Mike did an unusual church service for us last summer, showing slides of previous trips done by this group. Each house built with bricks they make will have eight orphans and a housemother. Schools are also built to be sure the kids get a good education. Thousands of kids have been saved this way, and there are many more in need. He will be gone 12 days, and maybe he'll give me a report on his return.

Reading the Rotary column last week, informed me that Lynn Thompson is also to be traveling. She along with the Governor's wife, Karen, is headed to Japan to foster a cultural exchange. When I called Watershed this morning to find out when she leaves, the operator said that it was not in service, so I am in the dark as to her travel plans. Anyway, we can call them the Traveling Thompsons and not be too far wrong.