Pat's Sojourn with the Sutherlands

(Ken, Sue, Katie (fellow Bruin!) and Pat)


There is something so homey, reassuring/comforting when friends from your childhood see your new place in your new city and can report back that you are okay. Maybe that is frighteningly stunted in the maturity department or maybe it is the way adult orphans feel. Or maybe it is just the way I feel.

Ken and Sue and their daughter Katie came to New York from the Bay Area for a Christmas in New York trip. We met up at my place on the Upper West Side and they got to see where (and how?) I live and we went on a walking tour from there on an especially beautiful and warm winter day. 65 degrees in fact. Down right no down needed.

Ken and I grew up playing pipes and most recently played in a band together in San Francisco as well as a summer encampment up at the Russian River every year. We have grown closer as we got older because when we were young he was one of the "older cooler 'to be admired'" kids in the pipe band and I had more runt status. Now that we are adults it has been especially wonderful to be friends.

The four of us toured about Central Park for most of the day and it was such fun to chat about everything from social networking to Scotland vs. Hawaii to gum surgery to broken hearts and broken jaws. The thread of conversation is always magical to me, it takes a path that has its own logic.

We avoided eating squirrels and berries for lunch by exiting this incredible Frederick Law Olmstead/God co-production to have lunch just around the corner from where poor John Lennon breathed his last. We had salads. No connection.

Sue and Ken's son (and more importantly fellow piper) John had a delayed flight so couldn't join us for the nature walk in the middle of one of earth's most densely populated cities. Imagine him photoshopped into the snaps.

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Below is a photo shoot of Ken's call to our friend Scott. We even recreated laughter at one of Scott's jokes to capture it on film. It was almost like having him here with us. We should have called Will too! I include all photos as they are such a photogenic family who can chose?!