Family Holiday Parties in my youth

Each year our family who go to my Aunt Jean's for a family gathering. My aunt lived in a beautiful home on Ashby State Road across from Green' s Ice Pond. Most of my father's side relatives would be there. My aunt would make her own chex mix and they had a finished basement room as well as their living room and kitchen. Nice memories of a time where the different generations of a family would gather to enjoy each other.

My mother's side of the family would gather at my Uncle Leo's home on Rindge Road during Halloween time. In their basement room we would have games set up like trying to completely eat a donut hung on a string without using our hands. My other memory is that my uncle would have different animal felts stretched for drying which he would sell.

Childhood Memory - Goody-Goody- New Year's Day

On New Year's Day my father would bring my brother Bobby and myself to the Goody to help clean after a busy night of dancing and drinking by about 150-200 people. We were very young and we enjoyed gathering up the noise makers, leis and colorful hats. We would store the extra hats, etc. in the small attic which had an opening that was big enough for a small person to fit thru. We also took our fair share of noise makers and other things home to enjoy making noise for my mother. The Goody would hire a band for the night ( believe it was Freddy Porter's Band). This morning waking up this memory popped into my brain ( a fun memory).

Another Visit to Happy Donald's

Visiting Ashley, Kai and Ellie with Linda. I went to pickup lunch at Patriot Pizza in Townsend. Kai went with me but he likes the place next door for a Happy Meal. We had to go to Happy Donald's as Kai likes to call the place. Might have been a better name?

70th Birthday

Last night Linda and myself went to my best friend's house to help celebrate his 70th birthday. Don Starr has been a friend to me since I was 18 years old. We met at Fitchburg State in our freshmen year. We played on the baseball team for 4 years. After college we lived on Snow Street for about 3 years and then we lived in an apartment in Leominster for a few years. We both got married about the same time and have remained friends. Wishing Don many more healthy and happy years.

Dwayne and Rusks Quarry

Today at Planet Fitness I ran into Dwayne Boyd. Dwayne was a former student I had in the sixth grade at Johnny Appleseed. Dwayne was and is severely handicapped because he doesn't have use of his legs and therefore he uses crutches to get around. Dwayne was and is one of my favorite students. I never met a tougher student in my life. One day I saw Dwayne at the classroom door trying to get in. I rushed to the door and opened it for Dwayne. I didn't realize that Dwayne was holding the door handle and balancing by holding the door handle. As I opened the door Dwayne just hit the floor in front of  me as a dead weight. After he crashed he looked up at me and said, " Mr. Hay, please don't ever open the door for me.
Each year I took my science classes to Rusks quarry in Townsend. We prepared for the day ( two different classes for two days) by studying minerals samples as well as discussing all the safety issues while in the quarry. The quarry is made up of granite and the students were going to try to break up the granite and identify the different minerals in granite. The trail into the woods was about 1/2 mile and then you had to climb a fairly high hill to reach our destination. I knew Dwayne could not make the final climb without a great deal of help. I asked my cousin if I could borrow his jeep for the day. As the other students walked with an aide and started their climb, Dwayne and myself were driving over a rocky road to the summit. We made it to the top and the class had a great day. Dwayne reminded me today that there was song on the radio that when he hears it he remembers his trip to the quarry.
Duncan Rusks quarry on Barker Hill was the largest and most successful of West Townsend's several quarries. It supplied the pink granite for the Worcester Post Office, the Rockefellow Church and the Hammond Castle in Gloucester. At its height of operation it employed roughly 200 men and 100 of them being stone cutters.
Today Dwayne works for Tmax and he is divorced but he has two daughters.

Planet Fitness Member

I have joined Planet Fitness about one week ago. I have been going every other day. I enjoy my time and I am trying different machines each trip. I always start with the tread mill for about 25 minutes. I then do several different leg and upper body machines. I have generally ended my time with the stationary bike for 15 to 20 minutes. Today's new machine was to strengthen the back muscles.

Update: January 1, 2017
I have continued to go to the gym about every other day. I have loss 23 pounds and hope to lose about 20 more pounds over the next 4 months. I spend about 1 hour on the different machines. I have increased my tread mill time to 35+ minutes.

A Day With Our Granddaughter!

Josalyn spent Friday night and Saturday with Linda and myself. We had breakfast at the Parker Restaurant in Mason, N.H. and then we went to the Pickity Place in Mason. We stopped by Ashley's home and it was wonderful to see our youngest and oldest granddaughters enjoying each other.