June 2006

We were in the US at the start of June. The first weekend, my folks, Jos, my brother Dan(imal) and I participated in the first ever "Lane Family Reunion". I was so inspired, I started this site to help Lane relatives the world over communicate and reminisce.
Following the reunion, Jos and I traveled north to New England with my cousins Art and Jeannette (who put us up in fine style in Concord, Mass). We caught up with my friend from Haverford College, Rick, and his family in the groovy Boston university neighbourhood of Cambridge - his wife Rachel very generously offered us the use of the Levitt family's summer "cottage" on Deer Isle, Maine. Our time in Maine was damp, but still busy with walks, paddles, shopping sprees, climbs, meals, and exploration of idyllic little fishing villages like Stonington and Camden.
We traveled back to Boston, spent another night with Art and Jeannette, and took the train back to Philadelphia (meeting a friend from NZ, Mee Lee, at 30th Street Station over a quick dinner) and then another train back out to Lancaster where my pop collected us from the station.
After that was a jaunt down to Phoenix, MD, where we met up with my cousin Ben, his wife Anne, and girls: Abigail (Abby), Rebecca (Becky), and Emily (Em-em :) - oh, and Ursula, the golden retriever. We spent an enjoyable afternoon meandering through the countryside in Ben's self-built wood-canvas canoes (based on the "White" design, for those having an interest) on the Gunpowder Creek.
On the way home, Jos and I stopped in for a short but very good visit with another great college friend, Jonathan Huxtable and his parents, wife Christine, and little fella, Nathaniel. We discussed his exciting job as headmaster (and founder!) of the Harford Friends School... Jos also enjoyed her first lightening bugs!
Another day or two of time with my parents in Lancaster, including a lovely drive "around the county" during which we encountered a few Amish buggies and had an enlightening lunch at 10 Thousand Villages fair trade store, and then Jos and I were back on the plane, forsaking the mostly hot and humid early summer of the middle States to return to the unusually uninviting weather back at home in Christchurch.