Monday June 18 2007

I just found this third or "missing diary" of the three I have written here on PEI. It was in my brown business bag. Well not much written between then and now, but there are many audio recorded journals. I won't rehash the past. Today is a cool, breezy day. After a glorious "hot" sunny day yesterday. I went with Shel to her beach job at Chelton Beach. We argued like savages, but it was actually a good day. She works for Maggie of the "Steak Pit" here in Summerside, summers at the little canteen concession at the Chelton Beach Provincial Park. Its a cute job, as a college kids summer job. She makes hambergers and hot dogs, fries, chicken, ice cream, etc.

The beach is nice there and we made a deal I'll go with her a few times a week-not all the time so we don't get on each others nerves. I haven't been able to get the kids on the phone and no new email. Ill try again tomorrow.

Modern note:
The summer was really nice here on PEI in 2007. The times I went to volunteer at Chelton to cook at the canteen reminded me of jobs I had after high school. It was a lot of fun. We both got great tans, and had some quality time together. I had hoped to get back down south, but spent the whole summer on the island. Shel had just gotten back from Colorado, where she attended nephew Kelby Konig's high school graduation. She flew out of Manchester, NH and we had a nice but short little roadtrip back to the island. We ferried across Lake Champlain to Vermont and it was a lot like old times. I wish it could have been a longer trip, but Shel had to be back here for work.

Friday May 25 1979

Clear
72 degrees

Partly cloudy today with some evening showers. School was OK- it was a long week-I'm glad its Friday! Carol and I got gas somehow the mustang's door was dented. I think out in front of my house. Could have been kids. John (Gustafon) will fix it next week. Watched T.V. late, good programs- "Hot Rod", "Vanishing Point".


Modern note: This period is during the final full year of college for me. I changed my major from Biology pre-med to Geology as I fell in love with the subject, professors, fellow students (only about 15 total) and the field trips. I loved Biology, but there was a coldness to my fellow Bio students on their way to med school. All except one, my good friend Bea Beatrix H. White. She was a brilliant Quaker girl from Morton, Delaware County. She became a doctor and researcher and I lost touch with her around this time. We should have been a couple, but I was totally loyal to my childhood sweetheart and neighbour Carol Padden. We spent all of our free time then at car shows, working at John "Gus" Gustafson's auto body in Ottsville, PA, or cruising around. Most of my social life then involved the car show circuit, when I was a high level Shelby Club member and judge.

Sunday May 25 2008

Well the weekend that started out cold and very damp turned into a spectacular spring day today on the island. I put on shorts and a tee shirt and walked around town. It was filled with the smells of the gardeners and fresh cut lawns, and a few new blossoms. The tulips are up and some decorate my living room. Shel spent a lot of time here yesterday, at some food and was then off to do here weekend errands. She is submitting her excellent "Cathy the Clown" story to a Tucson writing contest. It is wonderful story based on fact. Shel befriended a bathroom attendant at a hi-end restaurant we used to frequent in Scottsdale. The lady was poor but very sweet, and volunteered at a children's hospital. The story is based on Shel's conversations with that special lady. It sure seems a long time since we were together in Arizona. Shel's blog, http://writervita.blogspot.com shows many Arizona photos and stories. It is sad she has left me out of the tale, as she has to keep her family from knowing that we are still close friends. The old German farmer thing-you break-up and you can't remain close. In many ways, Shel and I are closer than when we were always together. She is part of my family and shall remain so.

Very quiet Sunday as always. I was reading the parable of the feeding of the 5000 in the book of John. I love that one, and knowing that God can do anything in this troubled world is a great comfort to me. I heard from my old fishing buddy, my lonely old friend Philip Benjamin in Towanda. He was off to help his friend Carol, who is 85, cut grass. He really wants me to move back that way to go fishing. I told him I had decided to return to work and may stay here in the Maritimes, or maybe try Phoenix again. It becomes an issue of money at this point, as Joey is now quite concerned about college funds.

My contacts in New Brunswick said I may be able to remain on the island and still do some work there for them. It would probably be best to be in the office there during the week, which is very doable. I don't know much about the Phoenix position, and am supposed to meet there in about 2 weeks. I am sure that the correct choice will show itself. I really don't like the idea of permanently leaving the island, but that may change. Shel has been sweet, helpful, and very nice about the whole issue.

I would have loved to have made this a beach day, but its pretty chilly by the water. I spent some time in the little military memorial park by the house, in the warm sun. Kids were skipping stones bored at the little pond there. The pond needs some goldfish, which I may donate. I can hear the spring peepers in the evening here, in town. That sound is deeply stirring to me, with memories of springs long past. I often think that the sounds of the peepers, frogs, toads were the sound of spring long before there were any birds on this planet.

So a simple dinner tonight and I have some reading to catch up on, and there is usually a movie on Sunday evenings. It has gotten tough to find one here I haven't yet seen. They seem to repeat them. Erin Brockovich is on again. I did show that film to my environmental class at Gateway College. I really enjoyed teaching, and may return to it someday. I had a dream of creating a practical 2 year environmental degree in technology. That way, students could obtain real field skills and be certified to work in the industry with a two year degree. Maybe I can pursue that at some point.

Missing the kids, and as the time approaches to head home, I am thoughtful.

Wednesday, May 21 2008

It is a cool rainy day here on the island. I had a nice evening with Shel yesterday. We had dinner together and discussed my upcoming travels. I go to Moncton for a meeting tomorrow and to Joey's graduation and a little camping down south next week. My sister wants to go to Atlantic City, so I am going to try to fit that in. She is going a bit stir crazy since she has been "carless". But she was getting robbed every time she went to a garage, so its probably a good thing. She told me she really wanted to sell the house and move somewhere, but she is unsure about where. She wants to visit the island, but there are logistical problems due to the distance involved.
I am also supposed to travel to Phoenix for another meeting in June, but arrangements have yet to be made-more logistical problems.

My sister asked me if I had posted any of my mother's poetry. Right now, I am not sure where that stuff is.I think Joey has it. On a sad note, I was working on some family history online and found my mothers name in her sister's obit from March. Heck of a way to find that out. My aunt Amie, Alma Elizabeth Hatfield Loughran died at the end of March. I told my sister about it on the phone yesterday. It was the first we had heard of it. My aunt was in her 80's and had been ill quite some time.

I think now only my Uncle Colonel David Hatfield remains of mom's siblings. Time marches on. I do have fond memories of my Aunt Aim and my grandmother, "Nanna" Alma Chambers Hatfield visting us at the farm, and our frequent visits there to their home in Upper Darby. They were always kind to me. And my cousins, and I have written about fishing with my cousin Dave, Aunt Aime's son in Wyalusing, PA in the 1960's. It is there I hope to go with my son very soon to do a little fishing and catch-up. I haven't seen my Uncle Dave since he was off to fly a mission during the Cuban missile crisis. He is a fighter pilot and bomber pilot and a veteran of 3 wars. It wrote frequently to my mother, but now that she is gone, I have heard nothing from him. Perhaps I will try and find him. I know he had email.

These family deaths really drive home the march of time. It is ashame that the family arguments over the years still effect communication with all of us. Since my divorce, I have been essentially ostracized. My poor sister, who feels isolated is still held in some contempt for minor childhood events almost 50 years ago. I think it is an effect of the "Hatfield clan". I have really been effected in my life by people's lack of forgiveness. Its just not Christian.

Friday, May 18, 1979 New Britain, Pennsylvania

11:40 PM

Rotten today, just in time for the weekend. I knew it! School was fine. I am working with the staff of the Paley library to find a book for Aprille. In the evening, we went to the store. I got a pair of sneakers in Woolco. We watched TV later. The "Mod Squad" was reunited on the glistening screen. I don't like wet weekends!

May 20, 21 2006 Summerside, Prince Edward Island

Today was a nice spring day. Went to the store breifly. I gave an old guy a ride. Shel worked today and brought home some meat. Those Steak pit steaks are the best on the Island. I played some chess and my rating is finally coming up, after years away from the game. Was on the radio later as Shel went to her friends house. I worked stations in Germany, Italy, and Cuba. I couldn't hear much else with this equipment, but it all seems to be working well. Had some IM's from Alexis's friends, but the kids weren't online today.
Pretty cool and rainy last night. Its not as cool tonight and less windy. Hate being cold!

May 18, 2008 Wonderful PEI weekend

Today is Sunday and as the sun sets here on Prince Edward Island I am filled with good feelings generated by a truly great weekend. I went dancing with some friends on Saturday night. I am truly amazed as I continue to feel the Appalachian buzz to this place. The music and heritage of many people I meet here could be or is an echo of the central mountains some 1000 miles south of this place. Shel is enjoying her time out at the cottages. There is no phone or Internet and I sense a bit of "modern withdrawal" in her. So she stopped by to use the wireless and call some friends. We had a nice lunch and went shopping a bit-now our island stores open again in anticipation of the tourist season, soon to begin.

Ill be driving Shel's car to my Meeting in Moncton on Thursday. It will be easier on gas, and I enjoy driving her little car. Ill be driving my old Blazer back for the graduation, probably departing the island on June 1. I am pretty excited about it. I am also supposed to fly to Phoenix as an old colleague needs an office manager in Tempe. There are distinct advantages for me to stay here in Atlantic Canada. I am very excited about looking at some military facilities here, as well as some aging disused industrial sites begging for assessment and remediation. I am very excited about those opportunities as well. Phoenix beckons, but mid-July in the Sonora desert after several years here in the Northeast cool is likely to be a shock to the system.

Headhunters keep calling, but I am going to limit myself to only the best situations. Also, its nice to be close to family here on this coast. The cards will fall where they may. Shel will be busy all summer. Joey is working but for the week or so he has taken off for our fishing trip to Towanda and maybe Westline. Alexis is deeply involved with a boyfriend and her social network, and probably won't have time for dad. I think she is a bit angry with me-after all, I have been on the road almost since she was born. If not just plain work, constant travel with the Army. But I wouldn't trade my military experience for anything. The finest people I have worked with.

I had a nice call with Joey yesterday. He was pretty together and heading out to work. I need to get him a car. Mom gave his to her boyfriend and its seems permanent, and very unfair.
The weather has been fantastic. But for an icy cold ripple of rain that moved through earlier today, its been sunny and very nice. That cold sea breeze seems always with us, along the shore here until mid-July. Its an idyllic place to live, quiet and friendly. If I have to move to New Brunswick, I will cherish weekends here when I can visit. Shel said we can alternate, her visiting me wherever I go, as always, and me here as time allows.
Its shaping up to be a good summer.