Photo updates on activities from early 2006


In April, I traveled to Florida to work on a project for Rayonier's Forest Resources office in Fernandina Beach. While there, I took a drive to Jesup, Georgia to visit with Jeff Rosbach, my mentor when he worked at the Grays Harbor Pulp Division. Jeff's wife Mavis is a big-time quilter - this photograph shows the quilting machine Mavis uses for some of her work - it takes up an entire room!	Also in Jesup, I met up with Bill Murphy, another Washington transplant that moved with Rayonier to the SE. Bill now operates a printing/publishing company in Jesup. This is Bill's Chandler & Price press, dating to ~1910.	Towns along the CSX mainline celebrate their railroad connections with railfan viewing platforms such as this.	A Northbound CSX freight heads through Jesup.

Amtrak's Jesup station. I wonder how many passengers actually use this eyesore?	Just down the road in Folkston, there's another railfan viewing platform. This area is called the Folkston Funnel because all of CSX North-South traffic between Florida and the Northeast passes through here.	The Folkston Funnel platform.	Several CSX freights passed through Folkston while I explored the platform and town. Just as I was driving out of town, I caught a glimpse of a Northbound Amtrak passenger train in my rear view mirror.

Steve and I, along with neighbor Sabrina, accompanied Mom & Dad to have a look at a prospective new home at Emerald Heights.	Dad is imagining how the front room could be organized. Mom is skeptical of the whole thing.	We made a quick trip to Bellingham, to participate in the Chemistry Department's Scholars Day presentations. WWU had a gift package waiting for us when we checked into our hotel in Fairhaven.	We were able to walk around Fairhaven in the evening, to explore the Alaska Ferry Terminal, and the Amtrak station.

Mo found a fella.	Something we did a lot of while at Western - watching trains roll by along the Puget Sound shoreline. Of course, the Talgos weren't running then!	Our dormitory, Ridgeway Omega.	Mo's room in Omega for three years.

Our student ID cards are (at least theoretically) preserved in a time capsule below the 1975 marker.	A "stonehengish" outdoor sculpture near the new Chemistry building.	The guest speaker for the day was Harry Gray, Professor of Chemistry at Caltech. I took a couple of seminars from Harry while at Caltech, and still have several of his books. He's a terrific speaker. Mark Wicholas, who was my research advisor while at Western, has been Chairman of the Chemistry Department for about 25 years. We still keep in touch - a strong advantage of getting an undergraduate education at a smaller college!	Harry Gray toured the poster exhibits, and engaged in conversation with as many of the students as he could. We sat in on a lecture he gave to a combined Physical/Biochemistry class. He quickly develops a rapport with the students - many of them will remember his visit as a highlight of their undergraduate experience.

We explored some of our favorite haunts - this tunnel is on Sehome Hill, just behind the campus.	Mo - get off the tracks! A slightly safer recreation of an earlier photograph taken on the BNSF tracks near Larrabee State Park.	Connie, Nathan, and Ryan Teague came to visit Grandpa & Grandma (Pat & Vera) in May. They live at Eielson AFB in Fairbanks, Alaka.	Connie gets teased a lot that she looks a lot like Mo.

Ryan played "football" with Aunt Mo.	Nathan got in the game, too.	Aunt Mo goes back for a long throw.	Aunt Mo and her two (grand) nephews Ryan and Nathan, in Vera's "Big Chair".

Papa Pat with two of his grandsons.	We went to dinner at Clark's Restuarant (great burgers & milkshakes!) to celebrate my birthday.	The boys got me some Good & Plenty candy, which perfectly matched the shirt I decided to wear for my birthday dinner.