2025 June: 45 Years and Counting

 

12 June 2025

The past week or so has been interesting. I will start with the occasion of our 45th wedding anniversary which occurred on the 7th of this month. Unexpectedly, we spent that day at a funeral / memorial service for Clark's Aunt June. We found out on the 5th that the service would be held on the 7th in Massachusetts. Road trip!

Since the 7th fell on a Saturday, we had agreed, even before we got this news, that we would pick an alternate day to celebrate. Nowadays, we prefer to avoid crowds and choose to go out for lunch together on a week day instead of dinner on the weekend. We made a hotel room reservation in Framingham, MA with a check-in time of 4:00, so we had time before we left New Jersey on Friday to celebrate our special day together.

We have shared some memorable events on our anniversaries in the past. For our 10th anniversary, Clark had our house at the time treated for carpenter ants. That was a great gift - necessary at the time but not what I was hoping for! (I've never let him forget that one.) On the other extreme, for our 15th anniversary, he bought us a chandelier for the dining room. He read somewhere that for the 15th anniversary, the appropriate gift should be crystal. 

15 Years Married

Readers may remember that we, not so long ago, did a repair on this chandelier. It is holding up well!

For our 25th anniversary, Clark gave me a boat as we had been "in the same boat for 25 years". He worked hard on this gift, and it was a total surprise. Notice the two "huggy bears" (that's us) up top and a string of hearts at the bottom.

 For our 45th anniversary, I did not expect anything other than going out to lunch. As long as we did not have exterminators in the house, I would be content. Clark surprised me yet again as he had worked hard on gifts! I, sadly, got him nothing, but that is what he expected.

When we were in Vero Beach, I noticed my friend, Cathy, wearing a necklace that I fell in love with. I guess I made a spectacle of myself because Clark took note and bought a similar one for me for an anniversary gift. 

It is a Compass Rose - nautical (what else)! He said he chose blue to match my eyes. My eyes are not quite this blue, but the thought counts big time!

"I'd be lost without you"

He also got busy with a new plaque for the kitchen wall. I have no idea when he managed to do the work required to put this together - design it, get supplies at Michael's, stain the letters, glue it, etc.  

He gave me the presents and then took me out for lunch at a local restaurant before we left home to drive to Massachusetts. 

We hoped to connect with a couple of folks while up in Massachusetts. A friend in Franklin was visiting family and therefore out of state. Clark's cousin, whom we reached out to, had alternate dinner plans for Friday. So, after we checked in to the hotel, we went exploring (on foot) to eat at one of the nearby restaurants. We found a lot of chain restaurants and a bar but nothing that struck our fancy at the moment. Then we read the menu for Ken's Steakhouse and knew we had to eat there. We both enjoyed our meals, so it was an excellent choice.

Saturday morning we noted that we should expect rain as we prepared to go to the funeral home. The service was scheduled for 11:00. Rain looked to be arriving around noon.  The memorial service was held at the funeral home with a service to follow at the cemetery. The funeral director hoped that the rain would hold off until after the cemetery visit. I was told that folks knew it would rain because it was a Saturday, and it has rained every Saturday for something like 30 Saturdays in a row! Unbelievable!

I had never met Clark's Aunt June; Clark had not seen her in decades. We are close to her daughter, Barb, and wanted to attend for her. We found out, when we looked at the program, that the service was for Aunt June and her sister who passed away a short while earlier. Both sisters were in their upper 90s in age. Barb and her cousin, Muffy (aka Martha), brought both tears and laughter to the service with wild and touching stories about their mothers. 

The stories of the antics of June and her sister took a lot longer than the funeral director hoped. Before we left the funeral home, it started to rain. A few umbrellas were handed out. Clark and I had our raincoats with us, so we were fine. A long procession of cars drove the short distance to the cemetery. Words spoken at the cemetery were extremely brief due to the weather. Afterwards, we all drove to a local church hall for a luncheon where we were given the mandate to try the Circus Peanuts.

Some folks who saw my Facebook post of Clark and I sharing the Orange Circus Peanuts wanted to know the back story on this activity. The back story is that Aunt June apparently like Animal Cracker cookies (the original), black licorice, and circus peanuts. The only one of those I could agree on is the animal crackers! Barb insisted we at least pose with the peanuts, thus the picture!

Clark discovered he has a whole lot of Bent-family relatives in Massachusetts that he did not know about. We managed to pull the clan together for a family photo. Clark and I are  in the back row on the left. The family members are multi-generational including 5 grandkids.

Bent Family Clan

Our trip to Massachusetts took us past the exit on Route 84 to Cheshire, Connecticut where our son and his family live. As we approached the area on the drive home, we reached out to Chris to see if we could meet for dinner, and the answer was a resounding "Yes!" We met at J Timothy's Tavern in Plainville. The restaurant choice was made by Jack (age 7). They have the best chicken nuggets!

Having called ahead for a reservation and told, "no way but come take your chances", we arrived at 4:45 in hopes of grabbing a table. For downstairs the wait would be over an hour. Upstairs is a first-come-first-serve arrangement where we stood in line waiting for a table for 6 to become free. They had only two tables that seated 6, but it worked, and we got a table. We had a good time together and good food. Lots of wings as they are known for their wings. After dinner we said our goodbyes and continued on our way to New Jersey to arrive home shortly after10:00. 

Since we have been home, Clark got busy again with  boat projects. The sealant he needed for the port engine antifreeze leak came on Saturday while we were out of town, so he could jump on that fix immediately on Sunday. 

Part with leak issue

Clark cleaned it all up and spray painted a section with Yanmar gray. After allowing the sealant adequate drying time and putting everything back together, we took the boat out for a test run and found no evidence of any more leaks. 

When we arrived back in our creek from the trial run, we found the swans had returned. They have come to our creek for several years not. 

As a follow up on my last post, we decided to try to dispose of our U.S. flag by visiting the Rumson firehouse. Success! Not only did we find someone willing to take the flag, but the person Clark found is active in the Boy Scouts and took the flag to include in their next flag-burning ceremony! Yay! 

Our dinghy saga continues. Even after waiting three weeks for the patching in Vero Beach, by the time we arrived home, one tube was deflated yet again. Clark did some research with soapy water and found a leak around a seal. He added more "goop" (Sikaflex-291) to block the leak. Maybe this time???

The list of things to fix / address on the boat never ends; it just changes. A work-in-progress item is the sign boards that attach to the side of the boat. Clark took them down to be refinished. The varnish is peeling in places. He sent me to the store to buy Teak Cleaner / Brightener, which thankfully I found at Home Depot, and it appears to have done what was needed. Spots where the wood was exposed were grayish/black in color. This product from Starbrite brought it back to a golden color.

Sign in need of work!

Meanwhile, he is also working on varnishing the wooden "eyebrow" on the boat. That is a tedious job. I helped him with this job briefly, but then got sidetracked by seeing that the boat railings were in bad shape. I pulled out the "Barkeeper's Friend" and polished every bit of metal I found on the boat exterior!

We had the folks that do our grass cutting put down dirt and grass seed. They did a good job with instructions to keep it watered. We have had rain for a few days, so I got a break from my nightly routine of watering the seeds / baby grass as it grows. 

For fun, I bought myself a jigsaw puzzle. Although it contains 1000 pieces, it was relatively easy to put together as the piece parts are so distinctive. The finished work barely fit on the card table I used.

Tada! Finished jigsaw puzzle!

When not working on the boat, Clark has been playing a bit of guitar. I went out for an eye doctor appointment at a place co-located in a plaza with a Michael's. I went in to look around and walked out over an hour later. Two of our grandkids are coming to visit next week, and I wanted ideas on how to entertain them. I bought a couple of items but mostly took pictures for ideas. In July, we will have all 5 grandkids here, so I took notes for arts and crafts for that occasion as well.

Today, while Clark worked on the Sunset Delight name signs, I scrubbed our back deck (on house not boat). I used the cleaning recipe of 1 gallon water, 1 cup bleach, and 1 tablespoon Dawn to scrub off the dirt. It looks better but needs more work to be great! The kids will want to play out there next week, so it needed to be cleaned before they come for their visit. I had to pick the only day this week with temperatures in the 80s!