Busy Geezer Schedule

    At the end of ski season on April 10, 2011 I had accumulated a whole line up of things to do with family, friends and at  Cornell.   I have been so busy that blogging became a low priority.   So I can't believe that 15 days have past since I had an inspiration for writing.   On this Easter Sunday afternoon I am motivated to share a few of the things that have happened in the last two weeks.
    Although the weather has been mostly cold and rainy, Nancy and I have played tennis outdoors several times and even occasionally with sunshine on our play.   A trip to Long Island to visit daughter Viki and son-in-law Matt  took up the Palm Sunday weekend.   Travel was uneventful for a trip through NYC and we had a delightful Saturday evening at Town Hall on 43rd Street  at the Prairie Home Companion show hosted by Garrison Keillor.   Lots of laughs and wonderful entertainment with song and word.

    This past week I have been totally occupied preparing for and giving a presentation to the Cornell Association of Professors Emeriti on April 21st.   For the past two years I have been rehabilitating and documenting a collection of model plows acquired by the first Cornell president Andrew D. White in 1868.    These model plows were produced at the Royal Agricultural College of Hohenheim by a master craftsman under the direction of Professor Ludwig Rau.   The models trace the development of the plow from around 3000 B.C.E. to the mid 1860's.    Thursday I had the pleasure of presenting a story about the Cornell collection over the years as well as illustrating the evolution of the plow over the ages as represented by the plow models.   The lecture has been videotaped and will be available on the Cornell E-Commons website in the near future.    My presentation was well received and I think the geezer professors in attendance found it interesting.   Here are a few photos of the event.

GER,( M.C. )Bob Cooke, Howie Howland

Model Plow on Display

     It is somewhat intimidating to appear before a hall full of academics but I survived.

     After an uplifting Easter service this morning, we had a wonderful family dinner with several children and their spouses or significant other in attendance along with three grandchildren.  Our dining room is beginning to bulge at the seams.   I am blessed to be the geezer patriarch of this gathering.   Nancy as usual prepared a superb meal to the delight of all partaking.

     So on to another week of busyness.   The to do list is somewhat shorter but still is a priority.