Gourmet : A Retrospective

After posting about the 30th anniversary of our Gourmet group, I couldn't resist going through my old photos and posting this look back at some of our "Gourmet memories". Hope everyone is up for a good laugh...

July 2008...lobster at the Lawson's...Claudia, Don Olson, Alison, JoAnne, Charlie and Dave.

Karen, Bob, Claudia, Charlie, Alison and Jo

Hank and Dave passed up the cocktails for the pool...

Dream on, ladies...it's Dave!

Alison, Jo and Charlie

...and now for a walk back in time:

Cheryl's Surprise 35th Birthday Party, Cat Mousam Rd., Kennebunk, October 1982...notice that Karen is being Karen (finger in her nose!). That's my sister, Nancy sitting in the front; Carolyn Gowdy and JoAnne Sizemore are to her right. Old friends Jim and Linda DeGrandpre are in the rear in front of the window.

Cheryl, Dan and JoAnne (couldn't figure out how to crop out our exes, Jo...)

The famous Gourmet cross-country ski trip to the Christmas Farm Inn in Jackson, NH...January 1983...

Jackson, NH, January 1983: Dan, JoAnne, Bob, Cheryl, Dave, Karen, Bruce, Carolyn

Check out JoAnne's form!

Carolyn Gowdy and Cheryl...

and, yes, it's Bob Underwood and I...

New Year's Eve at Sizemore's on Cat Mousam Rd., Kennebunk...ringing in 1987:

Carolyn and Bruce

Cheryl, Suzanne, and Karen

Mark and Sue

Gourmet at Chandler's Wharf...July 1988

Suzanne, Mark, Karen, Jo, Cheryl, Dan, Dave and Carolyn

singing for our supper at the condo...

the "Gourmands" arrived for Gourmet from Kennebunk in a limo...July 1988

in the limo...July 1988...Bruce, Carolyn, Sue's leg, and Mark

Dan, JoAnne,Karen, Dave, Hank, Cheryl, Sue, Mark, Carolyn and Bruce

Halloween 1988 at Sizemores...

Sue and Mark - October 1988

mmm...who could this be???

Yup...it's Dave and Karen...10/88

Remember the California Raisins??? (it's really Hank & Cheryl...could you tell?)

Carolyn and Bruce, October 1988

Preview: Gourmet at Lukas' 1992...I got this photo out of order and couldn't figure out out to move it down with the others !

60's Gourmet at Gowdy's...January 1998 ...Bob, Hank (with greased hair like he used to wear in the "gang") and Bruce...

This our most infamous Gourmet of all...the GODFATHER GOURMET at Bruno's in Portland, April 1991:

Cheryl, Johnny Napolitano, JoAnne, Suzanne and Karen...

Danny, Hank, Mark and yes...that's Dave...bada bing!

Hank, Dave, Karen, and Cheryl...this was obviously pre-9/11...

One of Karen's most memorable moments...shootin' and smokin' with the bouncer at Bruno's!


And now for yet another costume party...October 1992 at Lukas' home in Kennebunk...

Yup...that really is Mark and Sue...

I'm sorry, Jo, but I HAD to post this one!!!

Hank and Bruce...10/92

Octoberfest at Cheryl and Hank's...November 2007(we were a little late):

Bob Dalton and Bruce Gowdy

Carolyn Gowdy, Hank, and Claudia Dalton

Charlie and Alison Marchese and our neighbor, Don Olson...

The evening ended with wheel-barrow races in the back yard...each guy had to push his wife over a long and tedious course In the dark...Carolyn did not look happy!!!

Hope you've enjoyed this little trip down memory lane as much as I have. For the next 30 years of Gourmet we plan more exciting events like racing around the kitchen in our walkers, serving more jello salad, and starting Gourmet at 4:00 p.m. so we can all be in bed by 8:00...keep posted for photos!

Going "Glamping"

This entry is probably more for the ladies, so I apologize in advance to any male readers for all the "pink". I mentioned yesterday that Nancy and I don't camp quite the same way that the "guys" like to...our camping is more laid-back, more totally lazy. So, to get ready, I was surfing the web last night using keywords like "ladies camping" and "camping for girls" and I hit gold...found some sites I just have to share with all the rest of the ladies out there who don't like hunting, fishing, bugs, dirt, and fried squirrel. Here we go...

The first site is called "The Vintage Housewife"; here is the link http://thevintagehousewife.blogspot.com/ This lady is into all things vintage including a vintage 1953 pink camper. She and her girlfriends use it to go "glamping" -

Another blog I loved was called Tin Can Cottage http://thetincancottage.blogspot.com/
This lady redid a 1964 camper in vintage style.

And here is a red and white one one from 1957 at a blog called the Beehive Cottage http://thebeehivecottage.blogspot.com/ .

Needless to say, looking at all of these gorgeous campers will have me running around all day fixing up the t@b to make it glamourous enough for our trip to Pawtuckaway tomorrow. I'd better get started...

30th Anniversary of "Gourmet"

In the fall of 1979, when I started teaching at what was then called Scarborough Junior High School, I made some new friends on the faculty and we decided to get together for monthly dinners at each other's homes. Bob Underwood and I had been in a "Newcomer's" Gourmet group in Michigan and so we invited everyone to our home in Kennebunk for the first "Gourmet". The original group consisted of Bob and I, JoAnne and Dan Sizemore, Carolyn and Bruce Gowdy, Karen and Dave Chadbourne, and Carolyn and Ron Lambert. Suzanne and Mark Lukas later joined the group. Over the past 30 years, through job changes, moves, illnesses and some divorces as well, we have kept our little dinner group going. Members have left and new ones have joined but the original group remains pretty much the same. Many years ago, when Karen and Dave moved to California, Claudia and Bob Dalton joined the group and two years ago, Charlie and Alison Marchese were "initiated". Last night, with the Chadbournes back from California for the summer, we celebrated 30 years together at the Dalton's home in Kennebunk.

Bob Dalton traveled to Japan frequently on business and came to love Japanese culture. Here is a corner of the Japanese garden he built a the corner of his back yard in Kennebunk. (Now if only I could get Hank to build me one!)

Dave Chadbourne and Bruce Gowdy were "original Gourmands" and Hank has been in the group for over 20 years now.

JoAnne Sizemore, Karen Chadbourne and Carolyn Gowdy (matron of honor at my wedding to Hank) are 30 year members; Alison Marchese has been a great addition to the group...she's a good cook!

Hank and Carolyn

Charlie and Alison

Karen and Dave

Claudia and Bob, our hosts

"the girls"

and "the guys"

Karen has taken up the electric guitar (must be the California thing!). What you can't see in the photo is Carolyn and I waving our bics and laughing hysterically!

Best friends...Alison and JoAnne

Our little Gourmet group is about a lot more than food. We've skiied together, ridden in limos and haywagons together, dressed in ridiculous costumes for "theme" dinners, traveled together, laughed and cried together. We've supported each other through raising children, surgeries and illnesses, divorces, weddings and funerals. We've gained weight and lost it...same with hair. Right now, we are all supporting Bob as he goes through a second round of chemo and cheering on Alison as she plans for surgery on Tuesday. JoAnne, Alison and I still work in Scarborough, Claudia teaches in Kennebunk and Karen teaches in California. Our children are all grown now and we have gone from bright-eyed new teachers to grandparents. And still we have"Gourmet"...maybe it's the routine of it, the consistency and predictability of long-term friendship...that keep it going. I just know that I feel very lucky to be a part of it.

Happy 30th, fellow "Gourmets"...here's to many more laughs together!

Got Feedback?

Nancy and I have really enjoyed doing this blog together and it has been a good way to keep everyone informed about how Nancy is doing. There have also been some wonderful unanticipated outcomes: the "cousins" weekend in January with Maureen, Kathy and Sue, the recent Smith family reunion, and watching Mom and Aunt Marion master this new technology (Marion is even on Facebook now!)

The only thing we'd like to get better at is making the blog more interactive so that we're not the only ones doing all the sharing. Some have mentioned that they are having trouble leaving "Comments" on the blog so here are some pointers:

At the bottom of each post (entry) on the blog, you will see a line similar to this:

posted by Nancy at 10:43 p.m. 0 comments (followed by a small envelope icon)

Just click where it says "0 comments" - that is a link - and a text box will appear for you to write your comment in. Once you have written in that, it will say "Post Comment As" and you will be given choices. If you have a Google account, select that option and your name will come up with your comment. If you do not have a Google account, just scroll down and select "post as Anonymous" . Then hit the "Post Comment" button and you're done! That's all there is to it.

If you do post as anonymous, you may want to sign your comment in the text box so we know who you are. If you decide to create a Google account, it's easy...here are the instructions:

To create a Google Account, just visit the account-creation page, enter your current email address, and choose a password. Once you've finished registering, you'll receive a verification email. Click the link in that email to complete the verification process.

Note: If you click the small envelope icon on the line after the post, a box will open up allowing you to e-mail the blog to someone else who you think would enjoy reading that entry.
Please let us know if you are still having trouble posting comments...you can e-mail Nancy at ntufts1@maine.rr.com or me at lawsonch@maine.rr.com.

Now it's your turn...please join us in sharing your funny stories, favorite memories, and feedback to our posts. We're looking forward to hearing from you!

p.s. If any of you would like access to the blog as an "author" (you can write your own posts, add photos, etc.), please let Cheryl know. As blog "administrator", I can open that option up for you. We'd love more "authors"!