Final Yarmouth post

In the dark of this morn, I made a final stop at Yarmouth. I'd forgotten to pick up a two items from the trash pad and technically trespassed to recover them. They were still there BUT so too was a 20 foot long dumpster in the driveway. The buyers mentioned at closing that they'd be converting the basement into an in-law apartment. It took them less than 24 hours to begin the demolition. I'm kicking myself now for not having removed the offsprinkle height progression boards, the workbench & pegboard :-(

The proceeds from the sale were delivered this afternoon to the MetLife investors.

LTA-Danny

St Mary Govans School Reunion

St Mary Govans School Reunion
Saturday November 7, 2009
6 PM Till ? at The School

Details To Follow

We are updating the mailing list and developing E Mail and Class Lists. Please forward the following information:

Name/Address
Maiden Name
Phone
Email Address (Up to 2)
Address
Class of ?? from St Mary's

Send info to Neil Cashen at neil.cashen@yahoo.com or at 410-825-2597. Please send the info on any of your family or friends or forward this request to them. Thanks and see you there!!!

Sold!

That's one chapter almost closed. 627 netted just a few shekels shy of 282.5K. Stuart, I'll email the HUD Settlement Statement to you... and to anyone else interested in the finer details as well. And I'll get the check to down Mike Havlick today or tomorrow unless our game plan has changed.

Settlement went well though a couple of items need followup. I finally got a Work Order# late yesterday from BGE to make final service cable connection but I must check & report status to the buyers. And I need to produce a summary of water heater flue repairs and test results. Neither should be problem. The funny part of settlement was that every 'seller' dotted line had to be signed "Levelle G. Smith, by her Attorney-in-Fact Daniel Smith". By force of habit, I slipped up about 1/2 the time by inserting the "C." in my signature... kinda like Mom at the POA signing ;-)

Again, many thanks to my bride, sisters and brothers for your support and help through this process.

Love to all, Danny

Yarmouth is Almost Empty: good news and bad

We Baltimoreans (and Pennsyltuckians) have had a busy week cleaning and clearing out the last of the things at Yarmouth. Maybe some of you locals should share with the 'far-aways' some of the treasures you found at the house. My favorite (that Danny uncovered) was Dad's wood-burning set. Inside the box was Dad's handwritten warning: "Tip Gets Very Hot!"

The bad news: I went to Yarmouth early this morning to finish vacuuming the now empty spaces. I discovered that the house had been broken into overnight! Don't worry. It doesn't appear that any damage was done. As the house was almost empty, the only thing I could see that was missing was that nasty old wooden bookcase. You remember, the one with the doors that had haphazard, pieced together bits of yellowed glass. I think it was just headed for the scrap pile anyway, so no harm done.

By the way, I will no longer be hosting any family events at my house. And don't anybody stop by to visit. Especially not Danny.

Love to all,

Megan

FYI for tomorrow...

Quinn and I were planning on going to 10:00 mass with Mom at the Motherhouse and then out to brunch (I'll have my whole family :-O ). Anyone want to join us?!?! My treat.

Love to all - Levelle

PS Mrs. Lawrence called to let me know that she had a very nice visit today with Mom. She said Mom was looking good and in good spirits. Fingers crossed that we find the same woman tomorrow.

I expect to pass through life but once....

I am not sure who did not get box of cards but I owe you. I accidentally left two boxes in Singapore. One was meant for Alex, Melanie & me to share and the other is for whoever didn't pick one up on our last weekend. For posterities sake, the story behind them is that I heard Jerry Lewis say this quote when he picked up an award for lifetime acheivement related to the Labor Day telethons

I am not sure who did not get box of cards but I owe you. I accidentally left two boxes in Singapore. One was meant for Alex, Melanie & me to share and the other is for whoever didn't pick one up on our last weekend. For posterity's sake, the story behind them is that I heard Jerry Lewis say this quote when he picked up an award for lifetime achievement related to the Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy telethons.

I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.

I thought it sounded very nice and Ignatian so I looked it up. It turns out that a Quaker named Stephen Grellet is credited with saying it although a lot of people have continued to spread what appears to be a wrong source as William Penn.

When thinking of Dad one day, and how this quote seemed to encompass a lot of what he was about, I thought it would be a cool idea to make up some cards with the Mr. Grellet's words on it and just pass them to people if I should ever have to explain myself for doing a good deed for them. Better yet, I could pass on the obligation for them to pay forward the good deed to someone else along with the obligation to keep it going.

To that end, I came up with the wording to put on the back. I hoped it would be self explanatory enough that, for example, when an old lady shook my hand after I changed her tire, I could just quietly slip her the card, smile and move on. I should have shown it to Melanie before making them as she rightfully pointed out " then passing on this card" doesn't quite sound right, at least in Singaporean English.

When an appropriate opportunity arises, please repay my small kindness by helping someone else then passing on this card.

Do not mind if the card is torn or tattered; it has been held only by good people.

The next brainstorm was to get 800 of the cards printed so each of you could get a box. I figured that you all could help distribute them amongst your family to start the ball rolling. Imagine in a short time that there are 800 of these in circulation around the world and everyone got it by a good deed being done for them and those people are looking for an opportunity to pay it forward to someone else.

Adding Dad's initials to the second page was not meant to appear to say that it was his quote; it just looks that way by accident. I just meant it as a nod to Dad since I was originally planning to give them to you on his death anniversary in May. I just didn't get back to Baltimore in time. The cards and subsequent deeds were meant to honor him.

Will it all work? Who knows. I am sure some of the cards will go in the bin only seconds after they are received. Others may be in someone's wallet for years to come. But even if only a few people pass on a favor to some stranger in the road, I figure that's a good thing.

Happy Birthday Megan!

Good news. I woke up early and can confirm that the sun did rise this morning and is now on the way to Pennsyltucky. All systems are go for your birthday.

BTW, you know how gas stations always sell gas at some silly number like $2.89 9/10 per gallon? Also, things are Target are like $29.99? That's because the seller thinks that you think those numbers sound smaller than $2.90 or $30.00. That might be true for consumer products but it isn't really true for birthdays. 49 sounds really old compared to 50. Get used to it. :p

Peace. Have a great one.

Clearing out Yarmouth

I spent a good part of Monday trying to find some charitable institution to pickup the remaining furniture and boxes of housewares, etc., from Yarmouth. Salvation Army and American Rescue Workers had no openings for pick-ups until mid-August. Purple Heart no longer picks up furniture at all. They will come get the boxes of goods on Thursday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. We don't have to be there as long as the boxes are marked for them and on the porch by 7 a.m.

On Wednesday evening, I'm going to meet Matt at Yarmouth when he gets off work. We'll take the remaining furniture (two sofas, coatrack, bedroom rugs, etc.) to Goodwill or Salvation Army. I think I know which items go, and which items are inherited items yet to be taken to your homes. (I'll call someone if I'm not sure.)

One question for you Stuart. Is it worth unpacking and photographing/listing all the items I've already boxed, for tax deduction purposes, I mean?

The Datebooks have been found!!!

Sorry, I didn't realize I was looking for very small notebooks. They were right where Leland and Stuart said they would be...in the wine box. I'm getting a kick out of our floozy mother ;-).

Love to all - Levelle

PS Hope you got home safely Stuart and safe travels to Michael and Melanie.

Thanks for coming to the Swim Meet tonight everybody!

Sorry it was a blow-out and sorry Aidan didn't show you his stuff in butterfly, but I think it was a good night and I think Mom ended up enjoying herself. I can't wait to see your pictures Michael.

Anywho...as for Saturday...I called Uncle Larry and Julie and left messages. I called captain Harry's about the crabs and we are looking at $179-$199/bushel. Should I still order 2 bushels? We can do other food like pork tenderloin on the grill along with some sides. I'm also going to make my chicken caesar pasta salad. We've got plenty of beer and soda.

Have fun at lunch tomorrow. I hope Mom suddenly remembers how to bathe, wash he hair, brush her teeth and change her clothes before tomorrow ;-). See you all Saturday morning.

Love to all - Levelle

PS Stuart - who's coming up with you. You're welcome to stay here. My kids would love to see yours.

Happy Birthday Danny!!!

and Matt, and Leland and Megan! In order to properly celebrate all of these July birthdays (along with the May, June and August)I would like to invite everyone over to my house on Saturday afternoon for crabs. You're treat ;-). We should be done with what we need to do at Yarmouth by early afternoon, so what about 4:00 as a starting time? I want to call Uncle Larry and Julie to come over too.

Have a good week - love to all - Levelle

A phone for M&M

I have a cell phone for Michael and Melanie- the number is 443-605-4043. I will either give it to them tonight or tomorrow at mom's. Happy 4th! See you soon.
Q
P.S. Stuart, Dylan and Tod might be doing a quick visit to... gulp... Duke on Monday. As much as he says he doesn't want to go there, he can't resist going to see it. Let me know if you'll be around, maybe you can hook up with them and spin your blue devil magic.

According to Facebook, Michael and Melanie have safely arrived in the States.

Hope your troubles were worked out easily! My cell phone number is 410-935-0107 if you want to reach me. We will be at the pool most of today and tomorrow if you would like to join us. See you Sunday (if not before)!

love to all - Levelle

Much miscellany

Well I guess Mike & Melanie are already airborne. Here's hoping their flights are smooth.

Sorry 'bout Sunday, Megan. I had no idea of the troubles you had with Mom before mass until Quinn and Levelle filled me in after mass.

Happy early Birthday greetings, Matt!

Paul reported that just the opposite thing happened when he arrived to get Mom to the doctors Monday morn'. Mom was in the lobby, didn't recall anything about the appointment and remained pretty steamed about "not being told" throughout the morning. The usual turmoil ensued when Dr. Lavin spoke with Paul on the side while Mom was trying to get dressed which a nurse had to help her do.

I'd like it if we all could do one more Yarmouth gathering if only to designate and tag what is going to whom, where and when. The sale procedures are rolling along relatively well. I accepted the Structural/Mechanical Inspection Addendum verbatim and am arranging profession repair of the listed items. One of the items on the electric repair list requires a permit to be pulled. It is replacement of main service cable on the upstream side of the service panel and I'm glad we didn't collar Jim for that. On Monday, I received the Chimney Inspection Addendum and it is asking that some pretty pricey work be done. I am NOT inclined to accept this addendum in part and am awaiting the estimate of other contractor work before responding to it.

Looking forward to the crabs & gatherings,
Danny