During our 2021 journey, we stopped in Rochester, NY for the purposes of following up on the North family history (MFI’s mother’s side) and meeting up with her cousins, whom she hadn’t seen (except for one) since she was 9 years old. As a reminder of our stop in NY, here we were then at our first get together outside Skaneateles Brewery in Willow Glen, NY. Identified in counterclockwise order, we have Art, Dan, Rob, nephew Nate, Gary, MFI, and Rich.
Two of the North brothers weren’t present when we visited, because Win had passed away, and John resided in Peoria, AZ. So now, since we were spending a month in Phoenix, MFI contacted John in the hopes of arranging some time with he and his wife Bonnie. Fortunately, they were available and kind enough to invite us for cocktails and dinner at their beautiful home.
They lived 20 miles from us on the north side of Peoria in one of several small neighborhoods that abutted the desert. There home was quite large for only two people, but just the right size certainly to accommodate visiting family and friends. We really hit it off from the start. John and I both had assignments in the Air Force. He served his enlistment tour at Minot AFB, ND; and while that is not at all a good place to be stationed, that is where he met Bonnie on an arranged dateā¦and the rest became history. MFI had a number of old B&W family photos on her phone from our visit with Art. John had not seen these and was delighted to get Airdropped copies.
Bonnie had prepared an assortment of hors d’houvres, and John uncorked the first of two bottles of red wine. We sat around their kitchen table snacking and chatting, asking questions, answering them with detailed explanations, comparing life stories, and covering our respective current events. Our traveling lifestyle intrigued them, as it does so many; so we shared the best pictures of our some of our favorite destinations, and showed them our blog site. Bonnie fixed her special recipe for peppered pork sliders, and they were delicious. You can add over-eating to the evening as well.
I ventured into their backyard, believing John had gone there to get something, and took these to capture a bit of their house and quiet neighborhood. John mentioned that he hikes the trail, which is partially visible on the mountainside in the video.
Bonnie said that her father had lived with them for a period, during which he took up carving and painting wooden birds. I took pictues of these three, although there were many on display throughout the house. He was clearly very talented.
Our sincerest thanks to John and Bonnie for treating us to a brief but delightful reunion. Sure looks like we were having a lot of fun, doesn’t it?