Visiting my friend Maria(e) was one of the highlights of our trip !!!!
Yesterday afternoon (Monday Mar.23) we drove up to Boca Raton,
which is about 20 miles north of Ft. Lauderdale.
I met Maria, her name is really Marie but somehow when she introduced herself
to me the first time I thought she said Maria and she never corrected me, so she's
always been Maria to me.
Maria and I in front of the pond that is across the road from her house
Maria had arrived in Endicott, NY from Czechoslovakia with her husband Peter
and daughter Alena in mid '60's. They didn't speak English, but they all learned it very fast.
Maria was a professional basketball player in her country so when she heard that IBM
had a team, she checked into it and fortunately she was put on my team. We "clicked" on the
basketball court and also became good friends. So many memories that I just
can't get into them here.
Looking at her swimming pool from her dining room
Maria swims everyday, plays tennis 2 or 3 times a week
and has a workout room with 5 or 6 exercise machines.
In front of her house
Maria's grandfather was a famous painter in Czechoslovakia. He painted over 1000
painting. Today they are very valuable. Maria has this one in her living room
as well as many others. You can go on the web and find his paintings.
Maria's father was a doctor and a concert pianist. He also wrote a book
about the many paintings. I met her father and mother when they
visited Maria in Endicott.
The book her father wrote contains pictures of the paintings and their background.
Maria is going to get me a copy of it when she goes to back to Czechoslovakia.
Whenever we went to Maria and Peter's house they always served us
coffee (so strong you could almost chew it) and many goodies. Yesterday
she did the same and we ate all afternoon. Shrimp, loxs, cream cheese and bagels,
sandwich meat, cheese, strawberries, pickles, choc candy, crackers, and more.
Unfortunately Peter died in a tragic automobile accident in 2002.
We left Maria's about 6 p.m. and with an address , which was
fairly near Maria's, where we located another friend from Endicott/Endwell. We
weren't sure if the address from the internet was this person or not
but went to her door anyway.....and sure enough it was Dot Cart.
We had a nice visit. We both got caught up on family and friends from Valleyview.
Arrived back at Kerwick's about 9 p.m. I'm glad Larry's a good driver.
Rt 95 sure is a busy and fast highway.
2 comments:
Wow! It's so good to see Maria again! Glad you were able to visit with her. She looks great and looks very happy to see you. I remember the food she would fix, and the chocolates on their christmas tree! Great pictures!
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