Talk 178

Time flies, we will meet at the 40th reunion in Toronto and beyond in less than a month. Although I did not sign up for the post-reunion cruise, I can furnish the fortunate Lighters some background information of their coming event. In mid-June I was in Peabody MA for a FAA meeting hosted by GE at their Lynn MA plant. Between meetings, I had a chance to take a busman's holiday around town. I visited Salem MA where Peabody Essex Museum is located. One of the display is a living room taken off from Cleopatra's Barge. This is the first American ocean-going yacht owned by George Crowninshield Jr. It was built in 1816. It made only one trip to the Mediteranean sea in 1817. She stopped in Elba, and the Crowninshields even got a pair of Napolean's >boots in their souvenir to prove their meeting with the more famous man. What a coincidence that the Lighters will do the same route after 182 years! I believe the probability of me seeing all these just before the reunion, and went to Peabody at a time that the employer was tight on travel budgets, was quite low. Yet, it is the honestly truth without any planning. I 'll chalk this chit chat # 34 up as a God-sent good will message to all the Lighters going to the cruise, and the reunion. It is like Ng Kum Shik, and all the other Lighters' saying that this reunion is a once in a life-time event that we shouldn't miss!!!

Chit Chat # 34