WELLESLEY ALUMS | July 29–Birthday Celebration

The tent makes the event rainproof and also helps keep the sound contained
to the area.

July 31–On Wednesday I joined Alice and three friends to help celebrate Fran's 70th birthday.

She came up from Philadelphia to celebrate.

We first listened to one of the free concerts that are part of the popular Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival.

A good crowd was arrayed in chairs inside the tent and were sprawled outside on the grass.

Terry and Ron are supporters of the group, and for good reason.

Afterwards we went to the restaurant at the nearby Bridgehampton Inn, next the Loaves and Fishes cuisinerie.

In the patio in the back of the Inn we heard yet more music–a jazzed up rendition of "Over the Rainbow" and other popular melodies.

People bring their own chairs, food.

The food at the Inn has gotten better in the year since the restaurant opened.

I snapped a photo of the three Wellesley alums by the fork at the entrance to the restaurant.

We talked about the issues of the day, like:

The future of the newspaper business. How many years will it be before print newspapers just take too long to publish and deliver to impatient readers? Will is be enough for today's paper to have yesterday's news? We agreed that for the time being we like to get the news both ways. Habit.

Alice, Fran, Terry. Fork, a sign of the tines, maybe
represents the South Fork? 

Will Greece stay in the Eurozone? We seemed to agree that Greek unemployment won't come down without substantial change. If the drachma were separate from the euro, the change could come swiftly through a devaluation. Being in the eurozone prevents Greece from making adjustment quickly. Paul Krugman has taken a consistent view on the euro since it was first broached, i.e., it won't work well without greater policy harmonization.

What did things used to cost in Greece? Fran and Alice went to Greece together one summer while they were undergraduates. We reminisced about what things cost then. I remember it was two drachmas for a portocolada (bottle of orange soda) in a grocery store and 20 drachmas in a sit-down environment.

Fran convinced me that she really was interested in a book I am writing. What do you know. How nice. I promised to provide a link. Here it is.

Fran gets ready to make a wish. Alice cheers her on.

At the end of the evening there was a mini-birthday cake for Fran, who showed no disappointment at the lack of a giant cake.

I sang Happy Birthday. Maybe I owe someone a royalty for that.

The next day the celebration continued with lunch by the beach. Neighbors joined in the singing.

Then the group went on a visit to the LongHouse Reserve, a favorite among Wellesley women and indeed the #1 attraction in East Hampton according to TripAdvisor. My favorite attraction is the Yoko Ono chess set...