Chapter 2: First Days in Albany

My friends Lou and Lorraine live in the Albany suburbs. I hadn't seen Lorraine in 4 or 5 years (on the occasion of her business trip to San Francisco) and hadn't seen Lou since 1998. It was a great reunion and we spent a couple hours catching up before bedtime. I met L&L back in 1979 when we all worked in the same department of the NYS government. Lorraine is an attorney and Lou, at the time, was a member of the department's executive staff. They gave me the courage and the push I needed to leave my clerical state job and go to France for the first time in 1981. They've always welcomed me into their home and this trip was no exception. Such good friends!

The next day, we went to a local luncheonette for muffins and coffee before L&L went off to work. I stopped in to see my grandmother and aunt in Albany, then headed downtown to see some new buildings and to take photos. Here's my gram's house and a photo of the two of us: