February 1991 SOUTH MOUNTAIN MEANDERINGS

by Travis Hardin

WHO'S THAT smiling at us from the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires? It's Marshall and Karen Hamilton, who returned in mid-January from a 16-day visit to Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Ask to see their pictures and hear about their experiences.

Remember Rosemary McDermott, whose conversion to Maryland Mensa made these pages? After nearly aceing the Pennsylvania Bar exam, Rosemary is now studying for the Maryland Bar, continuing to add to her already impressive credentials.

January 10, Frederick: Everybody attributed it to CABIN FEVER. They kept coming, and we kept adding tables. Seventeen people, almost half of them from Baltimore and environs, got a simultaneous urge to go to SMM at Pizza Hut. According to Casey, "I had to get out, and I saw this in the calendar." Is that an endorsement, or what?

Fred and Inge Davis and our enthusiastic leader Carol Baldwin were the vanguard, followed by Greg Pacek, Travis Hardin, Jan Carey, Ruthanne Evans, Stuart Scarborough, and Anjel Scarborough (who had received a temporary dispensation from Frederick County NOW due to a meeting date change).

Enthusiastic booster Casey Mashburn, Bill and Jan Todd with wonder baby Rachel, very good neighbors Charles Karow and Ann Luoma, and the brother/sister team of Steven and Sharon Dean rounded out the merry throng.

Prospective member and Sons of the Desert (for Laurel and Hardy admirers) coordinator Jan Carey needs you if you have a big living room, and you need her. Jan, who lives near Frederick, has on tape ninety-five percent of all the Laurel and Hardy movies every made, but lacks a place suitable for showing them to a group. How about a volunteer?

Cabin Fever Fragments Overheard:

"...to the strict Jew, sperm is sacred..." --F.D.

"...so my friend named her parrot Onan because he kept spilling his seed." --A.L.

"...best desert soldiers? Women with PMS, because they're nastier and retain water better." --Anon.

"...if there's a draft, you might be writing to me in Canada, or in jail." G.P.

"...I'd rather be writing to you in Saudi Arabia." --C.B.

"...humanist? A Humanist is a Christian with REAL principles." --T.H.

"...you call your computer Spot?" "Yes. It ate my homework." --B.T. (Spot is cured now.)

WHAT ARE FRIENDS FOR? Inge and Fred Davis and Carol Baldwin, going to Florida separately last week, planned to meet each other and surprise former Frederick Pizza Hut manager Bob Schultz at his restaurant in Satellite Beach. They were all surprised. It was January 16, the night war began. Bob brought out the radio, and all cheery talk ended. Carol said it was good to be among friends.

You of Maryland Mensa mean so much to me. You are fresh air and sunshine. You are spring, and rare wildflowers growing on the hill. I thank you from the bottom of my heart: Carol Baldwin, Jenny Foster, and Tom Shields, for not permitting me to forget a milestone birthday at the December M4; Tim Hardy, our usually dignified patriarch, for encouraging a couple dozen people to slap their name tags on my back; to Kitty and Garth Baxter of Westminster, for being there; to Bill Miles and Bill Reeve, who, in a restaurant after M4, gave me a preview of life after fifty, accompanying their free advice with swooping hand motions as if describing the crash of '29! What are friends for?