Connie having been a retired Navy Officer, allows them to visit military installations. They were at Andrews AFB shortly after the 9/11 Disaster. The way that the military personnel and citizens in the areas handled the situation made them proud of this great country. Wherever they went they saw people coming together to show love and support for each other and making their areas safer even if it meant long hours and inconvenience in their personal lives. Their dedication and patriotism to their country made the Tobia's appreciate what a wonderful country this is and how the good in people shines through during difficult times.

Springtime 2004 found Edna Carpenter (Computations, 1996) and Louise Morris (Computations, 2002) on a Danube River Cruise from Vienna, Austria to the Black Sea. This included at least one stop in Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Romania concluding with a boat trip through the Biosphere wildlife preserve in the Danube Delta.

The trip was organized through UC Alumni, Bear Treks, and Intrav, who chartered the Cruise. Vincent Resh, lecturing Professor from UC Berkeley, whose expertise on ecology of large river systems tied together the ecological, historical, and economic impact of the Danube River on the countries visited. The tour visited at least one city in each country, usually the Capitol, where local guides provided the narrative responded to their questions.

The ship was German built, with Austrian registry and Romanian crew. Cuisine was Continental and the entire experience truly First Class. Altogether, there were 90 passengers, including an Alumni group from the Univ. of Washington, so it was a small ship experience with modern travel comforts in a truly historical, and mostly unknown to tourists, region of Europe.

Alice (Travel, 1975) and Tony (ME, 1980) Schwarber spent the 4th of July at Liberty Lake in Eastern Washington State. In the morning there was a children's parade with decorated wagons, bikes and costumes, everything was red white and blue. Afternoon was a pot luck supper at a lakeside cottage. The evening featured a free concert at Pavilion Park, Blue Grass music. Grandparents down to toddlers attended. Children danced in front of the stage. They watched 25 minutes of magnificent fireworks at l0.00p.m. A real old fashioned fourth.

August's Retiree luncheon will be held at Cattleman's' restaurant at noon on August 18th. Click here to make reservations. Our speaker will be Steve Bowen, a summer intern student from UCLA. His topic is Medical Management of Nuclear/Radiological Incidents and Casualties. He will address Consequence Management in the event of a nuclear or radiological disaster.

Please send any news or input (please include the date and department from which you retired) to Jane or Gus Olson. E-Mail: Jane@LLNLRetirees.org or Gus@LLNLRetirees.org.

This article appears in the August Retirees' Corner in Newsline.