I’m writing in the heat of this hot, hot summer, having just returned to Minnesota from a “best of Maine” tour with my family. Of course, we visited the old alma mater, spent egregious amounts on Colby propaganda at the bookstore, and wandered around campus as much as the 97-degree day would permit. We visited Tom ’65 and Nancy Ryen Morrione ’65 at their home on Great Pond, showing my children that our Land of 10,000 Lakes has nothing on The Way Life Should Be. I also had a mini-reunion in Portland with Meg Christie and Will Cheever ’85 and Doug St. Lawrence, who braved the I-95 traffic to drive up from Mass. Tracy Gionfriddo planned to come from Conn., but her little Emma got sick. We missed you, Tracy. The trip was a raging success: I ate lobster five times and got a new Colby T-shirt. * Neha Patel Kishan recently moved to Basel, Switzerland, for two years because of work. Her 6- and 8-year-olds are excited, and her 1-1/2-year-old is happy for anything. * Maria Douglass and her family are settling in at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. They took a spring break trip to Italy and planned a summer trip to Iceland. * Robin Trend Baughan says she never writes because she never has any news. I don’t believe that and expect a long e-mail next time, Robin. * Dawna Zajac Perez works at Northern Essex Community College, where she is an associate dean and the new grievance officer and is spearheading the launch of a Student Success Center and early alert pilot. In October Dawna spoke at the National Association of Community College Entrepreneurship annual conference in Portland, Ore. * Fellow Iowan Tom Wieck wrote with tales of an exciting 2011, including trips to Vegas, Disneyland, India, Santiago, Chile, and Sao Paolo, Brazil. Tom works at Pioneer Hi-Bred, with what he says is the longest title of his career: “DuPont production systems mindsets and behaviors coach, the Americas.” Tom’s kids are becoming experts at sports camp, and his wife, Erin, a second grade teacher, spent her summer driving them all over. The family planned to do one day of the famous bike ride across Iowa, RAGBRAI, this summer. * Look in bookstores for Gerry Hadden’s new book, Never the Hope Itself: Love and Ghosts in Latin America and Haiti. Gerry’s third child was due in September, as if publishing a book weren’t accomplishment enough. Gerry caught up with Dan Sullivan and Larry Collins this summer at Gerry’s home in Barcelona and in the south of France. * Carolyn Lockwood was recently named the director of Maine’s Bureau of Rehabilitation Services in the Department of Labor. Congratulations! * Bill and Anne Webster Stauffer and their two daughters vacationed this summer in Seattle, where they had dinner with Kate Roosevelt, who is executive VP of The Collins Group, a company that helps nonprofits with fundraising and other services. Kate and her partner recently bought land for a summer home in Port Townsend, Wash. Bill and Anne also saw Greg Russell and his family in Washington. Bill reports that Greg “was hard at work shucking oysters, which the kids gobbled up before the adults had a chance to eat any.” Kelly Doyle is planning a trip to China and has been e-mailing Bill with questions. Finally, Bill says his “biggest executive decision of the year was to allow (give in) my 10-year-old to get her ears pierced.” * I hope you all had a fabulous summer. Please write and tell me all about it!