계획에 없던 일정이라 짧은 틈을 내어 660마일을 달려서
아이들과 함께 미국 독립기념 주말을 즐기고 왔습니다.
짧은 시간을 보내고 떠나 오려니 우리 마음이 짠짠하기 그지없는데
아이들도 이제 할아버지가 은퇴했는데 왜 그리 빨리 가느냐면서
집에 가거던 다시 비행기표 빨리 사서 곧 오라고 하더군요.
미국은 땅이 너무 큰게 흠이지요.
Short and Sweet, 금싸라기같이 귀하고 아름다운 시간이였습니다.
시인은 "한송이 국화꽃을 피우기 위하여 소쩍새는 그렇게 울었나 보다"했는데
우리는 이런 귀한 시간을 가지려고 660 마일을 달려가고
다음을 기약하고 뒤돌아 다시 660 마일을 달려서 오고...
이직 그럴 수 있음에 감사하며 살아갑니다.

July the 4th 참 잘 보내셨습니다.
사진을 보노라니, Water Mill이 나오는군요.
우리 아들 집은 Moses Ln, Southampton이니, 멀지 않은 곳에 있습니다.
세집 가족이 모였다가, 맏 아들 가족과 둘째는 어제 이곳을 떠났고, 오늘 저녁에는 며느리가 맨해튼 아파트로 가겠고,
이집에는 Kindergarten 마친 손주 둘과 우리 둘이 남았지요.
First Grade 준비 책을 마련해서 공부를 시켜 달라는 게 첫째 요청이며, 다음은 Summer Camp에 차로 데리고 갔다가 데려 오기로 되어서
비교적 분주한 여름입니다. 그런데 Montauk Hwy 27 으로 왔다갔다 할 때에 Water Mill을 지납니다. 대단히 복잡한 길이더군요.
여기 보이는 Hydrangeas가 장관입니다. 좀 더 오래 아드님 집에서 손주와 함께 지내고면 더욱 좋겠습니다. 정관호

우리 손자들도 매일 Summer camp에 다니고 있어요.
Montauk Highway #27은 늘 바쁜 길이지요.
뉴욕에서 오가는 차량이 많은데도 길을 넓히지 않고
될수 있으면 그대로 자연을 보존하려고 고집하는 모양입니다.
손주들 데리고 다니시느라고 수고가 많으십니다.
우리 손주들은 school bus가 집으로 데리러 오고 데려다 주더군요.
공기 맑고 Farmers' Market에 신선한 야채와 과일이
아름다운 꽃과 어울리고 지금 Privet 나무 꽃향기가 은은한 계절,
손주들과 청량한 여름을 즐기시기 바랍니다.
저희들이 시간이 있었더라면 찾아 뵐 수 있었을터인데
아쉽게 되었습니다.ㅕ

손자는 Camp bus인지, School bus인지 갔다, 왔다 하는데요,
손녀가 다른 걸 원해서, 할수 없이 월, 수, 금은 East Hampton의 CDCH란 곳에 등교, 퇴고를 시키고, 화, 목은 Sagaponach의 MADOO안 곳에 역시
데려다주고, 데려 옵니다. 큰 아들의 두 아이 자랄 때에는 이런 걸 모르다가, 이번에 30일간 여기와서 주중에 아이들 부모가 우리에게 완전히 맡겨 놓고 저희는
주말에 와서 함께 있게 되었습니다. 이것도 새로운 경험이라 생각하지요.
그럼, 두 분 풍성한 여름에 즐겁게 지나시기 바랍니다.

Water Mill - passed by many times on the way to Joe's
and even before those days - to Montauk Point, the end of the world.

660 miles drive back and forth !!
Approximately 22 hours in total - about same flight hours to and fro Korea.
But Worthy Trip to see Children and Grandchildren, I think.

I present you "Concerto de la mer", Mrs Cho & Dr. Jeoung sunbaenim
for your memory of Hampton, LI, NY;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRr_RW6YHFo

Yes, you are right, it seems the end of the world, but special one.
And there is the oldest light house at the end of the Island.
Only if the #27 doesn't get jammed on Fridays.
5, 10 miles an hour for last lag?
The residents seem know to avoid that traffic jam.
Is Joe's your friend's place?
Thank you, Dr. Bang, for the music.

Joe is a very close friend of mine more than quarter century, Mrs. Cho.
As I once said, he is a self-made billionaire, American shipping tycoon,
but very humble man - never showing, nor boasting his wealth.

And he cooks and washes dishes for guests - which I try to learn.
He is one year older than me and used to have his comapany branches
around the world - 37 countries including Korea. You can say he is a
multi-national entreprenuer.

Hampton house is his getaway place during summer and weekends.
He lives in Scarsdale, NY.

Thank you, Dr. Bang, introducing your friend, Joe.
He seems to be quite an accomplished man.

On our previous two visits here, we were picked up and dropped down at the airport by Jim. I didn't have a chance to drive on my own until this time. Let me come up with my daily mileage; which is 20 mi X 4=80 mi (per day) requiring 45 to 50 min X 4 = 180 to 200 min per day. In addition to this chauffeur(hood), I am supposed to teach first grade Math and English to Chloe, and primarily writing skills to Lucas. I have some more physical work which is unskilled labor plainly speaking. Watering 10 to 15 newly planted trees is the most urgent since individualized sprinkling system stopped working. I also cut out rather big branches from an old pine tree with manual saw, large-framed cutter, and a telescopic saw and scissor combination, to save a precious rhododendron almost choked under this monstrous pine! I haven't been in such a low status in terms of my landscaping feat. We are just glad to go home in two weeks. Enjoy your orgeous summer.

Sounds like you've got more than you bargained, Dr. Chung.
But you must be in such good shape that you are entrusted
with such busy daily itinerary and mighty vigorous chores.
Dr. Chung, I bet you will get stronger and younger
by the time you are ready to return home.
But be careful with the tools in the garden and driving on #27.
Your garden sounds matured and beautiful.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Cho.
I will keep your friendly advice in my mind.
For your information, I am getting used to the Hampton car driving.
But this afternoon, it personally accomplished the record of the slowest driving, actually snail-paced crawling one hour and forty minutes from Sagg Main St to the house.
I calculated the speed as 20/1.66=12 (miles per hour), which is my new record. If you know any contest for the slowest driving, please let me know.

When we got there last Friday morning around 9:00AM
thinking we surely would beat the holiday traffic,
it still took us about 45 minutes for last 16 miles, on #27,
stalling, crawling, inching to the house.
Next time we will start driving at the wee hour of dawn
after stopping overnight around the New Jersey/New York border.
Time for you to practice your PATIENCE(인내), 정선생님.

Traffic jam at Long Island? It's notorious. That's why I call it L~o~n~g Island,
not with one 'Long', but two or three 'L~o~n~g' Island.
I know that because of my golf outings at LIE Exit 44- Bethpage, Exit 66- Middle Island,
and etc. They say L~ong Island has 150 Golf Courses in all with a course like as follow;
http://www.linationalgc.com/

Of course, I didn't, couldn't get on all the courses because there are many private, hidden,
not known to the small guys like me. Next time, I'll talk about a few memorable visits to
L~o~n~g Island, if I have my chance.

If you can't beat them, join them. While waiting for the jam to clear up, I might as well meditate like a philosopher or sage.