Keeping cool

What a hot summer it's been! Amelia found a unique way to beat the heat during a visit to the NC Zoo a few weeks ago...



For more about our trip to the zoo, check out our blog.

Enjoy your summer!

....

PS... We want photos of Claire's pirate birthday!!!!! Heard about the amazing handmade costume... need to see pictures!!!

More of Patrick in Japan...

We don't have to worry about Patrick's accomodations in Japan - he's staying at the Park Hyatt (scene of Lost in Translation) for a few days.

He recently visited Disneyland, and the Great Budda Statue in Kamakura.







He has taken some incredible photos, which can be found at this link: Click here to see Patrick's photos

Graduation from Gettysburg

Emily's graduation May 21, 2006. I flew to Virginia to help Em move into her apartment in Williamsburg. Then we drove up to Gettysburg, met up with Rob and Claire, and went out to Gabor Boritt's farm. We sat out by their beautiful lake and talked about dad with Gabor and Liz...

Then Nancy joined us for graduation, which was outside Penn Hall on a gorgeous windy day (which explains my hair).


During the ceremony I got a call saying Claire's flight had been cancelled, so we leaped into action; Rob went to help Em pack up her car, Nancy and I rushed Claire to BWI to catch a train, Rob and Em drove down to Wburg, Claire caught another flight (long story), Nancy and I visited with Judith (see previous post), and drove back to Gburg.







A complex, confusing, and thoroughly wonderful and inspiring weekend. And it didn't feel like dad was very far away from it all...

Emily Hummel in Colonial Williamsburg

Here is Miss Emily in her first day as "Orientation Interpreter." A little blurry, but that adds to the mystery, methinks. The most often asked question of the day apparently was, "Could you tell me where Mr. Jefferson is?" And Em's answer was, "Why, madam, I believe he is right behind you."

Patrick Donahue in Japan

Patrick's first full day in japan. He went to visit one of the local temples and was met by hundreds of elementary school kids on field trips. Note he's wearing his Grandpa Kemp's cap... More to come!

how splendid the day has been

Yesterday, Tom Jr., Jenny, Anne, and Nancy came up to Pepperdine to attend the Board of Regent’s meeting. The board passed a resolution acknowledging Tom's more than 15 years of service. Tommy accepted on behalf of his family and, while he made no trucker references, he gave a great speech.

We also spent time with Russ Ray and others on the board. No one has done more than Russ to encourage people to honor Tom at Pepperdine. Bill Banowsky, former president of Pepperdine, talked briefly of how Tom started influencing the board 30 years ago, right down to the way they print the agenda to this day. I think Bill served as a director at Coke for a while and stole some of their good ideas.

I brought my camera into the meeting all set to capture the moment for posterity. I got two pictures—this is the best. I chickened out for fear of ruining the moment (my dad should have been there—he would have walked right up front and done it right). Oh well, at least you can tell they had ample iced tea and coffee on the table. In this photo Tommy is talking about the hours he spent reading Proust in the library as a student.

Jim Wilburn then took the four of us to lunch. There were lots of stories, but for some reason the conversation focused on the dangers of GPS and uncle Tom’s driving skills.

I was sorry Stu had to leave early—she missed the Jon and Jim Nickel Tour of Pepperdine’s new graduate campus. We wrapped up the visit at the Heroes Garden, dedicated to the memory of September 11, 2001.

It was a great day, most of all because we could savor it together. I asked Jim to share a copy of his remarks from the memorial service. You can read the full text here. I hope others will post the text of their remarks. At the service, he spoke about a photo of the two of them in the Kremlin—I’ll see if he can find it and maybe share it here. Jim closes with a great quote, which I like very much:

My mother used to play on the piano after dinner some nights one of her favorite songs, “When You Come to the End of a Perfect Day,” and we have all known some days that we wish would simply not end because they have gone so perfectly. But then, we do not know how perfect they have been until they are complete. And there are lives of deeply spiritual people having a human experience that are so perfectly lived that we can only take their full measure when they are completed. Tom’s life, as much as any I have experienced, was a life so perfectly lived. And, as Sophocles, the Greek poet reminded us three millennia ago, “We must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.”

Thanks Tom, Jenny, Anne and Nancy for a great visit. And thanks Jim, for making it possible to share this together. I know how special Tom was to you.

Jon

Aloha from the Brinsons!

Love having a Kemp Family Blog... what a great idea!

For a quick Brinson update...
We (Dick Kemp family) recently got back from Maui and are slowly easing back into reality. It's so hard to say good-bye to Elua Village. Thank goodness Uncle Tom and Aunt Betty stumbled upon this little slice of paradise 20+ years ago! I don't care if I ever vacation any where else... it's hard to beat the beautiful condos, the gorgeous beach, the great times, and sweet memories.

Amelia loved her first Hawaii trip and can't wait to go back! She was a trooper on the plane and adjusted quickly to Maui time. Getting back on Chapel Hill time has been the challenge. Amelia and Maddie were joined at the hip - they would start and end their days on the beach. Amazingly, they managed to leave some sand down by the water.

The rest of us split our time joining the little girls at the beach or the pool, drinking smoothies, eating at the Maui Onion, zip-lining, golfing, mt. biking the back-side of Haleakala, reading, taking lots and lots of pictures, or just plain basking in the glory of Wailea.

Soon we'll be posting a full recap on our blog... be sure to check it out. Until then, what's going on with everyone else?!

Nancy and Anne visit Judith

AtJudiths
Originally uploaded by akhummel.

Haven't got any photos back from Emily's graduation, but thought I'd post this one of Nancy and my visit to Judith's house. After graduation, Rob and Em packed up and drove to Virginia, while Nancy and I rushed Claire to the airport to get back to RISD. Judith gave Nancy and I a tour of the big house. We got to see all the kids and meet the lovely Miss Colleen for the first time (she certainly looks excited to meet us!). Then we three went off to dinner where we were treated to a surprise visit by Jimmy, Susan, Jonah, Marco, and Benjie (sorry, no photo). A couple of days ago Rob, Claire, and I were up in Seattle and made a late night visit to see Jeff and Stacy, Kory and girlfriend, Kolby and Keegan (oops - no photo... too tired from all that Bulgarian dancing at the Folklife Festival. Don't know why Jeff didn't want to join us there...). As soon as I remember how to send out invitations for you all to post your own musings on this site, I'll send them out. Love, Anne

Tom and Sameel

TPKandSameel
Originally uploaded by akhummel.

3/25/06 Dad is showing Najla's son where he's going to learn how to skimboard. Najla is Daoud's sister who was visiting from Maryland. It was a Saturday morning, so, of course, this was followed by breakfast at the White House where Sameel was introduced to "strawberry waffles without whipped cream and crisp-but-not-burned bacon" and a trip to Crazy Shirts.

Welcome!

This site was started on Wednesday, May 3rd, after Uncle Dick was talking about all that dad did to keep in touch with family. When someone had mentioned how hard it is to keep all those relationships going, Dick said, "Welcome to Thomasville!" If you're here, that means you're interested in finding out what other Kemps are doing and thinking, and I hope you'll do some posting yourself. So, in the spirit of Tom Kemp, let's stay connected. Love, Anne