As told by Marty (with added comments by Pamela)
Last updated 20-August-2002, any feedback about this page should be e-mailed to Marty (after you remove the leading "z" in the e-mail address).
In April 1980 Marty (then a post-doctoral trainee in Medical Physics at the Department of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale) noticed a nice-looking "sheila" (an Australian-ism meaning something like "babe") running at one of the indoor tracks at the Payne Whitney Gymnasium at Yale University. He tried to pick her up - he failed (miserably).
Plan-B; he got to know some people she knew and then got an introduction. After a few casual runs together they started dating.
More dating and the next thing you know, they were running in the 20km New Haven, Connecticut Labor Day (12.4 mi.) road race. Pamela finished 50th out of some 350 women in the race (most of whom were much younger than Pamela's 35 years).
Thank you my love.
Not long after, in October 1980 they purchased a home together on Whittier Road in New Haven. The house sat at the top of a hill making it an awful place to run from.
Otherwise, it had a 1/4-acre lot and room for Pamela to set up some gardens. Our best neighbor was Quiche, the next-door cocker spaniel. She was a fetching fool, bringing rocks to us so we could throw them for her over and over and over again!
Other events in 1981 included a trip to Florida to visit Marty's mom. While we were there, we took a side trip to see less ferocious critters - the alligators in Loxahatchie Wildlife Refuge. Pamela (left) still found them a bit much and spent much time in the observation tower!
Social road races continued, but Pamela chose to simply cheer on our friend Maureen at the Hammonasset State Park race.
And Pamela kept running and running and running. This time in the Milford Women's Road Race.
At least I got to take photographs.
We got together with some friends, Pete M, and Pete S. to climb New Hampshire's Mount Washington.
It was, as usual just a bit windy. The summit sign gave some shelter for Pamela (I admit it, I also used Marty as a wind barrier.).
On the way down Pamela stepped into a hole and very badly sprained her ankle. Pete M. was an experienced trainer and medical student. He made some recommendations - but Pamela decided to just tough it out.
Well, she made it down. Only when we removed her hiking boots did we see just how bad a sprain it was.
One more time, Marty ran the new Haven Road Race.
I sat it out and got to play with my camera, and to tease Marty about his "chicken legs."
Pamela and Marty had many visitors to their new home, including some of her family from Australia. They included her cousin (by marriage), Deborra-Lee Furness (left) and her aunt (by marriage) Fay (right).
Deborra-Lee is an award-winning actor and lately producer. She's married to another actor of renown, Hugh Jackman. They have an adopted son, Oscar.
After 2-1/2 years of "discussions," I got Marty off his butt. So ...In the spring of 1982 Pamela one day told Marty "we're going out to adopt some cats and not coming home 'till we have some!" And so they did - getting a couple of kittens from the North Haven (no-kill) Animal Shelter. Meet brother and sister Pest and Squeak.
The kittens sort of named themselves. Pest would climb up to our shoulders again and again and again... Squeak's meow was a pitiful "squeak."
Pamela set the house rules for the cats. They included locking them up at night in their own room; no visiting counter tops; no biting or scratching people; no messes outside the litter box; and no people food.
So much for enforcement!
Squeak was a very persuasive kitty.
And then there was the gardening... It started very modestly at first. Just a few plants in front of the house. Then a small vegetable garden alongside the house. Then a garden bed in the front lawn. But it seemed to stop there. Oh - except for the (big) rocks that had to be moved in the back yard. Luckily, the one that got away from Marty and friend Doug didn't make it all the way down the hill to the back neighbor's house!
Little did he know where this little bit of initial gardening would lead!
While living in New Haven, Marty's mom came to visit (the proverbial little old lady with silver hair - other than her back-seat driving, we got along fine).
While there, she had to contend with the horrible attack cats, Pest and Squeak. Marty's mom sat with pillows on her lap to keep the cats off. Of course the cats thought that this was a great game...
These same, vicious, attack cats routinely went after Pamela's sneaker laces and one-another's tails.
When we took Marty's mom to the airport for her return trip to Florida, we drove out onto Long Island to see where he grew up. First we visited his two-bedroom home in Elmont (getting a tour from the owner), and then we visited his grammar school and high school (not shown).
Then there were the home improvement projects. We built a back deck. First a retaining wall, then 12" of sand, and then concrete pavers... It was a backbreaking job, but worked out well.
Marty also installed a spar-and-pulley system for a bird feeder over the new deck. It quickly became a squirrel feeding station. It was fun watching Marty re-invent baffles and such to block the furry thieves. It took him about 3 years to win the battle.
Yea, yea, but did I mention the gardening?
More and more patches were being turned into flower and vegetable beds. Little did I know that it was just the beginning.
For in-the-house projects, Pamela made a baby blanket for her nephew Bradley.
(If she had just raised her head a bit, we would have had a "Kilroy Was Here" image!)
Marty just played with the cats; well maybe in this case it was mutual.
Hey - Pamela played with the cats too!
Of course the cats, particularly Pest, played with her. We were convinced that Pest thought that Pamela was his mother. He so often tried to suckle (usually at her neck!) that he would give her a hickey. Weird cat!
He also made me go skiing - but that's a whole other story.
This image is from a hike somewhere in New Hampshire.
I think that he liked New Hampshire because it got cold - ugh!
Pamela and I went on a beautiful set of hikes during a November 1982 vacation. We stayed at a little bungalow in northern New Hampshire and went for day hikes.These images were taken going up to, and at the top of, Carter Dome (just north of the Wildcat Ski area and due east of Mount Washington).
He says beautiful, I say flipping cold! The Carter Dome hike was about 14 miles long, up and down 3000 vertical feet in 10° F cold, and in 10-inches of new snow! At the summit he wanted a photo and asked me to "smile for your mom." I growled. Smiling was not an option by then. Gravity was the only thing that got me back down to the car. The next day I was only good for level ground.
We spent a week in a motel just outside the park and went on day hikes. I was forced to have several lobster dinners since that was almost all that was available there on the coast of Maine, poor me.
We had windy beautiful days and calm beautiful days...
Wind is not my favorite thing!
Another thing 'bout hiking. It builds up your gluteus maximus muscles. Marty could sure use some!
We also did a fair amount of in-the-woods hiking. Pamela enjoyed checking out the plant life. (Have I mentioned her interest in gardening?)
I was terrified of the snakes though. Marty thought this was hilarious.
This was a good vacation. It left us tired, out of film, and windblown. But it also left us smiling.
But that gave me more time for the cats.
I had long been a Yankees fan thanks to having gone to New Haven Yankee (farm club) games. Here I'm doing my best to interest Squeaker in the team.
This time we went up and down by Tuckerman's Ravine routes (on the eastern face of the mountain).
The oddest thing is that we met our friend Pete S. at the summit. He was on his annual fall pilgrimage - but had come up from the west.
Small world.
A week later, while having a "leaving town" party at their home they surprised their friends by breaking out champagne and announcing that they had gotten married a week ago!
Pamela had to resign her job of 19-years and then it was on to Rhode Island...