Traditionally, each July and August we suspend our weekly formal meetings in favor of a “Summer Casual” schedule.

For those of you who are among our newer members, that simply means we like to socialize, renew acquaintances with members’ families, and share a picnic, a drink, a game, a field trip, or anything that works as a summertime activity.

In normal times — remember those? — we have had pool parties, picnics and a baseball game at the Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy, an evening of summer theater at the Mac-Haydn Theatre in Chatham, etc. This summer, we’ll be pressed to come up with some alternatives, given the state’s pandemic-era restrictions. (However, the ValleyCats will be playing this summer in the Frontier League, and Mac-Haydn says it will have some sort of season starting in mid- to late-summer rather than in May as usual.)

What helps is that, to the best of our knowledge, all club members have been fully vaccinated. According to the latest CDC guidance, people who are fully vaccinated can associate with other fully vaccinated people with only “miniscule” chance of a COVID problem. Thus, we’re asking anyone who wishes to attend any events — significant others included — to do so only if fully vaxxed.

We have four Thursdays each in July and August to fill. We already have word from Debbie and Peter Brown that they will host an outdoor get-together at their home and from Roberto Martinez and Jim Leyhane that they will do likewise at one of their residences. No specific dates have yet been announced, but we now know we have at least six dates open.

If you would like to hold some sort of “Summer Casual” event or to plan an outing for the club, please let incoming president Debbie Rodriguez and/or webmaster Bill Dowd know so the date can be reserved and publicized.

The July-August schedule:

JULY

01 — Holiday lead-in, no meeting

04 — Fourth of July holiday

08 — Summer Casual event (TBD)

15 — Summer Casual event (TBD)

22 — Summer Casual event (TBD)

29 — Summer Casual event (TBD)

AUGUST

05 — Summer Casual event (TBD)

12 — Summer Casual event (TBD)

19 — Summer Casual event (TBD)

26 — Summer Casual event (TBD)