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We're the Doerings of Rochester NY, USA. Fayne (born Gardner) is a native. Paul (born Doering; it's the system) moved here from Boston in 1958 after graduating from MIT. We were married in 1962. Paul's 66. Fayne isn't.

In 1985 Fayne retired after 25 years as a teacher in the K-6 level in Greece NY. Paul retired in 1991 after a career as a computer specialist in the labs of GM, GRS and Kodak. Fayne's a board member of Pet Pride of NY - a humane society for cats only - and she's a volunteer for WXXI, our public broadcasting station. Paul was a trustee of the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House for ten years and has been a consultant to the Cayuga Museum in Auburn NY. He's writing a biography of Joseph Tykociner, inventor of the talking motion picture.

Together or individually we're interested in genealogy, history, travel, photography, cats, music, acting, and model railroading. Fayne's father Earle invented GarGraves model RR trackage, and her mother Lois ran Gardner the Train Doctor after Earle's death.

In 1998 Fayne brought back a stray kitten from Wellesley Island in the Thousand Islands region on the New York / Ontario border, where we have our cottage. Naturally, his name is Wellesley. We found Ashley a year later in a Maine shelter. So now we have little ambassadors from where our hearts live.

In 1995 Fayne was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. She's fortunate to be in that minority of patients for whom the symptoms progress slowly. We're convinced that she'll be among the first to be cured of the disease. In the meanwhile our job is to keep her fit. She participates in adult-education exercise classes four days a week, and she also bowls on three days. Her neurologist says he's never seen a patient with a better attitude. Paul can vouch for that!

In early 1999 Paul had a minor stroke. It left no discernible behavioral or cognitive traces, so we consider ourselves fortunate for the warning we should adjust to a healthier lifestyle.

Over the years we've formed a special attachment to places in the US. Some of them may be unfamilar to you, so we're including this annotated map. We've also added a few landmarks you're likely to recognize, just to provide some orientation.

Sadly, the page would require too much space if we were to acknowledge every special place. Alaska, for example, wouldn't fit easily, nor would some of the densely situated locales in the northeast where we grew up. At the University of Texas' website, though, there's a wonderful resource for downloadable maps of just about every piece of geography in the world. If you find yourself puzzled about some place-name we allude to, you'll probably be able to find a reference at the Texas site.

Do you have a special place your heart tugs you toward? We hope so. For Fayne it's The Thousand Islands. For Paul it's the Pemaquid pennisula. Here's a one-question quiz to find your heart's true home. If you knew with certainty that the universe would end next week, where would you try to be for those final moments? If you don't have an answer, please accept our condolences.

Here are some links we like -

News, views & travel
Today's Portland Press Herald has the news from Paul's ancestral home in the coastal fishing village of Round Pond, Maine. Never heard of Round Pond? Well, perhaps you're more familiar with the lighthouse at Pemaquid Point about 10 miles south. If you're thinking about exploring this part of the mid-Maine coast, drop by the website of realtor Dewey Chase first. He remembers us, and he can help make your stay pleasant.

Of course, if you're planning a trip to Rochester or you're simply curious about what's happening here, just check with Rochester Today.

We've spent the occasional summer month in London since Paul's retirement. You can check on its weather, see a current picture, and get useful travel tips at Virtual London. Hey, you can even read a virtual copy of the London Times.

And if you drive around North America as we do, you'll love AutoPilot, a web-based router. Enter your starting and ending points, the kinds of roads you like, the price range of your accommodations, etc, and presto! You'll have a routing list ready for printing.

When you travel, do you too rely on public transport at your destination? Then you'll want to know about the Subway Navigator for many major cities throughout the world, with system maps and - get this - estimated travel times between any two stations!

At the other end of the magnitude scale and just for fun, you can view some of IBM's scanning tunneling microscope images.

In 1986 we visited Alaska and fell in love with it. It doesn't hurt that Jerrianne Lowther, widely known then as "The Milepost Lady", lives in Anchorage. Take our advice: don't think of going to Alaska without consulting The Milepost, one of the world's most respected travel guides. Jerrianne took this photo of us on one of the three mornings in that whole year when Mt. McKinley was cloud-free. (Her composition was better, but I cropped it for use here. Sorry, Jerrianne.) You look at the picture and see people, water and a mountain. We look at it and relive the awe. Go see Alaska for yourself; you'll come back changed.

Fayne likes the information at the UK and Ireland genealogy database. It means that she can keep up the research even when she's not prowling through the moss in Ainsworth near Manchester (UK). Her great grandfather Laban Ainsworth was the first judge in Watertown NY.

Odds & ends
Paul grew up in New England, so of course he's a Moxie fanatic. Never had a drink of Moxie? It's a bit like carbonated Robitussin. You'll love it or hate it. Hint: throw in a jigger of Southern Comfort.

Paul's beloved 1989 Merkur Scorpio is a gorgeous extravagance, so he's trying to get smart with Click & Clack at CarTalk. (He's been an on-air caller twice.) He's got a large collection of Scorpio memorabilia, including a lovely little 1:25 Schabak model painted to match his real one, two press kits from the car's introduction in Europe, and many showroom brochures from Europe and the US. Sadly, though, in March of 2003 he retired it and surrendered its cherished MIKYMOUS license plates. Now we're looking for a good home for it.

Rochester hosts one of the US's three best film schools: the Rochester Institute of Technology. For the past several years we've been acting in students' portfolio projects. It's a lot of fun. We meet some really creative filmmakers who'd have a hard time casting their movies if it weren't for volunteers like us. Here's a shot of Paul as Satan in "Come Again", a comedy about the second coming of Christ. (We don't write 'em, folks; we just act in 'em....)

We use the Internet Movie Database to discover the answer to almost any movie trivia question.

Thanks for your interest. Our life is good. We hope yours is too.

This entire website is copyright © 1998 - 2003 Paul F. Doering,
except for material used with permission.
Latest revision to this page: October 15, 2003. Please send comments to:.

Pemaquid Point lighthouse photo © Paul F. Doering 1996.

What was the name you called me?
And why did you go so soon?
-- Carl Sandburg, Evening Waterfall