The recent Pipex show in Portland and Mepsi meeting was one of the best I have attended ever due to the enthusiasm, exhibits, members attending, and socializing. On Thursday evening there was an informal "discussion groups" after dinner that went till late in the evening attended by Bubba Bland, Tad Mackie and wife, Nick Follansbee, Omar Rodriquez, Enrique Trigeros, Jorge Castillo, John Kordich, Mike Roberts,Guy Shaw, Jerry Winerman, Jesper Anderson and wife, myself and others. Friday was filled with review of the interesting exhibits of Pete Taylor, Omar Rodriquez, Tom Amato, Mark Banchik,Marc Gonzales to name just a few and these were as always educational. Friday evening there was a Mepsi evening gathering organized by Pete Taylor that no one wanted to leave due to the excellent food and friendly crowd which everyone agreed was the best yet social event for a Mepsi meeting. I was especially pleased to see some our foreign members at this meeting including Fritz Aebi from Switzerland, Robert Watson from New Zealand, Enrique Trigeros, Jaime Benavides, Gilberto Chong, Enrique Sanchez Garcia and was not able to spend enough time with them. I will say that my impression was that this meeting exceeded everyone's expectations and was truly enjoyable. Pete Taylor as the single representative for Mepsi about the meeting provided an excellent venue and social environment for which he was profusely thanked though probaly not adequate but members that go beyond the norm are pleasantly common in Mepsi. The new cancel book by Pete Taylor was available at this meeting as well as another reverse cancel identification research book that were very popular and in color. For those that are interested in these books Pete Taylor can be contacted for your purchase Although I realize that attendence of Mepsi meetings is difficult for most, I believe that in the future members should strongly consider attendence to learn, explore, view Mexico Philately, discuss issues with the true experts as well as maintain freindships with the your friends in Mepsi. I hope to see everyone in Sarasota in 2014.
R Randall Grace