Let it Snow

Woke up this morning and thought we had been transported back three years to Ottawa.  But wait, three years ago in Ottawa there was no snow.  Not now in Maryland, nor in NJ nor in Mass. nor in.....NY or IL either I imagine.  We're getting clobbered.  But it's Saturday, the third Saturday it's snowed.  What's happened to snow days?  

We kept alive one Christmas tradition this year, by taking the shortcut on putting up the tree and hoping it would be all right.  Three days later, after being all decorated it fell down.   We also started another by joining the world of outside lighting.  Slowly and cautiously.  We have a small tree outside the house lit up.  

Joe came out and helped decorate the tree.  He had taken the day off to take his GRE's and did very well, well enough to ensure spots in several programs he will be applying to.  Then, the next day he forwarded us his e-mail acceptance from Oxford!  The one in the U.K.!  Wow.  Congrats.  He is applying for a Masters Degree program in Economics.   Margaret has yet to hear from her applications for new jobs.  She had traveled up to Providence for an interview at RISD, but has not heard back.  She keeps applying and will eventually get a new job.   We had a good visit with Annie around Thanksgiving and she organized a cheap ticket for coming home for Christmas (she had to work Thanksgiving.  She's also trying to figure out how to get back to China next summer.  

We also had a good visit from Peter, for a night, who was down here to stop in to see Janet's cousin who is ill.   

Other news:  John and Mary went to a guitar class for Christmas songs!  Margaret went to the movie and recommends The Road.  And I got together briefly with Jeffrey yesterday to make sure he had Grandma's Christmas card.  He and Melodie are traveling north next week.  

Spoke with Grandma, Andrew (actually Lur) and David a couple of times.  Everyone is fine and busy.  Grandma had a nice visit from Caroline Rousch, the mother of Annie's Pomfret roommate.   

The Christmas cards are coming in and the shopping bags are coming in through the front door.  Today would have been more shopping and mailing, but looks like it's an indoors day for cleaning up and organizing and wrapping and writing the weekly letter!!  

One thing I have learned about writing this "letter" is how hard it is to keep contributing each week.  Pop had a work ethic and discipline that didn't pass on to the next generation.  At least this next generation unit.   Also on my to-do list today is to do the Christmas letter.  We'll see.   

Merry Christmas to all of you.  Love from down here.

Thanksgiving!

And we had much to be thankful for.  Starting with having our first turkey day with Grandma in #*(^  years.  Can't even remember the last one, but we did remember a lot of Thanksgivings with a) early morning drives from Silver Spring  b) hundreds of people sleeping all over the place  c) us taking over Uncle Jim's and Aunt Georgia's house in Greenwich for the weekend, and probably a few others as well.
 
Anyway, all those who think Thanksgiving is the best holidayt, raise your hands.  It's unanimous.  John had driven up on Saturday to get Grandma the week before, and she spent the whole week, climbing stairs, looking for the spoons, dodging the dog, reading two books, and doing the crossword puzzle every day (with John reading the clues.)  She's good at that by the way.  But of course we already knew that.   
 
Unfortunately, we missed Melodie and Jeffrey who were planning on coming over, but Jeff got a cold and they had their own version of Thanksgiving (see photo.)  We did get a chance to see them for brunch on Sunday before, where Jeffrey beat John in the pancake eating contest.  
 
Joe and Margaret came over for turkey and a quiet meal with way too much food.  Annie arrived Friday as she had to work Thanksgiving Day.  She's here now, and she and Margaret and Mary are doing the right thing for the economy that they refused to do last Friday.  Joe missed Annie as he caught an early morning flight to Alabama to join friends there for a weekend of college football fever and some outdoors shenanigans, I think.
 
What's Thanksgiving without a weekend movie?  We did a Philip Seymour Hoffman film festival watching "Doubt" with Grandma and then "Pirate Radio" on Saturday.  Recommend them both, especially the latter for those music buffs who want to re-live the greatest music ever.
 
Here's one I bet nobody else did on Sunday - we went to Thanksgiving dinner all over again.  Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and pies, and theyu weren't even leftovers.  Some Peace Corps friends who just moved to the area had their dinner on Sunday. 
 
So, here it is Monday, and we're going to have....pizza.  Back to normalcy of good eating.   Hope you all had a great turkey day!  Love from down here.

Goodbye and thank you

It seems as if we have lost our dear Bridget.  She wandered off two weeks ago and despite extensive efforts and a large reward, there is no sign she was ever seen again.  We have driven around the neighborhood countless times and put up signs, walked every part of the wooded areas and no clue.  We don't think anyone would have taken her in because she's pretty sorry looking – she's 19 nineteen years old – and deep into dog dementia.  Even if she'd been able to hold out somehow her kidneys have failed and she needs "doggy dialysis" three times a week.  No matter what happened, the dementia is a blessing as she would not have known what was happening. 

We're all very sad about this, and I think more so than many goodbyes to dogs.  By the time I had left college, I had known a number of dogs.  Bridget is the only one Johanna and Sean have ever known.  And for Janet and I, she's the only dog we've had as adults.  No one will ever convince any one of us that there was ever a better dog, anywhere, any time.

We're going to put together a book of memories of Bridget.  Janet is already plotting a new dog.

Veterans Day

A day off.  And it rained all day; Mary had to work, and John had been hoping to ride his bike down to the mall to see the vets and the Vietnam Memorial.  Instead, John had a taste of retirement.  He stayed home, exercised, read and made dinner.  It worked today, but can it work every day?
 
It was a relatively quiet week.  We had Sunday brunch with Margaret and Joe, which was fun, catching up on their work lives, their short-term plans for school or new jobs and other stuff.  We parted ways when they went off to watch the Patriots play and we stayed home to watch the Bengals play Baltimore.  We means John.
 
David sent us a CD last week with a post-it on top explaining it was a new top ten list of songs.  When we played it, it was just one song - "Tequila".  Hmmm.  It did provoke a phone call for an explanation, and a little catching up with what's going in Fairport.  We also talked baseball (World Series) and football.  If men didn't have sports, there'd be nothing to talk about.  I just can't get Grandma to talk about pro sports though.  Or college sports either.
 
She, by the way, is good, and is practicing walking up and down stairs to get ready for Thanksgiving here, if everyone stays healthy.  And we're working on that.  Melodie and Jeff are coming over as well.  Annie has to work, but is coming down the day after for a week.
 
Annie has stories.  Lots of them.  She is figuring out the favorite films of some of the young people she works with, and viewing habits.  One person puts on a dvd and then walks around the room without watching anything.  Kind of sad.
 
Mary's brother Tim has moved to Mexico.  He has a place an hour or so south of San Diego.  Sounds nice, and we all hope it's away from all the troubles in the country.
 
This weekend we broke down and raked leaves.  The leaf blower from Pomfret comes in handy on our deck.  With three big oak trees on the property we get a lot of leaves, and nice shade in the summer.
 
We also went out to dinner with Peace Corps friends who had moved here with their high school children after living out of the country for the last 25 years.  They are having some adjustment issues, and it looks like they will be leaving after only a year.  The wife is Irish so we talked health care quite a bit, and that is one of their adjustment issues, trying to deal with health care when they have had everything provided 100% for their entire adult lives.
 
That's it from down here.  Love

Football, soccer, hockey and baseball

It was a marathon weekend and we didn't even run in the New York City marathon.  But we were tired, at least John was, after watching three games and falling asleep after one inning of the World Series.
 
We drove up to Hightstown for the weekend and packed it in.  Friday night pizza dinner with Grandma, Peter and Janet.  Then sports on Saturday for Peter and John and drama for Janet and Mary who picked up Grandma for dinner.  Sunday, we drove over to the shore with Grandma for an outing to have brunch, in Asbury Park.
 
Now we're home, and still watching sports.
 
The highlight was watching Princeton win a game, finally, and watching it from the sidelines with the coaches and players.  Sure is a different perspective, especially when the players come running right at you!  That happened only a couple of times.  I will no longer laugh when someone on the sidelines gets knocked over.  We then went to a woman's soccer game, a woman's hockey game and back to the soccer field for another game.  John left at half time, but Peter went back and watched it to the bitter end, with two overtimes.
 
The play Mary and Janet saw with a friend from Mexico, was terrific by all accounts.
 
We missed Halloween, but heard about the costumes and parties that the next generation put together.
 
We got a cd from David with his top ten of all time.  Hard to argue with; top tens should really include at least 50 songs.
 
On the way back from the shore, we talked with Andrew and Lur who told us about their family compound (shed and dog house) and Danny and Claire's starting basketball season tomorrow.
 
Down here, Joe was still busy working on his proposal and Margaret's making plans for a trip to Pittsfield this coming weekend, where she hopes to meet up with Annie.  Hope there's heat! 
 
We got some bad news about our house renovation project about needing an engineer analysis for the conservation commission.  Makes you wanna be a Republican - get government out of our lives.
 
Good news from Pittsfield that Natalie, John and Marilyn's grandaughter, Natalie, has fully recovered from an emergency appendectomy and post-op infection. 
 
Nice to end the letter on good news.  And there was a lot of it.  Love, and thanks to Grandma, Peter and Janet for a great weekend.

UPDATE: Bridget Arrest

Pennington, NJ, October 26, 2009.  Our fearless reporter called the Dicksons back to check on Bridget's probation progress after her arrest, and got to talk to Johanna, Sean and Amanda, who all reported amazement at the improvement in Bridget's coat.  The threesome were in town from New York to attend a party of PDS alums on Saturday night, which turned out to be less than advertised.  Sean and Amanda have announced they are staying in their Upper East Side apartment for another year, ending a promising search in Astoria.

In an exclusive to Pop's Weekly Letter, we have learned that Peter visited the house of the family that took in Bridget last Wednesday and learned that the reason for Bridget's nice coat is the shampoo they used on her (they use it on thier own dog): Head and Shoulders!  (It's anti-fungal, their vet says).   A Procter & Gamble spokesperson said she was unaware of any product re-positioning for the product.

In other developments, informed sources have told Pop's Weekly Letter that Bridget is no longer housebroken.  Makes coming down the stairs in the morning an adventure.

Peak season

I hope everyone is enjoying as spectacular a fall day as we may have ever had!   Mary and I went for a foliage walk through a local garden and immediately regretted not bringing the camera along.  Still, photos never seem to do the foliage the justice it deserves.
 
There's a down side to all the gushing about leaves.  The leaves themselves, in the yard.  So the big question here is:  when to rake?  Does one do a mid-season rake knowing that more leaves will fall and make the yard look just as it looks now and knowing that you have no place to put the leaves?  Most of our neighbors have opted for NO.  Wait until the day before the signs go up in the neighborhood announcing the leaf clean-up.
 
Another big question is: when did people really start to go overboard with Halloween?   We have giant spiders on the side of the house, spiders webs over all the shrubs, mummies and ghouls all over the yard, tombstones with Freddy Kruger's name on it.  What's wrong with a pumpkin, carved like a 5-year old did it? 
 
We had a five-day work-week around here.  And one We recommend a movie we saw recently as well:  The Boys are Back.more to come.  Uggh.  We break up the week with a class at church each Wednesday evening, and Mary has guitar class on another night. 
 
Saturday, we got together with a friend from Mexico City for breakfast, and Margaret joined us.  We then went out for dinner at Cuban restuarant.  Too much food.   Forgot to mention that Margaret got a part-time job at a coffee/wine bar in an up-and-hopefully-coming neighborhood of DC. 
 
Had another first this week:  I walk by Joe's workplace every day on the way to and from the metro station.  This week, I ran into him on the street!!  And he didn't ignore me!!  He's been busy working on a couple of proposals.
 
Annie called on her weekend start night (Thursday) sounding worried about the shift the next group was going to have as several of the girls were on the verge of a meltdown.  She has been trying to rival Margaret's experience with the local DMV. 
 
That's all from down here.  Nice to see lots of contributions!!  Love.

NEWS FLASH! BRIDGET DICKSON ARRESTED!

Wednesday evening, Pennington, New Jersey - According to Ms. Bridget Dickson, 19, she felt the need for some exercise and possibly, an adventure.  Tired of the same old lawn, same old smells, same old expectations that she do her business and go home.  So, she went for a walk.  Ok, ok, so she forgot to tell anyone.  Give her a break. She's over 130 years in human math!  Ah, it was a beautiful night!  Clear skies, warmish weather.  Down the street she went.  Then further.  Down another street.  Whew!  This exercise really takes a lot out of you.  

Neighbors living about one and one-half blocks from the Dickson residence, found a small, black, and obviously tired dog.  Taking her in, they gave her a bath.  Unaware that she doesn't wear her collar because of a painful skin condition, they called the police to report a licenseless dog.  The police, came, and took said dog away.  Although she was very cute, especially wrapped in a large green towel, the law is the law, and vagrancy is not allowed in Hopewell Township.

Meanwhile, the Dicksons, husband and wife, Peter and Janet, had been searching for Bridget for nearly an hour.  Armed with flashlights, they covered every square inch of their property.  Ms. Janet Dickson reported that she even went into the dreaded vacant lot next to their house, also known as "Deer Alley."  She says that while there were no deer present, they left a lot of discards to slog through. Ms. Janet Dickson drove her car slowly around the neighborhood with bright lights on, while Mr. Peter Dickson walked the streets shining his flashlight around the houses.

In what was described as a very happy ending for all, the police car came upon Mr. Dickson, and asked if he was looking for a small, black dog.  Bridget was issued a stern warning, however, since she is deaf, she didn't hear it.  Mr. Dickson and Bridget returned home.  When Ms. Janet Dickson drove into the driveway, she was overjoyed to see Bridget back.  And smelling so good, too.

The ordeal of the night was lost on Bridget, who is now operating in a different world.  She does have some happy memories of her walk, it is assumed, because she tried to take another one the next night.  This time, Mr. Peter Dickson was ready for her.  Sadly, Bridget must now wear a leash when she goes out (the family reports that they tried to hook the leash on a tree limb, but Bridget was able to break the tree limb and was found, luckily, walking back to the house).  However, the family goest to great pains to make sure Bridget knows how important she is to the Dickson family.

Columbus Day

A day off.  Kind of.  Mary had school, and John went to work for a while to plow through e-mails and get ready for the week ahead.  But he still managed to squeeze in a nap.  And a long bike ride, since he rode back and forth to work.
 
One of the modern day conundrums is checking in on all the mail one gets.  First there's the real mail, then there's e-mail and now there's mail on facebook and other connecting sites.  So here's a sampling of today's haul.
 
-- On Facebook Janet wrote about the Springsteen concert and her close encounter with the Boss.
-- Margaret sent an e-mail from the Onion, which had a story on how to stay "Goth" past the age of 50.  We especially like the black lipstick on the guy.  Something new for retirement.
-- Joe sent a text message saying he left his Patriots hat here, which must explain why they lost yesterday.  Did anyone else notice the "Who Dey" Bengals, or the Cardiac Cats?  Makes you kinda forget baseball season.
-- David sent an e-mail with a concert of finger-snapping and thigh-slapping which sounded like rain.
-- Annie got a ticket home for the day after Thanksgiving!
 
We spoke with Grandma by telephone (how last century!)  She is well, and we talked about what I imagine people across the country were talking about from Friday on - Obama's Peace Prize.  At a conference on Friday for a group of women from Latin America, the sentiment was summed up by one woman:  I feel like we won this award, since what Obama stands for is what the whole world stands for.
 
We also spoke with Andrew, who had called to give Mary advice on her back.  Looks like Mary is going to postpone the idea of surgery on ehr back.  She's returned to exercise and it doesn't bother as much; still bothers her a little, but not as much.
 
Saturday, we went down to the Mall for the solar decathlon, where universities compete in the building of a solar and eco-houses.  There were universities from Canada, New Zealand, Kentucky (is that at foreign country?) and California.  The people from California had been invited by our Embassy in Chile to take their house down to Chile for an exposition.
 
This week, John finally got to see Hillary Clinton at the State Department.  He had missed out on about ten different occasions, due to travel and meetings, but finally did.  She was giving a talk before 500 people and even mentioned a project we have been working on in Mexico!  She was terrific, confident, articulate and surrounded by bodyguards and aides.  What a life.
 
That's all she wrote from down here!  Love

New Jersey Rocks!

To paraphrase someone, the family that rocks together, stays together.  Last night, Janet, Johanna, Sean, Amanda and I saw Bruce Springsteen at Giants Stadium, the last set of concerts there before they tear it down (Springsteen stands were selling T-shirts fot the "Wrecking Ball," a song he wrote about it).  He played from 8:20 to almost 11:30 without intermission.  We had general admission tickets on the field, no seats, stood the whole time and had a blast.  At one point, the Boss came down onto the field and Janet got to paw him all over his back.  You can't take the Jersey teenager out of her.  The New York denizens tok shuttle buses out and Janet and I stayed the night in a hotel next to the sports complex.  In the shuttle van going from the hotel to the stadium Janet and I were the only concert-goers from east of the Mississippi, including one who had flown from Australia and one from London.  The best concert I have ever seen.  Thank you Johanna for getting the tickets.

Janet and I are now doing dialysis doggy-style on Bridget, and the tests show it's working to overcome her kidney failure.  She's 18 years old.  Three times a week we insert an IV and force 200 ccs of solution into her, where it shows up as a baloon under her skin, which then gets absorbed over the next hour or so.  Did you know this?  Janet is also administering other meds.  Bridget must think we are trying to torture her.  But it's working, which is nice.

In The News, Encore

This is the link to New Jersey's monthly newsletter for the deaf; see page 4:

"McCarter Theatre Center's Access Coordinator, Janet Zoubek Dickson of Pennington was awarded the first ever Leadership Award from the  Cultural Access Network of New Jersey. In addition, McCarter's comprehensive access program continues to expand, adding a full season of open captioned performances to its schedule for the first time.

As access coordinator for McCarter Theatre for the past four seasons, Janet Zoubek Dickson has provided an invaluable service to the theater and its patrons by helping to ensure that each McCarter performance is accessible to the entire community, especially patrons with special needs. The founder in 1981 of the National Audio Description Coalition, Ms. Dickson helped introduce the first ever audio described performance at Arena Stage and worked as narrator and scriptwriter for the descriptive video service pilot program for public television's American Playhouse from 1987 - 1989. She also trains new audio describers throughout New Jersey and personally audio describes
performances at many of New Jersey's professional theaters.

http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/ddhh/newsletters/communicator/current/MCOct09.pdf

In the News!

Last Thursday, the NJ public broadcasting network televised a live debate of the three candidates for Governor in this year's election. The incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs chairman who has spent lavishly on his election efforts, has been far behind in the polls to Republican Chris Christie, the former federal prosecutor who has gone after corrupt officials (and by the way, weighs about 400 pounds). During the debate, they had taped questions from voters to ask the candidates. Mine was the first one they used.

http://www.njn.net/newspublicaffairs/coverage/09governorrace/debate1001.html

It's about 35 minutes into the debate. A few weeks before, I had been walking down Nassau Street and was stopped by an NJN reporter who asked if I wanted to ask the candidates a question.

Christie's non-answer was the subject of much commentary the next day. In fact, the state's leading conservative columnist said that if Christie does go on to lose, he might well look back to that answer:

http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2009/10/mulshine_on_first_debate.html

Corzine and Christie are now in a dead heat.

Also, although I haven't seen it, there's a Jumbotron at the entry to the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. An animation Sean did for his magazine is now playing on that screen.

Finally, Janet and her audio description work at McCater and elsewhere. Margaret Pfanstiel, the woman who developed the technique and was Janet's mentor, recently passed away. The Wash Post did a lovely story on her. Janet was one of the first small group of describers that Margaret trained.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/03/AR2009100302661.html?referrer=emailarticle

Margaret got an award from the national coalition for audio description at their annual meeting at the Kennedy Center in DC in August. Janet was the presenter and she closed her narrative by saying that "Margaret proved that you don't need sight to be a visionary."

It's fall

We never think it's going to end.  It's been hot and green for so long, that we forget that September rolls around and there's no going back. And don't tell me about Indian summer - it's a cruel trick.
 
Lots to report though - first Mary's school did win the national award and was the only public school in the DC area selected, which made it th enatural choice for a visit by the Secretary of Education!  Here's the story in the Washington Post:   
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/15/AR2009091501939.html?wprss=rss_metro/md
Interesting to see that our elementary school, Holy Redeemer, was also selected.
 
Johanna was also in the newspaper, last Sunday's New York Times real estate section, in a column called "The Hunt" telling the real stories of how people find places to live in the city. And how about this photo of Sean at work? 
 
We spent last weekend up in Pittsfield, thanks to the Yom Kippur holiday which Mary got off at school.  On the way we stopped at Grandma's and had dinner (Charlie Brown's!!) and also on the way back, thanks to Peter and Janet who came by for the soup supper.  Grandma looks as good as she has in over a year, and she had some news from Pomfret, about the house and about the neighbors who separated and sold their house.  Up in Pittsfield, we had dinner with John and Marilyn who talked about their trip to Niagara with their granddaughters - sounds like fun.
 
Annie has this week off, and is spending it in New York City with her friend Greg who is coming back from China.  Also, in New York were Dan and Mary for Patrick's parents' weekend.  
 
And there has been some sickness.  Margaret came over last night as she was feeling ill and wanted rest.  Good thing as we heard her roommates were up to 4am.  (youth)  Joe is getting over his bout with mono and strep throat.  He's applying now for grad school next year.
 
This is our birthday season, and we need to wish Paula, Johanna, Janet, Claire happy birthdays first.  And there are more in the coming weeks.  
 
Got an e-mail from Jeffrey, and some Facebook messages about health care. 
 
And, since I last wrote, I had traveled to Venezuela and Colombia.  It was an interesting comparison, of two countries moving in opposite directions, both in terms of their relations with the U.S. and in terms of well-being of their people.  Is there a connection? 
 
Sorry it's been so long since I wrote.  Anyone else want to write?  Just send an e-mail to popsweeklyletter.dicksons@blogger.com.

And today is the last day of the baseball season.  For Reds fans anyway.  Nothing to look forward to in the daily papers.
 
Love to all from down here!

On the road again

In a few hours, John takes off for a week-long visit to Venezuela and Colombia.  The trip to Venezuela has been in the works since January when he first applied for a visa.  Then this week, Venezuela canceled most of their flights to Colombia.  So we'll see what adventures are in store.
 
Quick around the horn - Mary's school did win the national award, and will get a visit this week by Education Secretary.  Joe is back at work feeling better.  We stopped in to see Margaret last night and saw her new Facebook pages for her dogs.  She bought a football shirt for her puppy (with Michael Vick's name on the jersey!  No hard feelings.)  And Annie is into week 3 of work, having survived one very stressful day early on.  She caught up with an old Pomfret friend this weekend in Boston.  Marilyn went to the U.S. Open last week, and Patrick is planning on a semester in Paris! 
 
Football season's starting, just in time for some of us to forget about the disastrous baseball season. 
 
Temperatures dropped this week, and we even have leaves on the ground!  Unusual for here, but at least one tree did not do so well with this summer's combination of cold, wet and then hot spells.
 
What's new with youse guys?  Love from down here.

Labor Day

Aren't three day weekends the greatest?  Time was, years ago, we worked in a school where every weekend was a three-day weekend.  It sure made it easier to go back to work on Monday morning.  People were ready and even a little bored.
 
We took advantage of the extra day by going to the beach on the Chesapeake Bay.   Once there, we knew immediately we should have brought our camera.  It was a small beach a little south of Annapolis, but certainly served our purpose for the day.  They charged for access to the beach, but for the first time we both took advantage of a lower rate for seniors, and we even qualified - over 55.  So we're planning another return trip on the 18th, since they also have a crab house in the town.  Any takers?
 
We also went to a Nationals game, thanks to donated tickets from Mary's friend Gerry and Dennis, who have season tickets but couldn't go.  We had hoped Joe could go with us, but his bout with strep throat and mono kept getting worse.  He had been sick since he went to San Francisco in July, but this week it got worse and Mary went down to bring him home.  On Friday, he went to urgent care since his doctor was unavailable and finally got some serious medicine.  Only today, was he feeling well enough for a bowl of cereal (the true test) and he went back to his place.  Joe was well enough to watch the first weekend of college football!
 
Margaret took advantage of the long weekend by driving to Ohio with her friend Adam, who is from Lima.  Annie went to Providence for a "fire on the water" show. 
 
We talked with Grandma who seemed well.  Peter had come over for a visit; they had spent their extra day at a family reunion with Janet's brother. 
 
On Facebook, Jeffrey passed around a health reform statement (which we forwarded as well).  And on Facebook, the big news is that now Jeffrey, David, Janet and Lur are friends! 
 
We're about to take the plunge on our renovation project.  Our contractor sent us a contract (Grandma said she never did anything like that in all the renovation projects she was involved with) and hopefully once that's is back and signed they can start the work.  Have I said that before?
 
And our routines continue - a little exercise, a little reading, a little tv watching, a little (?) napping, and a little chores and errands. 
 
Tomorrow back to work.  Hope you all have a great week!  Love from down here.

Summer's over

Not really since it doesn't officially end until September 21.  But, Mary's back to school and we understand so are a few people in Dundee and other parts. 
 
Still, it doesn't feel like it.  Hot and muggy.
 
Looking back, we hope you all enjoyed the past three months as much as we did.  The best part of summer is being outside, and getting to the outside without gloves and boots, and the extra daylight hours, and the nighttime noises. 
 
The big project of the last couple of weeks was getting Annie settled.  John flew up to Albany and helped Mary load up the van with one more load of stuff.  We drove over and spent a Sunday with Annie in her new abode, which looks real nice.  Natick is a nice town, and she's just a couple of blocks off the main square, where there are shops and arts workshops and ice cream stores!  All you need.
 
Annie's started work, after a couple of weeks of orientation.  She's going through all the details of getting transferred to Mass - car registration and insurance and all that fun paperwork stuff. 
 
We spent a few more days back in Pittsfield doing odd job chores.  A story - John dug out a little firepit in the yard, and one night we lit a fire and when it got darl, we treated ourselves to smores.  After we ate way too many of those, we heard a loud snorting and grunting noise from the bushes nearby.  Fight or flight?  We were packed up and outtathere in seconds before we became some one else's treat.
 
Our project still hasn't started as we're waiting on the paperwork from our contractor.  Seems like a pattern here.   We saw John and Marilyn a few times.
 
On the way back, we stopped and had lunch with Grandma who looks good.  She was in the middle of visits to eye doctors and dentists and lung doctors, but things seem to be stable.  By the way, she is no longer with a computer, so will need regular old postage to keep connected.
 
Last Sunday, Joe, Margaret and Adam came by for brunch.  We heard about Joe's trip to Frisco and Margaret and Adam's trip to Chicago.  Sounds very enjoyable.  Joe was out of sorts a bit, thinking he caught something in California, and sure enough a couple of days later he called and said he had mono.  He's still working, but at least he knows now.
 
On the social scene, we were out with friends from Peru two times this week, and Mary joined her friend Gerry on Constitution Ave, waiting for the Kennedy procession to roll by.  John took a nap.

Next weekend's a long one.  We've got baseball tickets!  So, that's the news from here! Hope you're all well!

Clunkers

We're one of the 690,000 people who traded in under the clunker program.  And we did it almost on the last day of the program.  And we almost didn't make it, because in our typical fashion, we didn't do enough research, didn't know you had to buy a car off the lot, and you had to have all the paperwork with you for the clunker.
 
Anyway, we went hybrid but not the one we originally wanted.  There were no Prius' to be found on any lots.  We went American, and we went big, in terms of size.  So there's a Saturn Vue parked in front.
 
It was a bit of an indignity for our van, which we had had since 2000, when we bought it used from a colleague in Mexico.  Calling this car a clunker, which had served us well, had more than paid for itself and had helped just the previous week move all of Annie's "stuff" twice to Natick, Mass, was not a fair way to end its life.
 
Mary drove back on Monday to retrieve the EZ Pass from the finside windhsield (which we forgot, again in our typical fashion) and saw the van in the lot with all the other clunkers.  Sad.  But even in its decline it continued to help out, with a nice government rebate.

On the road

It's Friday!  I should only write on Friday since it means we made it to another weekend and we're happy!
 
Seems like everyone's on the road.  Somewhere in this city is Janet who is down here for a conference on theater for the blind.  Somewhere in this city is not Peter, who decided at the last minute to come. 
 
Somewhere in Chicago is Margaret, with strict instructions to call Andrew and Lur.  She went there with her friend and roommate Adam, leaving behind their two dogs, with specific instructions, I understand.
 
And somewhere in western Mass is Mary, who has been gone for two weeks; and somewhere in eastern Mass is Annie, who moved up to her new job and home last weekend.  She's leaving home.  I think there's a song by that title.  On her way up north, Annie stopped over at Grandma's for a break in the drive.  We got an e-mail from Annie after her first day on the job - "loving it."
 
Joe came over last weekend, to get a good night's sleep before he took the GREs.  He had a great time in San Francisco with some St. Andrews buddies who had flown over and were doing a Las Vegas-Grand Canyon-California-Seattle tour.  Why didn't we think of that?
 
His buddies were coming east and Joe rented a pick-up truck for the weekend.  Zip Cars.
 
Speaking of cars, we're toying with taking advantage of the cash-for-clunkers deal.  Because we do have a clunker.  Hope the program doesn't run out of money before we make up our mind.
 
And our big news is it looks like our big project may finally be getting underway.  The contractor says he will tear down the old parts of the house in a couple of weeks.  Yikes.
 
Tomorrow, I am back on the road, going up to Pittsfield (via Southwest Airlines.)  I had gone up with Mary two weeks ago when we played host to our friend from Seattle, Valerie.  We had a grand time, showing her the sites and sounds (Tanglewood), and all the area offers.
 
So, we're back here on Wednesday, and then poor Mary has to go to work the following week.  Vacation's over.  Only ten weeks off.
 
I'm jealous.  So, all the news.  Hope everyone is having a great summer.  Love from down here. .

(no subject)

The MOVE

On Sunday, we moved Johanna into her apartment in lower Manhattan.  It's a nice place, three bedrooms and two roomies, quite small, but big windows give it an airy feel, and it's near a huge Whole Foods and the subway among other things.  Lots of people were out and about and I don't think I saw anyone over the age of 30.  Sean came down to help, which was much appreciated on the larger items (it's a third floor walk-up).

But.  It RAINED the whole time.  We all got soaked.

Many streets are blocked off on Sunday, making getting in and out of the neighborhood tough, and her stretch of Orchard Street was one of those blocked off.  So we drove around the barrels, no problem parking right at the door!

199 Orchard Street, Apt. 3B, NY NY 10002.


The TRIP

We had a lovely time in Vancouver and Vancouver Island, an unusual vacation, to say the least.

A bit of background here: a few years ago I had a sophomore named Mariesa Mason from Vancouver in class, and she came twice to our Byrne Thanksgiving reunion, taught me a lot about varsity women's hockey (although she left the team her junior year), and over the years we got to know her parents Bob and Merri and younger sister Rebecca when they came to town.  John met her and her mother on one trip.  (I finally met older brother Mike at Mariesa's graduation in May.)  They live on a farm outside Vancouver, and Mariesa and her parents were always asking us to come out and visit with them.  A few weeks ago Bob got tickets to several of next winter's Olympics events, so we are going out next February.  A really cheap fare popped on a fare-watcher, so we made the decision to go this time, too.

We spent a few days in the City of Vancouver, a grand city.  On the night we arrived there was a huge annual fireworks off the waterfront right next to our hotel, an unexpected extra.  It came with an expected extra, rowdy partiers in the building behind the hotel who kept us awake until they gave us a room on the other side of the hotel for the remainder of that night.  The city has a first class aquarium with Janet's favorites, sea otters.  It also has a great art museum, a museum of First Nations artifacts (what Canadians call Native Americans), loads of parks and great restaurants.  Nearly everything was in walking distance of our hotel.  The only down was that for our entire visit, the region was suffering a heat wave of such historical proportion that it was the hottest since records have been kept (1880); it went over 100 F five straight days.  (And we still haven't turned on our air conditioning in New Jersey!)  While we were there, the big comical/sad/incredible 44-indictment New Jersey corruption-money laundering-body-part-brokering scandal broke and we spent a long time in a Starbucks reading the NYTimes account.  My favorite two details (and in this scandal, that's saying a LOT): the man who gathered all the details of the misbehavior became a government informant after he was charged with passing a $25 million bad check – which he had deposited at a drive-in window!  And one of the mayors accused of taking bribes did that  – by accepting a donation to his legal defense fund for another offense! 

The Masons had not clued us in to what they had planned for the rest of the trip other than that we were going to their farm and then family places on Vancouver Island.  The Island is off the west coast of British Columbia and is the only part of western Canada that is below the 49th parallel.

We spent a day and night at the farm, about 150 acres, on which the Masons grow a few pigs and lambs for their own consumption (we had some of their lamb and ham for dinners), turkeys to give away in the fall, some cows, and several thoroughbred horses.  Bob had once competed for the Canadian national team in show, now he rides every day for fun.  The house is very small and modestly furnished, and for the first and probably last time I slept in the bedroom of a former student.  Mariesa is in East Timor -- go look it up -- working for Land O' Lakes on a US AID program for a year.  It's a very pleasant place and a reminder that farms are hard work.

We then headed off to the Island, an hour and a half ferry ride through spectacular smaller islands, first to Victoria, the very picturesque and pleasant provincial capital of BC.  During our walk around Mariesa called her parents from East Timor.  We also visited Craigdarroch Castle, a gloomy stone pile of a house built by Robert Dunsmuir, who came to Vancouver asa penniless Scottish immigrant and ended up owning about half the island.  As we drove out of the city, Bob went into the tiny Esquimalt First Nation reserve; he is a development consultant for them in addition to his real estate development business.  It's a much cheated and deeply troubled band.  A few years ago the Canadian federal government settled a large sum on them to compensate for having taken most of their lands, which includes the land on which the provincial capital buildings now sit.

Then it was to Bob's mother Nancy's house on Fanny Bay on the east side of the Island, with mountains behind us.  His parents bought this house 30 years ago, then a modest affair but right on the bay.  Bob's younger brother Matt has made a lot of money -- a really lot -- and has spent a fortune adding to the house and the property.  The guest quarters are over one of the garages and that's where we stayed for the next three nights, in a room about the size of a gymnasium, complete with sitting areas, yes, plural, a kitchen and dining table.  The compound, which is what it has become, includes several barns, many immaculate flower beds, a very large covered sitting area with barbecues and ovens -- it and everything else are right out of Architectural Digest -- a tennis court, a small harbor with pricey boats, more kayaks that I could count, and on and on.  There is also a large hangar in which Matt keeps a Lamborghini, a Porsche, an antique Beetle,  numerous ATVs, motorcycles (a couple of high end Harleys he has never ridden), and -- his own four seat helicopter.  After taking Matt back to Victoria the next day, his pilot came back and took Janet and Merri and Rebecca up for a 20 minute ride around the area.  I have pictures to prove it, yes, Janet did go up of her own free will and did not have to be prodded, either.  We also went out kayaking several times, once at night under the stars and another time Bob and I went all the way across the bay and back.  It's a beautiful island, it looks just like what you think of when you envision the Pacific Northwest, and I doubt we will ever set foot in as luxurious a house and compound again.

On one day we took another ferry over to Denman Island, a smaller island off Vancouver Island, where Merri's family and all sorts of cousins (never did get it all sorted out) have homes in a 400 acre wooded site along the shore.  The house reminded us of a typical Jersey Shore house in season: people sleeping everywhere including outside on the deck (it rarely rains in the area in July and August), casual meal routines and an acceptable sense of mild chaos.  I had a fascinating conversation with Rebecca, who is headed to St. Lawrence in a few weeks, and one of her cousins about the South Asians (mostly from India) who make up a large proportion of the Vancouver area population -- nearly half of her high school.

It was then back to the ferry for the gorgeous ride back to the mainland, and back to the farm for our last night.  Our cheap fare had us fly out of Seattle, so Bob drove us down to Seattle-Tacoma Airport, through lots of scenery.  We had three hours so we had a nice slow sit-down meal at the airport branch of Anthony's, a very nice seafood restaurant.  Although we were given two middle seats when I had booked the flight, we were able to change to an aisle and window for this trip.  Johanna was kind enough to pick us up at the terminal after midnight and we went home relaxed and feeling as if we had been away for a month.

We'll send a few pics along.

Fullness of summer

June was wet and even cool; July has been dry and now hot.  Today we broke down and turned on the air conditioning.  And we finally got some rain to turn our lawn back to green.
 
Right now, Annie is in Boston, Joe on the other coast in San Francisco; and Margaret's here.  We celebrated Mary's birthday Friday at a Thai restaurant in Bethesda.  Here's a hint at birthdays at this time of life.  Mary got a book about healthy eating, a cushion for her back and a GPS to help her find her way around. She's laughing because of the greeting on the cake.  
 
Annie went to up in Boston looking for a place to live.  She thinks she found a place in Nadick, and she's coming back tonight. 
 
We hear Peter and Janet are out in Vancouver.  Johanna, Sean and Amanda went over today to have brunch with Grandma.  And Grandma said that Johanna is moving to the city, having found an apartment near Littley Italy.  New Yorkers!
 
Last week, David and Paula came down to Hightstown to visit Grandma.  I had made arrangements to go up Friday night, and maybe go fishing on Saturday morning.  I even got fishing licenses for us.  Unfortunately, after three hours of driving (the normal time it takes to get to Hightstown) I had only gotten through the Baltimore tunnel and ran right into yet another traffic jam.  So I turned around and came home.  Oh well.  Sounds like everyone had fun, with a big (early) birthday dinner for Grandma.  Jeff and Melodie had driven up Saturday.
 
We couldn't drive up, since we had tickets to King Lear, courtesy of Joe and a Christmas present to Mary.  It was a great play, a complicated story, and well staged. 
 
John went out to Denver this past week, to attend the announcement of the Denver Biennial of the Americas which will take place next year.  The organizers were prominent in the Obama campaign, and have envisioned a seven week, world's fair type of program full of exhibits, conferences and performances.  Everything revolves around innovation for social change.  Needless to say, I was stuck in the slow lane trying to make sense of what was going on.
 
This weekend we're heading back to Pittsfield; Mary will spend three weeks up north, and I'll be coming back to work.
 
Hope you're all well.  Love from down here.
.

China Slideshow

Here's a photo of Annie in front of the Summer Palace.

It's been a long time

And we have excuses for not writing.  But that's what they are - excuses.
 
Yesterday was Annie's birthday and we celebrated in grand style - with an ice cream cake!  Annie came back from China and showed us tons of photos and videos from there.  She has promised to put together a slide show or something for the letter.  Joe and Margaret came up for dinner.
 
Annie is getting ready to move, and part of the move was her getting a new car.  So we headed off to Carmax on Saturday and settled on a good winter driving car, a few years old, but it looked safe and warm for the cold weather.
 
We talked to Grandma who filled us in on her eye and teeth issues from last week.  She had teeth pulled and eyes check and it looks like she might be a candidate for laser surgery.  She mentioned David and Paula were coming to Hightstown this week.
 
Grandma and John fell into an interesting debate over Michael Jackson.  We both agreed that there was entirely too much media coverage, but we disagreed on his musical talents.  Grandma didn't buy the argument that he still had the biggest selling album of all time.  Where do you all stand on this issue?
 
Since we last wrote, though, we had a vacation, with a long drive and two weeks away.  We went to Pittsfield and got a little work done on the house, with a disappointing meeting with the contractor.  We also went to Boston, New Hampshire and Maine and checked in on various friends from various slices of our lives.  We went to a movie ("Up") and a baseball game, had a birthday dinner at John and Marilyn's; we saw a moose and a weird recluse's mansion in Maine, and we got rained on.  Everyone was talking about the rain.
 
It was also Andrew's birthday, and he told us about his long weekend at Green Lake, about Claire and Daniel at basketball camps.
 
The sad news of the last few weeks was our kitty, who developed a tumor.  She stayed with Margaret while we were gone, and when we came back it was evident that she too much suffering and we said goodby to her this week.  She was th emost sociable cat in the world, and had a happy, adventurous life adjusting quickly to new environs.      
 
We actually have legitimate excuses for no photos.  John lost his camera and we can't find Mary's.  Our old camera has no batteries.  So while Joe took photos of Annie's birthday with his phone, we haven't gotten copies yet.
 
So, almost halfway through July.  Love from down here!

From China

Wed, June 24
 
Just got back from an awesome experience. Yesterday, after the Forbidden City, which was super cool, we took a 2 hour bus ride, then smaller bus to an entrance to the Great Wall.  We being me, Greg, Greg's best friend from middle school, and two of his friends. We got there in the night time, found a place to grab something to eat, and then hiked up the wall for 40 minutes or so and camped out. We spent the night right on the wall! We got up this morning at 6:00 ish and headed out for an 8 mile hike back towards Beijing on the wall. I have pictures. Many, many pictures. Parts were completely terrifying because the stone ground was broken and there wasn't any type of guard rail. Also have pictures of that.

Anyways, we made it to another entrance around 11 and got back to Greg's at 2:00. We immediately jumped in the indoor pool nearby due to the 100 degree weather. Yikes.


Tue, Jun 23  
Hi familia,

I'm in Chinaland! Everything is great so far. Our travel here went so incredibly smooth; both our planes got in early and there wasn't even a line at customs. We changed over in the Narita airport in Tokyo, which was super cool and trendy. Yesterday, on Monday, we went to see the Summer Palace, which was this huge vacation spot for the emperor. Its composed of more than 15 pagoda style buildings centered around a lake where you can rent paddle boats and motor boats to go around, which we did. It was so beautiful. 
 
On the way back, we stopped off at the Birds Nest and walked around that whole complex of olympic buildings. Today we're off to the Forbidden City and then the Great Wall afterwards.
 
Love,  Annie

On Tuesday, Johanna, Janet's brother John and her cousins Dede and Nancy were all privileged
to see her be honored for her contributions by the Cultural Access Network of New Jersey, a joint
venture of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance and the State Council on the Arts.  She was given the
very first Leadership Award (which included a very sizable check!).  She had been nominated by
the manager of McCarter Theater.  Her is the full text of the citation:

Leadership Award
Janet Zoubek Dickson

For nearly thirty years, Janet Dickson has put her passion to action.  She earned her masters of
Arts management from the University of Maryland in 1994, where she wrote a dissertation on
regional theaters across the country, examining access programs for the visually impaired in
compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act, which had just been enacted.

Ms. Dickson has the distinction of being a founding member of the National Audio Description
Coalition.  Founded in 1981, the coalition broke many barrier5s, and Ms. Dickson was in the
forefront of them.  Working side-by-side with Metroplitan Washington Ear's founder/president
Dr. Margaret Pfansteil, she helped introduce the Audio Described performance at Arena Stage,
and from 1987 to 1989, Ms. Dickson worked as the narrator and scriptwriter for the Audio
Descriptive Video Service pilot program for Public Television's highly praised series, Amer ican
Playhouse.

Over the years, Ms. Dickson's expertise in Audio Description has benefitted many of New
Jersey's professional theaters.  In addition, she also provides training to new audio describers and
refresher courses for experienced descriptors throughout New Jersey.

With her background and skill in Audio Description, Ms. Dickson has launched other access
programs as well.  As the Access Coordinator for McCarter Theater – a volunteer position – for
t6he last four seasons, Ms. Dickson has provided valuable insight to McCarter's staff on
providing access to the community who regularly attends the theater series productions.  She has
conducted sensitivity training to McCarter's full-time staff and volunteers; she assists McCarter
with its annual review of their ADA plan access handbook; and she provides outreach and
guidance in finding ways tp reach communities and individuals who have not heard of McCater's
access programs.

Always looking for ways to expand her knowledge and stay up-to-date, Ms. Dickson participates
in the annual LEAD (Leadership Education In Arts And Disability) conference, which is
sponsored by the Kennedy Center.  This past summer, Ms. Dickson co-presented a workshop on
audio description, and she has been instrumental in championing Open Captioning at McCarter,
and for the first time in its history, the theater will be providing Open Captioning for all of its
drama productions during the 2009-2010 season.

Janet's passion, skill, determination and most importantly, her dedication to learning new
methods and practices to ensure that the New Jersey arts community continues to provide access
to all, is unparalleled and makes her truly a leader in the field.<

Only 2 more shopping days

Someone in our household pointed out the most wonderful day of the year coincides with the longest day of the year.
 
That means this year more Father's Day than normal, than ever.   You all are in for a real treat.
 
Can you guess who the someone was in our household who realized that?

Summertime

One day more.  And it's vacation.   Our plans are to go first to North Carolina, then back here for a night; then stop at Grandma's on the way up to Pittsfield.  We hope to do a little road trip to Boston, New Hampshire and Maine as well.  And then back here by the 5th of July.  It's not long enough.
 
John got back from a week in Brazil and Peru.  He says he is cured of travel.  A lost suitcase, missed flights, delayed flights, lost camera, overweight, fidgety people next to you.  Whatever happened to the romance of travel?  Whatever happened to underbooking?
 
It was nice to be back in Peru, even though it felt a little like Rip Van Winkle, after ten years.  Lots of changes - a much more prosperous country.  Lots that is the same - major traffic jams.  Interesting was a day trip to the oldest "civilization" in the Americas, that was discovered and excavated since we left Peru.  I had some great photos, but I think I mentioned that I lost my camera.  You'll have to look it up - Coral.
Other events on the trip were seeing the new Harlem Globetrotters, visitng a youth center an dlistening to Brazilian hip-hop, going to a modern dance performance in Peru, and then out for a late dinner with the dancers - very uncharacteristic.
 
Other news:  Mary is finished with her school tomorrow.  It was featured on television and radio, and even Japanese reporters were there to do a story.  Check the NPR story out below.
 
While we're away, we understand Sean and Amanda may be coming down, going to another wedding.  We hear too that Jeff and Melodie went over to Margaret's new house for a party last week.  Funny that we were not invited.
 
Annie spent last weekend in NYC, and went to a party at Glenn Close's pad.  We weren't invited to that party either.  Everyone's going to parties except us.
 
And we even heard of David and Paula's anniversary party.  Hope it was a great one.
 
Andrew has news as well, of a big bonus and more importantly of a proud parenting moment surrounding Claire's graduation.  Claire learned one of life's great lessons, but you'll have to ask her or her parents about it.  They are heading this weekend up to Green Lake for a week - the whole clan.
 
So, wish we had some photos for you - maybe next time.  Hope you're well.  Love from down here.

School in Montgomery County Earns Blue Ribbon For Reversing Poor Grades

School in Montgomery County Earns Blue Ribbon For Reversing Poor Grades

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Applause!

Janet has been chosen to be the first recipient for a very significant award.  Here is the announcement:

"On Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at The State Museum in Trenton the Cultural Access Network, a
co-sponsored project of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the New Jersey Theatre
Alliance, will be celebrating 15 years of bringing service to the state's cultural community to
assist them in making their programs and facilities accessible to people with disabilities.  In
addition, we will recognize the great strides and innovation of the state's cultural community in
the area of arts access and honor two organizations and an individual who have demonstrated
leadership, commitment, creativity and innovation to the cultural access field with a Cultural
Access Award." 

Janet is the individual.  She was nominated by McCarter Theater.  The theater's business manager called me a few weeks ago to tell me he was nominating her and asking me for background info.  It's been hard to keep it a secret all this time.  Janet found out yesterday.

The Theatre Alliance includes all 36 theaters in the state.  This is the first year this award is being
given, so Janet is being recognized as the best in the state.

Quick trip

Someone asked the other day if we liked travel.  Uggh.  I get all up in knots on the day of the trip.
 
And that day is today.  I am off to Brazil and Peru this week, back Saturday morning.  Two of the six nights will be spent on planes.  Saving hotel costs.  Fortunately I can sleep on planes.  This will be the first time back in Peru, and the only thing that really will have changed is the color of my hair.  Work related, we spent a lot of time supporting the Obama speech in Cairo, getting it carried live in many countries around the world.
 
We had some bad news for the kitty this week.  What we thought might have been just an infection, turns out to be some kind of cancerous growth.  The vet gives her 3-8 weeks.  She's got a swollen jaw.  The vet gave her prednazone, so the one thing she really likes to do (eat) she will be able to do and with a vengeance. 
 
John had lunch with his college classmate this week, and it was like old times.  Coulda talked for hours.  Scott has a nephew by marriage who is a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns - Brady Quinn.
 
It's been raining, every day this week.  And it always seems to start just as I begin my walking commute.  No fun, and people saying how much we need the rain doesn't help much. 
 
The rain did not deter Mary and John from going to sit on the lawn at Wolf Trap for a John Prine concert.  A lot of fun.  Annie and Margaret went the next night when it was a glorious day.
 
Kathleen came down for the weekend before she heads off on a long adventure.  She stopped work, will go to a 4-day concert in Tennessee and then to China for a few weeks.
 
Annie is making plans to go to China.  She's had a week of dance and exercise and waking up late.  Enjoy now.
 
Soon vacation. Anyone else have travel plans for the summer?

Mary is winding down with school - only two more weeks.  Can't wait.  Love from down here.

June swoon

Here's a photo from the archives. Hmmm. And I thought he was helping.

It's hot and there are thunderstorms.  That means it must be summer.
 
And we love it.  Almost every part of it, but most of all, it's too hot to wear a tie to work; it's nice to just walk out the door without worrying about gloves andd scarves and coats; it's nice to sit out on the deck and brave the mosquitoes; it's nice to sleep with the windows open; and to drive with the windows open; it's nice to watch baseball, especially when our teams are doing so well.  Why can't it always be summer?  Mary reminded me that we do like the other seasons (just not as much) and we wouldn't like summer so much if it weren't for the other seasons.
 
Enough of rambling.  Let's get to the news.  Margaret has a new house!  She got fed up with her housemates and moved out, into a nicer house not too far away.  We went down Saturday night to see her and she is in the throes of unpacking and setting up.  No fun, but it is better.
 
Annie went down to North Carolina for a post-graduation party with some Hamilton friends.  She had more of an adventure than she would have liked on the way home.  She's here through August and is looking to take some art classes.
 
We have caught up with a couple of Peace Corps friends in the last two weeks, both of whom we hadn't seen since the mid 90s.  One was a woman who had moved to Durban and married a year before we got there.  She finally through in the towel and pulled up roots, and is now living down the road with her four daughters.  Bit of a culture shock.  The other is moving here from Sri Lanka with no job, but wants his children to go to high school in the states.
 
We're following the Sotomayor nomination closely, as she was a classmates of John's.  She was well-known on campus as being smart and politically active.  Wonder if there's a kiss and tell book in it for me?  Swift boaters, where are you? 
 
We talked to Peter, who was at reunions, and to Grandma and she was doing well, but not at reunions.
 
Love from down here.

Memorial Day

Did anyone go to a parade today?  Hear a speech?  Put the flag out?  Have a barbecue?  Summer is officially here.  It's grand!
 
So was Annie's graduation.  Hard to believe it went by so fast.  I bet Annie's thinking the 4 years went by so fast.  Highlights included dinner at an Indian restaurant the night before (as we had done with both Joe and Margaret); being joined by Peter, Janet and Johanna (thank you!!); staying at Red Roof Inn was just like the Point; packing up Annie's stuff with help; getting a Hamilton sweatshirt (or two); seeing Annie before the ceremony; a nice speech by the founder of Ms. magazine and current head of Hearst magazines; an easy picnic lunch; an easy drive home.  Annie graduated with distinctions in Spanish and Psychology and a lot of good friends and good memories. 
 
We stopped by Grandma's on the way up on Friday and had dinner with her and Peter on Friday evening. She is well, and continues to walk to get some strength back. Mary and I had stopped at the Jersey shore on the way up; it was cold and windy but still nice to see the ocean. We had seen the movie the Wrestler and expected it would be more seedy, but it was very nice.

We drove back right after graduation and had Monday to catch up, with housecleaning and yard work, before the big storms hit. We were in touch with Peter and Janet who were in the same storms but had the sense to stop and get dinner, an anniversary dinner at that! Margaret and Annie stayed and drove back on Monday, leaving early enough to miss the traffic.

Annie is home for a couple of months before she starts her new job at a residential school for autistic children near Boston. Margaret and Joe gave her for graduation a real world basket, full of stuff she'll need, like a spatula, a movie called 9 to 5, and other assorted objects. She's off!

Love from down here.

What is going on?

This is the third time I have written a blog.  Hope it works this time.  Bet Pop never lost a letter in the ether.

So, one more try. I think I started with the weather each time - cold and rainy, this weekend. It was too bad for our house guests, the Lockerys, our friends from Lagos, who were here for their son's graduation from GWU. It looked like the rain would hold off for the ceremony on the mall today. We did have dinner with them last night and Joe and Margaret were able to join us. And it rained.

Another Peter, this time our brother, joined us last weekend ahead of his big federal appeals case on flight paths to the New York area airports. I gather the actual arguments did not go so well before this conservative court, but it sure was nice to see him and and talk important things like baseball and Supreme Court and teaching. And guitar. Peter played and gave Mary a few free lessons.

Did someone mention Mother's Day? YES!! We talked to Mom and she sounded like she was on a healthy upswing. She said Johanna had come over during the day. We had a nice dinner here which Joe, Margaret and Peter joined. Did someone mention the ice cream? I highly recommend Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch.

Next weekend, we're heading to Annie's graduation, via Pittsfield, Vancouver and Ottawa. John managed to convince people that he was needed back in Canada for a couple of days. Tough assignment.

Amidst the rain has been the effort to cut the grass. It grows like a terrarium here. Last year, John went green and cheap and got a push, reel mower. It savid on gas but cut lousily. So John went green and expensive and bought this week an electric mower. Let's hope it works more than once.

And then there's Sean's birthday (hope you had fun), Matthew's birthday coming up, Peter and Janet's anniversary, Claire's graduation. Big days, enjoy them all!

A rainy weekend

Why do I feel like Charlie Brown?  It's because I've just come in from outside in the pouring rain - gardening, not playing baseball.  And I'm soaking wet.  But I did get the tomatoes planted and some geraniums.  Let's see if they survive the cool and rainy weather we have forecast all this week.
 
Anyone have the sniffles and think they had swine flu?  Mary did, and lost her voice and had to miss a couple of days of school.  She didn't get swine flu, but even my allergies made me think I had the flu, at least for a couple of hours.  She wasn't sick enough to miss her guitar class though, and she has expanded her repertoire to Amazing Grace.
 
Margaret braved the weather yesterday to take D to the beach.  At least that was her plan.  She joined Mary for dinner this week, but I missed out because of work.  We talked to Annie a couple of times and she was putting the finishing touches on her thesis.  Since we haven't heard from her since, we assume she's out celebrating.
 
At this very moment, we think Claire is in the middle of her confirmation.  We tried calling last night, but no one was home.  Out celebrating too, most likely. Congratulations Claire.
 
And, at this very moment, we think Grandma is at Meadow Lakes church and then Sunday dinner.  She thought she was well enough to venture out again, for the first time in a long time.  She said too that Uncle Jim is back in the hospital.
 
The photo is from Jeffrey's camera, from last weekend in Hightstown.  Thanks Jeff.
 
Big news from Fairport - David's on Facebook! And I was his first friend!
 
The front page of the Washington Post has a picture of Justice Souter's New Hampshire home.  It could be the only home in America that looks more hard luck than 5 Hancock Road.
 
It's also been a sports week.  Last night Mary and I saw a great movie - Sugar, about a Dominican baseball player.  It's in Spanish (with subtitles), but more a movie about immigration than baseball.  We're also watched parts of two exciting playoff series this week - basketball (Celtics) and hockey (Capitals).  And, of course there's always the first month of baseball!
 
It's May and that means Mother's Day next week, and Sean's birthday and a couple of graduations coming up.  Big month.  If the past is any guide, then this month will fly by as well. 
 
That's all from down here.  Love.

All is well in NJ

A three hour drive is pretty easy.  Jeffrey and Melodie made the trip to Grandma's and back on the same day.  John and Mary stayed overnight. 
 
But that is if it really does take three hours.  On our way up, we took rte 295 in NJ and looked over at a parking lot and wondered what that was.  Turned out it was the NJ turnpike.  A terrible accident shut down the turnpike in both directions, for five hours.  Luckily we decided to take 295. 
 
Because we had a great time, catching up with Grandma and with Jeff and Melodie.  And with Peter and Janet and Sean who joined us for dinner Saturday night.  Grandma looks and feels a whole lot better.  She's walking again, and we even went grocery shopping.  Sunday morning we went to Perkins for a healthy brunch.
 
Much of the conversation was on politics and books we were reading, dogs, plays, crafts, grandchildren and family memories.  (We tried to talk Jeffrey into taking the foreign service test!) Andrew, perhaps you can help us with the name of the fried chicken fast food place we went to in Carmel Ind.   We talked baseball and Grandma was really into the NFL draft - she was hoping the Lions would take Sanchez instead of the Jets.
 
Mary uses her time in the car for all her calls; I think she gets tired of talkking to me, or listening to me.  She learned her brother Tim may be coming east in May, that John and Marilyn had a good time playing golf in South Carolina, but wondered what else people do down there, that Marj and Lew are also renovating their house.  Mary also called Annie, but this is crunch time for Annie at school as she is wrapping up her thesis.  Soon she'll be able to talk longer.)
 
Joe had a party this weekend where the theme was bad decisions.  People were supposed to come dressed up as bad decisions.  Mary said that she would have come as a tatoo if she had been invited or able to go.  Kathleen came down for the weekend.  She is getting ready for a 5 week trip to China before she starts grad school in August (at some school in New Haven.)
 
Last weekend, we went down to DC for Sunday morning brunch with Joe and Margaret in the eastern market.  City life looks like fun. 
 
Did I mention Mary is playing the guitar?  Look for her first cd out soon - Skip to My Lou, Amazing Grace and Clementine will be her break-out covers.
 
No dog stories this time around.  Have a great week.  Love from down here.

two websites

Hey.  We've got news!
 
First.  In case you didn't get enough dog news, here's one more.  Margaret was interviewed by the local NPR station about her adoption tale.  Check it out..

Adopting Foster Animals - Not Always Just a Heart-Warming Experience http://www.wamu.org/news/09/04/13.php#25985

Next, click here to see the project John has been working on for the President's and Secretary's trips this weekend.   http://townhall.howcast.com/
You can even watch a live stream of Secretary Clinton at her town hall event. Hope you're having a great week.

Happy Easter

Joe and Margaret just left after Easter dinner, and we walked it all off.  At least some of it.
 
It was an eventful day and a restful day. Joe and Margaret (and her dog d'Angelo) came to spend the night in order to be here when the Easter bunny came.  We had a long Seinfeld-like discussion today about the logic of the bunny with eggs and chocolate and hiding the eggs, and we got lost in the logic.  Then Grandma told us that Claire had done a reading at her church today which may have tied the tradition to the church.  Would you share with us the reading Claire?
 
The events started with the cat and Margaret's dog not really getting along, at least Moe was not being very hospitable.  So, we decided to take the dog to church with us, and we left the windows of the car open enough for plenty of air while we went to church.  When we came out the dog was gone, and had jumped out the car window.  Fortunately he had a leash and a dog tag, and about an hour and half later we got a call that the dog had turned up in someone's yard.  Thankfully.  The rest of the day was spent eating too many jelly beans and chocolate and reading.  Nice. 
 
Mary had the whole week off, and we started off her spring break in Pittsfield, doing a little work on the house.  It was cold and it snowed each of the days we were there.  Nothing stuck, reminded us how further along we are in spring.  We went out to dinner with her Aunt Mary and went for a long discovery walk through the woods in the back of our house, ending up at the family cemetary.  John left to come back on Wednesday, and Mary went on to Stonington and Rhode Island to see  Dan and Maura, and Marg and Lew.  She drove back on Friday, stopping by Hightstown to visit Grandma.
 
Who is not feeling so hot.  It looks like she had a bad reaction to some medicine she was recently prescribed.  She went off the medicine, but it's taking some time to get out of her system.  Slowly on the mend.
 
Annie spent Easter with friends in New York, first in NY City and then on to the Hamptons!  Must be nice.  She's got a few short weeks left, but a thesis to finish in the meantime.
 
John's been busy at work, preparing for two big trips this week with Obama and Clinton going to Trinidad this coming weekend. 
 
Not much else to report - baseball season started and things were more hopeful last week than this week.  For Reds fans anyway.
 
Hope you all had a great Easter, and spring is on its way.  Love from down here!

They Came, They Saw, They

Ate a lot of food!
 
Not really, but it sounded funny.  The Dundee Dicksons came east, swinging by Washington on their way up to New Jersey.   Not a lot of excitement, but a lot of chatting - reliving the wedding, piling on AIG, talking sports (and trash), a lot of walking along the length of the mall.  Claire was on the mend from a bad cold, and Danny was, well, being Danny.  Fun, that is. Check out the video.
 
Jeffrey and Melodie joined us for dinner on Sunday night, along with Joe, Margaret and Annie, and Margaret's new dog, DeAngelo.  I bet it is the first time a dog has ever been named DeAngelo. Speaking of pets, there's a photo here of David and Paula's new kitty, and we heard lots of stories about Andrew and Lur's new dog. 
 
Please don't tell Claire that her air mattress filled up with air this morning as we were folding it up. 
 
Margaret does have a long story to tell about her dog adoption experience, and hopefully it won't be told in court.  It involves a sick dog and an outlay of a lot of money for medical bills, immediately, and an adoption agency which has washed its hands of the affair.  The good news is the dog is much better, after one very worrisome night.   
 
Annie stayed with Margaret and Dee to help out.  She goes back to school tomorrow after a pretty uneventful spring break. 
 
Nice to see Jeffrey and Melodie and they are off for a short break to New Orleans; Joe knows a few people down there, they should stay away from.
 
Other news- Mary started playing the guitar, and signed up for some classes.  We tried to fix up one of the old cheap Mexican guitars but to no avail.  After one class, she is about to release her new "best of" cd, with covers of "Skip to My Lou" and "Hokey, Pokey" and Itsy Bitsy Spider."  Look for the video next.
 
Not much else to report - working our way through another season the Wire, through biographies of Andrew Jackson and Walt Whitman and through a lenten season with no sweets and desserts.  Spring is trying to sneak in, and it is Cherry Blossom weekend here, but is is cold, rainy and raw.
 
Finally, Andrew, you snuck out of here without taking the slides!  Come back!
 
Love from down here

March Madness

Lots to report, but first, our thoughts are with Paula, David and family during this time of loss.  We align ourselves with Janet's very thoughtful message below.
 
We are also thinking of Sarah, whose surgery to remove a couiple of growths appears to have been successful.  Grandma reports that the doctors were optimistic and Sarah should be home with Uncle Jim and Aunt Georgia in Florida and recovering.
 
And Annie was also sick, with bronchitis, so sick she thought she would have to miss a trip to Boston.  She got on antibiotics and is better, and is now on her way to Boston.  After a job interview on Tuesday, she will head back home for the remainder of the month.
 
Also heading home yesterday was Joe, from Yemen.  Joe had traveled there for about ten days for work.  He has had Yemen on his mind for some time now, so it will be interesting to hear his impressions.
 
And as they head home, Margaret is leaving home. Today is moving day, as she has found a group home in Washington, and with the good advice of Jeffrey has settled in the Eastern Market area, not too far from Jeff and Melodie.   Moving is terrible, but she has a nice, new place.
 
We haven't written since the first of March when we got our first snowfall since our arrival in the DC area.  The government was on delayed opening and unscheduled leave, so John took advantage of both!  Here with us to enjoy that day was our friend Valerie from Seattle.  She was here to promote her self-published memoire of her daughter titled Maria, who died after a car crash when she was in her early 20s.  A sad story.
 
Mary also got the day off, and a delayed opening the next day.  We have been sending all the good news of the awards her school has been receiving, but yesterday they got an even bigger one: a national award, one of the top ten urban schools in the country.  Is there a connection between these awards and her arrival back there last year?  You bet!  Here's the story:  http://www.ncust.org/dnn/Portals/0/Excellence_Awards/2009WinnersPR.pdf
 
It's been a busy time at work for John.  His office is moving into the Facebook and Twitter and other stuff age.  He is finding himself in more and more meetings where he is by decades the oldest person in the room, watching a good show - but not contributing much.  Life is moving on.
 
So, back to packing; at least it's warm again.  Flowering trees and crocuses are out.  Lucky.  Love from down here

For Paula

Our hearts break for you, dear Paula.  This must be such a difficult time.  Know that we are all thinking of you, are with you in spirit, and pray for all of you.  You were a terrific sister, and we know that your incredible devotion and care for Sally during her illness made a big difference.  Because that's the person you are.  You make us all feel better just by your being there.

Be well.  Take care of you and know that we all love you.

Janet 

It was just like Chicago, and Rochester

Things I was doing in Chicago when I should have been calling my Uncle Andrew

Me and my friend Maureen at the top of the John Hancock building; me hugging the American Girl store, which was so cool to see; and Maureen and I roasting under the heat lamps at the bus stop (these are awesome!)

SORRY for not calling!!!!! It's Joe's fault.

Movies

My (and Johanna's) favorite TV event is now over - the Oscars.  This year we managed to see quite a few of the nominated films.  Johanna reminded me that we had seen all of the nominated films (although not all of the nominated performances, as I detest professional wrestling).

We squeaked in "The Reader" on Sunday just hours before the big show.  We both loved Kate Winslet's performance (preferring it to "Revolutionary Road"), but found ourselves with a lot of questions about the film afterward.  We both liked "Benjamin Button," and "Frost/Nixon," absolutely loved "Milk," (I actually met one of real-life characters - Cleve Jones, when I worked with the NAMES Project in Washington), and were ecstatic over "Slumdog's" multiple wins.

John posted his 10 favorite films and mentioned that David had chimed in with "Star Wars" and "Lawrence of Arabia."  I tried to come up with ten, but I love the movies and I love many of them for different reasons, and so coming up with just ten is very difficult.

But here are ten to start with:

To Kill a Mockingbird
Monsters, Inc.
Slumdog Millionaire
The Godfather Part 1
The Godfather Part 2
Casablanca
Schindler's List
Little Miss Sunshine
Yankee Doodle Dandy
West Side Story

Peter would add "On the Waterfront," for himself, and Sean's favorite has been (may have changed) "Shawshank Redemption."  Johanna can add her own ten.

I have noticed that as the economy worsens, the movie theatres are more crowded.  Escapism always works for me!

We are all well.  Peter spent some time with Grandma and Rell.  I was visiting my Dad and wasn't finished in time to join them for dinner.  Johanna and Sean are both working hard.  We have a salary freeze here at school and have been told that in September the head of school will be looking more closely at cutting programs and positions.  Meanwhile, I am making myself indispensible!  Or trying to...

Love to all!