Happy Valentine's Day

Attention all men in the family.  One week to go.  Plan now.  This is the one holiday you can't count on the ladies to do the shopping for you. 
 
Just a little subtle warning.  And if we do forget, have a great day ladies - we love you!!  (Even though we know that doesn't get us off the hook.)
 
We are looking forward to next weekend, which is a long one for us.  We'll be heading towards colder climes; we're going north to Pittsfield and Margaret will be going to Chicago, where Joe already is with his UK friend.  And then, we'll count down to the spring.  Here, anyway.  We are hearing horror winter stories from Chicago, Rochester and Utica, not to mention Pittsfield.  It was on one of those cold February days, 30 years ago, that Mary's father passed away.
 
And this week, when I was in Tegucigalpa (Honduras) people were complaining about the cold snap, where the temperature got down to 65 at night.  I heard on person say his house was 64.  Hmmm.  So is mine, all winter long.
 
Anyway, took a quick trip to Panama and Honduras this week and saw all the wonderful things your tax dollars are doing for us.  Sriously, we do great work, on exchanges and English teaching for very small amounts of money.  And if you don't believe me, then read Friday's NYT where there's an article on our English teaching programs in Egypt.  Certainly better than the money spent on the 25 person congressional delegation in the middle of stimulus debates back in DC. 
 
In Panama, I joined 5 former big leaguers at a baseball clinic for disadvantaged youth.  Wonderful messages of family and discipline and fun from these physcially big and big-hearted guys - Sherman Obando, Kenny Maldonado, Omar Moreno, and others.  And they call it work. 
 
And it was nice to see Obama fever from far away.  Everyone has it, and hopes are sky high.  It will be hard to maintain.
 
Back here, hopes are high at Meadow Lake, as Grandma moved back into her apartment.  It sounds like the physical therapy has been very helpful.
 
Hopes are also high in Pittsfield area, as Colleen's dog had a litter of 12 puppies.  We're hoping for a picture.
 
We heard from Annie who is getting ready for both graduation and what comes after.  She is joining the ranks of lots of job applicants.  Never too early.
 
Mary had a busy week at work, using the time she had free from taking care of her number one special ed case (me) to get lots done.  She and Margaret went to see the Benjamin Buttons movie, but were not that impressed. Speaking of movies, no one commented on my list of top ten movies of all time (last entry's comment.) 
 
And then there was the Super Bowl.  I caught the last quarter only, which was great.  After the game, I surfed the channels at the hotel in Panama and saw people celebrating in the street.  Wow, I thought Pittsburgh has fans all the way down here?  In fact, they were celebrating Panama's first victory ever in international soccer championship. 
 
All for now.  Love from down here.