Passed a threshold this week. It was light out when I emerged from the subway (around 7am) on the way to work. That's a good sign evenwhen the temperatures are dipping down to the 20s tonight.
And we're on our way north for the night, to see Grandma, Peter and Janet and David and Paula. It's supposed to snow, but so far nothing. David had a bout of H1N1 right after Christmas, so it'll be nice to see him back in form.
Last weekend, we had a short visit from Peter who was here for a banjo workshop and concert. He stopped by for a quick visit, with his homemade banjo. Unfortunately there was no room at the inn, as the Charlie Morrison family had made earlier reservations. They came up with their tenth grade son and did some sightseeing. We went out with them on Sunday to the Holocaust Museum. It was pretty jarring reading the cruelty and open death threats from Hitler with today's sensibilities. Because the Germans kept such good records of their exterminations, I don't know how there could be Holocaust deniers.
I continue to be busy working on Haiti. Unfortunately, most of that work has to do with reading e-mails. Not sure that reading e-mails helps anyone in Haiti. But that's what we do, write strategy papers, send them around, clear press guidance and talking points, obsess over small issues when there are real monumental ones to figure out. Still, what keeps me fromcomplaining is the fact that no matter what my hours are, people down there who work for us are living in their offices (one colleague said he had the best commute he's ever had - from the floor to the desk). And they don't complain because htey know how much better they have it than the millions of people all aorund them.
There's a chance I may have the opportunity to try out that commute, as I may be heading to Haiti for a couple of weeks in February.
And it's nose to the winter grindstone for the rest of us. Mary has her mechanical routine of exercise in the am, long hours, and home for chores before collapsing. Margaret has started a couple of classes -- Bollywood dancing and yoga -- and juggles work with job applications and her funny dog. Joe just got back this week from a week in Yemen, looking at how they are going to put together an aid project.
The other highlight besides football playoffs (poor Brett Favre) was a Loudon Wainwright concert this week. He's the "dead skunk in the middle of the road" guy, but has a new recording which is a tribute to a 1930s banjo player -- Charlie Poole. The thrill of the night came when Mary shouted for a song - twice - and he stopped and played it, with a little introduction!
We live fo rthose little things. Hope there's plenty in your lives! Love from down here.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Lost weekend
But what do I have to complain about? Shelter, food, water, family?
Been working this weekend on Haiti, trying to help where we help best, to get the story out, to see if we can help communications to Haitian people. It's a pretty desperate, dire situation, as you all have seen on the television. Someone asked me how we can direct people to get to the nearest relief distribution site. I figured out you don't send text messages. But I thought you could call up a radio station. No phones. Actually e-mail is working, so we sent a message via e-mail to radio. Then we heard that people don't have radios, or cannot get to their houses to listen to the radio, or don't have electricity to turn their radios on. We take so much for granted.
I was on the second shift of the task force. I showed up a little before 7am and ten minutes later it was 5:30pm. No lunch, unless you count Altoids. So many details. And in the midst of it, we learned we lost a colleague, the cultural affairs officer. But we barely had time to stop and reflect.
I did break away Sunday to come home for a brunch with a Pakistani/American family, a college friend of Mary's from her year abroad in the U.K. who teaches in Delaware, and whose wife works in the children's cancer ward at NIH. Joe came up and we talked about Haiti, the Middle East, Pakistan and Joe's future plans. I then dropped Joe at Jeffrey's where they were going to help Melodie root for the Vikings. And they had help from Sean and Amanda who had come down here for the weekend and stayed at Joe's bachelor pad. I think all the support made the difference, as the Vikings crushed the Cowboys. I finally won a post-season game this year. Or rather one of my teams. Hard to tell the difference.
We were supposed to go to Pittsfield this long weekend, and stop in to see Grandma on the way up and back. Too bad as we heard there was great skiing up there from John and Marilyn. They are heading on a long trip in February to Egypt. Our trip to NJ will have to wait until the end of the month when David and Paula are coming down for the weekend.
Mary has talked to her brother Tim a couple of times. He has moved to Mexico, south of Tijuana and is settling in and living the good life, it sounds.
Most of the snow is gone, as temperatures climbed and we had rain. That's one thing that those poor people in Haiti don't have right now is rain.
Love from down here.
Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. Get it now.
Been working this weekend on Haiti, trying to help where we help best, to get the story out, to see if we can help communications to Haitian people. It's a pretty desperate, dire situation, as you all have seen on the television. Someone asked me how we can direct people to get to the nearest relief distribution site. I figured out you don't send text messages. But I thought you could call up a radio station. No phones. Actually e-mail is working, so we sent a message via e-mail to radio. Then we heard that people don't have radios, or cannot get to their houses to listen to the radio, or don't have electricity to turn their radios on. We take so much for granted.
I was on the second shift of the task force. I showed up a little before 7am and ten minutes later it was 5:30pm. No lunch, unless you count Altoids. So many details. And in the midst of it, we learned we lost a colleague, the cultural affairs officer. But we barely had time to stop and reflect.
I did break away Sunday to come home for a brunch with a Pakistani/American family, a college friend of Mary's from her year abroad in the U.K. who teaches in Delaware, and whose wife works in the children's cancer ward at NIH. Joe came up and we talked about Haiti, the Middle East, Pakistan and Joe's future plans. I then dropped Joe at Jeffrey's where they were going to help Melodie root for the Vikings. And they had help from Sean and Amanda who had come down here for the weekend and stayed at Joe's bachelor pad. I think all the support made the difference, as the Vikings crushed the Cowboys. I finally won a post-season game this year. Or rather one of my teams. Hard to tell the difference.
We were supposed to go to Pittsfield this long weekend, and stop in to see Grandma on the way up and back. Too bad as we heard there was great skiing up there from John and Marilyn. They are heading on a long trip in February to Egypt. Our trip to NJ will have to wait until the end of the month when David and Paula are coming down for the weekend.
Mary has talked to her brother Tim a couple of times. He has moved to Mexico, south of Tijuana and is settling in and living the good life, it sounds.
Most of the snow is gone, as temperatures climbed and we had rain. That's one thing that those poor people in Haiti don't have right now is rain.
Love from down here.
Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. Get it now.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
2010
Is it two thousand ten or twenty ten? Either one it's a new year, full of hope and promise and change.
Does anyone have a New Years resolution? I did, for less than 18 hours, until Marilyn served a terrific ice cream sundae. So I had to switch to a new one that didn't have anything to do with sweets. Maybe it has do with weekly letter writing.
Anyway, tomorrow is back to work after two weeks which included Christmas, New Years, travel to NJ and to Mass, and lots of snow storms. Mary had two weeks off, thanks largely to two feet of snow on the Saturday and Sunday before Christmas. Even John got a day off, and by extension so did Joe and Margaret. We needed that day just to shovel the cars out, and again after the plows pushed the snow back in front of the cars.
Annie came home for just two nights, but that was still wonderful as Joe had also come up, so we had a full house. Annie left the day after Christmas and the day after that we had a birthday brunch with Joe and then headed north. We stopped in Hightstown and had dinner with Grandma provided by Peter, Janet and Sean. They have a new dog - a "rat terrier" by name of "Kat". Grandma had loads of food, mostly chocolate. We put a big dent in that.
We talked also with David and Paula, and Andrew and Lur over the holiday stretch. We heard today that David has a case of H1N1, and ended up in the hospital. Hope you're feeling better and that the worst is over. Andrew and Lur talked mostly about snow, their two accidents and Claire and Danny's sports! Grandma also told us that Andrew has had an identity theft problem. And, she has a doctors appointment on Monday (tomorrow) where she may hear about haviung to undergo another eye procedure.
We spent almost a week in Pittsfield, and got thed hall all painted. Margaret (and Dee, her dog) came and spent a couple of nights with us and then our Peace Corps friends Cliff and Sheila came for New Years. We went to see Sherlock Holmes (more like Indiana Jones - but we recommend it) and then played a game "Apples to Apples" to stay up through the night. The next day we went skiing, as it snowed three times while we were there, and then we had dinner and a video movie at John and Marilyn's. They had a nice Christmas with their daughters and had just returned from Boston where they took their granddaughters to the Blue Man group performance.
We decided to get an early jump on the traffic and headed back Saturday, spending the night at Grandma's and going to eat at the Meadow Lakes dining room. We remembered that it was Ann's birthday. We helped with a few errands, and Grandma now has organized closets. In one, we found a box of everything that was in Pop's roll-top desk. Pop had the world's largest personal collection of staplers and refill staples. Must have been a sale at Spags.
On the way back we got a text message from Joe that he has gotten into Johns Hopkins. So he has a choice for his graduate study. Congratulations. We also talked with Annie who had a nice visit with Margaret and they also went to see Sherlock Holmes.
So the new year if off to a great start. Love from down here.
Does anyone have a New Years resolution? I did, for less than 18 hours, until Marilyn served a terrific ice cream sundae. So I had to switch to a new one that didn't have anything to do with sweets. Maybe it has do with weekly letter writing.
Anyway, tomorrow is back to work after two weeks which included Christmas, New Years, travel to NJ and to Mass, and lots of snow storms. Mary had two weeks off, thanks largely to two feet of snow on the Saturday and Sunday before Christmas. Even John got a day off, and by extension so did Joe and Margaret. We needed that day just to shovel the cars out, and again after the plows pushed the snow back in front of the cars.
Annie came home for just two nights, but that was still wonderful as Joe had also come up, so we had a full house. Annie left the day after Christmas and the day after that we had a birthday brunch with Joe and then headed north. We stopped in Hightstown and had dinner with Grandma provided by Peter, Janet and Sean. They have a new dog - a "rat terrier" by name of "Kat". Grandma had loads of food, mostly chocolate. We put a big dent in that.
We talked also with David and Paula, and Andrew and Lur over the holiday stretch. We heard today that David has a case of H1N1, and ended up in the hospital. Hope you're feeling better and that the worst is over. Andrew and Lur talked mostly about snow, their two accidents and Claire and Danny's sports! Grandma also told us that Andrew has had an identity theft problem. And, she has a doctors appointment on Monday (tomorrow) where she may hear about haviung to undergo another eye procedure.
We spent almost a week in Pittsfield, and got thed hall all painted. Margaret (and Dee, her dog) came and spent a couple of nights with us and then our Peace Corps friends Cliff and Sheila came for New Years. We went to see Sherlock Holmes (more like Indiana Jones - but we recommend it) and then played a game "Apples to Apples" to stay up through the night. The next day we went skiing, as it snowed three times while we were there, and then we had dinner and a video movie at John and Marilyn's. They had a nice Christmas with their daughters and had just returned from Boston where they took their granddaughters to the Blue Man group performance.
We decided to get an early jump on the traffic and headed back Saturday, spending the night at Grandma's and going to eat at the Meadow Lakes dining room. We remembered that it was Ann's birthday. We helped with a few errands, and Grandma now has organized closets. In one, we found a box of everything that was in Pop's roll-top desk. Pop had the world's largest personal collection of staplers and refill staples. Must have been a sale at Spags.
On the way back we got a text message from Joe that he has gotten into Johns Hopkins. So he has a choice for his graduate study. Congratulations. We also talked with Annie who had a nice visit with Margaret and they also went to see Sherlock Holmes.
So the new year if off to a great start. Love from down here.
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