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.