Travels

Why am I surprised that it gets cold in December?  Because it seems like it was just October, or August.

And here we are at the second Sunday in Advent.  Time to catch our breath.

Last Friday, after Thanksgiving, we drove up to Pittsfield, dropping Grandma off in Hightstown on the way.  We had a couple of house meetings (kitchen and bank loan) so Mary came along and flew back home on Monday evening.  We went out to a new pizza place with John and Marilyn and then over to their house to watch a movie on the Cuban missile crisis (good).  They are into advance planning for a trip to China in March.

I stayed up to try to do a little work to get rooms ready for sanding the floors.  Danny called up from Stonington offering to help paint and, never one to accept company -- and free labor -- I of course accepted.  Had he not come, I think I would still be there.  But besides sanding and painting, we went out to a yoga retreat for a vegetarian dinner and had long breakfasts at a local "joint".  We also saw a movie to put on your "miss it" list:  The Tempest.

Joe arrived home from his extended trip to Lebanon, Syria and Turkey with photos and stories and insights which go against the grain of what we are to think about that part of the world, such as Christian enclaves and Crusader castles.  He is now back to a job search as his AID offer still hasn't materialized.  Margaret is busy at work - she bought a cage for her dog who is getting into trouble at home when no one is here - dropping presents for us around the house.  And we talked to Annie this morning - she too continues to interview and plans to move to a new place.  Check out her new blog: http://3rdculturekidinthe3rdworld.wordpress.com/.  Looking forward to her trip home in a couple of weeks. 

We talked to David and Andrew this week.  Snow and jobs.  Andrew also told us that Billy has completed his degree. Congratulations!  And Grandma told us of her adventure trying to connect with Sean so that he could pick up a couple of lounge chairs.   No we know what we did in a world without cell phones - we waited and waited.

And to top off the week - Mary is the last person in America to sign up for Facebook!  She already has four friends, three not including me.  

Happy December!  Love from down here.