'twas the week before

Christmas!

We can imagine everyone's planning and preparing and baking and shopping and wrapping and ramping it up all around. I'm ready for a nap!

This photo was taken at the grounds of the Mormon temple outside Washington where they do an amazing light festival. One man said they start putting the lights up in August. Now that's planning ahead.

We went there last Saturday with Gerry and Dennis and then came home for dinner. Margaret and her friend Andrew dropped by Sunday after going to Pennsylvania for Andrew's family get-together.

Margaret told us Kathleen graduated, finishing her physician's asst program at Yale. Congratulations! Thats a lotta work! Mary talked to Dan who had a nice long visit in Colorado with Patrick.

Speaking of studies, Joe and Sean are finishing up their first semester exams! They'll be ready for a break.

I'm up at Grandma's and will be heading over to Newark this evening to pick up Annie and Joe! We'll come back to Hightstown for the night before heading north.

Grandma has opted to undergo a procedure next week for a feeding tube. That should help with her weight loss.

She sure appreciates the cards she's gotten. It's a highlight of the week for her.

Only a few more sleeps before Noel. Wishing every one a blessed Christmas. Love from down here!

It's Beginning to Feel

A lot like Christmas.  At least the weather.  Maybe the music, the decorations, the Advent wreaths.  We saw on Facebook that Paula was already baking her world-famous cookies.  And David was driving through a snowstorm when he called the other day.

Has anyone heard this year's worst Christmas song?  Margaret found this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txpdpWyY2x.  We're taking other nominations.

 

We're making plans.  Today, I'm heading north with a sleigh full of bags and equipment for Christmas week. 

 

On the way, I'll stop in and see Grandma.  She's having a medical meeting tomorrow, and Peter will be there as well.  Grandma has pretty much gotten over her bout with pneumonia - she's not coughing as much.  She had gone back into the hospital after feeling short of breath, but was released after a series of tests found nothing new, phew.  But she still has to build up her energy and breathing before she can go back to her apartment.  That's her goal!

 

Newsflash:  CLAIRE GETS HER LICENSE TODAY!  I can almost hear from here, the squeals of Claire's delight, then the squeals of the tires out the driveway, then a very different kind of squeals from the parents (with Daniel in the background figuring out how much longer he has to wait until he gets his.)

 

More routine news without any squeals:  Mary has been busy at work, with evaluations and reports and even a Christmas party here and there.  Her back is much, much better, which means she's back to her exercise routine.  Joe is heading into exam period; Margaret is well into her new job at the GW business school; and Annie is also busy with work.  She bought herself a new mask for the pollution which she says she is weasring everywhere.  Good!  I see from the Durban climate change talks that China is now the largest emitter.  Just a few short years ago when the meeting was in Montreal, it was us.  I see one thing hasn't changed, though:  we are still bearing the brunt of the criticism!

 

I am winding up my year of classes on the Old Testament.  I look back and know now first how little I knew about the Bible, and how much more there is to know.  Starting in January, we'll take up the New Testament!

 

Other than that, we've been watching football, we went to the Descendents (recommend) and playing "Ashokan Farewell" on the guitar to win a bet!

 

Love from down here and enjoy the season and the wait! 

Thanksgiving reports

We heard from many of you, flung far and wide, about your Thanksgivings.  A memorable one took place in Hightstown, with the Dundee Dicksons trekking all the way to spend the day with Grandma.  They arrived Wednesday and left Saturday morning and had several opportunities to visit Peter, Janet and Johanna.  Their plan to eat in the Meadow Lakes dining room with Grandma didn't transpire, but they did help Grandma with her turkey before heading back to her apartment for a new traditional meal: spaghetti.  We spoke with them several times during their journey and heard stories of Claire driving, of Daniel getting tall and Lur feeling a whole lot better.

We also heard that Peter and Janet had dinner with her cousin DeeDee and family.  Peter invited a couple of Princeton students and hosted Canadian friends from Vancouver.  Sean and Amanda were able to catch a train out for the event.

 

We understand David and Paula had a quiet day, as Paula was worried about attending a family gathering with her lingering cold.  Jeff and Melodie were going to head over to friends for the day.  We even got a call from Annie who had to work on Thursday, but was planning for a Thanksgiving dinner with friends over the weekend.

 

I headed up to Pittsfield with a car full of provisions on Tuesday, picked up Joe who had gotten the train out during the day.  He turned around and headed back to Boston to meet Tamara who came east from Ann Arbor to spend the holiday with us! Margaret and Mary drove up Tuesday night, through pouring rain and around the northeast corridor, and they managed to arrive by 1am, getting in just minutes before Joe and Tamara.  Everyone had Wednesday to recover and we had a grand feast on Thursday!

 

We saw John and Marilyn Friday, and they hosted Colleen and Cara and their families over for the big day.  Dan was out in Colorado, enjoying the holiday with Patrick.  And, we heard that Maura and Steve had a big family get-together at their home.

 

I'm sure there are other reports out there.  Why don't we all get together and do this in one place?  I know why.

 

In any event, I decided this was the Thanksgiving to debunk some myths. 

 

First, I realized it's a made-up holiday, not by the Pilgrims or Hallmark, but a conspiracy led by Shell Oil and the States of Delaware and New Jersey.  The revenue from gas and tolls by the stupid volume of cars on the road convinced me, this is not a normal way to spend a day off. 

 

Second, pumpkin pie is not good.  It's not sweet and the only reason we eat it at all is we think it's traditional.  It's not like the Pilgrims ate it!  And if it was so good, why don't we eat it on ANY OTHER DAY OF THE YEAR!  Also, what is the deal with canned cranberries? 

 

Third, this is a holiday akin to squirrels and bears putting on layers of fat before going into winter hibernation.  We therefore ought to call it like it is - Gettingfat Day.  You have to wonder how global warming is going to affect the food intake on this day if we don't need to pile it on for the cold.  

 

I suspect you all may have learned more truths about this holiday, as wonderful and unique a one as there is anywhere in the world!  It is our exceptionalism.

 

And I know what I am thankful for.  A wonderful family.  Love from down here.  

Turkey Day

Not enough food. There's still space to put more dishes!

Hope you all had enough to eat.

A banner day, a banner week!

I know Peter covered a lot of this below, but here's another take, another reinforcement.

Sitting with Grandma last Saturday, I realized she had had a banner day.  David and Paula were there, Johanna came by in the evening.  I had stopped by on my way back from Pittsfield.  A Meadow Lakes friend dropped by.  Aunt Georgia had called.  Net effect?  She was in good spirits, even though Princeton lost in football.  That meant she ate all the fruit on her plate and positively marched through physical therapy!

 

Then we all just found out that the Dundee Dicksons will be making the trek to be with her for Thanksgiving.  All this, after Paula had been with her for over a week, Jeffrey and Melodie had driven up and Peter had come by multiple times.  She is getting better.  It's slow and will take more time.  But it seems the best medicine of all is family.   Her cell phone is 609-651-3132.  Don't get discouraged if she doesn't pick up; it means she's either doing her needed physical therapy or she just can't locate the phone.  Try again later.  The calls are like medicine!

 

Poor Paula herself got sick while she was there helping out (heroically).  David came down on Saturday to get her home to where she could get her own rest and recovery.  

 

Big news from Dundee on the sports front.  Daniel's volleyball team won the state championship!  And he was named to the all-tournament team.  We hear he has a killer serve, as well as being a dominant force at the net.  It's a tense, stressful sport.  And, one which Claire is going to join a traveling team.  She won the "Most Improved Player" on her school's volleyball team.  I suspect this all came about because of the extra practice time in Pittsfield this summer.  That one game that lasted ten minutes must have pushed them over the top!  Seriously, that's great news. 

 

Other news from Dundee include babysitting Miles one night when Bill and Jen went to a concert.  He's growing!  And the back health out there seems to be improving. 

 

And Mary's back is getting better too.  It seems like she turned a corner recently, even if she still has a little more to go.  The proof is she sat through a whole movie (Moneyball) in the theater without getting on the floor halfway through to stretch.  It's a good movie, by the way.

 

I spent a couple of days last week in Pittsfield, winterizing the place.  That meant trying to find place to put outdoor furniture, lawnmowers and canoe.  And that means we're looking forward to getting a garage at some point in the next decade.  One the way back, after seeing Grandma, I hustled over to catch Princeton soccer and football games with Peter.  Lots of memories with children on those fall Saturdays.  Fun.

 

Margaret has landed a new job, so she will have a seamless transition since her company lost the funding for the project she had been working on.  She is going to be starting at GW Business School working on their Latin America programs.  Joe called to say he did not have an exam this week!  But he does have two next week, before Thanksgiving.  He'll be thankful that they're over.  And we had a nice long chat with Annie who is very busy at work with a big corporate pr event, today.  You can read about her getting robbed last Saturday night on her blog: http://3rdculturekidbetweenworlds.wordpress.com/  The picture of the city on her blog is her view (on a clear day) from her apartment.

 

Next week is Thanksgiving.  Time is flying.  Love from down here!

 

 

       

Also ...

Jeffrey and Melodie came up to see Mom last weekend and tell her about the wedding, and they and Mom and David and Paula and Janet and I had dinner in a conference room!  And Johanna went to see her grandmother on Saturday.  All very sweet.

News

Mom: many thanks especially to Paula for staying a week with Mom and helping her with her daily nutrition and physical therapy requirements, but also David and John.  Paula left yesterday with a sore throat which we hope heals quickly.  Mom seems to making progress, although it is slow.  She will be moving to a new apartment which is configured exactly as her current one, because Meadow Lakes is tearing down her building and two others because of pervasive mold contamination.  The move should take place just about any time because the new apartment is empty.  All of you grandchildren, a get well card and maybe a phone call would help Mom to speed up her getting well.  She sees her pulmonologist again this week.

John stopped by on Saturday to watch the Yale football and soccer games on a somewhat chilly but glorious fall afternoon, exactly the kind of day you envision for a football game.  While Princeton lost both games, there is hope for the future as the football team has some very promising freshman – one of them set an Ivy record for rushing for 1,000 yards in his first year.

Want to know how much admired is our family name?  I have a case in Federal court before a judge named Joseph A. Dickson.  He announced in the first hearing that he knows he's not related to me because his father changed the family name from Digovich.

I have recently discovered a lovely podcast called The Writer's Almanac:
writersalmanac.publicradio.org/
It's read by Garrison Keillor seven days a week, about five minutes or so; he tells a story or two about those writers whose birthday it is, then reads a poem which is posted on the website.  I listen every morning.

Happy Halloween

Snow in October?  Say it ain't so!  But it was.  In Pittsfield, in Hightstown and Princeton and even in Maryland! 

 

Peter and Janet (and Dasha) had come up to Pittsfield for a late fall foliage weekend, and it's too bad they weren't there the weekend before when it was almost an Indian summer moment.  Instead, we got socked with well over a foot of very wet snow.  Fortunately, the plow guy came early Sunday morning and a quick shoveling out job meant they could get on the road to go home.  Unfortunately, they had an unpleasant surprise when they got home as the power was out and their basement had flooded again.  

 

Did it dampen the weekend though?  (Pun intended.)  Not so much, we hope.  We had a great time, with a pre-snow hike in the woods and a delicious pot roast dinner and our first fire in the fireplace!!  John and Marilyn came over and helped regulate our new heating system.  We saw them again on Sunday and checked up on their new bathroom renovation project.  Looks great.

 

The weekend started with a mad dash (is there any other kind) up to Boston to pay back taxes on the car so we could renew registration.  I was able to combine that trip with a taxi ride (I was the taxi) taking Joe to the airport.  He was on his way to Michigan for a football weekend with Tamara.  Then, it was a rough ride over to Pittsfield in, you guessed it, a pre-blizzard snow storm.

 

We checked in on Grandma several times over the past few weeks.  She is in the nursing care facitility, trying to get back her strength to return to her apartment.  She is feeling better but is still pretty weak.  She has started walking again.  She loves all the calls from everyone, even if they're short!

 

Mary and I had gone up the previous weekend to see her.  We decided, on a lark, to go to NYC and see if we couldn't catch a play.  We parked the car and five minutes later we were in the matinee for Memphis, which is a wonderful song and dance musical about the R&B beginnings of rock 'n roll in that segregated southern city.  We headed downtown to lend our moral support to the Occupy Wall Street protests and after a dinner in Little Italy, went back to Meadow Lakes for the night.  We hadn't been to New York in a few years and were reminded how much fun (and how expensive) the city is.

 

We saw a number of photos of next generation'ers in Halloween get-up.  Looks like a fun weekend for everyone.  Margaret's dog D was dressed as Steve Jobs. 

 

We talked with David and Paula a few times; they are now in Hightstown after their own trip to the city.  Andrew and Lur are slowling getting better, and we hear big news on Daniel and his volleyball team (seems like they won state championships) and Claire and her oboe performances.  

 

The last entry for PWL was Melodie and Jeffrey's wedding.  Hard to put in words how wonderful that grand event was for us, but the pictures say a lot.  It was so nice to see everyone - Matthew and Tina and Oliver from NY and Jen and Bill from Illinois, whom we don't get to see as often.  Congratulations to the wedding couple for putting together such a memorable ceremony and party!

 

Love from down here.   

 

October 16

Congratulations, Melodie and Jeffrey!

It's October, Must Be Jeff and Melodie's Wedding

Just got back from a run.  A sunny, brisk October morning, perfect for college soccer, tailgating, leaf-blowing.  Perfect for wedding eve!

 

David and Paula came down on Thursday evening and I had lunch with the father of the groom yesterday.  There's a Prell story in there, if you care to ask.  I spoke with Jeffrey briefly outside their hotel; they had gotten a limo the night before to do up the town.  All seems set.  Rehearsal yesterday afternoon, dinner in the evening and more fun today, with Matthew and Tina and Oliver coming down yesterday, Joe last night, Peter and Janet and Johanna and Janie today and then Bill and Jen tomorrow.  Looks like there is a big contingent from Minnesota as well.  Big day.   

 

Unfortunately, we'll miss Grandma's presence for the event.  Last week, she had a long night of coughing and to be safe, she checked in to the hospital the next day.  Good thing, because she came down with a pneumonia that kind of knocked her flat.  She had some rough days, and sounded very weak.  Peter has been checking in on her, and I saw her on Wednesday.  She looked a little better, but progress is in very small increments.  She did go back to Meadow Lakes yesterday but will be in the rehab section, not in her apartment. 

 

I had seen her the day before she checked in to the hospital and she had no symptons at all.  I was on my way up to Maine for a few days to see Cliff, a friend from Peace Corps days.  I helped (kind of) with some of his work building an addition on his cabin.  Fortunately, it was not the roof work he originally anticipated  You know me and heights.  

 

I stopped in to see Joe on the way up as well.  We had a lunch in a Boston sports deli, near his apartment.  Lots of good photos and headlines!  None from this September though.  Sigh.  Joe is good, but busy, studying long hours. 

 

The Dundee Dicksons also had to make a tough decision to stay home this weekend.  Andrew hurt his back, Lur is still not 100 percent and Claire and Danny have a million things in school, sports and music events.  Just seemed like too much to get in a car and try to drive the distance and then hustle back for Claire's school obligations, among other things.

 

Mary is busy at school and slowly, slowly on the mend from her back.  She caught up with friends while I was away, from Peru and Gabon.  Heard from Annie whose company moved offices this past week.  A little disruptive but she likes it.  We hope to hear the stories of her recent road trip!  Margaret is well, still working on trying to tie down a new job.

 

Other big events - Patriots beat the Jets.  Baseball looks to be going to two of my least favorite teams in the World Series.  What could have been.  We finished the next season of Breaking Bad.  Yikes. 

 

More tomorrow.  Love from wedding central, down here. 

 

 

End of the season

For some of us anyway.  The Yankees and the Brewers are in the playoffs.  It was a memorable season, though, adding to baseball lore for years to come.  Okay, after being philosophical, I can now scream.  AAAAAAGGGHHH!

 

Oh well.  Life goes on and it's how you play the game or root for your team.  Put away the Reds and Red Sox hats.  What is it about that color?

 

It's also the end of other seasons.  Like summer.  I could scream about that as well, except we all like fall and the foliage colors.  Still, there's little like green.

 

I am hoping I mowed the lawn for the last time in Pittsfield last week.  With all the rain, though, in some spots I was mowing puddles.  Still, there's progress on the house, as the brick on the chimney is almost done (and may be done by now.)   I had gone up to attend a history conference at UMass which turned out to be very interesting.  One speaker was the director of the 9/11 museum which will open up next year.  Also, on my history meanderings, I went to the new Martin Luther King memorial in DC, a talk at the National Archives on James Madison, and the birthplace of Susan B Anthony in Adams, Massachusetts.  And, at Arlington last Sunday, Mary and I attended a Peace Corps 50th anniversary ceremony commemorating the 280 volunteers who had died during their service, including one friend we knew in Gabon.  If anyone's interested, I have another blog recounting these random history jaunts. 

 

On the way up and back, I stopped in to see Grandma.  She is feeling well, but has trouble walking and seeing.  She has an aide come in once a day to help with her morning routines, and she needs to have someone wheel he down to the cafeteria for the meals she takes there.  I have also started transcribing the interviews which some of us did last summer.  Some of the stories are familiar, but some are new, like the way Grandma found out she had an older brother!  (step-brother)  In my Old Testament class this week, I came across the name Abiathar, which was our grandfather's middle name.  I always thought it was a strange name.   Turns out Abiathar in 1 Samuel was the only priest to escape the wrath of the first king of Israel, Saul, who put to death all the priests in a town called Nob.  Still sounds like a strange name to give your little baby in 1899, which was when Gramps was born.    

 

It was Paula's birthday, and it sounded like a good one, from Facebook.  They both recommend the movie "Moneyball", by the way, even if you're not a baseball fan, or a Brad Pitt fan.  They are also going down lists getting ready for the big wedding.  I bet Jeff and Melodie are as well.  Margaret accompanied Melodie to her final fitting for the dress.  She says both Jeff and Melodie have been very good on their diets.  Sadly, I have not.  Why don't they ban chocolate chip cookies, or soft serve ice cream?

 

Our back cases (Mary and Lur) seem to be showing slight improvements, with emphasis on slight.  We got a Miles August Jones birth announcement in the mail this week!  We hear good news from Dundee about Claire's studies!  They are in the midst of checking out and thinking about colleges.  Speaking of college, Joe seems real busy with his course work, exams and teaching load.  Annie talked about some possible job changes, working on crisis communications for companies in China.  Margaret's company lost their bid to continue their Fulbright teacher exchange for next year, so she is hot on the trail of other job possibilities.

 

Other than that, we will fill the void of baseball with Netflix episodes of "Breaking Bad," football, exercise and maybe even reading! 

 

Hope you all are well.  Love from down here!  And, happy birthday Johanna (Saturday!)

 

Ides of September

Kind of catchy?  6 months after the Ides of March.

We start with remembering Arthur and with our condolences to Janet, Peter, Johanna and Sean for the loss of their father, grandfather and friend.  Janet gave an inspiring eulogy of her father at his service, and Sean and Johanna read from Ecclesiastes.  Janet ended by quoting from Winnie the Pooh: "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."   I am not sure how you got through saying that Janet, but it sure was fitting.

Mary and I had driven over from Meadow Lakes.  Grandma had thought about going but was worried that it would be too hard for her.  We continued on to Pittsfield where we spent the night and met up with Annie the next day.  

Wait, I should have mentioned that Annie came home last week.  For a short visit.  She flew in on Wednesday and then flew up to Vermont the next day to join a wedding celebration of two of her friends from Hamilton.   So we met Annie, drove back to Meadow Lakes for Sunday night, and then I took Annie to Newark for her flight back home the next day.  Afterwards, I stopped back at Meadow Lakes and wheeled Grandma down for her haircut.  No trip to the dump or to Spags though.

Peter came over for dinner on Sunday night, bringing delicious soup and stories from Arthur's wake, service and reception.

Earlier, Margaret came over for dinner and an overnight to spend time with Annie, and we talked to Joe on the phone.  He has started classes and was able to get the program he wanted.  This week he also starts his teaching assistant duties.  

Speaking of classes, Sean is into his third week of law school, and says he has worked harder in those three weeks than he did in the three months of work at his last job.  First year of law school!

Our days here have been dominated by Mary's bad back and related other problems.  This week, she started getting stomach problems, so the doctor told her to stop taking the pain medication.  That means that she is now feeling her sciatica for the first time since July 30 when the pain medication first kicked in.  She is an excellent patient, doing all her stretching and physical therapy, but is contemplating surgery.  Next up: an MRI.

We hear that Lur is feeling better, but is also doing her back exercises.  

We also hear that Johnny is recovering from his cracked ribs.  Marilyn and Kara and three granddaughters had a full trip to Lancaster and Hershey Pennsylvania.  One of those places has a chocolate factory and one has Amish farms.  Can you guess which is which?

A month from today, many of us will descend on these southern parts for Jeffrey and Melodie's wedding.  Wonderful.

Love from down here.  

You got the generator

but I got the blocks

We win!

Well, Andrew got the grill, David got the clock, John the table and chairs, but I GOT THE GENERATOR!  It has sat behind our garage for six years now and I never tried to start it or hook it up or do anything at all.  After the worst of the storm passed, we seemed in good shape, but then the power went out.  So we moped around for a while and the PSE&G recording said we would get our power back a week later.  So then Sean and I went out to see if the generator might get started.  The wooden enclosure fell apart when when we took it off, but after sixty or so pulls, it started and kept going.  It couldn't help with the water or septic, which are wired to the circuit board, but it powered my sump pump, the refrigerator and a couple of lamps.  We cooked dinner on the grill.  I turned the generator off at 11:00 last night because it's so danged loud, and it took maybe a hundred pulls this morning to get it going, just as the sump was about to overflow.  We got our power back about an hour ago and I just turned the generator off again.  I coulda kissed that thing.

Johanna, Sean and Amanda wisely came out to put some distance between themselves and the worst of the storm.  (Well, Johanna was coming for a vet appointment).  We all had a nice adventure together, and they all helped with the pre-storm preparation, which included jerry-rigging some old gutters and downspouts to help route water away from the house.  

The downtown area of Hightstown flooded, but Mom was fine, no power loss or anything other than a huge crash in the middle of the night which no one can explain.  Janet is just back from driving Johanna, Sean and Amanda back because there is still no NJ Transit service.

Mom talked John out of driving a truck to Hightstown Saturday night, so at this moment he's somewhere in Pa trying to make his way down to DC.  Good luck!

To Louisville and Back!

We're back from our road trip to Louisville.  We had a great time, and the weather cooperated so we did most of the driving top down, an added bonus.  Some highlights:

- We had a wonderful dinner with Gary and Patty Casendino Gussoff, who have been in what she calls "Looneyville" for four years but will return to NJ as soon as Gary retires.  They said to say hello to each of you.

- The waterfront area of Loo-ville, where we stayed (in a two-room suite overlooking the river) is great.  It's an old warehouse district.  Nearly all of the old five and six story cast iron fronts have been preserved, a pedestrian-friendly streetscape was created, and several museums and arts centers are located there.

- An Imax movie in the Looo-ville Science Center about the Lewis & Clark expedition.  I have been reading an edited version of their journals, but it came to life in this very difficult to make movie.  News: we were all taught about "Saca-ja-wEa," who guided the expedition for much of its length.  It's actually "Sac-A-ga-way-a."

- The Hillerich & Bradsby baseball bat factory, where 60% of all Major League Players have their Louisville Slugger bats made, and which you can tour.  The actual manufacturing area is surprisingly small, no bigger than a typical restaurant.  The gift shop is almost as big.  On the day I toured, bats were being made for Brandon Phillips, who plays for some midwestern team (can you help me, John?), and Derek Jeter.

- Long drives along Skyline Drive, the Blue Ridge Parkway and through the Great Smoky Mountains, beautiful mountain country.  When we confine ourselves to our home areas, it is easy to forget what a beautiful country this is.

- A visit with niece Geren Zoubek Mandl and Dave, who now works for Oak Ridge National Labs outside Knoxville.  Their twins were getting ready for their first day of school.

- People in these parts of the South are polite (although, as Patty said, that's not the same as friendly).  Best example: on the interstate driving north to Lou-a-ville, a sign said "right lane closed two miles ahead."  Immediately everyone merged into the left lane, leaving an empty right hand lane two miles long.  In NJ, there would have been aggressive jockeying and lane switching even past the merge location.  I am telling you, that was weird.  Also, almost no one speeds.

- Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's long time home, with lots of inventive interior and agricultural innovations.  Rather smaller than I expected, and Jefferson himself occupied only a small part of the first floor.  Things to grapple with: he died indebted in $2 million in today's dollars, and his daughter had to sell all the home's furnishings when he died; over 600 slaves lived and worked there over the course of his lifetime, about 200 at any given time, and he freed only eleven in his lifetime, all members of the Hemmings family. 

- Biltmore, Geo. Wash. Vanderbilt II's estate in Asheville, NC.  It's the largest and most often visited home in the US.  He originally bought over 600 square miles and built a railroad up to the house to carry in all the materials used to build it.  2.6 million plants, for one example, with the grounds landscaped by Frederick Law Olmstead.  Some photos in a basement exhibit show the massive efforts that went into its construction.  It's still owned by his descendants (who put in a pompous and snooty tribute to themselves in one of the rooms), and is clearly a very big business.  Along with the gardens and house, there is a huge hotel, a winery, a couple of "villages" with stores, restaurants, etc.  But it's very well done, you can wander around the house as you wish and not get stuck on a "tour."  While the outside is patterned after three French chateaus, the interior is more gloomy Germanic/Teutonic darkness.  He died with insufficient funds for his widow to maintain it, so she sold off most of the land, which is now the Pisgah National Forest and parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

- Asheville itself, an arty smallish town; we extended our stay another night to take advantage of the restaurants.

- The Cherokee Indian Museum, detailing the life of the tribe before the white man arrived and the "trail of tears" journey to Ky and Ok after they were evicted.  It's not far from the huge Harrah's Cherokee Casino.

- Abraham Lincoln's birthplace (reproduction) and boyhood home (reproduction) sites, a few miles apart in Ky.  Strangely isolated and sparsely visited.

- Watching Reds games on TV every night in Loo-uh-ville, while tracking Mets games pitch-by-pitch on my phone.

- Janet had her new iPhone and I my new Android phone.  A few glitches but everything worked as promised.  However, you can't read the screens with the top down!

Back to DC

It's hot and humid, so we know we're back in points southern.

We closed up shop in Pittsfield, at least for Mary, for the summer last Thursday.  Hard to leave, especially since we have so many fine memories of a glorious summer.  

Joe had arrived a day later than expected when his flight from Michigan was cancelled stranding him in Washington.  As luck would have it, he ran into two of his "Jordan/St Andrews" buddies so it wasn't a total loss.  We picked him up a day later and he spent time packing and loading up the car with his stuff to start his final leg to his year in the Boston area.  

We went for a morning long hike up Mt Greylock with Johnny before he left, also benefiting from Joe's one-day delay as we otherwise would have been hiking in the rain.  It was a nice, little bit arduous hike (for me anyway) with sore muscles and a monster blister to help me remember a nice outing.  Johnny was free due to a) he couldn't golf because he broke a rib and b) Marilyn was on a Grandma trip with Kara and three granddaughters to Hershey Pennsylvania.

We stopped on the way down for an overnight with Grandma in Hightstown, who seems pretty good.  We met Brenna her new helper who comes each day.  It was a good idea to not try to drive straight through as Mary still has back issues.  She went to her doctor here as soon as we arrived and got on new medicine.  We'll see how that works.

She's not the only one struggling as Andrew told us Lur had a rough week with her back, compounded by a nasal problem.  She was having a procedure to clear out sinuses on Friday.  Staying in Illinois, Joe and Tamara stopped by Bill and Jen's house on his drive across country.  All seems well, and we hear Miles is a quiet, peaceful baby, especially when visitors are around.

Our plan to sign a lease on an apartment as soon as we could worked out.  Our new place is close to our old house, so we won't have to change grocery stores or gym!  We saw Margaret and D a couple of times, delivering a few items to her, including a tv.  Pretty amazing how bulky and heavy the old tvs were.  Anyway, they still work!  Margaret has an apartment to herself for a few weeks, until her new roommate moves in in September.

The other big news here, has been a decision for me to wait one more year before starting my history program at UMass.  That means I won't be driving so much between Massachusetts and Maryland this coming year.  I'll still go back and forth, but not every week.

So, we are continuing the tradition of staying with friends, first Gerry and Dennis and then Ellen and Larry.  Thank you very much for bailing us out!

All from down here.  Hope you are thriving.  

Two weeks ago

Where is everyone? We wanted to play badminton and bocci. We are going to have s'mores.

We heard from Joe that he and Tamara stopped and saw Bill, Jen and Miles today. The two of them continued on to Michigan as Tamara had a shipment coming.

Joe is not the only one on the road. Peter and Janet took off for Kentucky.
They got Johanna's dog Molly stabilized before leaving. Molly had a brush with what looked like a fatal illness for a while.

And David also avoided illness when he discovered a tick bite.

Mary and I had a fantastic trip back in time when our Peace Corps friends gathered here, in Maine and Vermont last week. We shared slides and stories, reconnected, danced and ate African food. Wonderful.

Annie is planning her trip back in September as a bridesmaid for a friend's wedding. Margaret had a busy work week with an orientation for all the Fulbright teachers heading overseas.

Mary's back continues to bother her and she is trying lots of different things to get better.

Thanks for all the calls, letters and e-mails. Sure was nice to see everyone.

Love from the Berkshires.

The Pause Button

Sometimes you just want to hit the pause button.

Hopefully there are many more photos out there!

Happy Birthday Grandma

It's 6pm Sunday night.  As I write now, I am looking at a group photo of our first weekend together in Mountain Springs, maybe in 1990.  And I am reminded that we did not get a group photo this time around.  

While much has changed since then, we did keep up the fine tradition of eating, drinking, chatting and playing.  And collecting memories.  Swimming, boating, shopping, hiking, campfiring, guitar playing, dog walking and more.  It all happened so fast. And now, we are back to the quiet sounds of ... our busy road.  Come back!    

It was wonderful to see everyone and have everyone here.  And we know there was a little bit of selfishness on our part, especially because so many of you had to come from so far away.  We heard from a number of you throughout the day, while we were taking naps and doing a little tidying up.  and I know that at least five Dicksons are not at their final destination yet.  I hope everyone else is home by now.

Grandma celebrated her 85th in the best way of just being with her family.   Can't top that.  I will try to finish the recording and transcribing over the course of the next few months.  

So let's end up with a big thanks and a pat on each others' collective backs.  Everyone pitched in to make the weekend a special occasion!  

Happy July 4th

Uncle Sam at the Pittsfield parade. A year ago we saw a picture of Jeffrey proposing to Melodie on the 4th!

Lots of news. First off, happy birthday Andrew; happy anniversary Andrew and Lur. We talked to the birthday boy who said Jen and Miles were able to stay in the hospital a week but all checked out and came home in fine health. Andrew on the other hand hurt his back again.

Speaking of anniversaries, we heard David and Paula had a good trip to Stratford Ontario to celebrate their 40th. Stratford hosts Shakespeare festivals all summer long.

And Annie has a big birthday coming up. Did we tell you we saw her? In China?

Got to give that girl credit. She has figured out the most complicated, most foreign place I have ever seen. She's speaking the language, moving around the city like a native. And it us one tough, fast, huge city. But extremely interesting, rich in culture and history and an exploding economy. Annie showed us around, gave us a tour of Chinese sites and culinary diversity. She and her friend Greg have rich lives, exciting jobs and a nice circle of friends. We have pictures! And stories!

One of the big heroes of our trip was Peter who got up at 5am to take us to Newark airport and then stayed up til midnight to pick us up at the end of the trip. And all he got was a hat and a Rolex watch. Does it still work? We saw Janet who joined us for a Fathers Day supper. And that was after a Fathers Day brunch the day before with Joe and Margaret in Washington.

Another hero was Grandma who let us use her pad to store what remained from our move out of Bethesda and park our cars and our tired bodies both before we left and after we got back. Grandma is well but still has trouble with her eyesight.

And then we fought our jet lag and drove north. We're almost there. The construction is winding down. Yesterday we turned on a kitchen faucet for the first time in three years. We have a screened in porch.

And we have boxes. Our shipment came this Wednesday and we started the long unpacking process. John and Marilyn came over and helped us place and rearrange furniture. That means heavy lifting!

Lots to do before you all come for Grandma's birthday. But we did go up to Jiminy Peak and confirm rooms. I'll send details via e-mail.

Well, it's a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Think I'll unpack some boxes.

Love from over here.

Welcome Miles!

Pingyao

Either Mary has learned Chinese or that guy speaks English. Can you guess which?

Not again

Yes again.  But it could be our last big move.  Ooops I just jinxed it.  There will be more I'm sure.

The movers pulled out yesterday on their third day of packing and loading.  We had spent the weekend closing out Joe's storage unit and taking some stuff down to Margaret which gave us a chance to check out her new place, which she has set up nicely.  She was without air conditioning, though, and the temps were in the 90s.  A throwback to the old days.  No wonder it was a small city.

We're not the only ones moving.  Peter said Sean is looking for a place in NJ before he goes to law school this fall, and Johanna may also be moving.  Joe is getting ready for his move up north later in August.

Things are shaping up for the big July 28 celebration, with everyone decided on their attendance.  We're looking forward to it!

The planning has been the fun part as I get e-mails from Matthew and Jeffrey and Melodie, and phone calls from David, Peter and Andrew!   On one of those chats we got the latest from Bill and Jen, who are getting closer to the due date.  Billy may be moving to a new job!  Congratulations!

We also heard from Patrick who just graduated from Manhattan College.  And cum laude.  He said his group, The Facelifters, recently won an award for New England's best new band.  I googled Facelifters and came up with a MySpace site: http://www.myspace.com/thefacelifters.  Two things stood out - first they have over 500 fans and second, it merits a parental advisory.  Looks like fun.

Last week, Peter and I went to Meadow Lakes for lunch with Grandma, Aunt Ruth, cousin Debbie and her husband Rod Barnes.  Everyone looked great.  That's a feat for Aunt Ruth who is 92 and coming off cancer treatment this winter.  But so did Debbie and Rod, and so did Grandma!   And we talked - politics!  Anthony Weiner.  Among other things.  

Our social life also included attending a wedding of the daughter of friends of ours from Peru.  Very nice.  And, on the nature front, as the movers were packing I sat on the deck and watched a chipmunk moving food back and forth, with full cheeks going one way and then empty cheeks the other way.  The the tables were turned when I got my lunch and sat down; he watched me eat!

Here's a sign.  Mary left for work yesterday, on the third and final day of moving.  She said to me: "don't you wish you were going to work?"  The answer was no; I'd even rather be moving.

Next letter comes from China!  Oh and did I mention it was Fathers Day on Sunday?  Only three more shopping days.

Love from down here!  

June Swoon

Our heading refers to a famous event north of here.  No, there was no snow in June, as the picture indicates.

But, a HUGE congratulations to Tina and Matthew!  Great news.  Could you hear the cheers from Illinois stretching all the way to New Jersey and DC?

So, even though the official proposal took place in May, we didn't get to officially congratulate them until June.

It sure is nice to see June.  Thought I'd throw in a February photo so we could all appreciate a little better the joy of green. What a difference four months makes!

We got a little greener in Pittsfield last week due to a torrential rainstorm.  At least that's what I thought it was.  Andrew called that night to ask if I had been hit by the tornado!  That storm turned into a tornado a short while later as it descended east of Pittsfield into the Connecticut valley.  Scary video and photos.

All is well in Illinois, especially after what sounded like a great long weekend at Green Lake.  Andrew recounted his story of the one that got away.  At least it was not a snapping turtle.

Our time on Beech Avenue is winding down.  We held our last barbecue this past weekend, with Joe, Tamara, Margaret and Dee, as well as the Schwartz's, friends from South Africa.  Tomorrow, I unhook the gas and drive the canister north.  Movers come next Monday.  Did I mention the peach pie that Joe and Tamara brought over?

The Sunday over Memorial Day we moved Margaret into her new apartment, just north of Dupont Circle.  It's nice, especially as it is close to her work, and there's a nice dog park nearby.

And, we're getting ready for our trip to China - Annie has been helpful in sending us ideas of what to do while we're there.

I stayed overnight in Hightstown last week on my way north to help Grandma clean out some of her papers and her clothing shift to summer wear.  Grandma kept a list of what each of her four sons inherited from Pomfret.  Interesting, and almost incriminating material!  But also a little inaccurate.  Unfortunately.

Our house project is moving forward as well.  Floors are done, the upstairs bedroom part is almost all done and ready to receive visitors.  Kitchen cabinets are in; just waiting for the screens on the porch.  My job?  Mow the lawn.  Johnny came over to help me move the couch back into the living room, following the sanding of the floors.  Three generations of Boyle women participated in a running and walking race this past weekend in Albany.  They all look healthy!

We saw on Facebook that Jeffrey and Melodie picked out their rings last weekend!  Another congratulations to them.  We can't wait til October!

And we can't wait until July to see everyone in Pittsfield for Grandma's 85th party. 

Love from down here.  

Two Games in One Week

First things first.  Happy birthday Matthew; happy anniversary Janet and Peter.  That was a warm weekend, too warm for a wool blazer.  Anyone remember?  The world's highest paid male model, when he was a teen?

It's hot here now, and it has been raining.  It used to never bother me, but with a driveway dug up by trucks, rain brings mud.  I blame climate change and the melting of the glaciers.  Just not sure how to turn that into a lawsuit.

We had a Massachusetts weekend, highlighted by a trip to Fenway Park.  I drove to Boston to pick up Joe at the airport and we headed to Fenway.  It was a few hours before the game, but that didn't stop us from getting an early start on the beer drinking.  The rain stopped right before the game, and then by coincidence the team was honoring Paul Cellucci, former governor, former Ambassador to Canada who has contracted Lou Gehrig's disease and is raising money for ALS research.  I wrote him an e-mail when we got back to Maryland and he responded right away.  The cameras at the game made clear that he has lost use of his arms in this terrible disease.

I spent the night at Joe's friends' house and then picked up Mary the next day also at Logan airport.  We drove to Pittsfield and put in about 75 hours of work in the next day and a half.  We joined John and Marilyn for a folk/bluegrass music concert, organized by their cousin.  Impressive musicians.

On the way back home, we stopped in to see Grandma who is well.  We did a few chores for her, but she says she has a longer list waiting for the next trip!

Another highlight came earlier in the week when Peter came down to DC to take up an invitation from a former student of his who is now clerking at the Supreme Court.  I was fortunate to be tagging along as Natalie took us around on an insider, behind the curtain tour of the building, including a hike up the stairs to another court, where they play basketball.  Peter was supposed to get here in time to go to a Nationals baseball game, but was delayed, so Mary joined me.  Fun for us, but Peter's delay didn't sound so fun.

Joe got back from a week in Jordan and was in Boston to check out Tufts and to go to his friend's bachelor's party.  Margaret went out to Denver for an orientation program for Fulbright teachers who will be heading overseas this summer.  And Annie has a great blog post on her Chinese name, which roughly translated means "peaceful concrete."

Speaking of blogs, check out Kathleen's blog on her work/stay in Tanzania:  http://kathleens-crazy-fun-adventure.tumblr.com/

We saw on Facebook that Jeffrey went to the airshow in town; and going back a ways, we enjoyed Mother's Day with three mothers - Grandma, Janet and Mary.  We went out to dinner on the the eve, and then the next day went with Grandma to a sculpture garden in Hamilton New Jersey.

Work is proceeding on our house, and things are coming together.  Should be ready well in advance of July 28!

Love from down here.

More holidays

Cinqo de Mayo; Passover, Easter and Mothers Day!   I can't take all the excitement!

In honor of Cinqo de Mayo (today), we plan on having fajitas, and I got my haircut by a Latina yesterday, which is, sad to say, the only time these days I get to practice my Spanish.  

In honor of Passover, we went to our first seders this year, one at a friend's home and the other at the Episcopal Church.  Both were very special and filled with overdue learning moments.  I had to provide some food for the latter one, including gefiltefish.  We learned we were not big fans.

In honor of Easter, we went north and weathered our last snow storm of the year.  Margaret and Dan (and D) joined us for the occasion.  The Easter bunny found us three times: at our under-construction home, at Sunday mass (!!) and at the Red Lion Inn, where we had a special dinner, evoking memories of dinners and brunches at the Harvest in Pomfret.  Those memories were spurred by the Bloody Marys consumed!

In honor of Mothers Day, we have big plans, that we don't want to give away since it's this Sunday.  But they do include heading north to Hightstown for Saturday evening.

Speaking of Mothers, I stopped by to see Grandma last week, minutes ahead of David and Paula, and then Peter.  The Fairport crew was down for a couple of days which included some work in New York and taking in a play called "Million Dollar Quartet" a play about Elvis, Johnny Cash and others at a recording studio.  Sounds like fun.

We spent lots of time in front of TV, next to radio, reading newspapers and checking on the Internet these past few days, trying to get as much info as possible on Sunday's raid into Pakistan.  Joe texted me well past my bedtime Sunday night telling me to turn on the TV which I did and stayed up as long as I could.  We saw lots of comments on Facebook and elsewhere which we liked, including Janet's evoking of the Wizard of Oz song (Ding, dong...) which Steven Colbert must have read since he used it the following night.  We also liked a friend's quote of Mark Twain:  "I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure."   But, once we came to our senses, we liked this one which was posted by a Facebook friend who was an intern and a graduate of Wesleyan: http://www.revelife.com/746839071/the-death-of-osama-bin-laden-and-the-christian-reaction/

Other news:  Joe finished his final exams last night and is heading to Jordan this Sunday for a week of work.  Margaret has found a new place to live, down closer to her workplace.  Annie is starting a Hamilton alumni chapter in Beijing!

We got a full read-out from John and Marilyn of their trip to China, and saw a lot of photos (but not all of them!)  The trip sounded fascinating; after India, they remarked especially on how clean everything was in China.  They gave us lots of tips on what we should try to do when we go there.  (Got to get my visas done!)

We were also following Jeffrey and Melodie's trip to Florida on Facebook (social networking again?)  Their goal was to see the shuttle launch (what a great idea) but unfortunately, as we all know, due to mechanical problems, the launch has been delayed.  I hope the delay meant they had time for "South of the Border" on the way back.

We did also talk to the folks out in Dundee a few times, but for the life of me I can't remember the news.  Must have been Seinfeld-type conversations - wonderful.

I'm sure there's much more, like baseball and spring flowers and house renovations, but it's a beautiful day, and the weeds in the flower beds are calling me.

Saludos, abrazos y besos from down here!

Spring break

Mary's on spring break, so we hopped in the car and drove south.  Or we crawled, for the first three hours.  It was a Saturday for crying out loud.  Once the traffic started moving, the rain and, as we found out later, the tornadoes came.  We had gone to spend the weekend in Chapel Hill NC with Charlie and Annie, friends from, you guessed it, the Peace Corps.  We made it, and once there, the sun came out and we could see it getting greener while we were sitting out on their back porch.

While there, we met up with a couple they knew from Northampton Mass, one of whom teaches at UMass.  We went for a long bike ride, which ended conveniently at a local (and crowded) ice cream stand.  (It was Sunday during Lent, and our minister said that Sundays are feast days while the rest of Lent is a fasting time.)  

We found ourselves in some culture shock situations, being in the South.  The hardest was the accent of the people who could understand us, but when they launched into a 12-minute response for a simple comment or question, we did not understand them as we would smile and beat a retreat to the car.  Reading a book now about the Civil War, where there's a quote:  "North, East and West are simply directions; South is a state of mind."

I saw Grandma on Friday, when I drove back from a few days of work on the upstairs in the old part of the house in Pittsfield.  She is patiently awaiting a wheelchair, as she feels she can no longer get around on her electric cart due to her eyesight.  She has a couple of friends who are bringing food and mail, and then when she gets the chair, she'll be able to get out easier.  We have now set aside July 28, 29 and 30 as the dates for her birthday reunion in Pittsfield.

Today was a banner day, as we sent three different e-mails to Annie.  She has updated her blog, and changed its name and it has all kinds of new bells and whistles:  http://3rdculturekidbetweenworlds.wordpress.com/.  Speaking of China, John and Marilyn are back from their two week trip there.  We will hear more about it when we go up this weekend, but it sounds like they had a terrific time there.

Margaret has closed the deal on a new apartment which is near her work.  Sounds really nice, and is close enough that she can come home during lunch to walk her dog!  Dee will be happy.  She started her new job working on teacher exchanges.  She joined us last night at a Passover seder with friends who had been with us in South Africa and live close by.  A special night with a family with many connections. 

Joe is busy, busy.  He has been accepted at Tufts, and is seriously considering a move north in the fall.  He is looking at exams coming up at the same time he has to finish a project proposal for work.

Closing out, we understand a young man from Dundee is back in DC for a class trip!  And, happy birthday to Peter!

Love from down here.

March went out like a lion

It's cold, but there are daffodils.  It even snowed a little today.

Lots of news, beginning with the Dundee clan trip east to see Grandma.  We caught up with them in the middle of their visit, after they had spent a couple of nights at Meadow Lakes and a meal or two with Peter and Janet.  Andrew and Daniel had gone to a lacrosse game with Peter, but they didn't cheer hard enough as Princeton lost in a come from behind game against some team from Connecticut.  We all went to dinner at Capuano's, and once again the meal did not disappoint, nor did the company!!

Mary and I stayed at Peter and Janet's, but a miscommunication saw us leave before Peter could return with breakfast!  A rain check?  We were there long enough for a standing ovation from Dasha, which is how she greets her most favorite visitors.

We headed back to Meadow Lakes in the am and hung out.  Mary and Lur went for a long walk to counter the Dunkin Donuts and hot dog lunch!  Some of us don't need anything to counter that healthy food.  Daniel is into his IPod with tons of apps, including some which distort photos, making people look old and fat.  Very funny, but I don't need an app to make me look old and fat.  In any case, it was nice to see everyone, and David called while we were there!

I had been in Pittsfield and came south, while Mary drove up from MD.  Up there, I did the minimum amount of work, met with the contractor and went skiing!  Johnny persevered, and got me to the top of the mountain, and even harder down the mountain on skis.  In my view, mountains are mountains and they're high and steep.  I did make it down with some good encouragement and then even went back up for more.  There is lots of progress on the house, including dry wall, and a sump pump when the basement flooded a couple of times.  Better now then later.

In the travel department, John and Marilyn left for China, but their travel companions had to back out at the last minute when one of them had a medical issue.  Kathleen is about to head off for Tanzania where she'll spend three months working at an AIDS and drug rehab clinic.  Margaret is back from New Orleans where she had a great time escorting a group of Iraqi English professors to a convention.  She is right now on a train back to DC after meeting another group of Iraqis in New York, but before they arrived, she did have a chance to catch up with Johanna.  I am pretty sure they shared dog stories.

In the health department, Grandma has been having a hard time with her eyesight, and is ready to make new arrangements for getting around Meadow Lakes as she is having trouble steering her cart.  

And in the education department, Joe was readmitted to Tufts, so he has another tough decision to make.  And I was admitted to the UMass history program.  I am headed up there tomorrow for an orientation program on Monday.  

I had spent the month of March here in Maryland, going to a retirement seminar, which was on the whole useful.  One concrete result was I started another blog, to take a step toward my new reincarnation as a historian.  I took a message from David Brooks in his talk, saying "Fake it before you make it."  My blog can be found here:  http://timecapsulepilot.wordpress.com/

The next two months will be important in finishing the house in Pittsfield, in time for a July get-together.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

The other finger crossing exercise is about baseball, as the season started this week.  Lots of hope and promise!  

That's all from down here.  Love!!  

On the verge of spring

Happy birthday David!  And belated happy March birthdays to Daniel and Lur.  It's our favorite month - we have the windows open here, the first flowers are blooming and the buds are starting to give the empty branches some added form.  Granted this may not be the case for friends in Illinois or Rochester or Pittsfield, but it's coming.  Hang in there!

Our big news is we bit the bullet and made reservations for China!  End of June.  Now all we have to do is get our visas, rob a bank to pay for the tickets and then learn Chinese before June.  Not impossible.  This time we will approach travel a little differently and do a modicum of research about what to do there before we go.  Luckily, Annie is doing a little for us, and John and Marilyn are also heading to China at the end of the month, to advance and scout out for us.  

This month, I have been attending a retirement course, which means getting up every day and commuting down to Northern Virginia for the day.  I miss retirement.  But, apparently I wasn't doing the whole retirement thing right, so I had to go back to school to learn how to retire.  Not exactly, but the previous times they offered the course, I backed out and this was my last chance.  It has mostly  been helpful and both opened up prospects and narrowed my focus a little.  Speaking of focus, I learned that the University of Massachusetts has made a big mistake and accepted me as a graduate student in their Public History Program. 

And, we learned that Sean was accepted into Rutgers Law School, the first of the schools he heard from.  Congratulations!

Margaret called last night from New Orleans where she is taking care of a group of Iraqi university English teachers, who are here attending the TESOL convention (teaching English to speakers of other languages.)  She loves New Orleans, but worries that it is too risque for this group of Muslims.  She comes home next Friday.

Earlier in the week, we met up with Joe and his friend Tamara for a book signing by David Brooks, the NYT columnist who has written a book about emotional intelligence called the Social Animal.  It was at a famous lefty bookstore called Politics and Prose, and Brooks, a moderate conservative, admitted he was in the wrong crowd, saying he knew people came not so much "to hear him speak, but to listen to themselves."  He was funnier and more insightful than he usually is in his columns and on the News Hour, and was well-receSpring ived.  

Spring also means the end of hibernating, meaning we have even been a little social.  We hosted a couple of Canadian Embassy colleagues who were on their way back after spending a month in Florida.  And we've had dinners with friends from Peru and Arlington, Charlie came up from NC, and this week a colleague from Mexico is staying with us.    

We haven't seen the Pittsfield house since early March, but understand they have put up the sheetrock inside.  I'll drive up this weekend to check it out (and write checks) and maybe even paint a little, if I don't break my leg on my second day of skiing!  

Well, that's all for now.  Hope you all are well.  Love from down here.  

We made it!

To March.  The temperature is going to hit 60 degrees in Maryland today, and flowers are pushing through the garden.  But when I left Pittsfield a week ago, temps had been in the teens and the snow fall was wet and heavy.  I wonder why I have decided to stay down here for most of the month of March.  Actually, I will be taking a class, and we have a pretty regular list of visitors, which is always nice.

A lot has happened since I last wrote.  Seared in our memory was our attempt to get to Ottawa over Presidents' Day Weekend.  The weather (again) had called for light snow tapering off mid-day.  John and Marilyn and I were to drive to Syracuse to pick up Mary who was flying in and then proceed on to our old haunts.  Half way there, we were forced off the Thruway by white-out conditions, and Mary's flight was canceled.  With the benefit of cell phones and mobile weather apps, we saw it wasn't going to get better so we turned around, Mary got her flight changed to Albany and we returned to Pittsfield.  And, while we didn't skate on the canal, we did get a taste of winter with skiing and snow!

On the way back to Albany to drop off Mary for her return flight, we got a call from David who was in ...... Albany!  So we had a nice dinner together in a downtown haunt where David seemed to know all the customers and the bartender!  Hmm.  (Just kidding)

In the mail this week came invitations!  To a wedding!  (Actually, elegant hold-the-date bookmarks!)  October 16 it is!  Congratulations Jeff and Melodie!

Grandma seems to have recovered from her bout with pneumonia.  Enough to go down to eat in the cafeteria, which is where we went last Saturday for a cheese steak and a cheesecake.  Grandma was more sensible with a salad.  She had an eye doctor's appointment that Peter said showed stability, not deterioration.

Annie has started her new job, at Burston-Marsellers, and she sounds happy and excited and eager to learn so much. (She modeled her anti-pollution mask last week on Skype; there's another one on her blog: http://3rdculturekidinthe3rdworld.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/beyond-index).  Joe has moved to a new place, a nice apartment in downtown DC where he can walk to work and to school.  He has mid-terms this week.  Good luck.  And Margaret starts a three week trip to Amman Jordan and then to New Orleans on Monday.  She'll be in Jordan for Mardi Gras and in Louisiana for Lent.  (Shouldn't it be the other way around?)  

Work on our house in Pittsfield continues fast and furious.  While my work consists mostly of writing checks, I did do a little painting and dry wall taping/sanding last week.  It's a dirty, dusty place, but our heat bills fell by over $100 the first month we got insulation, and stopped heating Berkshire County!  And we found out we definitely need a cat.  Or two.  

Mary has been busy at school and keeping up with visitors, including two from Ottawa who spent a couple of days with us on their way back from a month in Florida.  It will be 2 degrees up there this week.

Here, maybe a bike ride, today.  That's progress.  Love from down here.

 

It had to happen

All birthdays must end.  The build-up is great; the day is wonderful, culminating in cake and ice cream.  And then it's over.  No more pampering; phone calls or e-mails.  And this year was no exception to any of that.  It was wonderful.  Why can't they last a whole month?  Thanks so much for all the notes and Facebook entries and calls and presents and pampering.

I had to hustle back to Washington in order to take full advantage of all the festivities.  I had only been in Pittsfield for a couple of nights, as Peter convinced me to stay in Hightstown and go to a Princeton-Penn basketball game.  Good thing.  First because they needed all the cheering they could get to win in overtime.  And, it snowed and the wind blew so much in Pittsfield, I'm sure it would have been a hard drive up and an even harder time getting into the house that night. So I had the warmth of comfort of Meadow Lakes instead.  Thanks Grandma.  She, by the way is slowly recovering from her pneumonia, but is very cautious about pushing too hard.

The next day it took me an hour and half to shovel two weeks of snow for a walk around to the front of the house.  The mailbox was all but covered up.  But there's progress; it's hard to believe the workers are out there in the cold and the snow.  And it's not all work, as I joined John and Marilyn for a dinner at a new Indian restaurant in town.  Nice.

Joe and Margaret joined us for the festivities Saturday night - meatloaf!!  Joe is busy, at work and at school.  He found a new place where he will move in April.  Margaret is also busy, studying for the GREs and getting ready for trips to New Orleans and possibly overseas with a group of Iraqi teachers.  

We spoke with Annie on Sunday and got an e-mail from her today, that she started her new job.  She had lots of stories from her trip to Shanghai and from Chinese New Year.  But you'll have to go to her blog to see the video for yourselves (3rdculturekidinthe3rdworld).  Wow.

We heard news from Dundee, which included a happy Super Bowl Sunday (remember that?) and season ending basketball games for Danny and Claire.  We also heard Claire is beginning to get mailings from colleges.  Claire, you're growing up!

David calls every now and then, usually in the middle of a blizzard after a 6am meeting in Syracuse.  I think he has a dog sled instead of a car to get him back and forth in that part of the world; a dog sled with bluetooth anyway.

Did everyone have a great Valentine's Day?  Did you know that spring training starts this week?  The days are getting longer and that means, even though it's the middle of February, we are seeing warmer days, at least here (it was -15 in Pittsfield last Friday morning.)

Love from down here.  

Groundhog Day

And if Pennsylvania got hit like Chicago, or Rochester, or Massachusetts, then I don't think Punxatawny Phil the groundhog even came out of his hole.  The weather, or the threat of it, made me rethink my trip up north this week.  As it turns out, I probably could have made it, but why chance it, if you don't have to?

It would have been good to see Grandma who has caught pneumonia, for the first time in a year and a half, or more.  Each time we call she says she is better, but we can still hear the tired-ness and rasp in her voice.  Peter went over to see her last weekend.  David and Paula were supposed to go down last week, but with snow and sickness they headed back to more snow in Rochester.  

I hope to go up and see Grandma tomorrow.  

Last week was a week of weather as well.  Mary worked only one day.  Wednesday the weather came in rain and sleet.  People all around lost their power, but we were fortunate.  Only until Thursday, when we lost our power and heat.  It didn't come back on until Saturday at noon, and we recorded a 48-degree temperature inside the house.  My best guess is there were at least two factors behind this.  First, I happened to be cleaning out a box of memorabilia and came upon an "award" Grandma and Pop had given me in 1973 when the power went out in Wilton for four days, and then there was a fire in the chimney!  I found that document about 30 minutes before we lost power.  Then on Sunday, we read the beatitudes in church, and I figured that we did not qualify as blessed since we had not suffered enough.  So we got to suffer a little.  A real little.

What else is new?  We went to movies to stay warm - Barney's version (very good) -- and to Dunkin Donuts and Barnes and Noble.  Joe has moved out, to get closer to his work and school, down in DC where he is housesitting for a friend.  Margaret has started her GRE classes, and we think Annie has started her Chinese New Years trip to Shanghai.

We spoke with Andrew and David and the talk was mostly of weather.  Must be winter.   Love from down here.  Stay warm!  

Mark your calendars

In six months time, I am hoping as many of the Dicksons as possible can congregate in Pittsfield to celebrate Grandma Dickson's birthday.  That means of course that we better have a house finished and that we have good count of numbers so that we can set aside rooms at a nearby ski resort, Jiminy Peak.  Grandma and I had gone to the resort in October and found it had plenty of summer things to do, along with spacious, comfortable suites with kitchenettes.

This past week, I checked out the winter side of Jiminy Peak by going downhill skiing for the first time.  John Boyle was instructor and guide, greasing the way to free rentals and much service lifting me up from my countless falls.  I did get over a hump in figuring a little out, and falling less, but I think it will be many more times before I get off the novice trails.  Did I mention being sore?  Why does it look so easy for other people?

When I returned to Bethesda, Mary had it in mind to go skating.  Remembering the wonderful experience of skating on Ottawa's canal, we found a place on the C&O Canal where we saw some skaters.  Well, the ice was very choppy -- downright dangerous -- so we packed it it and went to the local rink,  And had fun.  All of this will help us get ready to spend a weekend back in Ottawa next month.

Joe took the train to Pittsfield from trips to New York City and Boston with his friend Tamara.  Because of the threat of coming snow, we just headed south and spent the night in Hightstown where there was some snow, but not what they had further north, allowing us to get back to Bethesda easily on Friday.  Grandma is well, coming off a couple of doctors' appointments showing she is maintaining her health.  She is looking forward to the Trenton Opera Company rehearsing Madama Butterfly at Meadow Lakes.

Joe is back to work this week, and starts his classes tonight at Johns Hopkins.  Margaret is also in a grad school frame of mind and is taking GRE prep class.  And I start my Bible study tonight!

We spoke with Annie on Sunday and she told us about an excursion to a winter carnival that had some humorous and cross cultural overtones.  She finishes her tutoring work this week and then heads out on a short trip to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Last weekend, Mary flew up to Pittsfield for the long weekend.  We went skiing, boxing (by way of The Fighter) and mourning (by way of the Jets beating the Patriots.)  Since she had flown into Hartford, I drove all the way to Stonington to see her brother Dan before picking her up at the airport.  Dan recently broke his ankle when he slipped on some ice.  

And, to wrap it all up, we saw our last of the main Oscar movies, the Social Network this weekend.  For us, we liked the Fighter and King's Speech, followed by True Grit and then the Social Network.  Which ones are on your list?

Finally, we hear there is big news out in Illinois.  Maybe they can make their own news, here first on Pops Weekly Letter! 

 

That's all from down here, love!  

Cincinnati -- Bing Maps -- Memory Lane

I went to the Bird's Eye photo feature of Bing Maps.  You should, too.

1.  The new house built where the Wrights'/Kites' house stood is garish and over the top and absolutely humongous.  It has a fake turret.  It makes our house at 9655 look puny.

2.  The house once owned by the Donisis -- downhill from 9655 -- built a stable and riding ring behind our house -- no more long toboganning from our old house.

3.  The Fleischman estate on Blome Road looks intact, and the gate house seems unchanged.  (Follow Cunningham to Given Rd, left on Camargo Road, cross the railroad tracks, turn right onto Blome Rd.  The Fleischman estate driveway is the continuation of Keller Road across Blome Road.)  But there is a very large parking lot at the estate mansion, so perhaps it is no longer used as a house.

4.  Both our old Given Rd house and the Hagists' house across the road were torn down and replaced by mansions.

Ring in the New

The joys of air travel. I just left Dulles Airport after dropping off Annie to catch a flight back to Beijing.  I had earlier this morning left BWI with Annie as her flight from there back to Beijing was cancelled.  We had no snow here, but since the plane was going through Newark, where there apparently was some snow, her flight was cancelled.  She made out though, on two counts.  First it looked like a direct flight to Bejing and second, she got a Cinnabuns treat at Dulles after checking in.  Of course, I had to join her.  You know the rule about eating Cinnabuns alone.

Working backwards, we had a farewell dinner for Annie last night which was punctuated by a kitchen sink problem.  Hope to get that sorted out momentarily.  Earlier in the day, I stopped in to see Grandma, and Peter came over to join us for lunch.  Grandma is well, and has these chocolate covered pecans which seem to multiply every time we leave.  News from Peter includes: new crowns for his teeth (ouch), new convertible top for his car and new comfortable chairs.  

My week was spent in Pittsfield, tearing down walls in yet another bedroom.  Progress continues in the addition with electrical wiring and framing continuing. We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Just one more room, and we will have torn down the walls in every room in the old house.  I went over to John and Marilyn's for dinner, and they shared this wedding photo of Colleen and Pauline from a month ago.  Congratulations!

Mary flew.  She left on New Years Day, to come back and have a full day of recovery and restoration before she headed back to work.  While up north, we hosted Cliff and Sheila to ring in the new year (playing Sequence and watching The Town helped us to stay up past midnight); we went skiing; Annie and Margaret and James (and D) joined us for camping out in the construction site, and we went out to eat with John and Marilyn.  The next generation all left on New Years eve, with plans to spend time in New Haven (Margaret) and NYC (Annie).  Margaret saw Kathleen who broke the news about her father's broken ankle.  He had slipped on the ice while walking and broke it in a couple of places.  Ouch.  We talked this am, and he is still in pain and discomfort.

And, still going backwards, we had spent the night on the way up with Grandma, postponed by a day because of the big storm in NJ, but nothing in MD.  It looked like anywhere between 1 and 2 feet there, but the roads were good the day we got up there.  Fortunately for Grandma, she didn't lose her power or have to deal with the Governor Christie's awol-style of managing a crisis on the roads.

And before that, we celebrated Joe's birthday here a day early.  He turned 28!  On the 28th!  We reminisced about all the birthday celebrations he enjoyed with cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles in Pomfret.

Speaking of Pomfret, I am now Facebook friends with Margie Huoppi, who posted photos of a Christmas tree in the big room, celebrating with her grandsons.  Seems very familiar.

Tomorrow is Jeffrey's birthday, and we understand from Facebook again, he and Melodie enjoyed Christmas in Minneapolis, but maybe not the flight adventures

 getting there.  They plan on going to Rochester this weekend.  

And Sunday is Margaret's birthday.  She philosophized that she will be closer now to 50 than she is to her birth.  

Yesterday was Three Kings Day, the 12th day of Christmas.  It was a wonderful holiday this year, and we are glad to have connected with so many of you.  

Love from down here.

  

Happy New Year

Out with old and in with the snow!