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!