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.