March

went in like a lamb and is going out like a lion.  Everything is not as it seems.

 

Including this letter.  I remember when Pop used to get the Alumni Weekly each week.  Then it went to every other week.  Now it is whenver the heck they feel like it.  So it is with Pop's Weekly Letter.

 

But, not for lack of news!  Most important, baseball season starts next week.  I told Mary it was time to purchase satellite radio.

 

Work is, well work.  I miss retirement.  David is rapidly approaching that wonderful moment.

 

And Joe came down for his spring break, looking for work.  He interviewed with a bunch of federal government agencies, as part of his fellowship program.  He should hear soon, and then begins the securiity process again.  Margaret too is in job market.  Margaret moved into her new apartment and is walking 3 miles a day to work.  She looks great. 

 

We actually held to our Lenten fast of no desserts, and Mary has lost weight, along with her exercise program of 10,000 steps a day.  She is on spring break now, and will drive up north on Monday.  I plan on going to Boston on Wednesday evening and we'll spend the night with Joe before heading to Pittsfield for Easter.

 

It looks as if things are falling into place for July 28, thanks to David and Paula's organization!   Thanks.

 

We spoke with Annie on Saturday and she was getting ready to go to work.  Why?  Curious custom, when they have a holiday during the week, they have to go to work on the weekend.  Anyway, she will be going to western China for a quick visit during their holiday next week.

 

Mary and I have been getting in to live streaming for our infrequent television watching.  We just finished both seasons of Downton Abbey, and we're catching up on a show we watched every now and then called Friday Night Lights, about high school football in Texas.  Both are kind of soap operas.

 

Tonight though, we'll be watching the NCAA basketball games, and Mary is still in the lead in her bracket at school.

 

Speaking of gambling, did anyone buy a MegaBall ticket?  Did anyone win, and decide not to tell the rest of us?

 

We hope to see Peter in a few hours, and hope he's driving their new Saturn.  We spoke with Andrew, and they have been on some college tours with Claire.  We hear she likes Wooster.  Doesn't everyone?

 

Go Buckeyes!  Have a great two weeks!  Love from down here.

   

 

 

St. Patrick's Day

How did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?  We did more than we usually do, which is wear green and eat Irish soda bread. 

 

We first happened upon a parade last weekend, as we set out to go to a museum.  With traffic blocked, we quickly changed plans and enjoyed the show across the Mall.  And that show included an African-American middle school band, a Bolivian dance troupe, and Falan Gong (Chinese) dance group, and a Central American music group.  Interspersed were the Irish dance schools where young girls outnumbered boys by about 1000 to 1.  Fun.  One marcher, dressed as a Cardinal (but not) came up to Mary and said "You look like a Colleen."  I wonder how many Irish dancers there are in the Cinqo de Mayo parades.

 

Friday night we went out to the Irish pub in Bethesda and listened to a bag-pipe and fiddle rock group from Canada called The Rogues (very good).  And last  night, we wore green and went to Baltimore to eat at Bertha's Mussels, where we got green bumper stickers which said "Eat Bertha's Mussels!"  Lots of revelry in the inner harbor area; more than we expected. 

 

One more St. Patrick's Day comment:  for years I have been calling Mary "Santa Maria of Parking."  Both Friday and Saturday nights in the craziness, we got parking on the (crazy streets,) in front of our destinations.  I hope someone is keeping track of these miracles.  Small ones.

 

Joe is here now, as he arrived last night for his spring break week, to coincide with his job search program.  He spent Friday night with Sean, Amanda and Johanna on their own "night before" celebration in Hoboken.  Sean is also off school for spring break.

 

Other big news is that Margaret moved to a new apartment.  She is living in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, just south of Catholic and Howard universities.  Mary and I went over to check it out; a nice neighborhood and a nice apartment which passed our security inspection.

 

Early in the month I was able to spend a few days up in Pittsfield, checking on the house and meeting with contractors.  I had gone to a conference for work at SUNY Albany, so did my usual driving back and forth.  But the garage is coming along nicely, and even found snow on the ground.  One morning the temperature was 12 degrees, and the workmen still came to do the roof.  I spoke with Johnny who has been commiserating through a long winter without snow.  Marilyn has been volunteered on a woodcarving projects:  horses for a merryground!

 

We've heard from Rochester, Dundee and Pennington, mostly about planning for July 28 weekend.  A couple more days and it's David's birthday!   That gets him closer to retirement.

 

And we also spoke with Dan and Timmy in Mexico.  Dan had traveled to spend a couple of weeks with Tim who is south of Tijuana, but may have contracted pneumonia on the plane.   He had a hospital trip, but is feeling better.

 

Next weekend Peter comes to town for a banjo workshop, and I bought my first baseball ticket of the season.  Reds-Nats in April.

 

Anyone else doing an NCAA bracket?  Mary is and she's doing pretty well so far.

 

That's a wrap.  Love from down here. 

What happened to winter?

The hot question of the year, is what exactly did the groundhog see to cancel out winter altogether.  It's not that I mind the miniscule heating bills, or even the fact that there are daffodils and birds chirping in February, but C'MON MAN!  So watch for a big snowstorm this week as I drive up north for a couple of days - just my luck.

 

The big news of the year was just made official.  David is going to retire!  Congratulations.  We just got off the phone with David and Paula and they sound very excited!  Of course.  Who wouldn't be?  You earned it.

 

Earlier today, Mary and I went to visit Margaret's new apartment, which is very nice, and backs up to a small park, in a neighborhood called Bloomingdale.  Very nice.  We also talked to Annie and Joe today - a hat trick.  Annie has her first customer for her new small business, and she is involved with some exciting work projects.  Joe called to talk about his job hunt, and he's coming down in a few weeks to meet with folks in a couple of different government offices. 

 

We had a real nice trip up to Ottawa, staying in our old house.  We did not do much of the planned winter sports activities, since the canal was closed to skating and our skiing outing was interrupted by our host falling and dislocating his shoulder.  My standard line in starting out these kinds of activities is "My goal is to stay out of the hospital."  And, that;s what I said, but for the first time, we actually ended up going to the hospital.  Not sure I'm going to ever kid around like that again.

 

Still it was nice to see the place, walk around and go to our familiar haunts, like the French cafe and our local pub.  And it was especially nice to hang out with our firends in our old house.  And that Margaret and her friend Andrew were able to be there too!

 

Big news from Dundee area this week as well, with Daniel's birthday.  Way to go!!  Andrew got a nice recognition at work, aand Claire is tearing up the volleyball court.

 

Mary and I spent yesterday helping out a Habitat for Humanity house-building activity, through church.  It was our first time ever doing that (even though our house in Pittsfield was along the same lines.)  We did use a table saw and a power hammer for the first time.  Wish I had done that before we were working on our house.  We met the homeowner who was working as well.  He's an Ethiopian guy.  I tried to imagine him explaining to his family back home that he came to this country with his wifer and two daughters, applied to buy a house and a bunch of Americans spent nine months volunteering and helping him renovate his new house.  I seem to remember Jeffrey doing Habitat projects with his Boy Scout troop.

 

It's been work, work, work pretty much for the last month.  We did watch the Oscars and our favorites didn't win, just like the Super Bowl.

 

But spring training has started.  Hope springs eternal. 

 

Love from down here.