Saturday, July 7, 2012

Summer is green

Are you enjoying the full range of summer?  Baseball, fishing, mowing the lawn at 8pm, gardening, swimming, boating, fireworks, camping.  So much to enjoy, especially when you have power and air conditioning.
 
We left the Washington area just in time.  And, Joe arrived in his rental truck just hours before a serious storm that knowked out power for so many people.  Our friends who lived just down the road from us were without electricity 3 days later.  Joe had to cope with it the next day as he moved in to his temporary apartment in near-100 heat, without power.  Margaret had gone camping, but saw the aftermath of the storm in the campground with trees down and debris everywhere. 
 
We try not to gloat too much, with our 60 degree evenings.  You can remind us in February next year when those 60 degree evenings are 5 degrees.
 
Anyway, our final move had a little adventure.  I think that's part of the equation.  We had all these elements lined up for our departure, including truck rental, movers, colonoscopy, cleaning apartment, stopping in NJ to talk to the minister for Grandma's service, unloading, more movers etc.  And, when the first domino fails to materialize -- in this case the truck -- it kind of, just a little, seems to throw all the other perfectly timed events off.  Aaarghhxfphspvm!!!
 
With a lot of help from Margaret, who took off from work, we got back on track and hightailed it out of DC just ahead of the storm and the heat.  Thanks!
 
At this writing, the Dundee Dicksons and extended families are enjoying Andrew's birthday and Andrew and Lur's anniversary up in Green Lake.  Hope the weather is holding up for you all!
 
I forgot to mention in the last newsletter Annie's big news!  A HAIRCUT!  A radical one.  We saw her on Skype and it looks nice, cute.  We asked for a picture, but I think we'll be able to wait a couple of weeks.
 
A couple of weeks!  Three to be exact.  David has finalized all the arrangements well ahead of time, so we're looking forward to seeing you all and giving Grandma a collective remembrance.
 
Lots of other news.  Where were you when you heard the news of the Supreme Court decision.  Surprised?  Where were you when the Reds fell out of first place?  Stunned? 
 
Hope you had a great 4th!  We did, starting a day early with Mary's friend Marge Murphy's birthday party at our house.  I tried out our new ice cream maker, and we channeled Andrew by renting a pontoon boat.  Lots of fireworks here.  We saw on Facebook that Melodie and Jeffrey headed to Rhode Island and stopped in Pomfret!  Joe was dog-watching for them while they were gone. 
 
We've seen John and Marilyn since we got up here, and Timmy is here with us right now.  He's back east for the first time in 5-plus years, and looking pretty good.  He's lost a lot of weight, but not the kind of diet he recommends - no eating for two weeks while flat on your back from an operation to unblock intestine.
 
I started at UMass this week, at least my graduate assistant postion working part time in the office of scholarship advising.  It's a big bureaucracy, and a friendly one, though.
 
For nature notes, we saw Peter's Facebook photo of a bird nest in his potted plant of fuchsia.  With eggs.  Another summer adventure.
 
So, hope you all are enjoying the season.  It does last forever, right?
 
Love from down here
 

No comments: