Almost February

I had to have one more letter in January.  Just a few more hours.  Didn't it fly by?

We welcome a quiet week.  It was back to school this week.  I loved the break, reminding me of the long weeks Joe, Margaret and Annie had off from college at Christmas, in the summer, spring break, fall fling, long weekends.  Did they ever go to school?  I know they did.  And studied probably harder than I am.  Anyway, hope springs eternal at the beginning of the semester, before papers and so forth are due.

Speaking of college, Annie got her first acceptance, from Northeastern.  Yeah.  And we know Claire is still working on her applications, with an audition coming up at Hope College.

Annie also sent around a photo of the place she will be renting when she moves out to Yunnan for the remaining months of her time in China.  Looks pretty cool.  A pagoda next to a stream.  No guest bedroom, but she's hoping for visitors.

I neglected to mention Mary's swim meet in the last letter.  She joined a masters group from the local Y, and entered in a meet, just the other side of Albany.  A full day affair, with lots of races, capped off with a team meal at a nice restaurant nearby.  Lots of fun.

Last weekend, we went to Boston to join our friend Cliff for his annual Burns night celebration.  I am not sure how he got started with this Scotland thing, but it may have something to do with single malt Scotch whisky.  Anyway, we read some poems, had a good meal, listened to bagpipes and a few speeches and watched the "haggis enter."  Joe may be the only one who knows what that is, and he attended a Burns night party in Washington.  I understand it is marked around the world, and there is pretty much the same schedule of events.  Cliff is trying to talk us into walking the Great Glen Way with him this summer.  Funny thing is we're the ones with a Scottish heritage, not him.

We are planning a trip out to Rochester over Presidents Weekend.  I will be giving a talk at Cornell, and so we thought we'd brave the lake-effect snow and try to go a little further.  Fingers crossed.  We talked to David a couple of times, on his way to and from Albany and then New York City.

Word from out west (Dundee) is all is well.  Daniel hurt his ankle playing hoops, but seems to have recovered.  Lur seems to have gotten over her episode, but the doctors are watching carefully.

Speaking of doctors, Peter got a second opinion on his knee and was told he needs surgery.  Stay tuned.

This Sunday is Super Bowl.  One consolation - it sure is not to be able to watch (or not) with no stress.  Why do I let it matter so much?  

We talked to Margaret and Joe, and it seems like work, work, work.  Good.  It actually sounds like they are doing interesting things, but time consuming!  

Last Saturday, I walked on water, across the lake.  Okay it was frozen.  We've had a nice respite from winter these last few days.  We think it's coming back tomorrow, and snow over the weekend.   

Next letter, we'll have news of our cleansing diet.  But only if we get through the seven days.  It's hard.

Hope you all are well.  Love from over here.    

Winter adventures

At some point, we're going to just stop traveling.  Seems like something happens every time we take a trip.  It's not often good, but somehow things work out.

We had a short visit to northern Maine planned last week.  Up and back.  We loaded the car with skis and snowshoes and even guitars and rug braiding for the cabin time.  Almost right away, Mary fell and hurt her hand, so badly we thought it was broken.  It didn't get as bad until the next day, which allowed us to do some snowshoeing and Mary even tried out her skis.  The next morning though, she could hardly move it.  How can you play the guitar, braid rugs or ski without your right hand?  We could still go snowshoeing, even in the storms which seemed to come out of nowhere every few minutes. Beautiful.  More beautiful looking out the window.  

Then the temperature hit zero, and we were worried about the car.  But it was parked in full sunlight, and it started up right away.  So we got a little overconfident and decided to stay one more day, knowing we could still make it back to Pittsfield in time for dinner with John and Marilyn and Mary's nephew Mike's family.  However, we didn't start the car again that night and when I went to load up the next morning, the car wouldn't start.  We tried to jump start it, but as a hybrid it was unclear which battery connections were negative and positive, and after a false start with sparks and smoke, we decided to let AAA do the work.  When the AAA mechanic came out, he got no charge at all, and we feared the very worse - that we had fried the hybrid battery.  It was Saturday and the closest dealer was 30 miles away, and the repair shop was closed until Monday.  We played out various scenarios in our heads, and none off them were good, or at least inexpensive. After hemming and hawing for 30 seconds, we decided to get the car towed to the dealer and wait.

So, we were stuck until Monday, at least.  The weather made an even worse turn, with snow and whiteouts and extreme cold.  Thankfully, we had no television, so we listened to the Patriots lose on radio.  (A discovery - instant replay doesn't work so well on radio.)

Monday came around, and after another storm, it turned into a nice, but very cold day.  By 10am, when we called the dealer, they said they jump started the car and it was fine.  FINE!  We got a ride to the dealer, loaded up and came home, uneventful except for another storm the last couple of hours of the drive.   We got home to one cool kitty, who was thrown a lifeline by John and Marilyn who came over to fill his dish and clean out the litter box.  Thank you.

Moral of the story?  If we could only have one thing go right, we were glad the car started, instead of the Patriots winning.

Sorry for the long story.  There is other news:  

Annie survived terrible smog in Beijing, including holing up in her apartment for one entire day.  Pollution had reached a record level of 750, while in New York City on the same day, the level of particulate matter was 19.  Annie also uncovered an old Princeton Alumni Weekly story about Pop, Grandma and 1-year old David in Cincinnati:

http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=PxBbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA383&lpg=PA383&dq=donald+dickson,+proctor+and+gamble,+1950s&source=bl&ots=ny6xv1ibaR&sig=1Qps9IOeM6sIXRb7YtsNcOsBlQo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HG_6UIHCMsTTigKKiYG4Dg&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=donald%20dickson%2C%20proctor%20and%20gamble%2C%201950s&f=false

Football viewing parties down in DC, along with birthday parties (Jeffrey and Margaret).  Does anybody work?  Yes, Margaret is sorting out her new work responsibilities, and we saw a lot of Jeffrey's boss on television and in the papers the last couple of days.  

Joe was entertaining friends who he met when he was 2 years old in Lagos!  Emma and Catherine Lochery who were visiting from Ethiopia and Boston respectively were in town for the historic inauguration.   

Health news:  Peter postponed a knee procedure so he could get a second opinion.  Everyone in Dundee arrived home after the wedding and all seemed to be on the right health track.  

And, we heard from David that everyone recovered from a wonderful wedding and reception.  And we saw a great video of dancing, mostly of Oliver, who was moving quite confidently!  We remember another wedding when Matthew was tearing up the dance floor.

So, happy January

 

Happy New Year!

A survey. Everyone raise their hand who had fun at Tina and Matthew's wedding! Everyone raise their hand who are so happy for Matthew and Tina as they embark on their great adventure together. It's unanimous. Congratulations to the wedding couple on a wonderful weekend which we are all so happy to have been witness to. You - picked a glorious spot; got a little lucky lucky with the weather; had happy and teary vows, at the same time; took wonderful photos; sat everyone so we all got to meet across the families; had a wonderful, varied playlist, and a fantastic dancing son! And so much more. Love from everywhere!