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:
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
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