Out like a lion

End of March, and while we entered like a lion, we're pretty much going out like one too.  There is, however, a whiff of spring in the air.

It was spring break and 3 of the 4 brothers took a break.  David and Paula drove to Florida, by way of Washington, Charleston and a bunch of other stops as well.  They stopped in to see Jeffrey and Melodie on the way down, and then stayed with Aunt Georgia where they saw Sarah.  Rell had gone to California to visit Jacob at college.  Proof that they were in Florida is the short sleeves in the photo.

Peter and Janet took off for Texas and they stopped in to see the other side of the family - the Dicksons in San Antonio and Houston.  Peter recovered enough from his knee surgery to get on a plane, which is good news.

Mary and I went as far south as DC where we ate and drank our way off our diets, but enjoyably with Joe, Margaret and Andrew.  We brought the snow with us, as Monday morning the area got the most snow they've had all winter.  Everyone is well, working too hard, but seeming to enjoy it all. We stayed with Foreign Service friends in Bethesda, and Mary saw old friends from Peru and the school where she used to teach.  We took down a car full of boxes and stuff, which already looks good in the two apartments.  And, Mary measured Joe, finally, for his kilt - a gift from St. Andrews graduation.  That was last year, right?

No trip south for the Dundee crowd.  We hear that Claire has chosen a college, we Hope.  At least, they have put down their deposit.  Hope College in Michigan.  Wonderful.

Uncle Dan headed south and far west, for a long trip to visit Timmy in Baja California.

There's a picture here of Joe on St. Patrick's Day.  Recognize the sports coat?  We had gone out to eat with John and Marilyn for St. Patrick's Day where a local Irish group was playing - the Housatonic Philharmonic.  Very nice.  

The week before, our friends from Maine paid a reverse visit from our trip up north in January.  They did not have car trouble, but it did snow.  We planned our trip to Scotland this summer, and a walk along the Great Glen Way.

We heard from Annie a few times, over everyone's favorite pastime this time of year.  Taxes. She must be close to her move out west. 

We are expecting Margaret and Andrew this weekend, coming up with Dee for Easter.  Then, baseball season starts.  Unfortunately, I am so busy I am not sure I will even be able to read the sports pages.  

April is around the corner, and that means spring.  One month closer to the end of the school year.  Hooray!

Love from up here.  And Happy Easter.    

Lots of news

We took advantage of the extra hour of sunlight and 50 degree weather to go out for an extended walk this evening, without coat, without hat and without gloves!  (The warmest place where there are Dicksons?  Rochester had us beat by 14 degrees, one degree warmer than Washington.)  It's the best way to accept the loss of an hour of sleep.  Mary got a lot of pictures for her photography class, including some of a beaver, getting to work on his spring cleaning.

March means, first of all, happy birthdays to Daniel and to Lur, and in a few weeks David.  Big days, happy ones.

Not so happy though in Rochester last week, as David and Paula had an accident on the freeway, when their new car was swiped by a pick-up truck.  Fortunately, they are all right, and the car is going to the repair shop this week.    

I have a new sport.  It's counting trucks on the lake.  In the last letter I mentioned I saw 6; last weekend I counted 27.  No lie.  Today, even with the warm weather, there were still about a dozen on the lake.

 

We have a social life, after all.  Friday, we went to a corned beef and cabbage dinner at a local club where many of Mary's family had congregated.  Later, Charlie and Annie from North Carolina came for the evening and for a day of cross-country skiing on Saturday.  Fortunately, we had some snow, just the day before, which our clan in DC managed to avoid.  They still got a day off, however.  Hopefully it's the last of the year.  Last weekend, one of Mary's friends from Peru came over from Boston for a night of chatting and a hike.  What is it that women can never exhaust the list of topics, while men finish theirs in about 10 minutes?  One of those topics is our diet which is continuing, in spurts.  Still, we have cut back on many of our bad influences.

We also saw last night a movie, called Quartet, which was about an assisted living home for retired musicians.  A wonderful story, with familiar actors.  And, we spent one night this week over in Northampton to go to a couple of lectures, including one by the first U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, and another by the author of a biography on Thelonious Monk. How different are those?  

I have been busy at school, working on a couple of different projects, including a historic survey of the mill which is next to the house.  It's a beautiful old building which I learned was the longest, continuously operating textile mill in this part of the state.  Now, it lies mostly vacant.  That's a photo of Mary in front of the buildings. 

 

Joe and Margaret recovered from their snow day, which they needed to shovel all the rain off their sidewalks.  They are busy at work; Margaret went to see Michelle Obama at the annual International Women's Day ceremony.  We think they're both coming up for Easter.

Annie has big news; she may join the New York City set next year.  She got into Columbia for her masters degree program in psychology.  Yea!! 

One item left over from last week was news that there is a champion in the family.  Mary's niece Colleen and her partner Pauline won at the Westminster Dog Show at Madison Square Garden in February for their Borzoi wolfhound.  Bubba must be proud.

Tomorrow is Peter's knee operation, which will put him out of commission for a while, but he'll soon be back in the backfield, running the end sweep around Clay Matthews in no time. 

So, happy March.  Spring is close.  Hope you are all well.

Love from over here.