Panic time

We've come to that time of the academic semester best known as PANIC time. It's the moment when you realize you've been on auto-cruise and if you're going to finish everything by the end of the semester, serious changes in lifestyle have to be made.  Like skipping meals and sleep and just sitting at the computer and typing.  The good news is that there's a light at the end of the tunnel, at some point in mid-December when all of a sudden you become human again.

Needless to say, despite knowing it's panic time, I am still planning on going to Dartmouth this weekend with Peter to watch a football game and then going down to DC next week for Thanksgiving.  What's that the say about denial not being just a river in Egypt?  One paper down, two to go.  I think Margaret, Annie and Sean are in the same boat, but I think everyone else remembers those days.  

On the good news front, John and Marilyn have returned from Florida for the season's holidays.  They were greeted back the day they arrived with our first snow of the year.  Good timing.  Mary and I had dinner with them ad heard about their enviable schedule and Johnny's surfing attempts.  Sounds like one of those things better off having started at age 6.

More good news - Annie secured an internship this summer at Bank of America.  She had gone down to Charlotte NC for an interview and then heard last Friday, just in time to really enjoy her weekend.  We also enjoyed her good news up here.

To a certain extent.  We conducted our fourth "cleanse diet" last week, and so there was a limit to partying.  We each lost weight again, and hopefully got back on track, adding another food item to our no-no list.  Let's see if we can keep that list intact through Thanksgiving.

We spoke with David who had gone to Albany; he has been doing some expert witness testimony for legal clients.  I wonder how I can be an expert witness, for raking leaves.  Sounds like a good gig.

We also got a photo from Margaret who had gone to the White House to go bowling.  Really, the White House.  She was unimpressed by the bowling alley, but it looked like they were having fun.  I think there's a story there, but hopefully not so big a one that lands her in jail for trespassing.

We have gone to see two very good movies we recommend highly: Captain Phillips and 12 Years a Slave.  Actually, I am not sure Mary recommends the latter as it was so disturbing.  But it really brings home the brutality of slavery that no book has ever quite captured so glaringly.

Mary got together with Boyle ladies the other night - Marilyn, Erin her niece, Pat (nephew Michael's wife) and Annie (brother Michael's wife).  We also got our car "detailed" by Robbie (Coleen's son) who managed to get the stains out of the carpets and the seats that the pros in Maryland couldn't do.  Thanks.

Other than that, it is swimming, hiking, teaching and studying, hiking, teaching, swimming, studying, and then start all over again.  We have had a bit of a weather reprieve, though.

Hope you all are well, and an early wish for a Happy Thanksgiving.  Love from up here.          

It's Dark

So, we got to sleep an hour later.  Was it worth it?  It's 5pm and it's dark outside.  I remember not so long ago working in the garden until 9pm.  I did enjoy the extra hour though.  I think I'll enjoy the longer sunlight come spring.

Speaking of garden, we are eating the last of our lettuce tonight, with one small cherry tomato.  We still have to harvest some carrots.  It was a fantastic garden year.  Unfortunately, the deer have moved in, and while they seem to be focusing on the apples, we have seen them near the flower gardens. 

We just returned from a packed weekend in NYC, Princeton and Washington DC.  (The extra hour came in handy.)  Friday morning we got an early start and met up with Annie for coffee near her dorm.  She told us about Halloween in Philadelphia at an old prison turned museum, turned haunted house.  (See photo, in case you didn't guess.)  She also filled us in on her internship search for the summer.  We next went to Princeton where Peter joined us for a talk with the university preservation architect and a tour of the buildings designed by William Potter, the architect who did the old library in Pittsfield.  We were going to go to the library, but had to cut that short to make....

Dinner in Washington with Margaret and Andrew, and our friends, the Schwartz's, who we knew from South Africa and marathon days.,  Larry, at age 61, just ran in the Marine Corps Marathon.  A challenge.  Mary went to a sleep-over with her Peru friends and I had dinner with Peace Corps friends.  We are talking about a return trip to Gabon next summer, with a small group of people, hopefully to fix up one of schools which Peace Corps built in the 1960s.  Lots to do on that front, and more to tell later as those plans get off the ground.

We met up with Margaret and Andrew on Sunday for brunch/lunch and football watching/chatting.  They had just spent a week or so at Jeffrey and Melodie's watching their pets, in return for them watching D, while Margaret and Andrew went to Mexico.  Jeff and Melodie had gone to Honduras, for some island fun.  The photos on Facebook looked great.  

We headed back home on Monday, but stopped in Princeton one more time, to look at a file in the university archives on the architect - not much there.  But we did get a chance to see Peter again and have lunch.  Peter said Johanna was starting a new job, and that David had seen her last week when he was in NYC for a meeting.

We talked to Joe a few times.  He had gone to Jordan for a brief visit to see his girlfriend, and she had come to London for a return visit.  Nice to be close and jet-setters.  Joe thinks he has found an apartment.  

Lots of college football talk, from unusual quarters.  Hobart is not just a lacrosse school, and is seeking a spot in the playoffs for Division III (?).  And Peter was talking about how good the Princeton team is this year, which was confirmed when we saw the college football wrap-up on Sunday with the Princeton quarterback throwing for an NCAA record of 29 straight completed passes.  Princeton scored over 50 points for the fourth time this fall.  Where have I been?  UMass lost.

Some left-over news:  We had a nice visit from Mary Fort who had stopped by for a lunch as she was up here for a weekend on Mount Greylock. 

And the big news of the week was Mary's swim meet. She did well for her age group in breast stroke, but her relay team placed in the top ten in the country. My big news is that I was able to squeeze in a nap.

And on that news.....love from over here.