Love

Happy Valentine's Day!  And we made it through Friday the 13th with our fingers crossed that we wouldn't get another snow storm.  So spring must be right around the corner.  A corner with a foot of snow ready to drop on us on Sunday.  We also wouldn't mind seeing the temps go above 32 degrees, at least for a minute.  We're beginning to think that 24 degrees is the new 40 degrees.

We arrived back home a week ago and are still living fresh on our memories.  We have tons of photos, that we are trying to organize, on multiple phones and cameras, and dropbox etc.  So, much like when we returned from the Peace Corps years ago, we always seem to be looking at our photos.  And, if you have ten hours or so, we'd love to tell you about the experience.  

It's not just photos we brought home, but some lingering cases of stomach issues.  Mary is having hers checked out at the doctors, and I will likely follow suit.

Since coming home, we've also been hearing of all that happened here with you all.  Like the Super Bowl, and at least one naysayer out there is saying the cheaters won.  I have to admit, one of the first things I did when I finally got to wi-fi was watch the video highlights.  Must have been quite a game.

The second thing I did was catch up on Facebook.  We tried once to get on from the village, but it cost us $20 in data.  Still we saw great photos of Donald and news that Tina has her nursing license.  Way to go.  And way to go to Sean who graduated and had been posting terrific art work.  What a talent.  How is Andrew's drawing coming?  Johanna's all over the place at fashion week in NYC.  Daniel has a new car, Claire has many more concerts.  Annie and Greg spent almost a week in Pittsfield over her break and went out downhill skiing for the first time with Johnny as her instructor.   John and Marilyn have decamped for Florida, so intent that they drove through a snowstorm to start their journey south.  Margaret has been very busy with school work and Joe had a trip to Beijing while we were gone.

Not all was happiness while we were gone.  It was quite a shock to get the news of Dan, for all of us.  We are still sorry we could not join the celebration of his life in Stonington; it sounded very nice and full of friends and co-workers and students, and family.  We close with a photo from 2013; Dan helped us establish a bit of a new tradition, joining us for Easter dinner at the Red Lion Inn.  He also helped me tie the bow tie here.  It will be hard to think of Easter dinner without him, and so many other things as well.  We will miss you. And we remember you with love this Valentine's Day.

Love from the snowy north.

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