Birthday central

Today is Tina's birthday, and yesterday was Paula's birthday.  We spent the first part of the day with Paula and David, before they drove home in order to be there for Tina's big day.  And this week is Johanna's birthday.  Happy birthday to all.

David and Paula took off for a fall swing through Vermont and New York, before landing here for the weekend.  They joined us at Hancock Shaker Village on Saturday where it was country fair, with all kinds of crafts and demonstrations of oval boxes and timber frame building and quilting and...... a talk by John on the Shakers at Hancock.  We went out to eat Saturday night, and found a wonderful Italian restaurant we had never been to.  Another place for the "36 hours in Pittsfield" update that will never appear in the New York Times, but should be on your list of things to do when visiting here.  And we love visits.  And it was great to see David and Paula over here.  They filled us in on their house work, including a new landscaping and walkway in the front of their house.  Next up, they will tackle their kitchen.  Paula also made some copies of family histories, including Uncle All's work that takes the deans back to the 1620s in Taunton Mass.

The previous weekend, Mary and I headed north to Maine where we joined the Dan Boyle family to spread his ashes in parts of the Bar Harbor area that he loved so much.  We started out with a tradition to see the sunrise at Cadillac Mountain, the first spot on the continental U.S. that the sun hits.  It was a beautiful view that the photo included here hardly captures.  But it is worth seeing.  We then went to his plot of land on a lake called Molasses Pond.  There were remembrances and memories of Dan, and catching up with everyone.  And we ate, lots of seafood, lobster rolls, chowders, etc.  Another place to visit, even if it is a long drive.

Phone calls with folks in DC during the week informed us of all the happenings with the Pope and the Chinese Premier, a man whose named is pronounced "she."  It's a little confusing when the news announces talk about "she", and then refer to "she" as "he".  The last premier was pronounced "who" which leads me to think of an update to the Abbot and Costello skit about "Who's on First?"  No, Who's the Premier of China?  

But I digress.  Sounds like Joe, Margaret, Jeff and Melodie all got days off because of the throngs to see the Pope.  I wonder if the same was true for Annie and Johanna in New York.

The temperatures have fallen to the 30s in the evenings here, but the house continues to stay warm.  It's a good thing since we are reluctant to turn on the furnace in September.  But those temps have pretty much made the hillsides full of color where there was just barest of colors last week.  The temps have slowed down the grass growth, but not enough to stop mowing altogether.  And the garden is slowing down its production, with the last of the beans and tomatoes coning in, leaving just the potatoes and carrots and maybe a few onions to harvest.

One more month of busy-ness, and then the seasonal tour guide commitments close down; I've completed two of my six classes for the Lifelong Learning Institute on historic preservation and I should have just another hour of work to finalize my movie about the restoration of the Anthenaeum.  Hopefully, by the next letter I will be able to include a YouTube link so you can watch my first (and undoubtedly last) full length movie.

So, this has been the quickest September on record; and hope that the next month will slow down a little for us to enjoy it.

Hope you all are well; love from up here.  

"September, I'll remember"

Where's that quote from?  (Read to the end of letter.)

I hardly remember the last few weeks, another whirlwind of travel and activity.  And not just for us, but it looks like for many of you as well, taking advantage of the long Labor Day weekend to.....

Move.  Annie moved to her new apartment in Queens and while the move seemed more drawn out than it should have been, she loves where she is.  She came up over the weekend to pick up stuff she had kept here, and to pick up a car.  Because....

We bought a new car, or I should say Mary did.  It was also a more drawn out process than it needed to be, because over the course of the past two months we actually purchased three cars, and two of them fell through.  Anyway, Mary finally got to choose a car she wanted -- riding in style and comfort in a Honda Accord - leather seats.  I have to admit is nice.  We took it on a test drive over Labor day weekend to.....

North Carolina.  On the way down there, we stopped over and stayed with Andrew and Margaret and heard all about their trip to South Africa.  We headed south to Chapel Hill to visit our Peace Corps friend Charlie and his family and drove his son all the way back to Williams in one day.  I guess we do love the new car.  Sometimes I catch Mary out in the garage just hugging it.  We also went to a wedding for a young man whose parents we knew in Peru....

not Portugal which is where Joe was these past two weeks, traveling all around that beautiful country.  He came back after Labor Day, and spent this past weekend also moving, into his new house, also harder than it should been.  What has been easy, though, is....

catching up on Facebook news, with the Peter Dicksons attending a wedding for Kieren (sp?) and Sean going skeet shooting; Jeff and Melodie headed out to Minnesota, and some fishing, it looks like; Bill and Jen and family went up to Door County (been there?); and Janet marking the third anniversary of her broken leg (still hurts.)

Mary's friend Marj and her whole family were in Pittsfield this weekend for her mother's memorial service and then for Marj's sister's 50th wedding anniversary.  Nice to see a family come together for major life events.  Lots of singing, laughter, eating and love.  We'll have to get the singing together next summer in the Poconos.

What else?  We heard Matthew has started his graduate studies, so he will be a busy somebody in a busy household the next few years.  Margaret began her last semester of school.  John and Marilyn also have a new car, switching from the practical, politically correct Prius to the stylish ride of a Cadillac.  That's 180 degrees.  

Lots of baseball, with the Mets surging, the Reds eliminated and the Yankees closing in.  And football has started, but who's watching anything but Tom Brady's court case?

So, we have a whiff of fall weather right now, enough to know what's ahead.  Hopefully not for a few more weeks.  Hope you all are healthy, happy and safe.  Love from up here.

(and the quote is from Simon and Garfunkel "April Come She Will.")