(almost) all the leaves are brown.... and we turn back the clocks this weekend. An extra hour of sleep will only slightly soften the blow that we are headed into the season of mittens and boots every time we venture outside.
Time has really stopped for Matthew and Tina. Through Facebook and phone calls, we have been able to keep up with the ordeal of Matthew's spinal infection that sent him to the hospital for emergency surgery and now a long re-hab. The postings tell a story of interrupted lives, of small signs for hope and of a wonderful network of friends and family. David and Paula have spent long hours over at the hospital, keeping him company and even bearing gifts for the nurses taking care of Matthew. Jeffrey is up there this weekend, and it sounds like he pulled diaper duty for Donald. It sounds as if there have been a number of complications for Matthew, but we are grateful every time we read a post from him, since we read he's sitting up, and well enough to type. We especially liked hearing of his "enthusiastic" physical therapy team, and the goal to move to a chair. We're all pulling for you Matthew.
In between phone calls with David, we headed to Washington for the weekend, staying with Annie in her new apartment in Queens on the way down. More spacious and a great neighborhood. She is contemplating having to move by the end of the year, though. Then, we headed to lunch in Lawrenceville with Peter, who told us that Janet's brother broke his leg while on a trip to India. The flight back in a cast must have been excruciating. Peter later informed us that Sean passed the bar exam. Congratulations Sean!
In Washington, we stayed at Joe's new house, and he and Leonor have been busy making it a home. It's on a surprisingly quiet street, for a house in the city. Leonor cooked us a Portuguese dish for supper one night (wonderful!), and then Mary and I went to our friends, Gerry and Dennis, for Indian food. The next night we had Eritrean food at Margaret and Andrew's. Lest you think we need a visa for all our meals, we did go to a bar for hot dogs and wings to watch the Patriots win. That never gets old, especially against the Jets.
My summer of work ended this week, with my last days at Hancock Shaker Village. It was a long seven months, more than I wanted in my retirement, but the opportunity to learn so much was in the end worth it. And now my next project starts, a photo book on industry in the Berkshires. But I think I will be able to get some naps in while doing that.
We spoke with Andrew a few times, and learned that Lur is also busy, with all her volunteering activities, at the hospital and for a group of Dundee boosters. We hear as well that Billy is going to be setting up his own company - go Billy and happy birthday, belated. I also think I jumped the date last week on Daniel's college tour by a few weeks.
Our trip to Washington coincided with a memorial service for a colleague who I worked with in Peru, the man who went on Jeopardy while we were there and won five consecutive games earning two Corvettes and a boatload of cash. Chris was a real character, and his daughter, in her remarks, talked of his Friday the 13th phobia, and how he used to send postcards every month saying that "this month Friday the 13th falls on a Tuesday." A little joy on a very sad day. Next month, by the way, Friday the 13th actually falls on Friday.
So, it's a little hard to write about this other news when we are preoccupied with Matthew's recovery. So we'll close with a major league, world series "You gotta Believe" for Matthew.
Love from over here.
