Farewell 2016

What to say to 2016 other than farewell?  Actually, you don't say anything to a year.  Years can't hear.  So, with that in mind, we'll take the opportunity to wish for a wonderful 2017.

And hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Mary did her best in getting us into the Christmas spirit, and she succeeded: decorating the tree (and the house), making cookies, putting on John Denver and the Muppets music, going to carol services at church, taking us over to the Red Lion Inn to sit by the fire and the tree and listen to the harp, where we saw the carolers that Grandma used to have on the cupboard in the dining room.  I suspect there was a fair amount of all that going on in each of your houses.

The big wreath on the garage, the candles in the windows and even a decorated tree can be seen from Route 7, if you look hard enough.  There was a Norman Rockwell puzzle on the coffee table, and we even had snow on the ground to complete the mood.  

Annie and Joe were here.  Where were you?  Margaret and Andrew stayed in Washington, for work reasons, and Margaret was even interviewed on WAMC about people who stay behind.  Leonor was in Portugal with her family.  We know Jeff and Melodie were in Washington since they spent Christmas Eve with Margaret and Andrew checking out the decorated trees near the White House.  John and Marilyn went on a cruise, and Timmy was in southern California.  David and Paula enjoyed their first Christmas in their town home, with Paula's family and Matthew and Tina (and Donald and Oliver) coming over for dinner Christmas Eve.  We saw Peter and Janet's tree all decorated on Facebook, and I bet they had eggs benedict for breakfast.  Out in Dundee, Andrew and Lur hosted a big meal for the whole Knaack gang, including Bill and Jen and excited children.

Joe had to head back the day after Christmas, along with 300 million other travelers on Rte 95 between New York and Washington.  He did get to take a day off on his birthday, but I'm sure he prefers the birthday celebrations in Pomfret with everyone.  Annie decided to work out of Boston for the week, so we'll see her as she swings back through following New Year's Eve in Maine.

We went to a couple of movies, and actually we saw a few more at home.  Actually, we did the one with "actually" in the title.  But we also hit different ends of the spectrum, with Manchester by the Sea and Rogue One.  Guess which one Mary liked?  

We also attended an organizing meeting for a big "Four Freedoms March" that will be held in Pittsfield next Saturday.  That will get us all geared up for the trip to Washington later in January to say thank you to Obama and attend the million women's march.   

Finally, we stopped stepping on the scale until the second week of January, after we had a chance to fast and clean out our systems a little.  

That part is just the first of our New Year's Resolutions.  We have to think up some more.  Got any good ones?  

So, happy New Year's Eve and Day and happy all year long.

Love from up here.

It's dark outside

I just got back from a walk up along the lake that I began a little after 4pm.  By the time I got home it was night time.  Fortunately, our Christmas wreath is up on the side of the garage and can be seen from the other side of the lake!

 

How was everyone's Thanksgiving?  What a great holiday.  It's unique.  I was always struck how other countries are beginning to celebrate Halloween but no one tries out Thanksgiving.  The Canadians have a low-key version that they mark on the same weekend that we celebrate Columbus Day (and Janet's birthday), but that's as close as it gets.  I think the world would be a better place if everyone gave thanks, even for just one day.

 

Our Thanksgiving week started with a 36-hour snow storm that left about a foot of snow here.  It was a snow day for Mary and that meant snowshoeing, hot chocolate and fires in the fireplace.  And only four more months of snow!  Ugh.

 

Wednesday morning, though, the roads were clear and there was little trace of the white stuff south of here.  We made it to DC with little problems, and first stop was Margaret's where we met the new kitties.  Very cute.  Now I know why some people end up having 20 cats: they want another kitten. 

 

We stayed with Joe and Leonor and prepared our contributions for the big dinner there.  Annie flew in from Cleveland and Andrew's parents joined us for the dinner.  Andrew and Margaret did a great job with the main courses, and their new house was plenty big enough for all of us. 

 

We saw on Facebook photos of a big gathering with several tables in New Jersey that Peter and Janet, Sean and Johanna went to.  David tells us that their experience of ordering out the turkey meal last year when Matthew was in the hospital convinced them to try that again this year.  Jeffrey and Melodie drove up to join them for the weekend.

 

Andrew also had a big crowd of Lur's family at their house.  Claire came home for the weekend, and reconnected with a high school friend to play oboe and violin at the Thanksgiving church service.  Andrew sounded like he was ready to cater the entire eventt next year, if not order out pizza.  Has anyone ever had turkey on their pizza?

 

So, we made it through Black Friday, small business Saturday, cyber Monday and giving Tuesday, and we even have a few dollars left in the bank. I'm trying to come up with other days and possibly make a million:  how about Barter Wednesday?  or Fasting Thursday?  Or send your money to 5 Hancock Road Sunday?  

 

The rest of the week up here has been pretty uneventful - new snow tires, a good movie (Moonlight) and an adult visit to Mass Moca, Mary's swim team party and some more garden work, now that the snow has melted.  

 

While our week was a little dull, Joe went to Hong Kong and China, Margaret was sworn in at the State Department (with my old boss who talked about serving institutions and laws, not individual people) and Annie moved to her more permanent quarters in Cleveland.

 

What's new with everyone else?  Anyone sleeping through the night yet?  I still wake up arguing with our new President.

 

Other than that, life goes on, and we are settling in for the winter.  Hope you all are well.

 

Love from up here.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving week.   Family and friends.  Preparing for the winter hibernation by eating way too much.  And talk at the dinner table.  I wonder what conversations will be about around turkey dinners this year?  Time to break out Saturday Night Live's sketch of Adele last year.

We are heading down to DC hoping for an early jump on the craziness of the roads.  Our system is an early start beats all traffic.  It worked last week when I went down for a night for an award ceremony for a former colleague from Mexico.  Worked in the wrong way.  I got a late start and Rte 95 was shut down north of Baltimore.  Closed.  Fortunately, GPS found a way around and when I returned to the road I saw tons of flashing lights and hazmat trucks.  If I hadn't stopped for coffee and cinnabon, what might have happened?  (Fact check - I didn't stop.)

Anyway, lots has happened since our last letter.  Johanna made the Associated Press with her stance on the safety pin following the election (photo from Facebook).  Joe traveled to Switzerland for an international banking meeting.  And, we did win one election!  Our campaign to collect a small surcharge in our property taxes to help preserve historic buildings and improve city parks.  

Margaret and Annie flew to Pittsfield and spent the Veteran's Day weekend with us, helping the economy and hiking and laughing and commiserating.  Marj and Lew came up for one night while they were here and we enjoyed a chili dinner, that the Locherys also came by to join in the fun.

This followed a quick trip we took to CT, RI and Boston the previous weekend.  We stopped in to see Mary and Patrick in Stonington/Pawcatuck where Patrick is helping to manage a brewery.  He's doing a fair amount of different jobs, including acting as creative director.  We sampled one beer he named Jan-cember fest, a play on Octoberfest beers but this one lasts the whole year, from January to December.  He helped design the label.  And it tastes good!. 

We headed to Marj and Lew's for the night where the highlight was watching a Sasha Cohen which was, can you believe it, rude.  We then ventured north of Boston for an extended lunch with the sister of a Peace Corps friend who had died in 1980.  Pretty emotional.  We tagged all those activities on to what was really a visit to Mass General to see if Mary had picked up any tropical disease.  Happily, she hadn't.

We touched base with brothers following the election.  All are well with varying degrees of opinion and forecasts.  On the way down to DC, I had an early lunch, late brunch with Peter, who mentioned that Johanna had spent the weekend with them and Sean was enjoying his new job.  As we saw on Facebook, Sean has a new interest in his life!

I stayed with Margaret and Andrew in their new house which is shaping up wonderfully.  I dropped off a few things over at Joe and Leonor's, and had a chance to chat with Leonor for a little - Joe was still in Switzerland.  They got their wedding pictures which turned out really great.  If you want to check them out, they are now available on ​t​he photographer's website, - go to the ​WEDDING ​tab and choose photo galleries ​L&J​ ​using the password: L&J 24SET16.

And, we found out this weekend why Andrew and Margaret moved to a bigger place. They needed room to house two new kitties. Kimchi and Taquito. Not sure if the spelling is right. My history projects are winding down.  The editor has my final version of my photo book on Berkshire County mills.  My last tour at Shaker Village was last week, and presumably I have one more tour at Arrowhead tomorrow.  With the campaign over, that means I have time on my hands.  Any ideas?

Mary is enjoying her tutoring job this year, and her big news was finding out the freestyle relay team she raced with this year turned in the eighth best time in the world.  Yes, you read that right.  In the world.

And, since I can't top that highlight, let's close this letter out.

Hope you are all well and have a memorably wonderful Thanksgiving.   Love from over here.

Look out Cleveland

And three photos for this posting! One with Annie making a funny face.

That's because of road trips, one to drive out to Cleveland with Annie
in her new car and the other that saw Lur going to Hope College to see
a Bill Monroe Tribute concert. And who's playing the mandolin?
Claire. Who knew? We knew about the oboe, but where did the mandolin
come from? Girl's got talent.

The great thing about the trip to Cleveland is Fairport is on the way!
So Annie and I stopped on our way out for a too-short look-see at
David and Paula's new house. And I can attest that it's everything
we've heard. Beautiful, wonderful, unique home in a great
neighborhood. They're in the long process of unpacking and sorting
out, but it looks great. Every room is an adventure!

Actually there were other great things about the trip. Annie started
her first day on the job a short sleep after arriving and later she
showed me around the campus of GE Lighting. Campus? Yes, it looks
like a university. Built in the early 1900s, old brick buildings,
gardens and trees and pond and fountain. That's the way they used to
do it.

They actually have classrooms though. There's an institute where
people come to learn how to light art, how to light retail, how to
light stadiums. Who knew?

So we checked out Annie's temp housing and also her long-term home. Very nice.

And, it was great to be there during the World Series. The "Go Tribe"
signs are everywhere as are hats and shirts. Here's what one couple
decked out in their gear told me in the elevator: if we have to lose,
I'm glad it will be to the Cubs. I think people from Ohio may meet the
Canadian level of niceness.

I haven't even gotten to the other great thing. The Lakeshore Limited,
which I boarded at 5:30 am for the trip to Pittsfield. And guess who
boarded in Rochester? See the photo. How cool is that?

We got together on the train but they had the sleeper booth and we're
heading to NYC. Fun

Other great things? We went to DC for a weekend and stayed with Joe.
Leonor had just finished two weeks of work travel and Joe two weeks at
his new job. We got to see Margaret and Andrew's new house and
neighborhood Very nice. Still unpacking, but they made a great
choice. And, Margaret just got back from a week-long trip to
Nicaragua and Honduras - she might be the first Dickson to go to
Nicaragua.

And great to see all the wonderful shots on Facebook of Halloween,
SCARY. David and Paula said they had about 200 people to their house.
We got shut out again.

So, hope all is well. Home again. And, feliz Dia de los Muertos.

Love from up here.

Peak season

When do you know if it's peak season?  Is there one day that the foliage is absolutely at its peak?  Impossible.  One hill looks as if it's past peak with nothing but bare limbs.  The hill right across the valley still has a lot of green.  It's all a motel conspiracy anyway, to convince people to leave the warmth of their homes and seek out the best view.

Which is exactly what we did the past two days.  And last weekend.  And every day in between it seems.  A little bit of driving, and a little bit of walking.  And, of course a lot of photos, that don't really capture the sense, even when some are complaining that we didn't have enough rain for the full color.

Anyway, that's a long lead in to say that while summer's over, the move to fall and the colors and the gorgeous days like today make it not so hard to miss, even though we know what's around the corner.  

So, let's see your favorite tree or hillside of the fall: send an e-mail to popsweeklyletter.bubba@blogger.com

Two weeks ago, we just arrived home from Portugal and we're still living off of the memories.  But, life moves on and back to work and projects.

Joe and Leonor came back to the World Bank meetings which meant work, work, work.  He has started his new job, and Lenor hit the road for two weeks of travel to 6-7 cities in the U.S. and Canada.  Margaret and Andrew have spent their first week in their house, with adjustments for the commute and the dog.  We heard that they are in no rush to unpack, as Andrew said they have 30 years to unpack.  We talked to Annie and she is in her final weeks in Boston, and will do a little car shopping this weekend for her trip to Cleveland over Halloween weekend.

David and Paula have unpacked enough boxes for the time being, and they might not have 30 years to unpack.  But they are comfortable, and it seems every call I get from David is from his porch with a lemonade in his hand.  He also found another house for sale that will bring back memories: 9655 Cunningham Rd.  Any buyers?? It looks very different (except the kitchen, ha ha.)  I think I saw my bedroom #22, the hallway/closet and recognized David and Peter's bedrooms but not much else.

John and Marilyn had an unscheduled adventure in Georgia, as they evacuated before Hurricane Matthew (no relation to our Matthew)  They were gone just a couple of nights and they returned to a house untouched.

It's been birthday October, and so far we have seen Johanna celebrating hers in Paris, and Janet spent hers touring the Clinton headquarters in New Jersey.  Sounds like a different way to spend your birthday, but worthwhile, given this year's unprecedented edition.  If I remember correctly, Auden also had her third birthday.  More birthdays on their way, with Claire, Bill and Kathleen.

We're still plugging away on our election referendum and the first draft of my images book is due this week.  That means the end is in sight.  I need a few more projects after that.  Any ideas?  

That's all from up here.  Stay healthy, Love

Portugal

By now, you have seen so many photos of Portugal on Facebook, it is hard to find one that has not seen the light of day.  But, here it is.  This is of the newly-blessed-wedding couple at the reception overlooking the Rio Tajo on its way to the Atlantic Ocean.  

Many memories.  Wonderful, happy, special.  

A few things stick out.

First was the generosity and hospitable-ness of Leonor's family.  They really rolled out the red carpet for us.  

Second, was the beauty of the country. Lots of history, and I mean 5-6 centuries old buildings and streets and alleys.

Third, was the weather.  We couldn't believe it but one day towards the end of the trip, the sky was overcast for a few hours.  Other than that, blue skies, sunny and dry during the day, with a slight chill at night.

Fourth were the grapes.  If the weather described above sounds ideal for grapes, that's because it is.  We drove the wine valley, and along sides its mountains, which made for spectacular views, but some white knuckle driving and riding.  We even sampled some of the wine and port.

Fifth, (and there were many more) was being together and sharing this time with Joe and Leonor.  

We know some of you were unable to make it, but we also know that because of number one above, there will be other opportunities to visit and get to know the trans-Atlantic side of our family.

We arrived home, turned on the heat, and slept for almost 12 hours.  Unpacking, doing laundry, and sorting through photos will keep the memories alive for a lot longer.

Congratulations Leonor and Joe.  Love from up here

School and moves and jobs

Mary went back to school this week.  Who else?  I know Claire and Daniel, and probably Oliver and Janet have been back for a while.  Is Myles in school yet?  How about Andrew S.?  He's starting a graduate program in public health.  Back to school for me means traffic, on my long drives to and from UMass a couple of times a week.  It's crazy how many cars there are trying to get over a bridge between Amherst and Northhampton.  Fortunately, there are podcasts and NPR and books on tape.

How about new jobs?  Sean, Margaret and Joe have started new jobs.  And Sean's comes with a badge!  Is it a first for a Dickson?  Perhaps.  Great Facebook photos from what must have been a sentimental swearing-in ceremony as assistant DA, and in the same complex as the statue of Sean's great-uncle.   

How about moves?  David and Paula are in their new house.  They moved over last weekend, and have begun the slow and not-so wonderful process of unpacking and putting things away. It's a good brain exercise as you're forced to remember where you put the forks.  Still, all the work is offset by the happiness of the location, of the front porch, of the curb appeal.  

Annie found she will be moving to Cleveland.  By November.  Her social life seems to revolve around going to weddings on weekends, sprinkled by trying to figure out what's wrong with her car.  I think the Saturn has seen its last days having surpassed 180,000 miles. 

Margaret and Andrew are also moving, as their offer on a new house was accepted.  They are busy now with the financials and organizing a closing date around Columbus Day.  Their new house is in the Brookland NE section of DC, near Catholic University.  And it has a small yard for D!  New job, new school, new house.  Adds to the stress.  Margaret's new job is Fulbright for Caribbean and Central America.  

We drove by their new house over Labor Day, when we went down for the wedding of the daughter of the Schwartzes, friends we knew in South Africa who have children the same ages as ours.  Highlight of the wedding?  A New Orleans procession over to the White House, complete with jazz band.  

We stayed with Joe who was in the final days of his China job before he switches over to the international banking office at Treasury.   He had just finished doing some nice renovation work to the parking area behind his house, making it a nice outdoor area for sitting.  Look for Grandma's glass top tables there soon!  Leonor was in Portugal.

Which is where we are going this week.  Joe is heading out today, and we will be on our way Wednesday.  Look for many Facebook posts from there over the next two weeks.

Speaking of Facebook, we see Tina had jury duty - and from her tone I can't tell whether she liked it or not.  It is a break in routing and she took advantage of the downtime to take in the city sites.

John and Marilyn are here now.  Actually not, they're at Kara and Brian's, but they were here and are coming back. In their down time, Johnny cut the grass and did some plumbing work in our basement (obrigado - practicing my Portuguese for thanks so much!)  Marilyn also arranged our dish towel drawer, and I really should put a picture of that in the letter, or at least on Facebook.  We had a nice Boyle cousins dinner here which was very nice.

So, I got through a whole letter without an advertisement for Trump's new hotel in DC.  Ooops, I did it.

Hope you are well, thriving even.  Love from up here.

Still summer

And, the glorious summer continues.  I understand for some of you, it has been not-so glorious, but just plain hot.  This is why we live here, though.  About this time of the year, amnesia has set in and we have blocked out January through May.

We played host to Margaret and D, who showed up here to spend a week in the north, in between jobs for Margaret.  She went to Boston for a visit with Annie and Andrew flew in.  They went on a search and destroy mission for beaches, and apparently found some close by, on the Cape and then in Rhode Island.  Fun.  

Margaret and Andrew returned to Pittsfield in time to join our friends from Gabon (Drew and Claire) who were driving from San Francisco to Maine when they stopped here for a couple of days.  We overlapped with Annie for about 30 seconds, before we then headed up to Maine for a weekend of relaxation in the Main woods.  Apparently, after we left, there were trips to DreamAway Lodge, golf outings and hiking for those who stayed behind.  More fun.

Then, this week we were joined here by Timmy with his new family.  They were on their way -- all the way from Los Angeles - to drop off Denisa's son, Johnnie, who will be starting a graduate program in photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.  We had a small Boyle family reunion -- dinner really -  for Timmy that included all of Colleen's family.  Timmy had left LA the day after having dinner with John and Marilyn who were beginning their drive across the country on Rte 66.  We've been following their travels on Facebook and are planning our own trip.  Looks like a lot to do on that road.  That makes three trips across country - Drew and Claire, Timmy and family, and John Marilyn.  What does that say about the price of gas?

News from Fairport is the house move is on track with final odds and ends coming together.  David passed along a wesbite with a little history of their new house: http://www.perintonhistoricalsociety.org/index.php/history/preservation/newman-cotter.html

We see from Facebook that the Pennington Dicksons convened for a four-hour Bruce Springsteen concert.  We know that was a highlight, because anytime he gets on stage he seems to out-do what he has done before.

And, out west, on the frontier, Daniel has started college, and has opted for an 8am class.  He's going to be studying business. Speaking of business, Billy is close to launching his new start-up.  Claire was home for a few days, before she headed back to Hope College, followed the next day by Andrew and Lur with the rest of Claire's stuff.  Andrew has picked up a second evening of working in a food bank.

In less than a month, we'll be boarding a plane for Portugal.  We got our new passports so we're ready.  Leonor has already left, but will be spending time in London doing work-related things for a couple of weeks before heading to Lisbon.

Finally, the Olympics are over.  We loved watching them, but they ate up all of our entertainment and evenings.  No more Phelps, Bolt, Biles and Ledecky.  Pretty amazing though.

The Olympics meant that I put my reading on hold, although I have made it through quite a few of my summer reading list - Caro (Volume 2 of LBJ) and Bretton Woods, Melville (Pierre) and Berkshire industry.  

Other than that, same old Shaker Village, UMass, Arrowhead and Preserve Pittsfield electoral campaign, and trying to sneak in a nap where possible. 

Looking forward to a long weekend coming up, but one that unfortunately means the end of summer.  Not yet.

Love from up here.   

Signs of autumn

I hate to say it, but the first trees are starting to turn.  There are only a few, but it's unmistakeable.  Our local weather guy ends his report each day telling us the precise times for sunrise and sunset and how many minutes we lose each day.  Sad.  The only consolation is the sun is rising later, letting us sleep a little later.

As you can see from the picture of today's haul - blueberries, tomatoes, green beans, cucumber, squash and lettuce - it's also harvest time for the garden.  We've had our best bumper crop of lettuce, and should have mountains of beans over the next week or so.  Planted this time for the first year were beets, and those are doing very well too.  In fact, what's not doing well?  The woodchucks.  Very little sign of them this year.  Thank you kitty.

As you've seen from all our Facebook postings, we have been up to our necks in local politics, specifically to get placed on the November ballot a question about raising funds for historic preservation -- and parks and housing.  This past Tuesday, after a marathon City Council meeting that considered and voted in favor of banning circus animals, we achieved our first success, to get approval for our referendum question to be on the November ballot.  So, after convincing 11 people, now all we have to do is convince 4-5000 people.  Not even sure how to go about that.  But it sure makes the election this November something besides Trump for us.

We're also into our season of visitors.  Margaret is here right now as she took a week off before she starts her new job.  She is heading to Boston for a few days mid-week to be with Annie, and we get to keep D here.  Camp Dad for dogs.

Foreign service friends were here last week (Larry and Ellen) and Gerry and Dennis are here now.  Next week, our colleagues from our Gabon project will be here, driving all the way from San Francisco.  And then, we're off to Maine for the weekend.  No rest for the weary.  We love it.

It's funny.  Gerry and Dennis have been here in July in past years, and it's usually our hottest time.  So this year, they decided to wait until August, and guess what?  It's the hottest, most uncomfortable time of this summer.

Anyone watching the Olympics?  Of course, but especially Mary's swim coach.  He has the team doing the events from the night before at the morning practice.  I think Mary came in as close to Katie Ledecky as lane 7 did in the 800 freestyle.  Pretty incredible, huh?  We're recording it all, but don't have time to watch the taped show, since the live events keep getting in the way.  Of course, we could just fast forward through the ads and Mr. Costas interruptions. 

Mary is pulling a Pop this summer - she painted the porch, the back one, or what used to be the front porch.  She said it was looking like "tobacco road" and now it looks like Hyannisport.  Almost.  No, not even close, but still a lot nicer.

Annie is off in South Carolina this weekend for a friend's wedding, and Joe and Leonor are supposed to have completed their renovation to their back driveway/patio.  We see on Facebook that Oliver is getting ready for school track (or maybe for next year's Mt. Springs "round the lake" 5 miler.  We also see that Jeff and Melodie are back in Rhode Island for some quality beach time.  We also saw a bunch of photos from Peter and Janet's post-Mt. Springs trip, for Janet's annual theater accessibility conference in Pittsburgh.

Claire should be finishing up her camp any time now, and Daniel is putting in the hours at Sherwin Williams this summer.  We expect that David and Paula are mightily busy with their upcoming move.  

So, hope everyone is managing the heat, not like me.  I mowed the lawn, two and half hours and a loss of four pounds.

Anyway, that's a warp - stay cool and love from up here.  

Road Trip!

We are back from our road trip to Pittsburgh and other points in Pennsylvania. We had planned a longer voyage, but meetings in N.J. summoned us back. On our way out, we stopped at Valley Forge, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and Fort Necessity. In Pittsburgh, Janet did three intensive days of the LEAD conference (Leadership Exchange In Arts And Disabilities) while I did two days of fishing and ran errands. We then spent two days in Erie before heading home. Highlights and lowlights:

- This trip corresponded with very contentious days on the electoral front. Lots of conversations at the conference and meals. I truly wonder how this will turn out and how history will view it. It's not likely to be a high point in the nation's history.
                   
- Pittsburgh has made a pretty good recovery from the loss of its status as a leading steelmaking and coal mining center. We had LEAD functions in the Andy Warhol Museum and the Children's Museum. Andrew Warhola was a very successful commercial artist in New York City before he became the Andy Warhol we all know today. And he was a very gifted artist well beyond soup cans.

- The Children's Museum has mementos of Fred Rogers, a Pittsburgh native. The Heinz Center, a collection of museums in a re-purposed warehouse, has the original set for the show.

- Fallingwater is literally built on top of a stream and small waterfall, as the summer home of the Kaufmans, owners of Pittsburgh's largest department stores, now part of Macy's. It's spectacularly beautiful. Edgar Kaufman joked about the problems created by the moisture by saying the house should instead be called "Mold Rising." It costs over $4 million today just to maintain. But hats off to a very nice visitor experience: nice visitor center, low key and knowledgeable tours.

- Valley Forge was not quite the everybody froze to death experience we commonly think of. It was a turning point in the war, because the German Baron Steuben drilled the eager Continentals and militias into a formidable disciplined fighting force. Also a well maintained visitor experience. Lots of information about the many petty jealousies of officers who thought they should have commanded the Continentals, and the lack of cooperation by the Continental Congress. No wonder a new Constitution was written.

- Fort Necessity was built by Colonel George Washington of the British Army in what we call the French and Indian War (the Seven Years War in Europe), in the middle of a meadow surrounded by woods. The French and Indians did not deign to come out of the woods and shot Washington's detachments to shreds. It's the only time Washington ever surrendered.

- We spent a day in Erie, on Lake Erie, enjoying the magnificent Presque Isle State Park, surprisingly no charge for admission, and the Maritime museum, well telling the story of Commodore Perry's successful defeat of the small British Navy (he borrowed the famous "Don't Give Up The Ship" slogan.)

- Lots and lots and lots of trucks on the Pa. Turnpike and I-80. Lots.

- As I've noted before, it is hard to find good nutritious food on the road.

- There is nothing in north central Pennsylvania. However, there is a town called Jersey Shore.

- The LEAD is sponsored by the Kennedy Center, and features lots of good stories about advocates like Janet all over the country. Next year's conference will be in Austin.

- On our way back, we went by the exit for Tannersville, Pa. Lots of good memories.

- Once again, I was reminded that we live in a beautiful country.

Happy Birthday Grandma

Ten years ago, we were in Mountain Springs for Grandma's 80th birthday.  That get-together followed up two other trips to the Poconos and now it looks like this might be an annual tradition.  The verdict this year - even more fun than last year.

Even though this is a tradition, we may have started some new ones this year.  Like Daniel's haircuts.  Like Donald's birthday celebration!  (and Mary's!)  Like the two-lap, around the lake running race (that Sean won in a last-minute surge.)  Like the next generation dinner!  Like water balloon contests.  I'm sure there were some others but these are what I can remember.

Other highlights?  Hanging at the beach.  Laughing on the porches.  Wildlife - snapping turtles (Andrew some them), snake in the water, spider on the dock, deer drinking water.  Fishing - David caught two large fish, a perch and a bass.  Seeing the progress Matthew is making - what a journey over the past nine months.  

And we talked.  There was talk of house hunting and house moving.  It had to be a welcome reprieve for David and Paula from weeks of packing and rides to the dump and Goodwill.  There was talk of the visit to the water park for Matthew, Tina, Oliver and Donald.  There was talk of a wedding in Portugal!  Talk of those who couldn't join us - Bill and Jen and children and Claire.  Talk of new jobs (Margaret and Sean.)  Talk of travel to Denver (Annie) and to Portland (Margaret) and to Green Lake (Andrew and Lur.)  Talk of books we're reading - Sean may have had the most intimidating book - criminal procedure.

I actually don't remember anyone talking about a certain Presidential candidate.  Okay, just a little.  Okay, quite a bit.

Mary and I talked the whole way home about how fast it went. You know it went well when everyone wants to stay an extra day, and when we sign up already for next year.  

It took us a day or two to unpack.  We got the kabob leftovers (thanks David and Paula, Andrew and Lur) and I made about $5 from bottle and can returns.  

Thanks to everyone who pitched in and made this a great weekend.  Thanks for taking the time and braving the traffic and withstanding the heat.  We love you all.  

What A Treat

It was wonderful seeing all of you again. I am reminded that over the course of my professional career I have had the responsibility of dealing with families with grudges and worse, and the contrast with our family couldn't be more plain. We have many gifts from Mom and Pop, but one of enormous lasting value is that they wove us into a true family, much of it by example. Thank you all.

July 12

In honor of Annie's birthday today, I found a photo from last year (only kidding, 1993) of another July 12.  In the background, waiting patiently for their turn at the Kenwood pool slide are Joe and Sean.  Seems like only yesterday.  Actually not - seems like a long time ago.  We expect to see Annie tomorrow night on her way back from a day of work in Schenectedy, but we won't be having a pool party for her.  I hear there may be ice cream cake though.  Any takers?  It's Ben and Jerry's. Now, are there any takers?

If not, more for me.

We're still in the first half of summer which is nice.  We decided this year not to travel anywhere for more than a couple of days.  One of those visits took us to DC, where we were treated to a mother and child reunion to see Paul Simon with Margaret and Joe and their wonderful spouses -- and Dennis and Gerry.  We had lawn tickets at Wolf Trap which meant  the risk of afternoon/evening showers.  They did not disappoint, as it poured while we were waiting in line to get in.  That would have happened even if we had seats inside, so it was nice when things cleared up for our picnic and then our concert.  He's got a qute a range of songs over the years, and his latest album continues his evolution.  

While there, we also had a barbecue at Joe and Leonor's, where we saw Jeffrey, Melodie, Margaret and Andrew.  Leonor was getting ready for a long visit by her mother.  We had dinner with Foreign Service friends and then Mary stayed a few more days to visit with her teacher friends.  I drove home and on the way home stopped in Lawrenceville for lunch with Peter and Janet.  They spilled the news that Sean is starting a new job as an Assistant DA for Newark in September.  Congrats!  

David and Paula are tackling head on their move and putting in long hours cleaning out, taking stuff to the dump and to Goodwill, and getting ready to "stage" their house for sale.  As luck would have it, they had an offer even before the house was listed, and it looks like that will go through.  (Hope I didn't jinx it!)  It's not luck, however - it's hard work.

Out in the far west - or at least Wisconsin if that counts - Andrew and Lur took their annual week on Green Lake, and this year they were joined by Bill and Jen, Miles, Auden and Elliot.  Dan was there with a friend, and Claire, who is working at a camp on the lake came by for a couple of days.  Wish we were there with you.

Other travel news:  Annie had a work trip out in Denver, where she met up with her friend who she spent a year with in Natick after college.  Margaret is out in Portland now, connecting with her exchange groups who are here for the summer.  And, we hear that John and Marilyn are planning a long drive along Route 66.  

How was your 4th of July?  Did you go to a parade?  A picnic?  A James Taylor concert?  WE DID!  And we took the 5th off, we were so tired.  But it was fun, and the fireworks after the JT concert (he goes by JT to his friends) at Tanglewood were pretty amazing.  Shock and awe, with an incredible crescendo ending of rapid fire explosions.  How will they top that next year?  We will probably not know, but we're glad we did this once.  Hope your 4th included some or all or even more of the above.

We were also moved by the week's news.  We had just seen a play on race and policing called "American Son," and our friends who went with talked about knowing an Ethiopian woman whose son was mistakenly killed by police.  Then Baton Rouge and St. Paul and Dallas.  Stunned.  Our minister on church on Sunday responded with a moving message of the reading which happened to be the story of the Good Samaritan. If you have ten minutes, I recommend it: https://soundcloud.com/st-stephens-pittsfield/july-10-2016  

We are sure to talk about this and many other subjects when we all get together in the Poconos.  Until then, we hope you are all well, and love from up here.

​

Who loves summer?

I do, I do.  We emerge from our own hibernation caves and enjoy life.  And, as usual we are packing 12 months into three.

Our dateline is Washington DC, where Mary and I headed yesterday in order to take in a Paul Simon concert with Margaret, Andrew, Joe and Leonor tomorrow night.  Jeffrey and Melodie joined us for a barbecue dinner last night, and much rapid-fire conversation about Brexit, Game of Thrones, and Mr. Trumpet.  Fun, and a preview of Mt. Springs.

We have stolen that name from Garrison Keillor who had a funny skit about someone blowing his own trumpet.  Did I mention that Saturday night we saw him (GK, not DT) at one of his final performances. If not, then you saw it on Facebook, as he walked right by us. I hope he's stepping down like the Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra did.  With many more "final shows."  (I also hope DT is stepping down, but not coming back.)

Enough politics.  The news down here is wedding and houses and pets and preparing for the Poconos.  Yeah.  Just a couple of weeks away.

Speaking of houses, David and Paula are moving toward the purchase of a wonderful new house in the middle of the village at Fairport.  I can almost hear someone saying "Fantastic."  It's in walking distance of so much; it's beautifully painted yellow and white; it's flat with a sidewalk in front; and best of all, it has guest rooms!  (Sorry David, couldn't resist - I'll change the beds!)  That means lots of preparations for them over the next couple of months to put their house on the market and to pack and get ready.  

David and Paula had come over to Pittsfield last weekend for David's 50th Darrow reunion, when they sprang the news and talked with real excitement about it.  Matthew and Tina have been over to check it out, and given their thumbs up.  

I joined David over at Darrow for lunch and a walk around the school and the Shaker buildings.  We saw a few of his classmates - all very nice, and I got a sense of the Darrow family.  We came home (for naps of course) and then David and Paula went back for dinner. We all learned then how we can't hear the doorbell from our living room with the television on, as they were locked out for more than a few minutes.  I keep shaking my head. The photo below is in front of the infirmary room where David ended up after he broke his back sledding down a hill.  He showed me the hill, but they have cut down the tree that jumped in his way.  Ah youth. 

Other news is that Lur was named volunteer of the year at the hospital where she helps out.  That is a wonderful recognition of all that she does over there.  They must be getting ready to head up to Green Lake for their annual pilgrimage north.  And, Claire got home from Austria.  That went fast, and I bet she has stories and chalked up a lot of music performing.  

What else?  Facebook updates include Annie at a bachelorette party and Janet doing audio description for West Side Story and Peter Pan, perhaps?  

What close observers may have noticed is not a lot of baseball talk this year.  A frustrating season for the Reds.  I know now what rebuilding means.  It's a euphemism for greedy owners who get rid of their high paid stars and save money.  Anyway, it looks like there have been some frustrating days for Mets and Yankee and Brewer fans in the family.  Maybe it's time to switch to the Nats or the Cubs.  Or the Cavaliers. 

Hope you all are well and enjoying the sandal weather.  Love from down here.

 

summer vacation

Today was Mary's first day of summer vacation.  She had her last day with students last week, and so the fun begins.  If only the weather would cooperate.  It was very warm up here a few weeks ago, but we've had to turn the heat back on as the nights are quite cold.  No frosts, but the temps have dipped down into the 40s each night for a week or so.  It is not enough to dissuade us from going to baseball games, twice so far this season, and then out for an ice cream after.  Then a longer workout the following day.

One of those games we went to on Friday with Margaret and Andrew who were up here for the weekend, with D.  Andrew does his own "36 hours in the Berkshires" when they come up, and this weekend it included (besides baseball) an X-men movie, a golf game in the rain, miniature golf, a wonderful salmon dinner, and a few naps.

Some of you may have seen on Facebook that Joe and Leonor posted from New Orleans.  They were supposed to be in Italy for a friend's wedding, but travel documents did not arrive in time.  So, they stayed in the U.S. and headed south for vacation.  Not sure of all their stops, but he did write from Charleston that he was learning all about how the Civil War really started (different business climates and taxes, he was told.)

We saw on Facebook that Janet has also finished school, or at least the students at PDS have finished.  And, watching the Tony awards last night, we saw that one of the theaters that Janet works at received the award for best regional theater.  Probably because of Janet's audio descriptions!  We saw a bunch of photos of Peter at reunions, and at the P-rade.

Since our last letter, we've seen Annie a few times, on trips to Boston.  Once, we decided to act like grown-ups and do a cultural tour to Boston.  We started in Lowell to visit the textile museum there, and then headed down to Boston for a Massachusetts Historical Commission award ceremony.  Last week, Mary saw Annie when she went to an art opening for a friend's daughter in Boston.  Annie's doing well, and seems more settled in her new apartment and neighborhood.  She has also seen Kathleen a few times, before she moves to New York.

We hear that Claire is having a wonderful time in Austria. Andrew let drop in one conversation that Claire not only plays the oboe but also the mandolin!  Andrew has signed up to work at a food bank one day a week.

Last weekend, was a Williamstown affair, when Charlie (my best man) and his family were here for their son, Josh's graduation.  His four years at Williams went by so fast, and it was nice to have an excuse to go up there for dinner or a lecture or a movie every now and then.  So, anyone know another student at Williams we can adopt for four years?  Or maybe we could just go up there on our own.

Over Memorial Day, we played host to other Peace Corps friends, Cliff and Sheila, who stopped by on their way up to Montreal.  They left a special wedding present for Joe and Leonor, and it has something to do with Scotch, but only peripherally.

That's what we love about summer up here - all the visitors.  Please come.  We're looking forward to David and Paula next weekend, as David plans on attending his Darrow School alumni weekend.  I think it's his 10th reunion.  Times five.

Other than that, lots of gardening, a little exercise (Mary received a top ten swimming award again), reading and other assorted projects.  Throw in a nap here and there.  Life is good.

That's a wrap.  Love from up here.  Hope you all are thriving.

Dundee News

We've had some busy days recently, starting with picking Claire up from Hope, with two carloads full of stuff. Another positive year, heading into the stretch. She was home for two days and then off to Vienna. Surprisingly easy drop-off, considering it was the International terminal. But you couldn't get anywhere near the gates. She says it was a good flight, and seemed shorter than it was.

We talked to her on Sunday, and she is enjoying Vienna nicely, although she still has classes. She is living with her good friend at a house with a woman who has older children. She is looking forward to some upcoming day trips. 

This Saturday Daniel graduated from high school. Almost 800 kids, in a big sports arena. And the microphone didn't work very well. One interesting note was how many assistant superintendents and assistant principals there were. All making very good salaries. I wonder what they actually do everyday. Anyway, a nice sunny day, lots of smiles, and many selfies. One of the highlights was a video of a first year English teacher dancing very well in front his class. Dan said the video went viral. Nice going, Dan!

Lur wrapped up her semester last week, after a hectic last couple of days. We planted our garden at the hospital, and since the plot is much bigger than last year, we actually gave some of the space to another person. Lur still volunteers at the hospital, and we are getting ready for some summer volunteering with the village.

We have had numerous coyote sightings in the neighborhood. One afternoon, Willie and I were sitting on the back patio, and a coyote strolled past us about 20 feet away. Luckily, Willie did not see him, because the coyote just kept on walking not caring about our presence. A few weeks ago, after buying plants at our Home Depot, I was carting the plants out to the van, and noticed a duck following me. As I opened the back end, the duck flew into the car. After shooing it out, a guy two cars down asked, "your last name wouldn't happen to be Doolittle?". What is the matter with these critters?

Spring is here, looking forward to the summer.

It's Beginning

to look a lot like summer!  And every day more so.  Even today, when it was cold and cloudy and drizzly.  We've been spending a lot of time in the garden cleaning out and mulching the flower and garden beds.  It's a lot of hard work, for a brief period every spring.  Then we get to enjoy it all summer long.

Lots of news this week.  First, happy birthday Sean.  Some great photos of Sean through the years on Facebook yesterday.  Hope you spent the day after Friday the 13th in a lucky way!

Next, bon voyage to Claire, who left for Vienna this week for six weeks of music workshops/seminars and homestays!  She had a performance last weekend at the Hope graduation, then packed up and headed back home for a few days before getting on board the big bird.  Hope to see some photos and hear some stories.  She'll return in early July and then head to Green Lake where she'll be a camp counselor again, just like Grandma was in the 1940s.

Then, welcome home to Margaret who returned from ten days in Nigeria and Cameroun.  She also posted some wonderful photos on Facebook, including one with her arm around a young Nigerian deaf woman who will be coming to the US this summer on an exchange program.  You'll have to ask Margaret about her cross-cultural talks preparing people for what to expect when they arrive.  Somehow, the debate now over transgender bathrooms does not translate into the African context.

Speaking of which, Mary and I went to see "From This Day Forward," a documentary movie about a transgender father, made by his daughter. Timely, and lots to discuss.

And finally, happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in the clan.  Must have been a special one for Bill and Jen, who are celebrating with a newborn.  Annie came over the weekend, and then took advantage of her being here to head to Schenectedy on Monday for work.  I tried to get her car inspected, but it looks like a major repair bill, so she has a big decision coming up.  Lew and Marj were also here for the weekend.

Right now, Mary is at her first swim meet since we returned.  She says she's still hasn't returned to form, but had to jump back in to it.  When she left this morning she said the meet was in Great Britain.  I'm hoping that's in Connecticut; okay maybe she said New Britain.

This weekend, Joe and Leonor are not in Europe, but in Pomfret.  Joe went back for his 15th reunion.  Can it really be 15 years?  You can imagine the tour he's giving Leonor, of Meadow Rock Farm, the Vanilla Bean, Dayville.  Maybe the dump and Spag's?  

Speaking of schools, Andrew sent a letter he wrote to the Lawrentian about Paul Porter, the housemaster of Griswold at Lawrenceville who recently passed away.  A special teacher, who touched three Dicksons' lives.  He got a nice note back from the editor of the alumni magazine.  

More on schools, we spoke with David who said that he and Paula were thinking about coming east for the Darrow alumni day.  Hope they do (and hope this nudges them a little.)

I too have jumped back into my projects, mostly history ones.  I signed up for tours at Arrowhead and Hancock Shaker Village again this summer, though not as heavy a schedule as I had last year.  We've also joined an effort to get on the ballot this fall an initiative to raise money for the preservation of Pittsfield's historic buildings.  While at one meeting, we saw the photo on the wall of the the Pontoosuc Lake parking lot, some time in the 1950s, it looks from the makes of the cars.  What struck us were the houses in the background!!  Another summer, long ago. I think we owned a car like the station wagon on the left.

Hope you all are thriving.  Love from up here.

​ 

  

  

Welcome Elliot

Let's start with the good news.  Great news indeed.  Jen and Bill are parents of three children, welcoming Elliot Grace into the family on Saturday around 10am!  The picture here shows the happy family, and raises a few outstanding questions.  Why isn't Jen more tired?  Is Auden closing her eyes because she's in denial, and doesn't want to be the middle child? When did birthing rooms have cool couches (I could have used one to take a nap.)  And can it really be true that Elliot will grow up to be as big as Auden and Miles (and Bill and Jen?)  Congratulations to Bill and Jen, and to the proud and happy grandparents.

I was tipped off that Jen was due during a phone call with Andrew who was worried that with a cold going around that it might be hard to see and hold the baby.  But photos showed everyone around and holding Elliot, so there must have been some quick recoveries.  Andrew also said Saturday night was Daniel's senior prom, so there was a busy weekend in Dundee.

Other life events included Peter's birth, day.  And he had previously announced that on the eve of his birthday, he caught the first fish ever in his life.  Two of them, to be precise.  We also send out congratulations to Sean, who, as we saw in the last letter from Peter, has started a new job as a clerk for a judge in New Jersey.  Wonderful.

We've been back a little over a week, and still feel tired, although our hours are getting synced.  We stayed in Annie's new apartment in South Boston the first night, and drove home the next day, only to return on Sunday to help her with the move-in process.  Then a week here, and down to Washington for this past weekend.  Margaret is heading out to Nigeria and Cameroun as part of her work, so we wanted to see her and everyone before she left.  It was a fast visit, but worth it.  Dinner at Joe and Leonor's the first night (where someone ate three hamburgers!) and then a visit to the Arboretum to see the azaleas in bloom.  And a movie - "Spy".  On the silly side, but we could all use silly.

We spent a fair amount of time discussing Portugal in September and are trying to work out an excursion to northern Portugal for a few days after the wedding on Saturday the 24th.  Getting excited. We'll let everyone know soonest what we've cobbled together. I learned an indispensable word in Portuguese "Shcoop."  It means sorry, I think.  

From Fairport, we heard there were a few cases of pretty serious flus that took quite while to shake.  Hopefully everyone is better now.  David also attended a Shaker box workshop and got a band saw, so expect some great projects out of his garage! 

John and Marilyn have moved into their new home, and sold their old house.  There are a couple of nail biter stories that went along with those two events, but all turned out well.  Heather went down to Daytona to help out.  When we talked to Johnny, he was out on the golf course, and he put the phone down to tee off.  We heard a pretty solid whack.  

We saw a lot of photos from Guadeloupe, and it looks like to was a great vacation for Johanna and place to visit.  

We are slowly getting back to our routines.  UMass, swimming, naps, regular food, history projects, teaching.  I did do some spring things last week, including a brush burn and a lawn mower tune-up, including my first mow.  But, as it sinks in, we realize that as hard as the living and work was in Sam, there's a lot we miss.  

In our travels, I discovered a new punch line that can be used in almost every single conversation: "Well, when Trump becomes President....."  It's a sure way to get people to laugh, and to like you.  Check this space next November to see if you're still laughing.  And if anyone likes me.  

On that, we end as we opened, congratulations to Bill and Jen and we're looking forward to meeting Elliot.

Love from up here.

April in Paris

We're on the train from Paris to Amsterdam. Not Paris New York, but the Paris. It's one of those high speed trains (TGV) and it's packed. How come they can do it and we can't? That'll change when Bernie becomes President. Which means it won't change. We'll spend a couple of days with Henk and Marje who visited us years ago in Rhode Island and who came to Gabon with us last year.

Anyway, a week ago was the inauguration of the school we had renovated. Seems like a year ago. We left Sam the following morning and barely had time to catch our breath from the final full day of work to transition to Libreville and then red-eye flight to Paris.

We are working hard at the French bakeries to put back all the weight we had lost. We've done a few touristy things, like go to the Tuileries gardens, but we've also done a few new things and checked out some different quartiers. Oh and did we mention the ice cold Amstel and red wine and cheese?

And we're back on full Internet and catching up with Facebook. Most prominent was the Washington Post story on Johanna's illness. Mary gets a daily email from Amazon (which owns the Post) which highlights the most "trending" story, and it was on Johanna! I'm sure there's a story on how they learned of the story, but we'll save that one for face-to-face communication. Perhaps at Mt. Springs this summer, or even before. It was a good story, and relived a pretty scary time in her life.

We also saw that Oliver set a personal best for running the mile. I suspect it will not be his last personal best.

We were pleased/excited/thrilled to get an email from Joe and Leonore about September in Lisbon! We'll have lots of details to work out but we're looking forward to it already. Maybe we'll just stay here and meet you there. Maybe we'll win the lottery too.

Life back in the U.S. is inching back into our plans. Annie returns from her long trip to China and Malaysia tomorrow, and will finish her move to Boston this weekend, just in time to meet us when we return next Thursday! Mary has been keeping up with the two classes where she tutors with letters and photos. And my history activities are awaiting my return.

We expect to go down to DC the week after we get home, just in time to see Margaret before she takes off on a two week trip to Africa as part of her job. She and Andrew had been to Mexico for a friend's wedding while we were away.

We also just found out two more moves. John and Marilyn close on their new home near Daytona today, and we saw on Facebook that Kathleen is moving to New York City.

Lots of catching up when we get home, with the primaries, with baseball, with new movies, with spring! Speaking of which, spring here is glorious. April in Paris!

Love from across the pond. We close with a new motto we spotted in a bathroom here.

Good news!

First things first: Sean started his new job as a law clerk for the Presiding Judge in the Hudson County Superior Court, Chancery Division. Congratulations!

We enjoyed one of the longer spring break trips we've ever had – ten days in the Southwest. Some highlights and lowlights:

We flew first class both ways. When I booked the tickets, first class fares were only about eighty dollars higher each way, so we sprung for it. Our flight out left Newark at 8:00 and arrived in Las Vegas at 10:30 local time. Sean was kind enough to drive us and took Dasha for the duration. He and Johanna house sat the house the weekend we were gone. Our trip back was a red eye: departed LV at 11:00 and arrived at Newark at 7:00 am. Although there was a lot of turbulence, we mostly slept. Because there is no charge, we checked bags for the first time in many years.

I had booked a Toyota Corolla at Sixt, a big European company just getting started in the US. But they had no cars at all when we got there, because of the NCAA basketball games, they said. They gave us the next car that came in: a Mercedes small SUV. I mostly enjoyed driving it, although the controls were very confusing. I never figured out some of the heating controls. The transmission was electronic auto, and it took me a couple days to figure out how to put it in park (press a button at the end of the stalk.)

Gambling is everywhere in Nevada, starting with the airport itself and hotels, gas stations, convenience stores, many restaurants and more. It's pretty depressing. Casino hotel room rates mid week are very cheap, so we stayed at one south of the Strip. After you checked in, you had to walk the entire casino floor to get to the elevators. We had no interest in seeing Las Vegas, although we drove along the Strip a couple of times. On our first full day I tried to go fly fishing in a park north of the city, but high winds defeated me. Janet spent the day catching up with old friends from West Orange and high school.

We spent most of the trip in Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon. We planned things so that we would spend at least a day and a half in each park, to allow for real exploration and hiking. But even going to and from these national treasures is spectacular country.

Grand Canyon was very crowded and we didn't think the Park Service did a good job of managing the crowds. It's Spring Break, and so that accounts for the crowds, including hordes of Asians taking hordes of photos. We spent as much time waiting for and riding the shuttle buses as hiking.

Zion was our favorite and we did some prodigious hiking here, even to the point of getting lost one day and having to go back a re-ford a stream we'd had difficulty getting across.

Bryce had a surprise for us. The weather turned very cold – one day did not get above 24 and blustery winds made it worse, and it snowed. We had insulated jackets but no hats or gloves, and so we were not prepared. They closed the southern half of the park and the trails were icy and slippery. But it was magical seeing the park in snow.

We're so used to driving 45 minutes to the farthest reaches of New Jersey, we forget how big this country is. We drove 1300 miles and hiked 24 miles, and we still saw only a very small portion of the southwest and the parks we visited. We live in a very beautiful country.

Happy spring

Happy birthday David. How cool is it to have a birthday on the first day of spring? Every year is fresh and new and green and flowery, with days getting longer. Our sources tell us though there may be snow.

No snow here. Lots of rain, almost everyday or rather every night. It has not been enough though to deter us from work. We'd love a rain day to stay home.

A couple of points not found on the blog. Mary has been extremely creative and resourceful in making our house a home. Our living quarters are the best in the village; we have electricity in the evening and tile floors and lots of comfortable couches. Mary has developed a trash pit for burning our waste (photo of the yard behind our house) and she has even gone into low-tech plumbing to figure out a healthy septic alternative. We have hooks and clothes lines and a mosquito net as well as a camping type of kitchen sink.

My daily routine begins with about a 30 minute focus on water: walking to the pump for two buckets, filtering 2 liters of water and positioning waster water for our flush system. It will make me appreciate the 1 second turn of the taps back home.

We've heard some news from you all and welcome more. Matthew is back to work a couple of hours a day and us walking unassisted at home. Donald has new glasses and is active and learning.

Annie has found a new apartment in Boston not too far from where she'll work. And we hear of sickness in both Joe's and Margaret's houses.

We marked the one month anniversary of Joe and Leonor's wedding with a toast here.

I get a short email from the Times every day with short snapshots of news, so we're able to keep up a little. Presidential politics sure seems historic. We even get a short Berkshire county news email, with stories on spring time. No news on the spring training front.

So we hope you all are well and healthy and safe and happy. Love from the equator.

Wedding bells

Time slows down for major life events such as Joe and Leonor's marriage this week.  So much was packed in, in such a short period of time, so many important moments that I will undoubtedly leave one or two, even more out.  

What was obvious was that everyone present wanted to share Leonor's and Joe's happiness beyond the small circle that was there.  I think the phrase heard the most after "congratulations" was "see you in Portugal."

So, in the sharing as much as possible vein, there were three events: a rehearsal-type dinner the night before where the Fontouras met the Dicksons; the civil ceremony in the DC courthouse; and a reception/dinner at Old Ebbet's Grill.

The first dinner at the Lebanese Taverna started out noisy, but pretty soon, I think our party was making the most noise.  We eventually drove everyone out of the place, and were the last to leave.  It's remarkable how everyone from Portugal spoke English, and how they were even speaking English to each other.  None of them had been to Washington, and the first to arrive were caught up in the snow storm on Sunday.  They had beautiful pictures.  The next group from Portugal arrived in the bad weather, but were able to enjoy rather quickly the beautiful spring-like weather that followed.  They did what everyone in Washington does: they walked, the length of the mall, taking in museums and all.  I should mention that when Joe arrived, he handed his work-phone to Leonor who kept it out of his grasp for the next 48 hours.

The ceremony at the courthouse took place the following day in the afternoon.  Mary and I picked up Joe at his house, and we made a mad dash through the traffic and arrived there after everyone else, but still on time.  There's a small cute chapel tucked away in the corridors of a large bureaucratic building.  The judge (or presiding official) was very nice, saying at the outset that her instructions would be longer than the actual ceremony.  But the language was familiar, and moved more than a few of us to teary eyes.  Leonor's friend took some photos that we will see soon.  The photo on the below, though, I believe was the only one of the happy couple on their way out of the courthouse.  If you look closely you can spot the wedding bands on their left hands!!

We went from their right to the Old Ebbet's Grill across the street from the White House, or the Treasury Department, and we had to restrain Joe from going over to check in to see if they needed him.  Not really.  Proseco, steak and crab cakes were on the menu, but so were some very heartfelt remarks from nearly everyone present.  We learned a few things about Joe, we remembered the first time we met Leonor (setting up a tent in the pouring rain at Assateague,) we heard how they met and met the young woman who introduced them. In his remarks, Andrew made note of the exclusive in-law club that Leonor had joined. Leonor's brothers spoke, one in Portuguese, with Leonor translating, but the other in flawless English.  It was all really special, with many moments that Leonor and Joe would revisit for many years to come.  And, of course, when we broke up, we were all talking up a Portugal visit.

We did get together at Joe and Leonor's house Friday evening for pizza dinner (along with Gerry and Dennis, our hosts). We picked up Annie at Margaret and Andrew's the next morning and headed home.  Margaret and Andrew were on their way to Lancaster for the weekend before heading to Mexico for a week.  The wedding couple looked exhausted, ready for a rest.

On the way back, we stopped in Princeton for a brunch with Peter, Janet and Sean where we caught up on their news.  Sean is living in West Orange with his high school friend, Clint, and working at Rutgers; Janet had just returned from a week of school trips to NYC with Princeton Day students, and Peter is taking a class on African-American literature in the 20th century.

We got home late on Saturday and played host to our friend Charlie from North Carolina who was up here visiting his son who goes to Williams.

This week, we're off to Gabon, but with fresh memories of a great week, and a wonderful wedding.  Congratulations to Joe and Leonor, and see you in Portugal.

Love from up here.    

   

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February is for Valentines

Happy day of love to everyone!  We need it to survive the arctic blast of cold, not just here but apparently wherever you are.  I do think we here in western Mass may have outdone everyone else as the high temps for the day reached 1 degree.  That is not a typo.  As a result, for the first time, we have kept our wood-stove going for 24 hours straight.

We had a memorable week up here.  A Super Bowl party, followed by a Super Boss party.  Annie, Margaret and Andrew came up over the weekend (and D).  It was nice to be able to watch a Super Bowl where we weren't really invested in either of the teams.  We could just eat our chili and once-a-year Fritos and relax.  Even the half time show was good, though none of us were really sure why Coldplay was there.  

Anyway, Annie got up early the next morning to head back to Stamford CT for work and Margaret and Andrew both worked from home.  Until..... it was time to get in the car and go to Albany to see Bruce, better known as Springsteen, in concert.  My first, after having listened to and been inspired by him for my entire adult life.  It was wonderful.  I know from Peter and Janet and Jeff and Melodie and many others that he gives us a great show, and he did not disappoint.  It's easy to philosophize about this appeal, especially when you have people from all generations belting out the lines to Hungry Heart, or why some lines about fighting or racing in the streets appeal to someone who has never done either.  But it works, and we love his music.  

There was another concert Super Bowl weekend, this one at Hope College, and the photo here is of Claire and her roommates who are also musicians.  Andrew and Lur went to Michigan to watch the inaugural concert for a new music center at Hope.  The entire program was organized by the students, featuring jazz and classical ensembles.  And Claire.  Congrats.  

Yesterday was bachelor and bachelorette parties in Washington, for Joe and Leonor.  Sounds like they had some fun, extended activities planned.  Hope the weather didn't intrude too badly.  We are heading down there tomorrow, for the big day, this coming Thursday.  Exciting.

Other news, includes Annie moving to Boston.  She is now officially looking for apartments and will transfer there by first of April.  And, Margaret has a new job, working on a large exchange program for Africans.  It's an Obama legacy program, and she may end up traveling to Africa to recruit and select participants.  Can I come?  Joe too has been busy at work, as the New York Times implied this morning with worries about the Chinese economy.   Hopefully, he can fix their issues in time for his wedding!!

Big news from Florida as well.  John and Marilyn have a new house, in the same town.  The photos and descriptions sound great.  What we zoomed right in on was the number of bedrooms.  Looks like they have guest room(s)!  It is near a golf course, tennis courts and swimming pool.  Hard to even imagine swimming when it's 1 degree outside.  But congratulations. Other news includes a nice dinner with Colleen and Pauline who are now in NY at the Westminster dog show.

We've seen some good movies - The Revenant (though Mary covered her face so much I am not sure she can really say she saw it) and Spotlight, as well as the Martian, Brooklyn and The Big Short.  We were going to go out tonight to watch the Oscar nominated shorts, but it's too cold.  

Primary season has started, so we see a lot of family comments, on Facebook, and in conversations.  Looks like we're a little all over the map, though, I think we can all agree it was nice to see Chris Christie head back to New Jersey.  Although I am not sure the New Jersey Dicksons want him back.  

And, we started packing for Gabon today.  Our portable "loo," donated shoes, flashlights, medicines, etc.  Not sure we have much room for clothing.  Departure is Feb 25, less than 2 weeks away.  Yikes.  

Did someone mention birthday?  No?  Well, it was spectacular.  

Happy Valentines Day everyone, We love you!  

Engagement, Snozilla

Happiness is Joe's and Leonor's engagement.  It's official and what we were hoping for!  With what sounds like a memorable proposal, spontaneously in the falling snow, in Central Park.  Joe reminded me that he has done what neither Pop nor I did which was make a formal marriage proposal to his future wife.  (Joe remembered that Pop's question had to do with spending the rest of their lives together.)  I know Mary and I had a conversation at the end of which we knew we had agreed to be married, without me ever having said the magic words.  Whatever happened to tradition?

Anyway, we're very happy for them.  They are planning a small civil ceremony in February, and then a church wedding and reception at a later time and place to be determined.   

The falling snow in Central Park was not the marathon snow event that started in North Carolina and stopped just short of Pittsfield.  It;s nice to see that even though some official came up with names for winter storms (like hurricanes), that social media is giving these their own name, that sticks better - Snozilla.  We saw great photos of snowball fights, indoor card games, snow angels, and dogs in snow that you all in Washington, New Jersey and  New York posted on Facebook.  And it looked like fun, until Annie said she spent 4 hours on Sunday digging her car out, as she had to use a windshield scraper since all the shovels had been sold out.  That has to qualify for something Annie.  

Too bad the snowshoes Margaret got for Christmas about ten years ago and never worn were up here, because we did not get a single flake of snow here.  I know if we take them down to DC, then we'll get a big snow here.

In the "adventurous but not very smart" category, Mary and I decided to stick to our plans to go to Boston to attend a Robert Burns night celebration that Cliff and Sheila host every year.  We knew before that driving through snow is no fun, whether it is one inch or one foot.  We saw the first snowflakes around Sturbridge and then drove through pretty messy stuff at pretty sow speeds the rest of the way.  They ended up getting about 4 inches of snow, but overall it was probably worth it.  Poetry and stories and bagpipes and good food.  Oh and a little whisky.

After Boston, we stopped in to see Mary's high school friend Judy for a cup of tea (keeping with the anglophile tradition of the weekend) and then rushed home to see Tom Brady almost pull out a win, despite being hit over 25 times, more than any quarterback ever in the playoffs.  Do I hear the violin music?  Or is that just groans?

We spoke with Andrew who was working at a food bank with Lur, and also was going to go to a basketball game of Daniel's.  He has hurt his foot but hopes to be back in the lineup this weekend.  We also talked to David, who was on the train, on his way to New York City.  He mentioned he had lunch on the train with a guy who was traveling by train all the way from San Francisco.  

We were also fortunate to have a short visit from Annie, who used Pittsfield as a layover on her way to and from meetings in Schenectedy.  She is still waiting word on when she moves to Boston.

A month from today, we will be on our way to the village in Gabon.  We have a corner of our bedroom full of stuff to take.  I hope we have enough room in our suitcases for clothes.  Our latest purchase: a "Luggable Loo."  We will not take a photo  of that.

So, the days are getting longer, but it's not getting any warmer yet.  Next week, Groundhog Day will definitively tell us about the rest of winter.

Hope you all are well.  Love from up here.