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.  

    

Birthdays and more

Let's start the new year shouting out "Happy birthday" to Jeffrey and Margaret.  Hope you both celebrated in style.  Maybe even in Bermuda shorts.  It's been so warm.

We did have some cold weather this week, which is actually nice, since the alternative is too scary.  It had snowed up here and then it stuck around for a while.  Fortunately, it was so warm this weekend, because the heavy rain and winds we encountered on the roads might mean that we'd still be in New Bedford.

New Bedford, you say?  What would take us there?  Herman Melville. A couple of years ago, we heard that the Whaling Museum in New Bedford hosts a Moby Dick marathon every January.  We got there a little late and missed the first six chapters read by Nathaniel Philbrick and the Melville great-great grandchildren.  We started in Chapter 7, in the Seamen's Bethel, the chapel across the street where the pulpit is built in the form of a prow of a ship.  They assembled 200 or more people sang the anthem that appears in the chapter and afterwards we went back to the museum for more reading.  We attended a couple of scholar chats and saw how so many people are drawn to the book and to the author, as am I.  I don't feel so weirdly obsessed anymore.  We did not sit through the night reading, but listened to probably 4-5 hours of the full 25.  And, now I can scratch that off my bucket list.  

We had an uneventful New Year's, joined by Cliff and Sheila who came over from Boston area to spend a few days with us.  We played dominoes and watched the end of the Lord of the Rings, but didn't really make it to midnight.  That was off bucket list a long time ago.

And what are your New Years' resolutions?  I had a very ambitious one that had to do with diet but I broke it almost immediately.  The I read in the paper yesterday that most do break their resolution in the first week.  Nevertheless, Mary and I are trying our quarterly cleanse this week.

We talked to David who was on his way home from meetings in New York City, and he told us that Matthew is now focused on getting back to work.  That would be unbelievable from where you were a few weeks ago Matthew, but now seems very realistic. 

Out in Dundee, Claire has returned to school, Daniel hurt his foot and is on the injured reserve list for a while.  Andrew has found a volunteer gig with a local pet shelter, that sounds right up his alley.  On a sad note, he and Lur went to a memorial service for his best man this past weekend.   

On Joe's recommendation we went to see the movie The Big Short, and it was a good one.  They did a great job explaining fairly complicated financial investments to those of us who can barely figure out savings accounts.

Speaking of investments, one of the features of Pop's old letters was the occasional article he would cut out and send around.  I bet he would have sent this one, that was also one of the most popular e-mailed articles from the New York Times, this past week.  It's on personal financial planning but I like the one on retirement that says, "Let go of who you were and focus on who you'll become."  Or, what do you want to be when you grow up?  Still trying to figure that one out.  

Another article that seems to be making the family rounds was in the travel section this weekend of the 52 places to visit in 2016. Mexico City was first on the list, with a great photo taken just a block away from the Embassy. That article sent Johanna to the airlines website to get a ticket for Guadeloupe.  Sun and fun. I noticed a few places we had been, but so many more.  A few other places in Mexico, including where Margaret and Andrew went for their honeymoon, but neither Gabon nor the Berkshires made the list. 

The photo included here was right before Christmas after lunch with John and Marilyn.

Hope you all are well, love from up here.