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.