Sunday, August 28, 2016

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.   

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