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.