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.