If it's February .....

I must be sick.  It seems like this exact time last year I had a bronchial infection and stomach problems.  How do I remember so well?  I was sick on my birthday last year, and again this year.  It gets harder and longer to get over these things.

Enough about me and my woes.  I'm reading Grant and there's a guy who had real woes.  I got it cushy.

The big news showed up on Facebook, with Tina and Matthew announcing an August arrival of baby boy.  That is wonderful news.  The photo shows Tina quite far along, so they kept this a well-guarded secret.  I had been talking to David the day before the Facebook post, and he didn't let on at all, saying over and over, "that's about it from here; no other news."  Sneaky.  But still welcome news.  Congratulations, Donald will be thrilled.  Also, saw on Facebook a post of Oliver's indoor track mile race.  Wow.  

Anyway, so have you ever had a moment when you see someone in a place that they're not supposed to be in?  There's a moment of confusion, a hesitation, a question that can't be answered:  what are you doing here?  or maybe what am I doing here?  Something does not compute.

That's what happened to us last Friday when we went down to DC for the long weekend, knocked on Margaret's door, and who opened it?  Annie.  California-Washington????  Well, Annie surprised us all, took advantage of miles and the long weekend and joined the rest of us for a weekend of fun and chat and Thomas-watching, our new pastime.  The photo is at Mi Rancho, a Mexican restaurant that Peter and Janet introduced us to in Silver Spring.  

We stayed with Joe and Leonor (thank you) and even enjoyed a few hours of grandparent babysitting.   Thomas was getting over a bout of some gastro infection that sounded not fun at all, with an extended trip to the emergency room.  By the time we arrived, he looked much, much better, happy, but still not over the time change from the month in Portugal.   He's becoming a real person!

Margaret and Annie did a couple of work-outs, that were so hard it sent them to restorative yoga the following day.  Andrew was busy doing course work, that he seems to have mastered quite handily, calmly.  What a lot of work.  And they all helped "Black Panther" break the box score records.  

While at Mi Rancho, Janet was texting us asking for addresses for everyone.  We guessed that had something to do with perhaps a date being chosen for a wedding for Sean and Erin.   Are we right??  

Out in Dundee, Andrew mentioned that he and Lur went to a terrific Nat King Cole concert at the local community college.  They are also putting in some quality grandparent time.

Down in Daytona, Johnny had an operation on his eye, to fix a problem where the eyelid had turned inside out, making his eyelashes scratch the cornea.  Too much information?  Yes, but apparently all went well.  Kara and Sage are down there now soaking up a little mid-winter sun.

Back in Rochester, David continues to do his daily walks through the sleet and snow and cold.  Were you a postman in a former life?  And Paula is busy with art classes and mah-jong.  

News flash!  Did I tell you I was sick?  Yes, but did I tell you we just changed our departure for our trip to Gabon?  Instead of leaving this Thursday, we pushed back our departure to next Tuesday, meaning we will not spend a few days in Paris and Copenhagen.   A few more days to recover here.  There was a bit of fortuitous labor problem, as Air France unions had threatened a strike on Thursday, and they were allowing changes to be made at no cost.  It doesn't mean that the strike will be over by next week, but for the moment, things are looking better.  

Love and air kisses from up here, on a warm winter day.  

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My bad

Sorry about not doing a letter in a while.  I've been busy.  You're saying, "But you're retired."  True.  But with a nap and exercise, the day is pretty much all gone.  That, and I've been crashing on panels for an exhibit at the local library on the history of Pittsfield.  It opens next week.  You'll see it on Facebook.

The snow has turned to rain, but we watched it come from Chicago, head through Rochester and then hit us this morning.  The Locherys are here as they are waiting for a train to Boston, which has been delayed six hours, and maybe more.  But we're warm, with a fire going and hot tea coursing through our veins.  (We watched Love Actually this weekend, and I noticed how many scenes in that film revolve around tea!  We spared Andrew S. the agony of sitting through it at Christmas, but we missed our annual fix.)

Actually (love, actually) we watched it because John and Marilyn were up here and had never seen it.  So.....  as things happen, they had not planned a winter visit, but Marilyn's older sister passed away, and they drove up from Florida - two days.  John was able to get in one day of skiing, though.  And, it's a function of families that we meet at funerals and weddings, as we saw Johnny's daughters for the first time in years. It was nice to see them and catch up, if under those tough circumstances.  That's why the Poconos is so important.

They were not here for the Super Bowl, but that's okay because neither were we.  They started back early Sunday morning, and we headed to Rhode Island to watch the game at Marj and Lew's basement theater.  I should not have gone.  I realized after that we've only watched one other game there, and the Patriots lost to the Broncos, in the AFC Championships a few years. ago.  Never again, but they may not get to the Super Bowl again.  

It seems I get the most texts from my children during Super Bowls.  Joe and Thomas, in his Patriots outfit, watched at Margaret and Andrew's, and I'm not sure Thomas will ever see a game as exciting as that again.  I'm glad the Philadelphia fans have something to cheer about.  They waited.  Annie was chiming in from San Francisco, but the game ended early and she had to stay awake and ruminate.  The rest of us just went to bed and tried our best to forget.  Right?  Isn't that what everyone did?

Joe and Leonor returned from a good long family visit in Portugal.  They sent a lot of pictures, of different cousins, grandparents, brothers, friends, all holding Thomas.  He's very popular over there.  When they returned, it seemed he picked up something on the plane, as he's had a bout of stomach bug which sent them to the emergency room this week.  Joe had a meeting in Switzerland, and Mary kept thinking he was at Davos, but wouldn't tell us.

News from Dundee is that Andrew and Lur are also getting quality grandchildren time in, as they are on duty a couple of days a week, with Auden and Elliot.  Myles must be in school.  Andrew mentioned that Daniel had a trip to the LA area for a conference.  He had hoped to meet LeBron James, but not sure if that ever materialized.

What else?  We've been taking a couple of classes at the Lifelong Learning Institute (reading Hemingway and Gertrude Stein), Mary's been tutoring and teaching swimming.  We spend our evenings holed up watching a Netflix show called The Killing.  Can't turn it off.  And time flies by.

And we're in the final weeks before we head back to Gabon.  One room is full of stuff - shoes, equipment, clothes - not sure if we'll have space for our clothing.  We went to the travel clinic and stocked up on our meds, including a typhoid live oral vaccine that has pretty much wiped me out. I wonder if they actually give you a little typhoid so your body builds up a defense.  Fake news, probably.

Anyway, life is good up here.  Tomorrow, we head down to Washington for the weekend.  It'll be nice to see everyone.  

The photo of Donald and Oliver shows that some toys are timeless.  I'm pretty sure we head something like that growing up too.

Love from up here.