Still snowing in April

It snowed in Pittsfield this morning. The last day of April.
Fortunately, we're not in Pittsfield, but in Washington, at the start
of our spring break road trip to Daytona Beach. Break from what, you
might ask? From snow, of course. Anyway, we're not the only Dicksons
to have snow. We understand it snowed in Fairport yesterday.

The first leg of the trip saw us in Washington visiting Thomas. Oh,
and our own children and spouses as well. We stayed with Margaret and
Andrew (thank you) but checked in with Thomas' parents as well. The
big boy had a cold, and despite coughing and runny nose, managed to
smile and laugh quite a bit. He's got his own style of commando
crawling and is pulling himself up on his knees and even standing,
with a little help.

Margaret and Andrew hosted a barbecue yesterday, and Joe and Leonor
came over, as did Jeffrey and Melodie. Yes, Thomas stayed as long as
he could, as dinner extended past his bedtime. Anyway, we covered a
lot of topics, including David's birthday party, the due date for Tina
and Matthew, this summer's Poconos weekend, other summer plans, David
and Paula's trip to DC in a couple of weeks, Sean and Erin's trip to
DC in a few weeks, the baseball season and the highlights of our Gabon
trip. Jeff and Melodie had come from an animal rescue shelter
(looking for a dog) and Margaret and Andrew are starting a project to
fix up their back yard terrace. Should be nice. And, we got a card in
the mail confirming my suspicions about a save the date fro Sean and
Erin - October 6, Hackettstown NJ.

Speaking of baseball, I figured out the Reds have already been
mathematically eliminated, even before May. Ugghh. The worst record
in baseball. Looks like the Mets, the Yankees, the Red Sox, and even
the Nationals are off to fair to great starts. Everyone is, except
for the decimated minor leaguers from the Queen City. Can I say Ugghh
again in the same paragraph?

Don't ever accuse us of making simple travel plans. I'm heading back
to Pittsfield for a community Preservation funding meeting, and will
fly back down tomorrow morning when Mary will pick me up at the
airport and then we start our trek south. Looking forward to a few
days with John and Marilyn at the beach. Big question for us is where
do we break on the way down, Charleston or Savannah? Suspense.
You'll have to wait for the next episode to find out.

We're not the only road-trippers. Timmy has been posting on Facebook
about his drive up the west coast to Seattle. Beautiful scenery.
Jeff and Melodie had a break in Colorado, in Denver and Boulder also
with beautiful scenery and a Rockies game.

We spoke with Annie, and she is up to her neck with work, but we also
chatted about books we were reading. Now if I could only
remember...... I do remember talking with Andrew as well, with health
and job updates, jobs for Claire and Daniel. Claire's going back to
work at the summer camp on Green Lake.

Big decision in Pittsfield this week. With our unexpected tax refund,
I have decided to buy a ride-on mower, giving in to age and common
sense about how much time to devote to mowing our lawn. I wonder if
there are any made in America mowers? In fact, I went ahead and got
myself a used John Deere. To be delivered next week. What a flabby
sell-out.

Happy birthday to Peter. Hope it was spectacular. Who else? I think
I'm missing someone. Gonna be in trouble. Sorry, in advance.

Anyway, hope everyone is well. Love from up here.

Snowing in April

Hey Mother Nature.  It's April.  Daffodils, tulips, robins, April showers??  That's rain showers, not snow showers.

Yes, we came home to snow, yesterday evening and today.  Not a lot, but cold enough for snow squalls.

Still, even that does not make us want to turn around and head for the heat of Gabon.  We're glad to be home, to sleep on memory foam mattress, to eat our regular diet, to catch up on Homeland, to be an easy phone call away from all of you.

It does mean mountains of mail and dirty clothes, bills and disorganized suitcases.  But still, nice to be home.

The best for me is that within a few hours of being home, I feel fine.  I left on the tail end of a course of antibiotics to deal with my pneumonia, and coughed through the month of March, threw out my back trying to lift 50 kg bags of cement, and came down with intestinal stuff, all of which went away as soon as I got home.  Makes me think it was all psychosomatic.  In any case, I have vowed to become the bubble boy and never leave the confines of my house, or the neighborhood anyway.  At least the state.  OK, maybe the eastern seaboard, as we're planning a drive down to Daytona at the end of the month.

We missed a lot, but even without access to Facebook, we were able to follow some of the family happenings.  For example, we heard all about a great celebration in Fairport, for David's 70th.  I swear he doesn't look a day older than 50!  Peter described it below very well.  We're sorry we missed the event.  We did see this one photo on Facebook (below) and we can only guess what Jeffrey is doing.  I'd say he's imitating Donald, but I think Donald has another 5 years or so before he tries that.  

We also saw photos of Margaret and Andrew's trip out to California to see Annie, which included hiking in the redwoods and touring the city by the bay.  Margaret has a new job, or should I say another one in addition to her current one, as she's juggling duties on the Cuban affairs desk.  

Thomas started day care which is not without its adjustments for him and his parents.  Leonor went back to work this week, after a long maternity leave, that all mothers ought to have.  He's in a daycare near both Joe and Leonor's work, which makes it convenient.  

Andrew and Lur have spent a couple of weekends out in Holland, to see Claire in performances.  She's the only oboist around, and has been invited to sit in on the school orchestra, and she's getting paid for it!  She's enjoying her teaching job, and looking for a permanent one for next fall.  Daniel is in his final months/weeks in hair salon school, and he'll be hitting the job market soon.

When we arrived in Paris, and turned on our U.S. phones, Mary was bombarded with a string of messages about Johnny's hospitalization.  It seemed he had some kind of temporary amnesia that sounded a little scary.  He's back to normal now, but people were wondering if he'd had a stroke.  

Speaking of Paris, for the second, third and fourth time this trip, we were affected by rolling transport strikes.  We had to advance our train travel by a day, in order to head to Berrias, where our friend Lawraine lives, and where Peter and Janet met us for a few days in 1989.  We toured those old haunts, including the church apartments, the courtyard where the kids played, the vineyards, the nearby towns, and most of all the little boulangerie where we got our warm bread and chocolate croissants each morning.  When we arrived back in Paris, we received another message that our flight back to the U.S. might be canceled because of the strike, but someone must have taken pity on us and exempted transAtlantic flights.  We enjoyed our last day, with a long visit to the Musee d'Orsay, the impressionist art museum.

Timmy who so bravely put up with kitty while we were gone, picked us up at JFK when we returned.  Thank you very much.  On our way out of the airport, he told Siri to route us back to 5 Hancock Rd, and we were off.  It was only 30 minutes later, when we were wondering why we were driving through local neighborhoods that we realized that Siri had found the closest 5 Hancock Rd, in eastern Long Island.  Didn't matter.  We were happy to be home.

I won't bore you anymore with Gabon, as it's all there on our blog.  Mary summed it up best, though, when she said how the time we spend back there is always stimulating - not always easy, or fun, but stimulating, fulfilling and rewarding.

Love from up here.  

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