Home for the holidays

Merry Christmas. And we were not home for the holidays. We had a wonderful Christmas at Margaret and Andrew's who opened up their home to the Dickson chaos that we bring wherever we go. (Just ask about a certain dishwasher.).

Annie had arrived from the west coast on Friday evening and then we drove down Monday. Andrew's mother and father joined us for a truly great dinner prepared by Margaret and Andrew. Ask Margaret for her ginger and molasses cake recipe.

It's been a while since the last letter so there is a lot of news. Big news. First off, Annie shared a text she got from Johanna that had a picture of her with an engagement ring! That is really great news. Her fiancé is named Cameron and we await details of wedding plans. And Johanna is now a resident of Brooklyn.

The other big news is Leonor is pregnant, and Thomas is expecting a younger brother, due at the end of June. He even pointed to his mother's stomach when we asked where is the baby!

And there's news from Illinois. Not weddings or births but we did go out in early December to visit. We decided this to take in downtown Chicago for a couple of nights and we packed it in, going to the play Hamilton (recommended), a couple of museums, and long walks. Yes, the weather cooperated. We also invited ourselves to Daniel's salon, The Gentleman's Cooperative. Very fancy. And, the next day I went back and Daniel cut my hair.

We took the train out to Dundee and spent a couple of days with Andrew and Lur. They are real hosts - we went Christmas tree shopping and then to a church lunch and fair. We went to a concert with a group called Tower of Power who I vaguely remember from the 70s. They were really great, and not just because they're from Oakland. Funk and jazz and dance. Lively.

We also saw Billy and their children, Myles, Auden and Elliot. They came over for dinner and they entertained us. Joy.

After that, we headed to Greenwich for Aunt Georgia's memorial service. A little like old times, catching up with cousins Rell and Hope, except for the solemn occasion. It was nice to see Peter and David and Janie there as well. I remember Grandma and Pop used to get together with their Connecticut brothers around Christmas. A new tradition, for a night? Meet somewhere in between?

And, you know when you don't write for a month, there's still more news. We spoke with Joe and Leonor several times, as they are settling into their new home in Brazil. Their effects have not yet arrived and even Santa was slow through the diplomatic pouch. They are off today at a nearby resort to spend Joe's birthday. (Remember those events at Pomfret. That was fun.)

John and Marilyn came north for the holidays and spent Christmas with Kara and Brian and Sage, and their clan came east for the day.

Timmy came over for dinner a couple of times, once when Annie was here.

Some sad and concerning news. Young Mike Boyle is in the hospital with a serious out of meningitis. He's been unconscious for over a week and there's no way to know what lies ahead yet. And, a friend, here in Pittsfield, our age, passed away suddenly and shockingly. I guess that's our age but you never expect it so close. We count our blessings every day.

Love from up here and happy new year! What's your resolution for the new decade?

Thanksgiving

What do you call the day after Black Friday?  And before Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday?  I know, you can call it weekly letter Saturday.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Wherever you found yourselves.  Hope too you didn't get stuck somewhere in the winter storms that moved from west to east.  Tomorrow we will get clobbered, all the way through Monday evening, Mr. Weatherman says.  So, it was probably a good thing that Margaret and Andrew (and D) left on Friday.  That way the escaped the Saturday traffic that is trying to escape the Sunday storm.

Margaret and Andrew arrived at JFK from Tokyo and then somehow managed to drive up here and sit through Thanksgiving dinner and half of a football game.  They looked exhausted with jet lag and time zone creases around their eyes.  They had a wonderful trip, by all accounts – good food, beautiful scenery and temples, very nice people, and, most importantly, fun. 

We had more of "Friendsgiving" with the Locherys and the Tierneys and Timmy.  Lots of work, but a lot of helpers, more than a little chaos, but good food.  One new tradition that Jody introduced us to – listen to Alice's Restaurant at some point during or around meal time.

We talked to the Brazil folks who were heading out to dinner with Embassy friends, and Annie who had opted to spend Thanksgiving in Los Angeles with Sankar.  Which was warmer?  Brazil, as Annie told us that it was unusually rainy and raw in southern California.  Thomas is adjusting to his new "school" and has to wear a uniform that is ….. how to put it?...... kind of ……. unflattering, if you can use that word on a two-year old's fashion.    

What about you folks?  We touched base with everyone over the holidays.  Peter was supposed to be spending Tuesday night with us for a court case he's been working on in Lakeville CT, just over the border.  He bailed on us, I suspect because of the thought of driving back to Pennington on Wednesday.  We nailed down our arrangements with Andrew and Lur for Chicago this coming week, including a concert and a dinner with Daniel, we hope.  David said they are on track for the coldest November on record and already have had, if I remember right, 18 inches of the white stuff.  Sounds like John and Marilyn had a Friendsgiving as well, without the snow.  They squeezed in the day between a couple of cruises.

What else?  A movie recommendation – A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.  Ever since watching it, we've been channeling Mr. Rogers, playing a lot of the low notes on the piano.  The perfect movie for this political season.

We close with a sad note – Aunt Georgia, Mom's sister in law, passed away last week, having made it to her mid-90s.  Her daughter, Hope, wrote and said her mother did seem to make an impression on everyone, and I noted a positive one – funny, commanding and not shy about her opinions whether it was about the way Peapack (town near us in New Jersey) was pronounced or something more substantive.  Eating pecan pie this week reminded me of her as I suspect I had my first slice of that most delicious dessert at one of her Thanksgivings and then enjoyed her annual gifts of tins full of pecans from down south. 

Well, that made me hungry.  Maybe I'll make my way for a slice of leftover pie.  In the meantime, see if you can pick out everyone in the photos.

Love from up here.

Say it ain't so

It's too early for winter.  But as you can see with our woodpile, we're ready.  So is Donald with his shovel.  I know who would like the colors of his coat.  Snow here, there and almost everywhere, except for Daytona and Brasilia.  Andrew wrote and said parts of Michigan got 24 inches of the white stuff.  Are you ok, Claire?

Lots of news besides snow, though.  We headed south for the departure of Joe, Leonor and Thomas who were in the final throes of their move.  Their departure brought back so many memories and emotions of our departures, most notably the time Grandma and Peter dropped us off at National Airport and a Nigerian taxi driver took off the door of our rental, leaving Peter to chase the driver down as he tried to take off and to handle the return of our now doorless rental. I never asked how that went.  

But enough about our departure.  We saw Thomas' last day at his day care and joined him for trick or treat which he kind of got the hang of, wearing his Thomas the construction worker yellow vest and hard hat. We had a farewell dinner at Margaret and Andrew's and then helped them at the airport, with their six check-in bags and equivalent number of carry on, with the no-help airlines staff, and then commiserated with them as they made their way through security.  Perhaps the hectic craziness at the airport helped keep the sadness at bay.

Anyway, they have been settling in to their new home, with a lot of help from the Embassy.  They went to their first Marine Corps Ball, and then Joe had to leave for a few days in Paraguay (first Dickson there I bet.)  Leonor has been busy getting Thomas in pre-school and unpacking the air freight (and Thomas' red car) that arrived this week.  They have a nice home, with a swimming pool and guest bedrooms.  Reserve now.

We stayed at Margaret and Andrew's, and they are doing well.  Margaret has had a couple of check-ups and all seems to be perfect/normal on the baby front.  Right now, they are in Seoul, for a long-hoped-for vacation to Korea and Japan, where Andrew spent his first year out of college.  Mary drove down to New Jersey to meet them and bring back Dee (or is it D?) so that we can watch him while they're away.

Annie continues her travels with two trips to the east coast for weddings.  She passed along this photo of her first Indian wedding, standing here with Sankar.  

We see that Johanna has been in Denver, and that Sean posted a photo of a bunch of eggs and bacon. Must be a story there. Mouth-watering. 

On the medical front, Mary has preliminarily figured out the weird swelling issues she's been dealing with over the last couple of years.  Our doctor here thought it might be rheumatoid arthritis, so we  went to Boston to see a rheumatologist there who asked her after 90 seconds "Why are you here?"  He ruled out the arthritis but decided to take on what could be causing the swelling.  After a series of blood tests, they figured out that she picked up some pretty ugly parasites while in Gabon - they're still conducting tests, but soon will start treatment.  

We have spoken a couple of times to Andrew to nail down our plans for an early December Chicago visit.  We had hoped to take the train, but getting a sleeper for the 17-plus hour ride was prohibitively expensive.  So we booked planes for a third the price.

By the time of the next letter, we'll be able to report on a visit from Peter who's coming up as part of a sordid legal case with abuse at the Hotchkiss school, just across the border from Berkshire County.

We've been busy with our protest against the construction of a cell tower on the neighboring mill site, but we're not hopeful.  Zoning board meetings this week should decide the fate of that.

John and Marilyn are on another cruise this week, and Timmy is coming over for dinner tonight.  Pork tenderloin.  Anyone else want to join us?

Hope you're all well and love from up here.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloweeeeeen

This time a few months ago, the sun would be out, we'd be sitting out on the porch, perhaps even working in the garden.  Not today; it's dark and cold and rainy.  We're huddled up inside, with the heat on and Sunday afternoon football.  A perfect time for the weekly letter.

We left off the last letter at the beginning of our trip to Portugal and Spain.  We met up with two other Foreign Service couples in Porto, for a couple of days of sightseeing before starting our six-day, 75 mile walk to Santiago de Compostela.  I don't know how many pilgrims over the last century would call their walk to the cathedral where the Apostle James is buried "fun."  But that's really the best word to describe it all.  Sure the 6-8 hour days of walking left us exhausted, and we did see our share of rain.  But the trail was not challenging, and the company was great.  The scenery, along the coast and through medieval villages and vineyards was hard to beat.  One factoid best explains our arduous journey of exercise: we weighed more at the end of the trip than when we left.

No rest for the weary since the day after we got home, I got back in the car and drove to Princeton for a gathering of my former soccer teammates.  I stayed with Peter and Janet who are busy painting their house, enlisting Sean to get to the high points, but even the highest and most awkward niches present a dilemma.  Anyway, they are good, and they went to a McCarter play retelling the Frankenstein story in an unusually creative way.  Besides hanging out and dining with classmates, I did a tour of the Princeton battlefield and went to a soccer game against Columbia (which the good guys won.)  Mary stayed home and got caught up with a house after two weeks away (thanks Timmy for checking in on kitty.)    

This week, we'll be heading down to DC to say our goodbyes to Joe, Leonor and Thomas who leave next Saturday to start their three years in Brazil.  They have moved out of their house and are checking off the many small things to do before they head out.  Thomas is talking more and has started spinning stories of imaginary friends mixed with movie characters (Chewbacca) and family members. 

They have been hanging out watching World Series baseball games with Margaret and Andrew and Jeff and Melodie.  It has been a fun run to watch the Nationals streak; hope they can outlast the Astros.

We played phone tag with Andrew and Lur, but finally caught up with them after they returned from a few days visiting Claire in Michigan.  They went out to see one of her concerts.  She posted the photo below of her middle school class, and there are several wonderful points, besides how great she is looking.  One is how cool her handwriting is, and the other is the music that she is teaching.  Perhaps another is that these students are actually sitting down and listening.  Not sure even I did that with Mrs. Noling's music class.

Andrew and Lur had spent the day watching soccer games, for Myles and Auden.  I can't quite get the picture of Auden on a soccer field out of my mind.  Must be a force.

Annie has been racking up the frequent flyer miles, going to weddings in South Carolina.  Sean too has been down to Dallas a few times to visit Erin who is well into her fellowship there.

What else?  Mary had a doctor's appointment in Boston (Brigham and Women's) this week where she got the good news that tests for rheumatoid arthritis were negative, but she may have some other issue, related to a tropical infection.  Too much Gabon, I guess.

We also talked to John and Marilyn, breaking into their pool practice.  Swimming and billiards are both on their agendas these days. 

This week Halloween?  What's your costume?  What was your favorite costume growing up?  We had a magnificent old cape, that we had to share between four children.  Survival of the fittest.

With that, have a wonderful week, and love from over here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dateline Porto

On the train from Lisbon to Porto and I can't sleep. A perfect time for the weekly letter.

Biggest news that we've been waiting to share is that Margaret and Andrew are going to have a baby. A boy. In March. So happy for them. Exciting times ahead! Congratulations.

That means we'll still be heading down to DC to see grandchildren, even after Joe, Leonor and Thomas leave for their three-year assignment in Brasilia on November 2. We saw them last week when we drove to Boston for a night to babysit while
Joe and Leonor went to a wedding. Lots of fun.

We drove home in time to clean up the house a little for Annie and Sankar who were on an east coast trip, fall foliage of sorts, but one that included trips to Bar Harbor, Fenway, Rhode Island, NYC and then a weekend stay in DC. From photos, looks like they partook of the famous Maryland crabs among other things.

From Facebook we see great photos of Matthew and Tina on a trip to Mexico. Looks like Cancun area, but not sure. Also photos of Melodie in San Francisco while Annie was on east coast, but the marvels of air travel brought Melodie back home in time to hang out with cousins while Annie was there.

Before departure, we checked in with David and Paula who have old friends moving in across the street from them. Heard too that Paula plays Mahjong that she'll have to teach us next summer at the Poconos.

Peter gave us a little legal advice on a cell tower that was proposed too close to our house. We saw they were highlighted at McCarter theater for sponsoring a play.

Further west, Andrew and Lur we're getting ready to head up to Claire's first school concert of the year.

John and Marilyn also got in a little traveling as they spent a week in the Windy City with trips to museums and taking in the play Hamilton, all to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

Here in Portugal, we had a wonderful time in Lisbon, with Leonor's parents showing us the sites that many don't get to see. We stayed in an old neighborhood, and we got magically lost in the countless allies with narrow cobblestone stairs and slopes up one of Lisbon's seven hills. We saw gigantic cruise ships pull in and unload thousands of visitors who have heard what we have, how it's the in place to visit. The Portuguese seem happy with all the tourist dollars, but are worried about the changes to the city, including the skyrocketing cost of property due to Russian and Chinese investors. Or so I'm told, and it was backed up in an article in today's New York Times.

Now it's off for a few days in Porto where we're meeting up with foreign service friends before going on a seven day hike up to Santiago de Compostela. Hope we make it.

Since it's October, it means birthdays. Greetings go out to Paula and Johanna. I hope to tackle another letter before the same type of greetings to Janet, Billy, Claire and Kathleen.

Love from over here.

It's dark at 6am.  The heat is on.  We've had a fire in the fireplace and pulled out the comforter and fleece jackets.  The wood stack is getting higher.  It all points to one thing.  The end of summer, just around the corner; the beginning of fall and then …….  SNOW!! Yikes!

But, it sure is beautiful out.  Sunny, crisp days, colors on the trees.  We're getting lulled into the inevitable arrival of SNOW!!

Oh well.  Can't push it back.  The garden produce has slowed to a trickle and with the possibility of a frost tonight, I'll run out and get the ripest tomatoes and place them on the windowsill for some sun ripening inside.  We've had a lot of tomatoes, and we've canned both chili sauce and whole tomatoes.

Last week, we headed back to DC to check in on folks one more time before our fall trip to Portugal and Spain.  Joe and Leonor are getting ready for their move to Brazil; Thomas got a haircut and new sneakers and he's going to a new school.  Same daycare, but in a new location.  We had the thrill of being woken up each morning with Thomas climbing in our bed and telling us stories.

Margaret and Andrew had a funny thing happen.  Actually, funny in the strange sense of the word.  A huge limb fell on their parked car outside their house.  No storm, no winds, just too old and too heavy.  Totaled the car, and fortunately no one was in the car at the time.  So they now own a new flashy red Subaru, thanks to insurance (only partially though.)

We had dinner with everyone a couple of times and checked in on friends and former work colleagues, per our usual Washington trip.

Annie let us know her plans for her east coast trip with Sankar.  They are heading to Boston, Maine, New York, Pittsfield, Rhode Island and Washington.  Don't ask how long they will be on the road, because you'll get tired.  Here's a hint: it will be less than a month.

We checked in with David who told us Paula was recovering from pneumonia and bronchitis.  He said he had worked a booth at the New York State fair making oval boxes for a few days.  I caught him reading on his newly re-painted porch with re-covered furniture.  The good life.

The end of summer meant our plans for camping and going to the beach were unfulfilled.  So we hurriedly and at the last minute reserved two nights at a campground four miles away.  Mary says it's the best kind of camping where you can come back home in the morning for a warm shower.  Then off to Rhode Island for a couple of nights with Marj and Lew, where we took in Charlestown Beach, followed by a longer stay at East Matunuck Beach.  Much still looks the same from when we frequented those spots in the summers twenty plus years ago.  We even passed the same ice cream stand.  Closed for the summer, sigh.

Out in Dundee, Andrew and Lur have been busy gardening and attending a few concerts.  Claire is back at school and has an Amazon wishlist for music materials that you should check out and help out!  Sad that teachers have to provide their own materials, but that's the world we live in.  (Just type in her name and the wish list appears.)

The new job front.  Both Billy and Johanna have new jobs; Johanna with a publishing company  and Billy with a cloud computing company.  Congratulations and wish you well. 

Finally, here's my latest discovery from Ancestry.com.  Pop's grandfather was named Hjalmer Holm, born in Norway in 1857.  By 1889, he's living in Brooklyn, married to a woman named Pauline Anderson and has a one-year old daughter named Florence: Pop's mother.  I'll have to do some more digging.  Stay tuned.

Photos below are unrelated, but I'm sure Thomas "reading" the Sunday paper will bring back memories in each household.

That's all from up here, love.

 

36 hours in the Berkshires

Or 72, or 108.  Either way, we had a fantastic week in the middle of August with visits by all our children and a grandchild.

How do you measure how fantastic it was?  By the overflowing trash on the curb when everyone had left?  By the number of times we put the dishwasher through each day?  By the total absence of towels in the linen closet?  By the toys strewn around the yard at any given moment?  By the trips to the grocery store to replenish food (even more than once a day)?  By the kitty running around the house looking for hiding places? By the lack of space on our phones from all the photos?  By the eerie quiet in the house right now?

They came by planes, trains and automobiles.  Joe, Leonor and Thomas were the first to arrive and spent almost a whole week.  Annie came in from the west coast by way of a couple of days of work in NYC.  And then Margaret and Andrew (and Dee) joined us for the week's festivities.  In between, John and Marilyn stopped by for lunch one day, Timmy joined us a couple of days, and Maura, Steve and Elsie came up for a barbecue. 

Many memorable moments.  First of all, the reason for all the family visitors was the Collins family reunion that Mary had been working on for five or more months.  Over 300 people came to the event on Richmond Pond (really a lake).  We saw Boyle cousins who live up the street here who we haven't seen for years.  We were not alone in meeting people we had never known.  One cousin saw a professor who had been her faculty adviser for over a year, only to find out they were both Collins descendants.   That so many people returned is a testament to the family story, the challenges that Mary's mother and her eight siblings faced and overcame.  One cousin had done extensive family history research that showed, surprisingly, a strong French side to everyone's background, as well as links to Grover Cleveland.  Swimming, good food, tug of war, mingling and a group photo rounded out the day.  We dodged the rain, as luck would have it that a huge thunderstorm arrived just as everyone was supposed to leave. 

It wasn't the only time were lucky with the rain.  Our smaller family unit headed over to Tanglewood one evening for a Star Wars concert, where the Boston Pops played the score to the movie.  Thomas was enthralled when the show started; he kept walking around our group on the lawn and pointing at the screen.

We rounded out the week with trips to King Cone, the outlets, playgrounds; with exercise to work off the abundant food - running, hiking, yoga; with board games, reading, and a few hours of paid and unpaid work scattered through the week.  Did I mention food?  Mary was active in the kitchen, baking muffins and a cake, Joe cooked a great meal of pasta and shellfish, and we enjoyed several barbecues.

We couldn't help but think of the times we descended on Pomfret Center, with a much larger clan and with much more chaos, in summer and winter.  Those too were fun days. 

In other news around the nation, we saw photos of Peter and Janet in Colorado, hiking and conferencing.  Andrew and Lur have been helping Claire and Daniel move into new residences.  And David and Paula, unfortunately, had to cancel their trip to Ohio and Kentucky.  

Did you celebrate the 50th anniversary of Woodstock in some form?  We went to a nearby park, called Look Park, where they had a day of tribute bands all playing the songs of Woodstock performers.  They called it Look-stock.  And, last night we went to Capitol Steps, which we remembered going to with Peter and Janet many years ago in DC.  While there's no current shortage of material for their cabaret spoofs, somedays it seems like they don't even need writers (I'm thinking of course of Greenland.)

On that toe-in-the-political-waters, I'll return to our non-partisan time together this past week with hope for many more happy days ensemble.  

Love from up here.

Denver and Rocky Mountain National Park

We are back from our trip to Denver and Rocky Mountain National Park. Here are some observations. I'll begin by stating the obvious: air travel is terrible.

Denver is a walkable city, but there isn't all that much to do. While Janet attended her conference (Leadership Exchange In Arts and Disabilities), I went to some museums and stores and relaxed. It's called Mile High because it's a mile (5280 feet) above sea level. You must drink a lot of water to stay hydrated, and we did. It was very hot (90 +)everywhere we went. Because the air is so thin and dry, it was okay to walk around. But it was hot!

The City is plagued with rental scooters, zooming around and unused ones littering the sidewalks. Annoying. It also has real tramcars, just like most European cities. There isn't a lot of traffic downtown.

Our hotel room had a nice view of the "front rage" of the Rockies to the west. There were late afternoon thunderstorms all over the place, local and fast moving. Sometimes we got rained on, sometimes not.

We stayed an extra day after the conference and went to the Denver Zoo. It's supposedly one of the best, but we couldn't help noticing the confined quarters for many of the animals and birds.

From Denver we went to Boulder, where the U of Colorado is located, and had lunch with a classmate and stayed in a funky old mountain hotel for the night. (It's for sale, $4.9 mil, if you're interested.) I left my credit card at the restaurant Friday night and when we went back the next day, on our way out of town, the restaurant wasn't to open until 4:00. I went around to the back, found a back door open and went in and found a kitchen staffer who spoke no English. A few minutes later, an older gent arrived on a bicycle and introduced himself as the chef. He got my card. But the real bonus was seeing the restaurant's kitchen: it was spotless.

It was on to Estes Park, the western gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. The plan was to hike for a couple of days and for me to spend a day with a fly fishing guide. I thought I had booked a nicer than usual hotel, and in some ways it was – we were in town – but the Wi-Fi was terrible, non-existent, the room was small and we had to keep the AC on the whole time. And we drank prodigious amounts of water. The town is 7,500 ft. above sea level and Janet woke with a bad headache one morning for lack of drinking enough water.

I don't get Estes Park. You would think it would be full of stores catering to super-fit outdoorsy types. Nope. It is a honky-tonk touristy town full of t-shirt shops, ice cream stores and souvenir stores, and on the Saturday and Sunday we were there, mobbed with people who were quite obviously in no condition to hike anywhere or do anything outdoors. My overriding memory of Estes Park is people who didn't need any more ice cream sitting outdoors eating ice cream cones. What were they doing there? We did find one decent restaurant, but most seemed forgettable.

On Sunday, it rained all day and so we got into our rental Chevy SUV and drove most of the Trail Ridge Road, a depression era public works project in the park that rises up to several ridges, crosses the Continental Drive and has wonderful views of the peaks and valleys. I believe the last time I stood on the Continental Divide was on one of those road trips Mom and Pop took us on, and there is a photo of us at Berthoud Pass, in central Colorado. How's that for memory?

I don't get RMNP, either. For a park with many great hikes, it's very hiker-unfriendly. There is very little parking at any of the trailheads. So you either get there very early, or ride shuttle buses from town. And the buses are ridiculous. Only one bus goes deep into the park and makes only one stop. From there you transfer to other buses to take you to trailheads. They run only every half hour. Terrible.

I spent Monday with a fly-fishing guide, wading Glacier Creek and the Big Thompson River and getting all sorts of instruction on my casting and reading water from an older guy who is a retired Tennessee corrections officer. I caught some trout, too. All of this with those peaks in the background.

On Tuesday, we decided to skip the buses and drove to the Fern Lake Trail head, arriving at 6:15 and hiking out at 6:30. It was a great hike, watching sunrise on the high peaks. We saw a moose and her two calves (and got outta there in a hurry) and two waterfalls. But after three hours and another 700 vertical feet to go to get to Fern Lake, we turned around. Janet drank all of the 1.5 liters of water (about a half gallon) in her pack. She has been race-walking at home for several weeks, and it paid off.

I've crossed Denver and RMNP off my list and I don't think we'll go back. But once again I saw that we live in a beautiful country.

Poconos and other parts

Don't despair.  The summer is not over yet.  Even though it's August.

It hardly seems fair to relegate our weekend in the Poconos to just a photo album page.  Lazy is what that is, I can even hear you saying.

One of the fun things about the Poconos is the ride home.  It seems I hardly get to see Mary during these weekends so we share the gossip and stories all the way home.  Memories I have are of interactions between Donald, Thomas and Everett, and some fond hopes that these get-togethers will give them a chance to get to know each other – the next generation.  We took walks around the lake and played by the lake and the pirate ship.  There were some fishing frustrations, although I saw other fishermen in the family enjoying success.  When Mary took out her camera to get a picture of my fishing experience, she noticed a heron and got a great shot of it.

Can't forget the wonderful dinners and wonderful naps.  And a spectacular birthday party with a never-ending balloon bounce where everyone in the room became two years old all over again.  Fun. Of course, most important were the extended time to catch up where we learned of David and Paula's upcoming road trip to Ohio and Kentucky, Matthew's medical progress (looking good), Peter and Janet painting their house and planning a Colorado getaway, Sean and Erin drive out to Texas, Joe and Leonor's announced move to Brazil, Andrew and Lur's Ripon reunion.  We missed those who couldn't make it, but we know there's a next year and more times to join the fun.

It was especially nice to have Janie, Susan and Fernando along, as we got the news on the George Dean family, and we added another Portuguese speaker to the mix.  Janie talked about Pop and Grandma, so we felt closer to them this year.  We even got over a certain email message that hardly seemed funny by the end of the weekend.

Things didn't slow down for us once we got home.  Peace Corps friends, Madi and Dale, showed up a day later and after Tanglewood and Shaker village exploring, we headed up to Maine to Cliff's cabin for the weekend.  Have our lives boiled down to good food and long chats?  Because that's what we did.

Did I mention Mary's birthday?  The highlight of her day was a new vacuum cleaner, a cordless Dyson.  After years of lugging around the family heirloom canister (that works very well), we have moved into the streamlined light and easy jet-age.  I'll have to go to the gym more to get the exercise that the Electrolux used to give me.  By the way, who gets a vacuum cleaner for their birthday?  How romantic!

Back home and we're here to stay for the month of August.  The produce is piling in from the garden, and it's hard to keep up with the harvests.  While there are groundhogs, they're staying outside the fence.  This week is the 200^th birthday celebration of Herman Melville, so we've been attending assorted events in recognition of that.  Even a gala last night.  A historical society gala.  Imagine that.

We saw a wonderful movie – Yesterday.  Jumps past Love Actually and Family Man on my list of sentimental favorites.  We got a sneak preview of a Melville movie as well – The Act of Reading, which should come out in the fall, or at least included in film festivals.

I close with a couple of quotes from Pop's 1992 weekly letters, as we had a couple of conversations about when Uncle Gil passed away, and we couldn't consult Google for that.  And, from the second excerpt you'll recognize the origin of the Poconos weekend.

January 27, 1992 - On Saturday, Mom, Aunt Georgia, Uncle Jim and I went to Peace Presbyterian Church in Stuart at 2PM - the exact time as the burial for Uncle Gil in Wilton.  We got the news of his Monday death just as we had checked into a campground in Florida (via a phone call to Stuart).

February 17, 1992 - We are considering an Uncle Gil memorial/celebration some time next summer. If anybody has any ideas on location, pass them along. 

With that, love from up here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poconos 2019

California Dreaming

It's official. I am retiring.  No more scary driving along cliffs, no more vertical hairpin turns, no more roads without guard rails.  After a few days at Yosemite, in the flat valley near Fresno on the way back to Annie's, I wondered out loud why they couldn't put a park there, and sell the views of fields of grass, with an occasional cow thrown in.

Once I did recover from the driving, though, Yosemite is pretty magnificent.  I kind of remember that Peter and Sean climbed up Half Dome. Say it ain't so.  Isn't looking at it from the parking lot good enough?

We were there three nights and did eight different hikes (from a book called Easy Hikes). We ended up at Big Trees Lodge in the southern part of the park, and we both thought the place had Grandma and Pop written all over it. White porch railings, battleship gray porch floors, old window panes.  Just wonderful.

We had gone to Yosemite to give Annie a little break from hosting her parents. She took us to a Friday night museum event in Oakland that was a lot of fun (with food trucks) and a very diverse crowd.  We also met up with some Peace Corps friends, and we all went to a Giants game on Fathers Day. Then, we got a sneak-peak at Doordash headquarters (very cool, lots of computers and free food and nice colleagues, with an emphasis on youth).  

I'm not the first person to notice that California is a little different, a bit of a trend setter.  For example, it was the first time I saw an animal relief station at an airport (SFO).  I can't imagine, don't really want to imagine, what it looks like inside.  Are there fire hydrants?  Also, I should just take a picture of the shoes we saw and post it. I think the economy is booming on just the different styles of footwear.  

A wonderful trip but we were happy to get home, even though the grass is long.  The garden survived our absence, thanks to Timmy scaring the groundhog(s?)  We have our best crop of strawberries - red all the way through, and have enough lettuce to feed all of Pittsfield.  Asparagus too. 

On the red-eye flight home, I woke up to see Mary watching Free Solo, the movie about Alex Honnold climbing the face of El Capitan without ropes.  Of course, we watched the whole thing again that night at home.  It was easier since we know he made it. Recommended watching even from someone so queasy about heights as me.  From the safety of your living room sofa.  It doesn't mean I'm not retired from scary driving though.

Joe got home on Saturday too, after a summer break in Portugal with Leonor's family.  Thomas has been there for the month of June and is picking up a few words in Portuguese, and his soccer skills have vastly improved. Lots of time at the beaches, which look spectacular and with friends and family. 

We talked to Margaret who had spent a week in Uruguay, and she got home just before the country shared a power outage with Argentina.  Otherwise, she might still be there.  Pretty nice country to get stuck in, though.

Mary's still struggling with her hand/arm issues.  The therapist said that the recovery was slow and setbacks followed signs of improvement.  Frustrating.

Other than that, can't go through June without thinking of Pop's birthday and their anniversary, as well as David and Paula's anniversary.  Nice memories.

Hope everyone is well, and thinking Poconos!  Love from up here.

Really?

The whole month of May without a weekly letter?  Inexcusable.  But still I have a thousand excuses: gardening, exercise, travel to DC, visitors, lifelong learning classes, Mary's operation.  Wait a minute, that's what the weekly letters are supposed to cover.  Two more comments on letter writing:  first I read a story about the lost art of letter writing and how we're communicating digitally with an emphasis on short and quick content.  Second, I just finished a short piece on Richard Holbrooke, the diplomat who negotiated the Dayton Peace Accords to end the war in Bosnia.  That article drew heavily on letters that Holbrooke wrote as a young Foreign service officer in Vietnam.  What will historians have to draw on in the future, without this kind of letter?  Tweets, I suppose, sadly.

Anyway, the letter has been on my list for some time, so here goes, finally.

What's on your coffee table?  Andrew sent along the picture here that goes a long way of summing up both our times (Muellar report) and his times (grandparenting and taking care of elderly parents.)  

This reminds me of one of my favorite parts of the Sunday NYTimes that asks authors to list what they have on their night stand.  Unfortunately, for me, my nightstand is filled with guilt, all those books and magazines I haven't read yet.  What does your reading table (by the bed or in front of your couch) say about you?  Send your photos to popsweeklyletter.bubba@blogger.com and we'll all get to see what you're up to, through your books and magazines.

Here in western Mass, our lives are still revolving around Mary's ongoing health (back, arm and hand issues) and I know she doesn't like to dwell on them.  Her second surgery to free up space on an impinged ulnar nerve in her elbow went well, but she was disappointed in the lack of immediate or even quick recovery.  Now, a few weeks later, she is starting to see signs of progress, but as doctors and other medical folks have told her, nerves take a long time to heal.  She has a good occupational therapist now and she is conscientiously doing weird exercises with foam blocks, silly putty and broom sticks (there's a Jeopardy clue, for you - what are tools to help you recover from nerve damage in your hands.)  

Speaking of Jeopardy, we did manage to catch a couple of recent shows of Jeopardy with James, including one where he almost lost (if not for a late daily double) and the one he did lose, to a Princeton graduate, I might add.  

 

Speaking of Princeton, we saw Peter handsomely regaled in his reunion jacket, and it looked like they had good weather for the P-rade and other festivities.

And, speaking of other festivities, we went to a noted bar/performance venue in Shirley Mass called Bull Run, and saw Sage Leger (Cara and Brian's daughter, John and Marilyn's granddaughter) as lead vocalist in her band do the opening for a New Orleans Blues Band.  Quite a performance, and we admired the 10th grade Sage carry off guitar and vocals for the band.  And, she had earlier in the day had a vocals recital.  What did I do with my youth?  Don't go there.

Earlier in the month, John and Marilyn had come north and stayed with us for a couple of days.  Johnny too is slowly recovering from his shoulder surgery.  They came up for another granddaughter's (Hayley, Heather's daughter) graduation from University of Rochester,  Hayley will do a year of medical research and is planning on applying to med school.  I ask myself the same question form the previous paragraph.

And, of course, speaking of Rochester, David called one night to ask about going in on a house in Indian Hill that was for sale.  Former owner?  Marvin Lewis, former coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.  

As hard as I am trying to find a transition, I can't, so I'll just head off in another direction: Washington, where we headed last week for our monthly check-in on children and one grandchild, before he is off to Portugal for the month of June.  He is growing up so quickly, with words now and much more sure-footed.  We had the joy of picking him up at day-care a few days, and didn't even mind the traffic going in and out of the city, since he regaled us with squeals of delight whenever he saw a piece of construction equipment.  We stayed with Margaret and Andrew, and it was nice to see Andrew with more free time, now that his classes are over.  Leonor made us dinner one night and we had a barbecue at Margaret and Andrew's another night.  We also had time to check in on friends, including the man from Libreville who helps set up our projects.   

We had hoped to see Peter and Janet on the way down, but Peter had a crunch day with legal filings and other assorted things that I am not sure I would ever be able to grasp.  (Aside, I am reading through the Muellar report myself - just finished volume 1 - and am amazed at all the lawyer details that are included.  Among other things, I should add.)

In between, we were able to get the garden up and running. That means compost and mulch hauling and raking out flower beds. We have added two rhododendrons and a dogwood tree to the yard; we have been eating asparagus, rhubarb pies, lettuce and we see strawberries on the way.  Optimism includes beans, tomatoes, carrots, beets, more lettuce, squash and cucumbers, if we can keep the groundhogs at a distance.  Timmy is helping with that as he comes over and is poised to hunt down the groundhog he calls Stubby; actually, they're all Stubby.  I've used bear spray, ammonia and moth balls in their holes. so it's an all-out shock and awe campaign.  I think we all know how this is going to end.  

Looking forward to this month, with trips to the Cape, California and northern Vermont.  July and August we plan on sticking close to home.

And happy birthdays, to Sean and Matthew and did I mention Mothers' Day came in the middle of all this excitement?  IF not, happy belated day, as we're still in the month-long festivities.

And that wraps it all up.  Love from up here.

       

May showers

Our new motto up here is April showers bring May showers.  Nothing but rain for the foreseeable future.  We had a brief wonderful hint at things to come with some warm weather around Easter, but now back to cold, a cruel fake out for the daffodils and flowering trees into blossoming early.  Faked me out, as it's back to warm woolies.  At least we haven't had a blizzard, like Andrew said they endured in Chicago last week.

When I talked to Andrew he said they were watching Elliot and Auden while their parents took Myles to Avengers: Endgame.  I'm wondering if anyone else in the family saw it this weekend?  Perhaps it broke the all-time box-office record for Dickson viewing on the first weekend, leaping ahead of Titanic or the Christmas that Almost Wasn't.

Speaking of Easter, we hit the road and headed to DC for the weekend.  It had been a while since we saw everyone, and as much as Thomas had changed into a little boy, we still recognized him.  Don't know if he recognized us, but he did pull out my favorite book shortly after we saw him.  It was not the Book of Common Prayer that he did open up during the Easter service, but something called Things that Go.  Mary continues to be amazed how boys are drawn to construction equipment, remembering Joe's fascination and Margaret and Annie's complete lack of interest.  Hence pne of the photos this week.  

We had as usual a great weekend, with Easter dinner of ham and salmon over at Margaret and Andrew's.  Melodie and Jeffrey joined us for dinner, and we got caught up on all things Mueller, and importantly, plans for Melodie's birthday party.

Margaret had just returned from a week in Guatemala where she met with current, former and prospective Fulbrighters.  She returned with suitcases loaded down with beautiful weavings.  Put Antigua on your list of places to visit.  Andrew is getting close to the end of his program in public health.  Today, by the way, is Leonor's last day at her work, and she is scouting around for a new job.  Not anyone's favorite periods in life.

Annie started her new job at Doordash last week.  While in DC, we took advantage and did our first order, of Asian food, which came quickly and ready to eat.  We have yet to try it in Pittsfield, as they just started, but we're looking for the right day.

David passed along an article he saw about a Princeton professor, aged 71, marrying a former student, aged 26, who was his thesis advisee and a valedictorian.  I remember seeing an article in the Alumni Weekly a few days prior about a new rule that passed the faculty senate prohibiting relationships between professors and their graduate students.  Wonder why they didn't include undergraduate students?  Anyway, he also mentioned they are in the painting the porch business this spring, keeping up another Dickson tradition.

We saw the photos of Peter's birthday with Johanna and Sean and Erin, including a "P" cake made by Erin.  And we saw other photos of Johanna with John Lennon's son who is one of her book clients.  Fantastic!

John Boyle is still going through the long recovery from his shoulder surgery.  He is going to physical therapy which is so painful it sets him back a few days each time.  The good news – only six more months. 

Speaking of surgeries, we're off to see the doctor this morning to try to figure out what the heck is going on with Mary's hands and arm, we think some unintended consequence from her January back surgery.  She had an electrical test and MRI last week, so hopefully will have a few answers and then a solution.  She is gaming through the pain, trying to get in exercise and even a little swimming.

I've started teaching a class at the life-long learning institute on international relations, and we're filling in days with French conversation groups, hiking and photography workshops, including one on phone cameras that was really interesting and helpful.  We're clearing out gardens and flower beds, did our annual brush burn, ordered compost and mulch.  Nice to be outside, with hints at some wonderful times on their way. 

We're also beginning to plan for the Poconos, after learning that we will be joined by Janie and her daughter Susan this year.   

That's the news from up here, with love.

Home again

It's like I never left.  Back home and easing back into my familiar routines.  That means of course my old eating patterns.  I have quickly put on six or seven pounds of what I had lost.  Oh well.  

This week, the ice went off the lake.  It snowed last week, but yesterday the temperature hit 69 degrees.  Walking around outside, in the warmth of the sun, was wonderful.  There was even a line at King Kone when we drove by around lunch time.  Still, it's hard to think of warm temperatures, so when we go outside we're still wearing sweatshirts and jackets until we realize how warm it is and how unnecessary they are.  We see photos of climes further south and see trees and flowers in bloom, and can't wait til we catch up.  To that end, Mary bought some tulips yesterday to help push the season along.

Timmy dropped by yesterday, back from his extended snowbird break to parts west and south.  He spent a few weeks in a beach hut hundreds of miles down the coast from San Diego.His extended drive back took him through Utah - Zion and Arches, a snow-bound Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania and home.   I can't help but add that he saw no signs of a border crisis when he drove back into the U.S.  A ten-minute wait, he said.  

In contrast, my wait through customs at JFK was a crisis.  Thousands of people queuing up in those turnstile aisles going back and forth, in the craziest of mazes.  It took half an hour just to reach the main hall, as the numbers of planes arriving left us in the hallways.  I think I'd still be there except the young woman in front of me told me to download the mobile passport app and sign up, so I could get in a shorter line (that was still a hundred yards long.)  Two hours, and I was in the shorter line.  

Anyway, Mary was still waiting when I emerged, if only she had recognized me.  My beard was removed the next morning.  We had a fun couple of days, walking the length of Manhattan, it seems.  We went to the Tenement Museum, and Lincoln Center, to the Strand bookstore, our favorite French restaurant for steak and frites, and the Hungarian pastry shop at 110th Street. And saw a movie called Transit that I slept through mostly.  I wish I could blame it on jet lag.

Other travel - we see Sean and Erin in South Africa, hitting all the wonderful spots there.  I was momentarily worried when I read the story of a lion mauling someone in Kruger Park, but figured it couldn't have been either of them when it turned out to be a rhino horn poacher.  Margaret spent this week in Guatemala for work.  She sent back several messages saying something to the effect that if she ever goes missing, you can probably find her in Antigua, the old capital of the country.  And, Joe returned from ten days of work in Amsterdam and Paris.  

Andrew and Lur headed out to Michigan for a couple of Claire's spring music concerts.  Sounds like Claire, who teaches band for all grades is juggling quite a range of talents with success.

Big news on the west coast this week.  Annie turned in her notice to GE, with the announcement of a new job at a company called DoorDash.  By coincidence, when I went to download the DoorDash app on my phone, they said that the launch date for DoorDash in Pittsfield was April 10.  So, we'll give it a try this week.  (One of the other volunteers in Gabon hails from Dayton Ohio and he says DoorDash is big out there.)

Big news in Daytona as well.  After living in months with pain, John had shoulder surgery to fix a rotator cuff.  He's looking at an extended recovery process, giving new meaning to baseball players who lose a season getting their shoulders repaired.  Not sure if John will be throwing the curve ball any time soon, but he did say he has no more shoulder pain, but the wound is slowly healing.

Mary, too, has no back pain from her January surgery, but has some residual problem with a nerve going down her arm and hands.  Very painful and she has some tests coming up to see what exactly is going on.

Other big news - we did our taxes.  And happily, we're getting a little back, even though we couldn't itemize this year.  

And,now that I'm home, we're looking ahead to the summer months - two family reunions, with the Dicksons in the Poconos and with the extended Collins family up here.  We're trying to put together a Peace Corps reunion of sorts and we've arranged to head to Portugal in October to walk a portion of the Camino de Santiago with foreign service friends.  Nice to plan and think ahead.

Happy birthdays to Johnny and to Peter.  Enjoy the days!  Anyone else??

The photo below is another reunion with the man who lived in my house in Lastourville in 1977-8, a 14-year-old student who had no place to stay.  I saw him after 40 years this year.  Wonderful.

Love from up here

What’s new?

Two photos tell a story here. Mary went down to Daytona to visit John and Marilyn for a week. Me, on the other hand, have been au village for three weeks now, plugging away on the pre-school class we're building. Progress is slow but moving along.

Mary's had her own slow progress as she continues to have nerve pain in her hands and arms. Her back is better, but....

This week was both the first day of spring and David's birthday. Hope it was the best birthday ever. I can see the temperatures on my phone and see warm weather all over. I remember David saying that both Matthew and Jeffrey were going to join him at an oval box making workshop in March. Hope it went well.

We see Thomas growing and enjoying extended visits from his Portuguese grandparents and he has even said the word "avo" Portuguese for grandma.

Margaret and Andrew have gone and come back from a brief vacation to Mexico. Annie had work on the east coast and came to keep Mary company for a few days. Akiba is Fang for merci. Annie had some legal questions that Peter helped her with. Another "akiba".

I saw a headline for an article in the Times about giving up on Facebook. I have been without access since getting here and I have to admit I miss it. That's where I get most of the family news and photos.

Hope everyone is happy, healthy and thriving. Love from over here

February's gone too

I really should get more regular about these.  Somehow, days fly by and then before you know it, four weeks have passed.  Sorry.

For us up here, the past few weeks have been an endless series of days changing plans, filing insurance claims, getting organized, purchasing stuff I think we need, and today, packing.  It won't all fit, so now I have to make decisions.  Do I leave the malaria pills or the mosquito net?  Just kidding, both of those are going, but maybe not the maple syrup and the frying pan.  Wait, they're pretty essential too.  Why am I taking used tennis balls?  Someone said they make great gifts for kids.  Oh well, I still have a few more days to stuff and repack.

In the middle of the month, Mary and I spent a week in DC, helping Joe take care of Thomas, while Leonor was in South Africa, on a long-planned trip with her Portuguese friends.  She did FaceTime every day, and one day, she looked out the window and saw elephants in the game park, so she turned the camera around.  Pretty exciting.  It was almost as exciting in DC with Thomas, taking him to the park, and reading books and wrestling and changing diapers and just plain spoiling him.  I have to say I am a little out of practice, and made a few mistakes (like giving him a roll in the grocery store right before dinner.)  Meal times were interesting as we watched him eat 4 hot dogs one night.  Where does it go?  I don't think I've ever eaten four hot dogs.  Of course, they were without rolls, but still.

While in DC we celebrated a birthday and Valentine's Day.  Annie was in town for the weekend, having scheduled work on the east coast.  So nice.  She filled us in on her ski trips to Lake Tahoe.  

And we caught up with Margaret and Andrew several times.  Andrew continues to be busy with his school research and course work, and Margaret remains busy at work; one of the countries in her portfolio is Venezuela!

Mary continues to convalesce and is careful to follow doctor's orders about driving, lifting, exercising.  But she is slowly on the mend, and next week starts physical and occupational therapy.  She's even gone in the water a few times, and swum 20 laps, more than probably many of us who have not had back surgery.  The back expert in Dundee has called a few times to check in and give reassuring advice.  

While down in DC, we learned that Mary's Aunt Mary passed away.  She had lived a full life, but spent the last three years suffering from dementia.  Very difficult, but her daughter gave her the gift of staying in her home for that time.  We were able to get back fro the funeral which was really a celebration of a full life.  Many of the extended Collins family gathered to pay respects to Mary but also to that generation of brothers and sisters whose life was filled with overcoming hardship, relying on each other and making the most of their close, happy bonds.  It was especially nice to see Patrick Boyle, who came up from Stonington for the funeral.

We've spoken a few times with John and Marilyn who are checking in on Mary's recovery.  John himself has had neck/shoulder issues and is also in recovery mode.  They are off to Arizona this week.  If they had gone this week, they might have seen Timmy, who headed out of the snowy northeast to go south and west and ended up in Flagstaff that we saw on the news had its heaviest snowfall ever, I think.  Last we checked though he was in LA and wearing flip flops.

Speaking of snow, David says Rochester/Fairport is on track for record snowfalls.  We even saw this week that the coldest Dicksons were those who lived in Princeton.   Facebook shows Donald and Everett growing fast, and can't wait to see them in person this summer at the Poconos! 

Today is the first game of spring training, for the Reds anyway.  That's a hopeful sign!  We also saw the daffodils and crocuses poking their heads out in DC, but they have had some snow so not sure if those early sprouts survived.  Still, we passed the official 2/3 of winter and spring is around the corner.

BTW, I had a whole paragraph on the Super Bowl, but Robert Kraft kind of spoiled that one.  I am beginning to get why people don't like the Patriots.

Hope you all are well and thriving.  Love from up here.