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.