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
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