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.