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!