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!
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