Happy President's Day. What are you doing for President's Day? I'm reading Michelle Obama's memoir, Becoming. I want to pass along one quote: "Part of our role, as we understood it, was to model reason, compassion, and consistency." Oh my. Sounds so distant.
Now that I got that off my chest, hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day, with chocolate and flowers and kisses. One thing you probably didn't have were those little candied hearts, which were made in our fair state, by the New England Confectionary Company, better known as NECCO. Gone. Out of business. Oh well.
So, here's a tale of two cities. Joe and Leonor and Thomas traveled to Rio for the weekend, to sit by the beach and take in the names we all have heard of but didn't know they were real places: Copacabana (I thought that was a Barry Manilow song) and Ipanema (I knew there was a girl from there.) Looks like they're having fun.
Mary and I went in the opposite direction, back to Ottawa, but also found water, or at least its frozen version. We went skating and skiing, saw an old friend, visited the ByWard market bakery more than once, saw ice sculptures, went to a few pubs, and reacquainted ourselves with -6 degree (Farenheit) weather. Even colder factoring in wind chill. Every place, we thought of you all, since almost every reader of these letters visited us there.
Looks like others have opted for the warmer climes. We see that Tina and Donald have headed south to Florida, and enjoyed Donald's first plane ride. And, we also note that Brian, Kara and Sage are in Daytona, visiting John and Marilyn. We'll be beating a path down there in a few weeks to escape winter up here.
Also, on Facebook, was news that Janet and Johanna went dress shopping for the big day - April 10. Exciting.
It was also a memory week when we traveled to Rhode Island for Maura's 50th birthday party. We spent the night with Marj and Lew, and then headed over to Westerly for the shindig. On the way, we stopped at Charlestown Beach, but didn't see you guys. Windy and cold, but always nice to see the ocean. Maura had a nice group of friends, and we saw Steve's family and, of course, Elsie. We also had a chance to catch up with Mary Fort.
On the health front, Mary is recovering, ever so slowly. Her parasite treatment is finished, and the swelling mysteries have disappeared. Elbow, hand and shoulder are working their way to full use, after a year of physical therapy, with strict attention to exercises at home. She's determined. She is back in the pool, but not with the team. That's next. No, next is a doctor's appointment in Boston this week to take blood and see if the parasites are still around. Her doctor convinced me to get tested as well. Uh-oh.
What else? We saw a couple of Oscar nominated films, Parasite and 1917, both recommended. I finished my exhibit on the centennial of woman suffrage, and it is up at the library until the end of March, before it goes to BCC and then to another arts center. And, we've joined a weekly bridge game, or at least I've gone once. It was fun.
So, we passed the midway point through winter, and we're as close to daffodils as we are to last Christmas. Hooray.
Love from up here.
