Questions

Who drives to the beach during a hurricane?  We did.  The remnants of a tropical storm, anyway.  For a while, it looked like a mistake that we would regret.  Mary had a follow-up appointment in Boston, and we decided to go the night before and ended up in Gloucester, where our friend Cliff's family has a beach house.  We probably should have waited and just gotten up early the next morning, but it was fine when we headed out.  Not so fine as we were driving, though.  We made it, obviously, and lived to tell the story of no visiblility, driving rain, passing trucks.  I kept saying better than snow.  Or was it?

Who knew of Gloucester?  I vaguely knew the name, but had no idea of its importance to early America and the fishing industry.  I was so ignorant that I actually bought lobster salad in Great Barrington to take to Gloucester.  Anyway, the storm made the for beautiful skies and weather the next couple of days.  So nice, in fact, that our plan to drive to Maine was canceled and we just stayed put and enjoyed three nights at the beach.  Almost like a vacation, unexpected, and who needs a vacation when you're retired.

What's a derecho? I knew that word in Mexico when I asked people which direction to go, and if I needed to go straight ahead, they would say, "derecho."  When used with weather, it means a storm that is so fierce that the rain comes straight at you, almost horizontal.  You may ask, why bring up this weather sidebar in the weekly letter?  Well, good question.  But Andrew and Lur experienced a derecho that went through the Midwest and left a lot of people without power.  Not Andrew and Lur, but her parents.  And, Andrew did a little reenacting of his favorite childhood job – pick up sticks.

What's up in our family? We've seen Annie and Sankar a couple of times.  It's hard to believe they're into their second month here already.  We have our reading times with Thomas in Brazil, and things in that country may be even more chaotic than here.  School and day care is opening, then it's shut down.  It looks like Leonor and the two boys are going to head to Portugal for a while, to spend time with her parents where it's a little safer, more reliable and more open.  And, we're making plans for a return visit by Margaret and Andrew and Simon up here before the end of the month.

Here's a question.  Which Dickson made the television news since our last letter?  Young Donald, practicing on the piano.  Move over Elton John.  (Please don't say, who's he.)

Another question.  What have you been doing with your extra time during coronavirus?  I know that Claire hasn't been lying on the couch, popping chocolates and watching reruns of Friends.  She started her own small business, Northern Knots, with her hobby, macramé.  You may have seen some of her work on Facebook, and she has her own site on Etsy, where you can buy her products (click here: Northern Knots Studio.)  And, news has reached this reporter that Claire has items for sale in a store in Grand Haven.  Look out Worlds of Wonder, here comes Claire.  (Worlds of Wonder, for all but four of us, was the name Grandma gave to her little crafts shop she started with a few friends in Wilton.  That later became the antique business in Pomfret.)

Other than that, we're staying busy, and still have time for naps most days.  Mary's back swimming, in lakes, I'm doing tours (with masks) at Arrowhead.  One highlight of the past week was an unknown car driving in the yard while we were sitting by our fire pit.  It turns out it was a high school student Mary tutored a few years back, a young Ghanaian who came by to say hi.  Just to check in with his former teacher.  Makes it all worthwhile.

And one final question: what's up with your family?

That's it from up here, stay safe and healthy, love.