Hoodwinked

How many times has hoodwinked appeared in a weekly letter?  Read on.

What is about a sunny, warm day in October that beats any day the rest of the year?  Probably the light filtering through the yellow leaves on the beech trees.  Or the crunch of the leaves under your feet.  For some reason, today on my walk through the woods, that noise sent me off thinking of Cunningham Road, retracing the steps to the path that shot off from the Kites' driveway and snaked around to a lookout over Camp Denison.  Funny how memory works.

It is hard to imagine that just a few weeks ago, Mary was swimming in the lake, and we were taking our kayaks out there. Not so, now.  We have moved back to the wait until next year phase.  Even had a few fires in the fireplace.

Big news for us this week was Leonor's safe return to Brazil, after a couple of months away. She had to wait until everyone had a negative Covid test, after Thomas had tested positive last time around. It must have been a false positive, since she, baby John and everyone in her family tested negative.  And then, a couple of days before they left Portugal, Thomas was negative as well.  One good thing that came out of it is that Thomas thinks he's a superhero name Corona-boy.  Anyway, glad that everyone's home, safe and healthy.  With a story they will tell well into their 90s.

Tomorrow, Mary and I head to DC for a weekend with Margaret, Andrew and Simon. Simon just passed his six months, and is moving into the solid food discovery phase.  He's not so sure about some of the foods, and his facial expressions are so, well, expressive.  Anyway, looking forward to the visit.

Annie and Sankar are winding down their Berkshires stay.  They have found their next adventure, near Laurel Canyon in Virginia.  They have a nice rental, with, dare I let the cat out of the bag, a spare bedroom!  They came up a couple of times this weekend, after hiking up Mt. Greylock and then joining us for a fajita dinner with Pittsfield folks.

I admit to being a bit of late arrival, and it's only recently that I began to understand a new term – influencer.  For me, since I am on Twitter, quite frequently, I admit to being influenced by Johanna, Jeffrey, and occasionally Annie – three of the five people I follow on Twitter.  They pretty much keep me up on everything I need – national politics, local DC politics and overall angst in the air.

Speaking of angst, we here in the Berkshires made national news when a local farmer put up a Biden Harris sign using hay bales in their field.  Apparently, this political sign offended a local resident that he decided it was appropriate to burn it down, unaware of nearby propane tanks.  Fortunately, the propane was spared, and in our quiet way, we reenacted the scene with Grandma's blocks. (Above photo.) I think she would approve.

One thing for certain about this electoral season – I will be glad when it's over no matter who wins.  I will stop getting so many emails and text messages asking for money.  Relentless.

We had some foundation work, and there's a story there that you will have to ask Mary about.  Let's just say that I got hoodwinked.

Andrew surprised me with this photo, also above, one day.  Took me a minute to figure it out, thrown off because it was the baseball playoffs and it looked like he could be relief pitcher on any of the major league teams. 

Looking over Pop's Weekly Letter, I am struck by how many times Pop mentions getting a haircut.  So, in that tradition, both Mary and I got haircuts since the last letter.  And, for me at this late stage in my life, it was the first time I had my hair cut by an African American barber.  Not really worth a mention, except that I wondered why it took so long.

What's in your Netflix queue?  We have been watching and recommend a British crime show called Broadchurch.  Besides being quite good, it reinforces my belief that there are only five actors in the UK.  One of the leads was Queen Elizabeth in the Crown; Phoebe whatshername from Fleabag and a few others.

So, what's new with you?  Birthdays, yes.  Happy birthday, Janet, and Auden.  Happy anniversary Sean and Erin.

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