Stay safe

Today, we finished winterizing the homestead. Porch furniture in the garage attic, wood pile and kindling buckets stocked, picnic table and Adirondack chairs put away.  We did this the day after talking to Margaret and hearing they are still getting tomatoes from their garden.  I know, we chose to live here.

Yesterday, on a short walk over to the lake, I saw a neighbor who I hadn't seen in almost a year. I asked how he was holding up, and he answered, "Better than last week."  I wondered what had happened and then it dawned on me he was talking about the election.  Hard to believe it was just last week.  Seems like a lifetime ago.

Mr. Coronavirus is putting a kink in our plans.  We have reverted to isolation and quasi-lockdown, with a little instigation from children and our mayor.  We had been hoping to head south for Thanksgiving, and that is still our plan at this moment.  We thought we'd schedule a test, and contrary to what we've heard all summer long about anyone being able to get a test, we had a heck of a time trying to get one.  It ain't cheap either.  But it could be worse.  Stay safe out there everyone.

One reason to go south is to visit Annie and Sankar in their new digs, in a small town in Virginia, Rileyville.  They sent photos of their view, and as you can imagine since they're so close to the Shenandoah Mountains, it's pretty spectacular.  Did I mention they have a guest bedroom?  We talked to them, and they are in the process of unpacking and trying to work from home at the same time.

The other reason is to attend Simon's baptism, scheduled for the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  Speaking of Simon, Andrew has a new job – with NIH, taking advantage of his graduate work in public health. So far, after one week, he likes the change of pace.

The other Andrew out in Illinois passed along I think the photo of the year, of Elliot having leaf fun. Surely there's a magazine out there that will want this one.  Bill and Jen have closed on their house in Dundee and are doing some work on it before moving in.  Andrew passed along a story that had Auden going to the hospital to get a plastic bead removed from her ear.  Sounded a little frightening.

Meanwhile, down in the southern hemisphere, Joe and Leonor and the boys are enjoying warmer weather, swimming outside, as they move into the warm, rainy season.   

We talked to John and Marilyn, and after reviewing the election and mask-wearing (or not, in Florida, it seems, except for J & M), we exchanged recommendations on Netflix and other shows.  Queen's Gambit was ours, and we're now watching one called Messiah.

Last letter, I mentioned that I picked up again on my scanning old weekly letter project.  Here's one item (out of many)  I got a kick out of and thought I'd share to see if anyone remembered this from 1986: "I then stopped in Marlborough to pick up Matthew and Jeffrey for a visit here.  On the drive home, I heard a whispering conversation and finally asked what was going on.  What was going on was a discovery by Jeffrey that 'Pop has hair in his ears.'" 

Grandma's blocks on the cupboard now read "John Tech Hero."  I bought a new printer and then spent a few hours on the phone with HP support to get the wireless feature working for Mary's computer.  Thus, the pat on the back.

Other than that, we've had the occasional Zoom meetings and phone calls and just happy to hear from people.  These are tough times, and they don't look like they're going to get better. The other night we heard on the news a Yale professor who said we won't be back to normal until the end of 2022. Even discounting for his error in choosing Yale, we still didn't feel like doing all this for another year, another month, another week.  But, as I said before, it could be a lot worse.

And with that, hope you all are holding up.  Love from up north.