Of haircuts and marathons

As I work my way through scanning all of Pop's weekly letters, I'm struck that they were actually weekly.  How did he have that much news to fill up a whole letter every seven days?  Part of the answer is all the references to "triple plays" – Spag's, haircut and the dump.  But their lives were actually quite full.  I'm up to (or down to) 1984, and here's a snapshot – I think David and Paula make every single letter, with references to David splitting wood, weeding, raking and games of pinochle which Mom and Paula won so often that on September 4, 1984, the letter finally read: "I have been required by two very firm gals that David and I won – and I really mean won." 

All this by way of introduction that I got a haircut last week.  Why doesn't that sound as interesting or as funny as when Pop said it?  Anyway, a new barbershop opened up the street this summer, so after two months after my last cut, I decided to try it out.  I'll be going back, but I have to wonder at the courage of starting a barbershop in the middle of a pandemic. Or is it desperation?  Tough times.

We finished our two weeks of quarantine after Thanksgiving and tested negative on our results when we returned.  We each had colds so we were worried, especially when we heard that Sankar and Margaret were feeling a little under the weather.  (Included here is a holdover photo of Rochester Thanksgiving Zoom, which has several interesting items including a possibility that Oliver has a beard!) 

Speaking of Covid, I remember being on a Zoom call with friends back in May when one of them asked if we actually knew of anyone who was sick.  Everyone on the call answered in the negative.  Well, now we have three people we know who have tested positive, one fine now, another at home battling the darn thing and a third back in the hospital for the second time.  With a number of medical pros in the family, it seems a good time to remember the work you do and the risks you take every day for the rest of us.  Thank you.  We should say it every day, and again – thank you.

Had a number of calls with Joe and Leonor and they are busy getting prepared for Christmas.  It seems that Thomas is fully ready, having already woken up one day assuming it was Christmas.  We also understand that Thomas is not a big fan of the big fella with the white beard with the red suit.  Can't blame him, cause if you stop and think about it…… (uh-oh, guess that qualifies me for the naughty list this year.)

Annie has found an apartment a few blocks away from Margaret and Andrew for the month of January, when their lease expires in Virginia.  She and Sankar then are coming back up this way, with a place they've rented in Newport, Vermont, not far from several ski places, and the Canadian border for that matter. Taking advantage of the proximity, Andrew and Margaret just spent the weekend out in Shenandoah with them again.

Out in Illinois, Bill and Jen have moved into their new house so they're closer to Andrew and Lur geographically.  

Mary checked in with Timmy this week, and he was on the road, back in southern California in a new car – a Toyota Rav IV.  All is well.  I took my Rav-IV in for a scheduled maintenance, and they found evidence of mice living in the liner, too close to the air bags.  Another repair, but I think insurance will cover a lot of it.

Among other news, Mary and I completed the Honolulu Marathon this week. No lie.  Of course, it was virtual, and of course it took us eight days of walking, but we did finish and we'll be getting medals to prove it.  If you're interested, you can still enter to "race" - https://www.honolulumarathon.org/home/2020-virtual-events.  The picture of me here was taken on our Honolulu marathon course.

And with thoughts of beaches, sending along our wishes of staying healthy to all of you.  Love from up here.

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Dateline Rileyville Virginia. First weekly letter written from here.
Maybe the last.

But not because we don't like it. We love it. Annie and Sankar found a
place overlooking the Shenandoah River, just a short drive from the
park. And we converged on them for Thanksgiving. And they're great
hosts, allowing us to totally disrupt their home and routine. I think
their kitties (Peta and Puli) may have been even more discombobulated.
Margaret, Andrew and Simon left their bubble in DC to join us, and Joe
and Leonor joined us via Zoom.

Here's a Thanksgiving quiz, with help from super sleuthing and social
media. At least two Dickson families did take-out, and another ate
outside. One had ham and another had lamb. More had turkey, but one
isolated dinner opted for turkey breast. One had chocolate cream pie.
Did anyone have frozen fruit salad? Or shop online? How many went to
a distillery? A new tradition? (We did, but not actually on
Thanksgiving.)

One more new tradition here - not one football game. No one seemed to
mind. We did miss the dog show and the Macy's Day Parade.

Here, we did try out a number of new dishes as we expanded from the
usual offerings to incorporate some new vegan takes on squash, cakes,
rolls, and rice. It did mean twice as much food, but we more than
managed to make a dent on the first day, and the fridge was full of
leftovers for the remainder of the visit. And full disclosure, some
of the vegan dishes were better than their animal-based counterparts.

I bet we weren't alone in taking walks every day, or eating leftovers.
We did hike up on Saturday to Mary's Rock in the Shenandoah Park. It
was hard, and it helped us burn off at least one piece of pecan pie.

A word about Simon. A cutie, but we're biased. Easy and rewarding to
get him to smile and/or laugh. I gave him the nickname "last man
standing" since he wore out six adults, but only kind of. He's a 15
minute kind of a guy, and will let you know when he's ready to move on
to the next activity. Did I mention he was teething? Still, so much
fun.

And a word about this part of the country. We had to be patient and
look hard, but we did eventually see one Biden-Harris sign. Not too
many masks either.

Sunday, we headed over to DC for Simon's christening, joined by Jeff
the godfather and Melodie. Annie's the godmother. Andrew's parents
came down to join us. And Simon wore a christening outfit that Mary
wore, passed on to Joe, Margaret and Annie. Now to a third generation.
Then we retreated to Andrew and Margaret's for a distanced outdoor
celebration that included opening a bottle of port from the Douro
Valley, 2016 edition.

Down in Brazil, Leonor started a new tradition, a Thanksgiving tree,
with leaves reading what we're thankful for. And that's all of you,
even if you're far away.

Love from down here