Well hello

Well, hello, Luisa Maury Fontoura Dickson. She brought happiness with her into our world Sunday morning. Mother and daughter are healthy!  She's so little.  Why does this surprise me every time?

 

Leonor had some late pregnancy complications, so the doctors advanced the timetable and opted for a planned c-section Sunday morning. Leonor's mother and step-father were able to change their March flights and arrived last week to be able to help everyone out on the coming weeks.

 

Joe said that knowing the timing of the birth was a little like anticipating a blizzard. All was calm the day before, shopping completed, crib and changing table assembled and onesies and nightgowns and blankets neatly folded. The family even had the wherewithal to go to a park for a stroll.  And then the world stops. For Luisa.

 

The newborn (and the rest of us) is awaiting news from Maryland and New Jersey on her second cousin. 

 

We were inconveniently away and feel a little sheepish/neglectful that we didn't change our plans and hop on a plane for points south.  Joe called us with the news of the changed dates as  we were having brunch at a Thai temple in Oakland with Annie and Sankar.  That's a story for a different time, but it was very good, as was the rest of the time with them and now here in Mexico. But we'll save all that for the next letter, and leave this one for Luisa.

 

Welcome chica and can't wait to see you in person, this year, next year and for many years to come.

 

 

Superb Owl

Halfway through winter, or at least that's what mid-February says to me.  Last month was one of the coldest ever but at least this month we've seen temps above freezing, every now and then.  That doesn't help the driveway much since the snow melts and the water freezes overnight, so it's a bit slippery out there.  Not enough salt or sand for the whole driveway.  Makes for an adventurous, stressful trash day.

We headed down to Washington to check in on Simon, and Margaret and Andrew.  Super fun.  We did a little babysitting while the parents went out to an intellectual movie (Jackass) and enjoyed some nice dinners together.  This time when we ordered DoorDash, we had the food sent to the right address, not Joe's old home.  Simon was a little under the weather, but still a lot of fun.

Department of Coincidences or Paranormal Activity,  While in DC, Mary and I went shopping, and Mary told me to grab something to read.  So, I picked up an old edition of Sun Magazine, and we headed to Montgomery Mall.  While waiting for Mary, I grabbed a coffee and started reading a section in that magazine where readers can send in short pieces.  There was one from a prison in Texas, and I thought I recognized the name of the author.  Sure enough, it was Aunt Janie's grandson.  When I sent her a photo of the article, she wrote back right away, and said it was the young man's birthday.  That day.  Hmmm.

Out in Illinois, Lur and her family had a short graveside ceremony for her mother this past week, short because it was so cold.  Claire and Daniel came home for the farewell, and Billy and Jen were also in attendance.  Daniel, I am told, did not wear his delivery outfit.

Illness seemed to dominate our clan down in Brazil, with Covid sweeping through the household.  What an ordeal for them. Leonor's brother had come for an extended visit and was a big help as Leonor got sick, following Joao and then Thomas.  Pretty scary stuff.  But as Lenor said, they should be through with illness by the time the baby arrives.  Positive attitude.

Speaking of babies, Janet told me that the due date for the happy couple in Maryland is February 21.  We're thinking of you guys.

Department of Bragging.  Each year, Mary's swim team does an hour swim where they see how many laps they can accumulate in a continuous one hour swim.  Mary came in first in New England for her age group.  And she did it without performance enhancing substances.  Who needs the Olympics?  

Did someone say Super Bowl?  Or was it Superb Owl?  I've been able to weather many lean years as a Cincinnati fan, with many abundant years as a Patriot (and Tom Brady) fan;, I hasten to admit, though, that when the two teams played each other, my gut was pulling for the tiger stripes.  To no avail, as I don't think they beat New England once in that stretch.  So, it was super-fun to see the Ben-GALS in the post-season and eke out a few wins.  Even if they lost the big one, they sure gave me a lot of enjoyable moments. And, we had our weekly hiking group over to watch with us, though I must say, they were not nearly as upset at the outcome as they ought to have been. 

  
Super Bowl came on the heels of a birthday celebration here and an international zoom call. Charlie and Annie and their son were here as well, for dinner and a hike through the frozen woods.  Mary outdid herself with a grand cheesecake that she should have sent to the Russian army as it feeds at least 100,000 people.  By the time the weekend was over, Mary had collapsed into the Berenstein Bears "Too Much Birthday" chair.

In a few days time, we'll be waking up in Annie and Sankar's apartment out in Oakland, with the temperature a balmy 60 degrees, we hope.  I can't say we're ready, but we are looking forward to the trip.  Home by March 7, after a week in Mexico.

Love from up here.  And speaking of love, happy belated Valentines Day!

Brrrr

The other day I heard on the radio that we're having the coldest month in the past 40 years.  I believe it.  It was -1 this morning, and last night with windchill temperatures it sunk to -20.  Those numbers sent us right to Amazon Prime to rent Dr. Zhivago.  And we made it through the whole movie without falling asleep.  It still holds up.

We have been busy, or I should say Mary has.  She's out right now doing her annual "hour swim" where the team members swim an hour and see how many laps they can do without stopping.  I wonder how many laps I can do in 6 minutes without stopping.  Okay, three minutes.

A lot of news from Dundee way, and not all of it good.  Lur's mother passed away on Friday night, after a couple of days of end-of-life struggle. They had been alerted by hospice that this might happen, so Lur was able to spend a lot of time with her.  It has been a long road for Lur and family taking care of her parents these past few years.  But what a gift they gave her parents to enable them to stay in their house close to their children and grandchildren.

Happier news from out Midwest includes Auden's enthusiastic participation in the play Godspell.  Watch out Broadway.  Claire has taken on faculty advising for the student council and for the upcoming homecoming event in the high school.  And Daniel has a new part-time job with "Getir", a grocery delivery service that Daniel is using to double as cycling exercise.  His mother says the company's uniform colors remind her of Barney, a show they used to watch together.  A long time ago, I might add.

Snow was in the news this past weekend, and it looks like those of us in DC,  Massachusetts and New Jersey missed the worst dumps.  My kind of snow – four to five inches, enough for a good skiing ground cover but not so much that it takes hours to shovel out.  Peter says he got about 8 inches while the coast was hit hard.  I bet Johanna saw a lot in New York City.

It did allow me to put on the snow shoes for the first time this year.  I probably didn't need them, but it was fun to be in the woods.  We had taken advantage of earlier snowfalls to go cross-country skiing a couple of times this past week.  And, one of our hikes had the added excitement of coming across a porcupine.  Fortunately, the two dogs with us were well-behaved and stayed far away.  Mary's cousin told us a while back that he had to take his dog to the vet to have 170 needles removed.

Down in Brazil, Joe is out of quarantine, which was roundly applauded, most loudly from Leonor.  The boys were able to go back to day camp, which is so full of activities they fall asleep in the car on the way home.

We see photos and videos of Simon picking up new words and playing new games.  We're going to have to watch the movie Encanto to keep up.  Who knew there was even a movie called Encanto?  What happened to Dr. Zhivago? 

Out in Oakland, they're gearing up for our visit, as we bought our plane tickets for the end of February.  Sankar and Annie are heading out to Taos for a week, while we go south to Mexico to San Miguel de Allende.  Where would rather go?  They both sound great, but you can only ski in one of those places.

We talked to John and Marilyn, and they are hunkered down, still taking more precautions than just about anyone in that great state.  But they're healthy and happy.

One of our latest gigs here is teaching English to a couple of Afghan refugees who landed in Pittsfield, part of the 175 more relocated here. Mary has had a couple of sessions with her student a young mother whose husband worked at the Embassy in Kabul.  I just met my student, who was a soldier, and just relocated here this week from Wisconsin.  We've been told not to bring up the past with them because of the trauma, but the soldier was keen to show me photos, of his truck, his truck after it had been bombed and others.  Quite an ordeal.  We want to help them, but I think they are helping us and teaching us so much.

With that, love from up here.