Hope Springs

Spring is here.  We had a fake-out couple of days, and the green stems of some flowers peeked through.  Then, wham, snow.  And, even in more temperate climes, where we traveled this week, it was cold and un-March-like.  But, as Pop would say, summer follows, but never soon enough, quoting Shakespeare almost each year about April being the cruelest month.

The big news for this letter was Simon's first soccer practice.  You may not think it's big news, but remember the photos of Tiger Woods' father and the future Masters' champ at age two?  They'll be showing photos of Simon stacking the orange cones when he scores the winning World Cup goal.  

Actually, the big news up here is the pool is closed.  Mary has been scrambling up to North Adams in the wee hours to find an open lane.  She's also been teaching English to a young Afghan woman who is making great progress and, in turn, is teaching us all about surviving and adapting.  

News from Chicago! "Lur and I used our Christmas gift of a celebration of Simon and Garfunkel downtown on Sunday afternoon. Quite a show, with great musicians and stories. And of course, bringing great memories.
On the way to the parking garage, we witnessed the Chicago version of Ukrainian protests. Thousands in Daley plaza. I was worried for a while if we were going to be able to leave the parking garage. Quite a sight. And on the way home, on the highway, many cars with Ukrainian flags.

I had lunch with a couple of college fraternity buddies. The two main topics were Medicare and hearing aids. The new normal?"

News on the next generation!  Judging from the photo here, it looks like Donald attended his first peace rally.  Peter and Janet jumped into the grandparenting game as they headed south to Baltimore to hold -and maybe never give back - Kiernan.  Then Aunt Johanna also made her way to Baltimore, before turning south for work, but finding time to check in on Simon, just days before his birthday.  He had a birthday week, with parties at school, with friends, with grandparents and maybe even with Barack and Michelle, for all we know.

 
And, Simon wasn't the only March baby in the family.  David's birthday fell yet again on the first day of spring, and I missed saying happy birthday to Lur in the last letter.  Compliments of the day and month to the March contingent.  Down in Brazil, Luisa passed a milestone of sorts, her first month, coinciding with her original March due date.  

News from out west.  Annie got a promotion!  Hooray.  She and Sankar went camping this past weekend, with the neighbors from their community housing, and it, too, was colder than it should have been.

  
More from Brazil, Joe has gone back to work, even sitting in on one of my lifelong learning classes to explain the sanctions imposed on Russia, to great acclaim by class participants.  Leonor's mother and step-father are still there, helping out.  Sounds like Baby John, who now goes by the name of Big John, is having some adjustments to his younger sister.

 
We spoke to John and Marilyn by phone and exchanged movie and tv recommendations.  We can't quite tear ourselves away from "All Things Bright and Beautiful."  It's such a hopeful show, which we all need.  

With that, love from up here.  

Time change

There's a lot of regular news to catch up on, since the last two letters were about stork arrivals.  And we start by hoping those arrivals are treating their parents well.  And will continue to do so for the next 20 years.  Or more.  Parenting never ends.

At least that's what Annie and Sankar found out, as Mary and I descended into their abode in Oakland over the course of two long weekends.  We packed it in, helped out by their suggestions for hiking, for Sunday brunch (at a Thai temple), and restaurants and craft beer and winery (Melody, you've been there).  They live in a co-housing complex of apartments, which works quite well, as we met the friendly owner and neighbors.  The second weekend, we arrived while they were away, for a skiing adventure at Lake Tahoe.  Annie said she had graduated to the blue trails, and Sankar sticks to the black diamond ones.  Yikes.  I never even got off the bunny trails.

Wedding update - Annie and Sankar filled us in on the latest on their wedding planning.  They are off to India in April for about a month where Annie will meet Sankar's family.

In between these two long weekends, Mary and I headed south, to Mexico.  Truth be told, we were a little reluctant, due to the pandemic and other priorities for our travel escapades.  And more truth, we are glad we went.  We spent a week in San Miguel de Allende, where our friend Valerie had rented a place for a few weeks and invited us to join her.  The occasion was her 85^th birthday, and all her other invitees had backed out.  More truth, we too had thought of backing out.  We're glad we didn't, and not just because she would have been alone.  We had fun.  A lot of it. 

When we lived in Mexico, we had frequently gone to this town, home to many expats, and arts and crafts and a beautiful plaza with battling mariachis at night.  Every corner reminded us of our previous stays; we had good food, and walked a lot, and it was t-shirt weather!  Before departing, we spent a couple of nights in Mexico City, where we saw some Mexican colleagues from the Embassy and had breakfast with our former Ambassador.  And the best part - no incidents, no robberies, no illnesses.  We even figured out how to get our Covid test before getting on the plane to come home.

Wait a minute – there was an incident.  It was the last flight from Newark to Albany where the turbulence had us both thinking that we were not going to make it.  Scary and unsettling.

We thought the daffodils would be up when we got back.  Not really, and there have been two snowstorms and two plows in the week we've been back.

Wonderful photos of the next generation included here.  Miles was, according to the objective grandfather, the star of his team – nothing but net.  Billy was the coach.

Does anyone remember where they were a month ago?  How could you not?  Super Bowl Sunday.  And, we're all happy (mostly Mary) that baseball season will be getting underway, after the strike was settled.  The Mets look pretty fierce this year, with Max Sherzer joining their rotation.

And, Sunday was another important milestone.  The clocks changed, which means spring is just around the corner.

So, it's back to our routines.  Happy to be home, happy to have gone away.  

Love from up here.  

And then there were eleven

Welcome Kiernan Benson Dickson

You were so comfortable inside you weren't sure about joining us. A week after the due date, Erin and Sean headed to the hospital where Erin was induced, encouraging Kieran to come see what it's all about. Five hours later, a little after noon on March 4, he emerged. He weighed in at 7 pounds 2 ounces. A healthy boy with a healthy but, I'm pretty sure, exhausted mother.

And then there were 11. In the next generation surpassing the total for the previous Dickson generation. I wouldn't even venture a bet on the total for the Byrne great grandchildren generation.

More fun at the Poconos. Lots of young boys running around. 

Congratulations Erin and Sean. And the world stops again.