Tax day! My favorite day of the year. We always get a refund which means we are withholding too much. But I still like getting the refund. I know we should just save it, but somehow it never works out that way. By the time the refund comes, even, I have already figured out the multiple ways to spend it which usually add up to more than the refund. File this in either the "don't do as I do" folder, or the "who cares" folder.
I know, though, you do care about the warm weather we are enjoying. Spring is on its way. We have our spring job list which starts with raking the gravel off the driveway, starting tomato plants indoors, and then moves on to mulching and the annual brush burn. I can't figure out if it's worse for the environment to run a gas-powered chipper or to burn the brush.
Speaking of which, one way we have already spent our tax refund is adding solar panels to our garage roof this summer. No more electric bills. Not only helps climate change, but also helps defeat Russia (I think.)
We're famous. Kind of. This week we went to St. Anselm's College in Manchester NH to see an exhibit of art by Mary's friend, the Cistercian monk. We were walking around the room, and my eyes found writing in one of his paper-strip collages. When I looked closer, I saw Mary's handwriting – a return address from a card she had sent the artist. See if you can spot it in the attached photo. I think that counts as at least 2 seconds towards our 15 minutes of fame.
We had spent the night with Foreign Service friends who retired to Exeter NH. What a wonderful town. And wonderful friends.
Enough about us. Johanna was spotted out in the Midwest, checking in with Andrew and Lur on one of her grad school visits to Northwestern. When we called out there, we heard a lot of noise from Myles, Auden and Elliott who were spending the night with their grandparents, while their parents went to a concert.
Other travel. Annie and Sankar are right now in Hawaii, as Annie finally wore down Sankar who previously had no interest in going to that tropical paradise. Joe spent a week in Colombia, for work, while Leonor did her own version of work with three children, and help from her parents. When Joe got back, Leonor's parents headed off to the coastal state of Bahia with Thomas for a few nights. Pictures of that visit showed Thomas swimming, underwater!
More travel. The John Boyles were playing host to their children and grandchildren who headed south for spring break. A full house and most likely a fulsome amount of fun. And, we see the path from Pennington to Towson getting worn down from grandparent visits to young Kiernan.
Down in DC, Simon continues to branch out, from soccer to gardening and music classes.
On the birthday front, Peter's is next week, and then around the corner is Elliot's a week after that. Enjoy your days.
Life is good here. We are the Luckiest Generation. Mary and I have coined this new phrase to describe our generation (should we apply for trademark?). We could not claim to be the Greatest considering all our parents went through, and we admit that their greatness paved the way for our good fortune. Which leaves open the question, how is our luck paving the way for the next generation? Sigh.
Love from up here.
I know, though, you do care about the warm weather we are enjoying. Spring is on its way. We have our spring job list which starts with raking the gravel off the driveway, starting tomato plants indoors, and then moves on to mulching and the annual brush burn. I can't figure out if it's worse for the environment to run a gas-powered chipper or to burn the brush.
Speaking of which, one way we have already spent our tax refund is adding solar panels to our garage roof this summer. No more electric bills. Not only helps climate change, but also helps defeat Russia (I think.)
We're famous. Kind of. This week we went to St. Anselm's College in Manchester NH to see an exhibit of art by Mary's friend, the Cistercian monk. We were walking around the room, and my eyes found writing in one of his paper-strip collages. When I looked closer, I saw Mary's handwriting – a return address from a card she had sent the artist. See if you can spot it in the attached photo. I think that counts as at least 2 seconds towards our 15 minutes of fame.
We had spent the night with Foreign Service friends who retired to Exeter NH. What a wonderful town. And wonderful friends.
Enough about us. Johanna was spotted out in the Midwest, checking in with Andrew and Lur on one of her grad school visits to Northwestern. When we called out there, we heard a lot of noise from Myles, Auden and Elliott who were spending the night with their grandparents, while their parents went to a concert.
Other travel. Annie and Sankar are right now in Hawaii, as Annie finally wore down Sankar who previously had no interest in going to that tropical paradise. Joe spent a week in Colombia, for work, while Leonor did her own version of work with three children, and help from her parents. When Joe got back, Leonor's parents headed off to the coastal state of Bahia with Thomas for a few nights. Pictures of that visit showed Thomas swimming, underwater!
More travel. The John Boyles were playing host to their children and grandchildren who headed south for spring break. A full house and most likely a fulsome amount of fun. And, we see the path from Pennington to Towson getting worn down from grandparent visits to young Kiernan.
Down in DC, Simon continues to branch out, from soccer to gardening and music classes.
On the birthday front, Peter's is next week, and then around the corner is Elliot's a week after that. Enjoy your days.
Life is good here. We are the Luckiest Generation. Mary and I have coined this new phrase to describe our generation (should we apply for trademark?). We could not claim to be the Greatest considering all our parents went through, and we admit that their greatness paved the way for our good fortune. Which leaves open the question, how is our luck paving the way for the next generation? Sigh.
Love from up here.
