Riding the wave

Where did June go?  In fact, I'm not even sure where May or April went, let alone June.  July promises to be action packed as well. 

I think the theme for this letter is riding.  Or at least the photos.

There's one of Thomas and John riding a horse, one of Simon riding on the bike, and one of Jeff and Melodie riding on a boat. 

Does anyone know where Wachapregue is?  Or better, does anyone even know how to pronounce it?  I guess we'll have to ask Jeff and Melodie because this is where the photo below is taken.  Anywhere near Chincoteague?  It doesn't look like they were camping on the beach.  Remember?

Covid continues to affect us. Or, to stick with the theme, we're still riding the Covid wave.  Margaret just wrote to say that someone in Simon's class just tested positive so they're having to shut down the day care.  Simon by the way got his first shot and was a big boy, no tears and even got a Happy Meal out of it.  (I got my fourth shot but no Happy Meal.  But also no bad reaction.)

And, we just heard from our British friends, the Locherys whose daughter is getting married this weekend.  Both she and her fiancé have Covid; he's through it now, but Katherine is still positive.  We are supposed to go to the wedding on Saturday.

We were also supposed to ride a pontoon boat on our lake for Father's Day with our Peace Corps friends, but when we woke up it was 49 degrees and windy.  Fortunately, the boat rental people didn't charge us as we had reserved the boat well in advance. (You wouldn't believe how many fathers like boats.)

The night before, it was just as cold but also rainy, and guess where we were?  Tanglewood, to hear Bonnie Raitt.  She was great, but as you can see it tested our endurance.  Not quite as much as Shackleton, but almost.

Annie rode on a plane to come out here the same weekend.  She had a meet-up with Hamilton friends in Monterrey (MA not CA) and she stayed here a couple of nights.  She had an adventurous flight out here, but figured out a new route that included a train ride and didn't miss her buddies.

And somewhere on Green Lake in Wisconsin, I suspect Andrew is steering a pontoon boat for his family, everyone except Daniel.  Claire came up to help open the camp near Green Lake where she has previously worked, and Bill and Jen and their family also rented a house on the lake for the week. 

Joe bought airplane tickets for this coming week, to come back for a few weeks with Thomas and John; unfortunately, Leonor can't make it, as she'll stay in Brazil with Luisa and return to work, her maternity days used up.

Here in the Berkshires, we've been bike riding and kayak riding, as the weather has warmed up, and we continue tutoring, hiking, and swimming. Mowing the lawn and weeding, but we've had lettuce, radishes and strawberries so far.  Mary won't like me saying this but she found out she is top ten in the world in the 200 breast stroke. How bout them apples?

Down in NJ we see Janet back to doing her audio description and Peter completed auditing a class on the Civil War.  They are heading out to Chicago in August for Johanna's graduation. 

And, in the birthday department, today is Leonor's big day.  Parabéns, chica. 

The next letter will probably have a dateline Mt. Springs on it.  Can't wait.

Love from up here.

Celebrate Good Times

It's just me and the kitty.  Mary's off at a retreat/escape/party with her homies for a few days, in a lakeside cabin in Hinsdale, not too far from here. Last year, the women offered to help out a high school friend by doing the flower beds at the cabin he rents out.  Scheming as they worked, they came up with the idea of a barter proposition.  They would put in the hours (actually quite a few) to make the place presentable in exchange for a week in the cabin.  So, here we are.  I should add, never did it occur to them to include their husbands.  Too much mansplaining, I guess. 

Meanwhile, the husbands will be going for a hike this morning, our regular weekly hike started during the pandemic.  I'll be able to mansplain my week last week.

I actually returned to work last week.  Yup.  Forty hours.  Or more.  Exhausting, but fun.  The National Trust for Historic Preservation offers tours (like AAA or Road Scholar) and they had one on the Berkshire Cottages. They needed a local study leader and voila!  That's right, I was the guy on the bus with the microphone.  "And on your left you will see King Cone, home of the world's largest soft-serve baby cone."  You can imagine where we went – Rockwell, Clark, Ventfort Hall, Naumkeag, MassMoca, Chesterwood, all the spots.  And of course Arrowhead.  A nice group of people from all over the country.  When we get to the Poconos, ask me about the one house I'd never heard of – Bunny Williams' house in Salisbury.

Speaking of the Poconos, I got a message from Sooz saying they would not be coming.  Janie has long Covid; she's getting better, but thought it best not to push herself.  Too bad and hope she gets fully better soon.
Looks like Davd and Paula had a pre-Poconos reunion with Jeff and Melodie with a visit to Seneca Lake.  Melodie posted on Facebook that she had a birthday, but didn't say which day.  Happy birthday.  Also in the celebrating category is David and Paula's anniversary.  And bearded Oliver had a birthday too. 

More celebrations in the Midwest.  Not the heat records, but Claire's Making a Difference Award at her school for her work with special needs children.  She joins the family queue of heroes working in that area.  Congrats, Claire.   And congrats to Elliot who graduated from kindergarten.  

Annie's changing coasts this weekend.  She's coming out here for what looks like the same thing Mary is doing, with her girlfriends, but she'll hang out here with her parents a few days.  She will escape before the Gabon crew arrives, as we'll be having a bit of a reunion this weekend with a few couples coming from as far away as San Francisco.  The attraction?  Bonnie Raitt at Tanglewood.

The babies in the family are growing so fast – Kiernan in Maryland and Luisa in Brazil.  Holding their heads up, sitting up, smiling, grabbing.  Can't wait to see them.  Big John has started potty training.  Look out.
We finally made it down to DC after our delayed by Covid visit.  Simon had been sick all week, and was just coming out of it.  I challenged Simon to a little one on one basketball; the first time I've played since I was 24, and I think the first time I ever won since Andrew was six years old.  You'll have to ask Margaret at the Poconos about her new job.

One final thought on the Poconos.  If the stock market goes down much farther, we'll be meeting up at Motel 6 next year.

I bought a flag yesterday, on Flag Day.  We've hung one for years on our garage, but it was too tattered last year to hang.  

And, did someone mention Father's Day?  No?   How about Juneteenth?  Looooong weekend.  

Enjoy!  And love from up here.