August highlights

Let's start out with congratulations to Johanna who finished her Master's degree work at Northwestern.  Peter and Janet flew out for the graduation, with Andrew and Lur also in attendance.  They got together with Bill and Jen and family for a barbecue to see their growing family.  Jen is all better from her bout with Lyme disease.

Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?  Or at least Margaret?  Three guesses.  No?  Norway., until yesterday.  Was she the first Dickson to go to Norway?  She was there for a week, with friends attending a wedding.  The original plan was for Andrew to go and us grandparents to watch Simon, but somewhere along the way that got changed.  The two men stranded in DC seemed to be enjoying themselves, at least from the perspective of Tiny Beans.

We see that Donald was attending and having a blast (at least from the perspective of Facebook) a summer camp. Wonderful. Also, from the same perspective, Peter and Janet were also having a blast hosting their grandson.  Jeff and Melodie were having a similar blast in the Shenandoah region.  Were they really spelunkers as well? 

They also posted a garden haul to be envied, at least by me.  The weather turned cold and dry last week, and we have still not gotten a red tomato, our cukes shriveled up, the groundhogs ate the zucchini plants and the blueberries are through.  Lots of green beans and second crops of lettuce and radishes in the ground.

Annie and Sankar are still on track for their travel plans.  Sankar is taking a leave of absence from work, and he sold his motorcycle, in anticipation of leaving the Bay Area.  Grandma would be happy, about the motorcycle (as if I needed to say that.)

Down in Brazil, life is getting back to normal.  Almost, as John has had his sleep patterns disrupted and is vying with his sister for most number of middle of the night wake-ups.  Speaking of Brazil, we bought our tickets for Thanksgiving.  So did Annie and Sankar, and so did Margaret and Andrew  (and Simon).

And, in Daytona, John and Marilyn have been under the weather, and not just the heat of Florida summers.  They have been battling Covid and a cold, respectively.

Two items of note came in the mail.  First, a collection of odds and ends from David, including buttons, old Christmas cards and report cards.  One read, "John is the finest human being I've ever encountered."  Okay, I exaggerate. Maybe it said something about studying harder and speaking up in class. The other were three drawings from Rell, of the Poconos.  Speaking of which, I'm still looking for pen and ink drawings of paintbrushes, garden chair under a tree, eyeglasses, the dump, leaf raking, garden, Mickey Mouse, etc.  Merci.

Here's a story I'm not particularly proud of.  Mary was pulling out of the vet's the other day, when a man in a truck behind her got out of his car and approached the driver's side window.  He held out his hand and showed her a cellphone that had been sitting on top of the trunk of her car.  It was mine.  I had inadvertently left it there, and she had driven at least ten miles with it on the back of her car.  She has since reserved a spot for me in the memory unit.

Speaking of memory units, turning 70 ain't so bad after all.  Mary graduated this week to an electric-assist bike, and loves it.  She cruised by me the other day on a hill, so maybe they're not just for the 70-plus age group.

Travel and visitors round out our two weeks.  We hosted friends who were in South Africa with us and down the road from us in Bethesda.  Highlight – Teo's hot dogs.  And then, we headed up to northern Vermont for our, now almost annual, retreat to Charlie's cabin on a lake.  In the process, the temperature dropped thirty degrees between Pittsfield and the northeast kingdom as they call it.  Highlight – Was it the two moose (picture below) we saw on our way to April's Maple, where they sell syrup and a soft serve called Maple Creamie.   Why are the highlights about food?

Hope your August is full of highlights.

Drama in July

The other day, someone asked me what I had been up to.  I didn't even know where to start.  The Poconos seemed to be a good place.  What a wonderful time.

We returned, and Mary got sick.  Bedridden sick, for three days before she went to the doctor who prescribed antibiotics.  And her biggest worry?  That she may have given it to others in the Poconos.  Hope not.

Then Joe's friend, Omar, from St. Andrews came for the weekend with his wife, and Mary rallied.  As soon as Omar left, Joe got sick, bed-ridden sick as well, until he went to the doctor's and they put him on antibiotics.  One small hitch.  He was supposed to leave the next day.  It was touch and go for a while, but he knew he had to get on the plane.  He rallied to pack and do his best to move in the right direction, lying in bed up to the minute we loaded the car. 

Travel these days is no fun, they say.  Joe is case in point.  We drive to JFK and he's checking the departure on his phone the whole way. Scheduled for 10pm. He's feeling a little better (thank you Mucinex and adrenalin) and as soon as they head off to security with John screaming because he can't pull his own suitcase, Joe gets a text message that the plane was delayed five hours. 

What could he do?  What could we do?  Then he calls us a little later and we're about an hour away on our way home to tell us the flight was delayed until 9am.  The team rallies.  He gets a hotel room nearby, Leonor starts working on the follow-on flight that they will miss, and Margaret orders diapers and milk through some DoorDash grocery app.  They get to the hotel about the time we get home.  Uggh.

We get a photo of the three guys the next morning on their way back to the airport – Thomas and John look fresh and raring to go, Joe looks like he's been through a ringer.  A ten-hour flight, with a two-hour layover to make the connection, after customs and immigration.  They did make it and arrived home safely and into the arms of their mother and wife..

How could I forget to mention the tree that fell on our house in the midst of all this?  Well, grazed it actually.  One of those micro-bursts that for three minutes had us running around the house shutting windows, but by the time we got to the second floor the huge maple limb had crashed down from our neighbor's property all the way across our peach tree and on to the side of the garage.

Besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

Anyway, all's well that ends well.  Maybe.  Joe and the boys are reunited with Leonor and Luisa, and their toys, and their pillows.  They were fresh and ready to go in time for Thomas' birthday on Friday, and a party at home on Saturday.  Kids are resilient.  Grandparents, I'm not so sure.

We're actually fired up and raring to go now as well.  We feel blessed to have so much full time with Joe, Thomas and John.  It's the only benefit to living so far from our children that when we see them it's all in, no two hour visit and we're off.

Returning to normal, it was all things Melville this weekend, the annual Melville birthday celebrations.  We went to a fund-raising "gala' and silent auction that was surprisingly fun. Yesterday, we read at the Moby Dick marathon, and our sections included references to Berkshire marble!  This morning we went on our annual Melville/Hawthorne hike to the top of Monument Mountain with a group of academic types who launched a little seminar at the top of the mountain. 

How could I forget birthdays?  Mary's birthday last Sunday was actually a little subdued since she still wasn't feeling that good.  Ice cream cake always works though.  We saw pictures in upstate New York of Donald's birthday.  These parties started on our last night in the Poconos and will end with Everett's party in a few days.

Hoping you all have had less drama but as much fun.  Love from up here.