Dateline Washington DC

Down here in Simon's town for the weekend. We just saw him a couple of weeks ago but he has grown so much in such a short period of time. More words, more coordination, more memories.

It's also Margaret and Andrew's town. And Jeff and Melodie's. And Joe is in town too. He came up from Brazil this week for work. And we were all supposed to go to a Nationals game this evening. We'll see. I think the remnants of Ian may have a different idea. It seemed like a good idea a week ago.

It was easy to get tickets. Go figure. The Nationals have the second worst record in baseball. And they won the World Series just a couple of years ago. Looks like they finished the fight and then just gave up.

Speaking of Ian, John and Marilyn missed the brunt of the storm. They evacuated but a week earlier to England for a long-planned trip. (Haven't heard yet of their theatre or queen's funeral experiences.). They got back to Daytona just on the tail end of the storm, and the photo is the view from their front door. Luckily, no water inside. And lucky their flight home wasn't affected.

We hosted Annie and Sankar last week. Annie had come out for work on the east coast and Sankar is on his six month sabbatical. We took advantage of their visit to spend a night at the summit of Mt Greylock. Something we always wanted to do. There's an old CCC lodge up there and we enjoyed a talk on boreal forests, dinner, and a comfortable evening with a roaring fire in the large Pomfret-like fireplace. The room next to ours had two bunk beds. Hmm. I wonder who would like to sleep in the bunk beds. I get the top. We had gone for a walk on the mountain as well, hence the photo here. I also gave Sankar a quick tour of Shaker Village, but don't tell anyone it was after hours and we snuck on the grounds. I felt like a teenager again.

Other travel? Jeff went up to Fairport we learned when we sent birthday wishes to Paula.

Medical news from Illinois. Billy had his hip replaced. He's too young for that but you never know. Anyway, we hear the recovery is good and he'll soon be back running the 440 high hurdles.

And another birthday shout out to Paula and tomorrow to Johanna!

Here's a mystery. The critters attacking our garden I call groundhogs. Pop called them woodchucks. Huh? The final photo is from my sketchbook when I attempted a woodchuck. Just a long way to say I'm still accepting sketches of Pops Weekly Letter scenes.

Love from down here.

No brainers

It's quiet around here.  And not just in the house, as Simon and his parents went home last Sunday.  The whole town, the area is emptying out.  Summer must be over, and it's too early for fall foliage. 

Not too early to shut down the garden though.  I almost pulled up the beans a week ago, but with the rain, we're into a renewed bumper crop.  How does that happen?  We're also harvesting more tomatoes than ever, both cherries and big guys.  We have another day of canning coming up, but we've run out of jars.  Off to the hardware store.

We had a wonderful time with Simon and his parents.  Margaret's new job keeps her going at all hours it seems.  She was helping get papers ready for the Secretary's visit to Mexico earlier this week.  I remember those days.  Glad they're behind me.

Anyway, we did all the things mentioned in the last letter, and more.  Two days of rain hampered our ability to go outside, but did not deter Simon who just wanted to be outside, even in the rain, even in bare feet, even in his pjs.  Andrew got in a couple games of golf, and they all hit the rail trail, with Simon on the back of Andrew's bike and Margaret briskly walking.

Mary talked to her brother Timmy, who is leaving Montana and moving back to southern California.  He said there's nothing in Montana.  Of course.  That's the point.  He's more of a sunshine, warm weather guy.  Speaking of warm weather, John and Marilyn said they've had a string of 115 days of temperatures over 90 degrees.  I'll never complain about heat up here again.

Here's a story.  Of a desk.  A desk you all will remember.  Pop's roll-top desk.  Even though we think Andrew got the majority of stuff from Pomfret, somehow I ended up with the desk, and all the stuff inside.  There's three hole-punchers, a staple remover, two magnifying glasses, a drawer full of cuff links, buttons, matches, keys and coins.  And of course, I've added a few things to the numerous cubbies over the years.  But the wood stain was wearing off, the cubbies were cracking and bending, odd pieces of wood were floating around.  So, ten years ago when we moved in, I showed it to Paul, a local furniture restorer who quoted me $500 to fix it all up. I should have done it then.  Guess what?  When I showed it to him again this past June, he quoted me a price that must have approached Opie Adams quotes to fix up the Woodie. 

Anyway, we bit the bullet and weeks (months?) later, he finished.  He fixed it all up new, but then locked the roll top down so we couldn't open it up.  A locksmith had no luck either.  Paul and I look a risk and lifted the entire top up and dislodged the lock.  Phew. it's back in the study, looking and feeling much better.  Taking all the stuff out to give to Paul meant a golden opportunity to throw away, give away stuff.  Marie Condo I am not.  A lot of it ended up back in the desk for the next generation.

We had a long chat with the folks in Brazil, including some reading time for Thomas and John.  Fun.  Thomas has been battling an ear infection among other symptoms.  We have bought our tickets for Brazil, as have Annie and Margaret and their best friends.  Thanksgiving in Brazil, again. 

We see a couple of babies getting older and bigger on the Tinybeans feed.  Kiernan is sitting up and eating solids.  Still no Fluff yet, I imagine.  Luisa is super alert, and watching her older brothers intently.

School starts means that Claire is back with her musical bands, and Donald is entering third grade.  What?  We also see he got a trip to the concert hall for some classical music. 

Annie and Sankar are heading this way this weekend.  We were worried about the train strike as they had plans to head to the city on that mode. Crisis averted. Looking forward to seeing them. 

Finally, we are doing our bit for climate change.  Solar panels installed.  Using the finance option, it's a no-brainer.  We're paying the same in finance charges as our electric bill.  Like I said, no brainer.

With that, hope you're all well and enjoying the transition to a new season.

Love from up here.

Cabos and Owls and Paw Patrols

Simon's on his way.  With his mother and father.  I better write a letter, since before I know it, a whole week will have passed.  A week full of laughter and racing around the kitchen and playing in the yard and walks to the lake and excursions to playgrounds and Panera and don't forget the naps.  Or the Cocomelon.

The above paragraph is how I started the weekly letter yesterday.  As I was writing Simon pulled in the driveway, and here we are 24 hours later, and all, or almost all those things happened.  We also added a bike ride along the rail trail (for Andrew and Simon) and a dip in the lake.  Let's see how far I get this time.  (Interruption.  Simon just handed me a wheel that had fallen off his truck.  Thank you.)

But all you parents of young children know how that goes.  And we grandparents only vaguely remember the interruptions.

I wonder how many interruptions Bill and Jen had on their way to Los Cabos, Mexico with the whole family.  Loved their slide show that they posted on Facebook, and I've stolen two of the photo highlights. Looks like paradise. I would also note the very thick book that Miles was reading.  Could it have been Moby Dick?

They must have just got back in time for the start of school.  Summer's over.  Sigh.  But not so far gone that we aren't inundated with tomatoes, big and small.  Tonight it's gazpacho, courtesy of Andrew, and cherry tomato and corn salad.  We might become tomatoes.

We see that Jeff and Melodie also hit the road, or the skies, that is.  They headed up to Minnesota for a family week.  That meant Simon got to take care of Hopper.  Or was it the other way around?  Either way, Hopper must be a very patient dog.

And also on the travel list.  Don't spread this too loud, but Annie and Sankar are at Burning Man, right now.  Call me old-fashioned, but that is not on my bucket list.  It would have definitely have been tempting when I was their age though.

We had visitors both weekends in August.  Our Foreign Service mates who we walked the Camino with were here.  We got shut out of the John Williams 90^th birthday party at Tanglewood, since they were sold out.  Check out the Yo Yo Ma and James Taylor tribute on Youtube.  We did see Itzhak Perlman though in the morning for a rehearsal, and I have to say that I didn't detect any mistakes that needed rehearsing.  Marj and Lew were also here, and after going on an owl prowl in state forest, where we heard no owls, we saw a bald eagle at the restaurant on the lake where we ate the next night.  So much for nature.

The big news from the Boyle world is that Colleen retired.  Either she's too young.  Or I'm too old.

Other than that, when I look back at my calendar for the past two weeks, it is taken up with OLLI meetings.  That's a sign that I've taken on too much.  Mary's calendar is full of tutoring English to now four different recent immigrants.  One, though, is not so recent.  She's been living in this area for at least five years and doesn't speak a word of English. 

Made it to the end of the letter.  Mary's been watching Simon, following him outside, then back inside, then back outside, and coming back inside one more time.  Gripping.  But cute.

Hope you all are healthy and happy and feeling as fortunate as we do, every day.

Love from up here.