Halloween!!

Some of you may have noticed that Pop's Weekly Letter has a decided "Lake Wobegone" effect, where "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."  I thought it was something I just made up, but there is actually a psychological syndrome called that: "The Lake Wobegon effect is the human tendency to overestimate one's achievements and capabilities in relation to others."  So, I've decided to create another blog called, "Not for the Weekly Letter," and there will be just one reader – me.  When I get permission from the appropriate person, then I will move it from that blog into the regular letter. 

So, the first item to move over, comes from the Midwest, where Bill and Jen gave me permission to announce that they are going to have another baby.  Jen is due in January, and when we saw her, she was just beginning to show a little bump.  Congratulations.

There's another syndrome, we found out about when we lived in Mexico.  It's called "no tiene abuela," which means "doesn't have a grandmother."  It refers to people who boast too much.  It recently occurred to me that my only grandmother passed away when I was six, so in fact, maybe I suffer from "no tiene abuela."  Fortunately, all the next generation do have abuelas, so we can brag about them all the time, and they just so happen to all be above average.

Cases in point – we had several performances in Andrew and Lur's home, by Auden and Elliot, singing and dancing, with Miles doing cameo comedic appearances in comedic nose, moustache, beard and glasses.  Talented, happy group.

In New York, we saw photos of young Donald at the symphony, loving every minute of it.  Like his namesake, but the younger version stayed awake!  And, he and Everett looked like they thoroughly enjoyed their weekend camping in a yurt!

In DC, Simon at first had nothing to do with his Halloween costume, opting for his pjs, until school day, when he climbed in his pumpkin(?) suit?

In Baltimore, Kiernan braved his way through vaccine shots, without a whimper. 

In Brazil, Luisa is sitting up, all by herself.  And, of course, smiling.  Poor John continues to have his health issues with foot and mouth disease, and once cured of that, got laryngitis.  Thomas is taking and loving ballet.

Convinced?  Yes, they have abuelas.  And abuelos, even.

Other than that, we had a wonderful continuation to our trip after the high school reunion in Indian Hill.  We went to church in Indian Hill, where they had an outdoor service (beautiful, sunny, fall day) featuring a "Kirkin' of the Tartan."  Kind of a blessing of the Scottish plaids and clans.  Nice tradition.

Off to Chicago, for three days in Dundee with highlights being the visit by Billy and Jen and crew, dinner with Daniel in Chicago and a slide show, successfully dusting off the old projector and carousels.  Should I add that many of the slides were put in upside down.  Challenging but still fun.

Off to Fairport, by way of Lorraine Ohio, picked out on a map.  It looked interesting but is definitely one for the miss-able category.  Depressed area, but not as bad as Gary Indiana which we passed through on the way to Chicago.  Anyway, in Fairport, we watched a little baseball, had a nice dinner out (thank you very much), chatted mucho, and admired David's woodworking and gardening.  After a leisurely breakfast we headed home to greet Mary's friend Gerry for the weekend. 

Phew.  A great road trip, all in all.

Finally, Andrew said that the next weekly letter will be just photos, and he's almost right.  There were too many to include, but still I couldn't resist all that are below.  (You'll have to guess who the Dia de los Muertos lady is.)        

 Love from up here.