So long, farewell

Here we are. End of another year. Where did it go?

We know. The same place 2023 will have gone with all its surprises and changes and even sameness.

Writing this from our nation's capital which was our plan B. Plan A was for Margaret and Andrew to spend this past week in Pittsfield but guess what? We both had a Christmas Eve surprise. Positive Covid tests. I guess we had been naughty. So we retreated into isolation/quarantine/hibernation for the week. Then we hit the road and came down here for a rockin New Years celebration. We had to come see Simon's new haircut.

We managed to spend part of the week together, at least virtually. We did a WhatsApp video call on Joe's birthday as he turned 40. They had gone off to a quiet lake for the day. Lots of photos celebrating the big day.

Annie, as we write, is somewhere in Mexico, having avoided the airline cancellations she surely would have encountered with her Plan A which was to come to Pittsfield for Christmas. Instead, she went back to Brazil where she and Sankar had a couple of weeks at different beach places. Hence the surfing.

John and Marilyn were not so lucky. Their flight from Albany, back to Daytona was canceled. Johnny hustled to arrange a rental car and they drive back, hitting all kinds of traffic in the way back. Part of our Plan A was to spend Christmas Eve with them but that was canceled too.

The weather wreaked havoc out in the Midwest as a pipe burst in Bill and Jen's house and spilled out onto their first floor. A few days away and repairs and they're back home. Dan and Claire were able to get home before the worst of the storm. The photo here is borrowed from Facebook and a culinary group Claire belongs to.

Rochester got hit hard too but not as bad as their neighboring city Buffalo. Hard to imagine, that much snow. And not too much that Everett couldn't try his luck on ice skates.

And, Kiernan spent part of Christmas with his grandparents, from what we saw on Facebook.

Update on our tree saga. We managed to get the tree in the house, with a little help from the snow and a sled to the screened in porch, and then onto a Home Depot rolling cart into the living room. Decorated and celebrated. And now it's back in the porch awaiting transfer to its new site. The promised thaw and rain this week means it might even find its way to its pre-Christmas dug hole. More later.

We were just reviewing resolutions for the coming year. Got any? Ours had to do with healthier living, decluttering, and even a dry January. All sound good, even do-ably realistic. We'll keep you updated. (May be easier now that they're committed to writing.)

And that's all for this year. Auf Wiedersehen

Beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

So winter did come after all.  But, why did we have to be on the Mass Pike when it decided to rear its ugliest head, with a splash of slush across the windshield from a truck, on a bridge?  Visibility to zero, until Mary reminded me, not so calmly, to turn on the wiper blades.

We were coming home from a swim meet in Worcester. You all remember that place, right?  Expeditions to Spag's, cheap gas, and donut shops come immediately to mind.  This time it was the New England Masters Meet, and since Mary no tiene abuela, I'll fill in by telling you she did very well.  Unsurprising, placing in the nine events she swam in, but you all know that already, how hard she works at it.  I should add that her whole team also did well. 

And the next day, from the pool to the woods. We dropped all our plans and went out snowshoeing.  Winter wonderland. Our annual selfie with the snow on the house. This year with solar panels on the garage which presented one small problem. The snow slid off the panels before the rest of the roof, but guess where?  Right on the path to the front door that I had already shoveled.  So two more attempts at clearing the path, and this looks like my future - triple shoveling.  Anyway, the solar was turned on today!  Take that Putin. 

Not sure he cares, but maybe Thomas will, along with his brother and sister and cousin. We spoke with Joe and Leonor for the first time since they had gotten their lives and routines back. Joe let us know he has a new job at Treasury, working on East Asia, but it means he will be coming back to DC a little earlier, perhaps sometime this spring. They have much to figure out, schedules and housing, but let me not add to that stress.  Congratulations Joe, and it'll be nice to have you all closer. 

News from out west included Annie seeing Jeff and Melodie on what might be their yearly trip, for work, and then for fun, to the Bay Area.  You saw the photos on Facebook. Looks more like fun than work, but then who posts photos of work on Facebook?  I should add that Annie is also looking to move in the spring, leaving the west coast for points to be determined.

And down in DC, Simon met Santa.  And, by all appearances, he kind of liked the old guy, and Mrs. Claus. Of course, he's been a good boy after all. Margaret had fun stories to tell of her work, especially the day of the attempted self-coup in Peru, our old stomping ground. 

In the Midwest, Claire and Daniel were home for Thanksgiving, and we hear that Jen is also moving along quite well in her pregnancy.  Due date, January.  All three kids are excited about another sibling, but only Eliott may not know all that that entails. 

We spoke with John and Marilyn who told us of their first walk on the Daytona beach since the hurricane – and the devastation there. All along the beach, they saw houses destroyed, the shifted beach, and even swimming pools unearthed.  This, in Daytona, that no one hears about because it must have been so much worse on the other side of the state.

This time of year is also time for family photos, and we pass along two from upstate New York and Brazil (Luisa was home.) 

There was another photo of a family member of sorts – Dasha turned 14 this week. How old is that in people years?

Finally, a cautionary tale.  Don't ever accuse me of thinking everything through.  Case in point, Christmas tree. I've been wanting to have a live tree ever since we moved up here. I kind of remember we used to do that in Cincinnati, or was it New Jersey? Anyway, this year, we both agreed to give it a go. We kind of knew it wouldn't be as tall as the sawed-off versions, but we/I overlooked that it just might be a little heavier.  So, now we're confronted on how to get it into the house.  I did manage to remove it from the car, but it sits in the garage now.  Should we decorate it out there and put presents under it?  I still have to get it over to the hole dug, before it snowed and the ground froze.  Either way, you can count on an update in the next letter. 

So, this may be last letter before Christmas, so we wish you the merriest Christmas ever.

Love from up here.