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