While we were away

A lot can happen in a week. Last week at this moment, we were on a bus, winding through the streets of Oakland to get to a theater to watch Inside with William Dafoe (recommended.) Over the weekend, we went up to Point Reyes with Annie and Sankhar for a hike and lunch, and then off to a thrilling come-from-behind Warriors game.  On Sunday we twisted Annie and Sankhar's arms to take up back to a Thai Temple for their weekly outdoor buffet brunch – fabulous. 

We squeezed in two lunches, one with our Peace Corps friends out there (Ethiopian) and the next day with Jay and Marianne Dean at their yacht club. So fun to catch up with them, after 40 years. Jay is doing a lot of extensive Ancestry genealogy work, and is still working as a tech coordinator for Walmart. Marianne has an idea for a start-up to help people our age connect with employers – kind of a Linked In for Seniors.

We got home on Monday, or should I say Tuesday morning? We flew into Hartford, and then made our way to long-term parking around midnight.  No problem we thought, since we'll still be on west coast time. Then our car wouldn't start. No problem we thought, we're still on west coast time. By the time we got home, around 3am, it had become a problem. Except if we thought we were still on Hawaii time.

It dawned on us when we got home that we are the ultimate moochers, when we travel.  Gone 25 days and only five of those in a hotel. More generously, though, we like to spend our vacations with people – family and friends – and even in the case of one place in Hawaii (Dragonfly) with strangers. We did do our share of sightseeing – volcanoes, beaches, history of Hawaii museums, but the highlights were hanging out with everyone.

One other thing we came across were a few heroes, or good Samaritans. One man rescued us after our kayak tipped over in the ocean, near the Captain Cook monument. He stabilized the kayak while we lumbered back in, and then dove down to retrieve a couple of lost items on the ocean floor(about 12 feet deep).  Another was the employee at the Bradley Airport parking lot who hustled over and jump-started our car. And then there were those who picked us up at airports.  Thank you Annie, Madi and Dale, along with those who put us up, and who put up with us, as we tried not to overstay our welcome.  Maholo.

And, a lot can also happen in a month.  Especially birthdays.  First was Daniel at the beginning of the month, then Lur a few days later. David had his big day, leading the way for the rest of us, and we were able to talk to him – they have phone service in Hawaii.  And then Simon, turned 3. His birthday was more like a birthweekend. Looked like he was having fun. Hard to believe, but when you see how fast Luisa and Kiernan have grown over the first year, it does move fast.  Ask Lur about how fast Daniel has grown!!

And, a lot happened here while we were gone. That snowstorm I wrote about last time really left its mark. Even if most of the snow had melted, the damage to the yard was evident – three trees down and our beautiful hydrangea tree lost multiple limbs due to the weight of the snow and the plow managed to push not just snow, but a whole lot of gravel. On the upside, awaiting us in the mail was a card from Annie and Sankhar – their save-the-date, which I suspect has come your way as well.  (Forgot to mention earlier, we spent one evening in Hawaii on our phones, buying our tickets to Chennai. Yippee.)

A lot happened down in Daytona as well. John and Marilyn played host to Colleen and Laura and then Kara and her family came down to get away from the north.  They went on a cruise in the Caribbean, and were joined at the last minute by Colleen and Laura.

So, we're happy to be back to our schedules, routines, diets, and activities. But, it was great to have a break, a memorable one at that!

And the good news is we'll play hosts here to Annie, Margaret, Andrew, Simon, and hopefully Joe in a week's time. Love from over here.

 

 

Illinois news

Lots happening in March for the Flatlanders. Started with Dan's 25th birthday, which he spent a long day at work. Then, Lur and I attended a Christmas present concert from Claire, taking in a favorite old British band, Wishbone Ash. Dan got to see one of his favorite guitarists, Eric Johnson, with his buddy Satchel, courtesy of his parents.

We both had doctor visits, and although slowing down, we were both labelled "acceptable". But we are working on concerns and getting thousands of steps a day. Lur obviously more than I. Lur got in a reunion lunch with a college friend. My guess lots of laughter.

Talked with David on his big day. My comment to him, "you made it with plenty of years to spare. Good job!"

I had a nice lunch with a fraternity brother at the Grumpy Goat. John and Mary will remember our dinner there before the Tower of Power concert. I had my monthly breakfast with the church boys. 7:15AM. There's another whole world out there at that hour.

Truly enjoyed a quick trip up to Michigan to see Claire and her old high school classmate perform at the Ludington Arts Center. The Black Cat Ensemble. Quite a treat. They spent the day up at Claire's school helping out and mentoring Claire's students. It appeared to be quite a successful day. Her principal had rave reviews. The high school band got to perform too. (Photo below of Claire conducting!) And even better news. Claire will be here this week with "The Cat RBG". Yes, the famous one.

It was nice to shoot downtown to take Daniel out for his annual birthday dinner. He chose a super Italian restaurant. Very Italian. I kept my eye on the bathroom to see if Michael Corleone might come out. Impressive meal. But that's Chicago!

Baby Theo is pounding up a storm, and growing. Miles just finished his basketball season with Dad as his coach. Fun season, and plenty of highlights. Jen is doing well and they are starting to get some progress on the house repairs. Billy now sets his attention to softball season with Auden and Elliot. Should be fun. And, the tarp just came off the trampoline. Spring is here!

It is the end of March, and it is snowing. I checked some old weekly letters, and found out we aren't unique at these dates. Guess we'll have to wait. All our best. Love

Fwd: A Tale of Two Climates

It was either the worst or the best storm of the year, depending if you like snow. It certainly was the biggest, maybe since we moved to Pittsfield. Seventeen inches was the tally. And it looks as if David and Paula got some of this storm before sending it our way.

And where were we? In Hawaii. Not complaining mind you, but I am a little worried about the house. Big winds today and heavy wet snow means trees are down and power is out. We just don't know. At least we don't have to shovel. Absent photos of our cold, here's one of Tina enjoying the outdoors in her frigid neck of the woods.

And best to just be happy where we are. And, in fact, we are. Immensely. We arrived a week ago after stopping in Seattle for a few days to visit Foreign Service friends. We spent one night on Bainbridge Island and four on Capital Hill and took in many local sites and stops.

In Oahu we are staying with Peace Corps friends who are giving us a grand tour. All the places you've heard of but could never pronounce. Their house is a block from Kailua beach so you can imagine we've been spending much time there. The climate is wonderful, and they kind of live with one side of their house open to the outdoors.

We went down to Pearl Harbor on Sunday and before touring the museum there (quite sobering) we had coffee with Alden Kline Watts, her husband and two boys. (She's from the Kansas Shields side of the family.). He's a Captain in the Navy and they live on the base across the street from the museum. Alden was in the Peace Corps in Mauritania (gasp) and lived through the 2011 earthquake in Japan. We crammed in lots of stories with them.

Right now, we're on the big island, which I guess I had heard people talk about but never really understood. The last two nights we spent up in the volcano park.

The one word about this state is geography. Pretty spectacular forests, waterfalls, coastlines, mountains. Everything changes so dramatically, so quickly. Stunning.

Enough about us as there's a lot more news. First, Annie and Sankar have set their wedding dates. Hooray. Say it again, HOORAY. It's a three day affair from November 18-20. I'm so excited that I'm jumping the gun as Annie says the "save the dates" are in the mail. We're now focusing on plane tickets.

Next comes Kiernan's first birthday which also looked like it might have been a three day affair. Janet, Peter and Johanna were on hand to celebrate with Sean and Erin. Johanna was also celebrating a big promotion at work.

They did have some sad news as Dasha passed away. Very hard to lose a pet, especially one who was part of the family for so long.

Joe has finished up his assignment in Brazil, as he returned to take up his new job in DC, working on all things East Asia, meaning principally China. Leonor and the children will stay longer in Brazil so as not to move in the middle of school calendars. Sad time but also a new chapter to look forward to.

Across town, Margaret and Andrew are also trying to start a new chapter, one that has Simon reverting back to regular sleep patterns. Any ideas?

Out west, we see that Auden was taking part in a theater camp and enjoying it immensely Photo below

So, today is the Ides of March, and I think we're supposed to be are of something, but I can't for the life of me think of what this is. Something about staying away from Brutus. And snow shovels.

With that, wishing you all well. Love from way out here.