Say goodbye to August. Not Pat and Jen's 4-month-old, but the month. We actually saw them yesterday, down in Westerly RI, which is one reason why the letter is late.
No, say goodbye to the summer. How did that happen? It went by in a whirl. I wonder if we didn't pack it in, then it would go by slower. Hard to even remember that Annie and Sankar were here with us for a couple of those months. Seems like ancient history. But fun ancient history.
Speaking of Annie and Sankar, here's a little snippet from her latest missive: "Big news is last weekend we went wedding saree shopping. Sankar's Mom and aunt met us in the South Indian capital of silk, and especially silk sarees: Kanchipuram. Apparently, it was an auspicious day, at the start of wedding season, so there were about 1000 people in the shop. Everyone was seated on the floor in groups of 5-12, with an assigned shop attendant who unfolded and refolded what seemed like hundreds of sarees. Yes, I got mine for the reception and wedding - exciting. But we also got 20+ more. We spent four hours there (not to mention Sankar's mom who arrived two hours before us), and most of the time was spent picking out sarees for specific family members to wear to the wedding. The best part - there was a tea and samosa shop on the second floor." A photo is below.
The other big news is school started. We had almost hourly updates as Thomas started kindergarten, and John and Simon went to pre-school. There were some tears at the start of the day, and fatigue at the end of the day. I'm not sure if John was crying because he didn't have the language, or he missed his mother, or his backpack was almost as big as he was. His brother, though, even wanted to stay for after-school day care. Did he want to sleep there too?
One Dickson family opted to go south before their sons went back to school. Matthew and Tina headed to Orlando, which fortunately wasn't in the direct hurricane path, at least not Idalia. Maybe Hurricanes Donald and Everett. I can't help but ask, in relation to the photo here who was the goofiest. Looked like a lot of fun.
Margaret also had a vacation, but didn't go anywhere, so I guess it qualifies as a stay-cation. Sounds heavenly. Joe and Leonor continue their house-hunting, trying to squeeze in visits in between school drop-offs.
After not going to Tanglewood almost all summer, we crowded three visits in a week. To John Williams film night, Star Wars, and Jackson Browne. All three were terrific, the last one with the Super Blue Moon rising next to the big screens.
We too had kind of a stay-cation, but not planned. We were supposed to go up to Vermont for our by now annual visit to the "northeast kingdom," but a few days before Charlie (where we stay) wrote us with pictures of his home in North Carolina that had been demolished by a tree falling during a micro-burst. They had better things to do than go bike riding and maple ice cream eating.
Instead, we stayed home and played host to other Peace Corps friends who have a home in Michigan, on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, and on the western shore of Ireland. It was fun reconnecting, but we had nothing to do with the coup the day after our friends left here.
It was interesting that Gabon had so much news attention, likely due to the other coups in Niger and elsewhere in Africa. The electronic talking drum was busy that day with friends all exchanging news about the fraudulent election and military takeover hours after the winner was announced. One friend had presciently written the day before the election and said, "Wonder who's going to win?" I guess it was one election "victory" too many for the Bongo family. Except that it was a cousin of Bongo who is the general in charge now.
On our last trip to Washington, we went to the Independence Day reception hosted by the Gabonese Ambassador. He used to work at the Peace Corps office in Libreville, and he used his remarks to gush about Peace Corps and to say he was hopeful that Peace Corps would return there. Pretty sure that prospect is on hold.
Anyway, happy Labor Day to everyone, happy start of school and fall and football.
Love from up here.
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