February 29

Leap year. No, leap day. How many weekly letters have been datelined February 29?  (Anyone? Alexa? Siri?)

I had an idea. Leap day should be a holiday. It's an extra day, for the whole world. People could be encouraged to take advantage of this extra day and do something different, extraordinary, memorable. The possibilities are endless and hopeful. What have I done so far? Gone to the gym, city hall, the barber, the grocery store and the library. Sigh.

What's memorable and wasn't recognized in the last letter is a father-daughter dance, that Billy and Auden and Elliot went to. In the same category was Claire's trip to Disney World with her school band as winners of a competition to play there. We need more details on both of these events. Perhaps we'll hear more this summer at the Poconos, but can we wait that long?

But wait, there's more big news. Luisa had a birthday! She's two. Where did the time go? We're heading down to DC tomorrow for the party on Saturday. Singing happy birthday to Luisa is one of her favorite activities, and the added benefit was this time, it was actually her birthday.  Joe had to miss the actual day, as he had a work trip to Fiji. Yes, you read that right. Fiji. Forty hours to get there, and forty hours to get home. But he's back and Luisa won't know for a few years that birthdays are really just one day.

And there's still more news. Simon was in his first fashion show. His pre-school celebrated Black History Month with a fashion show, and Simon decided to go as Jackie Robinson. So, you mothers will appreciate how Margaret had little advance warning, but somehow a baseball uniform materialized and presto, Brooklyn Dodgers #42 walked the runway.

Hold your breath, because there's still more news. We bought a house! Yes you read that right. Our offer on the house next door, the one Mary grew up in, was accepted. Sadly, the house has deteriorated to the point where it cannot be saved. A home inspector came by and confirmed what we could really all see with our own eyes. Anyway, we close on April 30, and we'll add a half-acre to this property. It also means we are back in the dreaming mode about what can go there. Mary nixed the idea of a Trump Tower, but we're open to suggestions, on landscape ideas, on tiny houses, sheds, fences, orchard, carousel. One more thing to talk about at the Poconos.

Finally, if you think once every four years is a long wait, Annie writes of her return after a couple of weeks of travel: "We had to be back in Thanjavur in time for a once-in-12-year celebration called Kumbabishegam at Sankar's family's ancestral temples, meant to re-energize the idols. We woke up at 4am to don our sarees and dhotis so we could get to the temples by 6am. The ceremony includes lighting oil lamps at the top of temple statues, and one step cannot start until an eagle passes overhead. At the end, they pour water over the lamps and then spray that water into the crowd. We attended the ceremonies at three temples, then returned to all three to pray. All together, it took about seven hours, and man were we all ready for a nap by the end."

Finally, leap day means that Daniel has to wait one more day before his birthday. Happy day tomorrow! And right behind you are Lur and Kiernan! Lotsa cake.

That's all from up here.  Love

  

 

Groundhog Day

The forecast is for a couple of inches of snow tonight. We'll believe that when we see it. Earlier this week, we heard we were gonna get anything from 4-17 inches, replete with snow emergency texts, phone calls and emails. End result? Barely a dusting. It's never happened that the forecasters predict less snow than we get. Actually, I feel a little conflicted. There's something fun about the quiet, the blanket-of-white visuals, and the prospects of cross country skiing, but then again, no snow also means no shoveling, no plows, less gravel in the lawn this spring.

It looks like New Jersey got snow, though. Facebook had a snow day luncheon for Peter and Johanna. And it looks like Peter got new glasses!  Snow days might be one more casualty from Covid.  Now, there are fewer snow days, as employers can just ask for virtual work hours. I'm not sure it works for schools though, as Margaret reminds us that Simon has had snow days while she and Andrew are expected to work from home.  How does that work out?  I think I know.

No snow in Rochester, as it seems like there are fewer lake-effect storms. How about this picture of Donald and his new instrument? Impressive.

And no snow in India, where Annie and Sankhar have started their post wedding trip at last. They headed to the state and region of Kerala and sent us some beautiful photos of the river near where they were staying. One river photo showed a group of elephants on their opposite banking.

It was birthday central here this week. Mary had conspired to get friends to send cards so I was inundated. It was fun. A few even wrote a letter! It's not every day you turn seven-O-aaagh!

It was also Valentine's Day yesterday, which unfortunately fell on the same day as Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent. Since there was still a piece of birthday cake leftover, I unilaterally decided that birthdays trump Lenten fasting, but we both agreed that Valentines Day chocolates don't.

Big news up here. Our neighbor has moved, or is in the process of moving. This is the house that Mary grew up in, and has been in serious disrepair. The house is going on the market, and we fear he will be asking too much for it, above our budget. But we'll see. Anybody up for a painting party? Or a roofing party? Or a porch-ing party, window-party, mould-removal party, foundation-party, etc?

Both Andrews are in the news, at least the weekly letter news. Illinois Andrew continues his slow healing, definitely not fast enough. He hopes that things will improve by the end of the month. Maybe that's what the groundhog was predicting? Washington Andrew started a new job, with the Congressional Affairs office of the FDA. Good luck to you both.

A couple of movie recommendations. First, an old one. "Hector and the Search for Happiness" (fun) and "Poor Things" (odd, but it grew on me once I figured out what was going on.)  We saw the first one in Maine, where there was a couple of feet of snow on the ground, so we could legitimately put on our snowshoes. Not here, though, as our North Carolina friends came up to get in some cross-country skiing, but no luck, for the second year in a row.

I'm listening to my opera class as I write, and this week they're doing Il Trovatore. The female protagonist is named Leonor.  Actually, Leonora, but I keep hearing Leonor. Who, by the way, had a serious case of strep throat recently. Hope all is better. Joe says that Thomas is almost back to full use of his arm, which he broke in October.

How could I not mention Super Bowl Sunday, which has taken over from Christmas and Thanksgiving as our national holiday? We actually stayed up to watch the whole thing, praying that there wouldn't be a second overtime. It was nice to watch when you don't care. But I did have a question. Why did people hate Tom Brady, and none of that is directed at Patrick Mahomes? Today's mystery. I think I know; he's redirected that hate as skillfully as he redirects his passes, this time to Taylor Swift.

Anyway, hope everyone is healthy and happy …. And warm.

Love from up here. 

 

    

Groundhog Day

I'm channeling Pop tonight. Listening to opera (Wagner's The Flying Dutchman) while writing this letter. Actually, I signed up for an Introduction to Opera class, in order to try to understand what that Brooklyn, Depression boy saw in this form. Our first class featured several pieces that even I had heard of before.  Search for "Nessun Dorma" on your Spotify or YouTube and you'll recognize it.  And be moved by it.

Anyway, it's Groundhog Day, and we learn that there are just a couple of more weeks of winter, since there was no shadow.  Of course, he's only right about 39% of the time, according to NPR, but what's evidence to get in the way of a good story.

We had a first-ever winter occurrence here this week. We had a wet snow, 3-4 inches on Sunday night, and it clung to the branches, a beautiful sight that lasts too short. Except for this week. With no sun, no wind, and cold weather, the snow stay stuck on the branches all week long. Someone should write a song about the frosting on the Berkshires that seemed almost dreamlike, as seen from our backyard or even the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston.

We played host this week to Mary's Boston-era friend, Gerry Shannon, who came up from DC to remember the cold winters of her youth.  I often wonder when these two friends will run out of topics to talk about. If they were two men, it would have taken about 15 minutes. Anyway, we did fall into reminiscence mode, after a morning or cross-country skiing and snow-trekking which reminded us of a 1982 drive through a snowstorm with bald tires trying to find a place to go skiing. There were doughnuts, but not the eating variety, the spin around the road kind. Scary.

Illness still seems to be the curse of winter, and not just here. Mary and I traded colds and stomach bugs, and then she hurt her back. Down in DC, the Joe Dicksons have had strep, ear infections and colds, as well as the Margaret Dicksons. That didn't stop them from getting together last Sunday with Jeff and Melodie to watch the football games. My two teams lost, and now we have a Super Bowl, that I'm not really interested in. Where's Tom Brady when you need him? It was tough to watch Mahomes and Kelce break Brady and Gronk's playoff TD record.

We see Kiernan expertly manipulating a spoon and a drinking cup!  No spills. And Luisa was putting together jigsaw puzzles. Simon assembled a Lego vehicle, and Thomas had a chess outing. Where did they get these talents? We also see Everett carefully checking out an owl.

No snow in India, but more holidays.  Here's Annie's description of "a famous Carnatic music festival called Thyagaraja Aradhana in Thiruvaiyaru dedicated to Saint Thyagaraja, a composer of Carnatic music. I'm told it's one of the largest music festivals in India -- around 20,000 people attended. We went to two of the five days, and scored VIP passes through a friend who joined us. The last day is pretty epic. For this day, they clear out a large area in the audience, stretching from the center of the stage to the very back of the tent, where musicians sit on the ground with the audience on either side. At one end sit percussion and wind instruments, at the other, the flutes and violins. The singers take up the middle. Yes, I did take a few cat naps, but still, it was very cool." Looks like Annie was also channeling Pop, who admitted he rarely made it to the final act in the operas he loved.

Down in Florida, John and Marilyn just got back from a cruise around the Caribbean. They have graciously offered to play hosts for our planned road trip in April down south. Thank you!

Out Illinois way, the patient continues to make slow progress. If you want to know how tough it is, he was prepping himself for a walk in the driveway this week. What we take for granted. 

 Love from out here!