Happy Valentine's Day

Attention all men in the family.  One week to go.  Plan now.  This is the one holiday you can't count on the ladies to do the shopping for you. 
 
Just a little subtle warning.  And if we do forget, have a great day ladies - we love you!!  (Even though we know that doesn't get us off the hook.)
 
We are looking forward to next weekend, which is a long one for us.  We'll be heading towards colder climes; we're going north to Pittsfield and Margaret will be going to Chicago, where Joe already is with his UK friend.  And then, we'll count down to the spring.  Here, anyway.  We are hearing horror winter stories from Chicago, Rochester and Utica, not to mention Pittsfield.  It was on one of those cold February days, 30 years ago, that Mary's father passed away.
 
And this week, when I was in Tegucigalpa (Honduras) people were complaining about the cold snap, where the temperature got down to 65 at night.  I heard on person say his house was 64.  Hmmm.  So is mine, all winter long.
 
Anyway, took a quick trip to Panama and Honduras this week and saw all the wonderful things your tax dollars are doing for us.  Sriously, we do great work, on exchanges and English teaching for very small amounts of money.  And if you don't believe me, then read Friday's NYT where there's an article on our English teaching programs in Egypt.  Certainly better than the money spent on the 25 person congressional delegation in the middle of stimulus debates back in DC. 
 
In Panama, I joined 5 former big leaguers at a baseball clinic for disadvantaged youth.  Wonderful messages of family and discipline and fun from these physcially big and big-hearted guys - Sherman Obando, Kenny Maldonado, Omar Moreno, and others.  And they call it work. 
 
And it was nice to see Obama fever from far away.  Everyone has it, and hopes are sky high.  It will be hard to maintain.
 
Back here, hopes are high at Meadow Lake, as Grandma moved back into her apartment.  It sounds like the physical therapy has been very helpful.
 
Hopes are also high in Pittsfield area, as Colleen's dog had a litter of 12 puppies.  We're hoping for a picture.
 
We heard from Annie who is getting ready for both graduation and what comes after.  She is joining the ranks of lots of job applicants.  Never too early.
 
Mary had a busy week at work, using the time she had free from taking care of her number one special ed case (me) to get lots done.  She and Margaret went to see the Benjamin Buttons movie, but were not that impressed. Speaking of movies, no one commented on my list of top ten movies of all time (last entry's comment.) 
 
And then there was the Super Bowl.  I caught the last quarter only, which was great.  After the game, I surfed the channels at the hotel in Panama and saw people celebrating in the street.  Wow, I thought Pittsburgh has fans all the way down here?  In fact, they were celebrating Panama's first victory ever in international soccer championship. 
 
All for now.  Love from down here.

Hit the Road

One more time to get the tickets and passport and head to the airport.  Tomorrow for Panama and then from there to Honduras.  But, wait, tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday.  That did give me pause, but then reality kicked in and remembered it was just a game, not a holiday, like Thanksgiving.  And if I could travel on my birthday, then surely Super Bowl Sunday wouldn't matter.  Or would it.  The first time I missed Super Bowl since South Africa days.
 
This week was a week of cold and sickness.  Mary had two days off because of snow and ice, and then she even got a delayed opening the third day.  We actually did get snow, even if we lacked the Chicago toughness that our new President teased this week.  And, by Washington standards it even stayed around a little.  By the weather map, though, it was pretty evident that everyone else in Illinois, NY, NJ, Mass and CT had worse snow than we did. 
 
We spoke with Grandma a few times.  She's hoping to get back to her apartment this coming week, and seems to have been making good strides in physical therapy.  Good news all the way around.
 
Joe is taking an extended vacation this week with a friend from St. Andrews coming over to visit.  He will give his friend a U.S. introduction by hosting a Super Bowl party.  They had been planning a road trip, but not sure where they're heading.
 
Our social calendar this week included a great movie and new to our top ten list of all time (Slumdog Millionaire.)  We went to a Peru restaurant with a scientist friend and colleague and we are finishing up the second season of the Wire.
 
Love from down here.

Cold but inspired

We love it when a plan works out.  The radio at 5:30 said the Metro parking was filling up and there were delays already.  Still we made it.  We go tot Joe's around 8:15 and then walked to the Mall area with him and his friend Simon.  The closest we could get at 9:30 was the Washington monument.  We turned towards the Lincoln Memorial and ended up watching the jumbotron with the Lincoln Memorial in our background.

We saw what you saw.  But seeing it with so many others, cheering, flag-waving, screaming people was fun and unique.  Lots of young people; the hawkers made a ton of money; way too much security; but freezing cold.  We did all right as long as we were walking; for the 90 minutes we stood, we lost feelig in our feet, faces and fingers. 

We hope Jeff and Melodie had good seats.  Got a picture? 

And, to top off the great day, we got home in time for a nap!  No change there.  Love

A NJ photo

Here we are pass protecting for Grandma. We don't look that fierce, but we prevented any nurses from getting close to the patient!

Inauguration Central

Welcome to PWL Blog inauguration central!  For all the latest news, keep your browser book-marked to this site.

Maybe not latest, as we will update maybe once a week and as we missed the concert yesterday.  We understand Jeffrey and Melodie won the office  lottery and have tickets for the inauguration, so they may the best vantage point, except for the really smart ones among you, who will watch from the warmth and comfort of your home or office.

Mary and John drove up to Hightstown yesterday to see Grandma, back in Meadow Lakes, but in the health care section, ready to do physical therapy.  She is still short of breath and trying to figure out what's been happening.  None of the tests came back conclusive, other than ruling out the worst case scenarios.  We flipped back and forth between football and CNN, awaiting the speech and trying to see any music, but that was blocked by HBO which had exclusive access.  So much for the people's concert.

Anyway, Peter, Janet and Johanna came over and visited as well.  Peter had helped Mom move back in Saturday, and Janet has also been dealing with her father's health issues, as he apparently had a mini-stroke (is that what they call a TIA?) last week.  Peter had to go back to grade finals.  Uggh.

Saturday, Mary and John went down to the mall for a little advance scouting work.  It was Ottawa-type cold, but not in the American Indian museum where one of John's colleagues ffrom work was dancing in a Hawaiian group during the Smithsonian's multi-cultural festival.  We then headed across the mall to see the preparations, and saw lots of people, lots of hawkers selling Obama trinkets (we got a bobble-head doll), and lots of port-o-potties lined up along the mall.  We stopped by the MSNBC booth and then went over to the recently renovated American History Museum, where we ran into Abraham Lincoln.  And Jon Bon Jovi.  No kidding.  The former was an actor (duh) and the latter was getting a tour with his family, while they were waiting for the concert the next day.

We stopped by Joe's on the way home and mapped out our strategy/game plan for Tuesday.  We'll tell you how it worked out.

Margaret had gone to Pittsfield with friends and they did ice fishing and sledding.  Her friend's dog helped out by killing a possum that had built its home under the porch.  There's a new sheriff in town.

Annie departed back for her final semester of college early Saturday morning, getting a ride with her friend Anthony who had driven down Friday.

Rounding out the week were our social events: the next generation brunch with Jeffrey and Melodie and dinner with Mary's friends Gerry and Dennis.  

It's history down here.  And it's hard not to get swept up into the excitement.  Love

A New Year

Welcome 2009. Margaret and Annie just headed out to pick up Joe and then go to a brunch with Jeffrey and Melodie. A brunch that starts at 1pm, I might add. And we're already well on our way in this new year.

Unfortunately Grandma didn't see the new year in as well. Mary and John stopped by and saw her coming back from Pittsfield. The next day, she had some chest pains and ended up in the emergency room at Princeton hospital, with first thoughts on a heart attack. Now, not so sure, but she is still in the hospital and having a tough time breathing. She will have a test tomorrow to determine a spot in her lung. The doctors think it might be a TB type cough which is treatable. And, which means she'll be back on her feet and playing touch football soon enough.

We had a very nice break away. First we stopped by to see Grandma on the day after Christmas and we went to Charlie Brown's. Now John can't complain that he never gets to go there. Saturday morning, we headed into NYC and, as soon as we checked in, we headed over to the 1/2 price tickets. We had a little bit of a scare as Annie and Margaret who were coming later in the day, got caught in a horrendous traffic jam, and we barely made the play - Avenue Q, kind of a grown-up Sesame Street, cute and funny and a little edgy. Fun, I think.

The next day we went for a walk. From Little Italy through Chinatown and then to a new neighborhood for us - Seaport. We headed back to midtown to watch the Patriots football game and then Sean joined us for Joe's birthday celebration. We also came upon a pro-Palestine demonstration where one participant lectured/shouted at John for a a few minutes. Passions are high.

We then went to Pittsfield and started our research into the history of the house, in order to get a waiver to demolish the two additions. We learned a lot, and there's a lot more to do, but we think we have traced the house back to its original owners, having found maps and deeds showing Mary's great grandfather purchasing the property in 1882.

Our friend from Peace Corps, Cliff and his wife Sheila, joined us for New Years. We went skiing one day and saw John and Marilyn a couple of times. They had just come back from a cruise to South America where they weaved their way through the cold straits of Magellan at the very tip of the continent.

And now we're home. And the house is finally cleaned up and we're back to work. We had a birthday party for Margaret on Friday and hope that they wish Jeffrey a Happy Birthday who celebrated his big day on Wednesday.

It looks like snow everywhere, but here - New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois. We got a lot of rain.

So let's wish Grandma a speedy recovery. Love from down here.

Happy New Year!!

Happy 2009!

Here's praying that the new year brings us health, peace and a better economic outlook!

An eventful Christmas holiday this year. On Wednesday, December 24, Peter and I joined Grandma at Lessons and Carols at Meadow Lakes. Wonderful service. Lots of singing and bible readings. Johanna and Sean joined us for dinner, which was really tasty! It was also a treat to see my good friend Liz Read at dinner. Her parents, Jim and Peg Read also live at ML, and are friends of Grandma's.

On Thursday morning, Peter went over to Meadow Lakes and brought Grandma back to our house, where we opened presents and Janet cooked her usual Christmas brunch - eggs benedict. Actually got the timing down this year! Grandma was sadly not up to joining us in South Orange (or to go to ethesda), so Peter brought her back to Meadow Lakes, as we prepared to join my brother and his family for a Christmas feast. My dad was able to come with us and we had a wonderful time with my brother, sister-in-law, one nephew, two nieces, one nephew-in-law, one niece-in-law, and five little grand nieces and nephews. Can you repeat that? Without looking?

On Saturday, my niece Geren and her husband Dave had their younger daughter Lindsay baptized. Another party! It was great to see other relatives and old friends that we hadn't seen in awhile. Including Johanna's immediate boss, Bernie Davis. Bernie's parents are Geren's
godarents, and Bernie is one of my nephew Damien's best friends. All in the family! Speaking of Johanna, and Bernie... Johanna will start working full time on Monday. She has done a spectacular job and has increased their business big time.

We, who never have much to do, it seems, then went to another party that night, given by the woman with whom Peter teaches at Princeton. She's the professor. Johanna used to and still occasionally does, babysit for them. A great day, but exhausting.

And so to the sort of down side. I had oral surgery on Monday morning to clean out an infection in an old, old, old, root canal. I mean, I was in my 20's when it was done and now I'm, uh, 50 something? Absolutely no pain, mainly because they put me to sleep. I went home with two
prescriptions for antibiotics - one I take three times a day, the other one time a day. I not only can't drink alcohol with the one med, I can't even have it on my skin. No perfume, no hair spray (a big one for me), only certain hand creams, no hand sanitizers. The pharmacist told me that I would get very ill. No problem. I have been an exemplary patient.

We weren't doing anything special on New Year's Eve, so Johanna and I had a special day. We went to see three movies - "The Tale of Despereaux," which was from a book written by a very popular YA author (we have the book in our library). Such a darling film. Then on to "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," extremely well acted, engaging, but very sad. And finally, "Marley and Me," a great film to end our day with. Wonderful, wonderful, especially for anyone who has ever owned a pet. Not a dry eye in the house.

And today we are traveling on this lovely winter day (18 degrees so far) to NYC to have dinner with Sean and Amanda. Brr! But the company will keep us warm!

The best of everything to all of you for 2009!