No turning back!

This morning I wrote to our contractor asking him if he got the fax I sent last week, giving him the final go-ahead to start.  All he wrote back was YES.
 
This afternoon, we got photos from Johnny showing they had indeed started, and the two additions that were falling down are now down.  Permanently.
 
I'm excited.  Mary's nervous and scared.  Maybe it's the same emotion.
 
Anyway, we'll see for ourselves this weekend when we go up. 
 
We forgot to tell the contractor that we need to get into the basement, but that door is now boarded up, since the only way to get to it previously was through the now torn-down kitchen.  Can't think of everything.

Love from down here
 
 

Iraq

Margaret's home.  Yeah!  Sounds like she had a memorable visit.  She said people were very nice, delighted to see her there and ready for her to come back (except her parents!)  She had gone over as part of a project to train educational advisors for Iraqis who would help students who are interested in studying at U.S. universities.

I hope she will write something for you all.  She was in northern Iraq - Kurdistan -and there were terrible incidents of violence while she was there, in Baghdad and in Kurdistan as well.  Everyone she met had had some terrible ordeal.  Anyway, we're glad she's home and I don't want to pre-empt anything she will write.  One of the photos here is of the Citidel in Erbil, the town where she was staying.  It is the oldest continuous lived-in city in the world.  The world.

Joe came out this morning for brunch and we started planning our summer trip out west.  He bought a return ticket from Denver on July 23, so we know that date anyway.

We expect Annie to be home within a day or two.  She had called on Mothers Day and sounded like she was having an amazing trip as well.

Sean came down and spent the night with us this past week, in anticipation of a job interview here in Bethesda.  Hope it went well Sean.  And then he hustled back home for his birthday celebration!  He must be getting close to being 14, right?

We got news that our contractor is going to start on our Pittsfield renovation any moment from now.  Keeping our fingers crossed.

We also went to talk to a financial advisor and he advised me not to retire.  Too late for that.  So it looks as if I may have to do some part-time work for a while.  Who knows?  The sermon today at our church touched on retirement, and the minister remembered a mentor who retired and went to a new home which he called "Meanwhile".  Nice name but I like the name for 5 Hancock Rd better:  "Everywhere you look"

Two more weeks.

Did you all have beautiful weather this weekend like we did?  That meant chores, including my favorite annual job:  cleaning the gutters.  Joe held the ladder for me.

Mary went to a rug-braiding class this weekend near Philadelphia this weekend, and stayed with Grandma on Friday night.  Thank you Grandma!

Did anyone notice?  The Reds are in first place tonight.  

Even if you didn't notice, have a great week ahead.  Love from down here

May Days

We just pulled up to the curb (since there is no driveway) from a night in Pennington/Hightstown where we saw Grandma, David and Paula, Peter and Janet.  Mary said we really only got to Hightstown 26 hours ago.  It seemed longer as we had a lot of chat and eating and then start all over again.

Grandma looks good, healthy and alert, and eager to know all the news about her grandchildren.  Who are, by the way, all doing well, on all sides.

David and Paula had driven down from Rochester, combining meetings in NYC, New Haven and Flemington with a stay in Hightstown.  We ordered out and had way too much food; Mary got a sixteen piece pizza when she normally eats 3 pieces.  She ate all of it this time, just to show us she could.  

Peter and Janet had gone into NYC for Prairie Home Companion, tickets for which Peter had gotten for his birthday.  They met up with Johanna, Sean and Amanda after the show, and ran into a big police barricade.  The next morning, they found out it was an attempted bomb, not too far away from their theater!  

We stayed with Peter and Janet (thank you very much!), but didn't see them until the next morning.  Nor did we see that night all the signs of a recent big birthday around the house - messages and balloons.  Looks like it was a grand time.  We had a slow breakfast with them and caught up on school and politics and work and summer plans.

Speaking of which, we decided to follow Horace Greeley's advice and start John's retirement by going west "old man."  We're toying with tracing the Lewis and Clark route, in the comfort of our air conditioned SUV.  Joe had talked about taking some time off and heading to Montana as well, so we'll have to see if we can get our schedules working.  Anyone else?  We sent away for some literature and are starting our planning/dreaming.

This week, it's travel.  Annie's first, leaving for ten days of vacation in China.  Then Margaret is going to Iraq, for a meeting and conference of sorts with her new job.  

We also got finally good news from our contractor, and he is in possession of all the building permits needed to start our long-awaited renovation.  Looks like it will finally happen.

Feels like summer outside with temperatures in the 90s.  Only four more months of this.  Love it.

Best to you all. Next Sunday is Mother's Day! Happy days!
 
(Oh and by the way, Mary only ate three pieces.)

Six Oh!

I had a wonderful birthday weekend, with balloons, flowers, some marvelous presents (Sean mowed the lawn!!) and Johanna, Sean and Amanda here for the weekend.  Johanna and Sean gave us tickets to see Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion at Town Hall in New York City next weekend, the third time Janet and I have seen it live.  It was Amanda's idea.  Thank you all.  Some other tidbits (or big bits):

- Dasha is housebroken.  She spent this past week in New York City, her second trip there.  How you gonna keep em down on the farm once they've seen Pareee?

- Sean and Amanda took in a Mets game at the new Citi Field, and recommend the experience.  The Mets won, too!

- Johanna went down to Charlotte for a long weekend to visit her St. Petersburg roommate Kathleen.  She and her London roommate Kirsten are making plans to move into together when her current NYTimes-celebrated situation comes blessedly to a close this fall.  They want to stay on the Lower East Side.

- Johanna was also a featured speaker at the admitted students day at Sarah Lawrence.  She's going back to hear this year's graduation speaker SLC alum actress Juliana Margulies.

- Joe was up to visit Mom this weekend and spent some time with Johanna, Sean and Amanda.

- I had dinner with Mom at Meadow Lakes on Thursday, she seems fine.

- Janet is in the home stretch this week as assistant director of the PDS middle school musical.

Jamaica Man

I thought I had given up travel with the State Department.  Yet, they didn't have to twist my arm hard to convince me to go back to the Caribbean, this time to Jamaica.  It was to help launch a youth employment project which USAID had organized.  Had I known I was on a panel with the Prime Minister I would have been nervous all the way down.  But, I didn't know that until I walked into the room Wednesday morning.  

I ran into a Peruvian woman who I had known from way back then, and there were several "do-you-know conversations" where I was able to get the current e-mail address from someone who had been in Peace Corps in Gabon.  And, with a little extra time, it was entirely appropriate for this cultural officer to go to the Bob Marley Museum, eat meal porridge, and go to the government yards in Trenchtown.  (all references from "No Woman, No Cry")

Truth is Jamaica has earned a negative reputation for its high crime rate.  On this short trip, I found the people wonderful and the country beautiful.  As often happens when I travel, I came back and told Mary we have to go.

Two coincidences.  On the plane back a woman sat down who I had worked with in Haiti, and she had just finished her assignment in Haiti.  Lots of stories about the good and the bad there, since I had left, what you don't read in the newspapers.

The other coincidence was Joe had also been in the Caribbean, in St. Lucia.  He had gone last week for a week (or so) of R&R after long hours putting together another proposal.  He had his i-phone stolen right before, and he's still working on the proposal, so we haven't heard about his adventure.

We talked with Annie a few times, as she was tackling real adulthood - filling out her taxes for the first time.  She had four different forms to file: the federal and three states: NY, MD and MA.  Turbo tax should give her frequent filer miles.

And it was Margaret's first week on her new job!  She is now working for a bigger international education organization, called the Academy for Education Development (better known as AED).  She has left the Latin America region and is working on a big Iraqi education contract with USAID.  Lots of new things, but a shorter commute!

It was student report week for Mary which meant lots off long hours and frustrating struggles with technology templates for her reports.  Good time for me to get out-a town!

Other news: baseball started!  Always important, but with mixed results so far.  Mary has talked to her brother Dan who may be going to France to visit Patrick who is on a semester abroad program.  John and Marilyn got back from what sounded like a great trip to Egypt and Jordan.  

And we close with a couple of photos from last time around - Jeffrey giving the Dundee Dicksons a tour of the Capitol and Johnny cutting down a tree at our house which we have now named "everywhere you look."

Love from down here.  (Happy birthday Peter!)

What happened to March?

Great news from Jersey below, and not much to add to the Dundee Dickson spring break trip to Meadow Lakes and Bethesda!  I see a reality show coming!   Tomorrow is back to work after a nice long weekend and a week for Mary.  Mary had driven up to spend a couple of days with Annie in Natick and to see her high school friend Judy,  She had planned on going over to visit Marj in Rhode Island, but the flooding there is real, and real serious.  So serious that bridges were out and Mary would have had to take a real roundabout way to get there.  Annie drove over to Pittsfield on Saturday, and Sunday after church we went for a quick hike on the Appalachian Trail and then dinner at the Red Lion Inn!  We also saw John and Marilyn; Johnny came over with his chain saw and took down a tree, as part of our day of cleaning out brush.  I feel like a Republican!   Margaret and I had driven up on Friday to Pittsfield, stopping by to see Grandma for a short bit.  We still got there earlier than the Dundee Dicksons who were just down the road!  Margaret's dog Dee joined us and was a terrific, well-behaved distraction the whole weekend!   Grandma seemed to be in good spirits and pretty good health.    We had hosted the Dundee Dicksons earlier in the week, and had a lot of fun.  Joe, Jeffrey and Melodie had come out for a barbecue dinner on Sunday night, just long enough for Jeffrey to invite our midwest visitors to a tour of the Capitol.  And that is how they all spent Monday.  Thanks Jeff.   Tuesday, we all went to the movies, some of us to How to Train a Dragon and others to Green Zone.  Can you guess who went to which movie?   Other news:  Margaret got a new job and starts next Monday.  Joe returned from his trip to Egypt with so much work he could not join us for Easter weekend.  In fact, when we called him on Sunday he was on his way to the office.  There ought to be a law.   And, we got some nice photos from David and Paula, who had stopped by Wilton on their way out of Greenwich.  Thanks so much.   Love from here and have a great April!

Easter

We had a very nice Easter Sunday at the home of Janet's cousin Jean and Steve Martin.  Mom came with us and had very nice long conversation with Brendan Byrne.  Johanna and Sean and Amanda came out on Saturday and Sean and Amanda and I watched Cornell beat Princeton in W's lacrosse (Amanda was the head of the Carleton club lacrosse team for several years).  The real reason they came out, though, was to spend some quality time with Dasha, who is at least showing signs of being housebroken (sigh, finally -- although it's been all Janet).

Andrew and Lur and Claire and Daniel were in town for a few days and we had a couple of dinners with them.  The new food service at Meadow Lakes seems a distinct improvement.  The only downside of the visit was that Claire was such a motor mouth that none of the rest of us got a word in edgewise.  Daniel showed us his chops on guitar, but for some reason Claire had left her oboe home, so we missed out on that.  They took Mom on errands, around Lawrenceville and other places.  We missed the Washington Dicksons going to and fro Pittsfield.

I had taken Mom to the glaucoma specialist on Wednesday and he said her vision has stabilized -- the laser procedure she had done last fall has worked, although it took rather longer to work than he expected.  So that's very good news, too.