To Louisville and Back!

We're back from our road trip to Louisville.  We had a great time, and the weather cooperated so we did most of the driving top down, an added bonus.  Some highlights:

- We had a wonderful dinner with Gary and Patty Casendino Gussoff, who have been in what she calls "Looneyville" for four years but will return to NJ as soon as Gary retires.  They said to say hello to each of you.

- The waterfront area of Loo-ville, where we stayed (in a two-room suite overlooking the river) is great.  It's an old warehouse district.  Nearly all of the old five and six story cast iron fronts have been preserved, a pedestrian-friendly streetscape was created, and several museums and arts centers are located there.

- An Imax movie in the Looo-ville Science Center about the Lewis & Clark expedition.  I have been reading an edited version of their journals, but it came to life in this very difficult to make movie.  News: we were all taught about "Saca-ja-wEa," who guided the expedition for much of its length.  It's actually "Sac-A-ga-way-a."

- The Hillerich & Bradsby baseball bat factory, where 60% of all Major League Players have their Louisville Slugger bats made, and which you can tour.  The actual manufacturing area is surprisingly small, no bigger than a typical restaurant.  The gift shop is almost as big.  On the day I toured, bats were being made for Brandon Phillips, who plays for some midwestern team (can you help me, John?), and Derek Jeter.

- Long drives along Skyline Drive, the Blue Ridge Parkway and through the Great Smoky Mountains, beautiful mountain country.  When we confine ourselves to our home areas, it is easy to forget what a beautiful country this is.

- A visit with niece Geren Zoubek Mandl and Dave, who now works for Oak Ridge National Labs outside Knoxville.  Their twins were getting ready for their first day of school.

- People in these parts of the South are polite (although, as Patty said, that's not the same as friendly).  Best example: on the interstate driving north to Lou-a-ville, a sign said "right lane closed two miles ahead."  Immediately everyone merged into the left lane, leaving an empty right hand lane two miles long.  In NJ, there would have been aggressive jockeying and lane switching even past the merge location.  I am telling you, that was weird.  Also, almost no one speeds.

- Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's long time home, with lots of inventive interior and agricultural innovations.  Rather smaller than I expected, and Jefferson himself occupied only a small part of the first floor.  Things to grapple with: he died indebted in $2 million in today's dollars, and his daughter had to sell all the home's furnishings when he died; over 600 slaves lived and worked there over the course of his lifetime, about 200 at any given time, and he freed only eleven in his lifetime, all members of the Hemmings family. 

- Biltmore, Geo. Wash. Vanderbilt II's estate in Asheville, NC.  It's the largest and most often visited home in the US.  He originally bought over 600 square miles and built a railroad up to the house to carry in all the materials used to build it.  2.6 million plants, for one example, with the grounds landscaped by Frederick Law Olmstead.  Some photos in a basement exhibit show the massive efforts that went into its construction.  It's still owned by his descendants (who put in a pompous and snooty tribute to themselves in one of the rooms), and is clearly a very big business.  Along with the gardens and house, there is a huge hotel, a winery, a couple of "villages" with stores, restaurants, etc.  But it's very well done, you can wander around the house as you wish and not get stuck on a "tour."  While the outside is patterned after three French chateaus, the interior is more gloomy Germanic/Teutonic darkness.  He died with insufficient funds for his widow to maintain it, so she sold off most of the land, which is now the Pisgah National Forest and parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

- Asheville itself, an arty smallish town; we extended our stay another night to take advantage of the restaurants.

- The Cherokee Indian Museum, detailing the life of the tribe before the white man arrived and the "trail of tears" journey to Ky and Ok after they were evicted.  It's not far from the huge Harrah's Cherokee Casino.

- Abraham Lincoln's birthplace (reproduction) and boyhood home (reproduction) sites, a few miles apart in Ky.  Strangely isolated and sparsely visited.

- Watching Reds games on TV every night in Loo-uh-ville, while tracking Mets games pitch-by-pitch on my phone.

- Janet had her new iPhone and I my new Android phone.  A few glitches but everything worked as promised.  However, you can't read the screens with the top down!

Back to DC

It's hot and humid, so we know we're back in points southern.

We closed up shop in Pittsfield, at least for Mary, for the summer last Thursday.  Hard to leave, especially since we have so many fine memories of a glorious summer.  

Joe had arrived a day later than expected when his flight from Michigan was cancelled stranding him in Washington.  As luck would have it, he ran into two of his "Jordan/St Andrews" buddies so it wasn't a total loss.  We picked him up a day later and he spent time packing and loading up the car with his stuff to start his final leg to his year in the Boston area.  

We went for a morning long hike up Mt Greylock with Johnny before he left, also benefiting from Joe's one-day delay as we otherwise would have been hiking in the rain.  It was a nice, little bit arduous hike (for me anyway) with sore muscles and a monster blister to help me remember a nice outing.  Johnny was free due to a) he couldn't golf because he broke a rib and b) Marilyn was on a Grandma trip with Kara and three granddaughters to Hershey Pennsylvania.

We stopped on the way down for an overnight with Grandma in Hightstown, who seems pretty good.  We met Brenna her new helper who comes each day.  It was a good idea to not try to drive straight through as Mary still has back issues.  She went to her doctor here as soon as we arrived and got on new medicine.  We'll see how that works.

She's not the only one struggling as Andrew told us Lur had a rough week with her back, compounded by a nasal problem.  She was having a procedure to clear out sinuses on Friday.  Staying in Illinois, Joe and Tamara stopped by Bill and Jen's house on his drive across country.  All seems well, and we hear Miles is a quiet, peaceful baby, especially when visitors are around.

Our plan to sign a lease on an apartment as soon as we could worked out.  Our new place is close to our old house, so we won't have to change grocery stores or gym!  We saw Margaret and D a couple of times, delivering a few items to her, including a tv.  Pretty amazing how bulky and heavy the old tvs were.  Anyway, they still work!  Margaret has an apartment to herself for a few weeks, until her new roommate moves in in September.

The other big news here, has been a decision for me to wait one more year before starting my history program at UMass.  That means I won't be driving so much between Massachusetts and Maryland this coming year.  I'll still go back and forth, but not every week.

So, we are continuing the tradition of staying with friends, first Gerry and Dennis and then Ellen and Larry.  Thank you very much for bailing us out!

All from down here.  Hope you are thriving.  

Two weeks ago

Where is everyone? We wanted to play badminton and bocci. We are going to have s'mores.

We heard from Joe that he and Tamara stopped and saw Bill, Jen and Miles today. The two of them continued on to Michigan as Tamara had a shipment coming.

Joe is not the only one on the road. Peter and Janet took off for Kentucky.
They got Johanna's dog Molly stabilized before leaving. Molly had a brush with what looked like a fatal illness for a while.

And David also avoided illness when he discovered a tick bite.

Mary and I had a fantastic trip back in time when our Peace Corps friends gathered here, in Maine and Vermont last week. We shared slides and stories, reconnected, danced and ate African food. Wonderful.

Annie is planning her trip back in September as a bridesmaid for a friend's wedding. Margaret had a busy work week with an orientation for all the Fulbright teachers heading overseas.

Mary's back continues to bother her and she is trying lots of different things to get better.

Thanks for all the calls, letters and e-mails. Sure was nice to see everyone.

Love from the Berkshires.

The Pause Button

Sometimes you just want to hit the pause button.

Hopefully there are many more photos out there!

Happy Birthday Grandma

It's 6pm Sunday night.  As I write now, I am looking at a group photo of our first weekend together in Mountain Springs, maybe in 1990.  And I am reminded that we did not get a group photo this time around.  

While much has changed since then, we did keep up the fine tradition of eating, drinking, chatting and playing.  And collecting memories.  Swimming, boating, shopping, hiking, campfiring, guitar playing, dog walking and more.  It all happened so fast. And now, we are back to the quiet sounds of ... our busy road.  Come back!    

It was wonderful to see everyone and have everyone here.  And we know there was a little bit of selfishness on our part, especially because so many of you had to come from so far away.  We heard from a number of you throughout the day, while we were taking naps and doing a little tidying up.  and I know that at least five Dicksons are not at their final destination yet.  I hope everyone else is home by now.

Grandma celebrated her 85th in the best way of just being with her family.   Can't top that.  I will try to finish the recording and transcribing over the course of the next few months.  

So let's end up with a big thanks and a pat on each others' collective backs.  Everyone pitched in to make the weekend a special occasion!  

Happy July 4th

Uncle Sam at the Pittsfield parade. A year ago we saw a picture of Jeffrey proposing to Melodie on the 4th!

Lots of news. First off, happy birthday Andrew; happy anniversary Andrew and Lur. We talked to the birthday boy who said Jen and Miles were able to stay in the hospital a week but all checked out and came home in fine health. Andrew on the other hand hurt his back again.

Speaking of anniversaries, we heard David and Paula had a good trip to Stratford Ontario to celebrate their 40th. Stratford hosts Shakespeare festivals all summer long.

And Annie has a big birthday coming up. Did we tell you we saw her? In China?

Got to give that girl credit. She has figured out the most complicated, most foreign place I have ever seen. She's speaking the language, moving around the city like a native. And it us one tough, fast, huge city. But extremely interesting, rich in culture and history and an exploding economy. Annie showed us around, gave us a tour of Chinese sites and culinary diversity. She and her friend Greg have rich lives, exciting jobs and a nice circle of friends. We have pictures! And stories!

One of the big heroes of our trip was Peter who got up at 5am to take us to Newark airport and then stayed up til midnight to pick us up at the end of the trip. And all he got was a hat and a Rolex watch. Does it still work? We saw Janet who joined us for a Fathers Day supper. And that was after a Fathers Day brunch the day before with Joe and Margaret in Washington.

Another hero was Grandma who let us use her pad to store what remained from our move out of Bethesda and park our cars and our tired bodies both before we left and after we got back. Grandma is well but still has trouble with her eyesight.

And then we fought our jet lag and drove north. We're almost there. The construction is winding down. Yesterday we turned on a kitchen faucet for the first time in three years. We have a screened in porch.

And we have boxes. Our shipment came this Wednesday and we started the long unpacking process. John and Marilyn came over and helped us place and rearrange furniture. That means heavy lifting!

Lots to do before you all come for Grandma's birthday. But we did go up to Jiminy Peak and confirm rooms. I'll send details via e-mail.

Well, it's a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Think I'll unpack some boxes.

Love from over here.

Welcome Miles!