Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

Isn't that a Judy Collins song?  Isn't that appropriate for August 2013?

Johanna knows where it went, but the good news is she is out of the hospital and on the mend.  Phew.  It was a rough week before the doctors decided surgery was required.  Peter and Janet had come back from the west coast early and help nudge the doctors in that direction.  I think doctors need a nudge. Anyway, we're hopeful and glad for Johanna.

Claire may know as well since she is off to college this coming weekend.  I bet there's been a fair amount of time getting ready, and I wondered if she got her new pencil case for college.  Daniel already started school, and he's a sophomore.  Can you believe it?  One day, before we know it, we'll be saying Miles is a sophomore.   

And the trees up here are beginning to wonder the same things about the lost summer.  They are giving off a faint touch of yellow, while a handful are positively turned.  Must be football season.

Busy doesn't even begin to describe our last few weeks.  Crazy is more like it.  But fun.  We gave Mary two beach chairs for her birthday, so we had to go to the beach.  And our old haunts in Rhode Island became our destination.  We stayed with Lew and Marj and spent the day at East Beach with Mary Fort and with Maura and Elsie.  This was our favorite beach because of the nice surf.  Unfortunately, the surf also had a few monster jelly fish, and we discovered that sometimes their tentacles get separated from their bodies, but still sting.  Anyway, it was fun catching up with Mary and Maura.  

From there we went up to New Bedford to continue my obsession with all things Melville this summer.  The whaling museum there is really spectacular, especially with a guide.  What a brutal, dangerous business it was to collect oil this way.  I'll take fracking any day.  (My timecapsulepilot blogpost has more, under the Summer with Herman tab.)

When we got home, our Charlie and his family were here, as well as Marj and her mother.  Then, after they left, friends from Peru came by for a couple of days.  In between I gave a talk on my Civil War exhibit at Arrowhead, attended by 4 people, all rounded up by Mary.  What a great fan.  In between, Mary hosted her swim team for a Sunday morning  swim around the lake and a pancake breakfast.  I slept.

While away, we got photos of Margaret and Andrew's camping trip with the wild and fairly aggressive/cheeky ponies in Chincoteague.  We also saw some photos from Jeffrey and Melodie on their camping trip, in Virginia, I think.

Joe wrote from Manila saying the torrential rainstorms are flooding and shutting down the city.  He even had the tropical version of a "snow day."  We also heard from Annie who likes her new job in the city.  

John and Marilyn have headed south and west on an extended vacation, with their family in Myrtle Beach and then head west.  Eventually, they will land back in their new house in Florida, for much of the fall, coming back up here for the holidays.  We went out with them before they left, and Johnny took us to the western mouth of the Hoosac Tunnel in North Adams, once the longest tunnel in the U.S.

It's harvest season, and the fence we put up in the garden has kept the critters safely away, and allowed us to have a good crop of lettuce, continuous since mid-July and beans and zucchini and a few cucumbers and peas.  The cool weather in August has meant only now are we seeing orange on the tomatoes.  Our fence was modeled after the Pomfret Meadow Rock Farm, split rail fence.  

Speaking of Pomfret we stopped at the old homestead on our way to Rhode Island.  They had put up a new fence for their horses, and made some nice changes to the kitchen,  I was fixated, though on one of the shutters, with slats falling and paint peeling.  Sorry Pop.  

On that wistful note, we hope all is well with you and will sign off.  Love from up here.

 

 

New York, New York

Sunday we took Annie down to New York.  We thought it was going to be an uneventful trip to drop her off, but, shortly before we left, we heard from Peter and Sean that Johanna was in the hospital.  She had called 911 with symptoms much like she had when she had the intestinal blockage 5-6 years ago.  The doctors have been stumped and as of this writing were ordering more tests.  Peter and Janet were in Seattle, and we kept them apprised as they were figuring out how and if to get back.  Sean has been a real trooper, staying at the hospital, and Annie's now with him. 

Annie's starting today at a campus work-study job, even though her classes don't begin for a few more weeks.  So, before school starts, she will be staying at Johanna's, on her couch. (Thanks Johanna!)  Then she'll move up town when her grad school housing opens up.  Oh to be young again.  

Johanna has started a new job at an architectural firm not too far from her apartment.  Sean's been busy himself this summer doing a legal internship in New Jersey.

It ends a nice, long visit here at the old homestead.  She had a few friends here in the last few weeks.  Joe came up for a week, by train.  Margaret and Andrew drove up for a long weekend, and we celebrated Mary's birthday in grand style.  We met Andrew's parents, and his mother's birthday was the day before Mary's so it was a double celebration.  Triple, counting the big engagement.  Lots of champagne.  

Lots of activities - Andrew and his father played golf with Johnny, Andrew's mother joined the Dickson girls for a tour of Stockbridge and the Rockwell Museum - they're having an exhibition of the drawings of the Disney movie, Snow White.  We took a pontoon boat out on the lake; there was swimming, and canoeing.  And shopping.  We went to a wonderful play called The Chosen, based on the novel by Chaim Potok.  A very nice week.

Joe didn't waste much time back in DC before taking off again, to a place I don't think any Dickson has ever been to yet.  He is in Manila for three weeks, having left on Sunday.  

You may have seen the pictures of Hillary and Barack a week ago, when the two met for lunch at the White House.  The story didn't mention that she also met Margaret, at a Fulbright event later that same day!  

We've been continuing our Melville summer here (and you get read my blog - http://timecapsulepilot.wordpress.com/summer-with-herman-melville/.  I have to watch that it doesn't become an obsession.)  Anyway, Sunday, Mary and I joined a group of hikers to climb Monument Mountain, repeating the walk that Melville took in 1850, where he met Nathaniel Hawthorne.  We didn't meet Hawthorne, but we met some interesting, unique folks and had great exchanges up and down the mountain.  At the top we had a champagne toast.  It was a clear day and we could see for miles all around.

A couple of recommendations to put on your movie list:  20 Feet from Stardom (about back-up singers for pop and rock groups) and Searching for Sugarman (about an American folk singer enormously popular, but only in South Africa and he never knew it.)

So that's pretty much it from up here.  Hope everyone is enjoying the summer.

Love, and a prayer for Johanna.

Anglo-philes

We're home.  Yippee.  And the cat's glad we are.  So are we.

We've discovered that we're partial to all things UK.  

-- Scotland - pints, wool, bagpipes, accents, history, Scotch, gardens, tea and porridge, Andy Murray, stone walls, Digestive Cookies, hiking with highland views, abbeys

-- England (Lake District, Liverpool) - accents, Beatles and the Mersey beat, weather, history, Tom Kittens (Beatrice Potter), kissing gates, tea and scones, gardens, Andy Murray, pints, fish and chips

-- Wales - hiking with coastal views, pints, history, accents, cathedrals, flower gardens, tea and Welsh cakes, sun, Tenby

Okay, some things we're not partial to, and we are going to start a campaign to assist our English-speaking bretheren (and sisteren):  indoor plumbing, namely showers and toilets that actually flush; wide roads, with more than one lane; and vegetables.

Anyway, it was a wonderful trip.  We have thousands of pictures and more than a few stories.  You have been warned.

As we were driving in the driveway after nearly 20 hours of straight travel, Annie came in right behind us from a long day of work. Someone has to.  Annie had been home a week or so, after she had gone white-water rafting in Idaho.  That sounded spectacular as well.  Annie has been holding down two jobs in Lee, and now she has a third.  This last one is in NYC and is a work-study job which starts in August.  

We talked to Joe and told him about our stroll through his college town.  What a great place to have gone to university, even if you can't go back and visit at the drop of a hat.    He had a big career decision while we were gone, and decided against moving overseas.  We also spoke with Margaret about their upcoming trip, coming up to Pittsfield next week.

From Dundee, we heard that Andrew and Lur had a great week up at Green Lake.  Danny has decided to drop football and focus on basketball, after turning his ankle.  Claire is going to have a big graduation party this weekend - are we invited, Claire?  

Peter and Janet are getting ready for their trip out to Seattle and Vancouver in a couple of weeks.  Peter's eagle eye also noticed the tie on the former President of Princeton in the most recent Alumni Weekly, which is included here.  We'll have to get another of Mom's ties out to the new President.  

The heat wave has even reached Rochester, but David has kept up his walking regime, and has the doctor's numbers to prove it.  That would make it all worthwhile, except that walking is worthwhile in itself.  

We've had some visitors since we've been home.  Charlie and his family came up last weekend, and we all went to the Williamstown Theater Festival to see a stage version of the Marx Brothers movie, Animal Crackers.  Very funny.  Then Mary's friend Gerry took a week off from her work in Arlington for a New England break.  When Mary went to pick up Gerry at the airport in Albany, she stopped by Colleen and Heather's birthday parties (they were born a year and a day apart), as Colleen was celebrating her 50th this year.  Happy Birthday.

 

A movie recommendation:  20 Feet from Stardom.  Great music, compelling story.  

Not one week back and we've slipped back in our routines, like we were never gone.  Gardening, swimming, UMass and Arrowhead, raspberries and cherries and blueberries.  And mowing the lawn.

Speaking of which, we had a sad moment last Saturday, at least for John.  Mary, not so much.  Our 20 year old lawn mower which had been so good for so long, has cut its last blade of grass.  I broke down and bought a self-propelled Toro.  Which broke down after 20 minutes and had to be taken back.  They just don't make 'em like......

On that sad (not so much) note, love from up here.  

 

 

Margaret's engaged!

And so is Andrew.  To each other.  

We're so happy. I think many in the family know already, but we are so thrilled, we're saying it again.

Congratulations!  

July 4 weekend

> Where are you celebrating? The sign above was on the back of more than one car, saying Dicksons of Inverness. We also learned that the English spelling of our name is with an "x". The Scottish spell it like we do. Feels like home to me.
>
> Except that it has been incredibly cold. I get a laugh when I see solar panels on houses or short-sleeved shirts for sale. Maybe the Scots are optimists.
>
> Anyway, we have left Scotland and are now in the Lake District in England. Guess what we found? The sun.
>
> Cliff and I finished the walk on the Great Glen Way on Thursday. Mary and Cliff's wife Sheila joined us the day before, having driven up from Edinburgh. They walked the last quarter mile with us up to Inverness Castle.
>
> Lots of stories, mostly about people we met along the way. We did this the easy way, staying in bed and breakfasts along the route. We averaged about 11 miles a day, roughly 5 hours of hiking.
>
> We're being tourists, taking in sites and pubs and shopping and eating. A lot.
>
> It's nice to keep up with everyone so far away. Wi-fi is everywhere. Annie was in Idaho, Joe had a big career decision, Margaret is camping, Jeffrey and Melodie celebrated their proposal and Andrew and Lur celebrated their wedding anniversary.
>
> We will be home a week from today and ready to enjoy more summer. Hope you are too. Love from over here.

Is it Father's Day?

Actually, it isn't. We're experiencing a little of the post-father's day letdown here.  A full case of the blahs.  It may have something to do with Monday and a storm bringing more rain.

Or, it may have to do with a nice afternoon/evening with David and Paula who stopped by here on their way home from a few days on the Cape.  We had a nice dinner and shared father stories.  Or tried to, if we could have remembered them. We did toast our own fathers, and remembered all they had done for us.

 It sounded like there had been quite a bit of rain out on the Cape, but they were still able to squeeze in a "whale watch" and good meals and walks.  Since I have never been to the Cape, they gave us some suggestions and encouragement for perhaps a September or mid-week visit in the fall.

Annie made it back from the weekend in Washington to see David and Paula.  She had been to Melodie's birthday party on Saturday evening, so when Jeffrey called to do the dutiful check-in, Annie surprised him being up here!

I had nice conversations with both Joe and Margaret as they did their dutiful as well.  More than that, with a surprise picnic table which appeared after my nap on Saturday.  I was not sure if I was still dreaming when I saw the table in the yard.  It will replace the one Peter "loaned" us in 1992 and has many family memories from our porch in Silver Spring to the outdoors here over that extended period.  I wonder how long Peter and Janet had used it.  It was not doing well, as boards were rotting away.

Earlier in the day, Mary and I drove down to Hyde Park, NY and checked off a visit to the FDR home.  We had been passing the signs for years on the Taconic Parkway, but were always in a rush to get wherever we were going.  So, we made this our destination and had a wonderful visit, with a promise to each other that there was more to see and that we would come back.  Our tour guide wondered how many people in the group could relate to FDR's upbringing with tutors at home, horse-riding and governesses and a 21 foot yacht present at the age of 17.  

We commoners found a diner up the road and had a great breakfast/brunch.  So there.  I love Fathers Day.

News from here:  we have a new garden fence.  It is the third since we owned it, and the first one I did not try to install myself.  Our garden is now more protected than Ft. Knox.  Take that groundhogs.  I just wish the vegetables would grow inside.  So much rain that there was actually flooding, which killed the marigold plants.  Oh well.  Hmm.  Maybe a roof?

Other news is that Annie has a summer job.  Two in fact.  Moreover, it looks like she got every job she applied for.  She will have a busy schedule and earn a little before starting classes.  

On the job front, Mary also got a new job, at least until the end of the school year which is this coming Friday.  She is tutoring a handful of students whose second language is English.  One of them is a Chinese girl in kindergarten, who has been in country just a few weeks.  Try to imagine what she's going through.

One of our highlights these past few weeks was dinner with Mary's niece and nephew, her brother Mike's children.  Nice to reconnect, and they are doing well.

This time next week, I will be in Ft. William, Scotland getting ready to start my trek up the Great Glen Way.  I don't know if it's psychosomatic, but my knees are beginning to hurt.  Better rest.

In the meantime, our routine continues, and we are enjoying summer.  We had our first campfire last Friday night, and I raised up enough courage to jump in the lake.  We also went to the movies, Before Midnight, which we liked but were not really 'gaga' over.   

Hope you all are enjoying summer.  Only 365 more days til Father's Day!

We sign out from here wishing you all happy barbecues, with this photo from our archives. Love from over here.    

 

Annie's home

Did you hear the cheering?  She flew into New York on Thursday and stayed there for a couple of days.  Then Saturday, Mary and I drove down to pick her up.  She reminded us of us.  She had a backpack, packed to the seams, and two roller suitcases, similarly packed.  She said she carried all three on the Beijing subway, getting to and from the airport.  Hard, but she has closed out an important chapter of her young adulthood, and those three suitcases are evidence.  

Welcome home.  She's on the job market this summer, and then will head back to NYC to start her organizational psychology program in August.  We drove by Teachers' College at Columbia, and I pointed out the dorm where I spent one summer.  Annie said she had applied for the same dorm!

Annie just missed the visit of our friend, Valerie, from Seattle, who had been here for a few days on a trip east.  We dropped her off at the bus station, as we headed to New York to get Annie.  We did the cultural tour of the county, north, south and center, with Valerie, going to MassMoca for art, to Arrowhead for Herman Melville's story, and then to the Guthrie Center for open mic night.  In between, we ate and talked and hiked a little.  John and Marilyn came over for dinner with Valerie, who they knew from the memorable visit to San Miguel years ago, with Mary's mothers and aunts.

We finally opened up the porch for meals, as last weekend we almost had snow.  Too cold, and it did snow on Mt. Greylock.  My college roommate, Steve Tobolsky and his wife, had come over from Boston for the night, and we thought about having a fire.  We did turn on the heat.  This weekend we wanted air conditioning.  The photo was a panorama trick taken at MassMoca, in front of a Sol Lewitt mural.  Fun.

Mary started a job this week.  A paying job.  She's tutoring a young boy in the 4th grade an hour a day.  She might have another fill-in job until the end of school, and there are several she's seen to apply for.  

I also started a job, of sorts.  If someone had told me last year or 40 years ago that I would be explaining Herman Melville to a paying tour group, I'd have thought it a dream of sorts, more like a nightmare.  But, there I was, giving tours to people last Monday who had come to Arrowhead to get a glimpse of the writer, his work and his life in the Berkshires.  It's actually very interesting, and I have a lot of homework to do to get the story right.

We spoke with David and Andrew who filled us in on happenings out their way.  David and Paula had a birthday dinner for Matthew with Tina and Oliver last week.  That means that Peter and Janet also had a wedding anniversary.  Congratulations and fond memories (and one great photo of a certain sports jacket) from that weekend.

Andrew says that Claire's graduation was terrific, and that she is planning a camping trip in Michigan before school starts.  Daniel has decided to play football this fall, and he has been working out and lifting weights to get ready.  Look out!  Lur has been busy helping her parents.

The next time you see Joe, hopefully he'll be wearing the bow ties that Andrew sent him.  If not, maybe it's because he's got his kilt, which after years of promise since he graduated from St. Andrews and then Tufts, finally arrived last week.

This is Margaret's big week as the orientation programs she's been developing start.  Good luck!