Here's to 2015

The big news from our neighborhood is that Sean has finished law school, which I can speak from personal experience is a long and difficult slog. I often told my students who were interested in going on to law school that it would be much more difficult than college, especially the first year. So a big round of applause to Sean, we are very, very proud of you. He did very well, too. He will now get ready to take the bar in July, at this point he is planning to take both NY and NJ. Fun, fun, fun. Good luck, Sean.

Our tree and outdoor decorations – the latter much more extensive than in years past – have all come down, and so I guess that part of life is over for another year. By the way, we have a Christmas tradition that we take turns reading The Grinch That Stole Christmas and O. Henry's The Gift Of The Magi every Christmas Eve. Taking the tree down was a little more melancholy than usual because Sean's friend Jess helped decorate the tree. She works as a fabric designer for Coach in New York, so this year our tree was decorated by Coach! The one wreath that never comes down is Pop's pine cone wreath that proudly hangs at our front door.

The big theme this year seems to have been food, which included boxes from Nueske's and Harry and David's, the contents of which we have faithfully been working our way through. Not hard work, though, and thank you brothers. I gave Janet a Nutri-Bullet, which is a high powered blender for making smoothies; the container doubles as your glass. She's had a lot of success so far. She gave me a contraption called an AirFryer, which promises "fried" food without the oil. It's essentially a fancy convection oven, so it cooks more quickly. Our first try at fried chicken was delightful, so it's a keeper.

Johanna concluded a very successful year in her job with a nice raise and nice bonus. Based on what she has told us, it is well earned, in part because she has had to deal with some discourteous (a euphemism) authors.

Janet received lots of kudos at the end of the term for her work not just as a middle school librarian, but also now as an advisor and home room supervisor for a group of students. Her work as assistant to the director of the middle school play was also much applauded. She got lots of nice notes, cards and gift cards.

I audited a course in the fall called Chaucer, taught by an English Professor Smith. I will be auditing a course this spring called Words: The Song In Modern Times, taught by an English Professor Smith. Not the same Professor Smith. In the fall, we read almost all of the Canterbury Tales as well as other works by Chaucer, all in the original Middle English. It's not as hard as you might think. The Professor said to simply read it out loud, using his pronunciation guide and a single page glossary of words that have gone out of usage, and in a day or so we would get it. He was right, and it was a real eye-opener to appreciate Chaucer's skill, and bawdy. I guess there are reasons why he is so revered. The spring course will consider lyrics by Dylan and many others. Hope there's some Springsteen in there.

I am still awaiting a decision from the NJ Supremes on the case I argued in October. It may take a while longer, because I think there might be some discussions going on. There is a strong tradition of unanimity on this Court – there was when I clerked for a previous Chief Justice – and the questioning at oral argument seemed to reveal some disagreements among the Justices. But it is high intellectual sport and I love doing it. It's not as closely watched as my last appearance in 2007, but it is a subject of interest all over the state.

In other news, I had a tooth pulled and a root canal procedure, and three crowns installed on implants, all in December. What better way to celebrate the season?

By the way, we seem to have lost our Governor. He's nowhere to be found in New Jersey. Not that we miss him all that much ....

Lotsa Jersey love to all of you!

The Tree is Down, Farewell to 2014

We took the tree down Sunday evening, while watching the pain of the Bengals lose to the Steelers.  Double sadness.  Triple that feeling when the house was quiet, as Margaret and Andrew were the last to leave, with a Saturday departure.  Okay, the Bengals losing was not that big a deal.  

Still, we had our memories of a wonderful time.  At some point, all the planning comes to a halt and the festivities just take over.

Ours started with what seems to be a nice tradition of heading to New York City for at least part of the extended break.  We stayed at Annie's apartment (thanks) and she took us to a great barbecue spot in the neighborhood and then on to Lincoln Center for a movie, The Theory of Everything, which was a remarkable story, or at least a story about a remarkable man, and woman.  We met up with Peter the next morning for our first foray into the Strand, the used bookstore that we heard so much about, and then over to Eataly, a food market with restaurants.  Is it any wonder why we love New York?  So much to do and so much new, always.

We then stood in the cold for tickets to a play, Constellations, that was an interesting concept but was short.  We felt a little jipped, but not by the acting.  Anyway, we headed to St. John the Divine for church in the morning (and to see the Xu Bing Phoenix sculpture again) and then over to our favorite Hungarian pastry shop across the street.  We met up with Annie, and then headed back to Pittsfield by train.  That was a first, and worked out just fine.

Margaret and Andrew (and Dee) arrived that night, and we officially started the Christmas week.  Much of it was a rotational experience, between eating and exercise in order to be able to eat more.  Cookies and great baskets from Nueske's and Harry and David's sure helped out.  

We talked to Joe a few times, through the magic of Facetime, an app that lets you see the person you're talking to.  We're getting closer to the Dick Tracy watch.  Anyway, he was in London, then Lisbon and then outside Lisbon with Leonore and her family for Christmas and then his birthday.  Remember his birthdays in Pomfret with everyone there?   On Facetime, he was able to show us the sights of Lisbon, without getting a postcard or getting on a plane.

John and Marilyn came over for dinner Christmas Eve and they were preparing for their children and families to descend on them the following day.  Out in Dundee, they had quite a crowd on Christmas eve as well, with Bill and Jen and Lur's family over.  Miles who is three and a half was just the right age for the Christmas spirit, and I think we can guess that means excitement.  Auden was probably also excited, but probably more so next year.

We saw a lot of photos and video of Peter and Janet at her family's house for Christmas, with merriment coming from music making.  Fun.  And we also saw a few photos of young Donald on Facebook, and he is growing fast.

Our Christmas included an early roast beef meal, and then a trip to the train station to drop off Annie who was catching a flight the next morning to South Africa, to attend a friend's wedding.  She sent us the photo above of her in the pool with the Cape mountains behind her.  After a grueling flight, she earned it.  Spectacular.

Our next weekly letter will be next year, halfway through the decade.  And, we'll be writing from Gabon; we leave on New Year's Day and after a couple of days in Paris, we arrive in Libreville.  We are loaded down with all kinds of stuff, but the most important will be unlocked phones that we hope to make use of there, for e-mail and connection back home.  Sure has changed since the 1970s with the blue airmail letter/envelopes.  We'll also be posting updates on our website: http://encoredelapaix.org/blog-from-doumandzou/

So, Happy New Year, and love from up north.   

We Have a Tree

But it's not decorated yet.  Wreaths are up, candles in the windows, and more than a few trips by the UPS guys to the front door.  And, we've finished three candles on the advent wreath.  And there's a fair amount of white stuff on the ground.

Not in Boston, though,  We headed over yesterday for the New England master's swim meet, where Mary swam in three individual events and two relays.  In one day.  She did well, beating her personal times and giving some younger swimmers a bit of a chase.  But in Boston, we actually saw the yellow round thing in the sky.  Seems like it's been a while since the sun popped out here.  And sure enough, as soon as we hit the Berkshires on the turnpike, we lost the sun and clouds took over, with a major drop in temperatures.  It felt like we had gone to Florida for the weekend.  No coats, gloves or hats.  We even saw in the paper today people in short sleeves in Washington.  Anyway, we touched base with old roommates, dinner out with Mary's high school friend Judy, and we stayed with my college roommate, Steve, who is head of school in Chestnut Hill.  A tough job.

David and Paula got creamed with a major snowfall this week.  More than a foot..  Fortunately for us, by the time it got here, most of it was rain, before it turned cold, just dropping a few inches of snow.   We kept hearing in the fall about how much snow we would have this winter, and, though I'm not sure how they knew, the predictions have come through.  Oh, and it's still technically fall.

Sounds like everyone had great Thanksgivings.  Ours was quiet but special and relaxing.  Joe and Annie came up by train, and it was a bit of an adventure driving over to Hudson New York to pick up Joe in a snowstorm.  But the trains were running, and my last minute snow tires mounted in the morning did the trick.  I saw four cars off the side of the road on my way over.  

The storms here saw a lot of branches come down, including one off our flowering hydrangea tree in front.  We got off easy, as Johnny lost some huge branches off his pine trees.  Joe and I went over to help him haul the stuff out of his back yard so that someone could take it away.  This was part of a string of bad luck for John and Marilyn who were in accidents in each of their cars, as the result of other drivers.  Long repairs and insurance discussions.  

Thanksgiving up here also included movies, with kind of a food theme, or at least hunger theme.  We wanted to see the new Mockingjay movie, but we had to watch the second installment before, so it was a Hunger Games weekend for us as well.   

It's end of college semester time for many of us - Claire, Annie, Margaret, Sean, Maura, and Tina.  Am I missing anyone?  Do you hear the sighs of relief?  Last year this time, it was me, and it is not fun.  A lot of hard work.  For Tina, a special shout out, since she not only finished the semester but graduated.  Congratulations.  A long haul, but you made it.  

Margaret celebrated by heading to Austin TX with Andrew.  She had a work commitment there, but they spent a few extra days taking in the city's great music scene.  And, on the travel scene, we see Bill and Jen headed for Los Cabos after Thanksgiving with Miles and Auden.  Warmth!

And there's more travel coming up.  Joe's heading over to London this Friday; he'll be in Portugal for Christmas.  And Annie is off to South Africa the day after Christmas with Greg; and we are putting final preparations for our trip to Gabon, leaving January 1.

Before all that, we're going to New York this weekend for a couple of nights.  The city is wonderful this time of year, a little crowded, but with all the lights out, and the stores full, it's fun.  Look for a photo of Christmas decorations from New York in the next letter.  

Hope everyone is enjoying the season.  Love from the north.  

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Dundee News

Well it sure has felt like winter here. Very cold at times and some snow. Even the pets have hesitated going out the door.

We had a pleasant and quiet Thanksgiving, with Lur's parents our only guests. Lur's brother and wife were recovering from surgeries and thought the better to stay close to home. Claire made the trek from Hope and was a big help in organizing the dinner. Lur decided to join Costco, so we overwhelmed the freezers. It is quite a thought process to go through to justify buying massive quantities of food. We are set for a while.

We were treated again to Claire playing the oboe at church during her brief visit. I commented to the pastor that it was nice to here the oboe soften that usual staid Lutheran music. We remembered her Halloween concert at Hope where all the student performers were allowed to dress up in costume. The three oboe players (including Claire) had big mouse ears and sunglasses- three blind mice.

Claire has a busy few weeks ahead, as exams approach. She also has to perform in front of a professor "jury" with the oboe, which we have heard is a stressful process.

Over Thanksgiving, Daniel had a busy basketball tournament, with the host school being about an hour away. Much driving. They played their first conference game on Wednesday, on the losing side. It looks like it will be a long year. 

I have been filling the bird feeder about every other day. We see the same bird every day just sitting there. We call him our "homeless" bird. The squirrels just sit underneath and grab the mess that comes down. A few fights have ensued, with a lot of drama. Claire made the comment that our squirrels are much fatter that the ones in Michigan. Gee.

The other night while grilling dinner, I saw my first owl ever. They are pretty big birds, with quite a wing span. He must have noticed the busy bird feeder.

We are getting ready for the Christmas season, but this year I made an executive decision. We are going to drive an hour to a tree farm and cut one down. Based on past events, I will bring a bigger saw. It is always such a treat to have these holidays with Miles and Auden. Can't wait.

And if he is listening, a big congrats to Timmy on his wedding!

Take care. Love

Dreaming of a

White Thanksgiving.  Not really.  I'm actually dreaming of a bit of a let up so I could drive to Hudson NY to pick up Joe, who's coming in tonight on the train.  When we made the decision a few weeks ago to have Thanksgiving here, it seemed like a good idea.  Those of us who have more flexible schedules had been going to Washington for Thanksgiving the last few Novembers, saving the working stiffs from battling the holiday mass travel.  Anyway, we may go back to our original plans next year.  Still, it will be nice to have Annie and Joe here; Margaret and Andrew are in Pennsylvania for the holiday.  Annie came up yesterday by train.

Where are you?  Hopefully inside and warm.  I hear David and Paula will have a houseful, as I suspect Andrew and Lur will as well.  If I remember right, the Peter Dicksons normally head to one of Janet's cousins for a big extended family dinner.  We hear Kathleen will be hosting Thanksgiving for her parents in Boston, and John and Marilyn will have a crowd here.

Timmy will be warm outside, in LA, where he will be having his first Thanksgiving as a married man.  Yes, that is THE big news of the letter, that Tim was married on November 15 to Denisa Edete, a woman he has known for a long time.  They tied the knot in Las Vegas, and we were able to watch it live streamed.  Congratulations.  We understand there may be a wedding reception next year in LA.  

At least he wasn't in Buffalo.  No matter how bad the weather gets, we will always be able to say, at least we're not in Buffalo.  We originally thought Rochester/Fairport was in the same track, but David and Paula said they only got a few inches of the same storm.  Just that part of Buffalo closest to the lake got hit badly.  David was driving back from Albany and managed to avoid the closing of Rt 90 further west.  

Don't ever say I wait until the last minute to get my jobs done.  At 8am today, before the first snow flake fell, I was 5th in line to get my snow tires put on.  So, two hours later, when I pulled out of the auto shop, the old Saturn was ready, and we needed the tread immediately.  Should help on my drive later this evening.  And, if you notice in the picture below, I was waiting for Joe to help me put the picnic table out of the snow.  Oh well.

On the travel scene, Joe gets the award for furthest distance since the last letter.  He's been to Hong Kong and back, all in the space of a week.  He wrote from the airport saying he had a middle seat on a 16-hour flight. Kathleen was not far behind as she went to Morocco. 

Andrew and Lur went out to see Claire for parents' weekend at Hope, and they said they went to a concert where Claire was playing the oboe.  She had gotten into the college orchestra, quite an achievement.  Also from Dundee, is news that Daniel has started basketball practice/tryouts.  He has also become the youngest Dickson to get a car, I believe.  It's a sporty Mazda, for a sporty guy.

With Annie last night, we had the first of our current event conversations that I am sure are played out across the country.  The topic was Ferguson.  I suspect there are many families will be grappling with this and other topics, like immigration, over turkey.  We used to get fairly worked up over these talks.  Now, it's kind of fun to hear points of view we don't normally get, in our quiet, staid lives. 

What else?  Little things, like ongoing plans for our trip back to Gabon.  We got our visas, and we've placed our first order for wood to repair the roof.   we had a pizza dinner the other night John and Marilyn who was on the mend for a second knee operation.  Now she's ready for golf, if only there was no snow.  And we had two visits from Peace Corps friends, Charlie Morrison and Tom Friedeberg, who Joe will remember as he put together a short internship for Joe in Madagascar.

And we close this special Thanksgiving edition with a photo of the most recent newlyweds; move over Margaret and Andrew.

Have a wonderful, fantastic day tomorrow.  Love from up here.

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Look what I forgot!

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The video of Peter's appearance October 7 appearance at the NJ Supreme Court is now up and running: http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/webcast/archive.htm

He appears around minute 45.

Also here's an interesting website that describes a little bit about you based on where you are living: http://www.esri.com/data/esri_data/ziptapestry  I found out that, in Pittsfield, we're "set to impress", young and either still in college or working, or "comfortable empty nesters" transitioning to retirement.  Hmmm.  Wonder which one we are.  What does your zip code say about you?

Back to DC

​After not going to Washington since May, we have now been twice since the end of October.  We drove back to Washington this past weekend, just two weeks after the big party.  We went to drop off our visa applications for Gabon, but also to check in with Joe, Margaret and Andrew.  It was a short trip but we packed it in, with side visits to see friends from Peru, South Africa and Arlington, all of whom were at the wedding reception.  So it was nice to revisit the party with them.

We stayed with Margaret and Andrew and (Dee) which was nice and comfortable.  We also went to Joe's new apartment and helped him hang pictures.  He had a friend from St. Andrews visiting, a Tanzanian named Omar, who was in the U.S. on a year-long fellowship (through the State Department.)  He joined us for dinner on Saturday night, and found he knew more about the NBA than anyone else around the table.  Joe, by the way, is getting ready to go to Hong Kong later this month, so he has been in touch with my college roommate who used to live there.

Since Margaret's new apartment is near the Marriott, I took a couple of walks around the neighborhood, looking for everyone - the Marriott, Glen's Garden Market, Ruth's Chris Steak House.  We didn't make it back to Recessions, which is probably where everyone was.  Karaoke and the cheapest beer in town.

Besides the wedding reception, we spent a fair amount of time talking about the elections.  Lots of disappointment with Obama, from his own supporters.  I am still not there, and posted on Facebook today a nice article about all that has been accomplished these past years.  Enough politics.

Enjoying my second retirement since my class ended and the Herman Melville season is over, I joined Johnny for a kayak trip down the Housatonic.  Beautiful, meandering stretch of the river and the hills in the near distance.  Johnny who has been canoeing on the river for over 20 years has a story for every bend, when floods washed out trees, how the river has changed course and a fair number of unforeseen canoe flips in frigid water.  It was my first time in a kayak on a river, and it went well.  Even though the water was gently flowing, it was still a workout going back upstream.

John and Marilyn had just come back from Florida, as Marilyn is going to have a knee operation.  We joined them for a Kelly's Diner brunch - another sign of retirement!!

What else?  We are almost caught up on our Homeland viewing, so we need a new show.  We did go to the movies recently to see Gone Girl, which was good, but had a very unsatisfying ending.  I think we were the only people in America who did not read the book.  Our Halloween adventure was going to a play on Edgar Allen Poe's last days in Baltimore.  Two other cultural activities included a concert in Great Barrington by a guy who lives in Barcelona, named Sam Lardner.  We learned he had played in Princeton two nights earlier.  

We also attended a "summit" on historic preservation in Pittsfield, because of concern over a plan by Dunkin Donuts to tear down an old church for one of their stores.  Now I admit I like Dunkin Donuts, but that comes as close to Joni Mitchell's song about paving paradise as anything I've seen.  I was the moderator of the meeting, that included our mayor.  Fortunately, the donut chain has scrapped their plans due to community outrage, but no one is sure what comes next.

We spoke with Annie who has accepted a job with General Electric, starting next July,  Congrats!!

And, it is getting cold up here.  We've had our first fire.  And, even though we miss summer, this fall has been pretty wonderful.

What's new with you?  Got a photo to share?

Love from up here.