Look out Cleveland

And three photos for this posting! One with Annie making a funny face.

That's because of road trips, one to drive out to Cleveland with Annie
in her new car and the other that saw Lur going to Hope College to see
a Bill Monroe Tribute concert. And who's playing the mandolin?
Claire. Who knew? We knew about the oboe, but where did the mandolin
come from? Girl's got talent.

The great thing about the trip to Cleveland is Fairport is on the way!
So Annie and I stopped on our way out for a too-short look-see at
David and Paula's new house. And I can attest that it's everything
we've heard. Beautiful, wonderful, unique home in a great
neighborhood. They're in the long process of unpacking and sorting
out, but it looks great. Every room is an adventure!

Actually there were other great things about the trip. Annie started
her first day on the job a short sleep after arriving and later she
showed me around the campus of GE Lighting. Campus? Yes, it looks
like a university. Built in the early 1900s, old brick buildings,
gardens and trees and pond and fountain. That's the way they used to
do it.

They actually have classrooms though. There's an institute where
people come to learn how to light art, how to light retail, how to
light stadiums. Who knew?

So we checked out Annie's temp housing and also her long-term home. Very nice.

And, it was great to be there during the World Series. The "Go Tribe"
signs are everywhere as are hats and shirts. Here's what one couple
decked out in their gear told me in the elevator: if we have to lose,
I'm glad it will be to the Cubs. I think people from Ohio may meet the
Canadian level of niceness.

I haven't even gotten to the other great thing. The Lakeshore Limited,
which I boarded at 5:30 am for the trip to Pittsfield. And guess who
boarded in Rochester? See the photo. How cool is that?

We got together on the train but they had the sleeper booth and we're
heading to NYC. Fun

Other great things? We went to DC for a weekend and stayed with Joe.
Leonor had just finished two weeks of work travel and Joe two weeks at
his new job. We got to see Margaret and Andrew's new house and
neighborhood Very nice. Still unpacking, but they made a great
choice. And, Margaret just got back from a week-long trip to
Nicaragua and Honduras - she might be the first Dickson to go to
Nicaragua.

And great to see all the wonderful shots on Facebook of Halloween,
SCARY. David and Paula said they had about 200 people to their house.
We got shut out again.

So, hope all is well. Home again. And, feliz Dia de los Muertos.

Love from up here.

Peak season

When do you know if it's peak season?  Is there one day that the foliage is absolutely at its peak?  Impossible.  One hill looks as if it's past peak with nothing but bare limbs.  The hill right across the valley still has a lot of green.  It's all a motel conspiracy anyway, to convince people to leave the warmth of their homes and seek out the best view.

Which is exactly what we did the past two days.  And last weekend.  And every day in between it seems.  A little bit of driving, and a little bit of walking.  And, of course a lot of photos, that don't really capture the sense, even when some are complaining that we didn't have enough rain for the full color.

Anyway, that's a long lead in to say that while summer's over, the move to fall and the colors and the gorgeous days like today make it not so hard to miss, even though we know what's around the corner.  

So, let's see your favorite tree or hillside of the fall: send an e-mail to popsweeklyletter.bubba@blogger.com

Two weeks ago, we just arrived home from Portugal and we're still living off of the memories.  But, life moves on and back to work and projects.

Joe and Leonor came back to the World Bank meetings which meant work, work, work.  He has started his new job, and Lenor hit the road for two weeks of travel to 6-7 cities in the U.S. and Canada.  Margaret and Andrew have spent their first week in their house, with adjustments for the commute and the dog.  We heard that they are in no rush to unpack, as Andrew said they have 30 years to unpack.  We talked to Annie and she is in her final weeks in Boston, and will do a little car shopping this weekend for her trip to Cleveland over Halloween weekend.

David and Paula have unpacked enough boxes for the time being, and they might not have 30 years to unpack.  But they are comfortable, and it seems every call I get from David is from his porch with a lemonade in his hand.  He also found another house for sale that will bring back memories: 9655 Cunningham Rd.  Any buyers?? It looks very different (except the kitchen, ha ha.)  I think I saw my bedroom #22, the hallway/closet and recognized David and Peter's bedrooms but not much else.

John and Marilyn had an unscheduled adventure in Georgia, as they evacuated before Hurricane Matthew (no relation to our Matthew)  They were gone just a couple of nights and they returned to a house untouched.

It's been birthday October, and so far we have seen Johanna celebrating hers in Paris, and Janet spent hers touring the Clinton headquarters in New Jersey.  Sounds like a different way to spend your birthday, but worthwhile, given this year's unprecedented edition.  If I remember correctly, Auden also had her third birthday.  More birthdays on their way, with Claire, Bill and Kathleen.

We're still plugging away on our election referendum and the first draft of my images book is due this week.  That means the end is in sight.  I need a few more projects after that.  Any ideas?  

That's all from up here.  Stay healthy, Love

Portugal

By now, you have seen so many photos of Portugal on Facebook, it is hard to find one that has not seen the light of day.  But, here it is.  This is of the newly-blessed-wedding couple at the reception overlooking the Rio Tajo on its way to the Atlantic Ocean.  

Many memories.  Wonderful, happy, special.  

A few things stick out.

First was the generosity and hospitable-ness of Leonor's family.  They really rolled out the red carpet for us.  

Second, was the beauty of the country. Lots of history, and I mean 5-6 centuries old buildings and streets and alleys.

Third, was the weather.  We couldn't believe it but one day towards the end of the trip, the sky was overcast for a few hours.  Other than that, blue skies, sunny and dry during the day, with a slight chill at night.

Fourth were the grapes.  If the weather described above sounds ideal for grapes, that's because it is.  We drove the wine valley, and along sides its mountains, which made for spectacular views, but some white knuckle driving and riding.  We even sampled some of the wine and port.

Fifth, (and there were many more) was being together and sharing this time with Joe and Leonor.  

We know some of you were unable to make it, but we also know that because of number one above, there will be other opportunities to visit and get to know the trans-Atlantic side of our family.

We arrived home, turned on the heat, and slept for almost 12 hours.  Unpacking, doing laundry, and sorting through photos will keep the memories alive for a lot longer.

Congratulations Leonor and Joe.  Love from up here

School and moves and jobs

Mary went back to school this week.  Who else?  I know Claire and Daniel, and probably Oliver and Janet have been back for a while.  Is Myles in school yet?  How about Andrew S.?  He's starting a graduate program in public health.  Back to school for me means traffic, on my long drives to and from UMass a couple of times a week.  It's crazy how many cars there are trying to get over a bridge between Amherst and Northhampton.  Fortunately, there are podcasts and NPR and books on tape.

How about new jobs?  Sean, Margaret and Joe have started new jobs.  And Sean's comes with a badge!  Is it a first for a Dickson?  Perhaps.  Great Facebook photos from what must have been a sentimental swearing-in ceremony as assistant DA, and in the same complex as the statue of Sean's great-uncle.   

How about moves?  David and Paula are in their new house.  They moved over last weekend, and have begun the slow and not-so wonderful process of unpacking and putting things away. It's a good brain exercise as you're forced to remember where you put the forks.  Still, all the work is offset by the happiness of the location, of the front porch, of the curb appeal.  

Annie found she will be moving to Cleveland.  By November.  Her social life seems to revolve around going to weddings on weekends, sprinkled by trying to figure out what's wrong with her car.  I think the Saturn has seen its last days having surpassed 180,000 miles. 

Margaret and Andrew are also moving, as their offer on a new house was accepted.  They are busy now with the financials and organizing a closing date around Columbus Day.  Their new house is in the Brookland NE section of DC, near Catholic University.  And it has a small yard for D!  New job, new school, new house.  Adds to the stress.  Margaret's new job is Fulbright for Caribbean and Central America.  

We drove by their new house over Labor Day, when we went down for the wedding of the daughter of the Schwartzes, friends we knew in South Africa who have children the same ages as ours.  Highlight of the wedding?  A New Orleans procession over to the White House, complete with jazz band.  

We stayed with Joe who was in the final days of his China job before he switches over to the international banking office at Treasury.   He had just finished doing some nice renovation work to the parking area behind his house, making it a nice outdoor area for sitting.  Look for Grandma's glass top tables there soon!  Leonor was in Portugal.

Which is where we are going this week.  Joe is heading out today, and we will be on our way Wednesday.  Look for many Facebook posts from there over the next two weeks.

Speaking of Facebook, we see Tina had jury duty - and from her tone I can't tell whether she liked it or not.  It is a break in routing and she took advantage of the downtime to take in the city sites.

John and Marilyn are here now.  Actually not, they're at Kara and Brian's, but they were here and are coming back. In their down time, Johnny cut the grass and did some plumbing work in our basement (obrigado - practicing my Portuguese for thanks so much!)  Marilyn also arranged our dish towel drawer, and I really should put a picture of that in the letter, or at least on Facebook.  We had a nice Boyle cousins dinner here which was very nice.

So, I got through a whole letter without an advertisement for Trump's new hotel in DC.  Ooops, I did it.

Hope you are well, thriving even.  Love from up here.

Still summer

And, the glorious summer continues.  I understand for some of you, it has been not-so glorious, but just plain hot.  This is why we live here, though.  About this time of the year, amnesia has set in and we have blocked out January through May.

We played host to Margaret and D, who showed up here to spend a week in the north, in between jobs for Margaret.  She went to Boston for a visit with Annie and Andrew flew in.  They went on a search and destroy mission for beaches, and apparently found some close by, on the Cape and then in Rhode Island.  Fun.  

Margaret and Andrew returned to Pittsfield in time to join our friends from Gabon (Drew and Claire) who were driving from San Francisco to Maine when they stopped here for a couple of days.  We overlapped with Annie for about 30 seconds, before we then headed up to Maine for a weekend of relaxation in the Main woods.  Apparently, after we left, there were trips to DreamAway Lodge, golf outings and hiking for those who stayed behind.  More fun.

Then, this week we were joined here by Timmy with his new family.  They were on their way -- all the way from Los Angeles - to drop off Denisa's son, Johnnie, who will be starting a graduate program in photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.  We had a small Boyle family reunion -- dinner really -  for Timmy that included all of Colleen's family.  Timmy had left LA the day after having dinner with John and Marilyn who were beginning their drive across the country on Rte 66.  We've been following their travels on Facebook and are planning our own trip.  Looks like a lot to do on that road.  That makes three trips across country - Drew and Claire, Timmy and family, and John Marilyn.  What does that say about the price of gas?

News from Fairport is the house move is on track with final odds and ends coming together.  David passed along a wesbite with a little history of their new house: http://www.perintonhistoricalsociety.org/index.php/history/preservation/newman-cotter.html

We see from Facebook that the Pennington Dicksons convened for a four-hour Bruce Springsteen concert.  We know that was a highlight, because anytime he gets on stage he seems to out-do what he has done before.

And, out west, on the frontier, Daniel has started college, and has opted for an 8am class.  He's going to be studying business. Speaking of business, Billy is close to launching his new start-up.  Claire was home for a few days, before she headed back to Hope College, followed the next day by Andrew and Lur with the rest of Claire's stuff.  Andrew has picked up a second evening of working in a food bank.

In less than a month, we'll be boarding a plane for Portugal.  We got our new passports so we're ready.  Leonor has already left, but will be spending time in London doing work-related things for a couple of weeks before heading to Lisbon.

Finally, the Olympics are over.  We loved watching them, but they ate up all of our entertainment and evenings.  No more Phelps, Bolt, Biles and Ledecky.  Pretty amazing though.

The Olympics meant that I put my reading on hold, although I have made it through quite a few of my summer reading list - Caro (Volume 2 of LBJ) and Bretton Woods, Melville (Pierre) and Berkshire industry.  

Other than that, same old Shaker Village, UMass, Arrowhead and Preserve Pittsfield electoral campaign, and trying to sneak in a nap where possible. 

Looking forward to a long weekend coming up, but one that unfortunately means the end of summer.  Not yet.

Love from up here.   

Signs of autumn

I hate to say it, but the first trees are starting to turn.  There are only a few, but it's unmistakeable.  Our local weather guy ends his report each day telling us the precise times for sunrise and sunset and how many minutes we lose each day.  Sad.  The only consolation is the sun is rising later, letting us sleep a little later.

As you can see from the picture of today's haul - blueberries, tomatoes, green beans, cucumber, squash and lettuce - it's also harvest time for the garden.  We've had our best bumper crop of lettuce, and should have mountains of beans over the next week or so.  Planted this time for the first year were beets, and those are doing very well too.  In fact, what's not doing well?  The woodchucks.  Very little sign of them this year.  Thank you kitty.

As you've seen from all our Facebook postings, we have been up to our necks in local politics, specifically to get placed on the November ballot a question about raising funds for historic preservation -- and parks and housing.  This past Tuesday, after a marathon City Council meeting that considered and voted in favor of banning circus animals, we achieved our first success, to get approval for our referendum question to be on the November ballot.  So, after convincing 11 people, now all we have to do is convince 4-5000 people.  Not even sure how to go about that.  But it sure makes the election this November something besides Trump for us.

We're also into our season of visitors.  Margaret is here right now as she took a week off before she starts her new job.  She is heading to Boston for a few days mid-week to be with Annie, and we get to keep D here.  Camp Dad for dogs.

Foreign service friends were here last week (Larry and Ellen) and Gerry and Dennis are here now.  Next week, our colleagues from our Gabon project will be here, driving all the way from San Francisco.  And then, we're off to Maine for the weekend.  No rest for the weary.  We love it.

It's funny.  Gerry and Dennis have been here in July in past years, and it's usually our hottest time.  So this year, they decided to wait until August, and guess what?  It's the hottest, most uncomfortable time of this summer.

Anyone watching the Olympics?  Of course, but especially Mary's swim coach.  He has the team doing the events from the night before at the morning practice.  I think Mary came in as close to Katie Ledecky as lane 7 did in the 800 freestyle.  Pretty incredible, huh?  We're recording it all, but don't have time to watch the taped show, since the live events keep getting in the way.  Of course, we could just fast forward through the ads and Mr. Costas interruptions. 

Mary is pulling a Pop this summer - she painted the porch, the back one, or what used to be the front porch.  She said it was looking like "tobacco road" and now it looks like Hyannisport.  Almost.  No, not even close, but still a lot nicer.

Annie is off in South Carolina this weekend for a friend's wedding, and Joe and Leonor are supposed to have completed their renovation to their back driveway/patio.  We see on Facebook that Oliver is getting ready for school track (or maybe for next year's Mt. Springs "round the lake" 5 miler.  We also see that Jeff and Melodie are back in Rhode Island for some quality beach time.  We also saw a bunch of photos from Peter and Janet's post-Mt. Springs trip, for Janet's annual theater accessibility conference in Pittsburgh.

Claire should be finishing up her camp any time now, and Daniel is putting in the hours at Sherwin Williams this summer.  We expect that David and Paula are mightily busy with their upcoming move.  

So, hope everyone is managing the heat, not like me.  I mowed the lawn, two and half hours and a loss of four pounds.

Anyway, that's a warp - stay cool and love from up here.  

Road Trip!

We are back from our road trip to Pittsburgh and other points in Pennsylvania. We had planned a longer voyage, but meetings in N.J. summoned us back. On our way out, we stopped at Valley Forge, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and Fort Necessity. In Pittsburgh, Janet did three intensive days of the LEAD conference (Leadership Exchange In Arts And Disabilities) while I did two days of fishing and ran errands. We then spent two days in Erie before heading home. Highlights and lowlights:

- This trip corresponded with very contentious days on the electoral front. Lots of conversations at the conference and meals. I truly wonder how this will turn out and how history will view it. It's not likely to be a high point in the nation's history.
                   
- Pittsburgh has made a pretty good recovery from the loss of its status as a leading steelmaking and coal mining center. We had LEAD functions in the Andy Warhol Museum and the Children's Museum. Andrew Warhola was a very successful commercial artist in New York City before he became the Andy Warhol we all know today. And he was a very gifted artist well beyond soup cans.

- The Children's Museum has mementos of Fred Rogers, a Pittsburgh native. The Heinz Center, a collection of museums in a re-purposed warehouse, has the original set for the show.

- Fallingwater is literally built on top of a stream and small waterfall, as the summer home of the Kaufmans, owners of Pittsburgh's largest department stores, now part of Macy's. It's spectacularly beautiful. Edgar Kaufman joked about the problems created by the moisture by saying the house should instead be called "Mold Rising." It costs over $4 million today just to maintain. But hats off to a very nice visitor experience: nice visitor center, low key and knowledgeable tours.

- Valley Forge was not quite the everybody froze to death experience we commonly think of. It was a turning point in the war, because the German Baron Steuben drilled the eager Continentals and militias into a formidable disciplined fighting force. Also a well maintained visitor experience. Lots of information about the many petty jealousies of officers who thought they should have commanded the Continentals, and the lack of cooperation by the Continental Congress. No wonder a new Constitution was written.

- Fort Necessity was built by Colonel George Washington of the British Army in what we call the French and Indian War (the Seven Years War in Europe), in the middle of a meadow surrounded by woods. The French and Indians did not deign to come out of the woods and shot Washington's detachments to shreds. It's the only time Washington ever surrendered.

- We spent a day in Erie, on Lake Erie, enjoying the magnificent Presque Isle State Park, surprisingly no charge for admission, and the Maritime museum, well telling the story of Commodore Perry's successful defeat of the small British Navy (he borrowed the famous "Don't Give Up The Ship" slogan.)

- Lots and lots and lots of trucks on the Pa. Turnpike and I-80. Lots.

- As I've noted before, it is hard to find good nutritious food on the road.

- There is nothing in north central Pennsylvania. However, there is a town called Jersey Shore.

- The LEAD is sponsored by the Kennedy Center, and features lots of good stories about advocates like Janet all over the country. Next year's conference will be in Austin.

- On our way back, we went by the exit for Tannersville, Pa. Lots of good memories.

- Once again, I was reminded that we live in a beautiful country.