Travelogue

Where to begin?  Perhaps with our host Sam Singh who has taken such good care of us and shown us so many things in India we forget what happened the day before. 

He grew up in the house where we are staying, the descendent of a local prince. He went to the U.K. To study engineering and then on to the US with a job as a textile engineer for DuPont.  He worked there for 40 years, and I think I can remember him saying he moved 29 times

When he retired he decided to return to his home town and he started a school for girls in 2000. He believed you educate a girl, you educate a family. With 40 girls the first year, there are now 1100 girls with side projects like textile factory for their mothers, milk cooperatives, latrines, solar electricity, all for families who send their girls to the school. 

So he's taken us to each of these projects, after we spend the day teaching English.  We've gone to the monkey temple and a temple commemorating Lord Krishna's marriage. We've driven the city streets and back roads, checked out sugar cane production and cow patties. In this picture, we are on a sunset cruise on the Ganges. 

You may ask why?  Not really sure, other than he's genuinely touched people come all the way from the US to work with the girls. He's a great promoter of his dream and yesterday brought in a big donation from an Indian businessman. Today we participated in a fund-raising half marathon race (we walked). 

Teaching is not as easy as we thought even though it's a lot more gentle than fixing up schools. The girls are happy and enthusiastic. Very rewarding, but it's kind of hard to pop in and make a difference. Not sure it matters though since one of his primary goals is not just remove the girls from a difficult environment and let them enjoy themselves and dream of possibilities. 

Food is plentiful but very different. Living conditions are very comfortable but we wake up each morning to loud Hindi music blaring from the temple next door. 

We will be here until Thursday morning when we start the site-seeing portion of the trip. 

We hope you all are well. We hear we missed much snow in Pittsfield but we've managed to keep up with the man who everyone is laughing at here. If only it were funny.  So sad. 

So love from over here. 

Hope

This, just in from Dundee.  Wish I had a photo, or even an audio!

"We went up to Hope this weekend to see Claire perform at the annual Hope Musical Showcase, which highlights Hope's music students. It ranged from orchestras to jazz bands to the Appalachian String Band (which was tremendous). Two of Claire's roommates were featured soloists, and blew all away. One with the viola, the other alto sax. A student played an amazing song on the huge church organ with just his feet. Amazingly, out of the hundred or so performers, only a third are actual music majors. Some were Biology, some were Engineering, and some were Pre Med. The college prides itself on giving access to the Music department resources to any student who wishes. 

A moment you will probable appreciate was the opening remarks by the President, who is an ordained pastor. Keep in mind the audience was mostly older individuals and conservative. The President announced that the new music center which all were in, just received a national award for being a "green" building. The audience clapped loudly. He then remarked that he was going to tweet out this to all Hope alumni, stating "it is about time that there is a tweet that is affirming and positive."

The audience clapped and CHEERED loudly. Quite a moment."

 

bon voyage

Writing this before kick-off, with no way of knowing how I'm going to be feeling in a few hours.  Did you ever notice that a loss for your team stays with you longer than a win?  I've been spending the last 24 hours wondering what Tom Brady was doing at this precise moment.  What did he do while I took a nap?  While we went out to an Italian restaurant?  While we watched Ben Affleck and The Accountant?  While we slept in late and had blueberry pancakes.  Mary assures me he was not dong any of those things.

Great news from Joe and Leonor (below).  When we went down to DC for the Women's March, Leonor was just beginning to show.  And a boy.  A healthy boy.  Wonderful.  

We had planned to go down for the inauguration of the first woman as President, but alas.  So we did the next best thing and joined the half a million of other people on the day after.  Pretty moving and fun.  Margaret helped steer us through the orderly chaos of the metro ride and walk across the mall.  Then we stood up on the steps of the East Gallery which turned into a kind of a reviewing stand for the crowd.

We stayed with Margaret and Andrew in their nice, comfortable new home, with kitties and Dee.  We picked up Marj at the airport on the way down and there was a bedroom for her too!  Margaret and Andrew are super busy as Andrew is into his second semester of a master's program.  

After the march, we Google mapped it over to Melodie and Jeffrey's new home, which is also quite nice with a sizeable backyard.  We helped move some furniture and gave too much interior decorating advice.  They joined us the next day at Margaret and Andrew's for the football game the next day.  Leonor and Joe who had just flown in from India, also came over the festivities.

On the way down, we stopped in Hightstown for the night, and Peter and Janet joined us at the Americana Diner for dinner?  Remember that one?  They still have Grandma's favorite - a quesdilla - on the menu, and Mary ordered that one  By the way, Peter had sent down a website which said that the Americana was ranked the best diner in New Jersey.  But we knew that already, at least ranked in our minds.  Talk was mostly about what lay ahead on the political front, and their pessimism against my trying to be hopeful looks like has so far won out.  In between, we managed to hear about Johanna's new job and Sean's promotion.

This past week, the running theme has been coughing.  First Mary was sick, and we had to call off our visit to Boston for Burns night.  Luckily, since that day I also got whacked with the chest cold, and it put me in bed for most of Sunday (what a baby.)  Mary's also had this lingering stomache-dizziness issue that she thinks she may have figured out, just in time for our airplane ride this week.

We also played host to John Boyle, who had come up for a week of skiing.  And did he pick the right week.  Last week was rainy and warmer than usual; this week was cold and we even got about 6 inches of snow one day.  Marilyn, for some reason, preferred to stay down where the temperatures were climbing to the 80s.  Colleen came over with Robbie and Julie and Robbie's girlfriend Jamie one night for dinner.  Johnny left this morning on the long drive home, with guess what?  A cold and cough.

I am beginning to see how Facebook does it.  My feed right now is full of nothing but anti-Trump tirades.  Wonder why?  Because I like every one of them, and even post a few of my own.  I see I'm not the only Dickson-Boyle in this cycle.  I should probably like a few more animal or vacation posts.

So, this time next week, we'll be in India.  We depart Wednesday and are back on March 8.  We'll send along our phone number when we get it and we'll have plenty of photos for Facebook and the weekly letter.

Love from up here, 

Big News!

Hello All,

We have some big news: Leonor is pregnant! She's just finished her first trimester. Both she and the baby are healthy, and we recently found out that it will be a boy. We're both very excited, if completely overwhelmed.

Here are two pictures of the little guy. The only things that we know so far - beyond that he's healthy - is that he can't stop moving and that he clearly has the Dickson men chicken legs.

With lots of love,

Leonor, Joe, and Tom Brady Fontoura-Dickson

Housing bubble

The economists are telling us that the housing market is back. And judging from the behavior of those reading this newsletter, we are proof!  Joe and Leonor, David and Paula, Margaret and Andrew, John and Marilyn.

And now Jeffrey and Melodie!  Great news.  Why do we put ourselves through such ordeals?  Stress and chaos, mess and dirt, work and exhaustion.  But then joy and pride, accomplishment and fun, new and hope. Figuring out a new neighborhood and where the spatula goes.  You can even paint a wall purple. It's yours ( and the bank's).  Makes it all worthwhile.  

We especially loved the photos and postings on Facebook especially Melodie's advice to clean up and clean out every few months. Or years?  Mary took that to heart as she is about to tackle kitchen cupboards. New year's resolution?  

I broke mine in the first waking hour of 2017. That broken vow came in the form of a cellophane wrapped muffin. So much for healthy eating. I have lost six pounds though since then. 

We spent New Year's Eve at Jay and Molly Unger's Ashokan fiddle retreat. We sand and danced part of the night away, contra dance, zydeco, Texas two-step. It might have even been more fun if we knew how to do any of those dances.  Good music though. 

The new year also brought birthdays for Jeffrey and Margaret. And new jobs for Johanna and Sean. Congratulations to all!  

And it brought protests. Mary and I participated in one here in Pittsfield on the 76th anniversary of FDR's Four Freedoms speech. The organizers thought they'd get 300 but we're hoping for 500. When 2000 showed up, we were worried!  Could everyone fit in the church?  The answer was no but even though it was bitter cold, people were ok, just happy to do something. Good speeches by Senator Markey and 11 others, including FDR's grandson. And Mary and I were in the local paper, which described our help with making signs.  Not sure if we can count that towards our 15 minutes of fame. No one seems to notice when I go grocery shopping yet.  

And more protests to come. This week we're heading to Washington for the Million Women March.  We know quite a few people from here heading down as well.  And I guess there are others around the country as well; Janet and Johanna are going to one in Trenton. 

One of our resolutions was to try to be more spontaneous in our retirement. So, when Annie called and said she was going to be in Schenectedy for the week, we drove over for dinner to see her. You'd be surprised to learn that I ate too much at the Mexican restaurant we chose. 

On a less happy note, out in Dundee, Andrew is suffering through some back issues and pain. He was going to have an MRI this week.  Hope it doesn't mean surgery as he's already had three but more important we hope he gets better soon.  

Our in-boxes this week carried news from David of the Poconos weekend set for July 19-23. There's hope for you!  

So with all that, happy new year and love from up here. 

Farewell 2016

What to say to 2016 other than farewell?  Actually, you don't say anything to a year.  Years can't hear.  So, with that in mind, we'll take the opportunity to wish for a wonderful 2017.

And hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Mary did her best in getting us into the Christmas spirit, and she succeeded: decorating the tree (and the house), making cookies, putting on John Denver and the Muppets music, going to carol services at church, taking us over to the Red Lion Inn to sit by the fire and the tree and listen to the harp, where we saw the carolers that Grandma used to have on the cupboard in the dining room.  I suspect there was a fair amount of all that going on in each of your houses.

The big wreath on the garage, the candles in the windows and even a decorated tree can be seen from Route 7, if you look hard enough.  There was a Norman Rockwell puzzle on the coffee table, and we even had snow on the ground to complete the mood.  

Annie and Joe were here.  Where were you?  Margaret and Andrew stayed in Washington, for work reasons, and Margaret was even interviewed on WAMC about people who stay behind.  Leonor was in Portugal with her family.  We know Jeff and Melodie were in Washington since they spent Christmas Eve with Margaret and Andrew checking out the decorated trees near the White House.  John and Marilyn went on a cruise, and Timmy was in southern California.  David and Paula enjoyed their first Christmas in their town home, with Paula's family and Matthew and Tina (and Donald and Oliver) coming over for dinner Christmas Eve.  We saw Peter and Janet's tree all decorated on Facebook, and I bet they had eggs benedict for breakfast.  Out in Dundee, Andrew and Lur hosted a big meal for the whole Knaack gang, including Bill and Jen and excited children.

Joe had to head back the day after Christmas, along with 300 million other travelers on Rte 95 between New York and Washington.  He did get to take a day off on his birthday, but I'm sure he prefers the birthday celebrations in Pomfret with everyone.  Annie decided to work out of Boston for the week, so we'll see her as she swings back through following New Year's Eve in Maine.

We went to a couple of movies, and actually we saw a few more at home.  Actually, we did the one with "actually" in the title.  But we also hit different ends of the spectrum, with Manchester by the Sea and Rogue One.  Guess which one Mary liked?  

We also attended an organizing meeting for a big "Four Freedoms March" that will be held in Pittsfield next Saturday.  That will get us all geared up for the trip to Washington later in January to say thank you to Obama and attend the million women's march.   

Finally, we stopped stepping on the scale until the second week of January, after we had a chance to fast and clean out our systems a little.  

That part is just the first of our New Year's Resolutions.  We have to think up some more.  Got any good ones?  

So, happy New Year's Eve and Day and happy all year long.

Love from up here.

It's dark outside

I just got back from a walk up along the lake that I began a little after 4pm.  By the time I got home it was night time.  Fortunately, our Christmas wreath is up on the side of the garage and can be seen from the other side of the lake!

 

How was everyone's Thanksgiving?  What a great holiday.  It's unique.  I was always struck how other countries are beginning to celebrate Halloween but no one tries out Thanksgiving.  The Canadians have a low-key version that they mark on the same weekend that we celebrate Columbus Day (and Janet's birthday), but that's as close as it gets.  I think the world would be a better place if everyone gave thanks, even for just one day.

 

Our Thanksgiving week started with a 36-hour snow storm that left about a foot of snow here.  It was a snow day for Mary and that meant snowshoeing, hot chocolate and fires in the fireplace.  And only four more months of snow!  Ugh.

 

Wednesday morning, though, the roads were clear and there was little trace of the white stuff south of here.  We made it to DC with little problems, and first stop was Margaret's where we met the new kitties.  Very cute.  Now I know why some people end up having 20 cats: they want another kitten. 

 

We stayed with Joe and Leonor and prepared our contributions for the big dinner there.  Annie flew in from Cleveland and Andrew's parents joined us for the dinner.  Andrew and Margaret did a great job with the main courses, and their new house was plenty big enough for all of us. 

 

We saw on Facebook photos of a big gathering with several tables in New Jersey that Peter and Janet, Sean and Johanna went to.  David tells us that their experience of ordering out the turkey meal last year when Matthew was in the hospital convinced them to try that again this year.  Jeffrey and Melodie drove up to join them for the weekend.

 

Andrew also had a big crowd of Lur's family at their house.  Claire came home for the weekend, and reconnected with a high school friend to play oboe and violin at the Thanksgiving church service.  Andrew sounded like he was ready to cater the entire eventt next year, if not order out pizza.  Has anyone ever had turkey on their pizza?

 

So, we made it through Black Friday, small business Saturday, cyber Monday and giving Tuesday, and we even have a few dollars left in the bank. I'm trying to come up with other days and possibly make a million:  how about Barter Wednesday?  or Fasting Thursday?  Or send your money to 5 Hancock Road Sunday?  

 

The rest of the week up here has been pretty uneventful - new snow tires, a good movie (Moonlight) and an adult visit to Mass Moca, Mary's swim team party and some more garden work, now that the snow has melted.  

 

While our week was a little dull, Joe went to Hong Kong and China, Margaret was sworn in at the State Department (with my old boss who talked about serving institutions and laws, not individual people) and Annie moved to her more permanent quarters in Cleveland.

 

What's new with everyone else?  Anyone sleeping through the night yet?  I still wake up arguing with our new President.

 

Other than that, life goes on, and we are settling in for the winter.  Hope you all are well.

 

Love from up here.