All is well in NJ

A three hour drive is pretty easy.  Jeffrey and Melodie made the trip to Grandma's and back on the same day.  John and Mary stayed overnight. 
 
But that is if it really does take three hours.  On our way up, we took rte 295 in NJ and looked over at a parking lot and wondered what that was.  Turned out it was the NJ turnpike.  A terrible accident shut down the turnpike in both directions, for five hours.  Luckily we decided to take 295. 
 
Because we had a great time, catching up with Grandma and with Jeff and Melodie.  And with Peter and Janet and Sean who joined us for dinner Saturday night.  Grandma looks and feels a whole lot better.  She's walking again, and we even went grocery shopping.  Sunday morning we went to Perkins for a healthy brunch.
 
Much of the conversation was on politics and books we were reading, dogs, plays, crafts, grandchildren and family memories.  (We tried to talk Jeffrey into taking the foreign service test!) Andrew, perhaps you can help us with the name of the fried chicken fast food place we went to in Carmel Ind.   We talked baseball and Grandma was really into the NFL draft - she was hoping the Lions would take Sanchez instead of the Jets.
 
Mary uses her time in the car for all her calls; I think she gets tired of talkking to me, or listening to me.  She learned her brother Tim may be coming east in May, that John and Marilyn had a good time playing golf in South Carolina, but wondered what else people do down there, that Marj and Lew are also renovating their house.  Mary also called Annie, but this is crunch time for Annie at school as she is wrapping up her thesis.  Soon she'll be able to talk longer.)
 
Joe had a party this weekend where the theme was bad decisions.  People were supposed to come dressed up as bad decisions.  Mary said that she would have come as a tatoo if she had been invited or able to go.  Kathleen came down for the weekend.  She is getting ready for a 5 week trip to China before she starts grad school in August (at some school in New Haven.)
 
Last weekend, we went down to DC for Sunday morning brunch with Joe and Margaret in the eastern market.  City life looks like fun. 
 
Did I mention Mary is playing the guitar?  Look for her first cd out soon - Skip to My Lou, Amazing Grace and Clementine will be her break-out covers.
 
No dog stories this time around.  Have a great week.  Love from down here.

two websites

Hey.  We've got news!
 
First.  In case you didn't get enough dog news, here's one more.  Margaret was interviewed by the local NPR station about her adoption tale.  Check it out..

Adopting Foster Animals - Not Always Just a Heart-Warming Experience http://www.wamu.org/news/09/04/13.php#25985

Next, click here to see the project John has been working on for the President's and Secretary's trips this weekend.   http://townhall.howcast.com/
You can even watch a live stream of Secretary Clinton at her town hall event. Hope you're having a great week.

Happy Easter

Joe and Margaret just left after Easter dinner, and we walked it all off.  At least some of it.
 
It was an eventful day and a restful day. Joe and Margaret (and her dog d'Angelo) came to spend the night in order to be here when the Easter bunny came.  We had a long Seinfeld-like discussion today about the logic of the bunny with eggs and chocolate and hiding the eggs, and we got lost in the logic.  Then Grandma told us that Claire had done a reading at her church today which may have tied the tradition to the church.  Would you share with us the reading Claire?
 
The events started with the cat and Margaret's dog not really getting along, at least Moe was not being very hospitable.  So, we decided to take the dog to church with us, and we left the windows of the car open enough for plenty of air while we went to church.  When we came out the dog was gone, and had jumped out the car window.  Fortunately he had a leash and a dog tag, and about an hour and half later we got a call that the dog had turned up in someone's yard.  Thankfully.  The rest of the day was spent eating too many jelly beans and chocolate and reading.  Nice. 
 
Mary had the whole week off, and we started off her spring break in Pittsfield, doing a little work on the house.  It was cold and it snowed each of the days we were there.  Nothing stuck, reminded us how further along we are in spring.  We went out to dinner with her Aunt Mary and went for a long discovery walk through the woods in the back of our house, ending up at the family cemetary.  John left to come back on Wednesday, and Mary went on to Stonington and Rhode Island to see  Dan and Maura, and Marg and Lew.  She drove back on Friday, stopping by Hightstown to visit Grandma.
 
Who is not feeling so hot.  It looks like she had a bad reaction to some medicine she was recently prescribed.  She went off the medicine, but it's taking some time to get out of her system.  Slowly on the mend.
 
Annie spent Easter with friends in New York, first in NY City and then on to the Hamptons!  Must be nice.  She's got a few short weeks left, but a thesis to finish in the meantime.
 
John's been busy at work, preparing for two big trips this week with Obama and Clinton going to Trinidad this coming weekend. 
 
Not much else to report - baseball season started and things were more hopeful last week than this week.  For Reds fans anyway.
 
Hope you all had a great Easter, and spring is on its way.  Love from down here!

They Came, They Saw, They

Ate a lot of food!
 
Not really, but it sounded funny.  The Dundee Dicksons came east, swinging by Washington on their way up to New Jersey.   Not a lot of excitement, but a lot of chatting - reliving the wedding, piling on AIG, talking sports (and trash), a lot of walking along the length of the mall.  Claire was on the mend from a bad cold, and Danny was, well, being Danny.  Fun, that is. Check out the video.
 
Jeffrey and Melodie joined us for dinner on Sunday night, along with Joe, Margaret and Annie, and Margaret's new dog, DeAngelo.  I bet it is the first time a dog has ever been named DeAngelo. Speaking of pets, there's a photo here of David and Paula's new kitty, and we heard lots of stories about Andrew and Lur's new dog. 
 
Please don't tell Claire that her air mattress filled up with air this morning as we were folding it up. 
 
Margaret does have a long story to tell about her dog adoption experience, and hopefully it won't be told in court.  It involves a sick dog and an outlay of a lot of money for medical bills, immediately, and an adoption agency which has washed its hands of the affair.  The good news is the dog is much better, after one very worrisome night.   
 
Annie stayed with Margaret and Dee to help out.  She goes back to school tomorrow after a pretty uneventful spring break. 
 
Nice to see Jeffrey and Melodie and they are off for a short break to New Orleans; Joe knows a few people down there, they should stay away from.
 
Other news- Mary started playing the guitar, and signed up for some classes.  We tried to fix up one of the old cheap Mexican guitars but to no avail.  After one class, she is about to release her new "best of" cd, with covers of "Skip to My Lou" and "Hokey, Pokey" and Itsy Bitsy Spider."  Look for the video next.
 
Not much else to report - working our way through another season the Wire, through biographies of Andrew Jackson and Walt Whitman and through a lenten season with no sweets and desserts.  Spring is trying to sneak in, and it is Cherry Blossom weekend here, but is is cold, rainy and raw.
 
Finally, Andrew, you snuck out of here without taking the slides!  Come back!
 
Love from down here

March Madness

Lots to report, but first, our thoughts are with Paula, David and family during this time of loss.  We align ourselves with Janet's very thoughtful message below.
 
We are also thinking of Sarah, whose surgery to remove a couiple of growths appears to have been successful.  Grandma reports that the doctors were optimistic and Sarah should be home with Uncle Jim and Aunt Georgia in Florida and recovering.
 
And Annie was also sick, with bronchitis, so sick she thought she would have to miss a trip to Boston.  She got on antibiotics and is better, and is now on her way to Boston.  After a job interview on Tuesday, she will head back home for the remainder of the month.
 
Also heading home yesterday was Joe, from Yemen.  Joe had traveled there for about ten days for work.  He has had Yemen on his mind for some time now, so it will be interesting to hear his impressions.
 
And as they head home, Margaret is leaving home. Today is moving day, as she has found a group home in Washington, and with the good advice of Jeffrey has settled in the Eastern Market area, not too far from Jeff and Melodie.   Moving is terrible, but she has a nice, new place.
 
We haven't written since the first of March when we got our first snowfall since our arrival in the DC area.  The government was on delayed opening and unscheduled leave, so John took advantage of both!  Here with us to enjoy that day was our friend Valerie from Seattle.  She was here to promote her self-published memoire of her daughter titled Maria, who died after a car crash when she was in her early 20s.  A sad story.
 
Mary also got the day off, and a delayed opening the next day.  We have been sending all the good news of the awards her school has been receiving, but yesterday they got an even bigger one: a national award, one of the top ten urban schools in the country.  Is there a connection between these awards and her arrival back there last year?  You bet!  Here's the story:  http://www.ncust.org/dnn/Portals/0/Excellence_Awards/2009WinnersPR.pdf
 
It's been a busy time at work for John.  His office is moving into the Facebook and Twitter and other stuff age.  He is finding himself in more and more meetings where he is by decades the oldest person in the room, watching a good show - but not contributing much.  Life is moving on.
 
So, back to packing; at least it's warm again.  Flowering trees and crocuses are out.  Lucky.  Love from down here

For Paula

Our hearts break for you, dear Paula.  This must be such a difficult time.  Know that we are all thinking of you, are with you in spirit, and pray for all of you.  You were a terrific sister, and we know that your incredible devotion and care for Sally during her illness made a big difference.  Because that's the person you are.  You make us all feel better just by your being there.

Be well.  Take care of you and know that we all love you.

Janet 

It was just like Chicago, and Rochester