Happy Thanksgiving

The paper this morning said the heaviest caloric intake today is pecan pie.  And that's what I made yesterday.  And ate yesterday.  And plan on having more today.

The paper today carried about ten pounds of flyers for sales tomorrow.  We are stratergizing our plan of attack.  Toys R Us opens at 10 tonight; Macy's at 4am tomorrow; Sears at 5am.  Saks doesn't open until 8am (slackers).

But that's not really the news.  Grandma is here.  We spoke with Joe in Aleppo Syria yesterday and Annie in Beijing today, both courtesy of Skype.  Smaller world.  Joe is heading to Istanbul the day after Thanksgiving, and Annie is planning her Thanksgiving dinner for Sunday (she had to work today).

We went up to NJ on Saturday and had our tailgate party with Grandma at Meadow Lakes before heading over to Princeton for a football game with Peter. We watched with Peter, that is, although I thiknk he could have helped the Princeton team.  It was tied for a while.  But not at the end.  31-0.  Ouch.












After the game we headed back to over Pennington to chill at Peter and Janet's house.  We saw Johanna and her new dog, Molly.  Our faith in the current state of college undergrads was restored with a thoroughly delightful "Triangle" show, which we took in after dinner at the old Rusty Scupper.

Sunday we packed up the car and returned to Maryland with Grandma.  It's been a quiet week, with lots of trips to the grocery store.  We did have dinner on Monday evening with Jeffrey and Melodie, and Margaret and her friend James.  We heard the latest on wedding plans.

We spoke with Andrew and David as well, who filled us in on their Thanksgiving plans.  Lots of family visitors they are expecting. 

Hey!  I almost forgot!  The biggest news is the Bengals are finally playing on Thanksgiving.  I can picture you all, sated with turkey and enjoying the Terrell and Ochocinco show!

Love from down here! 

Letter from Damascus

A Dickson made it to Damascus...and the authorities here have blocked Pop's Weekly Letter. So, our blog has joined the storied list that includes the New York Times, Twitter, and Facebook. Little did we know that we are being watched.

It's a little more than a week into my trip from Beirut to Istanbul by land, most of which will be spent in Syria.

I arrived in Damascus two days ago after a week in Lebanon where I saw a Middle Eastern country unlike anything any of the others I have seen: free press, women in mini-skirts, locals drinking beer, active criticism of the government, posters lauding Ahmadinijad everywhere, and a very cosmopolitan restaurant scene. Our trip took us to the swanky Beirut bars, through the beautiful Lebanese mountains (where they ski in the winter) and impressive Roman ruins, and finally to a museum dedicated to the resistance during the Lebanese Civil War at their former headquarters in the south. That alone was a story into itself. Everyone was wonderful to us, even though they knew I was American.

My travel companions left on Monday to go back to Denmark, and I continued on to Damascus. Without meaning to sound corny, I have wanted to visit this city since I was in high school, and I can't describe my excitement at finally being on a bus going there. When I lived in Amman, I was turned away at the Syrian embassy for a visa, and since then, it's been too expensive to come over here.

It's difficult to capture this city's history, but Mark Twain said when visiting Damascus (I took this from my guide book): "no recorded event has occurred in the world but Damascus was in existence to receive news of it. Go back as far as you will into the vague past, there was always Damascus...She has looked upon the dry bones of a thousand empires and will see the tombs of a thousand more before she dies." Muhammad is said to have looked upon Damascus from the mountains surrounding it and refused to enter, saying that he wanted to enter paradise only once.

Obviously, both are a tad dramatic, but the history is impressive. The main street in Damascus named in the Book of Revelations (the Straight Street), as Paul was converted on the road to Damascus. References to the city are mentioned in the Old Testament numerous times (Isiah is one example). The main mosque, the Umayyad mosque, was originally an ancient pagan temple dating back to 9th century BC, then a pagan Roman temple, turned into a cathedral by the Roman empire sometime in the 4th century, and then a mosque after the Muslim conquest in 636. The walls are covered by beautiful green mosaic depicting either paradise or some ancient city, no one knows for sure. It's the only example of living things being represented inside of a mosque. It also houses a shrine to John the Baptist (revered by Muslims as well as Christians) and Imam Hussein, the son of Ali and the first Shia muslim. I've read about and studied this mosque since college, and being under those mosaics, seeing the shrine to John the Baptist, the under-stated tomb of Saladin (who was based in Damascus), and watching the throngs of Iranian pilgrims to the Hussein mosque was quite the experience.

Everyone seems to have wanted to conquer Damascus. Innumerable ancient civilizations have crossed here, the Crusaders tried no less than four times, always getting to the city walls, but never taking the city. The Mongols raped the city twice, the last time under Tamerlane, who took all of the artisans back with him to Central Asia. As Sean will remember from our many, many times watching Lawrence of Arabia: the Arabs tried to start a united Arab state in Damascus after the first world war, only for internal divisions and colonial machinations to prevent it.

The rest of the city is a magnificent display of an old market town: hundreds and hundreds of stores along the pedestrian streets selling everything from touristy trinkets to vacuum cleaners to lingerie (it's quite funny seeing veiled women shop for lingerie without caring at all about the people around them).

Yesterday, I went to a Turkish bath. To give more another example of the history: it has been in existence since the 13th century. It took two hours, and involved a sauna, followed by a very steamy room where you wash, then a very strong man takes essentially steel wool and rubs off all of the dead skin, then more bathing and a massage. In the end, you are wrapped in towels and sit and drink tea. I've never felt more clean. Too bad, then, that I left to walk through the streets, some of which are covered in blood from the killing of sheep for their Eid celebration. This is the second biggest holiday in Islam, which celebrates the pilgrimage to Mecca.

If anyone wants to visit the Middle East, come here. The people are wonderful, the streets are clean (except during Eid), everything is cheap, the history is unimaginable, and the city is beautiful. And that's just Damascus.

I'm off to the north on Sunday, to stay in a monastery for the night. Then to a city called Hama, which I will use as a base to see a couple of Crusader castles and the mountains of Syria's west. One of the castles was a base for the infamous Hashasheen, from where we get the word "Assassin". These Shia fanatics perfected the suicide-mission in the 12th century and caused fear throughout the Muslim and Crusader middle east. From Hama,  I'm heading north to a city called Aleppo, another ancient Middle Eastern city. After a couple of days there, I catch the train to Istanbul, where I'll spend three days before heading back to DC.

Hope to send another note in Aleppo or Istanbul. Pictures to come soon.

Love,
Joe

Restoring sanity

Two days after the mid-term elections and last Saturday's rally on the mall seems so far away.  It is probably too much of a naive hope that some civility will creep into the political conversation now after the elections and after the rally.

But we did have fun!  Janet and Johanna came down the night before (Peter couldn't come as he was preparing for a day in court).  We headed off in the morning for a pre-rally brunch at Jeffrey and Melodie's.  There we met their friends and warmed up since it was kind of cold (thanks so much.)  Jeff and Melodie are steeped into wedding planning and looking to nail down place and timing soon.

We walked down to the mall and made our way to the back of the crowd 4-5 blocks from the stage.   We lost Jeff and Melodie and their friends in the crowd but found a spot within sight of the last jumbo-tron and loudspeakers.   Margaret and her friend James had tickets to join a spot up front where they had eyeball view of the stage (not via big screen.)  And despite the massive cell use, we did hear from Joe that he was there, somewhere in the crowd.  We later learned that Grandma watched the whole event on tv but couldn't see any of us!  The time moved quickly through skits and music and speeches, and it was all very well done.  Part of the show were the signs people were carrying, creative and absurd and fun.  Lots of highlights, and only a couple of criticisms.  

That night we joined up with Margaret for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant and then home to watch a scary movie - day before Halloween!!

Other than rally and elections, Mary had a four-day weekend as schools were closed for the elections.  Margaret is hosting a group of Iraqis these next two weeks and had an eventful arrival where security held up most of the group making them miss their connecting flight to DC.  Joe finished up his short contract and spent a couple of days in western Maryland with his friend Tamara.  We heard from Annie a few times, and she continues to tutor and interview for longer term prospects, as well as take Chinese classes.

I spent the prior week up in Pittsfield doing odd jobs and just being on call for the contractor.  Dan Boyle had stayed in the house (with hardly any heat) as he had come north for this college reunion.  We had a nice day driving around Adams and Williamstown, including a visit to the beautiful art museum on the Williams campus.  Progress on the house continues as the contractor is trying to seal it up for the winter.

I also found the second tick of the season on me, so I am heading off momentarily to the clinic to get checked up.  And. I almost forgot, we sold the Subaru so we are down to just 3 cars in front of the house!  Phew.

Hope all is well with you all!  Love from down here.

It's cold

We had our first frost two nights ago and then our second one last night. The days are warm but it's chilly when the sun is down or behind clouds.

The workers here are trying to close up the addition before it gets even colder. That would be good since the old house has open spaces to the new addition. Progress includes work on the garage foundation, the porch, plumbing and closets. I've been painting and pruning.

But it seems quiet compared to Bethesda where we've had a steady stream of visitors. David and Paula came down for Jeffrey and Melodie's engagement party. Joe and Margaret represented us since we were still in Pittsfield. Peter and Janet were there last night as they were attending a wedding. And in between an Irish friend spent the night.

Mary should be right now on her return flight back to Albany, pending the weather. She was up here last weekend for her high school reunion (40)! Marj and Lew came up and stayed at this construction site. It was the first time I had gone to one of her reunions and I earned a ton of brownie points which I intend to cash in for many years to come. While here we went for a hike in the October Berkshires. Beautiful.

Joe is busy preparing a proposal for an aid project in Iraq. Margaret is busy preparing for a conference with Iraqis in Virginia. She had gone up to New Jersey with her friend James and stopped in to see Grandma. Annie went to Hong Kong and met up with my college roommate Bruce Von Cannon.

Nature notes: We think we had a bear in our garden. What else could have smashed the fences, left big footprints and eaten the sunflower seeds? Sasquatch. Also we saw a big, fat owl on a hike. He looked at us as if we might be lunch and then thought better of it and flew away.

We're looking forward to the Restore Sanity rally at the end of the month. Johanna and Janet are coming down.

Heading back to Maryland on Sunday. What's next? I make it up as I go along.

Love from up here.

Foliage and Nostalgia

The road trip is over, and thanks to all who hosted us and met up with us in Grandma's week-long tour through upstate New York, western Mass, and eastern Connecticut.

We packed a lot in, returning to familiar sites and places connected with family and extended family.  Our connections seemed to have one constant: FOOD!!  But it was wonderful to see everyone.

Our send-off was dinner with Peter and Janet the night before we packed up the car and took off.  Our first stop was Old Chester Road, a last-minute diversion from the already boring interstates.  There were plenty of apples on the ground Andrew.  And after 40 years, it's nice to see many things untouched - including an old stables and the back-door walkway/entrance.  Having just put on a new roof, I zoned in on this house's roof and think I saw the same roof which was new back in the 1960s.  Looks like it is time they invest in a new roof, but I will not volunteer to clean up the removed shingles.

On our way to David and Paula's, we stopped in the Poconos for lunch a Friendly's in Tannersville and one of had a milkshake!  

We arrived in Fairport in time for DINNER and Matthew joined us.  Saturday we went on partially successful shopping missions (Grandma couldn't find the red blazer but David got a new toilet seat!)  In between Yankees/Red Sox games we played pinochle where Paula and Grandma took advantage of the fact that I was a novice.  Sunday was a major birthday party dinner for Paula and Tina, and we were joined by Matthew, Tina, Oliver, Tina's parents, and Paula's brother-in-law.  Niiiice. Happy Birthdays (and to Johanna)

We headed east on Monday and got to Pittsfield just in time to see the house, settle Grandma in at Jiminy Peak ski resort and head to dinner with John and Marilyn.  They had just returned from a trip to India and confirmed that the poverty, the number of people and the Taj Mahal were the most remarkable features of that country.  The next day was a quiet one and we mostly checked out our house and Jiminy Peak, as a place where we might want to congregate next summer.  

On Wednesday, we returned to Pomfret.  A beautiful day for that spectacular drive down route 169 from Sturbridge.  The colors were just coming out and you all will remember what that was like.  We drove around the town, the school and went up the driveway a couple of times to "inspect".  Things looks the same, but with some major changes -the garage out back is a now a stables; they are putting a fence in for a horse right now.  The bench and the sign on the porch the same, but gone are a few of the fruit trees, including the pear trees on the front walkway.  David, I think it's time for some pruning and clean-up out back and the shutters clearly miss their annual painting friend.

We had lunch at the Harvest with Gloria Glenn, Joy Nelson and Margi Huoppi, who bought the house from Grandma.  We talked of house renovations, of Pomfret people but not of politics.

We did talk politics in Mystic and Stonington where we spent the night and had dinner with Dan Boyle at Skippers Dock right on the water.  A beautiful sunset which forewarned the terrible weather we were about to get.

Blinding rain was in store for us as we headed to Greenwich for lunch with Aunt Georgia and Rell at the country club.  Georgia had just finished putting in a bedroom on the first floor and was getting ready to de-camp for Florida for the winter.

The final leg to Hightstown and then onward to Bethesda came under the threat of weather and tornados, and then some actual rain and wind.  But we both made it home safe and sound.

Grandma seemed tired by the end of the week.  She has a hard time seeing and gets out of breath easily but is alert and remembers camping trips and children's and grandchildren's exploits proudly.

We are now planning our next road trip.  Chicago?  Washington?  Alaska?

Love to all.  

 

You can go home

And Grandma did. Looks much the same with some changes. But not the sign on the house.

Christmas cookies

Get your hands out of there