Hail, the Lone Star State!

I'm a little late, but here are a few highlights from our trip to Texas. We flew into San Antonio, spent a couple days there, drove around the Texas Hill Country for a few days and then went down to Houston. We spent a day driving along Galveston Bay and Island. We then drove back to San Antonio for our flight home.
1. Debbie and Rod Barnes. They have a nice guest room and pool outside, they serve up a really nice barbecue dinner, and daughter Jennifer, son-in-law Ron Jones and grandson Parker all live nearby.
2. Jennifer Barnes Jones and Ron Jones. They joined us at Debbie's for dinner. Jen was a little stressed out about her new job, but they are a really sweet couple (especially considering that Ron is an FBI agent!) and Parker is a neat kid.
3. Sarah Barnes Stellges and Brandon Stellges. They took us out to a REAL Mexican restaurant, where I had the absolute best Margaritas I've ever had. (First ones, too.) Sarah is well along in her pregnancy and we had a really delightful evening with them. We had lunch the next day and went into a Lucchese Boot shop – the least expensive pair was $775. That's about as much I have paid for all the shoes I have bought in my entire life. (Almost.) But Sarah gave us a recommendation for another store which was on our way out of San Antone and I got meself a mighty fine pair of Tony Lamas – and a Lucchese belt, which Janet picked out.
4. The LBJ Ranch in Hill Country, along a river spelled "Pedernales" but which everyone pronounces "purrden-alice." It's a moving visit.
5. Riverwalk in San Antonio. Mobbed (including many cadets from a nearby Air Force base), but worth it. We had dinner one evening in SA and went back for our last dinner.
6. Alamo? Meh. But south of SA is Mission San Juan, a well-done Park Service site which educates you well about these missions, which were designed to domesticate the Native Americans so as to settle the area, since not enough Spanish could be persuaded to come to the New World.
7. Hill Country. Pretty. Very pretty. Lots of bluebonnets. Almost every river and creek bed was bone dry. They really have a drought problem.
8. Hill Country wineries. I had no idea there are so many, and they use Texas-grown grapes. As is the case with so many small wineries, the locals get all the good stuff. We had some truly marvelous wine.
9.  We decided the fool-proof way to foment an armed rebellion in Texas would be to prohibit (a) pickup trucks and (b) fences.
10. Galveston, on the Gulf. It's getting more built up and touristy, but the views of the Gulf are pretty amazing. We had lunch in a great little honky-tonk crab shack right on the water. Gives new meaning to the term "eat local."
11. Houston traffic. Bad, bad, bad.
12. Hugh and Judy Thompson. Hugh was a roommate (for one year) and good friend at Princeton, but we've had no contact since graduation. They served up a nice dinner at their house, just 15 minutes from Debbie and Rod.
13. LBJ Houston Space Center? A real bust, all Disney-fied. Phooey.
14. Fredericksburg, in the center of Hill Country. A town settled by Germans. First night: the worst sauerbraten I've ever had. Second night: much better sauerbraten.
15. Rod Barnes. You gotta love this guy. In my foolishness, I had thought we would take three of those wines back on the plane. Oops, 3 oz. limits on liquids. We didn't want to check any luggage, so Rod offered to pack up the wine (and two glasses) and ship them to us. They arrived a week later so hugely armored that a direct hit from Kim Jong-Un wouldn't have done anything.

I'd definitely go back. Thank you Debbie, Rod, Sarah, Brandon, Jennifer, Ron, Hugh and Judy.

News flash from Illinois

Rumor has it that Bill and Jen have posted on Facebook news that they are expecting another child.

That is WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC, even!

Love

Finally

What is it about spring that when it finally comes, it is so new and joyous, as if it doesn't happen each year, round about the same time?  Today, the temperature reached 70, and we did a little yard work, cut some grass, cleaned the porches and planted some marigolds (in trays, inside still, but getting ready.)  We've even seen the groundhogs.  They're getting ready for our new garden.

Dan was here for the night, as he joined us to attend cousin Peter's 60th birthday party.  It was a surprise party, and he was surprised.  Many cousins and two Collins aunts were there, as well as many of the next generation, and the one after that.  Nice family, that knows fun.

Soon, I'll know fun again, as I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel for this spring's classes.  Today was the first day in weeks that I did  not spend the first hours on the computer writing.  A month ago, when we went to Washington, I couldn't see a way to the end.  Now I am closing in on completing three projects: a book proposal on history and memory in the Foreign Service, a national registry nomination for the mill next to our house and an exhibit on Pittsfield in the Civil War, for Arrowhead Museum.  Let's hope something comes out of each of those besides a class assignment.

Last weekend, Mary and I went to Ottawa for five days!  The national public history conference this year was in Ottawa, too big a temptation to forego.  And, we stayed in our old house, thanks to the Nealons, friends who joined the Foreign Service at the same time as us, and he is now the DCM.  And, another couple also from our class, the Dickmeyers, came up from Toronto where he is Consul General.  Time flew by.  The photo is in the backyard of our old house.

Speaking of flying (don't you just love the transitions?), Joe is flying to India this week, as he accompanies a delegation going to the Asian Development Bank meeting.  He has been uber-busy with preparations for that meeting.  Margaret too has been busy at work, as it is getting close to summer when all the Fulbright orientations she;s been working on take place.  And, Annie flew too, to Malaysia, to get her China visa renewed.   

Big news from Florida, as John and Marilyn bought a house, their winter escape in Daytona.  Looks nice; they got a great deal and have extended their trip south for an extra week, to get it ready.  

We talked to David, who was on his way to Albany, and then this week went to New York City.  He had some business, but he and Paula were hoping to go see a play.

Mary has been busy with one last class to renew her certification for teaching.  She's hoping something comes up this summer.  She had a swim meet yesterday, in southern Vermont.  In one race, it turned out she was going to be swimming by herself.  When she threatened to back out, the two coaches, both champions swam with her.  Go team.  

May starts this week.  Hope returns.  Love from over here.    

Turning the corner and

Rounding home.  It happens every year.  Baseball season.  You thought I was going to say spring.  Or April showers.  Or crocuses.  (We actually have our first struggling to stay out when the temps go down below freezing every night still.)  No, baseball season.  It makes me wonder what I've been doing with my life for the last 5 months.  And some of us have even gone to the park to see a game.  Mary and I went to see "42" the movie - very inspiring.  The normally staid audience here in Pittsfield broke out in applause a few times.  

I know what I've been doing, trying to keep my head above water at school.  Are you ready for this next year Annie?  How are you holding up, Tina and Sean?

It's been a while since the last entry, so there's much to catch up on.

First of all Easter.  Hope everyone had a great day.  Margaret and Andrew came up for the weekend, and were hoping to bring Joe who couldn't come at the last minute because of work.  Too bad.  Dan Boyle joined us for the night, and we had our now traditional Easter dinner at the Red Lion Inn.  It's a tradition if you do something three times, right?

Dan brought news that Patrick had returned from Colorado and was planning to get a job back east, maybe go back to school at some point.  Kathleen has a new job in Boston.  And Maura got into nursing school.

Speaking of Boston, it's hard to write the usual family news without a quiet prayer for those hurt in the senseless attacks at the marathon finish line. 

We have heard a couple of times from Annie, who has moved to western China, the mountainous province of Yunnan.  Her pictures look beautiful.  She is planning a trip to Malaysia to renew her visa.  So many places.  Exciting.

Speaking of places, Joe is headed to India in May for a meeting of the Asia Development Bank he is helping prepare for.  

We spoke with David and Paula since their return from a three-week swing all the way to Florida.  They attached the sun to the back of their car and brought it back with them.  Travel tip:  Florida Keys may not be worth it.  

John and Marilyn are down in Florida for the month of April.  We keep texting them about the snow showers and freezing nights to make them feel good about their decision to go south.

Spring also means burn season, so last week we burned our big pile of brush which had accumulated over the summer and fall.  Good thing we chose Thursday, because it snowed on Friday.  Last year, Joe was here to help out.  Miss it?

Out in Dundee, it sounds like everyone is plugging away, at school, at work and at sports.  Claire, are you having a bout of senior-itis yet? 

Tomorrow, Mary and I head north, since we haven't had enough of winter.  Mary will put aside her yoga, swimming, photo and guitar classes to join me back in Ottawa where I will be taking in a public history conference.  We'll be staying in our old house.  Last time I think.

And, next week is Peter's birthday.  Have a hap, hap, happiest day.

That's all from here.  Love

Out like a lion

End of March, and while we entered like a lion, we're pretty much going out like one too.  There is, however, a whiff of spring in the air.

It was spring break and 3 of the 4 brothers took a break.  David and Paula drove to Florida, by way of Washington, Charleston and a bunch of other stops as well.  They stopped in to see Jeffrey and Melodie on the way down, and then stayed with Aunt Georgia where they saw Sarah.  Rell had gone to California to visit Jacob at college.  Proof that they were in Florida is the short sleeves in the photo.

Peter and Janet took off for Texas and they stopped in to see the other side of the family - the Dicksons in San Antonio and Houston.  Peter recovered enough from his knee surgery to get on a plane, which is good news.

Mary and I went as far south as DC where we ate and drank our way off our diets, but enjoyably with Joe, Margaret and Andrew.  We brought the snow with us, as Monday morning the area got the most snow they've had all winter.  Everyone is well, working too hard, but seeming to enjoy it all. We stayed with Foreign Service friends in Bethesda, and Mary saw old friends from Peru and the school where she used to teach.  We took down a car full of boxes and stuff, which already looks good in the two apartments.  And, Mary measured Joe, finally, for his kilt - a gift from St. Andrews graduation.  That was last year, right?

No trip south for the Dundee crowd.  We hear that Claire has chosen a college, we Hope.  At least, they have put down their deposit.  Hope College in Michigan.  Wonderful.

Uncle Dan headed south and far west, for a long trip to visit Timmy in Baja California.

There's a picture here of Joe on St. Patrick's Day.  Recognize the sports coat?  We had gone out to eat with John and Marilyn for St. Patrick's Day where a local Irish group was playing - the Housatonic Philharmonic.  Very nice.  

The week before, our friends from Maine paid a reverse visit from our trip up north in January.  They did not have car trouble, but it did snow.  We planned our trip to Scotland this summer, and a walk along the Great Glen Way.

We heard from Annie a few times, over everyone's favorite pastime this time of year.  Taxes. She must be close to her move out west. 

We are expecting Margaret and Andrew this weekend, coming up with Dee for Easter.  Then, baseball season starts.  Unfortunately, I am so busy I am not sure I will even be able to read the sports pages.  

April is around the corner, and that means spring.  One month closer to the end of the school year.  Hooray!

Love from up here.  And Happy Easter.    

Lots of news

We took advantage of the extra hour of sunlight and 50 degree weather to go out for an extended walk this evening, without coat, without hat and without gloves!  (The warmest place where there are Dicksons?  Rochester had us beat by 14 degrees, one degree warmer than Washington.)  It's the best way to accept the loss of an hour of sleep.  Mary got a lot of pictures for her photography class, including some of a beaver, getting to work on his spring cleaning.

March means, first of all, happy birthdays to Daniel and to Lur, and in a few weeks David.  Big days, happy ones.

Not so happy though in Rochester last week, as David and Paula had an accident on the freeway, when their new car was swiped by a pick-up truck.  Fortunately, they are all right, and the car is going to the repair shop this week.    

I have a new sport.  It's counting trucks on the lake.  In the last letter I mentioned I saw 6; last weekend I counted 27.  No lie.  Today, even with the warm weather, there were still about a dozen on the lake.

 

We have a social life, after all.  Friday, we went to a corned beef and cabbage dinner at a local club where many of Mary's family had congregated.  Later, Charlie and Annie from North Carolina came for the evening and for a day of cross-country skiing on Saturday.  Fortunately, we had some snow, just the day before, which our clan in DC managed to avoid.  They still got a day off, however.  Hopefully it's the last of the year.  Last weekend, one of Mary's friends from Peru came over from Boston for a night of chatting and a hike.  What is it that women can never exhaust the list of topics, while men finish theirs in about 10 minutes?  One of those topics is our diet which is continuing, in spurts.  Still, we have cut back on many of our bad influences.

We also saw last night a movie, called Quartet, which was about an assisted living home for retired musicians.  A wonderful story, with familiar actors.  And, we spent one night this week over in Northampton to go to a couple of lectures, including one by the first U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, and another by the author of a biography on Thelonious Monk. How different are those?  

I have been busy at school, working on a couple of different projects, including a historic survey of the mill which is next to the house.  It's a beautiful old building which I learned was the longest, continuously operating textile mill in this part of the state.  Now, it lies mostly vacant.  That's a photo of Mary in front of the buildings. 

 

Joe and Margaret recovered from their snow day, which they needed to shovel all the rain off their sidewalks.  They are busy at work; Margaret went to see Michelle Obama at the annual International Women's Day ceremony.  We think they're both coming up for Easter.

Annie has big news; she may join the New York City set next year.  She got into Columbia for her masters degree program in psychology.  Yea!! 

One item left over from last week was news that there is a champion in the family.  Mary's niece Colleen and her partner Pauline won at the Westminster Dog Show at Madison Square Garden in February for their Borzoi wolfhound.  Bubba must be proud.

Tomorrow is Peter's knee operation, which will put him out of commission for a while, but he'll soon be back in the backfield, running the end sweep around Clay Matthews in no time. 

So, happy March.  Spring is close.  Hope you are all well.

Love from over here.    

 

And the Oscar goes to...

It's countdown to the Oscars, and I'm predicting (hoping) Lincoln, Daniel Day Lewis and Jennifer Lawrence, Sally Fields and Tommy Lee Jones.  I know there are others but I it's hard to have an opinion about lighting or song.

The Pittsfield Oscar goes to the 6 trucks I saw yesterday morning on the ice, at the lake.  Or, maybe that would be the Darwin awards.  The Oscar actually goes to the young girl who was helping her father out ice fishing, for acting like she might be enjoying it.  

Mary is off at another swim meet today, and she swears it will be her last.  Wanna bet?  

Last weekend, we drove a thankfully almost snow-free drive westward to Fairport and spent the evening with David and Paula.  Matthew, Tina and Oliver came over for one of Paula's famous dinners and catching up on wedding reminiscing.  Tina is well into her new life as a full-time nursing student and seems to enjoy it.  Oliver is busy with all kinds of activities like martial arts.  Look out.  The next day, it snowed.  Go figure!  We went out to brunch with David and Paula and had an overall wonderful time talking diets, investing, furniture, retirement and history.   

From Fairport, we went to Cornell where I gave a talk on history and memory and foreign relations.  Our host, a neuro biologist, worked with me at the State Department, and the photo shows us with him, in front of his birds who he monitors in experiments on learning and memory.  Very interesting.  

Left over from last week's weekly letter was Margaret's claim that she was the last person to shake Hillary's hand as she left the State Department.  Pretty cool.  She would have gone to see in the new guy the next day, but had a lot of work to do, including writing a memo to that same new guy.  

Good news from colleges:  Claire got into one more college (Cornell of Iowa) and Annie got into NYU.  Congratulations.  Annie also had her last day of work on Friday, so she is set to enjoy the next few months in China.  She's signed up for a Chinese language course.

Spring is around the corner.  I got a fishing rod from Joe this week, and plans are in the offing for a fishing weekend in May.  Anyone care to join?  And, the first spring season baseball games started.  

So is summer.  Mary looked into Mountain Springs, for a possible weekend this summer, but found it is almost all booked.  Must be the spillover from people losing beach houses on the Jersey shore.  We're happy to host a weekend up here, and can look into venues besides Jiminy Peak.  David and Paula also suggested somewhere in the Finger Lakes.  All good. Thoughts?

Hey, one more thing.  I just got a subscription to www.ancestry.com and am happy to share the password if anyone wants to look around that site.  Let me know.

That's all from cold and wet New England.  Love.