Panic time

We've come to that time of the academic semester best known as PANIC time. It's the moment when you realize you've been on auto-cruise and if you're going to finish everything by the end of the semester, serious changes in lifestyle have to be made.  Like skipping meals and sleep and just sitting at the computer and typing.  The good news is that there's a light at the end of the tunnel, at some point in mid-December when all of a sudden you become human again.

Needless to say, despite knowing it's panic time, I am still planning on going to Dartmouth this weekend with Peter to watch a football game and then going down to DC next week for Thanksgiving.  What's that the say about denial not being just a river in Egypt?  One paper down, two to go.  I think Margaret, Annie and Sean are in the same boat, but I think everyone else remembers those days.  

On the good news front, John and Marilyn have returned from Florida for the season's holidays.  They were greeted back the day they arrived with our first snow of the year.  Good timing.  Mary and I had dinner with them ad heard about their enviable schedule and Johnny's surfing attempts.  Sounds like one of those things better off having started at age 6.

More good news - Annie secured an internship this summer at Bank of America.  She had gone down to Charlotte NC for an interview and then heard last Friday, just in time to really enjoy her weekend.  We also enjoyed her good news up here.

To a certain extent.  We conducted our fourth "cleanse diet" last week, and so there was a limit to partying.  We each lost weight again, and hopefully got back on track, adding another food item to our no-no list.  Let's see if we can keep that list intact through Thanksgiving.

We spoke with David who had gone to Albany; he has been doing some expert witness testimony for legal clients.  I wonder how I can be an expert witness, for raking leaves.  Sounds like a good gig.

We also got a photo from Margaret who had gone to the White House to go bowling.  Really, the White House.  She was unimpressed by the bowling alley, but it looked like they were having fun.  I think there's a story there, but hopefully not so big a one that lands her in jail for trespassing.

We have gone to see two very good movies we recommend highly: Captain Phillips and 12 Years a Slave.  Actually, I am not sure Mary recommends the latter as it was so disturbing.  But it really brings home the brutality of slavery that no book has ever quite captured so glaringly.

Mary got together with Boyle ladies the other night - Marilyn, Erin her niece, Pat (nephew Michael's wife) and Annie (brother Michael's wife).  We also got our car "detailed" by Robbie (Coleen's son) who managed to get the stains out of the carpets and the seats that the pros in Maryland couldn't do.  Thanks.

Other than that, it is swimming, hiking, teaching and studying, hiking, teaching, swimming, studying, and then start all over again.  We have had a bit of a weather reprieve, though.

Hope you all are well, and an early wish for a Happy Thanksgiving.  Love from up here.          

It's Dark

So, we got to sleep an hour later.  Was it worth it?  It's 5pm and it's dark outside.  I remember not so long ago working in the garden until 9pm.  I did enjoy the extra hour though.  I think I'll enjoy the longer sunlight come spring.

Speaking of garden, we are eating the last of our lettuce tonight, with one small cherry tomato.  We still have to harvest some carrots.  It was a fantastic garden year.  Unfortunately, the deer have moved in, and while they seem to be focusing on the apples, we have seen them near the flower gardens. 

We just returned from a packed weekend in NYC, Princeton and Washington DC.  (The extra hour came in handy.)  Friday morning we got an early start and met up with Annie for coffee near her dorm.  She told us about Halloween in Philadelphia at an old prison turned museum, turned haunted house.  (See photo, in case you didn't guess.)  She also filled us in on her internship search for the summer.  We next went to Princeton where Peter joined us for a talk with the university preservation architect and a tour of the buildings designed by William Potter, the architect who did the old library in Pittsfield.  We were going to go to the library, but had to cut that short to make....

Dinner in Washington with Margaret and Andrew, and our friends, the Schwartz's, who we knew from South Africa and marathon days.,  Larry, at age 61, just ran in the Marine Corps Marathon.  A challenge.  Mary went to a sleep-over with her Peru friends and I had dinner with Peace Corps friends.  We are talking about a return trip to Gabon next summer, with a small group of people, hopefully to fix up one of schools which Peace Corps built in the 1960s.  Lots to do on that front, and more to tell later as those plans get off the ground.

We met up with Margaret and Andrew on Sunday for brunch/lunch and football watching/chatting.  They had just spent a week or so at Jeffrey and Melodie's watching their pets, in return for them watching D, while Margaret and Andrew went to Mexico.  Jeff and Melodie had gone to Honduras, for some island fun.  The photos on Facebook looked great.  

We headed back home on Monday, but stopped in Princeton one more time, to look at a file in the university archives on the architect - not much there.  But we did get a chance to see Peter again and have lunch.  Peter said Johanna was starting a new job, and that David had seen her last week when he was in NYC for a meeting.

We talked to Joe a few times.  He had gone to Jordan for a brief visit to see his girlfriend, and she had come to London for a return visit.  Nice to be close and jet-setters.  Joe thinks he has found an apartment.  

Lots of college football talk, from unusual quarters.  Hobart is not just a lacrosse school, and is seeking a spot in the playoffs for Division III (?).  And Peter was talking about how good the Princeton team is this year, which was confirmed when we saw the college football wrap-up on Sunday with the Princeton quarterback throwing for an NCAA record of 29 straight completed passes.  Princeton scored over 50 points for the fourth time this fall.  Where have I been?  UMass lost.

Some left-over news:  We had a nice visit from Mary Fort who had stopped by for a lunch as she was up here for a weekend on Mount Greylock. 

And the big news of the week was Mary's swim meet. She did well for her age group in breast stroke, but her relay team placed in the top ten in the country. My big news is that I was able to squeeze in a nap.

And on that news.....love from over here.

Official-dom

It's official, the outdoor furniture is stored away, and we are expecting our first frost this week.  No complaining, though, as it's been a pretty spectacular fall, with glorious sunny days.  In fact, the weather has been so good, it's hard to sit in a dark office and do school work.  

It's also official that I am now a member of the Pittsfield Historical Commission, and I have my first meeting tonight.  Will Garrison, the curator I worked with at Arrowhead this summer, is the chair of the commission, so he nominated me.  Mary and I went to the city council meeting where they approved the nomination (by unanimous vote - or maybe pro forma) and then I was sworn in and passed the on-line ethics course.  I am not sure all it entails, but I do remember submitting our own demolition request to the commission for a waiver before we could start work on this house.  

What else is official?  Okay, I gotta say it. It's official, our government is dysfunctional.  The Red Sox and the Cardinals are in the World Series, that's pretty official.  

Joe is officially in London now.  He left at the beginning of the shutdown.  We spoke to him last night, after two weeks of work.  He's working for the U.S. representative of a European bank.  The work sounds hard, as it's multilateral, meaning that he has to find common ground with other countries to get anything accomplished.  It used to be easier when we ran the world.  Of course, running our own country used to be easier.

Margaret, as I write, is on her way back from a weekend in Mexico.  She and Andrew had gone down for the wedding of one of her high school amigas.  We got a couple of photos, and it looked like she was having and fun and visiting a few of our old haunts.  

Annie had a weekend course, and she is busy with homework.  She still finds time for catching up with friends from Hamilton and Pomfret.  A nice benefit to being back in the U.S.

Birthdays this time of year are for Claire, Billy and Kathleen.  Wonderful.  

Mary is enjoying her new job, and likes the part-time status.  She got a little bored with Mr. Gotta-read-all-the-time and went down for a girls' weekend with Marj in Rhode Island for a night of giggling, I think.  

We talked to David who says their bathroom project is done, very quickly as well.  And, best of all, it looks nice.  

Anyone else with leaves?  Anyone need a leaf blower?  I found in our basement Pop's old leaf blower, the subject of his famous story about having a discussion with Mom over whether to buy one or continue to use his trusty rake.  He wanted the rake, Mom the leaf blower, and he ended his story by telling us he'd let us know how much the leaf blower cost. He told it better.

We actually have a natural leaf blower, the wind, which moves all our leaves into the woods. Pop's line about leaves - the family that leaves together, stays together.   

And on that note, love from over here.    

Hello Auden

The world stops with the birth of a family member.  Cares, worries, jobs, to-do lists, errands, they all come to a screeching halt.   Even baseball.  Wow.  Wonderful.  Congratulations to the Illinois clan. Everyone looks so happy, and Miles looks so big.  When did he grow up?  And Auden is beautiful.  And Jen looks strong and ready to go!  

Unfortunately, the government also came to a screeching halt.  But I have yet to read that this was due to Auden.  Margaret kept working, as her contract was already on last year's budget.  Joe was furloughed, and that had huge implications as he was set to move to London.  He was told one day that he should go to London, put a downpayment on an apartment and that he would get reimbursed.  Oh, and by the way, he would still be furloughed.  I thought he should call up his old St. Andrews classmates (Andrew and Kate) and stay with them, for 50 years.  Well, eventually all got sorted out, and he was packed out on Thursday and left for London on Saturday.   We heard he had arrived safely.  A new chapter, at least for the next 6 months.  Margaret and Andrew threw him a going away party Saturday night.

Births also remind us of birthdays.  Happy birthday Johanna, Janet and Paula.  David and Paula came to Pittsfield to spend her big day.  And Peter and Janet came up from NJ to join the festivities.   Mary baked a birthday.....strawberry rhubarb pie, and Peter made dinner the following night.  Thanks!  We brought out Grandma and Pop's photo albums from high school and college, and I even found my old honor cards from Far Hills Country Day.  Peter was a good sport.  

We had spent the day at Hancock Shaker Village for their fall country fair.  It was a beautiful, sunny, fall day and there were lots of exhibiters - Quilts, Shaker boxes, timber frame construction workshops, furniture.  Special.   Peter and I went for a hike into the state forest across the street, and the ladies went to Stockbridge.  At least one the guys went home for a nap.  ME!

David and Paula stayed over Sunday night and met up the next day for my tour at Arrowhead before heading back to Rochester.  Thanks!  

Cliff and Sheila were here this weekend, and we also went through photos, this time from scotland, reliving our adventures this summer.  Cliff also brought his chain saw, and we cut down about ten trees, and we have firewood for next year.  I have been splitting wood this summer, and we're ready for this winter.  And it's coming.  We turned on the heat this week, but we still have not had a frost so the garden continues to produce.  

We had many nice photos we wanted to put in the weekly letter, of Johnny surfing in Florida, of Paula's birthday, of Margaret outside the Bengals' bar for the patriots game, the woodpile, but this space was reserved for Auden.   

Love from this corner.  

Welcome Auden Leigh Jones

Congratulations to Jen and Bill for a healthy, happy girl.  

About the previous post

John's post talks about the ongoing restoration of the Berkshire Athaneum, and how it was designed by an architect named William A. Potter (no relation to my partner), who also designed an auditorium named Alexander Hall at Princeton. It looks like a close cousin of the Athaneum based on the photo in John's post.

Well, when I was an undergrad, and I'm told the rumor still makes the rounds today, the story was that a student had submitted the design of Alexander Hall as his senior thesis in Architecture, and that he had been failed and flunked out. The story went on that he had gone on to become a wealthy something or other and then gave the University a pot of money on the condition that it be used to build an auditorium according to the donor's specs. The donor hired an architect to act as the "front" and the building was built according to his F-grade senior thesis, and only when it was done did he reveal the true provenance of the design. Not true but it fueled a few late night bull sessions.

Equinox and Full Moon

Look out.  Weird things happen.  So far, not yet.  Fall means we wake up in the dark, it means the first frost this week, it means leaves and apples, it means breaking out the long sleeve shirts and sweaters.  What it should mean as well is that the cat should let us sleep in a little, that the grass should stop growing, that the garden should be done.  None of that has happened yet.  We are getting a bumper crop of tomatoes, after good crops of lettuce, beans, zucchini and cucumbers.  We even have some small peppers, and potatoes and carrots.  

As I sit down writing, Mary is on her way back from a weekend in DC, with Joe, Margaret, Andrew and Annie.  It sounded like a great time and I am sorry to have missed it.  I heard there was pizza, brunch, a walk through of the Mexican Cultural Institute.  When Mary called I actually did hear a fair amount of laughter in the background.  That's all good.

The big news from down there is it looks like Joe is moving.  To London.  How cool is that!  Book your rooms now.  It could happen fairly fast, but with all the paperwork, and then the the threat of government shutdown, the timing is up in the air.

I was unable to go because the UMass history class was coming to Pittsfield and the Berkshires.  I showed them around Herman Melville's home and then we traveled to Edith Wharton's Mount and the WEB Dubois Homesite.  I had not been to either of the other two, so it was nice to take in two more places. Still a lot to go.

Here's a weird thing, but I am not sure it was connected to the full moon.  I have turned a request to document a restoration project in Pittsfield into a Masters thesis.  The building being restored is the old Berkshire Athenaeum, the library, right on Park Square in the center of town.  My initial exploring into the background was the discovery that the architect who did the library (in 1876) was the same one (William A. Potter) who designed the Chancellor Green Library at Princeton.  Some of us grew up with the lore of that building, where Pop first met Grandma.  So, how does something like that happen?  The architect also did a few other buildings on the Princeton Campus - Alexander Hall and Witherspoon Hall, among others.

I guess another weird thing did happen.  We've been a little late renewing the registration of our cars.  Both had emission issues, and we had to get those fixed before the inspections.  When Mary finally took the Mitsubishi to the inspection, they told her she was driving a dangerous car, that the wheels could fall off, due to faulty "Tie-rods"?  Well, that happened the day before Mary was to drive to DC, so fortunately Johnny let us borrow his car (he's in Florida) and we got through the weekend.  Thank you!

Next weekend looks to be a fun one.  David called to say he and Paula were coming over for the Hancock Shaker Village fall fair.  Spontaneity is alive and well, as Peter and Janet  are also coming up.  More grist for the weekly letter!  David and Paula had been in NYC, for meetings but also went to see Jersey Boys which they report is well worth it.

Unfortunately, Andrew was unable to come, but they thought about it.  The good news is that next weekend is Bill and Jen's due date.  So, they are going to stay put.  Other news from Dundee comes by way of Facebook, with a photo of Daniel looking a little like a movie star.  

We love the change of seasons.  But we also love summer, and we'll be happy when you return.  Fast forward, and we can imagine all kinds of changes before then.  Wonderful.

Love from up here.