Happy Birthday David!

Janet and I have just returned from a lovely weekend celebration of David's, well, a milestone birthday, organized by Paula. Andrew and Lur; Jeffrey and Melodie;, Tina +1, and Matthew and Donald; Bob Wing and Linda and Jim all joined for a very nice celebratory dinner on Saturday night. But there were lots of family gatherings at David and Paula's wonderful Victorian house in the old section of Fairport, Friday evening, Saturday morning and afternoon, Sunday morning. Lots of good food and beverages and conversations and memories. Although it was cold and windy, it was mostly sunny or just overcast, a real benefit to those making long drives. I don't think any part of it could have been any better. I told Paula as much as we enjoyed it all, I don't think anyone was happier than David. Thank you, Paula, and happy birthday, David!

If it's February .....

I must be sick.  It seems like this exact time last year I had a bronchial infection and stomach problems.  How do I remember so well?  I was sick on my birthday last year, and again this year.  It gets harder and longer to get over these things.

Enough about me and my woes.  I'm reading Grant and there's a guy who had real woes.  I got it cushy.

The big news showed up on Facebook, with Tina and Matthew announcing an August arrival of baby boy.  That is wonderful news.  The photo shows Tina quite far along, so they kept this a well-guarded secret.  I had been talking to David the day before the Facebook post, and he didn't let on at all, saying over and over, "that's about it from here; no other news."  Sneaky.  But still welcome news.  Congratulations, Donald will be thrilled.  Also, saw on Facebook a post of Oliver's indoor track mile race.  Wow.  

Anyway, so have you ever had a moment when you see someone in a place that they're not supposed to be in?  There's a moment of confusion, a hesitation, a question that can't be answered:  what are you doing here?  or maybe what am I doing here?  Something does not compute.

That's what happened to us last Friday when we went down to DC for the long weekend, knocked on Margaret's door, and who opened it?  Annie.  California-Washington????  Well, Annie surprised us all, took advantage of miles and the long weekend and joined the rest of us for a weekend of fun and chat and Thomas-watching, our new pastime.  The photo is at Mi Rancho, a Mexican restaurant that Peter and Janet introduced us to in Silver Spring.  

We stayed with Joe and Leonor (thank you) and even enjoyed a few hours of grandparent babysitting.   Thomas was getting over a bout of some gastro infection that sounded not fun at all, with an extended trip to the emergency room.  By the time we arrived, he looked much, much better, happy, but still not over the time change from the month in Portugal.   He's becoming a real person!

Margaret and Annie did a couple of work-outs, that were so hard it sent them to restorative yoga the following day.  Andrew was busy doing course work, that he seems to have mastered quite handily, calmly.  What a lot of work.  And they all helped "Black Panther" break the box score records.  

While at Mi Rancho, Janet was texting us asking for addresses for everyone.  We guessed that had something to do with perhaps a date being chosen for a wedding for Sean and Erin.   Are we right??  

Out in Dundee, Andrew mentioned that he and Lur went to a terrific Nat King Cole concert at the local community college.  They are also putting in some quality grandparent time.

Down in Daytona, Johnny had an operation on his eye, to fix a problem where the eyelid had turned inside out, making his eyelashes scratch the cornea.  Too much information?  Yes, but apparently all went well.  Kara and Sage are down there now soaking up a little mid-winter sun.

Back in Rochester, David continues to do his daily walks through the sleet and snow and cold.  Were you a postman in a former life?  And Paula is busy with art classes and mah-jong.  

News flash!  Did I tell you I was sick?  Yes, but did I tell you we just changed our departure for our trip to Gabon?  Instead of leaving this Thursday, we pushed back our departure to next Tuesday, meaning we will not spend a few days in Paris and Copenhagen.   A few more days to recover here.  There was a bit of fortuitous labor problem, as Air France unions had threatened a strike on Thursday, and they were allowing changes to be made at no cost.  It doesn't mean that the strike will be over by next week, but for the moment, things are looking better.  

Love and air kisses from up here, on a warm winter day.  

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My bad

Sorry about not doing a letter in a while.  I've been busy.  You're saying, "But you're retired."  True.  But with a nap and exercise, the day is pretty much all gone.  That, and I've been crashing on panels for an exhibit at the local library on the history of Pittsfield.  It opens next week.  You'll see it on Facebook.

The snow has turned to rain, but we watched it come from Chicago, head through Rochester and then hit us this morning.  The Locherys are here as they are waiting for a train to Boston, which has been delayed six hours, and maybe more.  But we're warm, with a fire going and hot tea coursing through our veins.  (We watched Love Actually this weekend, and I noticed how many scenes in that film revolve around tea!  We spared Andrew S. the agony of sitting through it at Christmas, but we missed our annual fix.)

Actually (love, actually) we watched it because John and Marilyn were up here and had never seen it.  So.....  as things happen, they had not planned a winter visit, but Marilyn's older sister passed away, and they drove up from Florida - two days.  John was able to get in one day of skiing, though.  And, it's a function of families that we meet at funerals and weddings, as we saw Johnny's daughters for the first time in years. It was nice to see them and catch up, if under those tough circumstances.  That's why the Poconos is so important.

They were not here for the Super Bowl, but that's okay because neither were we.  They started back early Sunday morning, and we headed to Rhode Island to watch the game at Marj and Lew's basement theater.  I should not have gone.  I realized after that we've only watched one other game there, and the Patriots lost to the Broncos, in the AFC Championships a few years. ago.  Never again, but they may not get to the Super Bowl again.  

It seems I get the most texts from my children during Super Bowls.  Joe and Thomas, in his Patriots outfit, watched at Margaret and Andrew's, and I'm not sure Thomas will ever see a game as exciting as that again.  I'm glad the Philadelphia fans have something to cheer about.  They waited.  Annie was chiming in from San Francisco, but the game ended early and she had to stay awake and ruminate.  The rest of us just went to bed and tried our best to forget.  Right?  Isn't that what everyone did?

Joe and Leonor returned from a good long family visit in Portugal.  They sent a lot of pictures, of different cousins, grandparents, brothers, friends, all holding Thomas.  He's very popular over there.  When they returned, it seemed he picked up something on the plane, as he's had a bout of stomach bug which sent them to the emergency room this week.  Joe had a meeting in Switzerland, and Mary kept thinking he was at Davos, but wouldn't tell us.

News from Dundee is that Andrew and Lur are also getting quality grandchildren time in, as they are on duty a couple of days a week, with Auden and Elliot.  Myles must be in school.  Andrew mentioned that Daniel had a trip to the LA area for a conference.  He had hoped to meet LeBron James, but not sure if that ever materialized.

What else?  We've been taking a couple of classes at the Lifelong Learning Institute (reading Hemingway and Gertrude Stein), Mary's been tutoring and teaching swimming.  We spend our evenings holed up watching a Netflix show called The Killing.  Can't turn it off.  And time flies by.

And we're in the final weeks before we head back to Gabon.  One room is full of stuff - shoes, equipment, clothes - not sure if we'll have space for our clothing.  We went to the travel clinic and stocked up on our meds, including a typhoid live oral vaccine that has pretty much wiped me out. I wonder if they actually give you a little typhoid so your body builds up a defense.  Fake news, probably.

Anyway, life is good up here.  Tomorrow, we head down to Washington for the weekend.  It'll be nice to see everyone.  

The photo of Donald and Oliver shows that some toys are timeless.  I'm pretty sure we head something like that growing up too.

Love from up here.

   

   

 

From 35,000 ft

On the way home from Oakland.

 

Was there ever a weekly letter written from 35,000 feet?  Probably, but not 35,000 feet on an I-Pad. Maybe a yellow pad.

 

We left sweater 60 degrees to head back to coats, gloves, wool caps and a snow storm?  Yes, but not totally willingly.

 

Five days seeing the world of Annie.  We went to movies, to the Presidio, to Sausalito and to the Oakland art museum, to Trader Joe's and to Coit Tower. We averaged 7 miles a day on foot and figured out the BART.  We ate so much we had to skip a meal each day.   She has a nice apartment overlooking a California type courtyard with a palm tree with a pullout couch and an air mattress!  Make your reservations!  Fun!

 

We missed big rainstorms on the east coast, but looks like temperatures will drop and did I mention snow?

 

Not all happy news.  We were sad to hear about Janet's uncle Brendan, but the tributes in the paper showed his wonderful sense of humor.  They talked about his many accomplishments, but what we will remember are the occasions he was with his family, all of them. 

 

We were sorry to see Jeff and Melodie had to put their best friend down over the weekend.  Nice tributes on Facebook.  Andrew and Margaret went over to their house to watch the Patriots game, and Tom Brady and the Vikings, too, helped them cope, a little, we hope.

 

We talked to Joe and Thomas who were in London- Leonor was out with friends at the time.  Boys night in.  He's getting so big, rolling over, holding his head up – Thomas, not Joe.  Joe's last day of paternity leave was yesterday, and soon they'll be heading home.

 

Since the last letter, Jeff and Margaret have celebrated birthdays.  Mary's mother would have turned 100!   We also heard that Sean has a big trial coming up where he's facing my college roommate in court.  Go Sean!  Changing of the guard.  And Claire is getting her first paycheck as a teacher!  And Johanna must have been busy publicizing her new book – Fire and Fury.  But I bet she got some free publicity – we looked for it in bookstores at airports and in Oakland, but no copies available.

 

So, back to our cabin fever.  Mary's teaching swimming, and signed up for a class called Americans in Paris. We have a couple of Oscar-worthy movies left to see.  I'm working on a local history exhibit for the library, and we're making small steps in our preparations for a trip to Gabon at the end of February.

 

And, we'll probably spend a few our hours shoveling snow before that.

 

That's all from up here.  Way up here.  Lots of love.

 

 

Adios 2017

Trying to squeeze in one last letter before the clock strikes midnight.  Plenty of time.

Where to start?  How about the weather?  John and Marilyn sent us pictures today of them playing golf and later swimming.  They had obviously returned to Florida from a week or so up here with their children.  We talked to them and they were enjoying their week of winter, but obviously eager to put away the fleeces and head back to outside warmth.

Elsewhere, frigid cold.  Today, we reached a high of 5 degrees.  Haven't felt like this since we left Ottawa.  One of Mary's friends from there wrote her and said it was minus 30.  That ought to make you feel warmer already.

We had a full household, including Annie, who came in from Oakland - via Boston - and then headed out to Nicaragua for a friend's wedding.  She too has sent pictures of the beach there and sea turtles.  Andrew and Margaret (and D) drove up, and they got to stay in our newly renovated basement suite.  And the little electric heater works.  They went into NYC to see Bruce Springsteen on Broadway one night, which sounded terrific.  

They they left, with an incomplete jigsaw puzzle on the coffee table.  Not sure we're going to get around to finish it.  But, we'll make sure we send a photo to prove it.

We talked with Joe and Leonor, and even Thomas, quite a few times this past week.  It sounds like Thomas was a good passenger, but had trouble adjusting to the new timetable.  They are renting an apartment for a month in Lisbon, right around the corner from Leonor's mother.  Wonderful to see Thomas surrounded by his large Portuguese family - so happy.

The Dundee Dicksons were all home for the holidays, including Daniel and Claire, and Bill and Jen.  We even got to hear the voices of Miles and Auden shouting Merry Christmas (Elliot not quite yet talking.)

Remember when it was warm, just a couple of weeks ago?  Mary and I spent a long weekend in New York City, living it up.  We saw a play called The Band's Visit (recommended, and we saw it featured on the PBS News Hour a few days later.)  We exhausted ourselves in the Met art museum walking through with 25,000 of our closest friends the Micelangelo exhibition.  If that were not enough, we went to a bar and watched football, and then went to a movie about Churchill, The Darkest Hour.  The next day, we had our meeting at the UN on refugees and migration.  Too much fun, too much money.

 

We've been to a couple of other movies up here, it being the good movie season.  We all went to the new Star Wars movie, the day after Christmas and had another celebrity siting - Al Roker.  Then, we watched Get Out at home.  We still have a number of others we want to watch, but not the one Al Roker went to: Jumanji.  Really?  Yes, you heard it here first.

Anyway, we will try to brave the cold tonight to go to a New Year's party.  Marj and Lew are here, and we'll see if the cars start so we can go to Bob and Jody's.

Got any resolutions?  Of course, you do.  It's what we do.  

We saw some wonderful Christmas celebrations from around PWL world on Facebook.  We'll close with a couple from Fairport and NJ.

Happy New Year.  Stay safe.  Love from up here..

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The Best of 2017

Seems like there's a best of 2017 everywhere you look these days.  So why not do that in Pops Weekly Letter?  

We know what the best book was, right?  Berkshire County's Industrial Heritage!  And we know who the best quarterback is, right?  Don't even have to write that answer.

How about best new member of the family?  A tie - Erin and Thomas.  

We also know the best swimmer.  At least she proved that last weekend at the New England Master's.  Mary entered 11 events; she (or her relay team) placed first in all but two.  One relay set a New England record, perhaps even beating Michael Phelps.  I did watch quite a bit of the meet, but I also got a chance to explore Worcester a little.  A lot of changes in 17 years, since we were last there.  I set out looking for Spag's, thinking I might even be able to include a triple header this week,  Unfortunately, I couldn't find it, so I checked my best friend who knows everything (rhymes with frugal) and found that Spag's went into bankruptcy in 2004.  It had to be they couldn't stay afloat without Pop's weekly trips to buy toothpaste, shampoo and deodorant. As you saw in Facebook, the building was torn down and replaced by Whole Foods.  Could you get any different from Spag's?  Sadly, I didn't get a haircut either, but I did go to an almost dump - Habitat Restore to drop off a couple of cabinet doors that we replaced in our bedroom.  Also in Worcester, I went to the city art museum where they had a Winslow Homer exhibition.  Beautiful.

Do we have a vote for the best vacation?  I bet there are quite a few nominees, including near (Fairport and the Finger Lakes, Shenandoah, Holland MI, Eastern Shore of Maryland, Poconos) and far (Guadeloupe, Italy, Oregon, India)

How 'bout best political event?  Not gonna touch that one.

Best reader?  We saw three nominees on Facebook last week - Donald, Elliott and Thomas.  Best movie? (We just saw a good one, that we thought was a bio-pic about "Lady Bird" Johnson.  NOT.)  Best TV show?  Best song? Best book?  Best cereal?  I could go on and on.

What about concerts?  Stephen Stills and Judy Collins is a runner up to Claire's conducting performance, I suspect.  (Speaking of Claire, she got a job, teaching music at two elementary schools in Allegan, Michigan.  Her student teaching ends in December so the timing is perfect, and she doesn't have to move!)

Best celebrity sighting?  Margaret saw Big Papi in the lobby of the hotel she was staying at in Santo Domingo, and John gave a tour at Shaker Village to Natalie Merchant.  Any others?  I'm sure there are.

Best animal sighting?  I spotted a bobcat in our back yard last week, which was better than the two raccoons on our screened in porch.

Lots of bests, since it was, all in all another wonderful year.  Hard to believe how much gets packed in during the course of a year.  

And final best for this letter:  Best mystery photo of 2017.  Whose feet are these, at the Poconos?  Love from up here.

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It's Official

Sean's engaged.  And Erin's engaged!  To each other!  Wonderful news, and, piecing together the posts on Facebook, I would venture to say that Sean popped the question on a hike.  For those of us scared of heights, we were thrilled with the news, but a little worried about the drop behind an otherwise very happy Sean and Erin.  Or is it Erin and Sean.  And did we say CONGRATULATIONS!  

Speaking of Facebook, an idea came up over the weekend to start a Pop's Weekly Letter group on Facebook.  And so I did.  I invited whoever I could, but some of us are not on Facebook or at least not my friend (hint, hint).  That's okay, since I'll continue to write the blog posts.  But this may encourage everyone to share shorter stuff with the group, and just so you know, it's a secret group so only the readers of Pop's weekly Letter can see it.   Plus the Russians.

It begs the question.  What would Pop say?  Well, we know he was resistant to using Grandma's computer, and he enjoyed his pencil and paper and carbon copies and individual letters to each of us, sometimes filled with articles he cut out.  So, we can probably guess.  Still, I think if we start a Pop's Weekly Letter Twitter feed, that might be one step too far.  So, please feel free to post stuff on it, not that anyone is shy about posting stuff on your regular accounts.  

What we have already seen there are a couple of photos from Margaret who ended her Thanksgiving weekend by heading to Haiti on Sunday.  From there, she's going to Santo Domingo, before heading home.  All work, and maybe a little fun.  Hopefully. By the way, she did have a little fun on a work trip to NYC when she met up with Johanna for dinner.

Margaret and Andrew hosted all of us on Thanksgiving, and this year we had a new person at the table - Thomas.  He did so well, even with all the commotion.  By the end of dinner, he had ended up with Annie and Margaret, dancing and singing.

Jeff and Melodie were also able to join us.  They had tried a couple of years ago, but they had come down with colds and pulled out at the last minute.  This year, with mac and cheese, with baked brie and apple pies, they made it.  

Annie made her first trip back to the east coast since moving out to the other coast.  We had toyed with the idea of her catching an Uber from the airport, but when I went to pick her up, I realized how impossible that might have been.  There were a few other people there who were also probably looking for an Uber.  She might have missed Thanksgiving.  Anyway, she left DC for a week in Montreal.  For work, and hopefully a little fun as well. 

How come Joe didn't go anywhere after Thanksgiving?  Well, because he had just gotten back from a week in Australia.  Holy shrimp on the barbie!  (Do they say that down under?  Do they even say down under?)

All in all, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving, and you guessed it, there was way too much food.  Even more than last year.  It was nice to have Andrew's mom and dad there with us - they had come down from Lancaster for the night.

Thomas by the way is growing up rapidly, by the day.  More alert, more happy, and more intellectual.  Leonor takes him to story time at the local library and yoga classes!

So, how was your Thanksgiving?  We heard that David and Paula were with Tina's parents, along with Matthew and Oliver and Donald, who also seems to be growing by the day, and happier by the day.  We see regularly see him flipping the pages of a book as well, so he must also be more intellectual.  

Andrew mentioned that they had a houseful with Claire and Daniel home, and Lur's sister up from Florida.  And Peter and Janet headed for Janet's cousin Dede's for the day, along with Johanna and Sean and Erin.  Was there too much food at your celebrations as well?  

We touched base with John and Marilyn on our long drive down to DC, and they were going to friends for the big day.  We made plans for a trip to Florida this spring.  That's hopeful.

More importantly, how did you spend Black Friday?  We went to the mall, as we were told but we didn't see anyone else shopping.  (The mall between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol Building.)  Or small business Saturday?  Or, cyber Monday and giving Tuesday?  So what's tomorrow?  Weight loss Wednesday?  Sounds good to me.

Has anyone else been receiving catalogs?  I don't know how they make money printing all those catalogs.  We must get 4 from Land's End and LL Bean each week.  I did read that only 20% of retail is on line so I guess there's still money to be made out there somewhere.

So, the wreath is up, but I won't turn the lights on until December.  Just a thing I have.  I did see something from Jeffrey that he may get the award for the Dickson with the most lights.  Send us a picture.

Anyway, it's a wonderful holiday, everyone's favorite.  Hope you all enjoyed it.  This year was made special by Sean and Erin's announcement.

Love from up here.

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