Happy Valentine's Day

Happy President's Day.  What are you doing for President's Day?  I'm reading Michelle Obama's memoir, Becoming.  I want to pass along one quote: "Part of our role, as we understood it, was to model reason, compassion, and consistency."  Oh my.  Sounds so distant.

Now that I got that off my chest, hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day, with chocolate and flowers and kisses.  One thing you probably didn't have were those little candied hearts, which were made in our fair state, by the New England Confectionary Company, better known as NECCO.  Gone.  Out of business.  Oh well.

So, here's a tale of two cities.  Joe and Leonor and Thomas traveled to Rio for the weekend, to sit by the beach and take in the names we all have heard of but didn't know they were real places: Copacabana (I thought that was a Barry Manilow song) and Ipanema (I knew there was a girl from there.)  Looks like they're having fun.

Mary and I went in the opposite direction, back to Ottawa, but also found water, or at least its frozen version.  We went skating and skiing, saw an old friend, visited the ByWard market bakery more than once, saw ice sculptures, went to a few pubs, and reacquainted ourselves with -6 degree (Farenheit) weather.  Even colder factoring in wind chill.  Every place, we thought of you all, since almost every reader of these letters visited us there.

Looks like others have opted for the warmer climes.  We see that Tina and Donald have headed south to Florida, and enjoyed Donald's first plane ride.  And, we also note that Brian, Kara and Sage are in Daytona, visiting John and Marilyn.  We'll be beating a path down there in a few weeks to escape winter up here.  

Also, on Facebook, was news that Janet and Johanna went dress shopping for the big day - April 10.  Exciting.  

It was also a memory week when we traveled to Rhode Island for Maura's 50^th birthday party.  We spent the night with Marj and Lew, and then headed over to Westerly for the shindig.  On the way, we stopped at Charlestown Beach, but didn't see you guys.  Windy and cold, but always nice to see the ocean.  Maura had a nice group of friends, and we saw Steve's family and, of course, Elsie.  We also had a chance to catch up with Mary Fort.

On the health front, Mary is recovering, ever so slowly.  Her parasite treatment is finished, and the swelling mysteries have disappeared.  Elbow, hand and shoulder are working their way to full use, after a year of physical therapy, with strict attention to exercises at home.  She's determined.  She is back in the pool, but not with the team.  That's next.  No, next is a doctor's appointment in Boston this week to take blood and see if the parasites are still around.  Her doctor convinced me to get tested as well.  Uh-oh.

What else?  We saw a couple of Oscar nominated films, Parasite and 1917, both recommended.  I finished my exhibit on the centennial of woman suffrage, and it is up at the library until the end of March, before it goes to BCC and then to another arts center.  And, we've joined a weekly bridge game, or at least I've gone once.  It was fun.

So, we passed the midway point through winter, and we're as close to daffodils as we are to last Christmas.  Hooray.

Love from up here.  

Things Fall Apart

Things fell apart this past weekend, or at least our plans fell apart.  Flu and colds got in the way.  

We were heading down to Washington to take in a number of events:  Leonor's swearing-in as a U.S. citizen,  Margaret and Andrew's baby shower and to meet up Annie who was also coming in for the shower.  
The good news is that Leonor passed her citizenship test, but instead of waiting a couple of days for the swearing in, the immigration officers told her she had to be sworn in that very day.  Joe and Thomas made it over for the ceremony.  We were still in Pittsfield, so we missed it, and will still have to wait to go to our first citizenship ceremony.  Joe took a video, and not surprisingly, it was moving with 25 people from 13 different countries getting sworn in.  Guess which song was played?  "Proud to be an American."

Then, on our way down the next day, we got a call from Margaret saying that Andrew was at urgent care and had the flu. And, yes, he had had the flu shot.  She said she wasn't feeling too hot either. Since we were supposed to be staying with them, we quickly made other arrangements, staying one night at the Dacor Bacon house (a Foreign Service club of sorts) and then over to Mary's friend Gerry's house for a couple of nights.
Then, Leonor got sick, with an earache and a cold.  Margaret's symptoms turned out to be a cold.  Meanwhile, we were heavily investing in Airborne and Zicam.  Joe had to cancel Leonor's celebratory "Proud to be an American" cocktail event at Ebbet's Grill.

Could it get worse?  Yes, Jeff and Melodie got sick, though I think Jeffrey worse.  That cemented the decision by Johanna and Cameron to take a pass on joining us for Margaret's shower.  They were going to stay with Jeff and Melodie.

Was that the end of the thwarted plans?  Almost.  How would you like to be sitting next to someone on a plane who is looking for the vomit bag?  Annie took the red eye in from the west coast, and felt faint and nauseous after a couple of hours.  She informed the stewardess (I think there's a new name for them) that she wasn't feeling well, and, oh by the way, she had stopped in Wuhan, China on her way home from Japan two weeks earlier.  The stewardess confidently assured her it was probably just a lack of food and water, and replenished Annie who fell back asleep and woke up fine by the time she landed.

So, did it spoil our plans?  Absolutely not.  We adjusted, enjoyed our time babysitting with Thomas (Air and Space Museum and Zoo, as well as Peruvian chicken) and enjoyed our time hanging out with everyone.  Margaret and Andrew rallied for the shower, for which Andrew's mother and father and a nice set of local friends attended.  Melodie came to the shower, but she couldn't wake up Jeff whose cold let him in full recovery mode: asleep on the couch.  Which begs the question - Melodie why aren't you in the photo? Also not in the photo was Kathleen who decided to take the risk of attending, but she was staying with friends elsewhere.

We all congregated for a nice brunch on Sunday before we made the long drive home.  The good news is that Airborne and Zicam work.

By the time we got home, Lenor and Thomas were back in Brasilia, Annie was on her way to Oakland, Joe was in Virginia for a week worth of security training following the shower, complete with defensive driving, fire drills, scary videos and dire scenarios.  Margaret and Andrew were fast asleep, the adrenaline having departed.  

Still fun to see everyone, even if plans go awry.

Love from up here.  Happy February!  What will the groundhog say?

Hibernating

Forgive me for dreaming of spring.  The days seem just a little bit longer, as it's still light out at 5pm.  There's only one little pile of snow in the yard.  And, from what I see of national weather reports, everyone enjoyed a bit of no coat weather over the weekend.  I worked outside, and we went to a "Four Freedoms" march in Pittsfield with just a sweater on, and one of the speakers reminded us that the first march took place three years ago in 12-degree weather.  

Other than that, I tell people we're pretty much just hibernating up here.  With no trip to Gabon this year, we have a little extra time on our hands.  Our calendars have whole days with nothing scheduled.  Mary has been in the "tidying up" mode, and her desk and closets are looking pretty organized.  We remind ourselves, pretty much on a daily basis, where we were a year ago, with Mary incapacitated because of back pain.  Speaking of health, Mary has started her parasite treatments, and so far so good.  No negative reactions.  

One more health issue, involving Mary's brother Michael's grandson.  Michael was struck by meningitis, and he fell into a coma and was in the hospital for over a month.  He is now out, and in rehab, slowly working to get back both mental and physical functions he lost.  He was young, barely 25, with a partner and two children.

Paula won a silent auction bid for a photographer, who they arranged to come over on Christmas Day and take photos of the whole family (which she later posted on Facebook.)  They're really quite good, of everyone, and I include one here.  

Word from Dundee is that Andrew and Lur took in Hamilton, in the next to last night of its scheduled run.  He said some of the actors looked a little emotional during the curtain call.  And, they joined the acclamations for the show.  Daniel joined them for dinner before the show.  Study the photos above (from our trip in December to Illinois, and see who's taller - Daniel or me.

Peter was here for a night, driving a little further from the Litchfield CT court where he is working on a pretty sordid case involving the Hotchkiss School.  He told us a little more of Johanna and Cameron's wedding plans, but nothing yet for publication.  Happy photo above, from Facebook.

News from Brazil is there are many words coming out of Thomas' mouth, in both languages.  He is on extended summer vacation from his pre-school.  Santa, or Papa Noel, came a little late as his pouches (diplomatic) were re-routed through Lisbon.  C'mon elves!

Some of those pouches had birthday presents for Joe, and Margaret and Jeffrey also celebrated birthdays.  Happy days.

Annie and Sankar got back from their trip to Japan, on a trip that started when she came here before Christmas.  She had an unscheduled layover in Hawaii and went to the beach.  Joe said when he gets delayed, it's usually in Newark.  Anyway, she's back and getting reacquainted with her kitties that a neighbor kindly watched for her. 

 
Finally, Mary has joined a bridge class, and one of the teachers was Colleen's son, Robbie.  He is heading down to Daytona next week

.  
And, this is football season.  W pass along a Facebook post that someone's child asked if there would still be a Super Bowl if the Patriots weren't playing.

That's a wrap.  Love from up here.  

Home for the holidays

Merry Christmas. And we were not home for the holidays. We had a wonderful Christmas at Margaret and Andrew's who opened up their home to the Dickson chaos that we bring wherever we go. (Just ask about a certain dishwasher.).

Annie had arrived from the west coast on Friday evening and then we drove down Monday. Andrew's mother and father joined us for a truly great dinner prepared by Margaret and Andrew. Ask Margaret for her ginger and molasses cake recipe.

It's been a while since the last letter so there is a lot of news. Big news. First off, Annie shared a text she got from Johanna that had a picture of her with an engagement ring! That is really great news. Her fiancé is named Cameron and we await details of wedding plans. And Johanna is now a resident of Brooklyn.

The other big news is Leonor is pregnant, and Thomas is expecting a younger brother, due at the end of June. He even pointed to his mother's stomach when we asked where is the baby!

And there's news from Illinois. Not weddings or births but we did go out in early December to visit. We decided this to take in downtown Chicago for a couple of nights and we packed it in, going to the play Hamilton (recommended), a couple of museums, and long walks. Yes, the weather cooperated. We also invited ourselves to Daniel's salon, The Gentleman's Cooperative. Very fancy. And, the next day I went back and Daniel cut my hair.

We took the train out to Dundee and spent a couple of days with Andrew and Lur. They are real hosts - we went Christmas tree shopping and then to a church lunch and fair. We went to a concert with a group called Tower of Power who I vaguely remember from the 70s. They were really great, and not just because they're from Oakland. Funk and jazz and dance. Lively.

We also saw Billy and their children, Myles, Auden and Elliot. They came over for dinner and they entertained us. Joy.

After that, we headed to Greenwich for Aunt Georgia's memorial service. A little like old times, catching up with cousins Rell and Hope, except for the solemn occasion. It was nice to see Peter and David and Janie there as well. I remember Grandma and Pop used to get together with their Connecticut brothers around Christmas. A new tradition, for a night? Meet somewhere in between?

And, you know when you don't write for a month, there's still more news. We spoke with Joe and Leonor several times, as they are settling into their new home in Brazil. Their effects have not yet arrived and even Santa was slow through the diplomatic pouch. They are off today at a nearby resort to spend Joe's birthday. (Remember those events at Pomfret. That was fun.)

John and Marilyn came north for the holidays and spent Christmas with Kara and Brian and Sage, and their clan came east for the day.

Timmy came over for dinner a couple of times, once when Annie was here.

Some sad and concerning news. Young Mike Boyle is in the hospital with a serious out of meningitis. He's been unconscious for over a week and there's no way to know what lies ahead yet. And, a friend, here in Pittsfield, our age, passed away suddenly and shockingly. I guess that's our age but you never expect it so close. We count our blessings every day.

Love from up here and happy new year! What's your resolution for the new decade?

Thanksgiving

What do you call the day after Black Friday?  And before Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday?  I know, you can call it weekly letter Saturday.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Wherever you found yourselves.  Hope too you didn't get stuck somewhere in the winter storms that moved from west to east.  Tomorrow we will get clobbered, all the way through Monday evening, Mr. Weatherman says.  So, it was probably a good thing that Margaret and Andrew (and D) left on Friday.  That way the escaped the Saturday traffic that is trying to escape the Sunday storm.

Margaret and Andrew arrived at JFK from Tokyo and then somehow managed to drive up here and sit through Thanksgiving dinner and half of a football game.  They looked exhausted with jet lag and time zone creases around their eyes.  They had a wonderful trip, by all accounts – good food, beautiful scenery and temples, very nice people, and, most importantly, fun. 

We had more of "Friendsgiving" with the Locherys and the Tierneys and Timmy.  Lots of work, but a lot of helpers, more than a little chaos, but good food.  One new tradition that Jody introduced us to – listen to Alice's Restaurant at some point during or around meal time.

We talked to the Brazil folks who were heading out to dinner with Embassy friends, and Annie who had opted to spend Thanksgiving in Los Angeles with Sankar.  Which was warmer?  Brazil, as Annie told us that it was unusually rainy and raw in southern California.  Thomas is adjusting to his new "school" and has to wear a uniform that is ….. how to put it?...... kind of ……. unflattering, if you can use that word on a two-year old's fashion.    

What about you folks?  We touched base with everyone over the holidays.  Peter was supposed to be spending Tuesday night with us for a court case he's been working on in Lakeville CT, just over the border.  He bailed on us, I suspect because of the thought of driving back to Pennington on Wednesday.  We nailed down our arrangements with Andrew and Lur for Chicago this coming week, including a concert and a dinner with Daniel, we hope.  David said they are on track for the coldest November on record and already have had, if I remember right, 18 inches of the white stuff.  Sounds like John and Marilyn had a Friendsgiving as well, without the snow.  They squeezed in the day between a couple of cruises.

What else?  A movie recommendation – A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.  Ever since watching it, we've been channeling Mr. Rogers, playing a lot of the low notes on the piano.  The perfect movie for this political season.

We close with a sad note – Aunt Georgia, Mom's sister in law, passed away last week, having made it to her mid-90s.  Her daughter, Hope, wrote and said her mother did seem to make an impression on everyone, and I noted a positive one – funny, commanding and not shy about her opinions whether it was about the way Peapack (town near us in New Jersey) was pronounced or something more substantive.  Eating pecan pie this week reminded me of her as I suspect I had my first slice of that most delicious dessert at one of her Thanksgivings and then enjoyed her annual gifts of tins full of pecans from down south. 

Well, that made me hungry.  Maybe I'll make my way for a slice of leftover pie.  In the meantime, see if you can pick out everyone in the photos.

Love from up here.

Say it ain't so

It's too early for winter.  But as you can see with our woodpile, we're ready.  So is Donald with his shovel.  I know who would like the colors of his coat.  Snow here, there and almost everywhere, except for Daytona and Brasilia.  Andrew wrote and said parts of Michigan got 24 inches of the white stuff.  Are you ok, Claire?

Lots of news besides snow, though.  We headed south for the departure of Joe, Leonor and Thomas who were in the final throes of their move.  Their departure brought back so many memories and emotions of our departures, most notably the time Grandma and Peter dropped us off at National Airport and a Nigerian taxi driver took off the door of our rental, leaving Peter to chase the driver down as he tried to take off and to handle the return of our now doorless rental. I never asked how that went.  

But enough about our departure.  We saw Thomas' last day at his day care and joined him for trick or treat which he kind of got the hang of, wearing his Thomas the construction worker yellow vest and hard hat. We had a farewell dinner at Margaret and Andrew's and then helped them at the airport, with their six check-in bags and equivalent number of carry on, with the no-help airlines staff, and then commiserated with them as they made their way through security.  Perhaps the hectic craziness at the airport helped keep the sadness at bay.

Anyway, they have been settling in to their new home, with a lot of help from the Embassy.  They went to their first Marine Corps Ball, and then Joe had to leave for a few days in Paraguay (first Dickson there I bet.)  Leonor has been busy getting Thomas in pre-school and unpacking the air freight (and Thomas' red car) that arrived this week.  They have a nice home, with a swimming pool and guest bedrooms.  Reserve now.

We stayed at Margaret and Andrew's, and they are doing well.  Margaret has had a couple of check-ups and all seems to be perfect/normal on the baby front.  Right now, they are in Seoul, for a long-hoped-for vacation to Korea and Japan, where Andrew spent his first year out of college.  Mary drove down to New Jersey to meet them and bring back Dee (or is it D?) so that we can watch him while they're away.

Annie continues her travels with two trips to the east coast for weddings.  She passed along this photo of her first Indian wedding, standing here with Sankar.  

We see that Johanna has been in Denver, and that Sean posted a photo of a bunch of eggs and bacon. Must be a story there. Mouth-watering. 

On the medical front, Mary has preliminarily figured out the weird swelling issues she's been dealing with over the last couple of years.  Our doctor here thought it might be rheumatoid arthritis, so we  went to Boston to see a rheumatologist there who asked her after 90 seconds "Why are you here?"  He ruled out the arthritis but decided to take on what could be causing the swelling.  After a series of blood tests, they figured out that she picked up some pretty ugly parasites while in Gabon - they're still conducting tests, but soon will start treatment.  

We have spoken a couple of times to Andrew to nail down our plans for an early December Chicago visit.  We had hoped to take the train, but getting a sleeper for the 17-plus hour ride was prohibitively expensive.  So we booked planes for a third the price.

By the time of the next letter, we'll be able to report on a visit from Peter who's coming up as part of a sordid legal case with abuse at the Hotchkiss school, just across the border from Berkshire County.

We've been busy with our protest against the construction of a cell tower on the neighboring mill site, but we're not hopeful.  Zoning board meetings this week should decide the fate of that.

John and Marilyn are on another cruise this week, and Timmy is coming over for dinner tonight.  Pork tenderloin.  Anyone else want to join us?

Hope you're all well and love from up here.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloweeeeeen

This time a few months ago, the sun would be out, we'd be sitting out on the porch, perhaps even working in the garden.  Not today; it's dark and cold and rainy.  We're huddled up inside, with the heat on and Sunday afternoon football.  A perfect time for the weekly letter.

We left off the last letter at the beginning of our trip to Portugal and Spain.  We met up with two other Foreign Service couples in Porto, for a couple of days of sightseeing before starting our six-day, 75 mile walk to Santiago de Compostela.  I don't know how many pilgrims over the last century would call their walk to the cathedral where the Apostle James is buried "fun."  But that's really the best word to describe it all.  Sure the 6-8 hour days of walking left us exhausted, and we did see our share of rain.  But the trail was not challenging, and the company was great.  The scenery, along the coast and through medieval villages and vineyards was hard to beat.  One factoid best explains our arduous journey of exercise: we weighed more at the end of the trip than when we left.

No rest for the weary since the day after we got home, I got back in the car and drove to Princeton for a gathering of my former soccer teammates.  I stayed with Peter and Janet who are busy painting their house, enlisting Sean to get to the high points, but even the highest and most awkward niches present a dilemma.  Anyway, they are good, and they went to a McCarter play retelling the Frankenstein story in an unusually creative way.  Besides hanging out and dining with classmates, I did a tour of the Princeton battlefield and went to a soccer game against Columbia (which the good guys won.)  Mary stayed home and got caught up with a house after two weeks away (thanks Timmy for checking in on kitty.)    

This week, we'll be heading down to DC to say our goodbyes to Joe, Leonor and Thomas who leave next Saturday to start their three years in Brazil.  They have moved out of their house and are checking off the many small things to do before they head out.  Thomas is talking more and has started spinning stories of imaginary friends mixed with movie characters (Chewbacca) and family members. 

They have been hanging out watching World Series baseball games with Margaret and Andrew and Jeff and Melodie.  It has been a fun run to watch the Nationals streak; hope they can outlast the Astros.

We played phone tag with Andrew and Lur, but finally caught up with them after they returned from a few days visiting Claire in Michigan.  They went out to see one of her concerts.  She posted the photo below of her middle school class, and there are several wonderful points, besides how great she is looking.  One is how cool her handwriting is, and the other is the music that she is teaching.  Perhaps another is that these students are actually sitting down and listening.  Not sure even I did that with Mrs. Noling's music class.

Andrew and Lur had spent the day watching soccer games, for Myles and Auden.  I can't quite get the picture of Auden on a soccer field out of my mind.  Must be a force.

Annie has been racking up the frequent flyer miles, going to weddings in South Carolina.  Sean too has been down to Dallas a few times to visit Erin who is well into her fellowship there.

What else?  Mary had a doctor's appointment in Boston (Brigham and Women's) this week where she got the good news that tests for rheumatoid arthritis were negative, but she may have some other issue, related to a tropical infection.  Too much Gabon, I guess.

We also talked to John and Marilyn, breaking into their pool practice.  Swimming and billiards are both on their agendas these days. 

This week Halloween?  What's your costume?  What was your favorite costume growing up?  We had a magnificent old cape, that we had to share between four children.  Survival of the fittest.

With that, have a wonderful week, and love from over here.