End of summer

September 16 sounds familiar.  What happened? Whose birthday?  Hmmm.  I know. It was my first day of radiation last year.  There’s a date to forget.  This week I go to Boston for my sixth injection of hormone therapy.  Only two more after that.

There’s a buzz of chatter coming from the other room.  It’s Mary’s Zoom book club who decided to meet in person, for the third time. They’re here for a couple of days, and they found other topics to talk about besides books.  Go figure. They’ve known each other, some of them, for almost 70 years.

They did bring wonderful food – cookies, breads, meals, crackers and cheese etc.  they can come back. And we took on a little excursion to …. You guessed it, Herman Melville’s home. There’s a book for a book group.

We had our own road trip too over Labor Day weekend.  Fortunately, we did not have to wrestle with traffic. We went the opposite direction up to northeast Maine for a reunion of folks who were in Gabon with us 50 years ago.  There, too, we did not run out of topics to discuss, as we had a lot of gaps to fill in, and lots of memories to try to dredge up.

It looks like Matthew and Tina checked off another NY state park, this time to the 1000 Islands. Not sure if that is technically a park, but they sure hit the sites: Boldt Castle, Rock Island Lighthouse, Cape Vincent Lighthouse. I need to find out where they stayed because I have always wanted to spend time in this spectacular setting, in the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Annie and Sankhar are back in India. Wow, what a trip they’ve had. Now it’s back to their project with renewed energy and enthusiasm.  Italy, Croatia, Portugal, England – I’m sure I missed a country or two.

They didn’t make it up to Scotland, but Joe did.  Can you believe he graduated more than 20 years ago?  He went solo since his children went back to school, including Luisa, her first day at REAL school.

Out west, Andrew reports on a visit home by Daniel, and a Phish concert that Billy and Myles went to.  So, Pop did take us to the New Christy Minstrels one summer.

Down in DC, the pool closed.  Summer’s officially over. But Simon is trying out for a new swim team. He, by the way, continues to find ways to amuse his sister, and himself, and the rest of us.

We have done some fall planning, which includes putting on the back burner our scheduled road trip out to Oklahoma.  Instead, we will take up our friend Valerie’s offer to join her in Berlin for a week.  That’s right, Germany, not Maine. She grew up there and has incredible stories of living through the war and its aftermath before finally coming to the states for graduate school.  Forever in her mind are the Gis who showed up at her door with candies.  It actually happened.

Another sad anniversary of sorts was the one year that has passed since we lost Johnny, Mary’s brother.  Still hard to believe.

Love from up here.

 

 

Say It Ain't So!

End of August?  That’s too soon. Slow down summer.  Too late; we see trees changing colors already, and the nights are definitely cooler.  One advantage – we have a glorious crop of real big tomatoes. 

End of August also means back to school time, for the next generation. We went down to DC for Simon’s first day but missed Darcy’s first week of daycare.  She did great … until, the daycare germs got to her, and to the rest of us. We think we got our norovirus type stomach bout from her, which Margaret also had. We recovered, sort of, as has Margaret, and Darcy was never even phased. She had her first solid food.  Simon, by the way, has a wiggly tooth. Maybe even two.

Soon, she’ll be eating like Ronan. Keep a washcloth handy.

I am wondering if Thomas, John and Luisa think that everyone has summer vacations like the one they had in Portugal. They spent time at multiple beaches, and then went to carnivals and zip lines, and bumper cars, and tennis and soccer and cousins and food glorious food.  They are back in London, and school starts for them tomorrow. With new haircuts even!

Guess who else was in Portugal and London? Annie and Sankar! Yes, Sankar met up with Annie for their grand European tour that included these two stops.  The fun continues. They must have found something to eat in the British pub!

 Big news for Johanna -she landed a job!  Congrats!  Too long a haul, but glad the job search is finally over for you.

Over in Fairport, David was hunkered down amidst the Fairport music festival, enjoying the out-of-towners desperately searching for parking.

Claire has also started school, with the news that her school is in the top 4% in the country.  Must be because of Claire.  She took her parents out to a concert, but I’ll never remember the name of the group.  Was it Volvo?

Last letter, I mentioned that Daniel had gone to Mexico, and he wrote this report. “México City was absolutely amazing. And it was a very last second trip so didn’t even plan too much outside of the big things- Lucha Libre, Teotihuacan, and a large tour throughout the city. The guides at Teotihuacan were outstanding. Like they injected 10 hours of content and material in my brain within 30 minutes. Had a bunch of questions but too many French people around, very well dressed, couldn’t work up the courage to ask. But nonetheless a highlight of my journeys. Strangely, but probably not so, found it very similar to Chennai! Colorful, friendly, blooming culture and aromatics sizzlin in every street corner! My mouth was definitely writing checks than my stomach couldn’t cash!”

Some letters just write themselves, and this is one of them.

That’s all from her – see you in September, Love.

 

Summer fun, summer sun

I’m starting this in the waiting area of the Berkshire Eye Center. My doctor routinely runs late, by a lot, so we’ll see how far I get. 

First off, I’m here because yesterday I had my second cataract procedure. It’s over, and, in a couple of weeks, I’m confident I’ll see great. David told me he had this done a few years ago. 

I’m not the only one to have surgery. Janet had bone spurs removed which I bet is a tougher procedure than cataracts. Anyway, she says she’s well on the way to recovery. 

Hopefully no one else has a surgery, either past or pending. No fun. 

What is fun is a birthday. Way to go Everett!  And at a camp with archery and riflery. 

What’s also fun is picking fruit. We had a bumper crop of raspberries, then blueberries and then peaches. We even have grapes on our vine, but they look a little dubiously withered already.

Another not fun thing is buying a car. Mary’s Honda had 160,000 miles and ten years, so we bit the bullet and picked out a red Subaru Crosstrek. I think Prince wrote a song about it. Little Red Crosstrek. 

Where in the world is …..?

Leonor and children are living the dream near beaches in Portugal with a never-ending stream of cousins to play with. 

Annie and Sankar met up in Italy and have been sending pictures from the Dolomites and other places. I think they’re in Croatia now, and we saw terrible fires there on the news last night.

Margaret is back at work, and Andrew’s parental leave ends today, I think. That means Darcy’s off to day-care next week and that means, as many will remember, logistical juggling of drop-offs, pick-ups, illnesses and much more probably. 

Joe’s in London, also back at work but will join his crew in Portugal soon. 

Did we see Jeff and Melodie in Rhode Island?  Or Sean and family in Annapolis? Thank goodness for Facebook.

(They just called me in. Only fifteen minutes wait.)

Home now.

Where in the world was ….?

Daniel was in Mexico City, with his girlfriend Sierra.  And, he told his parents he would go back in a flash.  Of course, there’s so much to do – he raved about the pyramids.

Billy was in Los Cabos. Another wonderful spot, blue water, blue sky offset by tan desert hills. Stunning.

I did something this week that I bet no other Dickson had done nor probably will ever do. I spent a night in Saugus, Massachusetts. Long story. But I needed to find a cheap place to sleep after I got kicked out of my Hope Lodge free lodging. Another long story. The important part is Saugus Mass. The Chisholm Inn. It was only $135 a night and then seven days of back pain because of the mattress. Cross it off my bucket list. 

Another highlight was going to see “A Chorus Line” at our local theater. Either we have become real hicks, or they have great talent here. The play was wonderful. Great singing and dancing. We had seen it on our honeymoon on Broadway, and the production here was just as good. We think. 

We’ve had glorious weather up here, but I’m not sure it’s been the same everywhere else. Hope it breaks for you soon. 

Closing out with one more wonderful shot from the Poconos.  Remember that?

Love from up here.

Put July in the history books

Only a few more hours left in July, without a weekly letter yet. I fully intended to put one together before we went to the Poconos, but I think you can imagine the craziness of the last few days before we descend on Mt. Springs.  And, now, early July seems like ancient history, what with Andrew’s birthday, Annie’s birthday, July 4, Mary’s going off to Wisconsin and more.

But first, the Poconos. Remember that? Another special year with lots of memories and pictures imprinted on our brains. I’m sure everyone has their highlights but here goes. Let’s see if my list is like yours.

As before it’s just wonderful to see the next generation play together, wander around, swing and see-saw, dig in the sand, swim, tell stories, run and play tetherball, football, frisbee, soccer, badminton. Did someone say tired? Not them.

One big highlight this year was watching the World Cup games, especially the final. Exciting and tense.

Another achievement was surviving a full day of rain, with lots of little ones.  I’m not even sure how we did it.

And, we all welcomed a new addition to the family in Darcy, and we met for the first time Ronan.

Of course, the meals were great, and so were the naps. For the first time, I didn’t walk around the lake, but a few other people did, I noticed.  I also saw some fishermen and women, and some first-time swimmers out all the way to the dock.   

We might have set a record for trips to the grocery store in a day. 

There were a few people we missed at the Poconos, so hopefully next year.  I know why Claire wasn’t there. She went to Colorado to see her brother and his family.

We had a little adventure on the way home. Actually, a couple. Mary and I took all three boys in the rental van, and had a reminder of what it’s like to travel with little children. (Which means thanks to all who made the trip taking care of bathroom breaks and arguments and requests.)  We stopped at one rest area, and who did we see inside? Joe and Annie and Luisa!  How did they get ahead of us?

Then, we almost ran out of gas on the way home. One more unneeded stress.

But we made it home, and have enjoyed two weeks with everyone here. The boys were in a sports camp, and Leonor arrived the day before Mary’s birthday!  We also survived a few days of downpours here. Then Thomas turned 9. The 24^th was also Donald’s big day.

Annie left yesterday to start her European vacation with Sankar, that includes trips to Italy, Croatia, Portugal and England.  Maybe somewhere else too.

Then, tomorrow we take Joe and children to the airport for their return to London, and, by a fluke of travel planning, Leonor leaves the following day before they all continue their party in Portugal.

Sickness followed us here. Hope you all missed it. We’re slowly sharing coughs and some lost voices. And, in the good timing department, I had cataract surgery yesterday. Went smoothly, but it was a little disruptive for everyone else. I get the second eye done before the next bi-weekly letter,

We also took advantage of our family here to host a get-together in memory of Timmy, and a large contingent of Boyles showed up to send him off with lots of stories.

July did fly by, but that’s what happens when you pack it in. August will be slower and quieter. We’ll miss everyone for sure.

Love from up here.

 

Home again

Lots to report this half of June.  And first off, birthdays.  It’s Leonor’s birthday today.  Parabéns.  (Look it up and practice your Portuguesa!) And Melodie also had a birthday, celebrated on the Delaware beaches.

Second off, Annie’s home. Well, not exactly home here in Pittsfield, as she has been on the move, to Boston, DC, and now in Colorado, visiting friends and family.  Sure wish Sankar could have joined her. He did get a visa for the UK and the EU so he and Annie are planning to meet up at the end of her US visit over there, perhaps even in Blackheath, London, with the soccer-mad segment of the family. Down in DC, she met the latest addition to the family, Darcy, and saw Simon who has graduated to the junior swim team.  

Next, we’re also home, from a week in Daytona where we sped off as Timmy landed back in the hospital and then hospice. We were told by a nurse to get down there quickly. He has since rallied, but is still in hospice with no good prospects. A tough week for everyone, but obviously hardest for Timmy.  Marilyn was, once again, a wonderful host.

David and Paula are also home, after a “bucket list check-off” excursion to an Antiques Roadshow filming. Paula wrote up a great account of their time and the four pieces they took for evaluation. Now I wish I had gone. We had to turn down the opportunity as I did a talk on my book that drew a large crowd at Arrowhead, Melville’s home. When we get to the Poconos, I plan on doing a reprise, every night, maybe even a couple of times every night.

And Peter and Janet are also home after heading up to Southport for Aunt Janie’s celebration of life. David and Paula watched on YouTube. It was a wonderful send-off with a lot of excellent messages about a life well-lived. Everyone called her the connector, and she was at it again, as we reconnected with Jay and Diane and her family.  The last time I saw Diane (Moopy) was at our wedding in 1980.  She has also had a full life. I must have heard before, but she told me she named her first child Ann, who also had a heart problem and passed away after only a year.

And guess who else is home? Andrew and Lur, of course. They spent the week, their annual vacation, at Green Lake in Wisconsin. Claire came down with a friend for one day, that included a boat ride.  They seemed to have missed a lot of the bad weather descending on Illinois and Wisconsin and the rest of the Midwest.

Anyone else return home? You betcha. Billy and family are back in Colorado after a drive back to Chicago to visit both sets of grandparents and the children’s old friends. They weren’t back home for long, as we see them on Facebook at some camping adventure.

And Matthew and Tina and the boys also went camping, at Chenango Valley State Park. I think they are going to sample all of the state parks in New York. And why not?

Perhaps Paul Simon is home. He had come to Tanglewood for two sold-out performances, and we had tickets - thank you Joe, Margaret and Annie.  At first, it was discouraging since he had lost his voice, but he pushed through and, with his songbook of tunes and messages, I found myself ready to accept any old voice. He responded well to the enthusiasm of the audience, and kept coming back to give us more. I should add that on our refrigerator is a ticket stub from his concert in Durban that we went to in 1992.

On to July which means we’ll see you all in the Poconos soon.  Love from up here.

 

 

June swoon

Summer’s a week away!  And we’ve already had summer weather, and loving every bit of it. We’re also basking in the fruits of our yard work over the last few months. Simply glorious.

Summer means graduation time, and there’s a photo here of Miles 8^th grade graduation. What? Looks like a college graduate to me.  When did that happen? And Margaret says Simon is only six, and he’s already had three graduations. I wonder if he’s gone to any reunions. Then there’s Donald who was selected as student of the month in his middle school, as a “community builder.” Way to go Donald!  We need community builders now.

Mary’s not the only one on a swim team. Simon got a signing bonus to join his pool’s team, and he spends most afternoons there. There’s a photo here after practice with one of his many fans. Move over Michael Phelps.

Billy and his family trekked across the country to visit parents and friends in their old Illinois neighborhood. A long drive, but I know a couple of grandparents who were thrilled to see everyone.

Back to DC where we are told that Johanna stopped on her way down to North Carolina. She stayed with Jeff and Melodie and paid a visit to the newest member of the Dickson family.

Over in London, there are a few people geared up for the World Cup. Truth be told, I learned more about international soccer in my one week there than I have since I was, well, ever.  We watched the first US game, as well as some of the NBA finals. Better than baseball right now.

No birthdays yet, except for Pop’s who would be 103 this year. A couple later in the month.

Some sad news. Janie, Uncle All’s wife, passed away after a stroke. She was 91 and had joined us at the Poconos for a few years, along with Susan, her daughter, and Fernando. Paula remembers her dancing at Jeff and Melodie’s wedding. Also, Mary’s been sorting out the decision for Timmy to go into hospice. He had another fall in his home, the third this year, with the accompanying organ failures.

On the happy front, Annie should be in the air at this writing, on her way home for a good long stretch. Sankhar got his visas for England and the EU, so they’re planning on meeting up after her sojourn in the U.S.

We’re hoping to take Annie, and anyone else, on some bird walks. Mary and I are taking a birding class through the life-long learning institute and hope to recognize more birds than just a robin, a crow, and a goose. Today, we saw and studied a …. What was it called? Some gray wax wing something or other. Beautiful, if only I could remember the name. I think “cedar” was in there somewhere.

I did a quick over-to-Boston and back visit last week for a check-up and the start of my second year of injections. All on track, especially the test results.

Look for a Poconos message in your in-boxes soon, with cabin assignments!  Right around the corner.

And then we’ll see you all.  Love from up here.

 

 

Dateline Blackheath

Dateline Blackheath Just like there are two full moons this month, there’s an extra weekly letter in May We love Blackheath. Someone here at the pool said it’s a very special place. And it is special because of five people we know who live here. We actually did go into London once trying to take in the Natural History Museum. It was so crowded we settled for lunch and gelato. We being Thomas, John, Mary and me. The rest of the time we hung out at home, walked to the village for shopping and coffees and treats. We joined Joe and Leonor for a dinner out one night. And we pretty much ate them out of house and home. We heard a lot about soccer and watched the European championship. Importantly for you know who, we also found a pool within walking distance. We arrived a week ago, and guess what it was? John’s birthday. Six years old. A big celebration. There were a few other celebrations too. Matthew had a birthday, and Peter and Janet celebrated their anniversary. Happy days. I met up with Peter at Princeton reunions. Much more crowded than I remember, or maybe I’m just much more grouchy. Probably the latter. Mary had spent the week in Washington as mother and grandmother. Darcy is growing well, and her hip issue seems to be getting resolved. One more bit of news from there: Simon made the junior swim team at their pool. We’re trying to catch up to Jeff and Melodie on the garden front. I planted a few rows of beans, beets, carrots and cukes before leaving with the hope that the first sprouts will be up when we get home. Fingers crossed. The real work was getting the weeds out in order to plant. How come I can grow weeds so easily? The weather has been so weird- hot then cold but mostly dry. In Pittsfield, Princeton, and London. How about chez vous? Tomorrow we take the plane home and sleep in our own bed! But we’ll miss everyone here, and there. Next stop - Poconos! Love from across the pond.