Calling all fathers

Dateline: Chapel Hill North Carolina

On the road again. A quick trip to come to our Peace Corps friend's daughter's wedding. And it's an excuse to stop in DC on the way down and back. I will admit to having a secret desire to return to the dark days of the pandemic when no one was on the roads. Especially between Washington and Richmond VA. And around Baltimore. And through Delaware. Maybe even the Garden State Parkway.

I misread Jeffrey and Melodie's Facebook post that they were also on their way to a wedding in NC. I missed the Y as they were headed to NYC.

Either way it's going to be hot. Heat waves this weekend and all next week up and down the east coast. Even in Pittsfield, it'll reach 90 each day. We talked with John and Marilyn, and they had just gotten off the golf course where it was closing in on 100 degrees. That's commitment.

I thought we were on the move but then I read Annie's latest letter which had travels to temples, to islands and then to a place Mary and I went to back in November. Our big excitement was the rest stop on the NJ Turnpike.

Actually, we got to walk Simon to school. That counts as adventure. Margaret had been in training all week on the new world of disinformation. And their refrigerator broke down over the weekend, but it worked to our advantage as Andrew made a wonderful Italian beef stew served on rolls. Better than The Bear. (TV show recommendation)

We'll stop at Joe and Leonor's on the way home. They've been busy with all the end of school year festivities. When did they start doing graduations for pre-K? Field days, concerts. Did someone say heat wave?

David was in Pittsfield last week. He had a weekend planned for reunions at Darrow and came by for chats and dinner the night before. He cut short the reunion since the room on campus where he was supposed to stay looked more spartan than the Shakers ever endured.

Speaking of reunions, I usually flip through the Princeton Alumni Weekly rapidly. This time I stopped on Peter's class (1973) and saw he had taken on responsibilities as the Class Zoom Director. That's a challenge for people our age as zoom meetings usually spend the first ten or so meetings with people complaining that they can't hear or they don't know how to raise their hand or they forget to mute and talk on their phone and so on and so on. Good luck!

We were invited out to dinner this week but when we told our hosts that the menu would have to be low residue colonoscopy prep, they picked a different date. Mary had her five year colonoscopy date and passed with flying colors (pun intended.).

Out in Illinois, Bill and Jen are full steam ahead on their move to Colorado. They have July dates for the move and plans to rent while their new house is being built. Ambitious.

We saw Timmy a few times as he has moved back to Pittsfield. We took him on a tour of the house next door which sadly doesn't look like we'll be able to salvage. We had applied to This Old House but knew it was a long shot. Next week we go to the excavation company. Sad

A milestone. Forty years ago Mary, Joseph and I went to DC to start Foreign Service training. At the swearing in, Joe through his glass milk bottle on the floor near the Director, Charlie Wick. If I remember right, I think Peter and Janet were there too.

Finally, June 9 passed with memories. Pop would have been 101.

Love from down here.