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.