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.