Of haircuts and marathons

As I work my way through scanning all of Pop's weekly letters, I'm struck that they were actually weekly.  How did he have that much news to fill up a whole letter every seven days?  Part of the answer is all the references to "triple plays" – Spag's, haircut and the dump.  But their lives were actually quite full.  I'm up to (or down to) 1984, and here's a snapshot – I think David and Paula make every single letter, with references to David splitting wood, weeding, raking and games of pinochle which Mom and Paula won so often that on September 4, 1984, the letter finally read: "I have been required by two very firm gals that David and I won – and I really mean won." 

All this by way of introduction that I got a haircut last week.  Why doesn't that sound as interesting or as funny as when Pop said it?  Anyway, a new barbershop opened up the street this summer, so after two months after my last cut, I decided to try it out.  I'll be going back, but I have to wonder at the courage of starting a barbershop in the middle of a pandemic. Or is it desperation?  Tough times.

We finished our two weeks of quarantine after Thanksgiving and tested negative on our results when we returned.  We each had colds so we were worried, especially when we heard that Sankar and Margaret were feeling a little under the weather.  (Included here is a holdover photo of Rochester Thanksgiving Zoom, which has several interesting items including a possibility that Oliver has a beard!) 

Speaking of Covid, I remember being on a Zoom call with friends back in May when one of them asked if we actually knew of anyone who was sick.  Everyone on the call answered in the negative.  Well, now we have three people we know who have tested positive, one fine now, another at home battling the darn thing and a third back in the hospital for the second time.  With a number of medical pros in the family, it seems a good time to remember the work you do and the risks you take every day for the rest of us.  Thank you.  We should say it every day, and again – thank you.

Had a number of calls with Joe and Leonor and they are busy getting prepared for Christmas.  It seems that Thomas is fully ready, having already woken up one day assuming it was Christmas.  We also understand that Thomas is not a big fan of the big fella with the white beard with the red suit.  Can't blame him, cause if you stop and think about it…… (uh-oh, guess that qualifies me for the naughty list this year.)

Annie has found an apartment a few blocks away from Margaret and Andrew for the month of January, when their lease expires in Virginia.  She and Sankar then are coming back up this way, with a place they've rented in Newport, Vermont, not far from several ski places, and the Canadian border for that matter. Taking advantage of the proximity, Andrew and Margaret just spent the weekend out in Shenandoah with them again.

Out in Illinois, Bill and Jen have moved into their new house so they're closer to Andrew and Lur geographically.  

Mary checked in with Timmy this week, and he was on the road, back in southern California in a new car – a Toyota Rav IV.  All is well.  I took my Rav-IV in for a scheduled maintenance, and they found evidence of mice living in the liner, too close to the air bags.  Another repair, but I think insurance will cover a lot of it.

Among other news, Mary and I completed the Honolulu Marathon this week. No lie.  Of course, it was virtual, and of course it took us eight days of walking, but we did finish and we'll be getting medals to prove it.  If you're interested, you can still enter to "race" - https://www.honolulumarathon.org/home/2020-virtual-events.  The picture of me here was taken on our Honolulu marathon course.

And with thoughts of beaches, sending along our wishes of staying healthy to all of you.  Love from up here.

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Dateline Rileyville Virginia. First weekly letter written from here.
Maybe the last.

But not because we don't like it. We love it. Annie and Sankar found a
place overlooking the Shenandoah River, just a short drive from the
park. And we converged on them for Thanksgiving. And they're great
hosts, allowing us to totally disrupt their home and routine. I think
their kitties (Peta and Puli) may have been even more discombobulated.
Margaret, Andrew and Simon left their bubble in DC to join us, and Joe
and Leonor joined us via Zoom.

Here's a Thanksgiving quiz, with help from super sleuthing and social
media. At least two Dickson families did take-out, and another ate
outside. One had ham and another had lamb. More had turkey, but one
isolated dinner opted for turkey breast. One had chocolate cream pie.
Did anyone have frozen fruit salad? Or shop online? How many went to
a distillery? A new tradition? (We did, but not actually on
Thanksgiving.)

One more new tradition here - not one football game. No one seemed to
mind. We did miss the dog show and the Macy's Day Parade.

Here, we did try out a number of new dishes as we expanded from the
usual offerings to incorporate some new vegan takes on squash, cakes,
rolls, and rice. It did mean twice as much food, but we more than
managed to make a dent on the first day, and the fridge was full of
leftovers for the remainder of the visit. And full disclosure, some
of the vegan dishes were better than their animal-based counterparts.

I bet we weren't alone in taking walks every day, or eating leftovers.
We did hike up on Saturday to Mary's Rock in the Shenandoah Park. It
was hard, and it helped us burn off at least one piece of pecan pie.

A word about Simon. A cutie, but we're biased. Easy and rewarding to
get him to smile and/or laugh. I gave him the nickname "last man
standing" since he wore out six adults, but only kind of. He's a 15
minute kind of a guy, and will let you know when he's ready to move on
to the next activity. Did I mention he was teething? Still, so much
fun.

And a word about this part of the country. We had to be patient and
look hard, but we did eventually see one Biden-Harris sign. Not too
many masks either.

Sunday, we headed over to DC for Simon's christening, joined by Jeff
the godfather and Melodie. Annie's the godmother. Andrew's parents
came down to join us. And Simon wore a christening outfit that Mary
wore, passed on to Joe, Margaret and Annie. Now to a third generation.
Then we retreated to Andrew and Margaret's for a distanced outdoor
celebration that included opening a bottle of port from the Douro
Valley, 2016 edition.

Down in Brazil, Leonor started a new tradition, a Thanksgiving tree,
with leaves reading what we're thankful for. And that's all of you,
even if you're far away.

Love from down here

Stay safe

Today, we finished winterizing the homestead. Porch furniture in the garage attic, wood pile and kindling buckets stocked, picnic table and Adirondack chairs put away.  We did this the day after talking to Margaret and hearing they are still getting tomatoes from their garden.  I know, we chose to live here.

Yesterday, on a short walk over to the lake, I saw a neighbor who I hadn't seen in almost a year. I asked how he was holding up, and he answered, "Better than last week."  I wondered what had happened and then it dawned on me he was talking about the election.  Hard to believe it was just last week.  Seems like a lifetime ago.

Mr. Coronavirus is putting a kink in our plans.  We have reverted to isolation and quasi-lockdown, with a little instigation from children and our mayor.  We had been hoping to head south for Thanksgiving, and that is still our plan at this moment.  We thought we'd schedule a test, and contrary to what we've heard all summer long about anyone being able to get a test, we had a heck of a time trying to get one.  It ain't cheap either.  But it could be worse.  Stay safe out there everyone.

One reason to go south is to visit Annie and Sankar in their new digs, in a small town in Virginia, Rileyville.  They sent photos of their view, and as you can imagine since they're so close to the Shenandoah Mountains, it's pretty spectacular.  Did I mention they have a guest bedroom?  We talked to them, and they are in the process of unpacking and trying to work from home at the same time.

The other reason is to attend Simon's baptism, scheduled for the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  Speaking of Simon, Andrew has a new job – with NIH, taking advantage of his graduate work in public health. So far, after one week, he likes the change of pace.

The other Andrew out in Illinois passed along I think the photo of the year, of Elliot having leaf fun. Surely there's a magazine out there that will want this one.  Bill and Jen have closed on their house in Dundee and are doing some work on it before moving in.  Andrew passed along a story that had Auden going to the hospital to get a plastic bead removed from her ear.  Sounded a little frightening.

Meanwhile, down in the southern hemisphere, Joe and Leonor and the boys are enjoying warmer weather, swimming outside, as they move into the warm, rainy season.   

We talked to John and Marilyn, and after reviewing the election and mask-wearing (or not, in Florida, it seems, except for J & M), we exchanged recommendations on Netflix and other shows.  Queen's Gambit was ours, and we're now watching one called Messiah.

Last letter, I mentioned that I picked up again on my scanning old weekly letter project.  Here's one item (out of many)  I got a kick out of and thought I'd share to see if anyone remembered this from 1986: "I then stopped in Marlborough to pick up Matthew and Jeffrey for a visit here.  On the drive home, I heard a whispering conversation and finally asked what was going on.  What was going on was a discovery by Jeffrey that 'Pop has hair in his ears.'" 

Grandma's blocks on the cupboard now read "John Tech Hero."  I bought a new printer and then spent a few hours on the phone with HP support to get the wireless feature working for Mary's computer.  Thus, the pat on the back.

Other than that, we've had the occasional Zoom meetings and phone calls and just happy to hear from people.  These are tough times, and they don't look like they're going to get better. The other night we heard on the news a Yale professor who said we won't be back to normal until the end of 2022. Even discounting for his error in choosing Yale, we still didn't feel like doing all this for another year, another month, another week.  But, as I said before, it could be a lot worse.

And with that, hope you all are holding up.  Love from up north.

Halloween!

Halloween!  Halloween!  Our first Halloween in Mexico, we opened the door to the perimeter security wall to kids (and their parents) screaming "Halloween!  Halloween!"  We made the mistake of letting them choose what they wanted from the basket of candy, and we ran out after about 15 minutes.  No surprise, especially when we looked out on to the street and saw busses lined up in the residential neighborhood with families getting out to shake down any house for free food.  I guess some things just don't translate. 

Anyway, Happy Halloween.  And, with everything else, this year will be different, except for the fact that we have not had one trick-or-treater ever, and I'm pretty sure we'll keep our record intact.  It doesn't stop us from buying candy though, just in case.  Just in case we want to gorge out a little tomorrow.  Nothing like a sugar high, even for seniors.

On second thought, this year we may just have a couple of tricksters, as Annie and Sankar are coming up for dinner. They are packing out, and ready to move down to Virginia this week. Just in time since they're not too crazy about cold weather – it snowed here on Friday.  I should mention that we joined them for a pumpkin tour of Naumkeag, a house museum with beautiful gardens in Stockbridge.

Halloween elsewhere? Check out these few photos here of the next generation vainly trying to make things seem normal.  Simon was a hot dog, and it looks like Matthew is in full holiday mood with Donald and Everett having Halloween cupcakes. 

Down in Brazil, they're trying to let Halloween sneak by.  Hasn't really hit that far south yet.  Thomas started back up at school this week, following a two-week quarantine since they returned from Portugal.  Baby John is eating solids, as is Simon, and both seem ecstatic about all the new tastes from the photos.

We had a wonderful long weekend down in DC, with Margaret, Andrew and Simon, who is getting so big.  He's at a great age, sitting up, sleeping well and laughing on cue. 

Illinois Andrew sent a few pictures of Billy's children, who are getting so big. Myles is in 4^th grade – can it be?  Auden second and Elliot in pre-K.  They by the way will moving into their new house in Dundee this coming week.  Lur's parents continue to struggle. 

Speaking of packing out, Timmy left Pittsfield for a new adventure out in Washington state.  He pulled out of here one early, cold morning with a very full pick-up truck. We checked in with him through the week and one night caught him stranded in a ditch in Montana, having hit some black ice.  A tow and two new tires later, he was on his way. His birthday is coming up.  Happy birthday Tim!

And there were a few others.  Billy, Claire, Kathleen.  Happy birthdays!

We officially left fall this week, with the closing of Arrowhead (no more tours) and the end of my Pilgrim class (phew.)  What to do?  Plenty of projects have been awaiting, including, I hope, back to scanning the old, original Pops Weekly Letters.

We hear Peter is in the middle of Zoom trial.  That must be weird, and difficult. 

We've been trying out a new diet around here, since Mary had her heart operation and wants to get cholesterol and other numbers down a little.  Meat, dairy, sugar and alcohol are on a "rare to never" list. Some of it is even rubbing off on me.

Did someone say elections? We don't see many ads up here, but then again, we don't have television, except for streaming. Not too many lawn signs either.  A quick geographic tour of the family leads me to believer the same is true for most of you, with the exception of Claire in Michigan, and John and Marilyn in Florida.    

And with that, we'll sign off with wishes for your health and happiness.  Love from up here.

 

 

 

 

Hoodwinked

How many times has hoodwinked appeared in a weekly letter?  Read on.

What is about a sunny, warm day in October that beats any day the rest of the year?  Probably the light filtering through the yellow leaves on the beech trees.  Or the crunch of the leaves under your feet.  For some reason, today on my walk through the woods, that noise sent me off thinking of Cunningham Road, retracing the steps to the path that shot off from the Kites' driveway and snaked around to a lookout over Camp Denison.  Funny how memory works.

It is hard to imagine that just a few weeks ago, Mary was swimming in the lake, and we were taking our kayaks out there. Not so, now.  We have moved back to the wait until next year phase.  Even had a few fires in the fireplace.

Big news for us this week was Leonor's safe return to Brazil, after a couple of months away. She had to wait until everyone had a negative Covid test, after Thomas had tested positive last time around. It must have been a false positive, since she, baby John and everyone in her family tested negative.  And then, a couple of days before they left Portugal, Thomas was negative as well.  One good thing that came out of it is that Thomas thinks he's a superhero name Corona-boy.  Anyway, glad that everyone's home, safe and healthy.  With a story they will tell well into their 90s.

Tomorrow, Mary and I head to DC for a weekend with Margaret, Andrew and Simon. Simon just passed his six months, and is moving into the solid food discovery phase.  He's not so sure about some of the foods, and his facial expressions are so, well, expressive.  Anyway, looking forward to the visit.

Annie and Sankar are winding down their Berkshires stay.  They have found their next adventure, near Laurel Canyon in Virginia.  They have a nice rental, with, dare I let the cat out of the bag, a spare bedroom!  They came up a couple of times this weekend, after hiking up Mt. Greylock and then joining us for a fajita dinner with Pittsfield folks.

I admit to being a bit of late arrival, and it's only recently that I began to understand a new term – influencer.  For me, since I am on Twitter, quite frequently, I admit to being influenced by Johanna, Jeffrey, and occasionally Annie – three of the five people I follow on Twitter.  They pretty much keep me up on everything I need – national politics, local DC politics and overall angst in the air.

Speaking of angst, we here in the Berkshires made national news when a local farmer put up a Biden Harris sign using hay bales in their field.  Apparently, this political sign offended a local resident that he decided it was appropriate to burn it down, unaware of nearby propane tanks.  Fortunately, the propane was spared, and in our quiet way, we reenacted the scene with Grandma's blocks. (Above photo.) I think she would approve.

One thing for certain about this electoral season – I will be glad when it's over no matter who wins.  I will stop getting so many emails and text messages asking for money.  Relentless.

We had some foundation work, and there's a story there that you will have to ask Mary about.  Let's just say that I got hoodwinked.

Andrew surprised me with this photo, also above, one day.  Took me a minute to figure it out, thrown off because it was the baseball playoffs and it looked like he could be relief pitcher on any of the major league teams. 

Looking over Pop's Weekly Letter, I am struck by how many times Pop mentions getting a haircut.  So, in that tradition, both Mary and I got haircuts since the last letter.  And, for me at this late stage in my life, it was the first time I had my hair cut by an African American barber.  Not really worth a mention, except that I wondered why it took so long.

What's in your Netflix queue?  We have been watching and recommend a British crime show called Broadchurch.  Besides being quite good, it reinforces my belief that there are only five actors in the UK.  One of the leads was Queen Elizabeth in the Crown; Phoebe whatshername from Fleabag and a few others.

So, what's new with you?  Birthdays, yes.  Happy birthday, Janet, and Auden.  Happy anniversary Sean and Erin.

That's it from up here, love and stay safe.

 

Autumn leaves

Today is Johanna's birthday.  I remember many weekly letters where Pop tells the story of a fishing trip in the Adirondacks with David when they heard the news of her birth, and headed home.  Happy day,  birthday girl!

It's official.  Fall is here.  And so far, it is glorious.  Certainly better than California. But, we're not gloating here; in fact, feeling pretty bad for friends out west, and we've spoken to a number of them.

Fortunately, Annie is not there, at the moment.  She extended her stay here in the Berkshires for another month, and has found a new place in Virginia for a few months. Neither she nor Sankar have to be physically at work for a while, so they're footloose and nomadic and taking advantage of the opportunity to check out places to live, far and wide.

They came over for brunch and a hike recently to Pittsfield State Forest, a wonderful benefit for having them close by.  They also have been checking on their radishes, kohlrabi and spinach they planted in the garden.

Speaking of the garden, does anyone need plum tomatoes?  I think we planted too many.  Pretty much everything else is gone, though we did plant some fall lettuce which is almost ready to be harvested.

For various reasons, Leonor is staying in Portugal for a little longer, but hopes to rejoin Joe in Brazil soon. We see a lot of photos of the beach, and I'm sure Joe wishes he were there too. She applied for a job at the Embassy there and got it, so she's now going through all the lengthy clearance procedures.  Here's one form – list every foreigner you've had contact with for the past 5 years.  It'll take some time.

Simon had his 6-month birthday recently – hard to believe. He's at day care and is now sitting up.  Margaret and Andrew are back at work, and like many young parents, balancing all those competing demands. 

Mary's brother Timmy flew out and back from Portland to check on potential places to rent; he found one and is planning on moving out there in a few weeks.

While he was there, Mary and I headed east for a weekend with foreign service friends in Exeter NH.  These were the two couples that we hiked the Camino de Santiago last year.  So, we relived those days without masks by taking walks around that lovely town and along the beach, with masks.

Lest I forget, Paula also had a birthday which included a visit with their grandchildren.  We see pictures of Donald and Everett in their respective school/day care sites. 

This letter's photos include one of Peter and Janet's house, recently painted by Sean and Erin (looks fantastic!), Claire at an outdoor restaurant (check out the disinfectant wipes) and Mary swimming in the lake with her wetsuit. We've had our first frosts, but she's out there a few days each week. 

As she heads out to the cold water, I am lying in bed, reading the on-line paper, or books on the Pilgrims for the class I'm teaching now, or fretting about my tours at the Herman Melville home. 

Tough life, but we all continue to be affected by this #%**!* virus and pray that you all are safe and healthy.

There, I got through the letter without even mentioning the debate the other night.

Love from up here.  

September, I'll Remember

Just about every month about this time, Mary and I look at each other and say, "I can't believe we're half way through……September."  The days, even in the era of Covid, go by quickly.  The weather sure feels like it though.  Cool nights, down in the 30s, and crisp, sunny days.  Still need the rain as the Mayor has instituted conservation guidelines for water.  It doesn't matter as much for our garden as it's days of production are largely over.  We have large bowls of plum tomatoes that we need to get the canning equipment out soon.

Mary continues to swim in the lake, though, venturing out the other morning when it was 39 degrees.  She insists the water is warmer and loves it. The bed, under the comforter, is even warmer.

Our Covid isolation days are slippng a little.  We spent a few days in the Northeast Kingdom.  Don't know where that is?  Northern Vermont, near the Canadian border.  We were with two public health friends, Charlie and Annie, who wore masks in the house.  And, we certainly did not come into contact with anyone up there. 

We even took an old people's day trip over to Plymouth to check out the living museum there.  I am going to be teaching a course on the 400^th anniversary of the Pilgrim landing this fall, so I thought I better get some background information.  It was very helpful and also nice to do something like we used to be able to do, even though everyone, including the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags were just slightly out of costume.  Did they have surgical masks in 1620?  One other sign of the times: the place used to be called Plimoth Plantation. This summer they changed the name to Plimoth-Patuxet. 

This week, Cliff and Sheila, our other socially isolated friends from Maine, have stopped in for a visit.  We have done some retiree outings, including to have lunch with Annie and Sankar, a trip to a local distillery to taste some gin and whiskey, and a few hikes.  Another sign of the times. The distillery is selling its own brand of hand sanitizer. I got some, along with a bottle of American whiskey.  Annie and Sankar had just come back from a weekend at the beach in Gloucester.

And, we had a visit from Gerry and Dennis, from Virginia, but they actually followed the rules and got tested before setting foot in our great state.

We talked to David and Paula, and they were finishing up some house projects, not the glamorous kind but painting bathrooms and foundation work.  They were expecting to see Matthew and Tina and the boys, one of whom starts school this week.  We also heard from Andrew who passed along his late summer Covid reflections listed below.  They continue to be in the throes of caring for Lur's parents.

Down in Florida, John and Marilyn continue to be well, hunkered down.  They said that Brian has started a new job and Sage is starting her senior year in high school…..in front of a computer.   

Over in Portugal, Leonor continues to be surrounded by family and friends, all willing helpers with two little boys, who seem to be having the time of their lives.  They will be heading back to Brazil before the end of the month.  Joe has been able to catch up on reading and running.  Must be lonely.

And back to DC, Margaret and Andrew had the unfortunate discovery of a flooded basement after a torrential rainstorm, and they had the unhappy task of mopping and shop-vaccing up the basement that they just refinished.  It sounds like nothing was ruined, luckily.

September is a season of travel.  Sean and Erin are back east, as evidenced by this photo.  Claire has returned to school, a bit warily and rightly so.  Colleen has moved from Pittsfield to Long Island, got a new job and a new house.  She doesn't waste time.  Billy and Jen have bought a house in Dundee so they will be moving soon, back closer to Andrew and Lur.  We see Janet is also back at school.  And Timmy is days away from his move back out west, this time to the state of Washington, far from the fires. 

And, here are Andrew's reflections:

" Some deep thoughts from this week. Too much free time?

-Wow! Update on the Carleton library children's book selection. Huge selection, no doubt courtesy of the Dickson boys. Good job, guys!

-You know fall is near for when you let the cat out, everything but the tail goes out.

-Your car gets three weeks to the gallon.

-Newspaper cartoons aren't funny anymore.

-I got two issues of the New Yorker in one day. Hmmm.

-Got a letter from Lawrenceville announcing they got hacked. Oh no, the Russians will find out how I did in French. I still blame it on Mr. Megna.

-Biggest challenge of the week: Reading labels at the grocery store with my glasses fogged up. Love my mask!

-Anybody want tomatoes?

-You know your dog is getting old when you are waking him up."

And with that, our love from up here. Stay healthy.