Grins and pride

Let's start this letter with three cheers for mothers!  A week late, but maybe it should be mothers' month instead of a day.  We did a Zoom mother's call, and of the four frames on the screen, two were quiet and civilized; the other two seemed a little hectic, trying to keep up with one-year-olds.  Pretty amazing how fast they can move. And fall.  One of the photos here is of Thomas with a cast after he hurt his leg (no breaks) falling off a jungle gym awkwardly.

And next, we'll shout out birthday greetings to Sean and Elliot.  How great are May birthdays?  Hope your days were special.

Speaking of birthdays, I came across a social security report for the top names of 2020 – for girls, it was Olivia, Emma and Ava and for boys it was Joey Votto, Johnny Bench and Tom Brady.  What!  Didn't fool you?  OK, for boys, it was Liam, Noah and Oliver.  No Simon or Joao/John, but there was a James (number 5).  And we did check the box with Oliver, slightly ahead of his time.

We were home on Mother's Day, but only by a day or two, following our week-long trip to parts south – Washington and Asheville.  It was great to get in a car and drive without worries, but even greater to get to our destinations and see everyone – Margaret, Andrew, Simon, Annie, Sankar.  Pleased to report that everyone is healthy – Annie and Sankar got their second shot while we were there, as did Andrew.  Did I hear Mel Gibson shout "Freedom?"

I certainly felt positively giddy with the maskless news this week, and a little awkward on my walk, not having to step aside when people passed by or mask up.  And the signs of a return are certainly evident on the road, as we sat in our first, genuine parking-lot traffic jam in Delaware in over a year.  It was almost fun. 

Asheville is nice, and I know a few of you have already experienced its charms.  Annie took us to the Biltmore, which makes Cunningham Road look like a shed.  The gardens were magnificent, and we had a great day for the visit, after a day of rain which saw us wander around the shops downtown.  I think Annie and Sankar like it so much, we heard them dream a little about real estate. 

Signs of spring around here and the coming season means jobs.  May is job month – started cutting grass, Mary is raking the beds, I rototilled the garden, and this week our dump truck of compost arrives.  Our own small compost pile gave me four wheelbarrows full of black stuff, but that's not enough to feed everything else.  And, we set up our new hammock, so if you hear screaming from up here, it's Mary and me wrestling for naptimes outside.

Food was a topic of our conversations, with grilled fish out in Illinois, Joe taking on grilling fish covered in salt (not sure I have that right), Annie making falafel (delicious), and our annual Mother's Day steak dinner here.  And, of course, we shared wonderful food stories and pictures of Simon and Baby John trying out different delicacies, wearing and dropping more perhaps than the amounts actually entering their mouths.

My weekly letter project has me jumping around the years 77, 78 and 79.  Reliving these momentous years, with big changes (first year at Pomfret with weekly visits by David and Paula, Peter's clerkship, Andrew's graduation from Ripon, first mention of Mary), a heart attack and then, sadly Ann's demise.    Here's a selection about attendance at the Ripon graduation:  "But the highlights were the comments about Andrew!  The stern and old fashioned Dean of the College said that Andrew was "a fine, decent, friendly gentleman": and he obviously meant it.  Andrew's History advisor normally has a reception at his home one evening for his history seniors, but this year asked only Mom and I to join Andrew for a visit after one of the concerts.  And the President had some great words about Andrew's soccer and lacrosse exploits.  Now can you imagine our grins and pride?"

And, of course, we all know now the feelings of grins and pride that children bring, at all ages.

Love you all! 

May day

May day.  May day.  May day.  Happy birthday Elliot (yesterday.)

We are on location, in our nation's capital.  I am here, interviewing for a position …. as grandfather. In the Simon administration. 

We are taking a week-long trip – and it feels positively wonderful.  Almost normal.  Even the traffic, unfortunately.  We have hit traffic jams and heavy volumes here and on the way. Still, it's nice to feel safe and secure, pulling into a rest stop.  It's real nice to be on the road again, and looking forward to going back to the future and travels.  Hope the recovery holds. 

We see more family members vaccinated – Johanna, now, and Margaret and Andrew getting their second shot coming up.  Joe and Leonor had their second shot down in Brazil.  Phew.  Sounds bad down there, but we have to remember, it actually was worse here.  The news down there is Leonor has started her job at the Embassy.

And great news from Johanna, that is probably old news for everyone.  But worth repeating – Johanna will be starting graduate school in communications at Northwestern University in the fall.  Sounds like a lot of it will be hybrid, with quarterly visits to Chicago.  Hey, we know people in Chicago, too. 

We leave here Monday, and continue our road trip to Asheville NC, to check in on Annie and Sankar.  They've been there a month already (who knows where the time goes) and seem to be enjoying the area.  What's not to enjoy?  We've seen photos of them at the Vanderbilt home there, and other spots.  This past week, they played host to Melodie and Jeffrey, and the photo here is on a hike.  Probably to work up a thirst to head out to one of the dozens of breweries in town.  Or all of the breweries in town.

I noticed right away that Jeffrey shaved his relief pitcher beard.  You may also remember an earlier Covid photo from Chicago that showed Andrew with a beard.  Well, he also shaved, but it looks like he kept his moustache.  The very popular Wilfred Brimley look.

We had a nice visit from John and Marilyn, and we were able to celebrate Johnny's birthday with Colleen and her children and partners.  Again, everyone vaccinated, and it sure feels great to sit around a full dining room table again.  We even went out to the Hot Dog Ranch for their famous little weiners and tater tots.

The next weekend, two more visitors showed up – Foreign Service friends Jim and Kristin.  Both of them had major operations recently (shoulder and brain) and they are doing well.  Remarkable, this modern medicine.

Speaking of medicine, Mary has undertaken another round of ointment to remove pre-cancerous skin cells.  She did this once before in Mexico, and it is uncomfortable.  But it works, and the alternative is worse.  She'll be ready for a summer that promises to be almost back to normal as well.

I had a long conversation with David, with a trip down several memory lanes and family history.  I pass along here a copy of Grandpa Dickson's passport.  I had mentioned to my friend Jim that Pop's father had been a coffee broker.  A genealogy fanatic, Jim then looked all this up and came up with the passport that showed his travel to Brazil to buy coffee, and also some other tidbits, including on Grandpa Dickson's father (Robert), born in 1860 in Scotland, near Glasgow, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1880.  In 1890, he married another Scottish immigrant, Isabelle, a year after William Gordon was born.  William's siblings were George, Robert and Isabelle (Anibelle, who we knew best.) 

All this background on Scotland fits with the book on my reading shelf now, on Andrew Carnegie, who also came over, a few decades earlier, from Dunfermline. 

With those nuggets, let's welcome May and the beginning of summer!  Love from on the road.

April showers, ahem snowstorms

I knew it.  It was all a big fake-out – warmer temps, bike riding, green lawn, buds on trees, shorts, raking the mulch off the flowers.  We are expecting to get six inches of snow tonight and tomorrow.  I just hope the plow guy doesn't have to come – I've already spent two days of raking the gravel out of the lawn from the previous snow plows.  What happened to April showers?

John and Marilyn are supposed to show up here tomorrow, and I bet this snow is just confirmation for them that they made the right decision to relocate to Florida.  They came up because a) they've gotten their vaccines b) their daughter Heather just bought a new house and c) they miss snow.  (Answer: a and b, but not c.)

We had a wonderful Easter, and I suspect you did as well.  Margaret and Andrew came up on Good Friday, just in time to see Annie and Sankar who were starting their trek south to Asheville. Sankar delayed his departure by one day since he was riding his motorcycle and he woke up on the day of his scheduled take-off to snow on the ground.  Shh – don't tell Grandma, except that Annie drove her car.

Simon was here with us for a whole week, and we had the pleasure of watching him during the day while Margaret and Andrew worked.  He's just on the cusp of walking and is working out on any number of baby toy walkers which play Rockin' Robin as motivation.  Now I know where Peloton got its ideas for its bike workouts.  And, as I say, the weather here was very nice, as it probably was chez vous as well.  It allowed for us to spend a lot of time outside with him, walking to the lake, and around the yard.  The sun was so bright I was even able to start brainwashing Simon with a Cincinnati Reds hat. 

We touched base with Brazil a few times, and all is well down there.  Leonor is starting a job next week at the Embassy, so their routines will shift a little, I mean a lot.  We've been watching Thomas on the drums and Baby Joao waving.

Oh, I almost forgot the biggest news.  Vaccines.  Joe, Leonor, Margaret, Annie and Sankar have all gotten their vaccines.  I think Andrew had an appointment, but not sure when.  Which reminds me that I forgot to mention in the last letter that Jeff and Melodie got their vaccines. Out in Illinois, Andrew got his first shot as well.

David and Paula have had theirs, and they celebrated with a crew over for Easter.  And, Oliver brought along his girlfriend.  At one point, that would have meant endless teasing in the Dickson household, but we're now much more mature than that.  NOT.  We also saw young Donald channeling his inner Beethoven at the piano.

Speaking of vaccines, we have decided to postpone our annual retreat to the Poconos for another year.  Even though many of us will be vaccinated, it seemed best to err on the side of caution, as this illness keeps surprising us. It does certainly look like it'll be a summer different than last year, even if it's not back to the same old whimsical, carefree, spontaneous happiness.  Sigh.

Speaking of happiness, I've been enjoying getting an inside peak at what Johanna does for work, from the client side.  You all have seen me brag about my book on history and foreign affairs that has just been released, published by University Press of Kansas.  They are making it look like a real book by a real author.  It's been kind of fun to see my daily ranking on books sold on Amazon.  At one point I came in at 585,647^th of all books sold.  I don't think that qualifies me for the New York Times bestseller lists. I should add that Amazon had me confused with another John Dickson, the Christian evangelist writer.  Maybe that's helped sales.  I promise I won't devote any more space in the weekly letter to that topic. 

And, before the next letter there will be a birthday celebration in NJ - happy big day Peter.

So, on that note, we are sending along our best wishes for your continued health and anything else that brings smiles to your faces.

Love from the frigid north, 

Robins

There they were, many of them.  Robins.  In our yard, and there was even some snow still.  We haven't seen them for a few days, so I'm not sure if they were just here for the weekend, like many New Yorkers, but they must have seen the prediction for snow later this week.

The big news last week was Simon's first birthday.  The year went by fast, and slow at the same time, according to his mother. Sounds about right, based on our experience.  Wait until he reaches 20!  We did a birthday zoom, and saw him crawling and pulling himself up and waving and clapping.  They're all coming up for Easter week.  Yippee.

There was another birthday party over in Fairport for David's big day.  It seems there was a big meal and a homemade cake with Matthew and Tina and the boys.  I did get the lowdown from David who was taking advantage of the break in the weather to enjoy some outdoor time on his porch.  I keep telling myself to take notes; I suspect Pop had a list – he always had a list.  The king of lists.

Out in the Midwest, Claire used her spring break to head south, not to Miami but to Dundee, and then off to Wisconsin to catch up with friends.  She has been teaching in-person this whole year, and now she's relieved a little since she has gotten her vaccine.

And our friends down in Brazil got their first shots.  Phew, especially as the news of the virus there sounds downright scary.  Joe also mentioned he is going to participate in a "Hot Ones" challenge.  (Google it.  Apparently, it's a new reality show, and quite possibly a new tradition for the Poconos, if and when we head back there for our family reunion.  Still to be decided.)

This week is moving week for Annie.  She and Sankar are packing up to head south for the next few months – Asheville, North Carolina.  We hear there are 52 breweries in that city.  Hmmm.

Here, we've passed our two weeks waiting period after our second shot and….. nothing.  No parties, no Miami or Cancun.  Just more of the same, and you know what those are: swimming, hiking, sewing, life-long learning classes.  We did go to Boston one day for a doctor's appointment, and we felt almost giddy taking a road trip.  Anticipation.

On the way to Boston, we also checked in with Daytona, and we're pleased to learn that both John and Marilyn have gotten their shots and are planning a trip north in a few weeks.  Their justification is to help Heather move to a new house, but they'll be checking in while up here.  Great.

Finally, in the either "I never knew," or the "I totally forgot" category, here's a March 29, 1982 Pop's original weekly letter excerpt: "Yesterday was my mother's birthday and sad to say I don't remember too much of those days, except that she was sick for a long time.  She had been a school teacher in a bad section of Brooklyn, and I remember her saying one day that one of her students had gone to the electric chair on that day.  Her father was a house painter (do you suppose that's where I got the painting passion?) and her grandfather was an iron worker brought here by John Erricson to work on the Monitor.  Her name was Florence Dorothea Holm and the old pictures show that she was a beauty." 

And a few more details for your great grandmother, gleaned from Ancestry – her father's name was Hjalmar, born in Sweden on February 5, 1857, which meant that his family would have immigrated when he was very young, if his father was to have worked on the Monitor.  Anyway, since we have a tradition of naming newborns after family members, I'm just throwing out Hjalmar as a possibility.

With those little nuggets, we wish you all a happy Easter.  Love from up here.

(Clipping above from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 9, 1921)

Spring Forward

Happy Daylight Savings Time!  It means we "spring forward" but it's actually snowing here and is supposed to go down to 8 degrees tonight.  That's right.  One digit.  But, this week it was up to 60 degrees one day, so there's hope.  And, we saw a picture of Washington with blossoms on the trees. 

 

In fact, it was a pretty hopeful week all around.  We got our second vaccines yesterday, an hour or so before Yo Yo Ma got his and so missed out on his impromptu cello concert for all the nurses and volunteers at the community college.  But we heard it made CNN!  We're famous.  Almost.  I wanted to go treat myself after the shot, but then I realized the shot was, in fact, the treat.  So far, not much bad reactions.

 

A lot of melting took place with the high temps this week, and we had small little lakes all over our yard.  But the basement is dry fortunately.

 

We decided after years of hemming and hawing to move forward with some renovations – mostly to carve out a bathroom and closet in our too-large master bedroom.  What convinced us to move ahead?  Part of it was the wonderful outdoor winter activities with no bath to soak in afterwards.  Part of it was the end of Covid and feeling comfortable with workers in the house.  And part of it was the record-breaking stock market.  Can't last forever.

 

We spoke to Vermont, Brazil and Washington several times. Annie and Sankar had been skiing a few times, but they're moving into their final two weeks up north. On to Asheville NC next. Brazil remains on tenderhooks because of the virus, and Joe and Leonor never know when they're going to shut everything down. And we see in both Brazil and Washington toddlers taking their first crawling movements and standing on their own.  Simon's going to be one year old coming up, right after David has his birthday.

 

A note on Mountain Springs/Poconos.  We hope to make a final decision in early April.  Talk about hemming and hawing.  One day, it doesn't look so good, and then a few days later, well, maybe.  Anyway, we'll let everyone know in a few weeks.

 

Anyone remember my quiz from last letter? "Which of the grandchildren are puppeteers?  Which are into ballet?  Who's been snowshoeing?"  Answers: Myles, Thomas and Elliot, and Donald.

 

Some sad news from Dundee.  Andrew and Lur had to put their cat down.  I can never remember whether the cat's name was Maynard or Tucker. A hunter and a character is what I do remember. He appeared in a recent weekly letter with his legs crossed. Update: I have just been informed that the cat's name was Murphy, after MRF and that stands for?

 

So, here's a weird coincidence.  As we finished one Netflix series, we turned to "All Creatures Great and Small" on PBS, and Mary remarked that we have become our parents, as the original series was one of Loretta's, and Mom and Pop's favorite shows.  Then, the weekly letter that I scanned today had this entry: "When Uncle Bob gave me a book on the Yorkshire vet of TV fame, he didn't realize that I would get out the maps and try to retrace some of the towns and places shown in such beautiful color. Nor did he suspect that I would come to the fine conclusion that Mom and I ought to try a trip to that fine land this fall. Probably just dreaming, but that can be fun, too." (May 4, 1981)

 

Even funnier, as we were watching the other night, I thought the countryside looked so beautiful, we should go to Yorkshire on a trip.  And, now that we have our second vaccine, we, too can dream a little. 

 

And, even funnier, the next weekly letter that I scanned was from April 27, 1981; it started out "Happy Daylight Savings Time.!"

 

And with that, love from up here.

 

Vaccines and other things

Tomorrow is March, and you know what that means.  Spring is around the corner.  We had a whiff of something that smelled like spring this week, even though the temperature was barely above freezing and there was a foot of snow on the ground.  Maybe it was the sun in a higher position in the sky.  Maybe it was in my head and wishful thinking.  I'm guessing the latter.

Still, we make the best of what's here, and we're convinced that this may have been the best winter ever, snow-wise.  At least for being outdoors.  Then I remind Mary, that in the past, this is the period when we take off for warmer climes, so we should really be saying that it's the only winter we've been here all the way through.

Snow, however, has not been the biggest news these last two weeks.  Vaccines are. Through the right circumstances, we were able to get our first vaccine, shortly after the Governor opened up to people over the age of 65.  Mary was able to hit the internet appointment scheme ahead of the bots, and we both got jabbed last Saturday.  It was very well organized, in the Berkshire Community College gymnasium.  I felt part of a movement - the parking lot was full, there was a line to get in the door, chairs set up across the gym, dozens of tables with a check-in person and a nurse to give the shot.  Waiting chairs for the 15 minute period afterwards, and then check-out at door on the other side of the gym.  My claim to fame was that the person checking me in where I got the shot was the president of Berkshire Community College, barely recognizable behind her mask, but her unmistakable Boston accent (and nametag) gave her away.  I could not thank them all enough.

News out of Brazil ain't so good.  Late Friday night, Joe and Leonor heard that the governor of the province of Brasilia just reinstated a total lockdown – no nursery school for Thomas, no parks to go play in, no nothing, nada.   They've been on a roller-coaster, especially since they had lifted all restrictions for months.

We hear Peter and Janet have gotten their first vaccine, after disappointing inaction for a while.  David and Paula have had their first shots, and Paula's scheduled to get her second shot soon.  Lur has already had her second shot, since her volunteer work at the hospital continues.  That just leaves the youn'un, Andrew. 

We talked to John and Marilyn, and they have gotten their first shots.  Temperatures were up in the 80s, so they have returned to the golf links for distanced recreation.   

State Department employees were supposed to get vaccines early, but Margaret said only for those people going into the offices for the moment.  We have seen Simon on Zoom, and he has moved to commando-style crawling – with his arms.  Very determined, and exhausted after the hard work.

Annie and Sankar had an eventful week, they'd just as soon forget, I imagine.  They got a call that their storage unit in San Francisco had flooded, so they hopped to right away.  Within a couple of days they were on their way west where they spent a week unpacking, drying out, cleaning up and re-storing things in a different unit.  Some things were ruined, and Annie was in the throes of applying for insurance reimbursement.

A quiz – which of the grandchildren are puppeteers?  Which are into ballet?  Who's been snowshoeing? (answer next letter)

Finally, in my project on Pop's Weekly Letters, I have started a new folder that has the years all mixed up, from 1977-1982.  Here are a few gems from my "chapter" on arts and letters, that stand the test of time, especially now as those of us cooped up are reading more:

Mom and I have been doing some "heavy" reading. At least, the books weigh a lot. She is reading Trinity and Pop is working on a Civil War book of some thousand pages. (09-18-78)

I also finished a spy book this week, and am frankly not too sure who won what. These spy stories, with their subplots and code names, are hard for my simple mind to follow. (12-10-78)

Mom finished Chesapeake and Pop finished Six Men, and am now working on a book about the Irish and English struggles in the late l500's. Those people could really fight.  (01-21-79)

And, on that note – love from up here:

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  What did you do today?  Eat chocolates?  Open a card?  Take a plane to Oakland?  Fix a dryer vent?

If you didn't do the latter, then you are really missing the whole point of St. Valentine's Day. 

We're down in DC with Margaret and Andrew (and SIMON), and among the many things that went wrong in their lives this past week, their dryer breaking was the last straw.  We hope.  More on all the other things later, but they bought a new dryer and then after hooking it up, they found out their vent was clogged.  I should add they still needed the new dryer.  Anyway, as you know, everything is on YouTube or Google, so Andrew ordered the snake/brush to clean out the dryer vent which winds through the basement ceiling about ten yards.  We may be half way there, but I suspect Andrew has a little more to do after we leave.

Long story, but, wait, there's more.  It has to do with their day care shutting down because a staff member tested positive for you know what.  Then Simon got sick with a high fever, and they spent more than a few hours in the emergency room.  His test, fortunately, came back negative, as did Margaret and Andrew's.  So we came down to help out, where we could.  He recovered, slowly through the week.

And there's still more.  Margaret has started a very strict, supervised diet to get at the root of her stomach issues.  So, while we all ate birthday cake and generally partook in all things festive to celebrate Lincoln's birthday, Margaret watched longingly.

And there's more.  We did a Zoom call with Brazil and Vermont, and all is well at those two weather extremes.  But Annie's storage area was in the way of a burst fire hydrant, so that flooded, and she and Sankar are on their way back to Oakland right now to assess the damage.  Thank goodness for USAA.

And let's hope that's it.  We drive home tomorrow, and expect bad weather, so we don't want any more stories.  I'll go for uneventful.  And my motto – "no hospitals."

There's been a lot of weather, from Chicago to NJ through Rochester.  We saw snow all the way down on the drive, a rarity.  We might have about two feet on the ground at home, and are expecting another 6-10 inches this week.  David said it's snowing a couple of inches almost every day.  In Dundee, Andrew can barely make it out to the grill.  Don't even compare Vermont – Annie said Sankar went skiing on Friday, and it was minus 20 or something at the top of the mountain.

There's no snow in Daytona, I'm pretty sure.  The news from there is that they had their first shot this week, and have their follow-up scheduled in March.  I kind of thought David and Paula would have had theirs, but they're weeks away probably.  David, by the way, is knee-deep in his senior housing project, which he has been selected to lead.

There's nothing but rain in Brazil it seems, as they're full on the rainy season.  Normally, they would also be full on Carnevale, but you can imagine even they have muted the festivities down there.  Not enough though to stop Thomas and John's day cares from having dress up parties.  Thomas went as Woody from Toy Story and John as a tiger.  I know someone who would be happy with the tiger choice.

We will also have a muted Mardi Gras up in Pittsfield.  Heading back to our routines of lifelong learning courses and winter sports, like shoveling.  And snowshoeing and x-country skiing. 

One other breaking news item.  You all will remember Susan Pratt, who joined us in the Poconos with her mother Janie and partner Fernando.  She just sent out a story that her son Harlin got published about playing chess in prison, inspired by The Queen's Gambit.  Here's the link: The Marshall Project.

So, wish us luck tomorrow on our drive back, and we wish you luck, good health and love in return.