July is flying by

Lots of news in the first weeks of full-on summer, but the arrival of the Brazil folks tops the report this week.  Joe came back for a week of work in Washington and then met up with Leonor and the boys a week later io Newark to drive them up to ….. Pittsfield!  I think the trip highlight was a tour of the cockpit that Thomas managed to charm out of the pilot. 

Joe stayed with Margaret and Andrew in DC and met for the first time his nephew, and Jeff and Melodie came over for an evening get-together.  At some point along the way, Simon got to meet their dog and there are precious photos of Simon with Hopper.

We packed it in this week.  There was baseball, swimming, 'man overboard' in the hammock, cake making, trip to a farm and ice cream, story time, throwing rocks, baby pool splashing, tractor driving, napping, of course, and shopping.  It was almost a washout as the first few days were full of heavy downpours.  We even had to turn the heat on for basement sleeping. Then the sun came out, just like at Camp Granada.

The shopping part reminded us of when we used to come home and help the local economy by loading up on items we couldn't find or were just too expensive.  Let's just say that I hope you all own Apple stock.

Out in Illinois, Andrew and Lur got back from a glorious, relaxing week at Green Lake, where they met up with a former Ripon professor.  Claire joined them for a couple of days, and then again for Andrew's birthday.  She is spending her summer on macrame projects.  Her roommate is moving out, but rather than seek a new place herself, she is content to keep her current abode for the time being.

Speaking of moving, I saw on some social media platform that Johanna is moving, this time to a Harlem address.  Correct?  I have been known to get social media posts wrong, as I congratulated Janet on her retirement when in fact she was commenting on a colleague retiring.  Now I know how some fake news gets started.  Right here on my keyboard. 

Also, I am wondering if I ever mentioned that Johanna will be starting a masters degree program at Northwestern in the fall, in communications.  Congrats.

Speaking of courses, Annie has started a leadership training/coaching class which will take up several weekends over the next few months.  She also celebrated her birthday, and we did as well, with a Zoom call, and then a birthday cake here, made by Mary and Thomas.  Annie and Sankar had a fun weekend camping in Tennessee.

There were a couple of birthdays coming up – Mary, Everett and Thomas.  We have celebrated those in the Poconos in the past, and hopefully in the future again.  Speaking of which, this was the weekend we would have been in the Poconos.  I checked the weather there today, and it calls for rain tonight.

More on the travel front, John and Marilyn took a road trip to Tennessee and ran into the crowds eager to get out from pandemic, that we have all been hearing about. They had to cut short their vacation.

We ran into the same crowds in Boston when Mary had her one year follow up medical visits.  All is well.

Other excitement this week had to do with championship soccer in Europe and South America.  What a way to end a game – penalty shots.  It just doesn't seem right.

Today, we are all packing up and heading for a week at the Jersey shore, down by Atlantic city.  We'll be able to see what drew Uncle Bob and Aunt Ruth there for so many years.  Forecast has no rain.

Hope you all are well, love from up here.

Summer days

The beginning of summer, and already we worry about its end.  The days are getting shorter, but ever so imperceptibly (now that's a big word; too much reading Melville).  The days are certainly getting hotter, and we have moved down into the basement for our cool sleeping quarters.  We call it our summer palace, a la Dr. Zhivago.

Still, there's a lot to report.  Where to start? 

The garden.  It's the year of the strawberry.  And the rose.  But not the asparagus.  We've had some lettuce harvests and radishes.  It could also be the year of the deer.  We have seen a doe and two small fawns in the yard, and a young buck, with just the beginnings of antlers.  Did you send them up here, Peter?  Have they finished eating everything down in NJ?  You can have them back, as they have started eating the peach tree, the apple tree, the blueberries, the hastas, etc.  Go back!  So, there's a run on netting at the hardware store that seems to be slowing down the devastation.

We had our first visitor in a while.  Genuine visitor.  And we did visitor-type things with our friend Monette from DC.   The Clark, the Red Lion Inn, dinner on the lake, hiking and turtle sitting.  That's right.  We are taking care of Harris the box turtle over at the Locherys while their owners are away for a few weeks.  It's good material for some laughs, like taking Harris for a walk.  I actually don't remember holding, or even seeing, a box turtle for years.  Mary thinks Harris likes her.  No kidding.

Big news in DC – Simon is taking steps.  Pretty soon, he'll be going to the Olympic tryouts.  With his mother who has delighted her mother by starting to swim again. Over in Asheville, Annie had taken an art workshop over the weekend.  She and Sankar have decided, or their workplaces decided for them, that they will be heading back to California, by summer's end,  at least for a while.

Down in Brazil, the whole gang, along with Leonor's parents, had a weekend at a nearby resort with a water park.  The pictures showed long, fun days, followed by exhausted boys collapsed in their beds. And, tomorrow is Leonor's birthday!  (Same day as Gramps – Grandma's father.)  Feliz aniversario!  We're looking forward to their visit back to the U.S., before the next weekly letter.

Some items off Facebook, include pictures of Johanna with tatoos!  Did you get your parents' permission? How can I not post that photo?   And, we say pictures of Donald on a bike and in a kayak!

A bit of sad news down in DC is that Jeff and Melodie had to put down their cat.  It's been a bad string of loss of pets in the family.  So sorry.

Out west, Andrew and Lur are up in Green Lake, as of this writing.  They missed out last year, but they're back.  We understand Claire will join them for a few days.  They will celebrate their 30^th wedding anniversary this coming week.  How's that for timing – within the space of a year David and Paula had their 50^th, Andrew and Lur their 30^th, and Mary and I had our 40^th. 

More good news.  My box of saved weekly letters is all digitized.  But there's bad news in that when I started saving the letters, I was saving the stamps, not the missives, so I have many empty envelopes from the early years.  I also realized that I never saved letters when I was physically at home.  Pop would leave them on the kitchen table, next to a job list, and whoever was home would share reading that copy.  The end result – I'm missing many letters, but I understand some guy out in Illinois has binders full of letters.

Anyway, here's one entry from one of the earliest letters I found (1971) –

"Dear Wonderful Workers,

I'm only kidding, as you know, for you really didn't work during your visits home, except to saw wood, creosote, trees, steam wallpaper, rake leaves, wash dishes, iron sheets, clean ponds, move logs, etc.  But it was simply great to hear your laughter, wild music, late snoring and all those other great sounds of a busy home." 

And with that, see you all in the Poconos. (Next year.)  Love from up here.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roller coaster

Some highs and lows in June, so far.  We were saddened to hear that Lur's father passed away.  He had been in physical and mental decline for some time and required continual care, but we understand his final days were markedly different.  No matter how much you prepare for this eventuality, the departure still comes as a shock.  Claire, Daniel and Billy came home for the service, where the minister mentioned his work as a carpenter, a biblical profession.  Lur's mother, with her own issues, seems to be aware she's missing her life partner.  Very tough for all involved.

Over in Rochester, it was a different life commemoration, this one for 50 years of marriage for David and Paula.  5-0!  Wow!  Seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Grandma and Pop's 50^th in Princeton.  How does time pass so quickly?  That said, I do remember the wedding, beautiful in so many respects, traditional and a model for those that followed, but hard to match.  One thing did not get repeated - Pop's near meltdown over David and Paula's lingering to enjoy their party with their friends.  No word on the nature of the celebration in Fairport yet (photos??), but we saw Jeff and Melodie made their way up from the nation's capital, and it's a safe bet that Matthew and Tina came over as well.

We are coming off a week with Simon.  Enjoyable, funny, predictable, growing, learning, unpredictable, tiring – so much wrapped into one full week.  Margaret and Andrew made the courageous drives up and back, and paid the price of a little boy who didn't want to be in a car seat that long.  They set about trying to work from Hancock Road, with the inevitable interruptions, despite our (admittedly mostly Mary's) day caring.  We went on little outings, played in the pool, walked over to the lake, watched Simon scoot around each of the rooms in the house, looking back to make sure someone was on his tail.  He's standing and walking with support and crawling as fast as Carl Lewis.  Unfortunately, he got a cold on their return home, and has had to stay home while Margaret and Andrew try to work with a sick little boy.  I should add Simon had a couple of firsts - Shaker Village and a Pittsfield Suns baseball game.  It was also a first for Margaret and Andrew at Shaker Village.

Down in Brazil. Joe and Leonor had, by all accounts, a wonderful sejour in Rio, that seems to live up to its reputation.  All you have to do is hear the words Copacabana and Ipanema, and fun and sun and beaches and spectacular geography spring to mind.  Leonor's parents are down there and watched the boys back in Brasilia.

The news from Asheville was highlighted mostly by the sighting of a bear on Annie's street, just a ten-minute walk from the city center!  Yikes. 

One more piece of sad news from Dundee was Andrew and Lur had to put down their dog, Willie.  This followed the loss of their cat a few weeks ago.

In the eastern part of this commonwealth, Kara's daughter Sage graduated from high school and the John Boyle family congregated for the occasion.  Sage is off to Berklee Conservatory in the fall.  A talented musician/guitarist/singer.

Here, we're inching back to normal lives.  At church on Sunday, the hymnals were back in the pews, and they even took collection.  We're playing bridge, in person, with no masks. We even went to a Tom Rush concert, albeit outdoors under a tent.  Did I mention we washed the windows?  Does that even count?  Yes, because for some reason, the windows didn't get dirty during the year of Covid.

And, from the archives – on June 10, 2021, the letter that was at the top of the pile for scanning was from June 10, 1974.  And what was happening forty-six years ago, three years after David and Paula's wedding?  "It was so great to have everyone in Princeton, and your father deeply appreciates the effort that all of you made to come to the 25th. I know it was loads more fun for Pop than it was for you. I'll come to your 25th."

Love from up here.  Welcome summer!

Memorial Day

The gardening columnist in the Berkshire Eagle (yes, they have one) last week warned his readers not to transplant seedlings before June 1, despite the warm weather.  It was already too late by the time I read it.  The voice in my head responded that may have been true 10 years ago, but not now with climate change.  Well, guess what?  Temps went down into the 30s this week, but luckily no frost, so far.  Plants are struggling.  But the heat is back on, we fired up the fireplace last night, and probably again tonight.

The good news is that the cold came with badly needed rain, so everything is looking wonderfully green again.  We're almost finished with our May projects of compost and mulch and weeding.  We have even had a couple of harvests, from the disappointingly meager asparagus corner and one spinach plant that I think Annie and Sankar planted and has sprung alive this year.

Birthdays, though, are the big news, not cold weather.  Happy days to Matthew and to Joao-John.  From photos on Facebook and Tiny Beans, their days looked as if they were passed in grand, happy style.  
And Matthew's birthday is forever linked to Peter and Janet's anniversary, which in turn calls up one of the greatest photos in family history.  Happy anniversary.

And, I guess, there's another birthday of sorts, at least above ground.  The cicadas are back, in DC, in NC and NJ, too?   Andrew S. passed along a few photos worthy of science.  

In Brazil, Leonor's mother and step-dad arrived for a long delayed trip.  That means that Thomas and Joao-John are sharing a bedroom now, with mixed results, that look cute from here, but, with sleepless nights there, maybe not so cute.  I think I forgot to mention that Leonor started her job at the Embassy, in the same public diplomacy section that I worked in, headed up by a guy who I worked with in Mexico City.

Down in DC, Simon has been struggling through a few days at home with fever, coupled with the heat and the cicadas make for some uncomfortable days.  We spoke with Annie a couple of times, and she is back to work and dreaming a little of future plans.  She also sent photos of a bear wandering through her downtown neighborhood in Asheville.

David called, and the topics barely got beyond baseball (the miserable Reds) and lacrosse, before Mary pulled in the garage, just back from the dentist with news of her broken tooth.  He pulled it out, and she is bracing for an implant in the near future, but calls herself Snagglepuss for the moment.

Last night, Ms. Snagglepuss made a toast to our post-COVID world, which I hope isn't a jinx.  It's so refreshing to see long lines of cars at traffic lights and go out to eat, which we did this week, indoors and all.  In fact, we are about to head off for church, for the first time without masks or on Zoom since March last year.  

 
And speaking of no masks, we see Jeffrey and Melodie have been venturing out to baseball games, probably wearing masks, and perhaps even seeing the Nats play the Reds.  But still, baseball, in person.
And, here's another story from old weekly letters.  Perhaps too long.  This week, I came across a handwritten letter from Pop, from the ICU, from June 17, 1977.  It read, in part, "I drove down to the City on Thursday for a 10 AM meeting with Mr. Rahr of the Alumni Council.  About 10:30 I began to feel weak and have chest pains, and by 11:00 AM, after a wild ambulance ride from the Princeton Club, I was in a room with nurses and doctors swarming all over me.  And the head doctor was Princeton '60 – and you can't beat that can you?"  On the back of the letter was another note that read: "This is the letter we sent you in June!  It was just returned."  Another letter, dated August, spoke of a phone call from Libreville, where, upon my return from a lengthy tour of West Africa, I finally got a number of letters, all mentioning how much better Pop was feeling, with no reference to an "event."  So, I called to find out what happened, and it was then we figured out that I had not received the first letter from the NY Hospital ICU.

 
I kinda feel sad for next generations who will never have such a tale, since a) no one writes letters any more and b) while mail still gets lost, such important news travels instantly, to even the remotest places.  Two years ago, I was in a remote corner of Gabon, when Mary called me on WhatsApp to ask me how to work the remote on the TV.

With that, wishing everyone a happy day off on a day of solemn remembrance.  Love from up here.  

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,