Brrrr

The other day I heard on the radio that we're having the coldest month in the past 40 years.  I believe it.  It was -1 this morning, and last night with windchill temperatures it sunk to -20.  Those numbers sent us right to Amazon Prime to rent Dr. Zhivago.  And we made it through the whole movie without falling asleep.  It still holds up.

We have been busy, or I should say Mary has.  She's out right now doing her annual "hour swim" where the team members swim an hour and see how many laps they can do without stopping.  I wonder how many laps I can do in 6 minutes without stopping.  Okay, three minutes.

A lot of news from Dundee way, and not all of it good.  Lur's mother passed away on Friday night, after a couple of days of end-of-life struggle. They had been alerted by hospice that this might happen, so Lur was able to spend a lot of time with her.  It has been a long road for Lur and family taking care of her parents these past few years.  But what a gift they gave her parents to enable them to stay in their house close to their children and grandchildren.

Happier news from out Midwest includes Auden's enthusiastic participation in the play Godspell.  Watch out Broadway.  Claire has taken on faculty advising for the student council and for the upcoming homecoming event in the high school.  And Daniel has a new part-time job with "Getir", a grocery delivery service that Daniel is using to double as cycling exercise.  His mother says the company's uniform colors remind her of Barney, a show they used to watch together.  A long time ago, I might add.

Snow was in the news this past weekend, and it looks like those of us in DC,  Massachusetts and New Jersey missed the worst dumps.  My kind of snow – four to five inches, enough for a good skiing ground cover but not so much that it takes hours to shovel out.  Peter says he got about 8 inches while the coast was hit hard.  I bet Johanna saw a lot in New York City.

It did allow me to put on the snow shoes for the first time this year.  I probably didn't need them, but it was fun to be in the woods.  We had taken advantage of earlier snowfalls to go cross-country skiing a couple of times this past week.  And, one of our hikes had the added excitement of coming across a porcupine.  Fortunately, the two dogs with us were well-behaved and stayed far away.  Mary's cousin told us a while back that he had to take his dog to the vet to have 170 needles removed.

Down in Brazil, Joe is out of quarantine, which was roundly applauded, most loudly from Leonor.  The boys were able to go back to day camp, which is so full of activities they fall asleep in the car on the way home.

We see photos and videos of Simon picking up new words and playing new games.  We're going to have to watch the movie Encanto to keep up.  Who knew there was even a movie called Encanto?  What happened to Dr. Zhivago? 

Out in Oakland, they're gearing up for our visit, as we bought our plane tickets for the end of February.  Sankar and Annie are heading out to Taos for a week, while we go south to Mexico to San Miguel de Allende.  Where would rather go?  They both sound great, but you can only ski in one of those places.

We talked to John and Marilyn, and they are hunkered down, still taking more precautions than just about anyone in that great state.  But they're healthy and happy.

One of our latest gigs here is teaching English to a couple of Afghan refugees who landed in Pittsfield, part of the 175 more relocated here. Mary has had a couple of sessions with her student a young mother whose husband worked at the Embassy in Kabul.  I just met my student, who was a soldier, and just relocated here this week from Wisconsin.  We've been told not to bring up the past with them because of the trauma, but the soldier was keen to show me photos, of his truck, his truck after it had been bombed and others.  Quite an ordeal.  We want to help them, but I think they are helping us and teaching us so much.

With that, love from up here.   

 

 

Happy MLK Day

Let's start with a question.  Is anyone still following their New Year's resolution?  Hmm. Thought so.  Me neither.

The first two weeks of this month saw a number of milestones.  First came Jeffrey's birthday, and then Margaret's.  With Simon sick, I think Margaret is going to a) ask for a re-do in a few months or b) get sick on Simon's birthday, along with Andrew since Simon was also sick on Andrew's birthday. 

Ann Gordon's birthday was remembered, she would have turned 69.  Wow.  Grandma Boyle's birthday was also noted, as was the tenth anniversary of Grandma Dickson's passing.  Sigh.  She turns out to have been more of the glue holding it all together than we knew at the time.

Speaking of Grandma, plans are proceeding for the Poconos this summer, from July 14-17.  With positive interest from Matthew and Billy and their families, we now have seven cabins reserved.  Janie is also a yes, as are Susan and Fernando. We are going a little further than a wait and see attitude, but we have until May to pull out, if this pandemic-thingy takes an even greater turn for the worse.  Bets?  Janie sent along the photo here of our cousin Diane and her family, with striking resemblances to Uncle All.  Of course.

I remember in the beginning of the pandemic I didn't know anyone who got sick.  Now, it seems everyone has had a close encounter.  Unfortunately, we learned that Joe in Brazil tested positive and is having symptoms.  Scary enough, although he's better. No one else in the house is positive, but the quarantine in that household has placed enormous strains on Leonor, with work, a new house, an upcoming due date and two active boys at home (it's summer vacation down there.)

Last weekend there was a shower for Erin who also has a due date soonest.  She sent along a photo, also enclosed here.   

The weather made news with major snowfalls in Washington and excitingly below zero days in Rochester, Chicago and here.  Exciting, because I have to admit to a little bit of a thrill walking outside in this kind of cold.  Not for long though.  Our driveway is a skating rink and Mary almost slid into the garage the other day, she told me several days after the fact.  We're expecting a lot of snow tonight, according to one report, or a lot of snow and then freezing rain according to another weather app. 

Not sure if weather played a role or not, but unfortunately Janet was in a car accident this week.  We hear she was not injured, but understandably shaken.      

Mary spoke with Timmy who was on the road, having just returned from Mexico.  He was in good spirits.  Also on the west coast, Annie is finishing up a course she was taking to be certified as a professional life coach.

In the stranger than fiction realm, I opened an envelope from David with a postcard of Nassau Hall sent to Pop from Fred Fox, of fame only to anyone who happened to walk the Princeton campus from the 50s-90s and witness him happily riding around on his bike and waving to everyone. Fred had attached to the back of the postcard a small piece of mortar from the refurbished southwest wing of Nassau Hall.  Later that day, in my last box of saved letters, I pulled out an article Pop had sent me of Fred Fox's obituary.  It doesn't rise to the level of sainthood, but that was a miracle.

I did empty the box yesterday, and found one last weekly letter to be scanned.  After that, my project turns to stamp sorting and organizing Pop's witticisms and news.

With that, love from up here. 

 

It's 2022

I missed my end of December deadline.  Too much going on.  I should say Simon going on.  But not too much Simon. I forgot what children can do to a to-do list.  And before you know it, it's a brand new year.

So let's start with a hope that everyone enjoyed a wonderful Christmas, yet again limited by the waves of the virus.  And, here's to a safe and happy and different new year.

Do you have a resolution?  I'm trying to come up with one, or at least another one, since I've already broken the one I did make.  But, at least, I'm off the hook and don't have to worry for a whole 'nother year about keeping a resolution.  I can worry about other things.

We did have joy on our Christmas, before and after that too.  Annie and Sankar arrived just a few hours after the DC crowd drove into the driveway.  And Margaret and Andrew just a few hours after we vacuumed the last of the dust and moved the furniture back in place from weeks of work to put in a new bathroom.  But, just in time to toast their parents on their anniversary with weather almost equal to the freezing cold on the day we were married.

John and Marilyn and almost their entire family checked in, masked up and all, direct from witnessing Julie (Colleen's daughter) and Jamie's wedding.  We spent a short while catching up and sharing Mary's Rio robbery story, before they returned to their maskless bubbles, um, homes.

Jeffrey and Melodie arranged a Fairport Christmas Eve Facetime chat, so we were able to see and hear David and Paula, Matthew and Everett.  Tina and Donald were off camera, but even Hopper had a cameo experience, which was a bonus for Simon since every dog we've seen here is named Hopper.

We had a bunch of calls to Portugal, where Leonor's large family took shifts with Thomas and Joao; plenty of uncles, cousins and friends who doubled as playmates.  Joe was fresh off a few hectic days coordinating the decisions to sanction several Brazilian entities for drug trafficking and terrorism (separately.)  A good time to head out of town. 

We were even able to use the technology to arrange a call with Mary, Kathleen and Patrick (each in their own home) and Joe in Portugal.  It was nice reminiscing on the Christmases we spent together in South Africa and Mexico.

Out in Illinois, we understand that Elliot was a dancer in the Nutcracker, and they enjoyed their first snow of the year, a record for seasonal lateness.  The photo here, off of Facebook, shows the conductor Claire.  Very cool.

We too had a little snow here on Christmas Eve, which made for a nice backdrop, even if it was gone in a few days.  At least the shoveling was minimal.

What's the news from the NJ crowd?  I suspect that Erin is getting balloon-like, and the excitement is growing for that main event.

We had some Christmas firsts.  Salmon instead of roast beef, a more relaxed lead-up due to the secret Santa gift exchange, watching It's a Wonderful Life, and fewer decorations because we were more focused on cleaning up from the construction mess.  I would add  that this may be the only household in America where the best gift was a tie between a parking garage and a box of animal crackers. 

Other than that, we've enjoyed hiking in the woods, shadowing Simon as he cruised around to all the "stations" of toys, finishing a jigsaw puzzle, planning and preparing numerous meals, each with a vegan option (if not totally vegan), making countless runs to the grocery stores, playing Risk, Sequence and Scattergories, watching movies (last night for new Years. When Harry Met Sally), crossword puzzle races, amid much chatting of things large and important, as well as the nothing things. 

So, here's to 2022, and a fervent hope that we all get together in person at the Poconos in July.  (I'll be sending out an email in a few days.)

Love from up here.

 

Last letter before Christmas

Only ten more sleeps 'til Christmas. Anticipation is what I remember most of Christmases in the past – mostly of Pop putting the clock on the stairs and setting it for some terribly late time (probably 6am) before which we were forbidden to go downstairs to see what Santa had brought.  

 
This year, we are trying something a little different.  Annie suggested a secret Santa arrangement and, of course, there's an app for that.  So, we'll see how that works out this year. I'm still going to be the lone guy at the top of the stairs waiting for the 6am alarm to go off.

It has made the lead-up a whole lot easier.  We got our tree last Saturday, at a nearby farm where we got to pick and saw down the one we wanted.  Unlike Pomfret, the farmers gave us saws, so we had more than a Swiss Army knife to cut the tree we picked out.

Unfortunately, there is still only one ornament on the tree so far.  The workers putting in our new bathroom have blocked the crawl space where we store the Christmas boxes with table saws and radiators (remember, Joe?) and other assorted items.  The one ornament?  A wooden chair, that Lur found, to commemorate the chair Andrew and I designed and built for his senior year at Lawrenceville.  I have a sneaking suspicion that that chair is still there since it would be too heavy for movers to lift.

Speaking of Andrew and Lur, they saw Johanna this past weekend who was out their way for her in-person learning at Northwestern.  Andrew passed along her good news on the grades, and the plight of students trying to learn in this time of pandemic.  I understand there were free tests involved.

Down in Brazil, Joe and Lenor went through the painful process of moving house.  No rest for the weary couple who had just managed to see two parents out of town before they took on this ordeal.  Anyway, they survived.  Tomorrow, they head over to Portugal for the holidays.  Leonor sent around ultrasound pictures of the baby, in color no less!!  Oh my.  What a miracle.  Comments from the sisters included references to resembling Thomas.

Erin who is even further along must also have her own collection of these photos.  A different kind of anticipation, and undoubtedly more consequential than a child's memory of sitting at the top of the stairs.

This past weekend, we went to Worcester for Mary's first swim meet in a long time.  She did very well, but looking forward to next year when she moves into a new age bracket for the Masters' events.  One small benefit for getting old.  

Trains, planes and automobiles this weekend.  Annie and Sankar taking the plane, and Margaret and Andrew and Simon braving the turnpikes.  John and Marilyn will also be braving the traffic to come north.  So, who's taking the train then?  Nobody I know, but I'm sure they'll be packed.

What this means is one full day of clean-up here and trying to put the rooms back together again as the crew clears outta here on Friday.  Mary and I have been hanging out in the basement, living out of suitcases, and kind of enjoying a change of scenery. I did say kind of.  What we enjoy more is seeing the progress each day, although Mary keeps saying she's afraid to look.  But with winter approaching, we'll be glad to have a tub, to soak in after a day of x-country skiing or hiking.  

Look what's for sale – 550 Ridgefield Road in Wilton.  The outside looks recognizable, but I am having a hard time placing any of the interior photos.  I thought I saw a Locke lawn mower in one of the outbuildings.  And, while I'm at it, the Kroger home, our neighbors in Indian Hill, is also for sale.  Anyone want to take up a collection?  

And with that, it's a wrap.  Love from up here, and Merry Christmas….Kermit

Back home

And we almost didn't make it. Mary and I rushed across terminals at O'Hare after a red-eye, ten-hour flight from São Paulo to make it to the gate for our final leg to Albany. No worry, since it was delayed. So we sat down and got immersed in on-line puzzles and card games, before Mary saw the departure lounge empty. We were barely seated on the plane when they closed the cabin door. Live and learn is Mary's new motto.  

But, what a time in Brazil. Joe and Leonor were such great hosts, opening up a country we have never fully or even slightly appreciated. Until now. One thing is for sure. We couldn't have done five percent of what we did without them. We were both surprised at how little English is spoken there, and how little our rusty Spanish worked. Obrigado.

Rio is an unbelievably beautiful city, as stated last letter. Brasilia has a reputation for a boring city, but we found it easy, clean, safe and green. Joe and Leonor took us on two side trips to smaller towns with touristy appeal - Parati on the coast and Pereonopolis, a quaint, historic town with a water park/hotel for children .... and Mary. We met their friends and co-workers, two of whom had worked with me in Mexico City.  

We had a small world experience.  A woman at the water park introduced herself to Leonor as having met her before Covid, as they live on the same street.  She and Mary were chatting in the pool, and she mentioned her father had been in the Foreign Service in Nigeria when we were there too.  Turns out we didn't know him then, as he was in a different city, but I did work with him back in Washington.  What were the paths we took to meet up in a pool in Pereonopolis?

Still, the whole point was to reconnect with Joe and Leonor and two grandsons, who are thriving in their environs. We played our grandparent roles to the hilt - reading and giving presents and treats, telling pirate stories and shadowing around the yard, fooling around, walking to school, and then collapsing for naps.

We even had Thanksgiving, with what we thought was a chicken (it did say "frango" on the wrapper) but turned out to actually be a turkey. Those sneaky Brazilians.

We followed other Thanksgiving events virtually, only to find out Simon spent some time in the hospital with a case of croup. Jeff and Melodie joined Margaret and Andrew and Andrew's parents for dinner, while Simon continued to be under the weather. Out in Oakland Annie and Sankar had a Friendsgiving complete with turducken, if that's spelled right. 

How bout chez vous? We heard Daniel and Claire came home for a quiet Thanksgiving, that Billy and Jen celebrated at her parents before checking in at Roslyn Ave.  We saw on Facebook a meal delivered to Matthew and Tina's house, we think???  And chocolate cake for Black Friday.  But, we also saw the word "quarantine" pop up.  Hope all is okay.

Speaking of Black Friday, I was surprised to see my first billboard announcing Black Friday in Brazil.  Joe and Leonor said, yes, it's a thing, and lasts a whole month.  Another great American export.  Couldn't they have picked Thanksgiving?

While away, work proceeded on our master bathroom/closet project. Having such a major change take place when we weren't present made us nervous, but it is actually coming along quite well. Hope it will all be finished by Christmas. It better be, as we are getting dates of Annie and Sankar's travel and the DC contingent plans for that time period.

And, we arrived home to snow.  Our first plow of the year, too.  That meant a fire in the fireplace, and a return to our quiet evenings.  Too quiet. Sigh

Love from up here.

South of the border

Dateline Rio

We made it. And if we can't ever leave, so be it. What a city. What views. Everywhere you look. 

And Joe and Leonor made it to Rio too, with Thomas and John, and then we headed south along the coast to a town called Paraty, pronounced parachee or para-dise.  

More later, because the big news this letter is not out of Brazil but comes from the Bay Area. Annie and Sankar are engaged. Yippee. So happy for both of them.  Annie called after they spent a weekend in the Mendocino area where the formalities took place.  Annie will fill us all in on arrangements but here's one bet: make  sure your passports are valid.  Happy day. 

Annie's news had made it down to Brazil, at least to Joe and Leonor. We've only been here a few days but feel like it's been longer since we've packed so much in. And we have until the end of the month before we head home. That means a new a Thanksgiving tradition in Brazil. 

Today, we hired a boat to take us around the large inlet and stop at a few beaches and a restaurant. We've also walked round the old colonial town and spent a day at the beach, a block away from the house we've rented. 

Tomorrow Joe and everyone head back to Brasilia and work while Mary and I return to Rio for a few more days at Ipanema. Yes, there really is a beach called Ipanema and there really is a hotel at the Cocacabana. 

Other news includes Margaret and Andrew hosting Andrew's parents this weekend. The other Andrew and Lur made it back to East Dundee in record time, it seems. 

I'm less and less a fan of Facebook, except for the news we get from family. If not for Facebook would we have known that Melodie and Jeff were with her parents, we think. We also see Oliver having what looks to be a successful cross country season.

We include here a few leftover Halloween photos that came in after I finished the last letter. 

Good news from Boston with Kara getting a big promotion. 

Finally, a blast from the past. I got an email from our lifelong learning institute forwarding a message from my childhood friend, Steve Bidwell who had tracked me down through the OLLI website. We arranged a zoom call and then spent 90 minutes trying to catch up on 50-plus years of absence. We covered a lot of ground, including confirmation of a suspicion I had that his ancestors lived in Berkshire County (there's a Bidwell house museum in Monterrey). I pass along his observations of our family as the family he wanted to be part of, that it was so much fun coming to our house, in Cincinnati or in NJ, wandering around the woods and he even remembered playing touch football - David and him against Peter and me. He has been living in Austria since he was 25 so not sure if I'll ever see him but it was more than fun to reconnect. Thanks internet. 

And with that, love from down here. 

Happy Halloween

Sitting on Margaret and Andrew's front porch and I can hear the sounds of excited children through the neighborhood. Anticipation at the coming few hours, I guess. Houses are decorated with skeletons and graveyards and all kinds of mayhem.  In the midst of it is one very non-scary Winnie the Pooh Simon. And of course he's not totally sure what to make of all of it. 

We came down to DC for the weekend as our last visit before we head to Brazil. We hope. The airlines has already canceled our flights and then sent another message changing the schedule. Then with all the tests and other requirements we'll see if we actually get there. 

Last Sunday night Andrew and Lur were in Pittsfield, and we didn't let them have a moment's rest. Museums, walks, a play, tv shows (Ted Lasso) and then the movie Love Actually were  the big distractions away from eating pies and donuts and steak and salmon. And don't forget the naps. 

The play we saw was a new musical featuring Billy Crystal who starred in an adaptation of his movie Mr Saturday Night. In Pittsfield!! If it ever gets to Broadway, we'd recommend it. 

News from the Illinois clan - Daniel's in a new apartment with one bedroom home to his barber chair for cuts. Billy had a big birthday party and Claire is now teaching macrame, as well as her school music duties. 

We had our first frost of the year, very late. I remember one Halloween a few years ago when Peter and Janet were in Pittsfield when it snowed. We picked the last of the tomatoes and had another crop of lettuce. But when we came down here and saw all of Andrew's tomatoes still on the vine. He harvested one crop but there's more on the way. 

Sad news this week as we learned that our good friend from Gabon, John Peter Lindeme passed away. A bit of a shock since a highlight of our trips back to Gabon was visiting with him. He had come to visit us in Claremont and then 30 years later in Bethesda. 

Annie hopped on a plane for a weekend in Maine with her Hamilton friends. And down in Brazil, Joe and Leonor have been coping with a cycle of sickness in their home. 

Our new bathroom project is supposed to start Tuesday after postponements for the past two months. It makes the timing awkward especially as we will be away for three weeks. But one bay in garage is now home to 17 boxes of bathroom fixtures. 

On the volunteer news front, I had my last tour of the season at Arrowhead. Just in time as my one morning a week in Springfield organizing donations for refugees started last Thursday. Mary continues to teach English to her adult student from Congo who is filling the role of recent immigrant, holding down two jobs, and trying to settle into his new life here. 

This week, we see the temps going down to the 20s at night. Just in time to head to the beaches of Brazil. 

Love from up here.