August highlights

Let's start out with congratulations to Johanna who finished her Master's degree work at Northwestern.  Peter and Janet flew out for the graduation, with Andrew and Lur also in attendance.  They got together with Bill and Jen and family for a barbecue to see their growing family.  Jen is all better from her bout with Lyme disease.

Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?  Or at least Margaret?  Three guesses.  No?  Norway., until yesterday.  Was she the first Dickson to go to Norway?  She was there for a week, with friends attending a wedding.  The original plan was for Andrew to go and us grandparents to watch Simon, but somewhere along the way that got changed.  The two men stranded in DC seemed to be enjoying themselves, at least from the perspective of Tiny Beans.

We see that Donald was attending and having a blast (at least from the perspective of Facebook) a summer camp. Wonderful. Also, from the same perspective, Peter and Janet were also having a blast hosting their grandson.  Jeff and Melodie were having a similar blast in the Shenandoah region.  Were they really spelunkers as well? 

They also posted a garden haul to be envied, at least by me.  The weather turned cold and dry last week, and we have still not gotten a red tomato, our cukes shriveled up, the groundhogs ate the zucchini plants and the blueberries are through.  Lots of green beans and second crops of lettuce and radishes in the ground.

Annie and Sankar are still on track for their travel plans.  Sankar is taking a leave of absence from work, and he sold his motorcycle, in anticipation of leaving the Bay Area.  Grandma would be happy, about the motorcycle (as if I needed to say that.)

Down in Brazil, life is getting back to normal.  Almost, as John has had his sleep patterns disrupted and is vying with his sister for most number of middle of the night wake-ups.  Speaking of Brazil, we bought our tickets for Thanksgiving.  So did Annie and Sankar, and so did Margaret and Andrew  (and Simon).

And, in Daytona, John and Marilyn have been under the weather, and not just the heat of Florida summers.  They have been battling Covid and a cold, respectively.

Two items of note came in the mail.  First, a collection of odds and ends from David, including buttons, old Christmas cards and report cards.  One read, "John is the finest human being I've ever encountered."  Okay, I exaggerate. Maybe it said something about studying harder and speaking up in class. The other were three drawings from Rell, of the Poconos.  Speaking of which, I'm still looking for pen and ink drawings of paintbrushes, garden chair under a tree, eyeglasses, the dump, leaf raking, garden, Mickey Mouse, etc.  Merci.

Here's a story I'm not particularly proud of.  Mary was pulling out of the vet's the other day, when a man in a truck behind her got out of his car and approached the driver's side window.  He held out his hand and showed her a cellphone that had been sitting on top of the trunk of her car.  It was mine.  I had inadvertently left it there, and she had driven at least ten miles with it on the back of her car.  She has since reserved a spot for me in the memory unit.

Speaking of memory units, turning 70 ain't so bad after all.  Mary graduated this week to an electric-assist bike, and loves it.  She cruised by me the other day on a hill, so maybe they're not just for the 70-plus age group.

Travel and visitors round out our two weeks.  We hosted friends who were in South Africa with us and down the road from us in Bethesda.  Highlight – Teo's hot dogs.  And then, we headed up to northern Vermont for our, now almost annual, retreat to Charlie's cabin on a lake.  In the process, the temperature dropped thirty degrees between Pittsfield and the northeast kingdom as they call it.  Highlight – Was it the two moose (picture below) we saw on our way to April's Maple, where they sell syrup and a soft serve called Maple Creamie.   Why are the highlights about food?

Hope your August is full of highlights.

Drama in July

The other day, someone asked me what I had been up to.  I didn't even know where to start.  The Poconos seemed to be a good place.  What a wonderful time.

We returned, and Mary got sick.  Bedridden sick, for three days before she went to the doctor who prescribed antibiotics.  And her biggest worry?  That she may have given it to others in the Poconos.  Hope not.

Then Joe's friend, Omar, from St. Andrews came for the weekend with his wife, and Mary rallied.  As soon as Omar left, Joe got sick, bed-ridden sick as well, until he went to the doctor's and they put him on antibiotics.  One small hitch.  He was supposed to leave the next day.  It was touch and go for a while, but he knew he had to get on the plane.  He rallied to pack and do his best to move in the right direction, lying in bed up to the minute we loaded the car. 

Travel these days is no fun, they say.  Joe is case in point.  We drive to JFK and he's checking the departure on his phone the whole way. Scheduled for 10pm. He's feeling a little better (thank you Mucinex and adrenalin) and as soon as they head off to security with John screaming because he can't pull his own suitcase, Joe gets a text message that the plane was delayed five hours. 

What could he do?  What could we do?  Then he calls us a little later and we're about an hour away on our way home to tell us the flight was delayed until 9am.  The team rallies.  He gets a hotel room nearby, Leonor starts working on the follow-on flight that they will miss, and Margaret orders diapers and milk through some DoorDash grocery app.  They get to the hotel about the time we get home.  Uggh.

We get a photo of the three guys the next morning on their way back to the airport – Thomas and John look fresh and raring to go, Joe looks like he's been through a ringer.  A ten-hour flight, with a two-hour layover to make the connection, after customs and immigration.  They did make it and arrived home safely and into the arms of their mother and wife..

How could I forget to mention the tree that fell on our house in the midst of all this?  Well, grazed it actually.  One of those micro-bursts that for three minutes had us running around the house shutting windows, but by the time we got to the second floor the huge maple limb had crashed down from our neighbor's property all the way across our peach tree and on to the side of the garage.

Besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

Anyway, all's well that ends well.  Maybe.  Joe and the boys are reunited with Leonor and Luisa, and their toys, and their pillows.  They were fresh and ready to go in time for Thomas' birthday on Friday, and a party at home on Saturday.  Kids are resilient.  Grandparents, I'm not so sure.

We're actually fired up and raring to go now as well.  We feel blessed to have so much full time with Joe, Thomas and John.  It's the only benefit to living so far from our children that when we see them it's all in, no two hour visit and we're off.

Returning to normal, it was all things Melville this weekend, the annual Melville birthday celebrations.  We went to a fund-raising "gala' and silent auction that was surprisingly fun. Yesterday, we read at the Moby Dick marathon, and our sections included references to Berkshire marble!  This morning we went on our annual Melville/Hawthorne hike to the top of Monument Mountain with a group of academic types who launched a little seminar at the top of the mountain. 

How could I forget birthdays?  Mary's birthday last Sunday was actually a little subdued since she still wasn't feeling that good.  Ice cream cake always works though.  We saw pictures in upstate New York of Donald's birthday.  These parties started on our last night in the Poconos and will end with Everett's party in a few days.

Hoping you all have had less drama but as much fun.  Love from up here.    

Poconos recap

We're home. And you may be as well, although I know a few of you had longer drives and more fun things scheduled. There's probably no need for a breakdown since everyone was there and saw it with your own eyes but there was a lot going on and a lot of moving parts. On second thought, not everyone was there.  Some of us had to back out.

 

Highlights?

 

— well, just the fact that we got together, emerging from our lockdowns and sicknesses.  Mission accomplished, and more.

 

— newcomers in Rell and Jacob who blended in right away. Also Kieran, Simon and Joao were first timers. Did they blend in? Kind of, but in some ways, they took over. Happily.

 

— not seen in a while we're Claire and Andrew S.

 

— the dynamics of the youngest generation, playing together and getting along, mostly. Swords and Star Wars chatter, pirate ship and tetherball and swimming and sand kept all these little boys occupied. And they were all boys. C'mon Luisa grow up fast. Missed Auden and Elliott in the gender balance as well.

 

-- rentals. David got a motor for his row boat, and I think he and Jeffrey set a record for hours fishing. Did you know David caught and released a pickerel who acted like a great white whale upon release? Tina also rented a kayak and got her exercise in.

 

— other records? Joao for booboos. John (moi) for consumption of Klondike bars. Claire for pages read. Pages attempted was Joe who optimistically took a book to the playground. Oliver for fastest sprint around the lake. Paula for number of plastic ware purchased. We tied the record of four birthdays celebrated - Mary, Thomas, Everett and Donald. Annie?  Naps goes to Kiernan, who seemed to be either just waking up or just going down for a nap.  But there were quite a few runners up. I think there were a couple of records set for decibels reached at dinner the second night with a runner up being the after party in the same cabin later that night.

 

— I got some good drawings for the Pops Weekly Letter project. I'm still accepting entries so just take a picture of your finished product and send it to me via email. Annie and Bill and families can also partake.

 

What else? Food glorious food. Who brought all those cookies? Thanks. Lots of liquid diet to spur chatting and catching up.

 

In the catching up department, did you know Oliver was a Ninja warrior trainer? How about that Mary spent the last six months finishing a quilt from Lur's family? That Donald was right already? That Margaret starts a new job this week? That Johanna lives in Harlem? That Peter settled his case that kept him from coming? That Sean now works for Baltimore County as a DA? That Andrew had a moustache? That Melodie can draw a martini?  (Phew. Out of breath).

We'll let everyone know about next year, as I will sign up for their "same time next year" deal in the coming days.

 

Thanks everyone.  I know it's a long drive and a lot of work, but so much fun and so important to get together.

 

Love from up here.

 

 

Riding the wave

Where did June go?  In fact, I'm not even sure where May or April went, let alone June.  July promises to be action packed as well. 

I think the theme for this letter is riding.  Or at least the photos.

There's one of Thomas and John riding a horse, one of Simon riding on the bike, and one of Jeff and Melodie riding on a boat. 

Does anyone know where Wachapregue is?  Or better, does anyone even know how to pronounce it?  I guess we'll have to ask Jeff and Melodie because this is where the photo below is taken.  Anywhere near Chincoteague?  It doesn't look like they were camping on the beach.  Remember?

Covid continues to affect us. Or, to stick with the theme, we're still riding the Covid wave.  Margaret just wrote to say that someone in Simon's class just tested positive so they're having to shut down the day care.  Simon by the way got his first shot and was a big boy, no tears and even got a Happy Meal out of it.  (I got my fourth shot but no Happy Meal.  But also no bad reaction.)

And, we just heard from our British friends, the Locherys whose daughter is getting married this weekend.  Both she and her fiancé have Covid; he's through it now, but Katherine is still positive.  We are supposed to go to the wedding on Saturday.

We were also supposed to ride a pontoon boat on our lake for Father's Day with our Peace Corps friends, but when we woke up it was 49 degrees and windy.  Fortunately, the boat rental people didn't charge us as we had reserved the boat well in advance. (You wouldn't believe how many fathers like boats.)

The night before, it was just as cold but also rainy, and guess where we were?  Tanglewood, to hear Bonnie Raitt.  She was great, but as you can see it tested our endurance.  Not quite as much as Shackleton, but almost.

Annie rode on a plane to come out here the same weekend.  She had a meet-up with Hamilton friends in Monterrey (MA not CA) and she stayed here a couple of nights.  She had an adventurous flight out here, but figured out a new route that included a train ride and didn't miss her buddies.

And somewhere on Green Lake in Wisconsin, I suspect Andrew is steering a pontoon boat for his family, everyone except Daniel.  Claire came up to help open the camp near Green Lake where she has previously worked, and Bill and Jen and their family also rented a house on the lake for the week. 

Joe bought airplane tickets for this coming week, to come back for a few weeks with Thomas and John; unfortunately, Leonor can't make it, as she'll stay in Brazil with Luisa and return to work, her maternity days used up.

Here in the Berkshires, we've been bike riding and kayak riding, as the weather has warmed up, and we continue tutoring, hiking, and swimming. Mowing the lawn and weeding, but we've had lettuce, radishes and strawberries so far.  Mary won't like me saying this but she found out she is top ten in the world in the 200 breast stroke. How bout them apples?

Down in NJ we see Janet back to doing her audio description and Peter completed auditing a class on the Civil War.  They are heading out to Chicago in August for Johanna's graduation. 

And, in the birthday department, today is Leonor's big day.  Parabéns, chica. 

The next letter will probably have a dateline Mt. Springs on it.  Can't wait.

Love from up here.

Celebrate Good Times

It's just me and the kitty.  Mary's off at a retreat/escape/party with her homies for a few days, in a lakeside cabin in Hinsdale, not too far from here. Last year, the women offered to help out a high school friend by doing the flower beds at the cabin he rents out.  Scheming as they worked, they came up with the idea of a barter proposition.  They would put in the hours (actually quite a few) to make the place presentable in exchange for a week in the cabin.  So, here we are.  I should add, never did it occur to them to include their husbands.  Too much mansplaining, I guess. 

Meanwhile, the husbands will be going for a hike this morning, our regular weekly hike started during the pandemic.  I'll be able to mansplain my week last week.

I actually returned to work last week.  Yup.  Forty hours.  Or more.  Exhausting, but fun.  The National Trust for Historic Preservation offers tours (like AAA or Road Scholar) and they had one on the Berkshire Cottages. They needed a local study leader and voila!  That's right, I was the guy on the bus with the microphone.  "And on your left you will see King Cone, home of the world's largest soft-serve baby cone."  You can imagine where we went – Rockwell, Clark, Ventfort Hall, Naumkeag, MassMoca, Chesterwood, all the spots.  And of course Arrowhead.  A nice group of people from all over the country.  When we get to the Poconos, ask me about the one house I'd never heard of – Bunny Williams' house in Salisbury.

Speaking of the Poconos, I got a message from Sooz saying they would not be coming.  Janie has long Covid; she's getting better, but thought it best not to push herself.  Too bad and hope she gets fully better soon.
Looks like Davd and Paula had a pre-Poconos reunion with Jeff and Melodie with a visit to Seneca Lake.  Melodie posted on Facebook that she had a birthday, but didn't say which day.  Happy birthday.  Also in the celebrating category is David and Paula's anniversary.  And bearded Oliver had a birthday too. 

More celebrations in the Midwest.  Not the heat records, but Claire's Making a Difference Award at her school for her work with special needs children.  She joins the family queue of heroes working in that area.  Congrats, Claire.   And congrats to Elliot who graduated from kindergarten.  

Annie's changing coasts this weekend.  She's coming out here for what looks like the same thing Mary is doing, with her girlfriends, but she'll hang out here with her parents a few days.  She will escape before the Gabon crew arrives, as we'll be having a bit of a reunion this weekend with a few couples coming from as far away as San Francisco.  The attraction?  Bonnie Raitt at Tanglewood.

The babies in the family are growing so fast – Kiernan in Maryland and Luisa in Brazil.  Holding their heads up, sitting up, smiling, grabbing.  Can't wait to see them.  Big John has started potty training.  Look out.
We finally made it down to DC after our delayed by Covid visit.  Simon had been sick all week, and was just coming out of it.  I challenged Simon to a little one on one basketball; the first time I've played since I was 24, and I think the first time I ever won since Andrew was six years old.  You'll have to ask Margaret at the Poconos about her new job.

One final thought on the Poconos.  If the stock market goes down much farther, we'll be meeting up at Motel 6 next year.

I bought a flag yesterday, on Flag Day.  We've hung one for years on our garage, but it was too tattered last year to hang.  

And, did someone mention Father's Day?  No?   How about Juneteenth?  Looooong weekend.  

Enjoy!  And love from up here.

Summer fun

Happy Memorial Day!  The official start of summer.  And it looks as if the Dickson diaspora did summer-y things to celebrate, on the east coast, on the west, and in between; in the northern hemisphere and the southern.   

We saw Annie and Sankar sailing and bike riding; we also saw Bill and Jen and their family heading out for a camping trip; Tina and Matthew and their boys did their 15 miles on the Erie Canal; Thomas and Joao went to school (because it's not a holiday in Brazil) which gave their parents the day off with Luisa; Margaret and Andrew and Simon went to a Baysox baseball game; Janet and Johanna visited a little boy in Maryland.  Nearby, the lake was packed with boats and swimmers and I'm pretty sure I could smell all the barbecues while I was ……

Mowing the lawn.  But, hey nothing wrong with that.  Except that my ride-on mower wouldn't start.  More steps.  But, Memorial Day around here, after the parade honoring those who gave their lives for the country, means finishing all the garden chores, specifically transplanting and sowing the new seeds.  This year, hopefully, you'll get to read about tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, beans, zucchini and lettuce.  Mary's flowers are already giving us color.

And tonight, I'll be at Fenway Park to watch "YOUR CINCINNATI REDS" take on the home team.  Mary is going to stay home, but she assures me she'll be watching the game looking out for two old men catching foul balls in their beer cups.  I'm going there with Charlie, and we may be the only ones in the park who remember the 1975 World Series, but I can assure you this year, there won't be a repeat of those two teams in the Series.  At this point could be a Mets-Yankees affair.  Anyone a fan of those two teams?  

Back to Brazil, where there was an extravaganza to celebrate John's second birthday; no longer is he Baby John.  We did a Zoom call with Margaret and Annie and everyone, and we're actually getting better at singing Happy Birthday and Parabens over the split-second delayed internet medium.  John looked exhausted until he saw his new toy kitchen.  He got a second (or third or fourth) wind and started a whole bunch of recipes and cleaning right away.

Also, in Brazil, or rather Portugal, Leonor's mother went home to Lisbon this week, meaning they are now without instant grandmotherly help for the first time in three months.  Obrigado, Patricia.

Andrew and Lur hit the road before Memorial Day and traveled up to Michigan to see the final concert of the year at Claire's school.  They too said they just finished planting everything in their community garden at the hospital.  

Speaking of hospitals, Mary got through her bout with Covid without needing a hospital stay.  She was bedridden for a few days, mostly with fatigue.  She kept saying how grateful she was for the vaccine.  Me too, as I somehow managed to avoid the illness, testing negative three times that week.  We have postponed our trip to DC until this weekend.  

Covid also affected Omie and Larry, our friends from Mexico who came east from Seattle and got sick along the way.  They quarantined before getting here, though, and had no symptoms at all.  So, we were able to enjoy their stay, museum-ing and eating and drinking and not even nearly exhausting all topics on our way through the Berkshires.   

 
Tomorrow June, the perfect occasion for Mary to lament the passing of summer.  

Love from up here.  

 

Post-pandemic?

The minister at church today used the term post-pandemic.  That phrase didn't sit that well here, since Mary tested positive this morning, and has symptoms.  I am negative, but who knows for how long.  I hasten to add that the church service was via Zoom.  She's on the meds that are recommended, and so far, it is like a common cold/mild flu.  We saw Dr. Fauci recently say that everyone's going to get it.  So, now it's our turn, I guess.

This puts a wrench in our plans for the next couple of weeks.  Most disappointing, we were supposed to take the grandparent trek down to DC, ostensibly so Margaret and Andrew could attend a wedding.  That was the excuse but who needs an excuse?  I was supposed to start giving tours at Arrowhead tomorrow, but that's canceled.  Our tutoring classes canceled.  No swimming for you know who.  And, of course, this comes the week that I asked for numbers of attendees at the Poconos.  We're still going.  (Thank goodness for the home tests.)  Maybe by then it will be post-pandemic.

John and Marilyn flew up last week for their granddaughter Natalie's graduation from Paul Smith College in the Adirondacks, after which they came to Pittsfield and stayed a few nights with us.  We had a mini-Boyle reunion with members of their family who came from Boston and Albany for a big dinner that Mary put on.  So nice to see everyone. On the other side of the country, Timmy had a heart valve replacement which went all right.

Out in Illinois, Daniel has a new job, at a high-end salon, with regular hours.  Good news. And we saw on Facebook that Myles was playing the violin in a band concert. You can see the violin case in the photo of him and Auden below. One more bit of old news for the folks out there was a recent renovation – a new sewage connection to the town pipes.  Not something to proudly show off, but they averted what could have been a real disaster.  What we take for granted.

Also on Facebook, are signs of spring and taking advantage of the great outdoors.  That means hiking excursions for Matthew and Tina and family, gardening for Jeff and Melodie, and strolls in strollers for Kiernan.  We are doing our own bit to try to get the garden ready, weeding and raking and mulching, and I actually have mowed the lawn twice already.  That means regular back exercises.

 
Annie flew to DC for work, but also to check in on Simon and his parents.  Andrew set the threshold high for Mothers Day presents as Margaret and Annie spent the night at a hotel watching movies, and I think there was some junk food involved. And here's a leftover photo from Hawaii on something Annie called the green sand beach.

Joe spent the week at a law enforcement conference in Rio.  Wonder why they picked Rio?  The photo below is of Leonor and Baby John at the airport to greet him on his return.  And this week he is off to Porto Alegre.  And in the grand tradition of weekly letters, Thomas and John got haircuts!  Seated in cars, watching videos.  Pop never had that kind of service at his $2 barbershop in Putnam.

Some birthday news.  Happy birthday Sean (yesterday) and by the next letter we will have celebrated Matthew and Baby John's birthdays.  Matthew's birthday means Peter and Janet's anniversary and tomorrow is Margaret and Andrew's anniversary.  Lots of celebrating this month.

And lots to look forward to, with the whole summer ahead.  Can't let sickness get in our way.

Love from up here.