February 29

Leap year. No, leap day. How many weekly letters have been datelined February 29?  (Anyone? Alexa? Siri?)

I had an idea. Leap day should be a holiday. It's an extra day, for the whole world. People could be encouraged to take advantage of this extra day and do something different, extraordinary, memorable. The possibilities are endless and hopeful. What have I done so far? Gone to the gym, city hall, the barber, the grocery store and the library. Sigh.

What's memorable and wasn't recognized in the last letter is a father-daughter dance, that Billy and Auden and Elliot went to. In the same category was Claire's trip to Disney World with her school band as winners of a competition to play there. We need more details on both of these events. Perhaps we'll hear more this summer at the Poconos, but can we wait that long?

But wait, there's more big news. Luisa had a birthday! She's two. Where did the time go? We're heading down to DC tomorrow for the party on Saturday. Singing happy birthday to Luisa is one of her favorite activities, and the added benefit was this time, it was actually her birthday.  Joe had to miss the actual day, as he had a work trip to Fiji. Yes, you read that right. Fiji. Forty hours to get there, and forty hours to get home. But he's back and Luisa won't know for a few years that birthdays are really just one day.

And there's still more news. Simon was in his first fashion show. His pre-school celebrated Black History Month with a fashion show, and Simon decided to go as Jackie Robinson. So, you mothers will appreciate how Margaret had little advance warning, but somehow a baseball uniform materialized and presto, Brooklyn Dodgers #42 walked the runway.

Hold your breath, because there's still more news. We bought a house! Yes you read that right. Our offer on the house next door, the one Mary grew up in, was accepted. Sadly, the house has deteriorated to the point where it cannot be saved. A home inspector came by and confirmed what we could really all see with our own eyes. Anyway, we close on April 30, and we'll add a half-acre to this property. It also means we are back in the dreaming mode about what can go there. Mary nixed the idea of a Trump Tower, but we're open to suggestions, on landscape ideas, on tiny houses, sheds, fences, orchard, carousel. One more thing to talk about at the Poconos.

Finally, if you think once every four years is a long wait, Annie writes of her return after a couple of weeks of travel: "We had to be back in Thanjavur in time for a once-in-12-year celebration called Kumbabishegam at Sankar's family's ancestral temples, meant to re-energize the idols. We woke up at 4am to don our sarees and dhotis so we could get to the temples by 6am. The ceremony includes lighting oil lamps at the top of temple statues, and one step cannot start until an eagle passes overhead. At the end, they pour water over the lamps and then spray that water into the crowd. We attended the ceremonies at three temples, then returned to all three to pray. All together, it took about seven hours, and man were we all ready for a nap by the end."

Finally, leap day means that Daniel has to wait one more day before his birthday. Happy day tomorrow! And right behind you are Lur and Kiernan! Lotsa cake.

That's all from up here.  Love

  

 

Groundhog Day

The forecast is for a couple of inches of snow tonight. We'll believe that when we see it. Earlier this week, we heard we were gonna get anything from 4-17 inches, replete with snow emergency texts, phone calls and emails. End result? Barely a dusting. It's never happened that the forecasters predict less snow than we get. Actually, I feel a little conflicted. There's something fun about the quiet, the blanket-of-white visuals, and the prospects of cross country skiing, but then again, no snow also means no shoveling, no plows, less gravel in the lawn this spring.

It looks like New Jersey got snow, though. Facebook had a snow day luncheon for Peter and Johanna. And it looks like Peter got new glasses!  Snow days might be one more casualty from Covid.  Now, there are fewer snow days, as employers can just ask for virtual work hours. I'm not sure it works for schools though, as Margaret reminds us that Simon has had snow days while she and Andrew are expected to work from home.  How does that work out?  I think I know.

No snow in Rochester, as it seems like there are fewer lake-effect storms. How about this picture of Donald and his new instrument? Impressive.

And no snow in India, where Annie and Sankhar have started their post wedding trip at last. They headed to the state and region of Kerala and sent us some beautiful photos of the river near where they were staying. One river photo showed a group of elephants on their opposite banking.

It was birthday central here this week. Mary had conspired to get friends to send cards so I was inundated. It was fun. A few even wrote a letter! It's not every day you turn seven-O-aaagh!

It was also Valentine's Day yesterday, which unfortunately fell on the same day as Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent. Since there was still a piece of birthday cake leftover, I unilaterally decided that birthdays trump Lenten fasting, but we both agreed that Valentines Day chocolates don't.

Big news up here. Our neighbor has moved, or is in the process of moving. This is the house that Mary grew up in, and has been in serious disrepair. The house is going on the market, and we fear he will be asking too much for it, above our budget. But we'll see. Anybody up for a painting party? Or a roofing party? Or a porch-ing party, window-party, mould-removal party, foundation-party, etc?

Both Andrews are in the news, at least the weekly letter news. Illinois Andrew continues his slow healing, definitely not fast enough. He hopes that things will improve by the end of the month. Maybe that's what the groundhog was predicting? Washington Andrew started a new job, with the Congressional Affairs office of the FDA. Good luck to you both.

A couple of movie recommendations. First, an old one. "Hector and the Search for Happiness" (fun) and "Poor Things" (odd, but it grew on me once I figured out what was going on.)  We saw the first one in Maine, where there was a couple of feet of snow on the ground, so we could legitimately put on our snowshoes. Not here, though, as our North Carolina friends came up to get in some cross-country skiing, but no luck, for the second year in a row.

I'm listening to my opera class as I write, and this week they're doing Il Trovatore. The female protagonist is named Leonor.  Actually, Leonora, but I keep hearing Leonor. Who, by the way, had a serious case of strep throat recently. Hope all is better. Joe says that Thomas is almost back to full use of his arm, which he broke in October.

How could I not mention Super Bowl Sunday, which has taken over from Christmas and Thanksgiving as our national holiday? We actually stayed up to watch the whole thing, praying that there wouldn't be a second overtime. It was nice to watch when you don't care. But I did have a question. Why did people hate Tom Brady, and none of that is directed at Patrick Mahomes? Today's mystery. I think I know; he's redirected that hate as skillfully as he redirects his passes, this time to Taylor Swift.

Anyway, hope everyone is healthy and happy …. And warm.

Love from up here. 

 

    

Groundhog Day

I'm channeling Pop tonight. Listening to opera (Wagner's The Flying Dutchman) while writing this letter. Actually, I signed up for an Introduction to Opera class, in order to try to understand what that Brooklyn, Depression boy saw in this form. Our first class featured several pieces that even I had heard of before.  Search for "Nessun Dorma" on your Spotify or YouTube and you'll recognize it.  And be moved by it.

Anyway, it's Groundhog Day, and we learn that there are just a couple of more weeks of winter, since there was no shadow.  Of course, he's only right about 39% of the time, according to NPR, but what's evidence to get in the way of a good story.

We had a first-ever winter occurrence here this week. We had a wet snow, 3-4 inches on Sunday night, and it clung to the branches, a beautiful sight that lasts too short. Except for this week. With no sun, no wind, and cold weather, the snow stay stuck on the branches all week long. Someone should write a song about the frosting on the Berkshires that seemed almost dreamlike, as seen from our backyard or even the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston.

We played host this week to Mary's Boston-era friend, Gerry Shannon, who came up from DC to remember the cold winters of her youth.  I often wonder when these two friends will run out of topics to talk about. If they were two men, it would have taken about 15 minutes. Anyway, we did fall into reminiscence mode, after a morning or cross-country skiing and snow-trekking which reminded us of a 1982 drive through a snowstorm with bald tires trying to find a place to go skiing. There were doughnuts, but not the eating variety, the spin around the road kind. Scary.

Illness still seems to be the curse of winter, and not just here. Mary and I traded colds and stomach bugs, and then she hurt her back. Down in DC, the Joe Dicksons have had strep, ear infections and colds, as well as the Margaret Dicksons. That didn't stop them from getting together last Sunday with Jeff and Melodie to watch the football games. My two teams lost, and now we have a Super Bowl, that I'm not really interested in. Where's Tom Brady when you need him? It was tough to watch Mahomes and Kelce break Brady and Gronk's playoff TD record.

We see Kiernan expertly manipulating a spoon and a drinking cup!  No spills. And Luisa was putting together jigsaw puzzles. Simon assembled a Lego vehicle, and Thomas had a chess outing. Where did they get these talents? We also see Everett carefully checking out an owl.

No snow in India, but more holidays.  Here's Annie's description of "a famous Carnatic music festival called Thyagaraja Aradhana in Thiruvaiyaru dedicated to Saint Thyagaraja, a composer of Carnatic music. I'm told it's one of the largest music festivals in India -- around 20,000 people attended. We went to two of the five days, and scored VIP passes through a friend who joined us. The last day is pretty epic. For this day, they clear out a large area in the audience, stretching from the center of the stage to the very back of the tent, where musicians sit on the ground with the audience on either side. At one end sit percussion and wind instruments, at the other, the flutes and violins. The singers take up the middle. Yes, I did take a few cat naps, but still, it was very cool." Looks like Annie was also channeling Pop, who admitted he rarely made it to the final act in the operas he loved.

Down in Florida, John and Marilyn just got back from a cruise around the Caribbean. They have graciously offered to play hosts for our planned road trip in April down south. Thank you!

Out Illinois way, the patient continues to make slow progress. If you want to know how tough it is, he was prepping himself for a walk in the driveway this week. What we take for granted. 

 Love from out here!

About snow

January 16 - Today was a big day.  For Andrew who went into the hospital this morning for bypass surgery.  He is having the operation at the hospital where Lur volunteered for many years, close to home.  We wish him luck on what is going to be a tough couple of weeks of recovery. Lur actually has a procedure tomorrow as well, an outpatient fix to a nerve issue in her hand.  When it snows it pours.

And it has been snowing. Here, there and everywhere.  Illinois got clobbered last week, and then they sent their excess towards us. We hit a squall on our way down to DC, that was white-out back in Pittsfield, but we missed that.  Or so we thought. It snowed here most of yesterday, dropping 3-4 inches on this ill-prepared city. So schools are closed, and a few children we know don't remember seeing snow or have never seen it, so there's excitement all around.  Until they see how painful cold can be.  Anyway, there's enough today that schools are called off, and enough to make a snowman, at least.  We did make snowballs yesterday when there was just a little, and that was met with awe and wonder.

We came down for the week to help out with Leonor as Joe had a work trip to Japan. We were supposed to see Jeff and Melodie yesterday, but a stomach bug was going through the Joe/Leonor household, so we took a rain date, or a snow date. Everyone seems okay now, and we hope it doesn't spread beyond.

Snow intervened in our plans to go to New Bedford for the annual Moby Dick read-a-thon. We were going to meet a Princeton classmate who had written his senior thesis on Melville, so it would have been a good weekend of like-minded obsessives. But not to be. The forecast scared us off, and good thing as driving home in blizzard-like conditions would have been no fun. We only got a few inches in Pittsfield, but east of us there were places, along the Mass Pike, that saw a foot or so. 

No snow in India, unless you count confetti for the festival of Pongal, which "marks the end of the winter solstice and the beginning of spring, which in turn signals the beginning of another harvest season." Annie celebrated with Sankar and his family and sent along some wonderful photos.

We're staying with Margaret and Andrew and they have almost completed some renovations on their house, mostly to give them more storage space inside.  Looks really nice and frees up room, more for Simon to run around.

On the way down, we talked with David and Paula, mostly David, as Paula was under the weather. There's a lot of illness going around, and Mary still has a cough, lingering since India. She did go to the doctor who gave her some medicine which seems to be working, albeit slowly. How have I managed to avoid it? No idea.  

January 17 – Interrupted for snow day. Full of fun with snowballs, snowmen, shoveling, sledding, and a few tears because of the cold.  Mostly mine.  Anyway, there's an update from Illinois. Surgery went well and Andrew has begun the long process of healing.  The nurses want him up and walking a little today.  Wow! Pretty soon he'll be playing in the alumni lacrosse game.

And with that, signing off with love from snowy, cold DC.

 

It's a Wrap -2023

As I climbed out of the pool today from my water aerobics class, I realized I actually kept one new year's resolution from 2023 – water aerobics. Easy, since it was good stretching, a tiny amount of exertion, and a little bit of social activity, checking all those healthy living boxes for people my age. Might be the first resolution I ever kept. The pressure's on for 2024, just hours away. How about you? How long were you able to keep your resolutions?

But first, how was everyone's Christmas? From photos off social media and elsewhere, it looks like there were a) get-togethers across the Dickson USA; b) sicknesses shared in those get-togethers and c) full meals and carols and presents and decorated trees and even movies. 

We saw photos of Aunt Johanna playing with Kiernan, and Kiernan watching a movie, shielding his Elmo's eyes from the scary parts. We saw a trip to a park in upostate NY and a Lego Camp photo with completed Tai fighters. We saw Christmas trees in Illinois, and heard all about the extended time spent at the table. We saw Simon and his family at the theater, and we went to "Migration," but to be honest, it's eminently skip-pable. 

What was missing? SNOW. At least here. We did have ice, and Thomas and John spent hours with their assorted swords chipping away at the ice on the edges of brooks and lake. But then, after a few days, even the ice melted. That hasn't stopped the sword activity.

Other activities around here with Joe and Leonor and family here, have been Legos, library trips, Star Wars books, Aladdin (closely reaching a Guiness Book of World Records for times read), trips to Panera, trips to the doctor and pharmacy, carol and church services, traditions in this household anyway of listening to John Denver and the Muppets and watching the Muppet Christmas Carol and Love Actually (not my idea, but no one had to twist my arm.) Meals included Duck Rice, a Portuguese tradition and stuffed shells and prime rib, with great cookies!

And, as this excerpt from Annie's letter indicates, some of those traditions extended to India this year:  "We spent Christmas in Chennai. I got the most syrupy sweet drink at Starbucks while we walked around a decked out mall, we sang carols at Christmas mass, I watched The Holiday and Home Alone 2 (the superior of the series), listened to John Denver & The Muppets holiday album while making pancakes, and we had a traditional Christmas dinner of Thai Green Curry and vegan pizza. Really great."

Before the DC folks arrived, Mary and I went to NYC for our wedding anniversary. It's amazing how much you can cram into one 24-hour period in that city, even if you arrive with no plans at all. We did go to a play, "How to Dance in Ohio," a musical about autistic young adults, with autistic performers. We also tracked down a few Herman Melville sites, and weaved our way over to the Strand Book Store and Greenwich Village. We even mastered the subway system, which looked to us surprisingly clean, a step up from pre-pandemic days.

Some medical news. Andrew had a heart check-up and it looks like he's in store for by-pass surgery, some time early in the new year. Not fun, but to quote David, he'll feel instantly better after the operation.

One more bit of news from here. I opened up our local paper to see that Darrow School might close down at the end of this year. They need $6-7 million to keep operating, and then the same for next year. Many Dickson memories from Darrow.

So, back to the resolutions. We heard in church this week about families, and choices. Choices to be gentle, patient, forgiving, polite. You get the picture; these are choices we can make. Resolutions are choices, in a way.

And with that thought for the new year, here's to choices in 2024!

Love from up here. 

Baby it's Cold Outside

Only ten more sleeps!  We have a little more decorating to do, but Mary has done a lot, and me just a little, like taking advantage of my height for the tree-topping angel and the lights and the outdoor wreath, and a new star that lights up the birch tree at night. We have not graduated to inflatables. But there's still time. 

Since our last letter was devoted exclusively to a certain wedding, there is much to catch up on other happenings. After the wedding, Jeff and Melodie headed to the beaches at the Maldives, which looked pretty spectacular and chill.  Daniel went to Paris for a few days which looked like a different kind of spectacular and chill. Johanna went right home, but she had told us she was leaving NYC, so home may be back at Pennington, temporarily. She's looking at places along the Hudson River, perhaps even Hudson itself. Fun to plan, and dream.

While away, we noticed that Tina had quite a trip herself, joining a group for a tour up and down the Nile. Incredible scenery and lots of smiles in her photos.

Out in the Midwest, Claire came back for Thanksgiving, and we pass along photos of the theatrical accomplishments of Auden and Elliot.

We also talked to David and Paula, who is coming along nicely on her recovery, as she said she's been doing stairs and is comfortable walking around, and perhaps even driving. It seems David has struck up a correspondence with Karl Rove after a cold email response to a WSJ op-ed.

Speaking of recovery, Annie has been nursing a foot problem, exacerbated undoubtedly by hours of standing during you-know-what. She's had different diagnoses from torn ligament to arthritis, which means different treatments. Staying off her foot has probably helped the most, but that means staying cooped up inside. She is now back to outdoor walks, but taking it slowly. Not too slowly though, as she wrote this morning that she and Sankar are off on their post wedding trip to points west, Kerala and Ooty.

Other recoveries are in the coughing department, Mary and Margaret have had lingering, mysterious coughs. Negative Covid tests, but progress is slow. Mary feels good enough to go to the New England Masters Swim Meet this morning.

More big news is Joe and Leonor got their household shipment and car from Brazil, at long last. They've been living like nomad/campers for a couple of months, so it must be a relief. It looked that way for three kids who got reacquainted with their beds and toys and books. What an ordeal.  Luisa has started day care for a couple of days a week, and seems to like it.

Also, down in DC, Simon graduated to the next level in swim class.  He had made a lot of progress while in India, putting his head underwater, jumping in with reckless abandon, and making his way to the side of the pool.  And loving every minute of it.

Cincinnati update.  David sent an article saying that Coney Island was closing. Some of us remember P&G days there. I wonder if we were told to wear coats and ties there too. Coney Island had been in operation since 1886. Now it'll hold Taylor Swift concerts.

Life is good. We're expecting Joe and Leonor and family this week, through Christmas and beyond. Happily.

That's the news from Lake Pontoosuc.  Love from up here. 

Wedding bells (or drums)

Probably best to let Annie sum up her own wedding: "It's hard to put into words everything from the past month. Not only because SO MUCH HAPPENED, but also because I can't fully remember and actually don't really know what happened." I suspect any of the family that was there would say pretty much the same thing. But there is an element of the blind men describing the elephant as each of us saw and experienced it differently. And, that elephant folk tale is an appropriate metaphor because it comes from India.

Anyway, let me add a few thoughts, for the record.

-          At least two Dicksons told me that this trip left them a changed person. Hard to argue.

-          It was REALLY wonderful that each of the brothers' families was represented (Jeff and Melodie, Johanna, and Daniel.) And it was wonderful to see these cousins interact, with Joe, Margaret, Andrew, Annie and Sankar, as much as it always is in the Poconos.

-          Thomas and Simon added an indispensable touch, as they bridged the cultural divides for all of us. People everywhere respond to small children.

-          I told Annie that she was going to get on a moving sidewalk, and over the course of the four days of the actual wedding celebration, that sidewalk would move at different speeds and become a blur. I should have listened to my own advice. At times, I had to remind myself that I had a daughter who was getting married; it was such a cultural experience.

-          The wedding. Day 1 was Annie's arrival ceremony in Thanjavur (Sankar's hometown); Day 2 was the henna ceremony and dinner/party for families and close friends; Day 3 was the reception, consisting of an extended reception line over several hours; Day 4 was the wedding, with its rituals, and in the middle of it, Sankar tying the knot was the main event, judging by the crescendo of music and drum roll and loud applause afterwards, followed by another extended reception line. The wedding hall where events were held on days 3 and 4, was actually three large halls, two taken over by endless buffets, served by hundreds of people for the thousands of guests.

-          I would hasten to add a HUGE note of gratitude to Sankar's parents, and brother and sister-in-law, who hosted all of these events and guided us through them.

-          Even with all the religious traditions that were hard to understand, there was a fair amount of flexibility, or maybe it was forgiveness, since we didn't know what we should or should not be doing.  Case in point was Thomas and Simon deciding on their own to go up and sit next to Annie and Sankar during the ceremony. Instead of being hustled away, there were smiles all around.  But that's just one example; I think I could write a book about all our misunderstandings, if I even knew that I was doing something wrong.

-          One highlight was the invitation to go to Sankar's family house after the wedding, to meet up with his parents and brother and sister-in-law in a quiet space, and get to know them better. Mary and I returned one more time as we were heading to the airport and met with a similar reception. I will add here, that Annie and Sankar will be staying there for a few weeks before they head off on a trip to other parts of India before determining where they want to settle down.

-          And there was media coverage. A phalanx of still and video photographers in the hall, questions shouted out in Tamul to Sankar and a few to Annie in English. Thousands of likes on YouTube and Instagram the next day, articles in both Hindu and English press.  We actually coasted on that for the rest of our trip, as we repeatedly saw people in different places who had seen us and exclaimed their joy at meeting us. The articles gave these foreign guests credit for dispensing with our coats and ties and dresses and wearing saris and dotis.

-          A word on the food. I was never sure exactly what it was I was eating, but I know it was different preparations of vegetables, with spices, and condiments, sometimes served on a banana leaf. Quite a range of tastes. I should add that we all tried to eat without cutlery, but I was probably the first to give in and reach for the spoon and fork.

-          We had travel experiences before and after the wedding, sampling the rich, deep history and culture along the way. One bonus was our witnessing and even participating in a little the Diwali celebrations.

-          That meant driving from place to place. Which brings me to the subject of driving.  We didn't, luckily. I think the overall motto was "share the road," so many different life and vehicle forms on the actual roads. And then there is the weave, India's version of passing. I was reminded of the old algebra word problems about time and distance (a car is driving 55 miles an hour leaves 15 minutes before another car driving 60 miles an hour. How long does it take for the second car to catch up.) Drivers in India seem to have the best grasp on time, distance and space, as they squeezed around trucks, motorcycles, animals, and still managed to not collide with the trucks, buses, cars, motorcycles coming the other direction.  And, after three weeks on the roads in India, we didn't see one accident, and we only saw, miraculously, one minor road rage incident. (Sorry.  Why did I spend more space writing about driving than I did about the wedding?)

-          I was about to write that we managed to achieve my motto – no hospitals, no headlines. But I've already mentioned that there were headlines (good ones) and there was one urgent care visit when Thomas needed a new cast on his broken arm after the protective bag was not so leak-proof, and his cast was ruined after a short time in the pool. I should also add that Annie's trying to nurse a torn ligament in her foot.

-          I will not write about the flights as I hope that amnesia kicks in on only that part of the trip.

-          There's more, much more, and I think it could even be never-ending. But probably best to stop and leave a little for in person chats. We put our hand on our chest as the appropriate way to say thank you to Annie and Sankar for making all the arrangements to ease our stay. And we put our hands together and take a slight bow to them as they start their journey as a married couple.