News For and From Our Family
February 2010 News
Mom and Dad .jpg)
We have been blessed this year with a mild February.
We have not had record breaking snow storms like the east or wire sagging, branch snapping ice storms like the middle states nor the downpour floods of the south and west. No earthquakes, no tsunamis. The last time we had to have Goldenrod Lane plowed was mid January. We do get the occasional light dusting with fluffy lightweight snow but this soon evaporates in the daily 30+ highs.
Meanwhile, we sympathize with Mark who reports unusually cold and stormy weather in Amsterdam, Mike who says they have lots of freezing fog (no wind) and beautiful hoar frost in Montana and Paul who is in that area of the East coast reporting record snow falls. On SuperBowl day, Danielle, Ben and Bladen celebrated Mike’s 50th birthday with Mike and Maria; the other kids called in their congratulations. Vanessa helped Vicky move to Butte, Montana where Vicky and her fiancé have bought a house. Joe has not yet begun his new course of cancer treatment; he’s still waiting for the pain in his feet to improve.
It’s been quiet here except for the construction work going on at the Mazza’s house across Goldenrod Lane. All month vans, concrete mixers, sky tracks and workers’ cars have been parked on Mazza’s lot and up and down Goldenrod Lane. They’re having the north side of the house reconstructed and having the decks changed.
February is the month for Glidden snowbirds to head south and Margaret lost her regular partner and many duplicate bridge players. However, judging by the crowds in the more popular restaurants, enough residents remain to make dinner reservations a prudent precaution. The Saturday night before Valentine’s Day, we attended the winter Glidden Drive Association dinner at Mr. G’s Supper Club where we were entertained by a husband/wife comedy team. Last year we took Angi and Sean to that annual event. This year they have a month old bundle of delight
Jim was over here on the first Saturday on a computer problem, after which we three saw Edge of Darkness (Mel Gibson revenges killing of daughter; ok, but not great). Afterwards we had supper at the Blue Front.
The next Friday Margaret and I saw “It’s Complicated” (Meryl Streep can’t say no to ex-hubby Alec Baldwin). I can’t judge this fairly, I’m so anti-Alec, while Margaret thought Meryl Streep’s acting below her usual excellence. We ate at Sage, a restaurant we save for special events, like Valentine’s Day.
Finally on the 20th, we saw “Valentine’s Day”, a romantic comedy and an ensemble movie like “Love Actually”. We enjoyed this. I’m looking forward to seeing the closed captioned version so I can find out what it was all about. Supper at Dal Santos.
Friday the 26th, there being no movie to interest us, we decided to try J.J.’s in Jacksonport for its non-Mexican menu, our second visit since it opened. We decided the food barely passed muster and we won’t go again.
The Clearing classes Margaret attended in January and February ended at the end of February and she began classes given by Learning in Retirement.
A short but enjoyable month.
Jean and Doug
We arrived in Acapulco on Saturday January 30th. The Mexicans were celebrating their independence day (Feb. 1) and the roads were filled with traffic. The normal 40 minute ride from the airport turned into 75 minutes.
That first day of arrival was partly cloudy and we passed if off to slightly unusual weather. While once we were in a group of ‘old timers’ at the Mirador, we are now the old timers. There was no one else there during our stay that we once knew and socialized with. They have all died or have ceased coming due to ill health. This was our 15th year at the Mirador. It has been 23 years since I first met Jean in Acapulco on January 30th, 1987. After the Independence Day long weekend ended, we were perhaps one of 3 or 4 patrons at the hotel. Oscar, our friend, was not there and we missed not having the chance to visit with him as well as the convenience he supplied taking us around the city.
On Thursday, for the first time in 23 years of going to Acapulco, it rained the entire day. Probably Il Nino. The rained started the night before and continued off and on throughout the next day. Of our 6 full days there, 5 were partly to mostly cloudy. When this period of cloudiness had occurred in 1989 while I was there by myself, I got on a plane and flew to Oaxaca to escape the cloudy weather. For surely, if you are in a place only to enjoy the weather and the weather does not cooperate, why stay?
This time however I was amazingly accepting of the weather. While I preferred it sunny, in a sense it did not matter. I read 4 books on travel. Tea and Bees Milk, a couple’s year stay in Turkey, Endurance, Shackleton's failed Antarctica trip, Lost in Mongolia, a 5500 mile boat trip down the Yenisey River and The Geography of Bliss, a journalist’s quest for why people in different countries are happy (or not). All enjoyable books. The most amazing was the 17 months that Shackleton and his 27 man crew spent on the ice of the Antarctica Circle. It is amazing what man can and will do to survive.
This is the second year that I have been able to send and receive email on my Blackberry phone while in Acapulco. This has made staying in touch with my clients and family so much easier I can hardly express the change. Similarly, while expensive, I can make and receive phone calls almost anywhere in Acapulco. Each year there are more changes that make staying in touch more instantaneous.
On a different technological note, Jean went looking for a new MP3 player and after visiting a very crowded Apple store early one Saturday morning, we both decided to buy our first Apple product, the Apple Nano IPod (on Amazon $40 cheaper). This small device, about 1.25” wide by 3.5” long by 3/16” deep, is one of the best designed products I have ever bought. It is so easy and intuitive to use. I understand now the accolades that Apple receives and its soaring stock.
The Nano holds music, pictures, movies and podcasts. It takes video (i.e., a low resolution video camera) and has an FM receiver (useful at the health club in tuning into TV stations using FM frequency for audio). It is a really nicely designed device. I guess Jean and I discovered what millions already knew before us….
And on still more new technology, I am switching over to wireless Internet and phone at the office. This will (hopefully) cut my Internet / phone from $250 per month to about $150 per month. Clear, a 4G (G=generation) wireless provider, has entered the Chicago market and I met someone at one of the Oak Park River Forest Chamber events a few weeks ago that lead to this. So the phone becomes VoIP. Hope there are no electrical outages. An update on this will follow.
On the 9th, we got our first major snow fall since early December, officially 12.5”. Compared to what Washington and other parts of the country are getting, I guess it was a baby storm. Us sturdy Midwesterners at least don’t shut everything down for 3 or 4 days (like the capitol).
On the 12th Jean and I watched the opening ceremonies for the 21st Winter Olympics. Very nicely done, particularly the whales that appeared to swim through the stadium floor breaking up the ‘ice’. Bek stopped by with the boys mid afternoon on the 14th. Spent a quiet evening at home on Valentine’s Day in front of a fire, ordering in Greek food.
On the 19th we had Shel and Gail over to sit by the fire, have dinner and talk. Gail’s dad was a marine and his funeral incorporated military honors. On the 20th Jean and I had Jason, Stacey and her parents over for dinner. It was a very pleasant visit.
The next day Sunday we celebrated Finn’s second birthday at Bekah and Pat’s with the rest of the immediate family (grandparents, siblings, cousins, etc.). Finn seemed to enjoy himself.
I am reading the book ‘Too Big to Fail’ about the financial bailout. Very interesting. All I can say is it sure is an old boys club….. They all know each other and as far as I can see largely protect each other’s interests.
On the 25th Finn fell down the carpeted basement stairs. Pat and Bek found out when they took him to the emergency room that he had broken his collar bone. I suppose if you have to break a bone, 2 is a good age. It sure beats 62 or 82. He seems in good spirits despite the fact that it will take about 4 to 6 weeks to heal. You have to be careful when you pick him up that you do not do so under his arms, but rather at his waist.
Two days later we joined their family to a trip out to the Schaumberg Rain Forest Café. The café restaurant looks like a rain forest with automated animals, lightening and thunder, immense aquariums and water everywhere. It was Finn’s first time there and he was completely fascinated. He particularly seemed to enjoy the water fall exhibit.
On the 26th my computer was hit with a virus. Thank goodness for the Internet. I was able to research the problem and although it took 3 hours, get rid of the damn thing. Hopefully it is gone. Just as a note, if you find strange things happening check for any new files under Documents and Settings\your name\Application Data. If anything is there try to rename the files. Then run antivirus software and you may have to go through your registry if you know what the rogue file is.
The end of a month…so ends February and the Winter Olympics. Hopefully the end of my cold too, now 10 days old (I think I got from one of the boys).
Looking forward to warmer weather.
Good movies we saw:
A Serious Man a Jewish man’s trials while he wonders…. ‘why me?’
Into the Storm Churchill’s reflections back on World War II
Photos are here