12 Oakdale

Day 3 of our trip, and still no luggage. Fortunately, this time to Northern Africa, we packed so we have a change of clothes (for some reason, I didn’t put in an extra blouse, ah well) and all Grant’s meds with us in our carryon bags. Lost luggage does make it easy to decide what to wear each morning. Same old, same old. We are at the Fairmont Nile Hotel, with a wonderful room overlooking the Nile. Between us and the riverside People of Egypt Walkway is a 6-lane road with constant traffic night and day. I use the term “6-lane” loosely, as lanes seem to be suggestions, not rigid rules. But there are lane markers. Buses, trucks, cars, mopeds, even 1 horse-drawn wagon stream pass. What there isn’t are crosswalks. I have seen none. Pedestrians just walk slowly across, one lane at a time, while traffic goes by. I am determined to try it.  My plan is to be next to a local and follow their lead. This morning we saw men standing in the road waiting for a seat on a microbus. Eventually they...

I was wrong that on our country’s 250 birthday, our dear leader would announce the end of his little excursion in Iran. I guess a good thing I hadn’t laid any money out in the “predictions” market. He seems to have forgotten we are even involved there. Certainly the newspapers have dropped all updates below the fold. We started the day at the annual pancake breakfast at Town Hall, graciously put on by the Town of Windermere, his honor the mayor flipping the pancakes. All free, however the Police Foundation did take donations for the mimosas they were pouring. We were delighted to support them. I took my thin papered sketch book to practice sketching in public. Following an Urban Sketchers commandment to always finish a sketch, I used my water brush to add color when I got home. With that non-nutritionally dense start, we were ready for the day. I had already blanched and peeled 20 peaches: 12 for the cobbler, then cut the rest up for the freezer. That was about half of the Georgia Peac...

Dang, GPT-Chat and I are getting good at planning trips. I give the basic info, and it organizes it. This time was a trip to New York to see Maya Rudolph in Oh Mary!  before her turn at lead ended July 2nd. We agreed end that a Costco vacation was the most economical, or at least what I wanted. First class Delta flight Wednesday morning at o’dark hundred to La Guardia, private car to Martinique Hotel, then reverse on Friday evening. Wednesday went off without a hitch. The flight was easy, breakfast good. I had a potato frittata, Grant the salmon plate and a Bloody Mary. A representative from My Sedan met us at the welcome desk at La Guardia and took us to our car. A long, slow drive in rush hour to the city and our hotel. We left our bags with the bellhop rather than paying $75 for early check in. First up was walking the High Line which has really changed since we visited in 2018. Bigger trees, much more seating, and lots and lots of people. Since the World Cup is happening, many ...

The chronology: Spaulding, Molly and Teddy flew in the Friday before Thanksgiving for a week at the timeshare her dad owns. Along with Steph and her family, they joined us for dinner: chicken noodle soup and pasta e fagiliol with sourdough  bread. The next 2 days, they had tickets to Disney. That worked out because we were booked for LAWD on Saturday. I made the cranberry tiramisu on Sunday. We pressed our electric camping cooler into serviced to have room in the refrigerator. Mary, Ryan, Bella, and Remi arrived on the red eye Monday morning. Everyone came for waffles mid morning. Swimming in our cold pool, chasing poor Gracie with the laser, cousin bonding. We took hotdogs to the timeshare to grill for dinner.  Tuesday, Steph got us all tickets to Universal. She even borrowed the Senior VP of Entertainment’s gold pass so Grant and I had free valet parking. It also got 6 people into the Express Pass lane on each ride. Exceptionally valuable for the Velociraptor roller coaster....

I had opted to stay in Williamstown because I wanted us to see Ground/work 2025, a site-specific set of 6 large sculptures, each made by a different artist using a craft from her or his culture. Woodworking, fabric dying, sculpture, basket weaving, mosaic tile, and ceramics. Marvelous, but I hadn’t considered that not all places are flat like Florida. As we trudged uphill, Grant struggled to catch his breath. However, with a rest at a picnic table, he was able to get to the top of the exhibit layout. Downhill is our friend. On to the New Haven, CT airport to turn in the truck and be picked up by Deb and Rob. Note on the truck which we should have inspected better before driving away: there were no dents on the outside, Grant had checked. However, once I began driving, I realized my boot heel stuck to the flood when I wanted to move from gas to brakes. As soon as I found a pull off, we stopped. No floor mat, and perhaps glue or sticky tape where one h...

Absolutely exhausted after driving 6 hours in light drizzle to medium rain, the last 2 in pitch dark on twisty, narrow back lanes. At least I think they were. Who could see in the dark? However, we arrived safely to the Williams Inn in Williamstown, MA in time for a bowl of tomato soup, beef ribs, mashed potatoes with mushrooms in a red wine sauce. My nerves were somewhat restored. Plus a glass of the bottle wine that was waiting in our room helped. We had flown into Buffalo 3 days before, then Lyfted to Niagara, NY to an Anchor Bar. Lunch was 2 house IPAs and 20 medium wings. We watched UM snatch defeat from SMU in overtime. A walk across the Rainbow Bridge, brief visit in Canadian Customs, and we popped out at the Fallsview Hotel on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. I had requested a room on the riverside, which we sorta got: 21st floor, SW corner, semi facing the falls. No matter, we were here. We ditched our suitcases and strolled along the river.  We were overwhelmed, as I a...