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...

Forty-eight hours after my alarm was set for 3:00 Monday morning, we were back in bed, exhausted. We had arisen (I always sleep badly before an early plane trip), flown to Las Vegas, driven to Alamo, Nevada, toured Michel Heizer’s City , and returned home on the red-eye, to collapse in bed exactly 48 hours later. To break it down, and process all that: the first part of the trip was our usual get out of bed at o’dark hundred, dress, maybe eat, drive to the Marriott to park our car, shuttle to MCO, fly to wherever. We usually do this because flights are cheaper before 9:00 AM and we get a full day at our destination, especially if we head west to new time zones.  Then it got weird, not just because we were about an hour’s drive east of Area 51, home of the famous UFOs. For someone like me used to subtropical foliage and now central Florida’s coverage of green, the starkness of the scrub north of Las Vegas seems so barren. Plus no cell service. I definitely felt I was in a twilight z...

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 ...

I find it takes me at least a day to recover (somewhat) from a trip. I had paid for upgrades to first class, $221 each, for our red eye home. Although it was nice to have dinner, I wasn’t impressed. Perhaps there was a footrest I could figure out, but I have slept better in the narrower seats in premium. Meh. We slept most of the morning, had lunch, then napped. By the next day, I was somewhat myself. Not quite on East Coast time, but getting there. Now it’s catch up time. Yard: I must take down the lychee and get the bananas planted across the canal-side in its place. They are starting to work on the opposite lot, and I want my privacy plants up and tall. I’ll plant more elderberry at the water’s edge, and clear out around the swamp maples and cypress, which are natives. But first, bananas. I harvested my onions: Texas Sweets, Red Creole, and Texas Early Whites. I’m pleased with the crop. Next year, I hope to do it a little earlier, so I can braid the tops. Since I hadn’t dug up all t...

I have 7 layers on and am still cold here at Bryce Canyon National Park, but it is worth it. This morning we got up at 3:45 and saw the Milky Way at Sunrise Point. 22°. We were the only people there. Just as we got out of the car, I saw a meteorite. We walked out to the overlook and sat for a while on the bench. Then, throughly frozen, we drove to Farpoint to see the sunrise. Thank goodness for the heated seats and steering wheel in the Jeep Compass we rented. And thank goodness I made Grant buy a park sweatshirt since then he could give me his red windbreaker. Even with tights under my pants and 2 pairs of socks, my legs and feet are cold. Yes, we could have packed bulky warm clothes but we are only here overnight to see the dark skies. We started our trip flying into Salt Lake City 4 days ago to see new granddaughter Hazel Maeve and to attend the Great Salt Lake Bird Festival. 2 birds… Hazel is absolutely darling. I know, I know, a doting grandmother would say that, but she is. And s...

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...

We start Year Six in Windermere. My innate optimism has ebbed away. Grant is working hard at getting healed and stronger, however, it all has taken a toll on me too. Little by little, I see our world contracting. That makes me sad. I know most of this low is because I’m so tired. Not just all the additional physical outgo, but also all the worry I have. The latter is probably just wasteful because there is so little I can control anyway.  I know this will pass. I will adjust. I will get more sleep. It is just now, in the interim, that I flail against my situation. I recently read a book that suggests being kind to one’s future self: will that cookie now make my future self happy? Is my excuse to skip exercise really how I want to care for myself in the long run? A positive spin on doing what I know I want, right here and now. It works some of the time. On the plus side, Grant’s fall was as well timed as possible. We don’t have any big events on the horizon that we would have to wor...

Thursday, March 6:  Another boat ride on the Rio Frio, this time heading upstream. We left before breakfast was served, only coffee ready, so they bagged up bananas and ham sandwiches made with really good bread. Even more caimen this morning including a couple of dead bodies which Jorge said were probably killed in fighting for territory. This trip we saw egrets, several green ibis, (which I’d never heard of), black-necked stilts, whistling ducks, and kingfishers (Amazon, American Pigmy, Green, Ringed, and Green-and-rufous). A black-collared hawk flew over. The goal was sungrebes. We found a female and a male carrying a baby. I didn’t even notice the caiman on shore as I watched the little sungrebe swim against the swift river current. Heading back back to the dock, one more female sungrebe. A bumpy ride back out to the highway, looking for jabiru with no luck. Eventually, we reached the better paved road, and began wending our way out. Lunch, casado,...