We Are Cruising,

We received an email from Grand Circle Cruises yesterday indicating we are a “go.”  A bit of adjustment is necessary due to water levels.  We will embark on one ship and travel for 3 days, then on the 4th day while we are visiting a stop, our things will be moved to our original ship for the next 11 days.  The Vienna area is up in the air and if we cannot stay on the ship we will be housed in the Vienna Hilton for two nights before flying home.  Whew!  I will pack a small 3 day clothes and toiletries bag so we can leave the big suitcase intact until the second ship.  

I spent a lot of time on Delta this past weekend because our plans have changed.  First, we decided flying 3 days out of 4 with one a 9 hour flight was a bit much, even for us!  Our grandson was married at the courthouse last winter and this current celebration was the convalidation in the church.  The bride is not baptized or churched in any religion so there are different rules for this.  So no big Mass, no Communion, no big reception, etc.,  just a few prayers and vows.  Ordinarily we would be there but life has been pulling the rug out from under me!  So we had plane reservations we had to cancel.

In the meantime we have to be in Detroit 11/17 for Ted’s two day occulist appointments that were cancelled in June when the doctor was in an accident the day before he was to see Ted.  So we had more plane tickets with us leaving two days before Thanksgiving for Cincinnati to spend Thanksgiving with my brother.  So …

We cancelled our two trip tickets and booked another ticket Houston to Detroit, staying over Thanksgiving in Michigan (sorry brother, made my kids happy) and home the next day to avoid the chaos at the airports as much as possible.  

Then my brother announced he was getting married 12/19 in Cincinnati.  OK …let’s regroup!  Another ticket Houston to Cincinnati to (wait for it!) to Orlando!  Kara rented a VRBO to spend Christmas near her Happy Place (Disney) and encouraged us to not go home to spend Christmas alone.  So we will be in Florida once again starting 12/20 the day after the wedding for a week.  Now Kelly is talking about coming too!  

Reservations were going fine until we hit two stumbling blocks!  We have to do one-stops on two of the flights.  Delta has limited non stops and we needed to bite the bullet!  I tried Louisville, Columbus, Indianapolis, Dayton, all one stop!   So I get all of this chosen, even our seats and go to pay.  The last page is where I needed to use our two e-credits in addition to credit card from our cancelled flights.  Ted’s worked fine, mine stayed greyed out!  No amount of looking and pushing and checking didn’t work.  Ted called the Gold line (his Status that gives us two free bags each, better chance at upgrade and entrance to some lounges) and handed the phone to frustrated me!  The gal was super, put me on hold, then came back.  Apparently my e-tickets were for Donna Rae not Donna so the names didn’t match!  They only asked for first and last name!  I wanted to bang my head against the wall so at least it would stop hurting when I quit.  

So we are getting haircuts, I need a manicure and Pedicure before we head to Amsterdam (non stop I might add) a week from Sunday.  I have Ride N Go ordered coming and going to the airport, hopefully the GCT transfer pick up works well at Schipol.  There have been tremendously long lines lines with this new entrance and exit protocol.  Not sure if our England and Aruba QR codes from our travel last year appear and if they mean anything!  

Off to pack!  

On To the Disney Fantasy

Ted drove us Friday morning to Cape Canaveral to board the ship.  Morgan made things for our door.

 

Dumbo is the mascot for the Famtasy.  We  were a few doors apart because we had 2 occupants and they had 3.  We enjoyed two beaches, Castaway Cay and their newest island park Lighthouse Point.  We had been to Castaway twice before but Lighthouse was our first time and it is beautiful.  In Nassau we chose to stay onboard and visit Palo for brunch. It is supposed to be “the thing” to do.  However, twice the waiter gave Morgan the gluten plate and her gluten free to Bill. Not once but twice!  

We saw Frozen and Aladdin productions on two different nights. We played bingo on the last night and Ted got down to one number for $5000!  We sat at a table with a delightful couple from England! 

Disney has you rotate dining rooms with your servers following you. With Morgan’s gluten free needs, Bill’s dairy issue, Ted’s wanting nothing extra put on top of his meal … I was the easy one. One starter, one entree. One dessert. No special requests or instructions!  I didn’t cook it. I wasn’t cleaning up, I wasn’t doing dishes. I ate what they put in front of me. 

After 5 glorious days at sea we were back at the dock to disembark.  One fellow loaded ALL the luggage for us 5 and pushed the cart all the way to the car in the garage!  We loaded up with their things on top so we could unload those things quickly at the airport. Then we were on our way heading west to Texas. 

We spent the night in Biloxi with a very early start the next morning.  Due to Hurricane Eduard SH105 through Sour Lake was blocked and flooded so we had to stay on major highways.  We normally get off I-10 just past Beaumont but we took it into the third circle freeway around Houston (99) to I-45 which brings us just 4 miles from home. 

Laundry!  Laundry!  Laundry!  Despite having a washer and dryer in the apartment we still brought several loads  plus what we had in the hamper here. Took a long time to get that caught up. 

Ted was off to his prison duties, we went to Church and ate at Subway just to have something simple. 

I played cards this week and came in second. 

My friend Irene (age 84) fell in Dallas at Walmart and is now home with a separated shoulder. She lives alone so needs constant care. I am set to stay with her Thursday and we will go from there.  She broke my 11th commandment. STAY UPRIGHT!  

We have a busy travel schedule starting 10/1.  We are flying to Detroit on the 1st to attend our grandson’s wedding all of sudden happening in Detroit on 10/2.  Since we were already booked out of Houston on 10/4 we have to fly back on 10/3 and then turn around and go back the next morning to use our original  itinerary. To fly Houston to Detroit to Amsterdam more than doubled our fare. Delta looked and looked and said going to Detroit and back was the best plan!  

The wrinkle in all of this is the water level of the Danube River is so low that all cruises scheduled for mid September have been cancelled. So that quick turn around may be for naught. I think in the next week or two the rug may be pulled out from under us.  

Then we leave the week before Thanksgiving to get Ted’s prosthetic eye replaced in Southfield MI and an early Thanksgiving with the kids before heading to Cincinnati for Thanksgiving with my brother. 

We made reservations for Christmas because Ted had originally planned to get his eye taken care of right before but that is no longer necessary but we decided to just go as planned. 

I think we will be laying low once winter comes!    

 

We Are Back!

We drove to Florida to join Kara, Bill and Morgan for their Disney vacation.  We stopped in Crestview, FL overnight then stopped in The Villages to visit Marge and Steve, our last neighbors in Cincinnati before we moved to Michigan in 1981.  We had a great visit, lots of laughs, dinner and then stayed in Wildwood, FL that night.  They were leaving on a cruise the next day and we declined their invitation to stay with them.  The last thing they needed was company that next morning.  And there was a beautiful church to attend Sunday morning just minutes from our hotel.  It all worked out great!

We met our family at Bay Lake Towers where Kara reserved a 2 BR, 3 bath apartment for us all.  We were given the master because it had a walk in shower, she and Bill took the 2 queen room and Morgan chose one of the Murphy beds in the living room.  It sleeps 9 so was very roomy for us all.  Our room overlooked the pool area.

Kristin joined us a few days attending a Keys to the Kingdom tour at Magic Kingdom.  We had dinner one night at Wilderness Lodge bringing enough leftovers home for dinner the next night.  We did eat at the Contemporary one night and Kara made spaghetti one night. The kids all have annual passes so bop in and out of the parks at will.  Ted and I rode the monorail and boats to the other resorts, swam in the pool, watched fireworks but didn’t go into the parks.  It is too much walking and too hot!  

On Friday Ted drove us to Port Canaveral to board Disney’s Fantasy, the same ship we took the entire family on 11 years ago for our 50th anniversary celebration.

Google is acting up so I will start a new Post to see if that works better.  

Things Have Calmed Down

It has been extremely hot this summer. I just stay inside! We took Anna and Uwe from next door to dinner to celebrate her birthday, played cards a few times and Ted has been attending the group at the prison a few times a month. 

Our four trips are set up through July 2027!  We leave next week for Disney World and Disney cruise.  River cruise in October, Christmas in Michigan and Family Reunion in Ohio next July!  We are at least optimistic!  However, it creates a lot of paperwork.  Now to keep it all straight. 

We accepted the settlement offered for Ted’s accident. Now we can focus on the Michigan driver who rear ended us and has refused to communicate with the insurance company. We used our Collision to have it repaired, paying the $1000 deductible. Through subrogation we are supposed to get it back!  More paperwork!

The family is all OK.  CeCe attended Safety Town that Troy presents every summer.  She had a great time.  Morgan has worked it for several years and CeCe thought that was a bonus!

I hosted Hand and Foot and won the $1 booby prize but the next day I came in first playing 3-13!  That was good for $3.  Our version of high stake poker!  

I should have more interesting things to share starting next Friday.  Hang in there!

Where Have I Been?

 I probably should title this insurance, lawyers and doctors. 

Back in October 2024 I flew to Orlando to join Kelly, Cassie, CeCe and Kristin for a 5 day Disney cruise to celebrate CeCe’s and my birthday. 

We gathered the day before, booked Embassy Suite for the night and went to dinner. At 7 am Ted called me from an ambulance saying he was hit by a semi on a 2 lane highway. He was heading to a men’s retreat house to cook breakfast for participants.  He was making a left hand turn and the trucker had decided to cross a solid yellow line in a no passing zone and was in the oncoming traffic lane.

Jaws of life were needed to get Ted out but the fact he was calling me was of some comfort.  I wanted to head to the airport but Ted said no and we arranged for Kara and Bill to fly down.  With the help of our next door neighbors and Kara’s friend who is employed at the hospital, our neighbors picked up Bill and Kara at the airport while her friend had taken Ted home and stayed with him until they arrived.  It was 3 pm, ship was leaving at 4 pm and Ted said “go.”

It was not the vacation I envisioned but I made the best of it.  Meanwhile things were getting sorted at home.  Totaled car moved to wherever they take totaled cars.  Police report, return of driver’s license and lawyering up.

We were told not to say anything so we didn’t. It took until this week to settle.  The outcome could have been so different and we praise God each day it wasn’t worse.  Ted is still in PT.  His balance is still off and his stamina has never returned to where it had been. He has been unable to shoot competitively because he just can’t get through a whole set. 

Now that it is settled we can move forward. We have the 5 Disney days/5 day Disney cruise scheduled for the end of August.  We will not attend the parks but because we are in a resort hotel we can ride all the transportation around    the whole complex. There is Disney Springs,Wilderness Lodge, The Boardwalk, Yeehaw Bob at Port Orleans and dueling piano venues. We will visit at our leisure while Kara, Bill and Morgan do their parks thing. Then we have 5 days on the Disney Fantasy.

We just booked The Great Rivers of Europe with Grand Circle Tours for October.  We took this 15 day cruise back in 2006!  Our friends from Florida wanted to do a riverboat cruise so we chose this one of the 6 trips we have taken  with GCT.   Cruise is booked, airline reservations made and transfer to and from the ship in place.  These are level 1 and 2 physical levels probably because most passengers are seniors.  So we know what we have signed up for.

Our summer social scene slows down so we aren’t out and about as much.  We still go out to dinner every Saturday after Mass and play cards 3-4 times a month.  

Ted has joined our church’s prison ministry and is enjoying his visits there very much.  He comes home each time full of stories.  He is making friends at our church too!  

Just want to share a photo I had colorized recently.  It is us at age 19 and 20 on April 24  1965.

Where Oh Where Have I Been?

I just received a message from a friend asking if she was locked out from my blog!  No!  I just didn’t realize I have not kept up with all the nothingness going on!  Sad, but true.

Ted needed an ultrasound and Mieligram (sp?) for our lawyer so we scheduled that.  I played cards 4 times in April, plus a dreaded drive to M D Anderson in Houston’s medical district for my yearly bone density blood work, bone scan and appointment.  We hate driving down there!  But … the Fosamax is working.  After losing 11% bone loss due to my cancer hormone therapy, I had an increase of 2.7%!  Worth the drive I guess.  Our MDA where I go for everything else is 2 miles away.  And I had two more doctor visits!

May wasn’t a whole lot better for interesting things!  I did do a lunch and visit Brookwood residences for challenged adults that hosts lunch, garden items to buy and a gift shop.  It is a very interesting set up and Irene and I had a lovely day with the CWJF Sustainers.  So good to go out!  

We played 2 of our 4 card games because we were unavailable for one and out of town for another.  Our annual Installation Luncheon for Junior Forum was the second week held at Old Town Spring.  Another chance to get out!  I am trying to ease myself back into working more but I still have issues with some things that are holding me back.  

So finally, after Ted’s dermatology appointment (where they scheduled him to return to have a melanoma removed from his arm), we were able to head to Michigan for the occultist appt.  We drove to Forrest City AR the first night and Cincinnati the second.  We arrived 5/28 at Kara’s.  Unfortunately a friend from our church of 16 years died and her funeral was that Saturday.  I worked funeral lunches at St. Elizabeth’s for 16 years so I got out my trusty black slacks, top and pinstriped overblouse, made deviled eggs, and attended Mass.  Last time we were there, we attended the viewing of another friend.  It was wonderful seeing so many friends from our years there even under sad circumstances.  

On Sunday we had a “most everybody’s” birthday party plus one graduation!  We start May 8 with Kristin and end July 7 with Patrick.  Seven in all!  Handing out cards I felt like a blackjack dealer!  Sam has a June 6 birthday  and recently received his Masters degree from Wayne State University.  So he got two cards!  Because Pat and Kelly were both turning 60 (yikes!) we gave them blowing out the candle rights!  

Ted’s first appointment with the occultist was to be Tuesday 6/2.  While we were celebrating Sunday, the doctor was in an auto accident and hospitalized.  So much for that!  We immediately booked a new appointment for 12/21 assuming he will be back to work by then!  We moved our travel date from 12/23 to 12/20.  Fingers crossed.  We checked and he was home from the hospital.  

But the fun wasn’t over!  We had gone to Grand Rapids and on the ride home a fellow in a closing left lane cut off about 6 cars to get in the right lane that all the cars were already in and the brakes started slamming on.  The guy behind us rear ended us!  Most damage is done to the bumper, hitch and sensors, almost $8,000 damage.  We thought this was no big deal.  Rear ending someone and getting cited is a slam dunk, right?  Not in MI, a no fault state.  Plus the driver was not the owner of the car!  We both have State Farm so hopefully they can get the owner to come forward, so far he is dodging State Farm!  Stay tuned!

We left 6/8 and headed to Grand Lake in Celina, OH to stay 3 nights with my brother Dan and Sue.  The guys went shooting and we went thrifting!  Sue buys jewelry, takes it apart and makes new pieces out of it.  I just looked around and bought a Chico shirt for $3!  We ate out each night, the third at a bar where they play Trivia.  That was fun!   The winners had two more points than us!

We left 8/11 and met up with Ted’s siblings still in Cincinnati.  We had lunch then moved to Graeter’s for their famous ice cream!  I had peach!

We returned to the Tru Hilton we had stayed at on our way up to meet my sister Laurie, Spence, my cousin Billie Jean and Tom.  She has just had colon surgery so we didn’t stay long but it was so good to see them all.

We left Cincinnati and headed to Elk Lake in Owenton KY.  Cindy and Tim (Aruba folks) have a gorgeous house on the lake.  We have such a good time with them.  We talked and talked, when out to dinner and took a boat ride on the lake.  We intended to stay for 3 nights but cut it to two when the storms were headed along the coast.  Right where we were driving to.  

We drove to Little Rock to spend the night at Sparks Hilton.  Our drive was fine until about Lufkin!  The heavens opened like I have never seen.  Visibility was almost non existent.  Ted did a great job of slow and steady, we made it home before dark.  The next day The Woodlands was under water.  We were spared with the water covering the edges of the street but never reaching the crown.  Our French drain was spouting like a whale into the street.  We have a creek of bull rock from our deck covering a French drain that releases into the street.  It did its job!  

We both had doctor appointments on Thursday.  Ted has the melanoma removed and is starting back to PT this week.  

But a bright spot was our Mother and Father day presents from Kara and Kristin, tickets to Riverdance.  Great production. We enjoyed it!  Kelly sent a new flag because Ted mentioned our old one needed replacing.  He is taking the old one for proper disposal at Honor Cafe where his Biblestudy meets each week. 

Happy 250 Birthday America!

 

 

And now it is Easter

 It’s been a tough Spring!  My azaleas produced buds about 3 weeks late but another cold snap and they just hung there.  They never did bloom.  There seems to be a lot of perennials that are still in hiding so I have no idea how much replanting I will need to have done.  I haven’t seen a single bluebonnet!  This is the smallest yard we have ever had and the one we have spent more money on than any of the others including Florida.

Other than fussing over the yard we didn’t do much else as we waited for depositions to take place.  They had moved the dates a few times so we just kept our calendar as clear as we could.

We went to our never ending doctor appointments.  Routine and follow ups keep the cycle of constant vigilance going!  

We played cards on our three regularly scheduled dates.  And finally we were deposed!  We met with our attorneys to discuss what sort of things they would ask and how to answer them.  Say as little as possible, just answer exactly what they ask.  OK!  

Ted went first and I was not in the room but they allowed him to stay when it was my turn.  It started out funny … where did you two meet, how old were you, how long have you been married.  Ok, Donna, just answer the questions.  “In front of a firehouse, 14 and 15; 61 years next month.”   Response - Wow!  I answered as carefully and truthfully as I could.  

Then it was Kara’s turn via Zoom.  She and Bill flew down the day of the accident because I was in Florida with 4 of our family.  She had knowledge of those first days that I did not.  She did great.  Our lawyer said we all did great and he was very encouraged.

And now we wait for mediation in July.  This is keeping my travel plans in flux and that is hard for me.  

Ted needs to go to Michigan to the oculist to have a new artificial eye made.  As he ages the socket and muscles change.  That will take a week of appointments.  We will drive and take 3 shorter days versus our previous normal 2 to get there.  Then after we will stop in Ohio to visit some family and take 2 days to get home from Cincinnati.

Kara has planned 5 days at Disney at Bay Towers at the Contemporary followed by a 5 day Disney cruise for all of us and Morgan at the end of August.  She does so much for our whole family that we agreed.  We have no interest in the parks.  Too much walking.  Last year we went to a “free evening for DVC owners”  to Animal Kingdom.  We rode the Safari train, ate some free food and left Kara and Bill there with their friends.  We will use the pools, visit our friends in The Villages and Palm Coast and spend time with Kristin too.  Then we will get on the ship!

Kelly, Ally and CeCe just spent a week in Orlando with Auntie Kristin.  They spent lots of time at Disney and stayed there a few nights.  CeCe was living the good life with three adoring adults indulging her every wish.  But she never gets demanding or “bratty.”  She understands “no” without arguing.

Then we are invited to a week at Hilton Head with my old Hoechst boss at the end of September.  How we are going to handle the time after the cruise until that week we are still working on.  I am leaning towards driving home after the cruise taking our new pace of 3 days and then flying to Savannah.  Gus has offered to pick us up and they will have a car.   Time will tell. This house is Gus’s son’s VRBO so a rental could cast us out.  That happened once and we understand it could happen again and we are ok with it.  But we have been there twice already. Fingers crossed. 

We had a neighbor that lives across from us fall using his walker trying to navigate the curb.  I heard him yelling and shouted to Ted while I ran to rouse his wife. We got him up and into the house. He had no injuries thank goodness. 

Then I get a message from our neighbor next to us who is away that he received an alert water was running non stop in his home.  He wrote to me so I went over and their hall toilet was running.  I flushed it just in case it was just stuck but when it filled it kept running so I turned the water off to it completely.  I wrote him and said it was ok for now but I think the float may need replacing when he gets back.  The man who fell had his wife bring me a lovely Easter lily.  That certainly wasn’t necessary but it was appreciated.

I did attend Newcomers Continental Breakfast and had a great time.  Lots of beautifully displayed delicious food and conversations with old and new friends. 

We have no Easter plans other than Mass at 11 followed by breakfast out somewhere that is not a reservation only buffet.  We just don’t eat that much anymore.  

And Another Month of Not Much Has Happened

The early weeks were very quiet.  I played cards and won (!) then came in second the night we played at our couples’ group that meets in homes.

We met with camping buddies Tommy, Susan, Stella and Jay.  Our venue for lunch was Saltgrass and once again I got burnt food!  Last time was a slab of burned bones posing as ribs.  This time was a bloody filet  that came back as a black ball!  We need to find a better restaurant at the half way point!  We all miss our RVs but agree that it gets a bit harder as you age but we don’t forget our friends!

Our new king mattress finally arrived and I decided the blankets and bedspreads in the twin room needed to be replaced.  We had been sleeping in that room waiting for our new mattress to arrive.  The blankets and bedspreads are so heavy I could hardly handle them anymore.  Not sure why but making a bed sets my back acting up.  Christine our cleaner happily left with the bedclothes and 5 blouses.

I attended Newcomers “Breakfast Out” at House of Pies.  They have really good breakfasts.  There were only about a dozen of us but a smaller group makes it easier to converse with everyone.  The following week I was asked to sub in a Shanghai group.  Craziest thing, I put the address in my GPS and when I stopped it said 117 but I was looking for 119.  There was no 119!  Marleah pulled up and pointed to the 117 house.  On the curb it said 119.  Whatever!  I guess removing the stone numbers is too much trouble for builders!!  I didn’t win.

The next week we didn’t plan much because we had been told we were going to be deposed.  But they moved it to the third week in March.  We played our regular Tuesday night cards at the country club and I went to my 6 month routine check up at my PCP.  All is good!  Ted had a doctor appt. to keep an eye on a nodule on his thyroid that has not changed in a year and a half.  Hopefully it still has not.  He has a sonogram scheduled next month.

Our Sustainer outing this month was brunch at Little Hen in downtown Houston.

followed by a visit to Houston Fine Arts Museum.  A Lourve Couture presentation was presented along with a Freda Kahlua expedition.

No travel plans until we get this lawsuit settled.  They move things around and if we have to go to court we don’t want to be away!  

Into February

Seems the wreaths were put away just in time for the hearts to come out!  And Mardi Gras right behind. Not a whole lot going on but we did both get dressed a bit warmer than usual for our two week “deep freeze.”  Today is 2/6 and finally it has hit 76 and sunny!  Hooray!

We had dinner and played Shanghai at the country club on our usual first Tuesday evening.  I think Ted won but I didn’t.  Ted has been shooting skeet a little bit with a new group.  It has been 1.5 years since he was hit by the truck and is just feeling enough stamina to complete a round.  Sporting clays allows him to sit in the golf cart between stations but skeet is 8 stations on one field so everyone stays close.  He puts his gun in a rack and leans on something.  However, both cause him to miss out on a lot of camaraderie with the fellows.  He still walks very slowly.

I found myself double booked on Thursday that first week in February.  I was to help at Continental Breakfast and bring a French toast casserole.  I was also signed up on a CWJF Sustainer outing!  Yikes!

I offered to make the casserole and bring it over that morning before picking up my friend Pam to go on the Sustainer outing.  It worked!

Our outing was to Houston’s historic Glenwood cemetery where many of Houston’s founders and famous residents are buried.  Our guide was excellent and told many stories about Wm. Hermann who has a hospital conglomerate named after him.  There are Memorial Hermann Hospitals all over Houston.  In fact, it is the one we use here in The Woodlands.  Hermann Park remains a very popular place in downtown Houston.  He was philanthropic and at one point accepted some useless land as payment for a cart he had built for a man.  It turned out later to be the Humble oil field.  One of the biggest finds to this day.  

There is the Rice family plot with quite a true story about Mr. Rice who funded Rice University.  Very interesting!  There was also the Allen’s, 6 brothers, 4 of which were very successful businessmen and helped settle Houston.  Allen Parkway exists to this day.  

The most popular deceased is Howard Hughes.  

It was a 4,000 step, 1 1/2 hour stroll through gorgeous gardens and many beautiful monuments.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  

Then it was off to Annabelle’s for lunch!  Such a lovely place with excellent food and service.  We were told to wear our fancy clothes.  Some did, some wore nice, and some came as they always do!  However, everyone was welcome.  

The entire ceiling is covered with silk flowers.  Two Valentine teddy bears graced the entrance.  The food was delicious but it was a long day and I was very tired when we got home.   Poor Pam had to turn around and go out again to the country club!

Boy Oh Boy!

The whole month of January has slipped by and I had little to write about.  Forefront now is doctor appointments, taxes, insurance renewals, cleaning out files, and making a trip to Destin, FL.  Ted’s brother Kevin rents a house in the Destin area each year.  They invite friends and family (in an orderly fashion) to join them.  We were offered 1/18-25.  Terry and Carol joined us from Alabama but both their Cincinnati sisters were unable to come.  

We played Shanghai the night before with our regular group before our 7:30 departure Sunday morning.  We tried a new way to go a bit north, then east, but we didn’t like it.  Taking I-45 south to pick up I-10 takes you way south to bring you back up north.  So coming home we took our normal route which is picking up 105 out of Beaumont, TX straight west across to I-45.  

We arrived a little after 4:00 as expected.  Barb had a pot of chili and hotdogs ready for dinner.  It was chilly so no beach weather all week!  We caught up on family news, played cards, took walks, sat around the pool with jackets on and ate - a lot!  Barb made breakfast each morning and put out things for lunch.  She is the Energizer Bunny!  Ted had brought 6 filets and his sousvide appliance to prepare them.  This is a French tenderizer of sorts that cooks the meat slowly to tenderize it before a final finish on a grill.  They were spectacular.  Baked potatoes, salad and garlic rolls we also brought, filled out the meal.  Barb’s peanut butter pie finished it off.  

The next three nights we ate out.  First was McGuire’s Irish pub that serves 18 cent bean soup.  The recipe is one used to make it for the Senate cafeteria at the original price from decades ago.  It was ok, I like mine better and it was not hot!  Corned beef and cabbage, fish, burgers and an Irish based salad were all enjoyed.  There are dollar bills stapled to the ceiling and estimates are $3 million is up there.  

Barb and Kevin walk 5 miles each morning.  I joined them one morning with the understanding I would go part way being sure I could make it back to the house.  I got 1.5 miles and my impinged nerve at the base of my spine had enough!  So they continued on and I walked back ok.  I used to do 3 miles three times a week with my friend Gerre until she moved!  That was before two impinged nerves became hitchhikers - the one just mentioned and one at L4.  Getting old sucks!

Second night we ate at a Mexican restaurant we visited two years ago.  I think most of us got tacos and margaritas. It was all good.  

Our last night was a fancier place The Ocean Club.  The food was very good and I think everyone had something different except Ted and I both had chicken parm which I can never finish.  So it was lunch the next day.  The strange thing was the spaghetti was served naked!  Ted asked for sauce and they brought a small bowl to the table which was enough.  Never heard of such a thing!  

We had been watching the weather and towards the end of the week we knew we had to leave two days early or stay 3-4 days longer.  We left on Friday early and drove straight through arriving just as it got dark and started to rain.  Whew!  We dodged a bullet.  The temperature tumbled and everything froze overnight.  We made it to church at 5 on Saturday while the temp was about 38 counting on it to not drop below freezing by 6!  We just made it.  Church was packed, just like at Christmas.  No place to park or sit hardly.  They said very few attended Sunday morning!  

The weather stayed below freezing every night for a week.  It is 46 today and the forecast is on the upswing.  By next week we are scheduled for high 60’s and mid 70s, our normal winter weather.  I will be able to move my succulents back on the patio table.  

They are finally scheduling depositions for Ted’s accident when the semi T-boned him a year and a half ago after the truck crossed a solid yellow line in a no passing zone and the driver was cited.  It means we cannot make travel plans until they stop moving the dates and actually do them.  

I hope everyone had a great Holiday season and are not now suffering through crazy weather!

Happy New Year

We returned 12/27 after an enjoyable week on the NCL Viva.  There is a relatively new ship.  Kids love it!  There is a race track, miniature golf, pickle ball, darts, splash pad for the little kids, two 10 story drop water tubes, escape room, arcade, etc.  We enjoyed watching the kids, deciding not to partake of anything that moved too fast!

After being disappointed (in that the specialty restaurants on the Dawn had not been any better than the Main Dining Room in our estimation), we skipped the $60 surcharge for the specialties.  There were lots of places besides the main dining room and buffet to eat and we enjoyed all of it! 

“Beetlejuice the Musical was their Broadway entertainment!  And we hated it.  No intermission so we lost 1 hour and 45 minutes of our lives that we will never get back.  However, their Icons show was fabulous!  They had two comedians, both funny but the one we saw three times (by accident) and it was the same show each time.  He performed with the other fellow two times who did different stuff so that’s how we were roped into three times of the same jokes.  Getting a good seat in the theater was never a problem.  

I had a ton of laundry when we got home, four loads and I have a huge washer!  Then there was the mail.  New Year’s Eve we went to dinner at a restaurant across from the movie theater and saw Song Sung Blue that I thought was spectacular!  Of course I am a huge Neil Diamond and Patsy Cline fan!  The music was just what I like.  But I didn’t realize it was a true story of a legend singing couple until the closing credits.  It’s a “don’t miss” in my book!

We attended Mass New Year’s Day and had breakfast at the Waterfall Cafe (complete with fresh squeezed OJ) and then after Mass on Saturday evening we had Italian at Adriatic Cafe.  

New Year’s Day evening we had neighbors in for snacks and drinks.  Enjoyable evening to end our Christmas season.

I really missed being with the kids on Christmas even though we FaceTimed Christmas Day and the following weekend when they were all together.  I am pretty sure we will go to Michigan next year unless they come here.  That would be great!

Tomorrow is Sail Away

Not too much has changed.  I am still dealing with a dry cough that won’t quit!  Saw the doctor again and he prescribed a nasal spray because my ears are plugged.  

We did play cards with 3 friends when our Shanghai Christmas party got cancelled.  I traveled to Chapell Hill with the Sustainers and visited a party venue that welcomed us with mimosas, hot cider, cookies and poppers!  

Newcomers hosted a lunch that I also attended.   We played games, bingo, gift exchange and a chicken Parmesan dish I made 3 meals out of.  Had my photo taken with Santa!

I had my annual M D Anderson Cancer Center check up and am delighted to report a Normal mammogram and all numbers looking Good!  

We have haircuts scheduled for today, are all packed and will head out tomorrow morning about 10 am and head to Galveston to board NCL Viva!  The ports are the ones we always hit out of Galveston but this is a new ship with amazing things like a race track, pickle ball, escape room, etc.  If not anything else maybe the sunshine will bake my cough out of my lungs.  And having someone do all the bed making and cooking sounds not too shabby!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  

Oh My!

 it is, Thanksgiving Week and I haven’t written anything!  I can only think of two things I did.  For For CWJF, I worked at our Pavilion for a Wood Fest Program for Title One schools.  The program for the public, not free, was the weekend before.  There is an exhibit hall and stage that hosts all kinds of things throughout the year.  After our program the exhibit hall will be turned into an ice rink, not free, and the stage will be readied for “A Holly Jolly Jingle” Christmas program.  This, like several others, are free to the public. It was 5 hours of herding 80 children from the bus to the exhibit hall where they donned lab coats to do 3 science projects.  They were all so well behaved.  They ate their lunch then we took them to the pavilion to see a musical teaching performance. Afterwards we had to lead them to their buses, 3 of them.  Once we filled the buses, took a count, had everybody and gave the drivers a thumbs up. Not a bad way to get 5 hours credit without a lot of physical effort!

I also attended the general meeting of CWJF.  It has been quite a while since I attended one. I am making a concerted effort to get out of the house more.  We did play Shanghai.  I think Ted won, I came in second.  Lost at Hand and Foot and was busy on 3-13 day.

Ted has been shooting and working at Blackwood Gun Club.  That and his Bible Study, plus taking over the cooking and grocery shopping keeps him occupied.

We are on our way to the Rio Grande Valley to do a few things since we had no other plans. We are due for teeth cleaning, want our wooden outside address sign restained at the flea market and will pick up a few meds while down there.  We hardly know any one there anymore but we may have a chance to say hi to the few still there.  

Throwback Thursday.  This is Ted’s parents 39th anniversary party in 1974 (I think).  It popped up for no good reason so I decided to post it. 

December will keep me hopping.  The first two weeks are piled up one thing on top of the other!   Doctor appointments, cards, Christmas lunches. another André Rieu Christmas concert will be shown in movie theaters two days in December.  Can’t miss that!

The third week 12/20 we are sailing on NCL Viva out of Galveston.  We had just been with the kids, the plane situation was a nightmare and here we sat, 85 miles from a port with the #2 ship for NCL waiting to take us to Mexico, Honduras and Belize.  With a discount, and a $1500 credit from our fall cruise, it was about 75% of the cost of two plane tickets to Detroit or Orlando.  We are planning for Easter break to go visit. I keep reminding them the roads go both ways and the planes fly both ways!

Well things went to sh*t quickly after we returned home.  I ended up with such a cough that I pulled my back muscles.  I had so many Dr. appts. and social things that I jockeyed around like a carnival barker trying to keep all three rings in motion.  So far I have only had to skip one lunch.  I got all dressed but just ran out of steam before leaving and I just cancelled and went back to bed.

This last week I have 5 Dr. appts., all shoved into this last week before our cruise.  I may need one more round of a bit stronger antibiotic since this cough just won’t quit.

I apologize to my Christmas card list!  No card designed, no plans to send cards.  I am so behind I finally took my pumpkins down off the porch yesterday!  Put up my wreath on the front door and I am done.  

Hang in there with me!  Hopefully the sunshine of Mexico will chase these last coughs away!  See you in the new year. 

I’m Back

I guess you all wonder what happened to us after our return from our fabulous vacation.  Fabulous because it was with our children and in-laws, we spared no expense, everyone got along!  We couldn’t have been more pleased.

What I had not mentioned was that the weekend before we were to fly to Stockholm, we were going to McAllen TX to spend a weekend with Cindy and Tim!  The night before we left we were at the ER for Ted.  He had a hernia that popped out and was about 4 inches long.  After testing and normal stuff, the doctor came in, massaged it until it popped back into place.  Once we got to that point I told her of our travel plans for the weekend and then the two weeks in Europe.  She advised not doing the upcoming weekend trip but said if all stayed as is, we could go to Europe.  Absolutely no lifting, advised Ted how to coax the hernia back into place if necessary, this was not life threatening and we weren’t going where there was no modern medicine.  

So we went.  Ted absolutely did not lift anything.  We walked 11,000 steps a day and all went well.  The day after we came home he had an appointment with a surgeon.  He had pre op stuff, a date set and we didn’t do much else.  In fact, I had a terrible chest cold and didn’t go out either.  

Surgery went well.  No problems with pain, he could get up and down and was walking within 12 hours.  They were amazed how well he did for being 81.  After 23 hours they released him and I brought him home.  He rested in his recliner, slept through the night and continued on as if nothing had happened.  He didn’t drive for the 5 days as directed and by then he was carrying on normally.

Two neighbors brought dinners, one came for a visit and we eventually met Tommy and Susan for lunch.  We are just getting back to doing our routine social things and will have more to share in a week or two.

So I will just share some dinner photos from the trip and Halloween ones from the kids.

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Exploring Montmartre

We took a chance on the RER-B train to get back into the city!  Fingers crossed we could get back home on it!  We had the metro stops down pretty good and arrived at the foot of the “mount.”   Montmartre is crowned with Sacré-Coeur Basilica (Sacred Heart Basilica).

It is a lovely church with a circle of beautiful stained glass windows.  The line was fairly long but the kind that just kept moving and didn’t take long to be inside.  We spent time looking at everything and lighting candles for persons who have need of God’s blessings.  

We had taken a furuncular up the bottom part of the hill and our RER-B ticket was accepted.  It was the best bargain in Paris.  

Then there was a train to take you on an hour tour of the area.  It is a “bohemian” area so lots of colorful things to look at.  

A famous landmark is the Moulin Rouge, famous for the performance of the Can-Can.  The music is actually Orpheus in the Under World but in US is mostly identified as The CanCan.

A lively and risqué dance probably of French origin, usually performed onstage by four women. Known for its high kicks in unison that exposed both the petticoat and the leg, the cancan was popular in Parisian dance halls in the 1830s and appeared in variety shows and revues in the 1840s.

We stopped for a pizza, found a pharmacy for Ted who was starting with a cold, a luggage place for Kristin who bought too many souvenirs and a Paris bag for my neighbor who keeps an eye on things.

We were able to take the Metro and the RER-B train back without incident.  We left an order for a bellman at 7:00 and a taxi at 7:15 for the next morning. It was going to be a long ride home.  

The bellman came for our bags, the taxi arrived and luggage was stowed.  It was a nightmare of taxis 3 lanes across at the terminal but somehow he got two carts, loaded up our bags and left them on the sidewalk in front of the terminal without getting run over.  We said goodbye to Kristin as she went right while we went left.  Kara had gone home the day before and she warned us to keep passport and boarding pass handy.  We had to show them at least six times.  I got patted down to the point I thought she would charge for a massage.  Wiped everything including the bottoms of my feet!  Kelly and Pat were leaving from a different terminal.  We had time to grab breakfast at the Air France lounge then flew directly to IAH about 9 hours later.  Kristin got stuck in Boston for 5 hours.  Pat and Kelly were also delayed in Dallas.  But all arrived home safely.