Moving On

I tried to arrange lunch for the Cookie/Donna/Donna/Donna quartet since Cookie had major surgery (cancerous kidney and spleen removed) recently. She missed both our grade school dinner and girls' luncheon and we had hoped she was up to some visitors bearing lunch. She sounds great, said she feels fine but had two doctor appointments on Friday and was unable to meet us. She promised to see me next year!

So Donna B and I went to lunch by ourselves. She chose a great little deli type cafe and as soon as I walked in someone called "Donna Rae." Well that was a dead give away that it wasn't Donna Louise but me they were calling and it was my cousin Charles and his wife Charlotte. More relatives, more tripping. We talked about the last reunion and the one he is in charge of for 2013. They invited us to sit with them but Donna and I chose to sit alone. After several hours, when the place was closing, I complimented the owner on the food. She actually told us to come back when we couldn't stay so long! (Jokingly!).

That evening Ted and I went to the movies to see The Help. I read the book and enjoyed it and was hoping the movie was just as good. It was but there were a few changes in the story line.

We went to St. Vincent de Paul Church again at 3 pm on Saturday and then went to the Germania Festival. The blue and white of the Bavarian flag was flying all over the place as well as the red/black/yellow of the Germany flag. And the food! Out to conquer the German soul - Limburger cheese, spatzel, goetta, metts, wurst, hot potato salad, potato pancakes, turtle soup, strudel and beer, beer and more beer.

We sat in the pavilion to enjoy the opening festivities. They began with the Star Spangled Banner and then played the German anthem. They remember where they are from, but first remembered where they are. I liked that. Ted had a beer and I ate my calories - in the form of an apple strudel. Yummy!!!!

We sat across from a young couple who are dating. We learned she is from Connersville, IN (where Ted's father's people are from) and she is the newspaper editor. She and Ted had so much to talk about. After watching the German dancers and listening to some music, we parted company only to run into them as she was encouraging her boyfriend to try a shot of Yagermeister. I think it tastes like thick licorice cough syrup. He didn't think much of it either.

We decided to leave and had to catch a bus back to the winery where we had parked and taken the shuttle. Three women that had been on the bus with us on the way over were also leaving. They asked if they could follow us back into Cincinnati and avoid going through the traffic at the festival. We said sure. She asked what the back of our truck said and we told her "Texas." We laughed that three locals were depending on us from out of town to lead them. But we got them back to the highway and they tooted and waved as they went on.

This morning Ted went shooting and when he returned we headed to old Coney Island. This is the amusement park we attended as children before King's Island was built. Most of the big rides were taken down or bought by King's Island so the park is a shadow of its former self. Moonlight Gardens where we danced under the stars is still there as is Lake Como for canoe rides. Now they have paddle boats too. We rode a few rides and played some skeeball. There are three stage shows and we saw two of them.

We stopped to visit Karen on our way home. She is half was through her week being face down. It is such a difficult thing to do. We hope the doctor lets her stop on Wednesday when she sees him. If so, they will leave for the lake and we'll spend some of Labor Day weekend with them.

After a bite to eat, a chat with our new neighbors and some football on TV, Ted decided to check the tires. He found a problem with one of the RV tires. This morning he had to remove the tire and have the valve stem repaired. After he got it back on, we headed out. We are now in Georgetown, KY. We spent the afternoon checking out two campgrounds in Frankfurt but they are too remote for what we want to do so we'll stay where we are and just drive to the Frankfurt attractions we want to see.

We stopped some people in downtown Georgetown to ask for a lunch recommendation. Turns out they were visiting from Texas and were from the golf community just south of where we live! Such a small world. Downtown Georgetown is a delightful place and we had a good lunch in a neat little restaurant with Formica tables and Mickey Mouse memorabilia all over. After a stop at Wal-Mart for some groceries we came back and settled in for the night. We have the windows open and the A/C off. It is supposed to be 56 in the morning!

After Ted's conference call tomorrow we are heading to Toyota for their plant tour.

I grew up in Kentucky, but I did not grow up like that. I had heat, and I didn't have to shoot my dinner or anything. ~ Jennifer Lawrence