My Weblog

Ocotillo Gold

Who says we don't get a change of seasons in the desert?!  I present evidence to the contrary.  Does it get any more exotic than Ocotillo Gold!  There is more autumn color in this ocotillo, however, than I found in most trees while I was in North Carolina and Virginia.  I was watching for a full blown sea of crimson as I flew into Raleigh/Durham North Carolina, but I was sadly disappointed.   My disappointment didn't wane as I found the usually colorful landscape looking rather pale  The warmer temperatures along with the drought that they're experiencing has left the autumn colors delayed.  I found not only paler greens, but tinges of surrounding brown.  Many leaves were falling, having turned brown before they turned maroon, orange, yellow or red.  Does this scare you?  IT SHOULD! 

One of my retirement goals is to spend an autumn in New England.  Jeff cut out a recent article in our local  newspaper  and wrote across it "Are we too late?"  The article wrote about the fact that the autumn colors are beginning to fade due to warmer temperatures and drought.  I experienced it first hand on my recent visit to North Carolina and Virginia and it's a bit scarey.  It's but one reason that we need to take global warming seriously and "think globally - act locally."  There are things that we each can do to avert global warming.  If you don't do it already, RECYCLE.  Not only does this preserve landfill space, it preserves natural resources.  If your community doesn't recycle, find out why.  Contact your city representatives and find out what can be done to get a program started in your communitiy.  If we don't hurry, it may just be too late.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge & Tunnel

After a leisurely start to our day, Jan and I took a drive from Willamsberg Virginia to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge & Tunnel.  It's one of the top 7 engineering marvels in the world and spans 17 miles, crossing the Chesapeake Bay.  You enter from Virginia Beach and when on the other side, you find yourself in rural America.  From bird sanctuaries to country stores and small fish markets, you feel like you are in another world entirely!  The temperatures have been surprisingly warm so the fall colors are barely starting to show.  We found an occasional tinge of red interspersed with a little yellow along the way.  It wasn't enough enough to me to think it was worth a photo oppportunity stop.  We ate lunch in a local eatery called The Captain's Deck.  The food was ok, but nothing to write home about.  It was the friendly service of the staff that really made it worth the stop. 

I just made a quick stop in the lobby of the Greensprings Resort to log this entry.  There will be more blogging on the trip when I return to Tucson and have the use of my own computer.  We head back to Chapel Hill tomorrow.  It's been a very quick four days in Williamsberg Virginia.  I wish I would have signed up for one more day, but alas, I didn't.  It will be nice to see Jerri again.  We'll get to spend the weekend together before I head back home.

Rob and Jerri's Wedding

View this photo
Yesterday was Rob and Jerri's wedding day here in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  It was a perfect day for a wedding with very moderate temperatures, no wind and a beautiful starry night!   The wedding was held at their home and we did most of the cooking and set up  for about 125 expected guests.   Jerri had been making food preparations for weeks in advance.   Many of the people involved in their lives are  environmental activists so everything possible was done to make the festivities "sustainable."    Rob even had the minister make an announcement after the ceremony as to where all of the recyclables were to be placed.  Sustainable means that  as little as possible goes in the garbage!  We used glass plates, ceramic coffee mugs and glass wine glasses.  Any scraps from the meal preparation went into composting.  It made for a beautiful reception but it also made for alot of work on cleanup but they work with a community of friends and neighbors that made it a relatively painless task.  It was beautiful to see a community come together this way.  It was a beautiful wedding and if Jerri's life continues to mirror that of her mother's, Rob will be the love of her life!  That thought makes me very happy.

Southern Hospitality

There's something to the saying,  "southern hospitality".  While visiting Jerri and Rob in Chapel Hill, I've spent all of my nights across the wooded road at Frank and Suzanna's home.   What a beautifully appointed home, filled with art and music........ahhhh........such a delightful place to relax.  The fact that their dogs, Luther, a southern black mouthed cur, and Zelda, a brindled boxer pup, help keep me company, can't be overlooked.  My first night there, Luther ran off with the felt bag I store my MP3 player in.  The next night, I found one of my brand new tennis shoes missing in action, only to be found in the same corner of the back yard where I found my felt bag the previous day!  The joy of dogs! 

Frank is a musician.  One room of their home is relegated to all things music, from a standing contra bass, drum set, a banjo, mandolin and numerous guitars to name a few.   They're going to a music festival  This weekend, about 40 minutes drive away.  They belong to a large music community and Suzanna tells me that many of their friends will be performing over the course of the weekend.   Festival attendees can set up camp so Frank and Suzanna set up their camp last night.  They've turned their house over to us for the weekend.  Such gracious hospitality!   Jeff, Jerri, Rob and I may go to the festival on Sunday.   It's $24 a head and Suzanna tells me that it's worth the price.  I  believe her!

North Carolina

I'm in Chapel Hill, North Carolina!  Warm people, warm weather. I guess that just shows to go ya how much seasoning I need in the travel department!  I was expecting cool temperatures along with crisp mornings and thus far, I've been fooled.  If this weather continues, I'll get lot of wear out of the two pair of shorts I brought along and the corduroys will sit in the suitcase.  Not even a hint of cool in the air this morning.  As a matter of fact, its cooler in Tucson right now than it is in Chapel Hill.  Who wudda thunk?

When one travels, a question that often gets asked is "How was your flight?"  Uneventful is the response that I always hope to give.  If there was ever a time you want "uneventful" to be a positive, it's when you're  flying, right?   My flight left promptly at 5:00 a.m. yesterday morning and I had a 2 1/2 hour layover in Dallas.  I actually enjoy the Dallas airport.  Lots of activity with lots of travelers.  They have LCD TV's all over the place with CNN news running on most of them. (Being as we are were in Texas, I was surprised that they weren't running FOX news) Lots and lots of restaurants, coffee shops, news stands, ice cream and pretzel shops too.  You could go broke, but you'll never go hungry at the Dallas airport!   You can find sports programs in the bars, of which there are many in the Dallas airport corridors.  I lounged in front of a CNN program while I had my ears plugged into my Sansa MP3 player.  Gordon Lightfoot kept me company most of the time.   

I don't know how familiar you are with the Dallas airport, but it's HUGE.  American Airlines alone has 4 terminals, each with 36-40 gates.  They're all shaped like the letter C with two C's sitting on top of each other and then another two C's sitting across from them with the openings facing each other.  To catch my connecting flight, I could either walk or take a  train.  I elected to walk given I had another hour to spend.  It was a long walk, I'd estimate at least 1/2 mile, maybe longer.  As I crossed the corridor from Terminal D to C, I found myself alone with the exception of 3 or 4 airport employees.  As I walked through this long, wide corridor, crossing 4 highways with 3 to 4 lanes each, I found myself relishing the environment and the solitude in the corridors expanse.  I LOVE TO TRAVEL! 

Here I am in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and it's a warm and humid day.  Let's see what the day holds.

Preparedness

This is how my friend, Karen, signs all of her emails.  She works for a fire department in the Tucson area in a civilian capacity.  She trains the community in emergency preparedness and does a top flight job!  An evacuation plan is something we should all have, especially in this day and age.  I'm a good one for having several plans.  Plan A and Plan B for one never knows if we'll be able to implement the first plan.

That reminds me of a plan to meet my Mom at an airport on one of our travels.  She was flying to our destination from Albuquerque and I was flying  from Tucson.  We were arriving at different times, and for the life of me, I can't remember the city.  (That won't come as a surprise to most of you, I'm sure!)  Plan A was to meet at the gate, Plan B was to meet at Starbucks on the concourse and plan C was to meet at a yet 3rd location at the airport.  But I'm not finished..........plan D was to get to our hotel and wait there.  Plan for all contingencies, right, Karen! 

FLM (funny little mum)

This is what Jeff  endearingly calls his mom.  When we returned from Globe (the start of the great blogging adventure) Mom told me that she wasn't feeling well.  I become uneasy when I hear her say that so I decided to spend the night with her.  Go with your instincts.  With my many nights working 9-1-1, I know that many medical emergencies happen in the middle of the night.   Mom had a recent bout with a middle of the night fall and spell of unconsciousness followed by disorientation.   She was so disoriented that she couldn't call 9-1-1 and when the medics arrived, couldn't get up to open the door for them.  Thankfully she was able to call us and tell us that she needed help.  Even though she was disoriented, she attributed her ability to call us to "muscle memory."  She's called our number so many times that she knew just where the numbers where on the keypad.   She ended up in the hospital for 5 days with all sorts of test run to find out what caused the problem.  They found nothing but a bladder infection.   I'm spending another night with her tonight and am thankful that she's feeling better at this writing.  As I write this, we're reminiscing about our meeting 25 years ago.  Such happy times to look back on.  I'm happy that I can be here with her.  She said earlier, "Aren't you happy to be retired?"  I couldn't do this if I weren't was my reply.  Life is good.  And so, I join mom in conversation as she lays, resting her weary back.

Chihuahuas & Blogs

Well, it was the sixth Chihuahua Races for Jeff and Zorro and Jeff ran the little guy ONE MORE TIME this year and despite a bad hip and a few grey whiskers, Zorro pulled out a fourth prize out of a field of 28 dogs!. Last year he was Champ! But age has a way of slowing all of down.... a bit.

Deb and Jeff spent the weekend at cedarhill with us and it was like old home week!  Plus, I got to introduce them to the wonder of BLOGGING!

So I hope to see many more posts and photos from them as they build their house in Sequim... Pronounced like Swim... but with a Q.

Blog On!   

Deb & Linda's First Post

OMG!  Ok, so I'm using texting lingo,  shoot me already...........

This is where it all started and I'm actually blogging thanks to my friend Linda in Globe Arizona.  What texture and richness she adds to my life!   God truly does give us what we need.  I'm sitting in her loft space on CedarHill embarking  on an adventure.  There's nothing wrong with getting help when you need it, so here's to more of that.....HELP!       I needed Linda's gentle proding to get me started so here we go.  Welcome to my adventure!