Trick or Treat

Some of you may have heard reports of pigs flying and hell freezing over.  These are not Halloween stories nor do they portend the end of being, it is just a manifestation of the unthinkable:  We purchased a microwave!  After thousands of rather successful meal preparations without using a microwave, we finally decided to get an entry level unit to assist us with simple tasks such as heating leftovers, cooking potatoes quickly, and making dang good popcorn. I’m sure we’ll use it more as we become more adventurous, but for the time being we are in learning mode.

Cindy is doing remarkably well with her physical therapy and healing.  We had a brief scare when the PT person wouldn’t work on her yesterday because the scar was looking swollen and inflamed and she feared infection, so she sent Cindy to the doctor’s office right away.  The doctor wasn’t nearly as concerned as the PT folks but he was glad she came in and then he calmly cleaned the scar tissue, removed some of the stitches that were still there (trying to escape) and cleansed and bandaged the area.  He gave me some needles, antiseptic, bandages and gauze so that I could do the same thing on the trip if necessary. Finally, Dr. Byxbee can practice medicine!  (Note from Cindy:  This doctor is excellent but very dry and serious - Wm actually got him laughing out loud by clowning around about scrubbing if he had to remove a stitch.)

Speaking of medicine, just as Cindy was getting better, I wrenched my back and for several days was walking around bent over like I was Walter Brennan.  I finally went to the doctor before heading to the airport to visit the kids in Florida. I assumed I would get a muscle relaxer and that would be that, but it was not to be.  Baby Doc, she looked to be about twenty, told me that old farts can’t handle muscle relaxers.  Perhaps her exact words were, ‘we don’t recommend anyone over 65 take them since their organs are slowing down and they have bad reactions.’  Instead she gave me a prescription for strong Aleve and said goodbye. I’m doing much better and hope that by the time we get on the ship I’ll be 100%; this is a dancing cruise and while we might look more like we are doing the monster mash, we’ll be trying our best to dance the nights away.

I mentioned going to Florida. This was a quickly arranged trip to coincide with Cindy’s trip to Minnesota for class/friend reunions.  We traveled on the same days but her flight departed at one and mine was scheduled for six. That gave me five hours to try the five airline lounges in Terminals A and B. Air France, British Air, Virgin Atlantic, Turkish Air and Lufthansa all have lounges in these terminals so I decided to go to each one, have a glass of wine and something to eat, then walk the length of the terminal (2,000 steps), and then visit another. Worked out well and I got my exercise as well as a variety of nice wines and food.  Turkish and Lufthansa were by far the very best with their unique cuisines on display at their finest. 

Cindy’s flight went beautifully; mine, not so much.  All the cattle were on the plane and the doors closed on time and we then sat there for an hour because they couldn’t seem to get the jetway to back away from the plane. No one could figure out how to move it the six inches needed for departure; amazing. We didn’t arrive at Tampa until 9:30pm and I had a reservation at the Marriott which is right in the airport.  As I was walking towards the hotel I noticed it was very dark in the reception area, then I saw glow sticks being waved about and I thought, oh god a Halloween Party must be going on. NOPE, the whole hotel was plunged into darkness due to a power failure. The rest of the airport had juice but not the Marriott. I could not go to the room and all of their bars and restaurants were closed so they let me leave my suitcase and told me everyone was at the Hard Rock Cafe waiting for the electricity to come on.   Sure enough the place was jammed and everyone decide to make a party of it so we all just waited for two more hours until the hotel had some power. They had to take us to our rooms individually since they couldn’t use electric keys, and then they deposited me in the room without a key. I didn’t mind - well, I did mind how hot it was since they had no AC for four hours - but I was exhausted and fell into a deep sleep. 

The rest of the trip went well for both of us and I got back to Dulles before Cindy so was waiting for her at her gate for our trip back home with Mr. Uber. We unpacked yesterday and begin packing for the cruise tomorrow.   Happy Halloween,  Cindy and Wm

Another note from Cindy:  My time in Minnesota was marvelous and I caught up with many friends and relatives.  I can’t drive yet but my cousins and friends stepped up and drove me from one end of the Twin Cities to the other.  This made me so happy and thankful! 

Travels with Petite Rouge

First things first:  Cindy is doing pretty well with PT even though it is slow and frustrating.  The surgeon did a great job on the surgery and the wrist is healing well, so that just leaves the stress fracture in her foot as an area of concern!  We are maintaining our plans for the next trip, flying to Lisbon on Nov. 2 and taking a cruise back to Ft. Lauderdale, and we figure the PT exercises are eminently portable.  She just has to learn how to dance on one foot.  

We have been housebound for six weeks and Cindy had five days between PT appointments, so we decided to visit our friends in Greensboro since we had cancelled the day Cindy was injured. We were eager to take Petite Rouge, our new ruby red Escape on a trip.  We had received a note from the dealership indicating that their records showed that we must be ready for a five thousand mile checkup. We had driven only 250 miles!!  So we packed and had everything in the car so that we could leave right after doctor and dentist appointments on Thursday. 

We had decided to stop for the night in Roanoke since we couldn’t leave Charles Town until three and didn’t want to push it. From the minute we got into the car until we pulled into the Holiday Inn Express in Roanoke, it rained to beat the band and nothing is more fun that driving on I-81 in a pouring rain.  We almost turned around but Cindy had recently “discovered” some neighbors from 42 years ago who live in Roanoke part of the year and they were going to meet us for drinks. While we drove they texted that due to flooding they probably wouldn’t make it downtown - and then once we arrived we checked with the restaurant and found out it was closing at 7 pm due to problems in their restrooms from the flooding.  Too late to go back home!  But lo and behold, the waters subsided and we found another restaurant and the friends made it downtown after all.  It was a delightful evening - they’ve had a fascinating life and even lived in Germany for 3 years while we lived there. 

So far, so good - but then we found out early Friday morning that most of Greensboro was without power due to a horrendous windstorm that was a part of hurricane Michael on Thursday.   That included the houses of our friends, and since it was the weekend of the annual Furniture Market even the most basic hotel rooms were going for upwards of $400 per night, if you could find one.  Again, we almost turned around.  

But then one friend suggested we stay at his office - which is actually a house - and which thankfully has a very powerful generator.  Let the good times roll ... the situation wasn’t ideal but we made it work and had dinner there both nights with all of our friends.

On Saturday we drove to visit a dear friend who had recently purchased a ten acre ‘hobby’ farm. She and I have very different ideas of ‘hobby’ ... mine is collecting and immediately drinking wine.  Hers is to get up at the crack of dawn and take care of three horses, six chickens, one dog and multiple butterfly gardens, pastures and outbuildings.  She is as happy as we have ever seen her and it is obviously a labor of love that she thoroughly enjoys.  

The power came on in various neighborhoods while we were in town, but much of Greensboro was still without power when we left for Richmond on Sunday morning.  The good folks of Greensboro seem to have difficulty understanding the concept of non-functional traffic lights. In most of the USA, you treat these intersections as though they were four-way stops. In Greensboro they treat them as if it were a game of chicken, i.e., he who hesitates is a goner!

The drive to Richmond was lovely with only intermittent showers but upon entering the downtown area we became painfully aware of the fact that it was the last day of a three-day folk festival and there were people everywhere and lots of closed streets. We finally got to our hotel and managed to park and get to our room. We had a lovely dinner in a lovely restaurant with a dear friend from our days at Boston University in the 1980s. It was a perfect ending to a grand four day weekend.  I’m happy to say that Petite Rouge now has a respectable 1400 miles.

Best wishes to all, Cindy and Wm