Home at last

Home at last, and after a good 16 hours of sleep I feel almost human again. Got here about 3pm yesterday and went directly to bed, where i stayed until after 7 this morning.

The last long leg of my flight yesterday was not as bad as I'd feared. Being one of the last people to board, I was surprised to see what seemed to be quite a few empty window seats near the rear, so i passed up the few aisle seats remaining near the front. Dang little kids, masquerading as empty seats! At least I ended up between two quiet adults. Two benadryl and a double scotch put me nicely into suspended animation for most of the flight, and when I woke up we were over the Cascades.

 

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More musings to stay awake

Now I will demonstrate the double entendre of "vickie sue rambles", by rambling.

I'm so glad I stayed in Michigan for Father's Day. We invited my stepsister, my cousin, and her husband; and I cooked dinner. I think we dirtied every dish and utensil in the kitchen, twice, but we had a very nice visit and I know my dad really likes having visitors. Shelia brought dad fireworks, which he loves, for a Father's Day gift.

We even used the dining room table, which I haven't sat at in years. This beautiful table is at least 100 years old, with corkscrew legs and high-backed, cane-seat chairs. At holidays when I was a kid, I remember dad's whole family, grandma, grandpa, aunts and uncles, and kids, sitting around it playing poker after dinner, penny ante, nickel limit.

I do love cooking for other people, and it's been a joy to cook for my dad and guests for the past month (especially when Nancy and Gerry were doing the dishes!). I brought copies of a couple dozen of the recipes marked "YUM!", my highest rating, in my cookbooks at home.

In Chicago now, tired and trying not to get grouchy. Although I paid an extra $25 for Early Bird seating on my original flight, and although it's Southwest's fault that I had to get rescheduled on another flight, I now am in seating group C38, virtually guaranteeing that I will have a center seat, squeezed between a small child and an adult who wants to talk the whole way, for the 5 hour flight to Seattle. Perhaps I will use some of my free drink coupons, even though it is 8am. I had it all planned that I could use a couple of them on my (cancelled) flight last night, as Nancy and Gerry were going to cart me home when I got into Seatac. Now that I will most likely be taking the bus, I suppose I have to stay reasonably sober.

By the way, the breakfast burrito at Hari Kari's at Midway airport is yummy, and it's an actual sit-down restaurant. It comes with this great tomatillo salsa, which unfortunately I have dragged (or is it have drug?) my sleeve through. At least I'm wearing green, so it matches.

I'm off to find something like a "reflection room" here.....Maybe if I walk enough I can get my knee to go out again (as it did on my way here) and thus warrant a wheel chair and early seating on the plane.

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It had to happen sometime

I've flown Southwest exclusively for about 5 years now with never a delay and never a lost bag. Last night we departed from the gate in Detroit right on time, and about 100 feet out the plane took an odd turn and stopped very abruptly. Not a good sign. Some problem with the front wheels. We were towed back to the gate where we sat for about an hour, then sent back inside to wait for a spare part that had to be flown up from St. Louis.

Meanwhile, my connecting flight went on its merry way from Chicago, with no more flights to Seattle until this morning. The guy at the gate said we could best make new flight arrangements on the phone to Southwest, which turned out to be untrue, but by the time I realized that nearly everyone else had gotten in line. After a 2 hour wait in line, I drew the guy at the ticket counter who seemed to be operating beyond his level of competency, but at last I got new boarding passes for this morning, and a hotel voucher. A mob of about 30 of us waited for the hotel shuttle for close to 45 minutes, before I and another wise woman snuck off to hire a taxi instead. That at least saved me from waiting in another long line at the hotel, but even so I did not get to my room until well after midnite. With my flight this morning scheduled to leave at 6am, my sleeping pills in my bag which, I dearly hope, is already in Seattle, and not even a mini-bar to help out, I got maybe 20 minutes of sleep. They told us that security got very busy here in the mornings and to allow an hour and a half, so here I am as usual with an hour and a quarter to spare, and, It being not yet 5am, no coffee available. It's going to be a (second) long day.

If you are tired and have a long layover in Detroit, I highly recommend spending time in the "reflection room". It has only 4 chairs but they actually comfortable, it's quiet, and there's seldom anyone else in here.

As usual I have mixed feelings about leaving my midwest home Michigan. I know my dad gets very lonely, and probably pretty bored, too. And I do love being at his beautiful place. Great weather (well, for half the year), great biking, lazy floats down the river. But still, my life is in Washington, and I will be glad to get back to my west coast home. At any rate, I'll be back in Michigan in less that two months , for my 40 year high school reunion.

Not the most interesting post, I know, but I have to do something to stay awake...

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Snapping turtles, deer, canoeing, fun

Once again I am steering you to
Nancy's Blog
for great pictures and stories.

It's a rainy day, and after 6 days of nearly non-stop adventures we are taking a well-deserved rest day , hanging out at Espresso Milano.

Just one week and I'll be on my way home! As usual, I have mixed feelings.

Adventures with Nancy and Gerry

Having lots of fun with Nancy and Gerry here this past week. I drove down to Detroit to get them Monday night and it seems like we've been going ever since. I think we will all need a rest after they go home! Once again I am too lazy to blog while Nancy is doing it, so check out her excellent blog at

Www.adventureswithnancy.blogspot.com

 

 

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A hammock in the shade

It was such a nice warm, dry day here today I decided to put up the hammock. It hasn't been up in a few years, so first I spent the better part of an hour finding the pruning saw and shears, trimming back brush, and cutting down a small tree so i could get to the big tree with the hook on it. There is a questionable looking two-by-four bolted to a neighboring tree, and a hook for the other end bolted into the two-by-four. I sat down in the hammock and the two-by-four promptly broke, sending me to the ground. So, off to dig up some heavy-duty wire to wrap around another couple of trees, cut back some more brush, and at last I had my nap in the shade by the river. By then I needed a nap.

Venison stroganoff for supper tonight. Yum!

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