singing "An-tih-suh-PAY-shunnnn"

Dragon Mood? -- like a drop of water on a hot skillet

While you can't see it through the thick fog of the internet's atmosphere, I am sitting here virtually dancing with anticipation at driving to Madison tomorrow night to see my beautiful daughter, Caroline, and her hubby, Ron. S is dancing too though she doesn't know it yet.

Where am I?

Dragon Mood? -- travel-weary

This post reminds me of a long-ago movie called If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium.

Because of the generosity of several family members, I was able to attend the funeral for my Uncle Hemie. This involved some travel logistics, logistics I will summarize in this way:

• Night One - mid-Michigan
• Night Two - Chicago
• Night Three - Beaumont, TX
• Night Four - Houston, TX
• Night Five - Madison, WI
• Night Six - Milwaukee, WI

Suffice to say, that by Night Seven, I was rather tired and ready to sleep in my own bed.  Which I happily did!

It's ALL about the Lists!

Dragon Mood? -- memory smoked & singed on the edges

Big list, little list AND a list for the weekend. Oy vey!

S and I are taking four days to do some camping next week. Then we are visiting some friends who have an eye-popping view of Lake Michigan from their living room windows. We all enjoy bridge, never get to play bridge and ARE GOING TO play bridge with one another! Yeah!

I got ahead of myself. So, the lists, big and small, are to ensure that I get everything done that I need to, pack this, turn off that, send this bill, pick up that item. Another OY VEY!

Anticipation

Dragon Mood? -- gleeful

A week from tonight (Friday), S and I will be in Chicago, meeting up with my sister, Ruth, and heading north to Madison to see my lovely mijita, Lina. We're gathering to tote boxes, unwrap dishes, paint doors and generally help her move and HOUSEWARM her new little abode.

June weekend recap

Dragon Mood? -- catching up

Much has happened over this past week and curiously, I simply haven't felt like blogging about it. After having received the news of finally, finally securing a job, my mind has been in a whirl and my emotions have been swinging around enough to make my mind look like it's been sitting still.

Here's a recap of this past weekend's events:

• Friday evening, my sister and brother-in-law, Ruth and Paul, as well as their three children, Aaron, Luke and Jess drove up from Chicago to spend the weekend. Friday evening, we drank wine, ate munchies, ordered pizza, exchanged stories, and toasted ME on the occasion of my new job. Jess, Luke and Aaron also surprised their parents with the news of an informal 30th anniversary party.


• Saturday was a day of errands, scurrying around buying cards (belated graduation for Jess, anniversary for Ruth & Paul, Father's Day for Dad, belated birthday card for Joanne) and small gifts, such as they were. While I now have a job, I still don't have any money coming in right now and it felt very odd to allow myself the freedom to spend money. What a curious feeling!


• Ruth & Paul's party began at 5, but I arrived at John & Kari's lovely home in DeWitt around 4. Ruth, in particular, felt a bit discombobulated at not being involved in party and food preparations -- she was told to "get out of the kitchen." Well!
  
  Aaron, Luke and Jess did a great job of putting the party together. I know it's something they're unaccustomed to, but they did a bang-up job! John & Kari are gracious hosts and put everyone at their ease.
  
  It was enjoyable to see people whom I hadn't seen for quite a while. S and I visited with Ruth's good friend, Anne, a retired attorney now living in Birmingham, Michigan. It felt good to be open about our relationship with her. Paul's dad, Roy, was giving away as well as selling copies of his new book, a first volume (of many) on preaching guides based on the church year. If you're not Lutheran, don't worry if you don't understand. It's all very detailed and parochial. Roy was understandably proud of his efforts.
  
  Luke and his Aunt Mary finally had their drinking time! We worked on three bottles of wine through the evening. We did have some help killing off the old soldiers, but I took precautions to drink loads of water and a piece of bread when I got home.


• Sunday morning I was moving slow, but drove into town to meet Aaron at his grandparents' home to pick up some large terra cotta pots that nobody seemed to want and had been languishing there. Aaron did the heavy lifting while I stood by.
  
  Shortly later, everyone else joined us after finishing the church service they had attended. We all said our round of good-byes and I left.
  
  S and I prepared to head up north to attend Dobie's visitation. We took a brief nap, showered, dressed, loaded up the car and the dog and left about 4. We arrived there after six and paid our respects at the funeral home. Surprisingly, mutual friends of ours, Michelle and Sue, had also driven up for the visitation -- people we haven't seen since December -- so we got to visit and catch up with them as well.
  
  We finished the day by arriving at the home of S's sister, Michelle, and her husband, Jim, to spend the night. I showered, said my good-nights and crashed. S and Michelle sat up and visited for a while.


• Monday morning, S and I dressed, left Cisco with Michelle, and headed back down US-27 to attend the funeral. Kevin made some absolutely delicious Bloody Mary's for us to drink later in the day ... but we all got a pre-funeral taste of their spicy, vodka-infused lusciousness!
  
  The funeral was well-attended and many people recounted loving memories of Dobie. As I had feared, there was an incident regarding who constituted family when it came time for seating the family. Thankfully, there were enough people who recognize Joanne as Jeanne's partner and also recognize her significant contributions over these past months, that Joanne sat in the first row, right next to Jeanne through the service -- as she should have.


• We finished up the day by driving back north to change our clothes, visit with Michelle for about an hour, pack up the dog and head back downstate. We first visited our home in the pines, switched bags and clothes and cars, and then drove the second leg of the journey back here to our pied-a-terre in the city. Whew! Such a lot of driving!

And that was just the weekend!

The humdinger weekend that it was!

Dragon Mood? -- still sore and fatigued

HUMDINGER is the word I would use to describe this past weekend. A humdinger, for sure!

S and I rolled outta Motown Friday afternoon amid all the rest of the commuters. Thankfully, we were both in a good mood, looking forward to the weekend, so the heavy traffic was a non-issue.

Even before thinking about getting on the road for "upnorth," we mailed customized Mother's Day cards to Lindsey and Sarah, bought potted flowers for Sally and Grandma, stopped off at our "piney" home, showered, repacked bags, switched vehicles, drove back into town, bought lumber and electrical supplies at the nearby Home Depot, did our late-night banking, bought burgers for the road, a five-shot latte (for S, of course) for the road, and finally, finally hit the road! At 10:40 p.m. (laughing) Are we crazy or what?

Saturday morning work began around 10. Like the troopers that they are, S's sister, Michelle, and her husband, Jim, showed up bright and early, coffee mugs in hand, ready to work.

S and I finished up some minor framing on the handicap ramp, while Michelle and Jim began carving out the shape of a concrete pad for the handicap ramp to land ON. Sally got on the phone and had forty (40) 80-lb bags of cement delivered to the house within about an hour of her call. Jim and I went and picked up an electric cement mixer and the cement pouring commenced around 3:30 p.m.

We broke at 9:30 for a fabulous, fashionably-late dinner prepared by Sally. We ate like the ravenous and tired workers that we were. We hung out until after 11:30, waiting for the cement to set up enough for it to be troweled. Jim used a kitchen broom to supply the finishing touches to the finish, making it safe and elder-friendly.

Sunday morning was another absolutely perfect day, clear, cloudless and sunny. We all marveled at how gorgeous the concrete pad turned out -- wow, did we do that?

Around 2 p.m., S's older sister, Becky and her daughter, Lydia arrived from down-state. We all visited and caught up on news with one another. Sally and Grandma opened up Mother's Day gifts from Becky and Lydia. The four of us returned to work.

Jim and Michelle set a few more 4x4 posts for elder-friendly transitioning down the existing steps, while S and I began work in earnest on the decking. Then, eventually, it was all four of us working on decking. We finished the 6'x 10' deck first, then the intermediate 6' ramp up to the 5'x 5' platform which then transitions to the 8' ramp up to the existing porch.

That last ramp was nothing but a headache all the way around. (In light of people's heightened awareness of language usage, post-Don Imus, I'll avoid using the five-letter female dog term I was first inclined to use describing that ramp.) There were problems too numerous to recount, but it was late in the day, we were four 40-to-50 year olds, tired, sore, achey, busting a*s trying to get it done.

We finished up around 8:30. I was so sore I was groaning with every move I made. (I'm a BIG baby that way.) S packed up her tools, Jim and Michelle and S tidied up the entire construction site, while I went in the house, deflated our new Aerobed mattress (what a nice thing!), gathered up our stuff, made a pot of coffee and WASHED MY FACE! Geez, did I feel grody!

I think we got on the road back to the piney house just a little before 10. Rather than making another leg of the trip back down here to the pied-a-terre, we dropped our bags, took hot showers, each took two EXTRA STRENGTH Bayer aspirin and fell into bed. You think I'm speaking in metaphors? NO! We fell into bed. It was 1 a.m.

Then, we were back up and at 'em by 6 a.m., switched vehicles, loaded our bags and the dog and headed here for S to get to work. Sheesh! I can feel tired just recounting it all!

Do you think we had a humdinger for a weekend?

Where did you say you're from?

Dragon Mood? -- recalling an unexpected encounter

While you always hear about the advantage of meeting interesting people when traveling, I didn't think it would happen so readily and fully to me.

After riding the Metra train from north Chicago to Union Station, I had time to kill. The waiting area was more crowded than I had expected, so I had to hunt and search for an open, available seat. I found one near a gate, where the rigid, plastic seats were rather mashed together. There were two women seated to my right. I thought they were traveling companions, because they were talking.

Shortly after I sat down, the first woman asked if she could borrow a pen. I lent her one which she then passed to the second woman who I'll call Beret Woman. Upon receiving my pen back, Beret Woman got up and slowly, arthritically hobbled away. The first woman turned to me and said, "She's making a mistake." She shook her head for emphasis. "She's gonna ride the train for two nights in coach. Two nights! That's too long. She's gonna ride all the way to L.A. in coach."

I asked her where she was headed and she replied, "Alburquerque."

"Which is home," I asked, "Chicago or Alburquerque?"

She smiled and said, "I live in Hawaii." I chuckled at her unexpected answer.

This woman, I never did find out her name, told me she has traveled to Alburqueque, oh, at least 30 times. Wow! I never got a clear answer as to why she visited there so many times. She did refer a couple of times to traveling only in the winter. She has a job from April until September or October. Hmmm.

She showed me her Hawaiian driver's license so I could see the fingerprint that only the state of Hawaii requires. Stupidly (now, in hindsight), I never thought to look at her name. Duh! We talked about train travel, sushi, living in Hawaii, why do people rush around, her distaste for television and computers, among other things.

Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer. "I'm sorry if I appear nosey, but my curiosity has gotten the better of me. What kind of job do you have that you work six months out of the year?" I asked.

She smiled again and said simply, "I work for the Chicago Cubs."

The light of day must have dawned on my face. "What do you do?"

"I'm an usher. I stand around and make sure people get to their seats."

April to October. Of course! Asking more questions (I must have come across as incredibly nosey), I found out that her husband had died about ten years ago, after the two of them had lived in Hawaii, very simply, among the Hawaiian locals, since the 1970s. She referred to the tourists as "hollies." I kept googling until I found this:

... that most “haoles” (a pejorative term used by native Hawaiians to describe Caucasion tourists) ...

Here's another, more formalized one.

According to Intrepid Hawaiian Traveler, you never want to hang out with haoles when in Hawaii. Seek out the locals and you'll experience a completely different Hawaii.

Back to her story. After her husband died, one of her children, a daughter who lives in Chicago, happened to see an ad seeking ushers for the Chicago Cubs. Intrepid Hawaiian Traveler came to Chicago, applied and got the job. That was nine years ago. Every year, she lives with her daughter in Chicago, spends time with her grandchildren and works for the Cubs for every home game. She smiled the entire time she spoke about it, so I can only conclude that she's happy with the arrangement.

Intrepid lives on Maui ... only in the winter, of course. And only when she's not traveling. Her parting words to me were, "If you're ever in Maui, look me up."

What did I take away from this encounter? (chuckling) A whole lot! The universe sat me down next to a woman who travels alone, sees things for what they are (haoles vs. tourists), has created a life that's full and enjoyable (and works for the Cubs, on top of it!). What an inspiration! Yup, I definitely feel like the universe sent me a gift, a vision of what-could-be in Intrepid Hawaiian Traveler. Thank you, God.

My hotsy-totsy train ride

Dragon Mood? -- dragonly frustration

My return trip from Chicago to mid-Michigan on the train was not quite as idyllic as the trip down. In two words, it was LONG and HOT.

Because Amtrak is a governmentally-owned organization, it doesn't own railroad tracks. The federal government leases track from companies like Canadian National (CN), CSX, Norfolk Southern and the like. As a result, Amtrak passenger trains are at the mercy of freight trains and their schedules ... perhaps, unpredictable schedules? We had no more left Union Station and made the eastward turn across I-90 when we came to a stop. STOP ... for 20 minutes or so. I was sitting on the right-hand side of the train, which was facing south toward the sun. Our railcar became increasingly warm. I tried to ignore it and plowed on, finishing my book.

The train began moving and sped along until we got to Gary, Indiana, and the Mittel steel yards (which I believe used to be U.S. Steel). The train ground to a halt. We sat there, with no movement and no ventilation while the temperature rose even more. The interior of that railcar felt like it hit 80 degrees. People were fanning themselves, their faces flushed and perspiring, moving to other cars looking for some relief. Unfortunately, there was no real relief available.

I talked to one of the conductors. Several other people in close vicinity did also. He cranked up the ventilation fan, but I don't think the hot air had anywhere to go. We sat there for well over another 30 minutes, evidently waiting for a freight train in front of us to move.

And now an aside. As we sat there, unwitting victims to this crazy train gridlock, there was plenty to see. Here's an excerpt from a professional magazine writer who does a far better job describing the hellish zone where we sat and sweat, these Gary steel yards:

Somewhere out there among the industrial sprawl was the Mittel Steel factory ... With the crepuscular twilight creating wild shadows and exaggerating the color scheme of black, gray, and rust, this grimy, dystopic landscape was beyond the imaginations of even the most visionary filmmakers and harebrained futurists: an Erector set gone haywire; everywhere towering, architecturally inexplicable structures. There were flame-throwing smokestacks, giant, iron-spoked wheels, huge cables, rusted corrugated tin towers and sheds, and miles of black and ochre trellises, girders, and catwalks; blunt, phallic silos and sinister-looking networks of ducts and pipes and elevated train tracks along which crept a steady procession of piecemeal contraptions that looked like crude armored vehicles from the Mad Max movies. Despite the constant scuttling of these strange machines, there were no actual humans to be seen anywhere on the landscape.

Yep, that's where we sat and looked and roasted.

We were well into Michigan, the railcars still heated up to temperatures that felt oppressive. The conductor eventually used a special key to unlock all the sliding doors, locking them in an "open" position and cool, outside air finally, finally pushed out the stale, hot air inside the passenger cars.

We were supposed to arrive around 8:30 p.m. We didn't arrive until well after 9:30 p.m. And then I got in my little car, zipped through the cool, dark night and drove myself to Detroit, home to our pied-a-terre and my awaiting honey.

It was a long, hotsy-totsy ride.