While We Wait

Bruce finished the tree before the snow came, and it's a beauty! It's a little worrisome to see him up on the ladder, but he thinks that maybe these lights will last another four years, and that's something.

The tree is up, and the start of Thanksgiving meal prep has begun. I am thankful for the distraction, too, as our new grandson is on his way! Hopefully we will have an extra reason to celebrate tomorrow. 💕

Now, on to the baking of the pie!

Mock Apple Pie

Update

The weather has morphed to bitter cold, and it's time to sit in front of the fire. Every morning with coffee, for sure, but also late afternoons and into the evening while perusing cookbooks or catching up on the latest book club reading. The cats LOVE the fire and immediately gather round when it's on. And I'm so happy that we converted the old wood burning units into gas, as it's easy to just flip on with a switch.

Jake has been in town for work, and we've been able to see him a few times for dinner and brunch. Grandma Joyce was so thrilled! We've also been able to see Brianna, and Punk takes advantage of the situation by jumping into her lap to snuggle.

I've been starting to organize the thousands of photos that are taking over our house. Well, maybe organize is a bit grandiose of a word to use, maybe it's more like starting to think about dealing with them. I did put together an album of old photos of Grandma Joyce's past, which she loved, and there will probably be more albums in the future, maybe photo boxes, too. I don't know exactly how I'll deal with them all yet, but to just get started is a good thing.

Katie and Avi's little boy is due on Thanksgiving, which will be in no time at all! We most likely won't be in Maryland for the delivery, so a Thanksgiving dinner is being planned. Once more I'm trying to think of even more easy ways to cook. Granted, energy levels are not what they used to be years ago, but I may also be getting wiser, and am seeing the value of spending more time with my guests chatting in front of the fire versus all my time standing in the kitchen!

Another Road Trip To Maryland

 

We've been home from our road trip to Maryland for about two weeks now, and so it's time to put all my thoughts and photos together, and create new memories. That's what this little blog is all about. And hopefully I don't forget anything too important, but I did try to write a few things down every day, and that should help.

Autumn is a gorgeous time to take a road trip, and this one did not disappoint. I think the most beautiful colors were in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, although Ohio was quite nice, too. Our route to get there this trip was a bit different as we drove through Illinois and Indiana. We didn't do that on purpose, but it was a nice change. Not so close to inner Chicago or through Gary, Indiana which was just fine by me.

We did drive on toll roads, and as we left the last toll booth in Illinois, we noticed a dropped wallet on the ground along side the booth. Not sure of what to do, we picked it up and looked at the driver's license inside. It belonged to a young guy from Minnesota! We started to drive back onto the turnpike, and sure enough there was a young man frantically running down the side of the road towards the toll booth. I recognized him from his driver's license photo, rolled down my window, and asked if he was looking for something. He said his wallet, and I held it up for him to see. He reached out to shake my hand, and then asked if we could give him a lift back to his car. We hesitated for a second, is that like picking up a hitch hiker? Was it safe? We decided to just do it, I don't know why. I'm thinking now that this sort of thing will probably never happen again to us in our lifetime. And maybe it was supposed to happen? At any rate, it felt good to do a kind thing.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Fremont, Ohio like we did last year, and ate comfort food at Wendy's (chili, fries, and a chocolate frosty) before settling in for the night. And since our longest day of driving was already done, it took us only another six hours the rest of the way to Maryland. We munched on salami and crackers in the car, and made good time. And listening to the audiobooks we checked out from the library also made the time fly by, something we would definitely do again. Come to think about it, it's time to get those things back to the library!

Avi had arranged for he and Bruce to go to a hockey game that night. Katie and I went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant and had a (cooked) sushi roll with dinner. Then we had a couple of hours at home to catch up. I drank a glass of wine, while Katie had some sparkling juice in the little champagne glasses I had found for her at Bethesda Thrift. 💕

The next morning, Katie took us out to lunch at a favorite place of hers and then we stopped for groceries. We put a chuck roast in the crock pot before heading to West Virginia for sight seeing. We drove to Harper's Ferry, a national historic park that has a Civil War museum in addition to cute little shops and the start of the Appalachian Trail (think Almost Heaven, West Virginia ... Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River). So beautiful!

While we were there, I thought about how fast our visit seemed to be going. It was the same amount of time that we had spent there last year, so why was it going so fast this visit? Then I realized that it was probably going fast because I didn't want to leave Katie. 😞

The roast back at their apartment was delicious, and we watched a couple of Great British Baking Show episodes on Netflix before bed.

The next day was rainy, so we spent time inside. We ate lunch at the Double T restaurant (a Greek omelette for Bruce, creamed chipped beef on toast for me) and stopped at The Home Depot for a couple of things needed for Avi and Bruce to put together the crib, and hang a full length mirror in their bedroom.

Katie played piano on their keyboard, which is another thing that I've been missing now that she no longer lives at home. 💕

Then we drove to IKEA to eat Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, and lingonberries. We would have shopped there longer, but the store was closing.

Koshka played hard to get until right before we left on Monday morning ...

After bacon and eggs and a bit of the morning to hang out with just Katie (Avi had to go to work), we started our drive home. Bruce wanted to drive even further, but by evening it was dark and raining with road construction, and we were tired. I had picked up a map & lodging guide at one of the rest stops, and found that there were a couple of options off of Exit 34 on the Ohio Turnpike.

The Holiday Inn Express looked to be the better of the two options, but they didn't have any rooms available so we went across the road to the Days Inn. The Days Inn looked tired (like us, I'm sure), but it was 8pm and time to stop driving. It was also only $70 for the night, and would be good enough for the amount of time we would be there. Notice the individual lawn chairs outside each room ...

We went to the little diner across the street, and had the goulash special which turned out to be pretty good. Back in the room, the shower was hot, and we settled into bed with a glass of (boxed) wine and watched Dancing With The Stars. It felt wonderful. Breakfast the next morning was a cheese omelette, sausage, and a waffle.

We drove the rest of the way home listening to an audiobook, and with me trying to take a picture of the repeating road sign that said Good Grief Buckle Up. I finally was ready with my phone, and snapped one. It was becoming an obsession, and I was relieved when I finally was able to catch one and relax.

Back home with the needy animals again, I thought that it's nice to get away sometimes. But it's also nice to be home and sleep in your own bed.