Remember

Back From The Dead

Hills And Headwinds, Oh My

Nature Call

Pay The Piper

Beside Me Inside Me The Windmills of MyMind

Still Hot, but Prettier

Typecasting Takes The Lead

Peoria - 12 May 2023

    If I keep writing will this machine stay awake or will it crap out like it did last night?  I would like to see if I can get some sort of a blog post written for the day just to say I did.  Then I can take the old one and make something of it later.  Maybe this Neo was timing out and not shutting down.

*

    Well, this is a late entry.  I am nearing the end of our Phoenix journey and have not done well at posting the days to this blog as originally intended.
    I am not sure what the disagreement is between this Neo and air travel, but it seems that when I fly, something in the airplane mixes this thing up.  My data gets lost and the internal brains of this thing think the little coin battery that powers this unit has failed so I have to pretend I changed the battery to get it to wake up again.  This week, though, has been different.  It hasn’t worked well at all and would shut down in mid-session.  Good news, work isn’t disrupted or lost.  I have to keep powering up and uploading the words to a Google Docs account and then go back to the Neo.  That sort of sucks the typecasting wind right out of my sails.  But, in the spirit of undistracted writing, I press on.  As a note, my typewriter would never misbehave in such a way.  So the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
    We have had no adventures on this trip.  The purpose was to spend time with my parents.  They are having difficulties in the later years of their retirement so we came in to lend a little moral support and to give them company.
    Since the onset of the pandemic their lives have been flipped upside down and what social interactions they enjoyed have been disrupted.  By coming down, we give them some connection.  It helps me too since I get to sit with them and just talk.  That lost art of conversation that has died because of things like television and social media and COVID.
    We reminisced about the old family.  The people who came before us.  Thanks to an uncle, now passed, and my daughter digging into the genealogy of the family, I got to pass along what we know and compare it to their recollections to get some detail into our roots. We had a good time with that and knowledge was exchanged from both sides.
    Those conversations are not short and we spent days yakking and thinking to get caught up.  My mother worries about her cognitive (her word) function and I think these discussions help to wake up some of those lazy brain cells.  The fact that she uses words like cognitive makes me believe that there is no significant decline, just lazy neurons.
    Today is a busy day.  We have to check in with the airline to confirm our reservation and to secure our seats.  Delta would not allow us to reserve seating until 24 hours before flight time.  That seems harsh and will guide me with future airline choices.  I am hoping my wife and I get to sit in close proximity to each other.  I guess we will find out.  I will try to check in a little early just in case I can get a leg up on the situation.  Maybe if I call and try the process in person I will have better luck.  Then it will be off to my parents’ place to have a final bit of time together until the next trip down.

Keep on truckin’
-Mike

Sunny Skies Sleeps in The Morning

Suquamish, WA - 7 May 2023

    Easy sunny Sunday afternoon.  Made a quick grocery run this morning and got in a walk.  Took a new path just to mix things up a bit.  Lots of steep hills.   I'm trying to build back my stamina and strength.
    The weather has been all over the place lately.  Cold, cloudy mornings with little temperature change through the day.  Some days of pelting rain and others offer no more than a steady drizzle for hours.  And then, we get days like today.  Cool in the morning with the sun struggling to burn a hole through the clouds. After many hours of relentless effort, the clouds give up the fight and melt away to warm spring sunshine.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring?  Not the weather guesser, that's a fact.
    But, fret not.  Tomorrow will be a day of check lists and packing for we are bound to the sunny skies of Phoenix Arizona.  It has been a long time since we ventured out to visit my parents and now the time is right.  Plans have been made and in the wee hours of Tuesday morning we will start our journey to SeaTac airport and regions south.
    The handy weather app on my phone tells me that the skies will be bright with sun and temperatures near ninety.  My wife trembles at the thought, but this skinny bag of bones is joyous in a chance to warm up my innards.  And, if I am to believe that phone app, we are going to return to steady sun and warming temperatures.  Just in time to prepare for Memorial Day.  The first unofficial day of summer.

Keep on truckin'
-Mike