This Christmas was bittersweet. It was the first Christmas without my wife and my children and my grandchildren without her. I was initially not going to travel back home from Florida. It would be a 3000 mile round trip. Several things caused me to go. First there was Thanksgiving and I read my daughter's blog where she said she missed her father. My son spent Thanksgiving week with me and the day he left, I felt sad and alone. I did not want that for Christmas. My elder daughter's car was aging and a little small for three children. My son called me and suggested I help with a car for her. That night I decided that if she wanted her mothers car I would give it to her. I needed to be home to do the proper paper transactions. Most of all, I wanted to see them all. I took the car to the dealer and had all the necessary work completed. I am so glad the car is staying in the family. I do not need two cars and I did not want to sell it to a stranger.
I attended all the family functions and had great food everywhere I went. The giving of gifts to my family brought me great pleasure. I was chilly in my elder daughter's home Christmas night and my son in law loaned me a sweatshirt which I wore home and also the first day on the road back to Florida. It's great and has big letters on the back proclaiming MAYFLOWER II and the word CREW underneath. Really neat!
I finally got to meet my son's girlfriend. I now know why everyone in the family likes her. She is warm and has a ready smile a great sense of humor and she is quick to laugh.
I had a difficult time in the house. Everywhere I looked I saw Marie. I would get in bed and look at her pillow and see her, and then I could not sleep. The memories of 39 years in our home haunt me.
I was on the road heading south at 7 AM December 26Th and did not stop until Smithfield, NC. I was back to the condo early evening on the 27Th.
I received several thoughtful messages wishing that I find peace during this time of year. They were all comforting.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Ramblings
I have been swimming in the Gulf as the heated pool at the complex was too warm. I saw the notice that for the month of December the heat for the pool would be turned off until January 1st. Good, I thought now I'll swim in the pool as it cools off. Apparently they quit testing the water and I now have an infection in my eye lid. I tried self healing but after several caring folks urged me to see a professional and the lady in the office dialed the number of the Eye Care Center, I was committed. I was on the right track as I was putting hot face cloths on my eye lid. However, that was not enough to get the eye lid to drain. I was instructed to wash a potato and poke some holes in it and heat in the microwave for 5 minutes and wrap in a kitchen towel and apply for 25 minutes 3 times a day. I also needed to get some rather expensive eye drops. Well the potato is doing the job. My eyelid is gradually becoming its normal size. I have also discovered that the bigger the potato, the longer it stays hot. As they cool they shrivel and look very ugly. I will buy swimming goggles before I return to the pool.
Apalachicola
Isn't that a wonderful sounding name. The Apalachicola River drains into the Apalachicola bay purifying the oysters that grow here. They are noted for their sweet pure taste. Today, I drove there to have lunch in Papa Joe's. Its not located on the main street in Apalachicola. Its off towards the area where all the local fishing boats are docked. Its also the place where the locals eat. Marie and I stumbled across it three winters ago as we looked for a nature center that Marie wanted to visit. As an example the Cafe in town that caters to tourists was advertising 1/2 dozen for $5.99. At Papa Joe's a dozen cost $5.99. I managed to consume 3 dozen and washed them down with 1 beer. After all, I has an almost 2 hour drive back to the condo so 1 beer was the limit. I sure hope the drought is eased soon. The Army Core of Engineers has restricted the amount of water that would normally drain into the Apalachicola River to conserve drinking water for Atlanta. The water restriction is already having an effect on the oysters and other bay fishes, a major concern for the locals whose lively hood is dependent on the health of this body of water. As a side note, the Apalachicola River is the dividing line for the Central and Eastern time zone on the Florida Panhandle. West of the river is the Central Time Zone.
The skies over the local beach have been distressingly quiet these past two weeks. The Air Force F-15 Raptor has been grounded because a recent plane crash in Mississippi was traced to a crack in the aileron. So the entire fleet of planes are grounded while maintenance crews strip the paint and carefully inspect these planes.
Gasoline has been dropping steadily since Thanksgiving on the Panhandle and today I saw major branded regular gas as low as 2.919 a gallon.
The Presidential election is slightly less than a year away and I am already sick of ALL of them.
I feel a need to be home for Christmas! Iwill be keeping a close eye on the weather up the route I 95 from Florida to Rhode Island.
Apalachicola
Isn't that a wonderful sounding name. The Apalachicola River drains into the Apalachicola bay purifying the oysters that grow here. They are noted for their sweet pure taste. Today, I drove there to have lunch in Papa Joe's. Its not located on the main street in Apalachicola. Its off towards the area where all the local fishing boats are docked. Its also the place where the locals eat. Marie and I stumbled across it three winters ago as we looked for a nature center that Marie wanted to visit. As an example the Cafe in town that caters to tourists was advertising 1/2 dozen for $5.99. At Papa Joe's a dozen cost $5.99. I managed to consume 3 dozen and washed them down with 1 beer. After all, I has an almost 2 hour drive back to the condo so 1 beer was the limit. I sure hope the drought is eased soon. The Army Core of Engineers has restricted the amount of water that would normally drain into the Apalachicola River to conserve drinking water for Atlanta. The water restriction is already having an effect on the oysters and other bay fishes, a major concern for the locals whose lively hood is dependent on the health of this body of water. As a side note, the Apalachicola River is the dividing line for the Central and Eastern time zone on the Florida Panhandle. West of the river is the Central Time Zone.
The skies over the local beach have been distressingly quiet these past two weeks. The Air Force F-15 Raptor has been grounded because a recent plane crash in Mississippi was traced to a crack in the aileron. So the entire fleet of planes are grounded while maintenance crews strip the paint and carefully inspect these planes.
Gasoline has been dropping steadily since Thanksgiving on the Panhandle and today I saw major branded regular gas as low as 2.919 a gallon.
The Presidential election is slightly less than a year away and I am already sick of ALL of them.
I feel a need to be home for Christmas! Iwill be keeping a close eye on the weather up the route I 95 from Florida to Rhode Island.
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