It has been seven years since I retired, and understandably folks have lost interested in the minutia of my daily life. It has been a while since I’ve had a real hit on this blog.

You can continue to access my original blog that I continue to update at www.hbbcdp.blogspot.com. I encourage you to do so. I do not plan on making further updates to this blog.

That is, unless somebody, anybody, is interested in reading this stuff again. If so, leave a comment or send me an email, and I will resume updating this.

My other brother in law, Phyllis’s brother George out in Las Vegas, isn’t doing well. Phyllis called him the night before we left, and his roommate told her that he was in the hospital. The story is that he also is having serious heart problems. He had chest pain and he was coughing a lot. They did a stress test on him on Friday, and it showed problems. They will do a cardio catheter procedure on him on Monday, and we will find out things will proceed after that.

The original plan was that George would fly out and join us for the winter in Florida. That is seriously in doubt now.

On the ride down, it occurred to us that we could make a right turn and go to Las Vegas instead of Florida. It is a very long drive to Vegas, and at this point we are still planning on going to Florida.

We left around 7:00 am yesterday, and we did not make particularly good progress. We made our traditional stop at the Cracker Barrel in Monroe for a good old country breakfast. I always order the pancakes because they don’t make me sick. We made it as far a Berea Kentucky.

Berea is a college town. Berea college students all work their way through college by working for the college industries, which include the manufacturing of a lot of traditional country crafts. Phyllis loves traditional country crafts.

We stayed at the Boone Tavern, which is a very old hotel that has recently been renovated. We had dinner in the hotel. I was disappointed that they did not serve alcohol at Boone Tavern. Berea is a dry city. I thought this was like a bakery that didn’t have an oven, or a gas station that didn’t sell petroleum.

We had dry weather for our travels yesterday. We stopped seeing snow on the ground by the time we got to Cincinnati. It is supposed to rain all day today.

We went to see Avatar. I had already seen it online, but we decided to see it on the the big screen and experience all of the 3D effects. I did okay seeing it a second time, which surprised me. It was more impressive seeing it on the big screen.

I’m still watching free movies online. I only do it because there is so little worth watching on television.

We went bowling with Morris and his friend Rychee on Sunday. I bowled well enough for me, but Morris came on strong in the 10th frame, and won.

We’ve been trying to stay physically active. In addition to bowling, we’ve been mall walking several times. We played a yoga DVD the other day. It helps to be physically active.

We’ve been waiting for the results of a test Phyllis had done last week. The test came back good, and we are planning on heading south to Florida towards the end of the week.

My brother in law Fred is having bypass surgery in a couple of days. We are of course hoping that everything goes well for him, and wish him a speedy recovery.

Monday we went to our chair yoga class. They had a substitute teacher there, and we ended up doing laughing yoga instead. This was kind of a weird deal. Mostly they have you laugh out loud and go through a series of little exercises. Sometimes laughter is contagious. When someone starts laughing, stuff seems funnier, and you join in. This was not the case in this class. I didn’t really get into the spirit of things, but went with the program, and participated in the class. I did not feel like I got any therapeutic or other benefits, and will not be seeking additional laughing yoga classes.

Tuesday we went to the coffee house at Gilda’s. Sometimes these programs are better than others. This one was one of the better ones. We met Shannon’s former in laws there. We enjoyed seeing them again. They had a bunch of snappy acts, including some folks we hadn’t seen for a while. There was a lot of food there, and they had an unusually large turnout.

There is a local newscaster around here named Devin Scillian. He is also a country music artist. He was a guest performer at the coffee house. He does mostly is own material, and was very good. Once again, this was one of the better shows they had there, and we had a good time.

We met cousin Jeff for guitar club last night. Jeff showed us how to play one of the songs he learned from a guitar class he was taking. He will be going to San Francisco in a couple of weeks.

I’m mall walking every few days. It isn’t very inspiring, but at least it gets me a little exercise. They still have the holiday decorations up at the mall, but at least they have stopped playing the holiday music. I’m looking forward to heading south where I can at least walk outside without worrying about falling.

In January through April we wintered in Florida. We had a nice place, and both of our kids came to visit. Mr. Obama took over as president. We are hopeful that he will lead the country in a new direction.

In May Phyllis’s mother died suddenly of a stroke. This was a hard time for us. Phyllis was eventually able to sell her parent’s home, which we viewed as being a near miracle given the shape it was in.

In July Phyllis and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary, which struck me as a real milestone. We went to Stratford Ontario for a couple of days, and saw a play.

In late October we went on a five week road trip. We started out in Tennessee, and then we went to North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, DC, and Brooklyn, where we did Thanksgiving with Shannon. I liked the trip.

Back to the present,

I got a call from the place I used to work on New Year’s eve. They said I was on the call list. I haven’t worked there in over seven years, and you would thing that they would update their call lists every now and then.

We did nothing on New Years Eve. We put on an old DVD, and watched it until 11:15. We decided it was close enough, and went to bed.

We will likely leave for Florida in a week or so, so I need to get stuff together.

Morris drove to New York to pick up Shannon and her little dog Lola. They got back into town Christmas Eve. We went over to his house that night where we had a pasta dinner prepared by Morris’s friend.

We got together again on Christmas. Morris made a Christmas feast that just couldn’t be beat. We exchanged gifts of course. A good time was had by all.

Our plans for the winter are starting to take form. Phyllis has a doctor’s appointment on January 6th. Depending on how that goes, we could be delayed further before heading south. This is later than usual for us.

Another aspect of our trip south is that my brother in law George, who lives in Las Vegas will likely join us, and stay with us for the season. We will need to find a larger place to stay this year.

We’ve been visiting with Shannon while she has been in town. Yesterday we went mall walking. Today we all got together, and had a nice lunch at a seafood place in Birmingham. Tomorrow, bright and early, she and her little dog will get in Morris’s car, and he will drive them back to New York. We wish them a safe trip.

I’ve had pretty irregular sleep patterns lately. For some I reason I’ve been up since 3:00 AM.

We finished our shopping on Friday. It is always a challenge to find something for us to get each other, so we asked each other for suggestions. I asked Phyllis if she would like something to wear. She said that she would like to pick out something from a store called Coldwater Creek. I mentioned that I have an old Italian road bike that I would like to put upright handlebars on. The drop bars cause my back to hurt after a few miles. Phyllis liked this idea for something to get me a lot.

So our first stop on Friday was the bike store. The guys at the bike store commented that my old bike still had a lot of value, which was good to know. I picked out some handlebars, which also required new brake levers. We picked up the bike on Tuesday, and it looks pretty neat. I can’t wait to ride it.

Our next stop was Cold Water Creek. Phyllis didn’t have any problem finding stuff she liked, even though it took a very long time to go through the process of trying stuff on and narrowing her selections. I was seated in one of the husband’s chairs. A customer came by and commented that I found a comfortable place to sit. I told her I was waiting patiently. She said I was a good man.

The weather has been cold, and there is still snow on the ground. I haven’t been doing much. I have been watching a lot of current movies online. I’ve been surprised by the ones I have liked and the ones I haven’t cared for. The quality of the resolution of the movies is in general, better than it used to be.

I did go to the computer club yesterday, and it was a better than average meeting.

Morris drove out to New York to pick up Shannon and her dog to bring home for the holidays. They are likely on the road now.

I went mall walking on Sunday, and it felt really good to just to be moving around. It was the first time I’d been to the mall this holiday season, and it looked about like has for the last 20 years. Santa was there.

About two seconds after I walked in, it occurred to me that I forgot my Ipod. I find the piped in holiday music at the mall really annoying, and I wish I’d brought an alternative sound system. I will remember it next time.

Sunday was my sister’s annual holiday party. A good time was had by all.

I’ve finally started my holiday shopping. I’ve been doing the bulk of it online, which really is so much simpler than fighting the traffic and crowds at the stores. I could use an idea for something nice to get for Phyllis. I’ve got her a lot of little things, but I need an idea for something that costs more than $10.

I went to chair yoga with Phyllis yesterday. She really enjoyed it, and spoke about how much better it made her feel. I didn’t get into it, but I need more exercise these days, so it helped at that level.

We got some sad news the other day. Phyllis’s Aunt Aileen passed away. She was 90 years old, and was the last surviving person of her generation in the family. All of her siblings and her mother lived to be in there 90’s. She was the younger sister of Phyllis’s father George.

I’ve been feeling poorly. I’m feeling much better today.

Last night night we met with Morris and a friend at the local middle eastern restaurant. This restaurant has the best lentil soup, and is the main reason we go there. There was a guy at the next table who told us that he had lived in various countries in the middle east, and he thought the food at this place was first rate.

With the exception of doctor’s appointments, it was the first time I’d been out of the house since Thursday. Thursday I did go to the guitar club with Phyllis and cousin Jeff.

Between Phyllis and myself, we’ve had a festival of doctor’s appointments. I found out today that I have another one tomorrow. I don’t like doctor’s appointments, but when you get older it comes with the territory.

I did go to the computer club today. I enjoyed it more than I typically do.

I have done zero holiday shopping so far. I need to get with the program.

Hope to have snappier stuff to report on next time.

Thanksgiving dinner went as planned.  We met Morris in Jackson Heights, and had dinner at an Indian Restaurant.  Dinner was fine.  We were thankful that we all could be together.

Friday was dedicated to getting pickles.  Our first stop was to go out to lunch.  There was some deli on the lower east side that was recommended to us.  It was a very small place.  There were five of us.  We waited in line, and when it came our turn, they told us that they did not serve groups of five.  We told them we could split up into groups of two and three.  They would not seat us.  My thought was that if they didn’t want our money, we would find some place that did.  We ended up going elsewhere for lunch.

Morris wanted to get some pickles from the Pickle Guys on the lower east side.  I was expecting some kind of pickle warehouse sort of place.  It turned out to be a small open air storefront.  They had about 20 barrels of assorted kinds of pickles.  You wait in line, and they take care of you.  Morris had been there before, and knew how to do things so stuff could be taken home on the plane.  I just ordered a quart of pickles.  I sampled them, and they were pretty tasty.

When we got back to Shannon’s I realized that I didn’t have a good way to get the pickles home.  They were packed in a flimsy deli type plastic container.  I was worried about them spilling on the bus, the car, or my suitcase.  I ended up leaving the pickles with Shannon in New York.  She gave them to an appreciative friend.

Saturday we went to a New York Historical museum.  The weather was bad, and we were looking for an outing.  It was an okay outing.

Sunday morning we said goodbye to Shannon, and got on the bus.  We had been staying with Shannon for a week, and she took very good care of us.  Thank you Shannon.  We had a fairly convoluted way of getting to New York, due to my fear of New York traffic.  We left our car in Washington, and took a bus to New York. 

To get our car, we took the bus back to Washington.  I was a little concerned about the car.  The hotel, which normally charges for parking, told us it would be okay if we left the car there.  Washington is not the kind of city that tolerates unauthorized parking.  When we got to the hotel, I was happy to see the car was still there.  The bus line, Vamoose, was very good on both legs of the trip, and sure beat the heck out of Greyhound.

We spent the night in Washington, and headed for home the next morning.  We got off to a late start, and made it as far as Sandusky, Ohio at sunset.  It was only a couple a couple of hours from home, but we decided to spend the night. 

Phyllis has a cousin, Betty Rae, who lives in Sandusky.  Phyllis called her.  Betty Rae came right over, and the girls had a nice time visiting in the hotel lobby.  I was able to get some sleep.

We got home yesterday before noon.  It is always a relief to get home and see that everything at home is basically intact.  We will have a few days of catching up on things after 36 days on the road.