2013 Trip To Florida

Every fall for the last 14 years I've left my northern home for the warm and sunny climes of Florida for the winter.  Early Saturday morning, Gary drove Faye down to my apartment so that she could accompany me on the trip.  Of course, I was so happy to have her along because we always have a good time together.

Day 1 Saturday) started out dark and rainy so it wasn't easy for me to drive but it was much nicer by the time we crossed the border...little rain and light enough for me to see.  The first real glitch came when I got caught in the wrong lanes at the wrong times and we ended up lost in downtown Pittsburgh, PA.  Not quite frantic, but unable to pull over to ask directions, we kept driving in the direction we thought would get us out.  We stopped for gas and the gas station attendant gave us excellent directions so we were soon out of Pittsburgh and on our way south.

Glitch 2 came when we stopped at a Walmart for wine and then got stopped for speeding when we started back on the highway.  A young boy about 12, dressed in a cop's uniform and driving a K9 vehicle, pulled us over and informed me I'd been doing 71 MPH in a 50 MPH zone.  Crap!  I couldn't believe it when he let us go with a warning.  I must have reminded him of his Gramma.

Our first night's motel was in Beckley, WV and it was quite nice.  I slept from 9 PM until 6:30 AM without even a middle of the night pee so I must have been very tired.

Day 2 started out well, excellent driving conditions and fun was had by all...until we stopped for the night just a few miles north of the Florida border.  Faye found us a "lovely" motel in one of the Georgia flyers that had a convention center and an attached restaurant with Happy Hour.  Sounded nice, right?  Wrong!

Our room was on the first floor and way at the end of a long line of empty rooms.  Just as we got inside, the door handle fell off and we couldn't open the door.  I suggested we call the front desk and tell them to help us but, darn, there was no phone in the room.  I know our kids are screaming at us right now to carry cell phones.

Trapped in the room with no-one near, and to top it off, I'd left the car running.  We tried all kinds of things to turn a greasy lever on the door but just didn't seem to have enough strength to turn it.  I really was in a panic but Faye remained calm and was finally able to push her tweezers through the hole in the lever and get it turned enough to open the door.  She said she would have thrown the chair or microwave through the window if we couldn't have gotten the door open.  I think she was just as scared as I was but kept a calm exterior so we both didn't go bananas.

Off we went to the front desk and told them our story, asking for a room WITH a telephone.  We were given another room that did have a telephone but it wasn't even attached to the wall so we returned to the office and asked for our money back.  We drove about a block up the road and found probably the last room in another motel and it had a working phone.

Still traumatized, I allowed Faye to convince me it was safe for us (carrying about $1,000 cash between us) to walk back along a dark path to the aforementioned restaurant.  We wanted our Happy Hour.  We needed our Happy Hour.  We ended up with 2 gin and tonics and cheesecake each.  It was comfort food and drink.

Day 3 was the easiest of all.  We had a light breakfast and drove until lunchtime at the Crackerbarrel.  Just before reaching the trailer, we stopped for a few groceries...and wine.

Pulling into the park, it was nice to see the ponds full but the park was still pretty empty at this time of the year.  We passed and talked to Charlotte and Dee and then spotted Shelley and John behind them.  What a nice surprise!  They helped us unload the car and then Faye took all the sheets I'd used to cover furniture to the laundryroom.  Shelley and John couldn't stay long but we made plans to see them this weekend.  It took a few more hours of organizing to make the trailer habitable and then we settled down with wine and T.V. until about 10 P.M.

Oh, I forgot.  Virginia dropped in and invited us to come to her place next Tuesday for coffee.  She used to stay in my park but has since moved to another.  Then Dee dropped in and visited for a while.  We made plans to go to the casino with her tonight.

Life is good!

Emotional

I'm terribly emotional lately and, for me, that's not a good sign.  I feel deep love for my family streaming out of every pore to the extent that it's starting to feel odd.  Of course, my family is extraordinary and worthy of all this overwhelming love I have for them but it just seems sort of strange to be consumed by it.

I imagine there are people who live their whole lives and never fall in love with anyone and I do feel sorry for them.  Love can hurt at times but, on the whole, it is a lovely satisfying emotion to be caught up in.  When you're in the presence of someone you love, the world is a marvellous place...birds sing and angels play their harps.  Nothing in this world makes me happier than to be in the presence of my babies...daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, greatgrandsons.  They are my purpose for having lived at all.

Well, I guess if you're going to be overcome by an emotion, the preferred one is love.    

How Do I Love Thee

Let me count the ways and they are limitless and eternal.  I'm feeling philosophical and kind of silly happy because I just spent a couple of hours with my 2 oldest grandsons.  We had dinner out together and then they came back to the apartment for a visit.  I love them so dearly and I don't think they have any idea of the depth of my love for them.  

Nick is and always has been too mature for his years, kind and responsible almost to a fault.  Matt is the most loveable and gentle big bear of a man you'll ever find.  I would die on the spot if anything happened to my boys so they have a great responsibility to take good care of themselves, even if it's just for me.

I love them and they know I love them.   

Life Before E-Mails

I love my early morning practice of reading my e-mails while I drink that very first, heavenly cup of coffee.  Most that I get are jokes or just something that makes me smile and it got me wondering what mornings were like before computers.

When I finish my wake-up ablutions, I avoid the mirror like the plague because nothing there is going to make me smile.  Then it's off to the kitchen to start coffee and warm up the computer.  I'm still getting a thrill out of my cute little apartment and it does bring a smile to my face as I look around at it's neatness.  The morning sun or often the touch of dawn brings lots of light into the kitchen and livingroom area because it faces east so, unless it's rainy or clouded over, my mornings are lightly lit.

I drink my coffee with a half cup of milk so, as the coffee pot is working away, I put the half cup of milk into the microwave to warm up.  By the time I've plopped myself down in front of the computer and opened the e-mail, coffee is ready.  What a pleasant way to start the day.  By the way, it's also nice and quiet because I live alone...no husband or kids to mar the silence.

As I sip my morning drug, I read e-mails and giggle at their content.  I wonder if easy mornings like this contribute to my contentedness over the rest of the day?  I'd guess, yes!

Before computers, a senior like me could only count on coffee to make mornings pleasurable.  And before T.V.'s there would only be housework to look forward to after that.  Thank heavens for the improvements we've seen develop over the last 60 years!  I'm not much of a T.V. watcher but have it on and listen to it as I do other things.  I guess it's company of a sort but maybe I'm not comfortable with total silence for too long.

I know that one of the reasons I'm never bored is because I have the computer to turn to when I don't feel like doing anything else.  E-mails aside, the web is saturated with information on any subject one can imagine and you could never read or watch it all in your lifetime.  Access to so much information is the reason some dictator led countries restrict it's use by citizens. It's all part of keeping the people uninformed in order to control them.

Any way, I'm thankful for my computer and all it offers me.  I wonder what miracles our seniors will have to play with and learn from 60 years from now?  

  

Dog Farts

My grandson, Kyle, posted on Facebook that there's no use having a dog if you can't blame farts on it.  Now, there's a hug difference between the rancid smell of human farts and the deathly smells of dog farts.  It could be the dog food.

My dog, Corky, was the sweetest dog in the world but his farts would clear a room.  The problem was that you couldn't help trying to wave away the smell as you tried to escape and, to him, that meant you didn't want him near you (you didn't).  He'd panic about being left alone and chase right behind you, surrounded by his fartly emissions.  No matter how far you ran, he stayed with you.  I remember him staring at me in bewilderment as I gagged from the smell.  The only thing a person could do was put him out in the yard and hope he'd poop it away.

Naw, Kyle, your farts may smell bad but you've got nothing on a dog.

Time

Time is so precious.  In this life, we'll have many choices of what to do with our time on earth and it's a curious thing what choices we make.  Childhood is the best of times, where we live freely in the moment in imagination.  Young adulthood is also spent mostly in the moment but with a mind full of worries that we don't measure up.

In our twenties and thirties, many of us are busy building a career, marriage, and home...again, full of worries when we're pushing hard to achieve status.  Middle age gives us some reprieve because we've become more settled and comfortable but with the energy to pursue a few more personal goals.

But the best time of all is when we achieve the supreme goal of senior.  The workforce is left behind and, if we're lucky and have planned and saved for this moment, we're free to do as we please.  It's then that we know for certain that the most important things in life are our families and friends.  Money and power don't matter  if you haven't achieved those things in your life.

It's almost inevitable that we'll have the odd health problem when we reach old age but, with good health care, we should be able to continue enjoying our well deserved elder years.  When I look back on my life, I honestly believe that the best of time is right now.  I've raised my children to be good parents of productive children, one of whom is also a good parent.  My progeny are all in good hands and I can breathe a sigh of relief and step back.  I've amazingly become part of the oldest generation in our family.  Whoever would have thought it??

On Saturday, Faye and I leave for Florida where I'll spend the winter.  It was Dennis' hard work and my good planning that allows me to do this and I'm ever grateful for the time I have to loll in the Florida warmth every winter, at least until poor health doesn't allow it.  

Would I want to be 30 or 40 again?  No.  Would I want to look 30 or 40 again?  Damn, yes! 

  

Interesting

I get semi-regular notices when someone has witnessed the death mist and the latest one was a little different.  The daughter of a very ill lady was visited by the mist 3 days before her mother died.  Since most of what I've read about the phenomena is that the mist is seen soon after the moment of death, this is unusual but not unbelievable.  If we have a soul that leaves the body at death, why couldn't that soul also be free to wander at any time?  That's my belief, anyway.

I am so thankful that I was given the gift of seeing this happen when my husband passed away.  Not being a religious person but always believing in some sort of existence after death, it gave me proof that we aren't just this earthly body and that life doesn't end when the body dies.

When I was a child, I was able to step outside my body at will but lost that ability when it began to frighten me.  I fully believe we all have these abilities if we choose to tap them.  As an adult, I've tried to do it again but have been unable.  Perhaps the fear is still too strong or perhaps I've just forgotten how it's done.

Life is a mysterious thing, isn't it?

Holy Crap

So I just get the good news about the skin cancer being gone and today I wake up with massive diarrhea that, so far, has lasted all darned day.  The only thing I can attribute it to are the 2 little pastries I bought at the grocery store and ate after dinner last night.  Apparently small but probably loaded with some kind of bacteria.  Yuck!  I'm very thankful this didn't happen next Friday, the day before I hop in the car to drive 1200 miles to Florida.  I'm assuming it's just a 24 hour illness but it's stopping me from going out for dinner with Cindy and Don tonight!

Some good news, though.  Faye has decided to drive down to Florida with me and I'm soooo happy about that.  We'll have a ball!  

It seems such a shame that so many of the days of my younger years were sad ones and now that I'm an old gal my days are pretty damned good.  Maybe it's Karma and I'm being given a gift for living a pure life.  Well, mostly pure.  

Now, if only my stomach would stop gurgling and threatening embarrassment. 

Survivalists

Survivalists don't trust government to take care of their needs but rely on their own strengths to exist.  I guess I've always thought they were a bunch of nuts but just watching the ridiculous antics of politicians has made me reconsider.  I don't go so far as wanting the government taken over by a group of anti-government people...they'd just be another form of government, the power would go to their heads and before long they'd look just like any other politician of today.

I think survivalists could have it both ways, though.  Use the government body for whatever it produces in their favor but also look after yourself so your world doesn't fall apart when the politicians screw up.  And they always do because most of them don't give a hoot about you and me.

I don't trust politicians as far as I can throw them but we do need some sort of officials in power to run the country.  I just don't understand why can't we sue the ass off them when they steal from us, don't keep their election promises, or if they serve their supporters' interests instead of the interests of the general public.  Let's have a plebiscite on that, okay?  If it should pass, most present day politicians would run for cover but more good ones would soon come forth and, before you know it, we'd be living in an efficiently and honestly run country.

That's my vision of heaven...honestly run for the benefit of every inhabitant. 

Happy Day

After I had the skin cancer removed from my cheek in August, it finally healed well but a little bump remained.  Even though it's gradually shrunk to a very little bump I was still a little nervous about why it was there.  I saw the dermatologist this morning and she thinks it's just scar tissue so I'm free to leave here on the 26th for Florida.  Oh, happy days!  I always worry about something and, if there isn't something to worry about, I'll wonder why things are going too good.

My possible father's name was Riskin (or maybe something that just sounded like that) so I've liked the idea that I might be part Jewish...Riskin sounds Jewish to me.  Since Jews are supposed to be great worriers, I might have come by it honestly.  In any case, I know I worry way too much about way too many things that have either gone wrong or might go wrong.

But this was a good day.  I came home and did all my phoning...taking care of Florida utilities to be turned on and trying to contact the lady who cleans my trailer before I get there.  I got the suitcase out (it would be all packed by now if I'd known sooner that I could leave on the 26th) and put a few things in it.  I got my car interior cleaned and it looks just lovely and then I filled up with gas.  Then I went to the "Fifties Diner" for a huge lunch of Reuben on rye with fries.  I don't think I'll be wanting supper.

Some days you're the dog and some days you're the fire hydrant.  Today I'm one happy dog.   

National Coming Out Day

This makes me damned angry!  To whose advantage is it to have a national coming out day?  Is it to convince our young men, who can get erections over nothing at all, that their sometimes wayward thoughts make them gay?  Is it to convince our young girls that because they love their girlfriends it makes them gay?

Teens are going through a kind of hell with their hormones and it's easy to convince them that it means something it doesn't.  I really don't understand the push to place labels on yourself instead of just taking the time to grow up.  Labelling yourself in any way will stick to you like glue for the rest of your life and either enhance your life or hurt it.  

National coming out day is perfectly fine for adults who should know themselves well enough but, for teens, don't let yourself be conned into something you'll regret.  I say "fine" but I honestly don't give 2 hoots if you're gay or not so don't feel you have to inform me about who you like to play with.  

I've always been under the assumption that 10% of the population is gay but, according to Psychology Today, only slightly more than 2% are gay.  I wonder why we've been led to believe that 10% are??

All that ranting said and done, if one of my loved ones was gay I would never love them one bit less than I already do and I wouldn't try to change them.  Under any label is still the real person and that's who I'll always love.  

Death Mist

When my husband passed away in 2005, I witnessed a mist burst out of his body that filled the room.  In my mind, it was his soul escaping from it's confines.  At the time, I'd never heard of such a thing happening but made sure to write a blog about the experience so that it would remain fresh in my mind.  Funny, but it was such a profound experience, it will always remain fresh in my mind.

A few years later, doing research on the computer, I found a website that dealt with phenomena like this and it seems I'm not the only one who has seen the mist.  Of course, doctors and nurses would be at the top of the list of people who had seen it but what surprised me most is that it doesn't happen with every dead person.  I wonder why?

I've kept in contact with this website and occasionally receive messages of another sighting.  The last one was from a lady who saw the mist when her beloved dog died.  That's the first one I've heard of about an animal but it shouldn't surprise us.  Most of the people who write in are very confused about what they've witnessed and are wondering if anyone else has seen it happen.  I have always felt very privileged to have seen my husband's soul escape his poor ravaged body.  It gave this humble agnostic old gal more proof of life after death.

There's only one way out of this life for every one of us and it's nice to know that there is something else.  By the way, along with the mist from my husband, there was an all-consuming sense of joy that filled the room.  All of this happened in seconds before I could even take in what I was seeing so the joy didn't come from me.

Ah, mysterious life...and even more mysterious death. 

It's Shrinking

When I had the skin cancer removed surgically in August, my dermatologist told me there were still a few residual cells in the outlying tissue but that they most likely would disappear on their own.  As the wound healed (and it healed so well that you can barely see a scar) a little bump remained at the epicenter.  The approximately 1" swelling all around it gradually disappeared until only the little bump remained.  It's been hard for me to tell if the bump was shrinking too but I'm almost positive it has so now I have better hope that all is well.  I see the dermatologist on Wednesday and I'll be able to tell her with confidence that the bump really is shrinking.  I hope that means she won't have to do surgery on it again.

I happen to be one who has been plagued with spots of skin cancer in my later years.  Most were effectively dealt with by sprays of liquid nitrogen but 2 have had to be removed surgically.  It isn't fun but skin cancer is usually not a death sentence.  The trick is to catch it early, either by your doctor or dermatologist.  I've had some minor skin problems for years and so I make it a point to see my dermatologist at least twice a year.  This is easy to do if you're covered by insurance and we in Canada are blessed with not having to worry about the cost of seeing a doctor.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving day and, besides always being ever grateful for my loving family, I am so grateful for seeing evidence that my little bump is getting smaller.

   

I'm A Bigot

It used to be that "gay" was the expletive but now it seems like "bigot" is the new word.  I'm a bigot.  I believe that being gay is an aberration in nature, not something to be despised or ridiculed but just a slight difference from the norm.  Apparently that makes me a bigot.  So be it.

Children strive to be different from their parents, not making the same mistakes, not dressing in the same fashion, not living the same kind of lives, but I'm wondering if the surge in bisexuality is just another effort to show that difference.  I know, I'm a bigot!

In the end, will this phase cause untold damage to today's young people or will it just fall by the wayside of their foolish youth?  I'm hoping it will be just a phase that doesn't cause too much damage to them.

I may be a bigot but I have a good heart.

  

Who's Getting Paid?

Politics and how we, the citizens, let politicians get away with murder just astounds me.  With the U.S. government shutdown, I just assumed that politicians would not be receiving their salaries, just as many retired servicemen might not be receiving their pensions.  Stupid me.  I'd almost forgotten that politicians always take care of their own needs before the citizens they were hired to serve.  Yes, the congressmen who have shut down the United States government will continue to receive their mighty salaries!

Many politicians have their jobs thanks to the insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies which funded their elections so now they have to pay the piper.  It really doesn't take a brain surgeon to understand that American citizens need a decent health care plan that covers everyone.  Just ask any one of the minimum wage employees who can't afford health coverage for themselves or their families.  Ask the seniors who are still working just to pay for their prescription drugs.  Ask the new mother who had no prenatal care because she couldn't afford it.

I remember when we were in the same position in Canada.  I remember how our proposed government health care system was fought tooth and nail by the medical community...including many doctors!  As much as I talk down about politicians, it was a few honest ones that made sure every Canadian citizen would receive health care, regardless of financial status.

Now powerful politicians, supported by powerful insurance and pharmaceutical companies, have shut down the government of the most powerful country in the world in order to prevent Obamacare from being installed.  And now we know who too many of our politicians work for.  

I Ask

It's disconcerting to get the feeling you've somehow, unknowingly offended someone but have no idea what you've done.  I prefer to let the matter ride unless it becomes too obvious and then I know I must have done something wicked.  And so, I ask.

Right now I'm waiting for a reply so that I can ask.  All sorts of scenarios are running through my head, knowing I never did anything intentionally, but could it just be me?  Could it be that someone doesn't like me just because I'm me?  That would be worse than finding out I'd committed a faux pas that can be corrected with explanation.

I'm waiting to find out.

Note:  No response so I'll let go.

Nolan Overnight

Nolan stayed overnight with me for the first time and he wasn't too happy about it at first.  I picked him up at his Gramma Dianne's house and he was reluctant to go with me, saying he wanted his mother.  I bribed him with promise of fries at Five Guys and he allowed himself to be put in the carseat, not too happy but with visions of fries in his little head.

After Five Guys fries, we went to the grocery store for a couple of items and then back to the apartment where he felt quite comfortable.  We had cookies for a snack and he played for quite a while with his toys.  I'd told him he could stay up until 9 P.M. but he started to conk out before 8:30 so, when I suggested it was time for bed, off he went and I didn't hear a word from him until 6:30 this morning.  I got up to pee and he was proudly looking into the toilet at his morning deposit...poop and pee.

After a breakfast of oatmeal, bananas, and orange juice, he settled in to watch T.V. while I played on the computer.  We're going yard saleing at a few churches later this morning to get him some more toys.  Like, he really needs more toys!  LOL!

It's been important for me to spend time with him and Nash, just as I did with my grandchildren, because it promotes family bonds.  All the generations of our family are close and that's because of the effort put in by each generation to make sure the children understood the importance of family.  I often think how sad it must be for people without family to lean on and count on.

I'm sure I'll give a small sigh of relief when my busy little Nolan goes home later today and my world becomes a quiet oasis but, for now, I'll enjoy his youthful exuberance and be thankful I'm able to participate in his life.

Anti-Abortionist Blackmail

It doesn't matter what side you're on, pro abortion or anti abortion, you're not going to passively accept images of aborted fetuses tossed in front of you and your children.  That's what is happening these days on the Link.  Anti abortionists walk out on the overpass and drop disgusting images of aborted fetuses for the viewing pleasure of a captive audience...people and often their children driving home in suppertime traffic.

Not only is this a cruel way to present their cause but it could also cause accidents.  They don't seem to care.  After all, it's this same mentality that allowed some of them to murder doctors who performed abortions.  They are without a doubt self-serving, selfish individuals who really don't care who they hurt when they're on a mission.

My daughter made a very valid point.  We detest child molesters but we'd never post leud pictures of a man/woman raping a child.  There are some boundaries you just don't cross when you are trying to win supporters over to your way of thinking or believing.

I know what a dead fetus looks like.  I also know there are women (sometimes just girls) who have every right to decide if they want to carry a baby to term.  I can't say I'm pro abortion but there are always many factors to consider when it comes to abortion.  In the end, a woman must have the right to make her own decision whether or not to give birth.  When anti abortionists shove images of dead fetuses in my face, they do not win a convert.  They lose one.