Day 12

 Some days are made for sight seeing and some days are made for friend seeing. My wonder spouse and I spent most of the day today visiting a friend we have known since college. So I guess you could say an old friend. 60+ years ago she and I roomed together at Ball State University for two summer sessions and lived across the hall from each other for three years. During some of that time I was lavaliered (almost engaged) to the man she eventually married. No hard feelings, I had moved on to the man who became my first husband before she and my ex got together. You can see that we've had an interesting, but always good, relationship. Today made us realize that we really must stay in touch more frequently, even if it's just by text and phone. Really good friends need to be held on to. 

Day 11

 Remember the Alamo! Today we spent some hours exploring the Alamo. The first time I saw the Alamo, in 1968, it was just a semi ruined building, sitting at the edge of a busy street. You could walk through it and see the bullet holes but that was about it.  I am happy to report that a lot has happened since then. Some old city buildings were torn down and the Alamo is now part of a city block outdoor museum full of 3-D displays and posters telling the entire history of the Alamo through all its various uses beginning in the early 1700s. The focus is not just on one sad battle; the Alamo is treated as the church it was, men are told to remove their hats, everyone is asked to whisper while they are inside. The entire experience was much more informative, moving and interesting than I expected. So, the next time you're in San Antonio, by all means visit the Alamo. You will remember it. 

Day 10

 After a long south eastward drive across Texas (it's a big state) we arrived in San Antonio and checked in to an elegant old hotel. Then we proceeded to the River Walk which has changed a lot since I was last here. My spouse had been here more recently so he wasn't so surprised. Loud music everywhere we walked and crowds of people. It is a Friday night and some kind of festival was going on so there were lots of people in strange costumes. Everyone was very friendly and helpful as we walked around. We ate at a pub and I had excellent fish and chips. My spouse had potato soup, also very good and we shared a margarita. All in all a fun day. Tomorrow the Alamo. 

Day 9

 Today was spent mostly underground, exploring Carlsbad caverns. It was an amazing adventure. So different from the starry night experience but equally awe inspiring. We took an elevator 750 feet down into the cave then spent an hour and a half walking the trails and looking in amazement at the variety of stalactites and stalagmites. So much beauty hidden underground. We took lots of pictures but they don't do it justice. Now we are waiting to see the bats swarm out of the cave at sunset. Another natural world experience. We are not allowed to take pictures so no bat photos to share. I know you'll be so disappointed. 

Day 8

 This may be my shortest blog ever. My wonder spouse and I spent most of today driving south east across New Mexico. We left Grant's at about 10 am as planned and arrived at Carlsbad about 4 pm. The scenery was nice, much the same as yesterday and the drive was uneventful which is the way we like it. I did get a delicious frozen coffee drink at one of our stops and we had very good French dip sandwiches at McAlister's Deli. Just a driving day in other words. Tomorrow we will explore Carlsbad caverns which should be much more exciting. Thanks for checking in. 

Day 7

 Today was a good day with a drive to Chaco Canyon to view rocks and ruins, and that was a good experience. But the most amazing part of the day started at 4:00am. 

My wonder spouse had reserved a hogan in a dark place for us to stay in last night, hoping that we would see stars.  Since we live in a city, with lots of ambient light, we seldom see any stars at all.  We arrived after dark and it really was very, very dark. Sadly, it was also overcast and spitting rain. So we went to bed, happy to be staying there but disappointed at the lack of stars.  Then the most amazing thing happened. I woke up at 4:00am, looked out the window, and discovered that the sky had cleared and was ablaze with stars. I woke my wonder spouse and we rushed outside to stand in awe, absorbing the silent splendor of the infinity of stars shining down on us. My spouse even saw a meteor. It was a night we will always remember. 

Day 6

 Today was a long day of train riding, and being tourists in a small town. We boarded the Durango to Silverton narrow gauge train, pulled by a genuine steam engine, at 8:30am for the three and a half hour train ride to the small, historic, tourist friendly town of Silverton, high in the mountains. The train ride was lumpy and bumpy, and our car swayed from side to side,  but the scenery was magnificent, also a bit scary at times because of the steep dropoffs on both sides. Silverton was a bit of a disappointment because it is the end of their season and many shops were already closed. On the positive side this probably saved me some money. We did manage to find a good place for lunch, and some excellent ice cream. We boarded the train again at 2:30pm and made it back to Durango by 6:15. At which time my wonder spouse and I got in our car (so much more comfortable than the train) and headed south. After an hour and a half of driving we came to a hogan where we are spending the night. This is in a very dark isolated place where we hoped to see a sky full of stars. Alas, it's raining. Ah well, the best laid plans and all that. Tomorrow is another day.

Day 5

 Today was an almost but not quite kind of day. Our goal was to go to Mesa Verde which we did. We drove the twisting climbing road into Mesa Verde National Park, which was an adventure all on its own, with glorious views and steep drop offs. We were told that it would take 75 minutes to drive the 20 miles from the park entrance to the overlook and it did. We made it in plenty of time to take the 45 minute guided tour but when we arrived at the overlook which had a fantastic view of the remains, my wonder spouse and I looked at the steep walk down, considered the four ladders needed to climb out again and decided not to make the descent. We spoke to the ranger, who had just arrived, about our decision, and, when she told us that the 45 minute tour didn't include the climb back out, we decided that our decision to just admire from afar was the right one for us. It was still a beautiful day and I will have some great pictures to post when I get back to my computer. 

By the way, a great supper at a little restaurant called Millie's on the way back to our hotel in Durango afded to the fun of the day. 

Day 4

 Today we left Walsenberg and drove to Durango Colorado. We drove the whole distance on highway 160, which was scenic all the way. It was a beautiful sunny day and the golden Aspens shone vibrantly against the dark green pines and gray rock faces. It was a picture perfect drive especially with snow capped peaks showing up on every side. We arrived in Durango about 3:00pm and spent the rest of the day exploring the old city, eating at a local bar and watching an old steam engine puff into view. All in all a lovely relaxing day, topped off with gin and tonics at our hotel bar. A free welcome treat from the establishment. Tomorrow it's back to sight seeing. We must be up early so heading to bed now. 

Day 3

 Today was a study in contrasts. We left Salina Kansas this morning about 10am. During the first three hours of the drive it was very, very windy with trucks and cars struggling to stay in their lanes on the interstate as the wind blew straight across the highway over the flat lands of Kansas. Giant windmills dotted the countryside for miles. After we got off the interstate we decided we needed a break so we stopped at an IHOP for a late brunch, so delicious. Soon after that we got off the interstate and proceeded on regular roads southwest into Colorado. The afternoon drive was so different from the morning drive. We drove, well my wonder spouse drove and I navigated, into Colorado on the quietist roads you can imagine. We drove for hours with hardly anyone else on the road, through occasional small towns with towering grain elevators, and watched in awe as the scenery changed from the flat lands of Kansas to our first views of the mountains. Still lots of giant windmills and about an equal number of oil wells, but flanked by mountains. This evening we are staying in Walsenberg Colorado and celebrated our safe and serene arrival here by going to a local pizza place called Gub Gub. It was delicious pizza, the final contrast of the day. IHOP crepes and Gub Gub classic pizza, so different, yet both so good. 

Day 2

 Today was a travel day from St. Louis, MO to Selina, Kansas, about 6 hours of actual driving time.  No real tourist activities although we did have a delicious lunch at a Steak & Shake along the way.  We tried their new tallow fried potatoes, every bit as good as advertised, and the burgers were great too. At a stop for gas we bought a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle, an appropriate souvenir for us. In the evening we ate supper at Schlotzky's Deli. That was a new experience for me so I guess it was a kind of touristy day after all. More driving tomorrow, then we will get into the really exciting parts of the trip. Stay tuned. 

Day 1:

 Today my Wonder Spouse and I ventured forth on the first day of our two week south west adventure. We have made it as far west as Chesterfield, MO where we are spending the night. We spent much of the afternoon in St. Louis touring the Gateway Arch. It is really an amazing structure. We did ride one of the tiny  elevators sideways and up (like stairsteps) to the very top where we had time to appreciate the view from all sides. There were some steps to climb and lines to wait in but it was well worth it. Just seeing the arch from a distance is great but I highly recommend that you take the tour the next time you're in St. Louis.  For some reason I can't send pictures this evening, will try again tomorrow. 

brain games..

 Just for a change, I told my west coast brother what special day today, October 13, is.  He and his family were busy celebrating the birthdays of two of their sons so I understand and am happy to take my turn.

Today is "National Train Your Brain Day."  I don't know if this counts as brain training, but every day my spouse and I do at least three of the New York Times puzzles.  We can access these on our phones.  How did we ever play games before cell phones?

I work through 'Wordle' quite successfully.  I can usually get the answer in three or four guesses.  Then I work on 'Connections', which is definitely more difficult.  Occasionally I must take a hint.  And then there is 'Strands.'  This is my favorite because I can almost always solve it with no hints at all.  

My wonder spouse and I are friendly competitors, and sometimes even collaborators.  In addition I like paper games, especially 'Sudoku.'  I can also spend a lot of time playing Free Cell, a lovely old computer 'card' game, which can always be solved, although sometimes it takes several trys.

All of this is to say that I do think it's good to execise my brain, but sometimes I need a break. Today was just such a day.  After spending most of the day finishing packing for our south west trip (we're leaving tomorrow at 9:00am) and making time to train our brains with our puzzles, this evening my wonder spouse and I spent a delightful two hours watching the old James Bond movie "Goldfinger." It was very relaxing, but not at all mentally taxing.  And that's ok for a change.

A timely reminder...

 My west coast brother informed me that today is his youngest son's 31st birthday, and also, quite coincidentally, "International Moment of Frustration Scream Day." I am very happy for my nephew and all the family but I did have a frustration today (nothing to do with my nephew) that made me want to scream, or at least cry. 

I went to a local. very nice, very reputable nursing home today to visit my 90 year old cousin.  I was surprised when I walked in the door to be told that I must wear a mask.  They had them available but this had never been a requirement during previous visits.  I put on a mask and signed in. After that, when I told a nurse who I was here to visit, I was told that I could visit my cousin but would need to put on a gown and gloves, as well as the mask.  While I was still absorbing that, another nurse came up, asked who I wanted to see, and when I responded, told me quite firmly that my cousin has COVID and wouldn't be able to have visitors until Friday.  When I mentioned that I'm leaving on vacation on Wednesday, she took me firmly by the arm and practically pushed me out the door with instructions to go home and use hand sanitizer or, better yet, wash my hands thoroughly with soap and water, which I did as soon as I got home. 

I have written a letter to my cousin (typed - very large print) which I will mail tomorrow. I hope she receives it and will understand why I couldn't visit.  I am feeling frustrated because I naively thought we were done with COVID.  Take care, everyone.  

Going...

 My West Coast brother has told me that today is "You Go Girl Day." That seems like a fine day to me. To celebrate I did GO to church and convinced my spouse and our house guest to GO with me. After church we decided to GO to Wu's for an excellent Chinese lunch. After we came home I convinced the other two that we should probably all GO to our favorite relaxing spots and try to GO to sleep for a brief afternoon nap (an excellent Sunday afternoon tradition). That seems to have worked. It has been very quiet around here for the last couple of hours. I have decided to GO ahead and write this blog on my phone for practice because I will be writing my blogs this way while we are on the GO later this week. Now I must stop this foolishness and GO do some packing. 

Woops.....

 In all my preliminary preparations for our upcoming driving trip, I totally forgot to blog last night.  In my defense, in addition to thinking about necessary chores, like doing laundry, we have been entertaining a house guest who will be with us until the day before we leave on our vacation.

On the positive side, our guest really enjoys old movies, so last evening, after supper, we watched the movie "Nine to Five" starring Jane Fonda, Lily Thomlin, and Dolly Parton.  I had forgotten how hilarious that movie really is.  I went to bed, still laughing, and realized at about 2:00am that I had forgotten to blog.  Too late then. 

Today, following up on our goal of being really ready for this trip (since this is not a Viking Cruise the bulk of the planning has fallen on my wonder spouse) he is doing an excellent job of making sure all our 'ducks' are in a row.  After careful consideration of the discriptions of rough terain on some of our walking tours, we decided that it might be good to have something sturdier than gym shoes to wear.  So today we went shopping at my favorite shoe store, Robert's, which is, sadly, going out of business at the end of October. Where will I get my size 11's then?  Happily, almost everything in the store is marked down. I was able to buy a pair of SAS walking shoes at a really good price. Regular price $209.00, sale price $125.40.  This was only a 40 percent discount but I'm not complaining.

This is what they look like, not particularly cute or stylish, but definitely up to hiking around Mesa Verde.  The color is called 'black moon dust.' I do like that.  So far they are also very comfortable.  Alas, my spouse was not able to find anything similar in the men's department, but never fear, he has ordered hiking boots from Amazon.  They will be here tomorrow.  Which is good since we're leaving on Wednesday.  "Southwest" here we come!!

PS If this blog sounds like an advertisement for Robert's, that was not my intent, but if you like shoes (notice I didn't say 'need' shoes) you should not miss this sale.  It ends October 31. 

Fabulous Flashback

My spouse, our house guest, and I just spent a very entertaining evening watching the 1978 movie "Death on the Nile" based on the 1937 novel by Agatha Christie, and courtesy of Amazon Prime.  The movie starred Peter Ustinov, David Niven, Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, Angela Lansbury, Mia Farrow and Lois Chiles.  If those names are familiar to you, welcome to my generation.

Not only was the story twisted and fun to follow, but my spouse and I found ourselves playing the "I remember that" game as we saw scenes and sites that we had explored while we were in Egypt last year.  The giant sphinx, the avenue of sphinxes, the rows of giant columns, ancient temples and of course, the pyramids.  Happily, there were no giant blocks of stone dislodged and falling at our feet while we were there. Our gracious guide Wasfat would never have permitted that. We were not allowed to climb the great pyramid either, although, to be honest, neither of us was tempted to do that.  

We did travel by riverboat up the Nile and we passed the riverboat, the Steam Ship Sudan, on which Agatha Christie traveled, and that inspired her novel.  It was used to film a 2004 adaptation.  Alas the 1978 film we just watched used a mock-up ship named the Memnon at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England. So disappointing.

The two scenes above were in the movie.

Here are three of my favorite Egyptian temples.  This evening's movie really did bring back some memories. 

more good eating...

 According to my west coast brother, today, October 7, is "National Chocolate Covered Pretzels Day," "National Frappe Day." "National Pumpkin Seed Day," "Canadian Beer Day," "National Kale Day" and "Random Acts of Poetry Day." How can I resist the challenge?

Chocolate, Frappe, Pumpkin, Beer,

These I like to keep quite near.

You must admit, they sound delicious,

And, possibly, a bit nutritious. 

On the other hand take kale.

Nutrition oozes from each leaf.

Green, curly and available, yet, 

as I stroll the grocery aisles,

sipping a frappe for energy, 

pretzels, pumpkin seeds and beer

might wind up in my grocery cart, 

but kale will never there appear.

Good Eating

 According to my West Coast brother today is National German Heritage Day and also National Noodle Day. I am not at all surprised that these two events should be celebrated together.

My father's grandparents immigrated from Germany to the United States sometime in the early 1800s. While they became citizens and gave up speaking German, they did not, happily, give up their German food traditions.

Every Christmas, Thanksgiving, or other festive celebration feast at my Aunt Dora's house included noodles, always, always served on top of mashed potatoes. I loved watching my aunt make mashed potatoes. After she boiled and drained the potatoes, she would dump them into a large mixing bowl, add lots of butter and a little milk, and whip those potatoes to a froth with her trusty electric hand mixer. I have used her recipe for years. Then she served them with plenty of butter melting on top. 

Everyone would take a heaping helping of mashed potatoes as they were passed around the table. Then came the noodles, boiled in beef or chicken broth with plenty of tasty bits of meat. The noodles went on top of the potatoes, of course. Even though there was plenty of other food being served, meat, vegetables, salad, etc, I was always happy to fill up on noodles and mashed potatoes.  If you've never tried noodles on mashed potatoes you really must. If you have had such a feast, I bet your mouth is watering right now. I know mine is. 

Looking back...

 My spouse's brother-in-law is visiting with us for a week, and, as seems inevitable when three 80+ age family members get together, the conversation today focused mainly on things past.  

We have compared cars we have driven, places around the world where we have been, either to live or visit, friends and family still with us or long since gone to their reward.  Talking about what our children and grandchildren are doing has been a happy topic of discussion.  Our personal ailments, fading eyesight, creaky knees, etc. took up some time as we compared notes.

Because his brother-in-law also grew up in Fort Wayne, my wonder spouse took us on a long drive around the city this evening, past old homes, old schools and other remembered haunts, like favorite restaurants, the dentist's office, and the best slopes for racing bikes.

We went to Clara's Pizza King for supper and the pizza was just as delicious as we all remembered.  The sweet tea was so good.  It was fun using the table telephone to place our order.

After supper my wonder spouse drove us past the huge new soccer stadium so our guest, who now lives in Florida, could see that some things do change in good old Fort Wayne. All in all it has been a delightful visit so far, but now I'm wondering what we will talk about for the next eight days. 

the perfect spice

 My west coast brother has informed me that today is "Cinnamon Roll Day."  Since I wrote about cider yesterday, and since cider and cinnamon so often go together in our household, I thought it would behoove me to write about cinnamon today. (Don't you love that word 'behoove'? I don't get to use it very often.)

Cinnamon is the inner bark of evergreen trees found in Ceylon and other similar places with a hot climate, plently of rain and good drainage.  If you want to grow your own cinnamon you can Google it and get the complete instructions. 

Personally, I am happy to buy it in little tin boxes at the grocery store. It comes in 'ground' and 'stick' form. We always have a supply of each on hand.  I am pretty sure it's one of the basic food groups, right up there with chocolate. for me, and honey for my wonder spouse. 

I will now share with you my two favorite cinnamon based recipes.

1. My favorite breakfast is a thick slice of toasted cinammon swirl bread slathered with butter and coated with cinnamon sugar.  I have a cinnamon sugar mixture handy at all times.

2. One of my favorite drinks is hot cider (the real stuff, as described yesterday) with a cinnamon stick floating in it to add an extra special taste. 

Well, I'm ready to go drink some cider, with a cinnamon stick.  I hope you are too.

Real cider...

 Real apple cider has a taste all its own.  Apple juice, which we get with kid's meals from Culver's (we're not proud, they're very good little suppers) is tasty but it doesn't compare to cider.  

Last fall my spouse and I were astonished to learn that the Amish market where we bought fresh pressed cider, usually on Wednesday afternoons because they pressed it on Wednesday mornings, would no longer be able to sell cider because what they were selling wasn't "pasturized." 

It was bad enough the one Wednesday we drove over only to learn that they were sold out.  A gentleman had come in just before us and bought their last 20 gallons.  They suspected that he was going to sell it by the glass in his restaurant, but maybe he was just going to have a really big party? That really wasn't the seller's concern. 

But not being able to sell it because it's not pasturized surprised us.  You pasturize milk and other dairy products.  It's a mild heat treatment process that kills harmful pathogens and spoilage microbes in foods and beverages to make them safe and extend their shelf life.  

In our household extended shelf life has never been a problem when it comes to cider.  We like it heated with a cinnamon stick added or cold, it's all so good.  I don't know if the owners of our favorite Amish market are now pasturizing their cider, or if that requirement was changed, but my spouse was delighted to find it for sale when he went to the market today, and I'm happy to report that it tastes just as delicious as ever.  Pasturized or not, we will definitely keep buying it until the season is over. Cheers!

In case you're wondering, yes it does taste different and better than the cider that you can buy at Krogers.  Nothing against Krogers, we buy most of our groceries there, but I'm sure their cider is pasturized. 

special days

 Well, here we are in October and the days will pass quickly as we get closer to October's grand finale - Halloween!!  One of our neighbors, obviously ready to skip right to Halloween, has lavishly decorated their yard with skeletons and pumpkins and lots and lots of cobwebs strewn from tree to bush to tree and all across the front of the house.  Not really my decorating style but certainly in keeping with the theme. 

And this is all fine, but I think it's unfortunate to skip over so many other October holidays on the way to Halloween.  

Take today for instance.  October 2 is, among other things, "National Body Language Day," "National Name Your Car Day." and "World Smile Day."  Each of these days is important to me personally.  

I have been accused of using too much body language.  It's true that I tend to wave my arms around when I talk, and everyone knows that I love a good hug.  I can't think of any body language better than that, especially if it includes a kiss. 

As for naming my car, I had some help with that.  My faithful Fiat is blue, so when one of my granddaughters asked me (12 years ago when I bought it) what I was going to name my car, I said that I would just call it Blue.  The same granddaughter then gifted me with a decorative plate for the front of my car.  There was a space since Indiana only requires a license plate on the back of a car. The plate says "Nana's Blue." It's a little faded now but still quite legible.

As far as smiles are concerned, what a great way to brighten someone's day.  I love it when people smile at me, sometimes they smile first, sometime they are responding to my smile, but it always cheers me, and hopefully them too.  There's a reason why 'Smile Day' is a world wide celebration.  Smiling is truly a universal language. And easy to learn.  My seven month old great grandson has a wonderful smile. 

How old is old?

 My ever loving west coast brother, who is ten years younger than me, so obviously not old, has informed me that today is "International Day of Older Persons." 

He also said that their slogan is "The older I get, the older 'old' gets." But, while I certainly agree with this sentiment, I think he might have made that up. 

On December 14, 1990, the United Nations General Assembly voted to establish October 1 as the "International Day of the Elderly." Personally, I prefer the term 'older persons' over 'elderly.'  Evidently so do others of my age, since the name of the day was changed.  

An older person, or an old person if you prefer to be blunt, can be getting along just fine, thank you very much, but the term 'elderly' sounds rickety and in need of lots of assistance.  On a recent newscast, I heard a man involved in something news worthy referred to as 'elderly.'  Later in the same show it was revealed that he was 65.  I'm sorry, 65 does not sound elderly to me.  

The theme for this year's "Day of Older Persons" is "The Age of Longevity - Rethinking Systems for Longer Lives."

I can suggest one thing that will make a life feel longer. Decide, with your spouse, or another relative or friend, to put together a 1000 piece jig saw puzzle.  If and when we finish the one we are working on right now, my wonder spouse and I will gladly pass it on to the next puzzle addicts. We guarantee that all the pieces will be there.  Send me you address and I will mail it to you. Anywhere at all!