A Leisurely Vacation

Paul, son Chris and I got back late yesterday afternoon from a trip to Golden, Colorado, where my Mom lives.  My sister Jenny lives about an hour north and comes down to help Mom most weekends.  She works like a Trojan on the yard and keeping the house in order, too.  Mom, who will be 103 in a few weeks, is doing fine but doesn't get around as well as she used to.  She has caregivers a a few days a week, a cleaning person, and yard people.  All of these kind folks keep Mom in her house which has a great back porch that overlooks very pretty flower gardens.  Jenny has planted some vegetables in planters there, and it's fun to sit and watch the birds at the feeders.  The hummingbirds are particularly fascinating because, of course, out west, they are bigger than ours.

We spent a lot of time sitting outside, reading, talking, and, in my case, sewing.  I read two books and almost finished the Kawandi piece I brought.  It just needs one last small piece and three of the little corner triangle thingies ("phula").  I am now wondering what I'll do with the piece - maybe use it as the front of a tote bag?

We did a little sightseeing, ate well, played several rounds of "Rummikub" with Mom and Jenny, and watched some of Mom's favorite old movies.  She loves ones on TCM (Turner Classics) and can invariably recount most of each plot.  Her mind is pretty sharp still.

One morning, out of curiosity, we visited the Mother Cabrini Shrine, just outside Golden.   We had to drive up a steep, winding road about a mile from the main road.   But it was a lovely day and the views were amazing up there.  We didn't walk all the way up to the statue of Jesus, but we did hear voices up on the trail that leads there.

We visited the little chapel with stained glass windows that tell the story of her life, a grotto with holy water, and a small museum with memorabilia and a timeline about Mother Cabrini.  The atmosphere was very serene and, even though we aren't religious, we were pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed it there.  Paul and Chris even drank the holy water.

Our week went by much too fast, and now we're back to our old routine:  laundry, grocery shopping, handling the mail, charging our devices.  Our flights were OK although our flight to Denver encountered bad weather and had to be diverted to Grand Junction until the storm passed.  I didn't mind that much because I had the window seat and loved looking at the mountains from both east and west.

Back from vacation

Good morning!  We arrived home from a week in Colorado on Saturday night, and I've been doing some catch up the last couple of days.  Haven't sewed at all but did get a bit of reading in.  The Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear is coming to an end (sob!), and I'm nearly finished with the last book.  It's hard to say goodbye to a favorite character.

Big loads of laundry have been done, the refrigerator is restocked, and the garden has been checked over for weeds and such.  Our blueberries are heavily laden and were drooping, so we staked them up and are hoping for a bumper crop.  That means I need to get rid of some of the berries we still have in the freezer.  Friday (after a check on my blood sugar and pressure at the doctor's), I plan to make a pie.  Yum!

We had a great week visiting Mom and my sister Jenny.  It was just the right mix of activity and down time.  We sat on the back porch and chatted quite a bit and also went out a few times.  I did some sashiko while enjoying the breeze and watching the birds.  Mom loves to go out for breakfast, so we took her to the ultimate:  Denny's for a "grand slam" with waffles.  

Chris and I went to the Coors Brewery gift shop for some retail therapy, and we all visited the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.  Luckily, they had two chairs outside for Paul and Chris to sit in while Mom, Jenny, and I did some detailed looking at the quilts.

We had a fun 102nd birthday party with Mom's Dutch-Indonesian club one day.  Mom was very happy that Chris could come along with us this time.  He's her "favorite grandson," she always says (he's also her only one!).  All of the guests brought food and a huge cake, which we all enjoyed.

Mom was very pleased with the Birch Street collage I brought her, and we hung it up so that she can look at it from her favorite chair.   At the party, I had a fun conversation with Inga, the daughter of Mom's late friend Judy.  She mentioned that when she was cleaning out her mother's house, it was full of items made by a friend who is a quilter.  That's the way my mom's house looks, too - table runners, tablecloths, bed quilts, and wall quilts are all made by me.  It's nice, since we live so far apart, to have a bit of myself there for her to enjoy.  And Paul and I enjoyed sleeping under one of my first quilts, a handquilted Amish sampler made in the 1990s.

Lazy vacation days

We very much enjoyed the programs we attended at the Fairhope Public Library Tuesday.  One was a book review of Elliott Roosevelt III's latest and the other was a meet the author program.  Paul had read the local author's book before the program (he's a fast reader) and we had run into her at the bookstore.  The audiences for both programs were engaged and nice.

Yesterday was a more lazy day.  We drove to a pecan farm and then walked on the bike/foot path along the Bay.  We sat in the sun by a naturalized area set aside for butterflies (too early in the season but we did see one).   We had a nice pizza lunch and roamed around the history museum for a while.  They had an interesting display of blown up historical photos that were better seen with 3-D glasses.  This was fun. 

Our bungalow is across the street from the path, so we have gone out most nights to watch the sunset.   The sunsets here are just amazing.  The sky turns a lovely pink and the sun a brilliant orange.  But my iPhone cannot do them justice so far.  I'll keep trying.

I've been parking out front under a giant live oak with branches that spread out over the street.  Paul stood in front of it to give an idea of the tree's size.

Here's a view of the tree from across the street.  I copied this photo from the town's website.  And it really does look like this right now with all the tulips!

Alabama photos

We are in lovely Fairhope, Alabama, enjoying sun and warmer temperatures.  Walked without jackets yesterday!  After our first night, at Paul's brother's home in Montgomery, we visited Selma and walked the path of giants over the famous Edmund Pettus Bridge.  We met a couple of devoted volunteer guides and visited a small memorial park on the other side of the bridge from the town (below).

Later, we drive down to Fairhope and checked into our VRBO within sight of Mobile Bay.  And what a gorgeous sunset that first night!  

It has been six years since we stayed here, so yesterday we walked around checking out the changes.  

In our favorite bookstore, the Page & Pallette, we ran into a 91 year old woman who will be having an author's meet and greet at the library tonight.  Paul bought her book and has been reading it in preparation.  She's quite a character, walking around town 5 miles a day and chatting with visitors.  She had quite a sad childhood during World War II, when she and her younger brother, ages 9 and 7, were left to fend for themselves.  

Today we'll attend a couple of programs at the library and continue exploring.  We especially want to visit the historical museum to see their latest exhibit.  The sun has been shining since we've been here, which is a welcome change for us.  Tulips and daffodils are blooming everywhere!

There's no place like home!

It is a long drive, from Wisconsin to Vermont, but we made it in three days via the ferry across Lake Michigan, and then across Michigan, Ontario, and New York.  We crossed over into the US at Buffalo, where there was almost no wait at customs.  The electronic signs said the wait was 45 min. at Niagara Falls, but I accidentally went the Buffalo route.  Will I ever find it again?  Next year we hope to take a trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., for the theater festival.  It is a very cute town surrounded by vineyards and orchards, and very walkable.

I missed my sewing machine while I was gone, but I did manage to [almost] finish knitting one blue sock and start its mate.  Now that I'm home with my computer handy, I'll look for a you tube video on how to do the Kitchener stitch to finish the toes.  I feel more confident in knitting with four or five needles now, so I will give making a pair of socks on #2 needles a try next.

Of course, yesterday was spent emptying suitcases and bags, grocery shopping, picking up and sorting through mail, and just plain relaxing.  Mary came for dinner which was nice, and I slept like a log two nights in a row.

Taking it easy in Wisconsin

 

It was a long ride to the Madison, Wisconsin, area; we arrived at my brother's apartment on Thursday afternoon.  Our route had taken us through Niagara Falls (both US and Canadian sides), across Ontario and Michigan, and on the fast ferry across Lake Michigan.  We took some wrong turns here and there, and it was nice to be in an air-conditioned car during a rather long heat wave for the north country. 

We found my brother, Axel, in pretty good shape, considering his ordeal this past year.  He is adapting well to having only half a foot, living in the hospital or rehab center most of the year, and now settling into a new, 55+ apartment in a suburb.  He can't really walk without his walker or cane, but he does manage to get around without help in his apartment.

We found Middleton to have a very cozy, inviting downtown with the historical features we enjoy.  The National Mustard Museum is small and silly, but we just had to visit it.  The gift shop was as goofy as the rest of the place.   Yesterday we took Axel to a doctor's appointment and did a little shopping, with a stop for lunch.  In the evening we took a dinner cruise on Lake Mendota, the largest of the lakes in the Madison area.

Today we are on our own and taking it easy as Axel attends a wedding.  After a trip to a farmer's market, the museum, and lunch, we attended an interesting book fair.  Groups and individuals could set up tables on the grounds of the Capital Brewery and sell mostly used books.  There was no fee to participate, and the sellers could keep whatever they earned.  There were authors, community groups, and people who just wanted to thin their collections.   Paul bought two books, and I just looked and thought about how we could organize something like this in Barre.   

Getting back to "life"

I am finally on Eastern Daylight Time, I think, after two weeks across The Pond.  For a several days, I was falling asleep at 9 pm or before and waking up at 3:30 or 4 am.  Thank goodness that's over.   Above is a photo one of our fellow travelers took of us onboard the ship.  I'm glad I packed Paul's orange shirt at the last minute.  It was fine tribute for Koningsdag and the House of Orange.

I've been busy writing a diary of our trip, as I usually do when we go on vacation.  I try to incorporate photos which can be problematic.  Some I take on my phone show up upside down and backwards, so then I have to fiddle with them in the document.   Now, I think it's ready to print and mail to my mother and Wisconsin brother.  My friend Samantha also told me about a couple of places on line to make photo albums so they can simply click on links to more pictures.

We had a bit of snow yesterday but my daffodils bounced back after it melted.  It's been raining quite a bit lately which makes everything green, but it also made the funeral we attended yesterday a bit soggy.  My dear old co-worker and former boss Kent was laid to rest after a long struggle with health.  Given his Parkinsons and other problems, it is a testament to his strong character that he lasted 25 years after retirement.  There were only seven of us there to say goodbye, but I'm glad we could support his two sons, one of whom clutched a box of Kleenex the whole time.  I'm glad we made the long drive north to be there with them.