Blogger’s Delightful Day, Installment Two

Our second meet-up of the day was a different type of reunion. We knew Susie only through her blog. I talked about her so often that John felt he knew her as well as I did. I took only one photo, and that will have to do. Susie is beautiful, and her face is lively when she talks. I could kick myself, and you would be right to chastise me, for not taking a video.

We didn’t go through backgrounds or family histories. We jumped headlong into conversation. I realized she expected to see us laugh, since I write about silly things. I hoped she wouldn’t be disappointed and promptly forgot about it. She took a number of pictures to send her family, promising to send them to me. I should explain that Susie is getting a master’s degree from Yale, while her daughters are attending medical school and doing post-graduate work in India. Her husband is working abroad, but he and Susie will be moving back to India in the near future. Good to her word, Susie sent me the photos, and I couldn’t help giggling. She had caught us laughing. Now laughing is not necessarily pretty, but this was certainly genuine.

For dinner, we wanted Susie to have an American experience. We spotted a diner, hoping the food would be good. The place was owned by friendly Greeks who allowed us to chat at the table for hours. We were totally surprised to learn that she came from a Christian state, one of three in India. (Sorry, my numbers are always suspect.) She grew up surrounded by other Christians. In fact, the churches there are always crowded, often with people standing outside to hear the service. The United States used to be considered a very Christian nation, so imagine Susie’s shock at finding all the churches within walking distance of Yale mostly empty on Sunday morning.

I wanted to know what languages she speaks, knowing she had complete mastery of at least two. The answer was five or six. (Again, I’m sorry I don’t remember numbers.) I had no idea that each Indian state has its own language. She explained that if the language were based on Sanskrit, she would be able to learn it fairly easily. Could she switch easily from one to another? The answer was yes. If someone spoke to her, she would automatically reply in that language. To someone who knows English and reads music, that is astounding. Switchers that I know include daughter Lise, friend Gerhard, and niece Celine.

We also had a serious discussion about higher education in the United States. Susie has talked to a number of foreign students who agree with her. Her gentle observation is a scathing denunciation of what is being taught. Being politically correct is more important than teaching content.

Friends, and that is what we are, talk on many levels. We enjoyed being with Susie, sharing both serious and amusing moments. Neither of us ever expected to meet in person when we first followed each other’s blogs. To have shared such a wonderful evening was beyond my dreams.

Click here to see Susie’s blog.

Blogger’s Delightful Day, Installment One

A blogger couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. I met two people for the first time and had hours of face time with a blogger I had longed to see in person.

We began by having brunch with John’s high school classmate Carol and husband John. Carol and my husband had not seen each other for 60 years. Of course, their backgrounds hadn’t changed, so they began on common ground. Did that leave out their spouses? Absolutely not! When four conversationalists sit together, each one is an integral part of the moment. And how the moments flew!

We loved hearing how they met. Being distantly related by marriage, they both went to a christening. Period. No sparks; no fire. I’ll bet they spent very little time together at that event. Fast forward ten years. Carol from the Bronx and John from Brooklyn had both moved to Manhattan. When John was told that Carol lived right around the corner on the same bus route, he invited her out to dinner. After they had been married for a year, they moved to Vienna for John’s job. He worked for the United Nations, and she taught school. The rest is a lovely history of their traveling through life together and retiring to Massachusetts. That is terribly condensed, but this is not a biography.

We talked about many things, and then I turned into a missionary. When John P. showed a bit of interest in blogging, I couldn’t stop talking about WordPress. I love blogging, and that is what they will remember about me. I apologize, Carol and John, all the while hoping he will try it and like it.

Part two of Blogger’s Delightful Day will be next.

Godparents’ Day

We had a true Godparents’ Day in Massachusetts, though I didn’t tumble to it until the end of the day. We visited niece Chrissie and Chris in the ski resort where they live, and from there we drove near Boston to see nephew Anders and his daughter Rowan (4). We are godparents for both Chrissie and Anders. It was marvelous to see them both on the same day.

We steeped ourselves in conversation with Chrissie and Chris. We began in their condo and continued in a restaurant overlooking the ski lifts.

I loved hearing them talk about the skiers and snowboarders coming down the slopes. They pointed out an instructor with his young charges and commented on the relaxed form of a good snowboarder. At the end of the meal, John and I could have picked out beginning boarders by their arms stretched out for balance. A couple of skiers wiped out at the end of the run. The child hopped right up, but the woman struggled valiantly before a man came over to give her a hand.

All too soon we had to leave, but we had enjoyed every minute with them.

Anders was just coming home with his daughter when we arrived. Some children are painfully shy, but she danced out of the car and ran to introduce herself. She said, “My name is Rowan.”

The four of us went to a marvelous supermarket down the street and chose take-out food from a buffet bar. We don’t have anything that like that near our home. Rowan painted with water colors as we ate, leaning over for a bite of food every now and then. She was delightfully irrepressible and fun to watch. We missed seeing Anders’ wife, Caroline, who was working in New York for a few days.

Anders gave us a tour of the new attic bathroom which we will be the first to use. It is a marvel.

After Rowan was in bed, Anders showed John a model engine he has outfitted with a camera. They had fun discussing a project for using it.

Toilets while Traveling

It amazes me that toilets come in all sizes. I’m sure there was one standard size when I was young, but no more! The first motel had a toilet designed for a two-year-old. The seat was almost on the floor!! You might think the room was meant for a very young family, but there was a handicap grab bar in the shower. Talk about mixed signals!

The second night the toilet would have been good for a five-year-old. With that progression, we might have a geriatric bathroom on the way home.

My favorite bathroom was this one.

It was decorated with original Pollock mobiles. The photo doesn’t do them justice, but I loved them. Note one mobile hanging from the ceiling and the other standing to the left of the mirror. Nephew Chris designs mobiles, and his and niece Chrissie’s home is filled with them. It struck my fancy to have real art in the bathroom.

Click here to see Chris’ blog.

On the Road Again

Day one of travel was easy for me, since John did all the driving. The day was sunny and warm for a winter’s day. We left North Carolina in the morning, and I took a photo of the visitor’s center sign before we stopped for the night.

Having gone further than John thought we would, we had time to poke around Binghamton, NY the next day. We checked out the train tracks, but nothing was moving. It was fun to look at the buildings in the heart of town. Some were old houses in varying degrees of disrepair, and others were gorgeous. We stopped for lunch at an Italian restaurant in some little town. The waitress said there was one serving of eggplant Parmesan left, and I told John to go for it. He loves it, and I don’t. I chose a seared tuna panini. We were both wowed by the food. Delicious!

We had coffee with Long Island friends Connie and Dennis in their lovely town, along with their daughter Danielle and her son AJ. They moved upstate the same year we moved to NC. The family’s equestrian center was just a short ride out of town, and we enjoyed the tour of the barn. Presently there are 29 horses in stalls around the huge riding arena. I had seen pictures of it on Facebook, but it was even more impressive in person. We enjoyed catching up before moving on.

Logan’s Tail

Neighbor Bob came over for a road association meeting. I heard him say something to Logan (9) and thought it might have been “inside out”. I paid no attention to it until grandson David batted a balloon around the room with him while the meeting was going on. Logan seemed to have a tail flapping in the breeze.

A photo opp presented itself, and the camera couldn’t resist. Logan’s pajama bottoms were inside out. It tickled me, because I think he feels comfortable enough in our home to risk being teased.

Of course, what happens in the ‘hood stays in the ‘hood, and I’m sure you won’t tease him.

Snow and a Flat Rainbow

I have three photos that don’t belong to a story, so they are being lumped together. The first I’m calling Foot Traffic on the Deck. The bird feeder was hanging out of sight on the metal stand. I think there are squirrel prints there, too. Surely Sadie’s paw print is not that tiny.

That day I wrote down all the birds I saw for about half an hour. They included Downy woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker, blue jay, song sparrow, dove, chickadee, tufted titmouse, nuthatch, cardinal, Carolina wren, Eastern towhee, and white-throated sparrow.

Snow fell in Tennessee last week when John was at the train club. Hoping to plow snow, the fellows took out a train with boyish enthusiasm. There wasn’t enough to push around, but they had fun. John was sitting on the end of the work train filled with tools as he took this photo. I’m asking for a round of applause for John, because he rarely uses the camera in his cell phone.

I saw the flattest rainbow I’ve ever seen while sitting at my desk. The morning sun found a chink in the clouds to form this bow. It lasted just long enough for John to get up from his desk in the next room to see it. Our most brilliant, high-arching rainbows occur in the afternoon. Have you ever seen an almost flat one?

Barefoot in the Snow

Neighbor Logan’s visit was planned ahead, because his parents went to a dinner. He might have come over slightly before Shawn and Bob told him to. How do I know? They must not have seen him leave the house. The first thing I noticed when I opened the door was that he was barefooted.

“Where are your shoes?” I asked.

“Oh, I don’t need shoes,” he replied airily.

Looking beyond him, I saw his footprints in the snow on the steps.

Seeing my eyes open in disbelief, he said he’d go back and get his shoes.

I whipped out the camera and got that one shot before he was streaking back across the street. Note that the arrow points to one print that has toes pointing toward the house, as well as toes pointing toward the steps going down. At least he reused the bare spots!

Sadie went wild, barking and jumping on Logan. I tried to control the violence, but both boy and dog wanted to careen about the house, defying gravity and solid walls. I cringed when bones hit the floor. Sadie earned her nickname of Whompers, and Logan matched her fall for fall. He is used to playing rough with Dolly, his boxer.

Business must have been slow at Burger King, because grandson David was let go early in his shift. He and Logan played some games in the house before going out to play with a tennis ball. Always inventive, Logan picked out a nice stick from the burn pile to use as a bat. Sadie and I watched from the deck. Sadie paced and barked, while I stood still to point the camera at the action.

Better than a Gun

Two squirrels were determined to cheat the birds out of their seeds. Seeds on the deck were fair game, but I didn’t want the animals to hang on the feeder. I got my exercise jumping up to run them off. One day Sadie saw a squirrel and lunged at it, pawing the glass door. The squirrel ran away and came right back on the deck, figuring he’d give it another try. This time I opened the door, and Sadie shot out. The squirrel easily escaped. That encounter must have scared the dickens out of him, because we haven’t seen him or his companion since.

Mountain Flooding

I thought you might like to see the extent of the flooding of our property after days of rain. There was one little pop-up stream of water that flowed behind our back porch and down the yard. A small drainage ditch between us and our neighbors carried a rushing stream to join the run-off. As you might be able to see, there was no danger to any of us during this deluge. Water collected in the pasture before going further downhill.

I could poke fun at the dire flood warnings, but there were people who were affected. According to local news, there were 10 students in Haywood County who could not be returned to their homes from school. A private bridge to one home had been destroyed, and water covered roads all around the county. The principals worked with the parents to arrange a meeting point to deliver the students.

David and I drove to Jonathan Creek as the rain let up. I took one photo from the bank where we usually stand to watch the stream.

I went upstream for another shot to show the clearance under the bridge. We watched sticks merrily riding the current, freely floating over the usual rocky obstacles. The sound was impressive, too. I know it would be dangerous to swim in a swollen stream, but part of me longed to jump in if the water had been warm. Note: there is no danger of warm water in a mountain stream. It’s always frigid.

David stopped the car near our home to let me take shots of Park Branch – two little streams that flow under the road. The first was near the large bend in the road, flowing from above the road.

The other photo shows Park Branch as it emerged from the pipe under the road closer to home, flowing below the road. I think a little footbridge was underwater. A day later there was debris on the bridge.

Snow clouds followed the rain. I never cease to be amazed that in the North Carolina mountains, snow drifts down from a blue sky. Obviously, the snow comes from clouds, but the clouds may have already blown over before the snow reaches the ground. I watched the mountains from my computer desk as they were blotted out by snow, only to reappear a few minutes later. We had nothing white on the ground after these flurries, but I loved watching the ever-changing landscape.