Travel interrupted (for 12 days, anyway)

We got back from our annual Pismo Beach trip (which was lovely, by the way) on Sunday, November 6, and we're heading down to southern California to visit KW's dad on Saturday, November 19. Those 12 days between the 6th and the 19th represent the longest stretch we've been home since... well, it's been a while. This past weekend was the first weekend we've been home where we didn't have to travel or where we didn't have work to catch up on or work-ahead for.

It was glorious.

We slept in. I walked. We listened to the radio. I knit. I cooked. We watched one of the Oceans movie (can't remember which one; it doesn't really matter, does it?). We were supposed to go out to dinner with friends on Saturday, but one of them got sick and had to cancel. I hate to say it, but we didn't mind - it meant we could slug around all day and not worry about being 'on' for anyone. We know C. will recover and we'll have dinner with him and M. another weekend. For this weekend, it was okay they had to cancel.

This coming weekend will be a quick turnaround for us. Early drive on Saturday to meet the real estate agent (KW's parents' house sold!), visit with dad, poke around some neighborhoods down there, then a very early start home on Monday morning so KW can go to a client meeting at 2:00 in the afternoon. That means we'll have to be on the road by around 6:00, maybe 7:00 at the latest. After I nap, I'll be able to knit for the rest of the ride. But after I nap. Definitely after.

Is everyone sure they don't want a nice teak wine rack? Roll-top desk? Long dining room table? Well, I got rid of my knitting machine; I'm sure I'll get rid of these things before we move, too.

Not This Year

No, not going to do NaNoWriMo this year. Did it for 6 years (2005-2010) but am just not into it this year. In previous years, when my mouth was saying "no" in October, my brain would be saying "yes" by having Betha (my main character) pop into my head and tell me what she would like to be doing. Not this year; she's been oh-so-silent. It's just another sign that I am totally done with this year - when Betha doesn't speak to me, it's time to move along. Maybe next year.

Done, done, done

Dad's girlfriend, Ann, went to Biloxi on a gambling junket this past week, a bus trip she took with her friend, June. Her souvenir of Biloxi? A pacemaker. Passed out in a casino, needed a pacemaker, had one put in. She's okay; coming home tomorrow (flying) instead of yesterday (15-hour bus ride).

I've said it before, I'll say it again - stick a fork in this year, it's done.

She's here! ...aaaaand she's gone...

At the beginning of the year, we had decided that we would not do as much travel as we did last year. HA!

January - Meg went to Vegas with Kei; we both took a day trip to Chico to pick up some files from Kelly's divorce.
February - Kelly off to Ottawa (work); Meg to Santa Clara for a "sleep-over" Stitches West; an Oxnard weekend trip.
March - Spring training in Arizona; DRJ conference in Orlando (work).
April - Kelly to Memphis (work); Kelly back to Ottawa (work).
May - Kelly back to Ottawa again (work).
June - Oxnard weekend trip.
July - Sacramento for the Model Railroader's Convention; planned trip to Vegas postponed so I could fly to Florida after dad's 3rd or 4th hospitalization; train trip to Portland for Sock Summit.
August - We actually stayed home the whole month!
September - Oxnard weekend trip; DRJ conference in San Diego; back to Oxnard following Kelly's mom's death; overnight in Novato (wine train weekend); Healdsburg weekend trip.
October - Back to Oxnard to help Kelly's dad get situated in an assisted living facility and get their house ready for sale; I'll be going back to Florida to spend a week there after my dad's other 2 or 3 hospitalizations.

And we're not even done yet; we still have our Pismo weekend and the postponed trip to Vegas, both coming up in November.

I wonder how much travel we would have done if we *hadn't* decided not to do it too much? I'm not even going to try to say anything about 2012, especially since we already have a cruise on the books for February and a weekend in Healdsburg for a Wine Road event...

Enough is Enough

We have decided that we're done with 2011 and are very close to declaring it over. We'll have a "goodbye and good riddance" party to kick its sorry ass out the door.

Dad's back in the hospital again. More ventricular stuff going on, and oh by the way, he probably has pneumonia as well. He's being pumped full of antibiotics since early this morning, and as of late this afternoon, they're giving him a new IV medication to control the ventricle. (I don't know the exact term for what's happening.)

Too many bad things this year, so we're done with it. I'm going to start writing '2012' on my checks.

RIP Betty Williams, you were a remarkable woman. No mother-in-law jokes here; I was proud to be your daughter-in-law.

Petty, Trivial, Inconsequential

My birthday is September 11. For 44 years, that was a wondrous day, a magical day, a day I looked forward to each year (yes, even after I had passed 30 and 40). Now, and I know this is incredibly petty, I am angry that joy at my birthday celebration was taken away from me. I know it was awful for the New Yorkers and Washingtonians and Pennsylvanians who saw it unfold in person, and it's truly awful that so many thousands of people died, and it was scary for those of us who were even once- or twice-removed from the events (waiting for hours to finally hear that my brother and Mary were okay)... But my lasting memory of watching the news that morning was "my birthday will forever be ruined." Since 2001, every 9/11 I wake up, not thinking "oh boy, it's my birthday" like I used to, but "I hope they haven't done anything again."

This year, despite Bin Laden's death (or maybe because of it) , I am dreading even more turning on the news, for multiple reasons. One, 'they' may choose to do something again on the anniversary, something bigger, worse. And two, the news outlets are already going whole hog with memorials and remembrances. I know the people should be remembered and we should be thankful for the rescue workers who got the survivors out and we should never forget... but it's too soon for me to watch or listen to any of that. I don't know if I'll ever be ready - I still can't watch the Kennedy assassination film without crying, and I was 6 or 7 when that happened.

So, I'm left with feeling this feeling that I know is petty, trivial, inconsequential - that my birthday has been taken away from me. I know I should be bigger than that, better than that, light candles, say prayers, do something positive... but all I really want to do on September 11 is to stay in bed, and that makes me both sad and mad.