AUGUST 18

Blue Supermoon

Through the trees

 

 

AUGUST 16 - THANKFUL FRIDAY

 August 16,2024

Here we are back at home in Louisiana. Reasonable survival of our gardens although the pollinator garden needs TLC. Most of the trees and bushes including  cypress, loropedleum, sunshine lengustrum, sweet viburnum, red bud, little gems are thriving. They have had a great growing season.

Thanks to Chelsea and Adrian we were able to leave it and return to a happy house and happy garden. 

Unpacking and stowing away is almost complete. 

We had a great visit with Chelsea last night. 

Garden Club on Wednesday was a real success. My suggestion of Dr. Callais was a big hit. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed her talk. She is a jewel. 

We have an appointment to get the car inspected on Tuesday. Hopefully the broken piece can be repaired or replaced easily. 

Stanley’s drivers license replacement was a breeze. 

Grateful for rain and the cool air that makes this dinner on the porch so pleasant. 

As always we are grateful for our relationship, our home and the joy we find in each other. Sex! Always wonderful. 

AUGUST 12 THANKFUL THURSDAY

 THANKFUL THURSDAY

We are home! Everything is still alive. It just needs a bit of Stanley’s special TLC and it will be wonderful. 

Safe travel for thousands of miles. About 8,000. A looong way! The little car was very comfortable and fun to drive. Our spare tire is still pristine. Thankfully unused. Our little fridge never even had a hiccup.

Thankful for Chelsea and Adrian and for all their efforts to keep our home safe. 

Thankful for all the beauty we saw between Washington and Louisiana and the sweet time we had with the Drapers, Jean, the Vandenburgs and Martha. 

Grateful for friends here at home who are happy to welcome us back. 

Grateful for family who are concerned for us. 

AIGUST 10

 Rolling through Illinois, one thing is guaranteed: you are going to see lots of corn, soybeans, and their respective storage units. 

You’re also going to see a fair number of chuches - some very pretty ones

You may not know when you cross the border into Missouri until you get to St Louis, but you’ll know for sure when you see the arch

We are safely tucked into our accommodation at the Riverview Hotel in Cape Girardeau waiting for dinner reservations at 7:00. I’m staying busy watching for barges going down the river like this one. 

LATER:

Dinner at the Beacon 53 was outstanding. Lamb chops on a bed of ratatouille with peach crisp for dessert. We had to make a hasty exit when the bugs attacked Stanley’s ankles, but up until then it couldn’t have been more perfect. 

What a beautiful place to celebrate the end of  a two month road trip. We still have a couple more short days of driving but this is - at least for me - the ceremonial end of our trip. Cheers!

!Buenas noches!

AUGUST 9

 We were up early to enjoy the breakfast Cher insisted on making for us. Eggs and sausages with a blintz for each of us! Delicious!

You wouldn’t believe how much flavor was rolled up in that thin little pancake  Thank you, Cher!

Then we were off to see Martha in Roscoe IL. We try to see her anytime we are in the area. For starters, she is one of the sweetest people I know. And then, there is her garden. 

We stayed on her back patio for about an hour drinking in the lovely simplicity of her garden and catching up with each others’ lives. Martha is a legendary retired teacher and very active in the Golden Apple Program so I’m always hanging on her every word. She is a jewel.

Suddenly reality kicked in. I had promised this lady lunch and it was welllll after 1:00. We piled into her car and went into Beloit to a favorite restaurant of hers, Zen’s. I’m not surprised. Martha is as zen as they come. We all got brave and ordered something we had never had before  I think I won the prize with my Monkey Brain. It was actually an avocado stuffed with spicy tuna and a bit of rice, dipped in tempura batter and fried. Absolutely excellent!

Martha was the last on our list of folks to see on this trip. From now on, it’s just us. 

We drove to Peru IL and decided to hang it up for the night. Between Cher’s breakfast and all the lunch time sushi neither one of us wanted dinner. We didn’t even want to do Thankful Thursday and sparkling wine.

I talked to Sarah for a while and sent Stephanie a note of congratulations on her posting in the Bahamas and now I’m writing this. That’s that for me.

¡Buenas noches!

AUGUST 8

 We drove from St. Paul to Two Rivers WI. Checked in at the Village Inn on the Lake Motel. And then there was Cher with a big welcoming hug.  What a treat! An evening with Cher and Steve Vandenburg, long time friends from South Texas. They just happened to be RVing in Two Rivers; I just happen to faithfully follow their travels and I just happened to arrange this time with them as we slowly wind up this trip. Again I say, WHAT A TREAT!

Let the festivities begin. Drinks. Lakeside.

Then more drinks and dinner at Gib’s Sunday House. Lakeside.

And finally a beautiful sunset drive back to Village Inn accented by a tiny fingernail moon. Lakeside.

It was a wonderful evening full of all kinds of stories: history lessons, day to day life, and dreams for the future. There were a jillion happy moments punctuated with a few sad memories. Great food including a chocolate lava cake that was straight from Heaven. 

It was exactly what an evening with long time friends should be. 

AUGUST 7

 The sky had no color when we left Jamestown. Then it turned grey with light rain. Then black with heavier rain. And then almost white with pouring rain. Then the construction indicators appeared. And then the windshield wiper started streaking. It was something else!

Let’s just say I didn’t take many landscape photos today. 

We actually got to St Paul earlier than I expected. The  Saint Paul Hotel is lovely. We are looking forward to an evening with Stanley’s niece, Jean. But first a little rest up after our very rainy experience.

Dinner was delicious!

The company was delightful!

Another precious memory of this trip!

AUGUST 6

 Fun Fact I learned today thanks to my friend Bob Copeland.                                                                 “There is no blue pigmentation (in the iris or ocular fluid) in blue eyes—the blue color is created by "Rayleigh scattering," the same scientific phenomenon that makes the sky seem blue.”

And a comment from my friend Donna Sutton:            “I had no idea. The same as the sky. Grey to icy blue.”

Well, just so you know - today went from robin egg blue to grey-eyed and back again.

We traveled from Miles City MT to Jamestown ND, roughly 370 miles of park-like terrain. Amazing beauty!

Nice surprise: another ‘new to us’ national park. 

We stopped at the Painted Canyon Visitors Center. Apologies! My poor camera didn’t even begin to capture the color, depth, or grandeur!  

From there it was pretty much a straight shot to Jamestown ND  with brief stops for walking and gas. 

I was intrigued by all the water. Wikipedia helped me sort it out. 

The only disappointment of the day was the buffalo.  As in, we didn’t see a single one. We saw a lot of cows standing out in the tall grass pretending to be bison, but I was not fooled.  Maybe tomorrow.

Sandwiches from the trusty fridge for dinner. 

Bedding down at a very boring modern motel. No long skirts on the stairs. No shifty, cigar smoking old rancher next door. However, the air conditioner is highly functional and quiet. 

¡Buenas noches!

AUGUST 6 Olive Hotel

A report on the Olive Hotel. No spirits visited me last night. I know you are as disappointed as I was. The hotel is very old, originally built in 1898-99. It was enlarged at least twice and only the original structure with all its modifications is still habitable. The add-ons have been abandoned. Enjoy the photos completely free of ghostly apparitions.

Landing of the servants staircase. The original grand staircase has been removed to make room for an elevator.  

Beveled glass windows. 

Original tile.

I know we are distracting but look at the wainscoting. 

Hello Paul !

Two of the add ons plus the water tank. 

Odds and ends

The air conditioner didn’t work worth a flip and there was the smell of antiquity throughout that no modern cleaning agent could erase, but the grandeur of the past was palpable. I could hear long skirts brushing the stairs and laughter from the bar downstairs. A large part of the odor in our room was coming from next door. I could picture a Cuban cigar, a large pour of brandy, proof of purchase of a prize winning bucking horse on the table, and  a bigger than life man in the rocking chair by the window, working clothes and a weathered sweat stained Stetson, boots off, feet up, shit eating grin.