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I had no idea I hadn’t shown up here in so long and hadn’t even mentioned our cruise to The Bahamas and Kennedy space Station. A very nice way to spend a week in December. Here’s some pictures here and some more here.
I almost made a very hostile post the other day aimed at religion and Christmas and Alzheimers and dementia and what happens to us as we get old and relating them all to each other, but never got around to it. I still plan to do this but only when I can think it out better. I then decided to do one about my dad because I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately. Maybe I’ll get around to that tomorrow.
And now I remember what’s going on…..
Driving back from NC last week I encountered this place called Virginia. It was different than usual because I was coming from a different place, Rockingham, NC. Usually I’m on I-95, or I-77 then I-81. This time I was taking US-29 up to I-81. From Rockingham, I-73 to US-29 equals no stopping at all through NC and a lot of VA. In VA, I started getting memories of kid-hood with my dad. My dad traveled most of the time and sometimes during the summer, he would smuggle me along. We went to Danville, VA and I got my boot stuck in the railroad crossing. I remember being so scared I was gonna get hit by one of the machines. It came right out. We had a bomb threat at a motel up there and my dad gave me my first beer. A Rolling Rock! I think that may have been a couple of years later because I doubt he would have given me one when I was under 10, but I wouldn’t really put it past him. One early morning, I was mostly asleep while my dad was driving to Hurt, VA. The song “Love Hurts” by Nazareth was on. I thought it said “love Hurt” talking about Hurt, VA. I was a stupid kid sometimes. He used to hide me in the truck when his boss came around. Kids get so scarred when they’re doing sneaky things like that. My dad died a year ago last week, I guess that’s why he was so much on my mind.
As I approached Liberty University, I thought I might literally burn up right there. I pondered why any kid would want to go there and I thought about how much pain Jerry Falwell has brought to so many people over the years.
Another pondering, radio is the worst ever in that part of the state. All religion, conservative talk, and country. I’m glad I had my own tunes and talk.
In case you didn’t know, my dad was a mechanic. He worked for the railroad and traveled with the gangs that replaced the cross-ties under the rails between Washington and Atlanta. There were about 25 to 40 large machines that went along the tracks each doing a different job. He kept all these running properly.
I took a very short trip to North Carolina this week, saw some family and friends, and met a pig. This is Petunia, my brother and his girlfriend’s new pig. It is a pig….
It was the one year anniversary of my dad’s death this week and I am very impressed with how well my mom is doing. We did the Thanksgiving thing with family on Sunday, did some home repair stuff on Monday, visited my dad’s grave on Tuesday, and visited Ray and Tommy Tuesday night. It’s strange, on the way home Wednesday, I had a hundred ideas of things to write about when I had the chance, but right now, not one is coming to mind.
On second thought, my family is awesome. I am thankful for them all, even the one who is fucking up royally right now. Thursday, Duncan fixed the great Thanksgiving feast and I love him and am also thankful for him as well as all my friends
This one looks like something Bob Ross painted….could hear him say, “put a little piece of sky here and let’s pull these trees right down, just like this.”
Took a few hours and drove to the mountains on this beautiful day while Duncan is in North Carolina. It’s been a hectic week so it was very therapeutic…
My mom came up last week and to tell the truth (that’s for you Duncan) I was a little worried something would go wrong, falling or something. It actually was a nice time. She first flew into Boston and spent several days with my cousins and aunt and uncle, her brother. My Aunt Evelyn is not doing well. She has had several physical injuries over the past few years and is now suffering from Alzheimer’s. She didn’t know who my mom was the first day but after that, they had a good time drinking wine and hanging out with my cousins. My Uncle Bill is also not doing that good. He can’t cook for himself and Evelyn always did the cooking but she can’t do that anymore either. My poor cousins seem to be bearing the brunt of the work. Besides having physical issues, my uncle is also starting to have mental issues. It really upset my mom after spending 9 years with my dad going down hill. Got to hang out with my cousin Karen for the first time ever. She is 67 so she was in her 20’s living in Massachusetts when I was born. She pretty cool.
After several days there, I picked her up and she spent several days here. We spent most of the time road tripping and talking. One night we went to the track and one night we went to see Leslie Uggams at Capital Rep and it was surprisingly good. She’s from Mom’s day and she put on a “life story” jazz show that was spectacular. I’m glad to see my mom, who is 85 doing so well. My dad died the Monday before Thanksgiving and she broke her arm and messed up her knee the Monday after Thanksgiving. I last saw her Christmas and she has improved 1000%. She had to put a lot on the back burner for a while and it’s good to see her being so active these days.
My brother had a cut that got infected and it almost killed him. He was in the hospital for 5 days…..please use your Neosporin.
Because I have a rod in my leg, I often get pulled for extra screening at security at airports. When I brought my mom to the airport, I went through my first enhanced pat down. I don’t have a stick up my butt so it didn’t bother me but to someone who is sensitive, I could see how it could bother them. They touch, rub, and grab EVERY part of your body, including going down in your waistband. A cute TSA boy is a plus.
And by the way, since 9-11, I didn’t think you could go past security if you didn’t have a ticket but in special circumstances, you can get a gate pass…i.e., with kids or escorting and elderly person.
MTV is 30 and Nina Blackwood is almost 70!
Short road trip today to Vermont and such. Made a wrong turn turn heading north so we just went with it. We did detour once and landed upon Proctor, VT which used to be home to a nearby marble quarry. The above is an arch marble bridge with very intricate detail over Otter Creek. Here are two nicer pictures without snow here and here. It is also home to The Vermont Marble Museum, a marble fire station, a marble post office, a marble church, old factories, and marble businesses, and even a marble sidewalk which we missed due to the snow. In a nearby town, we even saw a marble high school which was too beautiful for words.
FYI…VT Route 3 makes a beautiful road trip
I came out of the Exxon station and the lot next door was completely dark. I saw a giraffe. After a small freak out I realized it was a closed minature golf course. HA!!!
I was lovin some Lupies while in Charlotte….
…and we went to see Wicked while in New York. OMG! Still can’t get Defying Gravity out of my mind.
OH! It’s been such a long time since the last blog entry. Since then, I have traveled to North Carolina and back and really had the greatest time seeing so many friends and family though I must admit, it can be quite exhausting. My mom is doing so well and my dad even seems to be doing a little better but not by much. He does seem to take his medicine without any argument now but anything else is like pulling teeth. My mom is a rock….a crazy rock. My niece and nephews are growing up so fast as well as every other kid in my life….SLOW DOWN WHY DON’T YOU!!! A couple of days were detoured spent at the hospital while my aunt recovered from a drug reaction where I (we) thought she was gonna die. I think my mom had prepared herself, my aunt was literally out of her mind. She’s actually doing quite well now. My oldest nephew is officially an adult these days being a great dad and trying to have another….who’d thought? My other nephew just graduated and OMG! he is so much bigger than I am it’s crazy. He’s really a good kid but doesn’t know what he wants to do. My niece is freaking awesome. She came back with me and we went down to the city to see Wicked and sight-see a bit, had a great time and got to get to know her again. I had to work some that week so Duncan took her and his sister to Toronto and Montreal and had a blast I heard. My brother is awesome and I got to spend a good deal of time with him this time….I miss him.
…..and lots of GOOD food! Still missed a lot of people I wanted to see but NC is a big state, but saw Ray, Tommy, Margaret, Luis, Joe, Chris, and Michael & Lara…love you all
2010 turned out to be the year we finally had air conditioning put in, and it’s a good thing too because it’s been the hottest summer we’ve had since we moved up here, sitting in it right now. Spent what has seemed like countless hours working on the front porch and now working on the back one but it doesn’t seen to have the same priority in my mind.
Hiked up to the Kaaterskill Falls last weekend and did a small road trip to Vermont today. Other than that, work at work and work at home.
Not really bound, I’m here. Spent the last couple of days with Ray and Tommy and with the folks today. The whole family came up today and had a great time. They have grown…. I came through Charlotte on the way here and got instantly homesick, actually cried a little, I’m such a puss sometimes. Seems Roses has made a return to Charlotte which I thought interesting. Could be an interesting nitch for them seeing how so much of the strip has been abandoned. The weather is beautiful so I think I’ll go enjoy it….more later
It’s so hard keeping up with everything that has to be done and then keeping up with everything that doesn’t have to be done. We’re adding wainscoting to the foyer and that’s taking a lot longer than I thought but it’s going all right.
We went on an awesome road trip last weekend seeing seven feet of snow, not sure why I didn’t really take a lot of pictures, guessing I was more interested in just looking.
Fell on my ass Monday…DAMN THAT ICE!!!…and my butt has been sore for a week and I think I may have another skin cancer on my hand. Hopefully whatever this thing is the doc can just zap that thing off.
And can anybody tell me why hater Roy Ashburn was never exposed as being gay if everybody, including Chris Cabaldon, supposedly knew?
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