Prayers and Part III of the Isabelle and Amelia Grand Adventure

So many bloggers have asked for prayers for loved ones with Alzheimer's and I need to do the same.  I had been trying to get ahold of a dear friend both before and during my trip, via phone, Facebook and e-mail.  When she finally answered she told me she has been diagnosed with an early stage of the disease.  So Izzie and I made the trip to Dunedin to see her.  Now she's been in a wheel chair for years because of an MS-like disease, so this is a double whammy.  Connie is a dear.  When we both lived in the Bay Area we were prayer partners and most Sundays had lunch together after church and frequently saw each other during the week.  When I moved to Michigan for my first interim, she moved to Florida to be closer to her daughter who has four young boys.  Now she is planning on moving to Albuquerque to live with her son.  He has bought a house with an in-law apartment for her to live in, so that should work for the near term.

I could see some changes: repeated questions like forgetting that she had asked me to check her mail and asking me a number of times and much confusion about past events.  It was still wonderful to see her and much of our conversation was quite normal.  I had hoped to take her out for dinner, but the elevator in her condo wasn't working so she couldn't get out. Izzie and I used the stairs. We ordered pizza instead. She is so much more frail than she used to be and that is sad as well.  Please pray for Connie and her family.

We spent two nights there.  When we arrived Izzie took off after Squanto and he disappeared under the bed.   The second night we thought he was in the living room when we went to sleep, but it turned out he was under the bed we were sleeping in and in the middle of the night I heard a scratching at the door. Then there was this lovely cat face staring at me from the bedside table.  I got up quietly so as not to disturb the queen (Izzie) and let Squanto out.  I think by the time we left, they were beginning to get along.  Connie got Squanto in Berkeley and he's always been an indoor cat and NOT used to dogs (or even other cats for that matter).

After leaving Dunedin, we drove northwest across Florida, past Orlando toward I-95.  That interstate is pretty boring, although it does lead to places I've never stopped at like Cape Canaveral.  A cousin of mine used to live near there in the late 60s and 70s and his mother and father, my Uncle Don and Aunt Claire became snow birds for a while, spending the winter months close to their son and playing contract bridge.  I was living in California at the time, so unlike my younger brothers and sisters, I never visited.  Izzie and I spent the night in South Carolina and then went on to Charlottesville, Virginia.

Charlottesville is where Anne, a deacon from Maine spends November through April.  She is a hospice chaplain, a retired physician, a lover of opera ( really all kinds of music), an oboe player, and an avid golfer.  Anne is great fun to be around. After my GPS sent me off to Ruckersville, I called and got directions.  Izzie decided that Desi and Luci, two standard poodles, were just too much and decided to pee on the floor at least three times.  It could also be that she was worried I was going to leave her there.  Anne and I went to her gym for an exercise class, had a great late lunch in downtown Charlottesville and then drove out to Monticello.  We were too late to take a tour, but we explored the gallery and gift shop. Izzie stayed in the car.  I really need to get back there as well as the long list of other places I've mentioned in earlier posts.

The last day I had planned on stopping somewhere in Massachusetts, but decided to continue on.  The  weather was good and I felt fine.  It was only when I pulled in at the house and got out of the car, that I realized my legs were really weak.  I got my two walking sticks and used them until I got my balance back.  It was nearly ten pm, so I took the necessities out of the car and decided the rest could wait until the next day.  I didn't go to church Sunday because I was way too tired.  Since then we've had snow and more snow.  In fact it's still snowing.

The warm Los Angeles weather seems so far in the past, although I'm not sure I'd like to be there right now with all the driving rain.

Thus ends the tale.

The Trip Home—Part II

I took the photo at Saguaro National Park. After we left Tucson, we headed east on I-10. I was surprised that El Paso was in the mountains. I loved the views from the road both south toward Mexico and north toward New Mexico. It was a wonderfully clear and sunny day. Izzie and I stopped for another check by the border patrol (the first was near Yuma). I guess Maine plates, a very anglo face and no trace of a foreign accent (if you don't count the fact that I sound like a Candadian) was enough. All I was asked if I was a U. S. citizen, and that's much like the old days crossing the border from either Canada or Mexico, except the check points were on the interstate. Izzie found the stops interesting and she made sweet faces at the border patrol guys.

We stopped for the night at Van Horn, Texas.  The motel staff were complaining about the cold.  When they saw I was from Maine, they assumed (correctly) that I didn't think it was too bad.  I didn't need to put on gloves (my criteria for how cold it is).  I wondered what there might be to do if you stayed in Van Horn.  Turns out trips to Carlsbad Caverns (go north back into New Mexico) and the McDonald Observatory are easy day trips.  When we left the next morning, Izzie started barking and I pulled off at the McDonald Observatory exit and let her walk a bit.  Just off the road was an old abandoned stone schoolhouse with only the walls left.  It's quite a drive to the observatory from the interstate, so I decided not to do it.  Hope I get back to that area again.  I love the guy on Star Date on PBS who tells us what to see in the night sky.

We then drove and drove to the east side of San Antonio where we spent another night.  The desk clerk asked if I was going into town that evening, but all I wanted to do was see the bed.  One of mother's cousins, Pauline, married someone from Texas and they lived in San Antonio.  They came to New Hampshire once when I must have been about 12 or 13.  I think they were selling Pauline's family home and business.  We spent one day visiting the old family homestead.  They had an apple orchard and juice and cider processing mill.  There was a stream near the house with a dam that made a great swimming hole.  Those were the days when swimming in near freezing water was a normal occurrence for me.  If the air was warm and sunny, I didn't care how cold the water was.  That evening, Pauline's husband tried to teach me how to do some western dance steps.  So memories from a place I had never seen, and again, a place to visit in the future.

The drive the next day took us through Houston, a place I had visited once for a professional meeting where I went to the one and only rodeo I've ever seen.  A roommate from college days, Lynne, I assume still lives there. She married Gordon Mutchler who taught physics at Rice and who died a few years ago.  Gordon and I were engaged to be married once, but it didn't work out.  I really think Lynne was the right choice for him.  I wish I knew how to get in touch with her, she doesn't seem to be on Facebook.

So through Houston and on to Louisiana.  I had heard of bayous, but really never had seen any.  That part of the country has water everywhere: lakes, bays, canals and bayous. Fascinating drive. Izzie and I arrived in Thibodaux and Grandmère's around supper time.  It's a lovely place where they raised their children. I was given a glass of wine, a plate of shrimp creole and rice while Izzie explored the house.  Grandmère, Izzie and I have all blogged about our visit there, so I won't repeat things.  I really enjoyed our conversations which ranged all kinds of subjects including theology and the state of the church.  I can't remember much of the first night's conversation since I was quite tired after driving a bit over 500 miles and two glasses of wine did me in. Conversation continued the next day and evening interspersed with church, lunch (yummy oyster spaghetti) in Houma, and a nap.  Grandpère is a great guy and a really good cook.  Izzie especially appreciated getting bacon fat on her kibble.

We left pretty early the next morning.  The drive took us past, but not through New Orleans.  The only time I've been there was when I was seven.  My mother, sister (nine), two brothers (one of them 6-months old and the other 18 months) and I took a train from Boston to New Orleans to board a ship for Panama. My uncle drove us to Boston.  We had a meal at the Union Oyster House and I had a fruit cocktail as a appetizer.  I thought it great that I got desert first. I also remember Grand Central Station, where we changed trains and was greatly impressed by the size.  We had gotten all kinds of immunizations in New Hampshire, except for Yellow Fever shots, so my memory of New Orleans is great huge concrete buildings near the wharfs.  In one of them we got our shots, then boarded the ship.  Poor mother suffered from motion sickness and the train ride was a nightmare for her as was the sea voyage.  In addition my youngest brother was suffering from the aftermath of the shots, probably the typhoid one. He probably also had a cold, since I remember he had a runny nose. I know those shots always made me cranky too, every time I got one. The train porter from New York took pity on her and since it was a military transport ship, other people helped out with us kids.  I don't remember much about the trip myself.  I think we spent a lot of time in the cabin.  Mother had numerous operations on her ear as a young woman, but nothing helped.  I think I need to get to New Orleans to really see the city.  Driving by on the interstate just doesn't do it for me.

I thought we might stop in the Florida Panhandle, but I ended up driving the whole way to Dunedin.  What I did accomplish that day was to go through Mississippi and Alabama.  They are the only two states (in the lower 48) I had never been in before.  Ken refused a transfer to Pascagoula, Mississippi in the early 70s, deciding to go back to work for Aerospace Corp (he spent a year or so with Litton Ship Systems in California).  I did enjoy the views of the Gulf from the road.  Again it was a sunny, but chilly day.

To be continued.

The Trip Home—Part I

My drive back from California was full of memories. The whole trip was about 4300 miles. The remembering started while I was driving east on the San Bernadino Freeway (I-10).  That was the freeway we used when I lived in Hermosa Beach in the mid to late 60s and early 70s to go to the desert for hiking, rock climbing at Joshua Tree (I hated it) and winter mountaineering (going down a snow field on my back trying to get the ice axe to dig in is also in the I hated it category).

Passing exits signs for Banning and Cherry Valley brought memories of my Aunt Gaby, my mother's sister,and her husband Uncle John who lived in Cherry Valley and Uncle Amedee, her brother, and his wife Aunt Augustine who lived in Beaumont.  We didn't see them often during my years there as our lives revolved around our children and Ken's mother in San Diego.  Our lives had a regular schedule of one weekend in San Diego, one weekend camping, hiking or sightseeing, and two weekends doing household things.

Wiki photo of white pelican

I had decided that I wanted to see the Salton Sea.  I had never gone further south inland than Indio and I was curious as to why people liked the Salton Sea so much.  There were lots of birds there, and although I wanted to stop, the areas to turn out were closed.  This was really off-season, so maybe there weren't enough people to warrant keeping them open, on the other hand it could have something to do with ecologic concerns. The sea is below sea level, quite saline and the home of white pelicans in addition to being on the Pacific Flyway for migrating birds.  Lots of environmental issues around contamination due to agricultural use and water usage.

Izzie and I spent the night in Yuma, Arizona.  I had never seen Yuma, nor driven east on I-8, so that was a new experience.  I guess we could have gone on to Tucson that day, but I didn't want to be tempted to just drive through and not see the Saguaro.  I was unaware that Yuma is such a big railroad town.  The motel we stayed in was very dog friendly, the Oak Tree Inn.  Many of the rooms are reserved for railroad people.  I've stayed at Oak Tree in Elko, Nevada and Green River, Wyoming.  Breakfast was at Penny's Diner next door.  They give you a voucher and it buys a good meal.  I sat at the counter and chatted with someone who works for the railroad.  He had just come off an overnight run and was going to sleep after his breakfast.  He asked where I was from and when I told him Maine, he said "that must be your van outside."  People seem to find it odd that it's just me and Izzie.

After breakfast we started for Tucson.  Right after Gila Bend I began to see saguaro cacti.  They are really limited in their range living only in the Sonoran desert of Arizona, Mexico (and a little of California).  To see whole hillsides of these magnificent beauties was quite spectacular. (Wiki photo)  I was warned not to let Izzie out since she could easily pick up a nasty prickly on her paw. She actually did pick up something sharp on one of our walks outside the motel.  Fortunately I caught it right away and removed it.  I never did get to the Desert Museum.  Time was running out, but I saw enough to know I'd love to go back.  I bought some cactus candy, something I hadn't had in years.  Love it.

While near Tucson, I saw a roadside sign, you know the kind that tells you who is paying for keeping the trash picked up along the roadside, that said Lazy K Bar Ranch.  In high school one of my girlfriends would go to Arizona for spring break. Her father eventually ran that particular dude ranch and they moved to Tucson I think in our junior year.  In Nashua they ran the Howard Johnson's so obviously they knew what they were about.  My friend competed in barrel riding and I think became a nurse, but I lost track of her so I have no idea where she is now, but it's odd how a little sign can trigger memories.  From Junior High on four of us would walk to and from school together.  We'd all meet at one house and go on from there.  In really bad weather someone's parent would drive us (not mine since we didn't have a car).

Izzie's Got Her Zip Back

We left our dear friend Connie this morning and hit the road again, although only after gassing up and getting the car washed.   We have stopped in Georgia for the night and Izzie has been racing down the halls of the motel as though she were a puppy again.  Since she's on a leash, I have to run as well. She's going to keep me young. I'm so grateful that the surgery has worked so well.  Tomorrow night will have us near Charlottesville, Virginia and spending a little time with Anne, a deacon from Maine who winters in Virginia and Izzie spending some time terrorizing Anne's two standard poodles, Desi and Luci.

Visit With Grandmere Mimi

It was so much fun to meet the esteemed doyenne of bloggers, Grandmere Mimi and her very dear husband Grandpere.  They are a lot of fun to be around.  It was so nice to be invited to their home and arriving in the early evening, was treated to some  shrimp creole and rice.  It was GOOD.  Izzie spent the first bit of time exploring the house and making herself at home.  Both Grandmere and Grandpere were very nice to her even keeping their own dog Diana outside, except at night when she sleeps in the laundry room.  Izzie was royally pampered.

Grandmere's church, St. John's is quite lovely.  I like the white walls and the clear windows.  It's a very old church and in some ways reminds me of a small version of St. Paul's in Boston.  The pews seem to give a nod to those from the colonial era which were more like family boxes.  The organ was acting up because of the cold, but the organist shifted to the piano and all was well.  I would have loved to have heard the pipe organ, but only if it were in tune and all the stops worked, which was not the case.  I also enjoyed talking to members of the congregation afterwards.  They are a hospitable bunch.  Izzie would have loved coffee hour.  There was cheese.

Mimi describes the wonderful meal we had after church on her blog.  I promised them a good lobster dinner to encourage them to come up to Maine, but I don't think we would eat any better.  The hors d'oeuvre of spinach and artichokes on cheese toasts was yummy and the oyster spaghetti was to die for.

I feel so honored to have met this wonderful woman.

Izzie, the Bad Habit Rabbit

Since Christmas I've been shuttling back and forth between my daughter's home and my son's.  Izzie has to do stairs at my son's but they are carpeted and she seems to do just fine.  It's more than four weeks from her surgery and she's beginning to take to walks again.  She doesn't want to go out in the back yard unless my daughter, Buttercup and I go as well.  At my son's she will join Zephyr and Eva in the back yard, but she's known those two dogs for a long time.  Eva came to visit us in Wyoming when she was a pup and Izzie, although four years old, was new to me.

Izzie is teaching Buttercup very bad habits.  My daughter and I went out to look for a red dress (they're going to a wedding in Colombia at the end of the month and was told everyone was to wear red).  We found some possibilities, but she's very tiny and the one she liked the best didn't come small enough.  I wish I had that problem. Anyway her hubby stayed home and when he came into the house, both Izzie and Buttercup were snoozing on the couch.  He took a picture which I will post as soon as he gives me a copy.  Izzie also has Buttercup hovering around the table hoping for food.  My bad.  It will take them weeks to recover from our visit.

This morning she and hubby are going to the garment district to look there for the dress.  Buttercup is going to doggie day care (so Izzie doesn't teach her anything else new while they're away). I'm going over to REI since I have a small rebate from last year and need some socks.

Visiting the Navaho Nation

I made an unplanned trip into the Navaho Nation today.  I-40 was completely blocked after Grants, NM.  I don't know what happened, but they routed us off the interstate and there was no detour marked for going west.  After following the big rigs, we were told to turn around.  I decided to see if there was any alternate route and since I couldn't look at my map, I called my daughter and her husband looked up a route for me.  It worked, but it took a while.  I went though Navaholand to the north of the interstate.  There was a police woman at one intersection who was there to direct those like me who were taking this route.  She told me how to get back on I-40 at Gallup.  She also told me where I could get gas, which I really needed.

This is a very sparsely populated area.  I did pass one mine, either coal or uranium, I don't know which and a number of empty ore-carriers.  The state road was really good and the speed limit was 65.  The Navaho road (N-9) was pretty good too. I'll have to do some research into the area later.  The last time I was near there was in the 1970s when I visited both the Hopis and Navahos to talk about coal gasification.

When we finally got back on I-40  there was very little traffic.  I decided to drive past Flagstaff to Williams.  Stayed in a Days Inn there a couple of years ago.  They are a very dog friendly chain.  In Amarillo the fourth floor seemed to be the doggie floor.  We met a Newfie and a Golden there.  Izzie wasn't interested.  Right now she's sound asleep.

Road Trip

Izzie and I had a good time driving back yesterday.  We had a nice view of Mt. Katahdin, Maine's highest peak. There's still snow on the mountain. It was early in the morning and the sky and water were almost the same color and there was little wind.  You can see the mountain in the top picture a lot better if you click on it to enlarge.

Izzie loves road trips and is a great companion.  Looking out the window, especially on the driver's side is her favorite thing.  We don't drive with the windows down, however, and she has a seat which allows her to look out the passenger's side and NOT jump on my lap.