As usual, Ted and I chose an outdoor restaurant (not hard to find) for lunch today.
I wish the weather in St. Louis was always this pleasant for outdoor eating.
After lunch, we decided to take a walk on the sidewalk that runs for several miles along the oceanfront. We saw some interesting sights.
This is the sidewalk–right along the beach.
The rules are different at the beach. At this Dairy Queen, it’s “No shoes, no shirt, service.”
It’s a surf-mobile! You can carry one more if you put it underneath the chassis.
On our walk, we learned that the people we see bobbing on the sand bar are taking surfing lessons. The lesson is over and these surfers are heading back to shore.
We had a beautiful view of Diamondhead. It doesn’t look that far away, but it’s about three miles from here to there.
Even getting change at the ABC Store was fun.
When we returned to our room, it was time to sit around the pool for awhile. I took this picture of Ted from our balcony.
We had intermittent rain showers for several hours, so there wasn’t any visible sunset to watch today.
After dinner, Ted and I decided to sit at the outdoor Tapa Bar, listen to the live music, and enjoy some mai tais. Thanks to the rain showers, there was a cool wind and the temperature dropped to 66 degrees,* so we didn’t stay long, but it was fun for a little while and the mai tais were delicious–lots of pineapple, lime, and orange flavor, with some rum for fun. Oh yes, the music was good too.
*On our way to the resort from the airport, our cab driver told us that when the temperature goes below 70 degrees, he starts looking for his boots. I hope he found them today.
Tonight we went to the resort’s Starlight Luau. The event was on a rooftop, but it was cloudy and not starlit. There was no refund for that, however, so the show went on.
Here we are, ready to luau.
The buffet had many local Hawai’ian selections and everthing was delicious. This time, Ted was brave enough to try the purple poi dinner rolls.
The master of ceremonies gave us directions for the buffet procedures, introduced the performers, and even sang. I kept thinking of Don Ho, although Don was much better.
A rectangular piece of cloth about one yard wide and two yards long can be wrapped and knotted in a variety of ways to create at least eight different garments for men and women that range from swimsuits to semi-formal wear (in the tropics, not in New York City). The models showed us the results of the various wrapping and knotting techniques. Amazingly, the cloth rectangles are for sale in the resort shops.
The performers showed us dances from each of the six Polynesian nations: Tonga, Tahiti, Samoa, New Zealand, Fiji, and Hawai’i. The colors of their clothing indicate which country they represent, but I can never remember which is which. The first picture below is Hawai’i. I remember that because “Don Ho” told us the hula is found only in Hawai’i and the women’s skirts are not made of grass; they’re made of tapa leaves.
The highlight of the luau was definitely the fire dancers. Before performing, they hung protective netting around the stage to prevent audience injuries in case one of the fire swords went astray. Ted and I have seen fire dancers before, but this was the first time we saw a pyramid-type dance formation.
We had a very enjoyable evening. The food was good, and the performance was fun. On our way back to our room, we had an added bonus.
We came upon an open garage door with a large figure inside the storage area.
Apparently, there are times the resort needs a huge sumo wrestler figure as a prop.
Today, Ted and I went to the top of Diamondhead. This is the most popular hiking trail in the state of Hawai’i. It’s 0.8 miles one way and rises 560 feet in elevation, beginning on a paved state park sidewalk, but quickly giving way to a worn, lava rock trail and stairs.
We’re heading for the high point in the center of this photo. If you zoom your screen, you’ll discover blurry objects that resemble people at the top.
Here’s Ted on our way up. You can see people and the cut trail above him.
This is a good view of the Diamondhead crater. Before it started raining in the distance, we could see Molokai in the upper right.
This is what we walked on most of the way.
We paused for a moment to enjoy the views before making the final push to join the crowd at the top.
Just in case we didn’t notice that there’s nowhere higher to go but into the sky, the sign tells us we’re at the end of the trail.
Here’s Honolulu from the peak of Diamondhead. The arrow on the left points to the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. The arrow on the right points to our hotel tower (one of eight) at our resort.
The views from the top are magnificent.
I think I can see New Zealand on the horizon. We’ll be there next December.
The hike up wasn’t bad, but going down was easier.
We enjoyed every minute of our time on Diamondhead this morning.
What did we do today in Hawai’i? Actually, not much of anything, and it was wonderful!
As we have every morning of our visit, Ted and I sat on our balcony sipping hot chocolate and coffee and admiring the view. We both enjoy the way the ocean’s color changes with the distance from shore and the depth of the water.
Just above the trees, you can see a brownish tinge in the water. There’s a good-sized sandbar out there and a lot of people stand on it and bob up and down with the waves.
After awhile, we got hungry and went to lunch. While we were eating, the restaurant manager came over to our table to tell us he could not only see, but “feel” that Ted and I were very much “in sync” with each other and that it was a “beautiful thing.” He also told us that the next time we come to Hawai’i, we should spend our time on Maui because we are “definitely Maui people”–whatever that means. Obviously, we are so relaxed, it shows.
After lunch, we spent a big chunk of the afternoon in our bathing suits on the beach and in the ocean water. I didn’t want to leave my camera/phone unattended onshore while we were in the water, so I don’t have any pictures of this. (No great loss for my readers.)
Then it was time to watch the sun set. It’s weird, but the sky has some cumulus clouds overhead most of the day with a clear horizon. Every day, however, as sunset approaches, a cloud bank appears on the western horizon and partially obscures the setting sun just before it drops behind the ocean. It happened again today.
Except for the clouds on the horizon, the sky was perfectly clear.
We had dinner reservations at the resort’s four-star restaurant, which had a dress code of “beach casual.” The sign asks for no swimwear, shorts, tank tops, or flip-flops, with collared shirts and closed-toe shoes preferred. We learned on our last visit to Hawai’i that an aloha shirt is considered dressy and an aloha shirt with a lei counts as formal, so Ted wore one of his aloha shirts. I wore casual pants (not jeans) and a nice top, but I only brought sandals for shoes, so I wore open-toed shoes and was admitted without any comment from the hostess. The man at the table beside ours was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but I think he was the only one to seriously test the guidelines. The food and service were outstanding and we ranked them as the second-best we’ve ever had. (The best was in Taos, NM on our Fall 2017 trip to the Southwest.)
Here’s Ted and the view from our window table. It’s an open-air restaurant (of course!) so there is no outside wall–only a very nice ocean view and a soft, warm breeze every now and then.
And that was it for today–lunch, beach time, and dinner. Yes, we’re really relaxed.
Ted and I have reached a state of complete relaxation, and it feels wonderful. With no specific daily plans and no “at home” tasks to do, we’re just enjoying ourselves moment by moment. Today we took a walk in the downtown area, discovered we can watch the sunset from our balcony, went to the resort’s Friday night fireworks show, and finished the day with some ice cream.
We saw this mural while we were walking this afternoon.
Here’s today’s sunset as seen from our balcony.
The resort has a ten-minute fireworks show on Waikiki Beach every Friday evening, beginning at 7:45 p.m. I’m positive they shot off an hour’s worth of fireworks during those ten minutes–the bangs were less than a second apart and the sky was ablaze with color for the entire show. The crowd was huge. Ted and I aren’t official crowd estimators, but we’re certain there were more than a thousand people sitting on the beach for the show, and that’s not counting those who watched from their hotel balconies.
The crowd is gathering for the fireworks show.
After the show, the restaurants had a second rush. (The first rush was just after the 6:36 p.m. sunset.) It was a beautiful night to eat outdoors. As usual.
When the fireworks crowd left the beach, several young men arrived and played with fire.
Ted and I went out for ice cream. This girl is making the waffle cones and bowls. She just rolled the waffle cone on the countertop and is reaching for a paper holder for it. These are fresh waffle cones!
We found some chairs and enjoyed the tropical evening air while we ate our ice cream. It was another relaxing day, and I’m looking forward to more of the same tomorrow.
After only a few hours of sleep, Ted and I were up again before sunrise yesterday. (I can’t believe I did that two days out of three!) We were at the airport by 5:30 a.m., ready to fly to Hawai’i.
We had a four-hour flight to Phoenix, a two-hour layover, then a seven-hour flight to Honolulu. The flights were both on time and uneventful, unlike our Hawai’ian trip last year. We arrived at 4:30 p.m. Honolulu time (8:30 p.m. St. Louis time) and were able to enjoy walking around the resort for a little while in the daylight, then eat dinner outside before going to our room and nearly falling into bed. We were fine all day, unless we stopped moving–then we realized how tired we were.
After a long night of sleep, we had a wonderful time today and spent most of it outside in the mid-70s sunny weather. In contrast, Kari texted us that her kids had a snow day today. I bet they had as much fun as we did–with different weather.
We always like to learn things about the places we visit, so we usually plan what we’re going to do each day. This time, however, relaxing sounded so good, we didn’t plan anything except to do whatever we feel like doing. Today we felt like spending some of the morning on our balcony, sipping coffee (Ted) and hot chocolate (me), looking at the Pacific Ocean, and relaxing until we were hungry for lunch.
This is the view from our balcony. We stayed in the Rainbow Tower (left) last January. It’s nice to have a view of the rainbow mosaic this time.
We ate lunch outside to enjoy the weather.
After lunch, we decided to explore (i.e., compare) the resort across the street from ours. (We like ours more.) After that, we walked to the Ana Moana shopping mall, less than a mile away. We had no shopping to do, but it gave us a destination. It’s the largest mall in the state of Hawai’i, with over 300 stores on three levels and an unusual range of shopping choices–everything from Target and Old Navy to Dior and Harry Winston (the real designer stores, not outlets). Surprisingly (to us), there was no food court. Later in the afternoon, we went to the beach.
Diamond head isn’t too far from our resort. We’ll be going to its top while we’re here.
We stayed at the beach to watch the sunset. The crowd of spectators begins to gather around 6:00, then dissipates after the sun goes down. There is no twilight in the tropics; after sunset, it’s dark within thirty minutes.
Sunsets over the ocean are beautiful.After the beach crowd and the sunset crowd left, this beachcomber came out to hunt for buried treasure.This is the pool and hot tub below our balcony. That’s a decorative design on the pool bottom, not a swimming serpent.
We had a very relaxing day and we’re loving the sunshine and warm weather. I’m so glad we’ll get to do it again tomorrow. It’s a tough job, but . . .
Ted and I were up early today and on our way home from Colorado before sunrise. It was a cold, sunny day.
The good thing about getting up early is watching the sun rise.
The snow-covered mountains west of I-25 were spectacular in the early-morning sunlight.
We saw hoarfrost during most of our drive through Colorado.
The trees at the eastern CO rest stop were decorated with hoarfrost.
The cold, snow-covered ground produced heavy fog for more than 50 miles in Kansas.
The high winds and heavy snow two days ago in Kansas gave us some beautiful scenery after the morning fog cleared.
It was a long day’s drive after a wonderful family visit. Tomorrow we’ll take the winter clothes out of our suitcases and replace them with our shorts. We’ll be leaving for Hawai’i–and a big change in climate–early the following morning.
Today, we all went to church to hear Kyra’s talk to the congregation about her mission experience. She did an excellent job. It was obvious that she is accustomed to talking to people (she admitted she wasn’t even nervous) and that she has matured a lot over the past 18 months.
Before getting involved in the rest of our day (lunch, games, conversation, a walk in the sunshine, etc.), I decided to take some family photos.
Ted and me.
Jeff’s family. L->R: La, Alex, Kyra, Zaque, and Jeff.
Today’s is La’s 50th birthday, which deserves something special, so Ted and I gave her a bouquet of flowers this morning.
The men of the family pampered the ladies for lunch. First, they cooked grilled cheese extraordinaire sandwiches for us. Thom, the family grilled cheese expert, was in charge of the griddle.
After dinner, the younger generation of men did the dishes.
Kurt and Megan, friends of Jeff and La, hosted a party at their house to celebrate La’s birthday and Kyra’s homecoming. Jeff, La, and Kyra left early for the party. The rest of us walked over a little later. I was escorted by this group of handsome men.
As the guests of honor, La and Kyra were presented with bouquets.
On our way home from the party, we saw some daffodils sprouting. It’s nearly spring!
Ted and I took the family out to dinner this evening to celebrate the four events of this week: Kyra’s homecoming and Julian’s, Jeff’s, and La’s birthdays. The Persons of Honor selected Outback as our destination. Here’s our family table.
Zaque has the ability to amuse himself in innumerable creative ways. While we waited for our food, one of the things he did was practice balancing his forks on his knife on his finger.
After dinner, Ted and I took some pictures. Here I am with my only granddaughter. It’s so nice to see her after her 18-month mission.
My grandsons are getting so tall! Sky isn’t here, but he’s taller than I am too! I’m starting to feel like a little shrimp with all these tall guys.
Finally, a picture of La’s and Kyra’s flowers with Thom and Julian at the piano (left).
Ted and I had a wonderful day with our family. I wish we all lived closer together so we could see each other more often, but maybe we are more appreciative of our time together this way. More good times are on the way tomorrow.
Ted and I are with Jeff’s family, as well as Thom and Julian for a few days. We’re celebrating Kyra’s homecoming from her mission (Feb. 20) and three birthdays: Julian (Feb. 16), Jeff (Feb. 18), and La (Feb. 23). Naturally, I had some computer questions to ask Jeff, one of which addressed the icon for my blog.
When I bookmark my blog, I get the gray icon in the lower left (above). Jeff’s blog, on the other hand, gets a flag (upper right, above). I asked how I could get a prettier icon than a gray square. Together, Jeff and I selected a “D” (lower right, above). Much better! Thank you, Jeff.
Ted and I have Sirius XM radio in our cars. As we were driving, we clicked on Channel 5–the “50s on 5” station where they play music from the 1950s. (Guess what they play on Channels 6, 7, and 8.) There are no commercials and no D.J.s on the 50s channel, but they do station IDs. This one said:
“With songs like these, . . .” (followed by one-line musical excerpts from Chances Are, Earth Angel, and I Love How You Love Me) “. . . it’s no wonder there was a baby boom.”
Because it’s dangerously cold outside, Ted and I took our three-mile walk in the mall today. We walked through Penney’s to enter the mall and saw this awesome (?) cap that’s good for cold-weather walking.
Wow! Removable wireless headphones built into the cap!
I could be this happy if I had this cap, right? (I wasn’t even tempted to buy it.)
This year, we in the Midwest called it “Wednesday.” It was cold in St. Peters.
It was even colder at my brother Tom’s house in St. Charles, IL (west of Chicago).
From inside his house, where he said he was enjoying the furnace, Tom texted me this photo.
Anyone can throw a cup of boiling water into frigid air to watch it freeze instantly. This girl was more creative–she froze her hair.
All the local K-12 schools closed today because of the cold, but we’re Midwesterners, so Tom and JoEllen went to an appointment and Ted and I went to our morning Pilates class. The rest of the class was there too, so we all warmed up with a good workout. It’s practically summer!
In December, Ted and I tried to book flights to Hawai’i as our consolation prize for needing to cancel our trip to Bali, Australia, and New Zealand. The only available seats in both directions were either in first class or on flights that required an overnight layover on the West Coast. We decided to spend the winter in St. Louis.
For no particular reason, I suggested to Ted last night that we check again to see if we could go to Hawai’i later in the spring. What a surprise! There were lots of flights with the overnight West Coast layover, but there were also two flights available in each direction in February, with lots of empty seats, and with no overnight layover!!! We looked at each other and said, “Shall we book them?” The answer was “yes,” so we are going to Hawai’i after all, departing on February 27.
There were no empty frequent flier seats available nine weeks in advance of our trip, but more than one-third of the main cabin is available five weeks later. Hmmm. Methinks the airline must hold the frequent flier seats back, hoping to sell them at full price. When the plane doesn’t fill up, they later make seats available. Ted and I don’t care. We’re excited to be going to Hawai’i in four weeks.
The Lego Movie 2 will be released on February 8. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has become such a public icon that she has a small part in the movie as a Lego figure. The RGB Lego character will be available for purchase, and I bet it will be a big seller for Lego.
Jonathan Haidt developed 27 non-political questions that can help identify if your brain is more Republican or Democratic. If you want to discover your brain’s political stance, go to chartsme.com. Answer the questions truthfully, and don’t read the explanation at the end of this post until you’ve finished.
It’s very cold outside, so I’ll think about spring while you take the quiz. When you’re ready, scroll down past this photo.
As you might have guessed from the nature of the questions, Haidt developed a “disgust scale.” A scientific study showed that this trait (disgust) can help determine if you are politically more conservative or more liberal. Conservatives tend to be more prone to disgust.
Some scientists think disgust might be an ancestral reaction that protected more primitive people from contamination and disease. (Think drinking water vs. pond scum.) There are probably more accurate tests if you need a test to determine your political leanings, but this one was kind of fun.
Here are my results: 39% conservative and 61% liberal. I guess I’m less affected by disgusting things than I thought.
Tonight’s super wolf blood moon eclipse was beautiful. After a cloudy day, the skies cleared in time for Ted and me to see the eclipse. It was only 10 degrees outside, so we just checked it about every half hour and then went back indoors to warm up. The reality was much better than my phone pictures.
We could see the beginning of the eclipse from the front porch. Nearly half of the moon is already in the earth’s shadow.
The moon is entering the umbra and is already turning red.
Here’s my photo of the total eclipse. With the moon in shadow, the stars were unusually bright and we could see more of them than usual, even in our suburban ambient light.
NASA’s telescopic camera takes better pictures than my phone does. Awesome! I’m looking forward to the next total lunar eclipse in 2021.
I thought my chances of eventually dying were 100 percent, but USA Today recently reported that, if I eat more fiber and grains, I can reduce that risk by nearly 30 percent.
I assume the World Health Organization used better grammar than this reporter, but maybe not. Unless fiber has become a true miracle drug, it would be more accurate to report that a high-fiber diet can contribute to longevity by reducing the risk of premature death.
Just in case, let’s all eat more oatmeal and go for immortality.
Yesterday was Sefton’s second birthday. Thom and Katie had some activities planned for the day and they didn’t think Sefton would mind waiting until today to celebrate with us. We shared a video call tonight and were able to watch Sefton open his birthday gifts from us. We also heard him say “Grandma” and “Grandpa,” practice his alphabet, identify colors, and read the numbers on the toy cell phone we gave him. Obviously, he’s one of the world’s eight smartest grandchildren. (Do I need to mention that Ted and I have eight grandchildren?)
After celebrating with Sefton, Thom and Katie took us on a video tour of their new house, and it was fun to see where they’re living and what everything looks like. Ted and I are eager to see it in person, but this was the next best thing.
While we were video chatting, I discovered that I could take screen shots, so here are some pictures I took of Sefton while we were talking with him.
This picture is blurred, but you can tell he’s having fun with his birthday balloons.
Oh, happy day! Today we had a snow day with a total of 11+ inches of snow. At 33 degrees, the snow was too deep and soft for sledding, it was too wet for snow angels, and it packed too hard to have a snowball fight (it made ice balls), so snowblowing was my choice of outdoor play.
This was the view from the kitchen window when we got up this morning.
The holly bushes were snow-covered.
It’s time for me to get to work.
Happiness is . . . . Notice that it’s still snowing.
Once I cut a path, we could use our official NWS “Snow? How Much?” ruler to measure it.
When I finished, it was still snowing. We had another inch+ before the storm moved east of us, but the temperature was above freezing, so the additional snow melted on the cleared concrete.
Then it was Ted’s turn to play. He took the snowblower across the street to clear our neighbor’s driveway. Jim has difficulty walking, so we’re glad to play in his yard too.
Meanwhile, the kids across the street built a giant snowman. There was plenty of snow for it!
I built a snowman too, but on a smaller scale.
This was the fifth heaviest snowfall in St. Louis weather history, and next weekend might include another snow day. Yea!
During one of Kari’s holiday shifts at Great Skate, there was a private party. Kari said it was an unusual group because all the adults skated. Most of the time, she said, the kids skate and the adults watch.
As a surprise for their dad, the family asked if the DJ could play some Elvis songs in memory of their mom, an Elvis fan, preferably near the end of the party so the family wouldn’t feel too sad during the rest of the evening. They had an Elvis costume and asked the DJ to wear it and to skate with the family in memory of their mom.
The costume was too small for the DJ, and the two teenagers on shift with Kari didn’t know any Elvis songs. Kari, however, grew up listening to the Elvis records I played on the stereo (what can I say?–he’ll always be The King). As the only viable Elvis impersonator in the house, she put on the costume and skated around the rink with the family following her. As part of her act, she lip-synced “Hound Dog,” playing air guitar during the instrumental portions. What a ham!
Kari’s impersonation was such a hit that the family videographed her performance and took group pictures with her. The only picture Kari herself has is below.
Here’s Elvis (Kari) backstage in the Great Skate kitchen. Uh, thankyou, thankyouverymuch.
This afternoon, I was looking for a form that I knew I printed, but couldn’t find, so I had to rummage through my inbox files to see if it was there. That’s where I throw stuff from my desktop if I don’t want to deal with it immediately, which meant I’d be cleaning out my inbox clutter. I don’t clean the boxes often, but I always find something interesting when I do. Today it was old photos of my siblings and me.
1952 when I had only two brothers. That’s Denny (3) on the left and me (5) restraining Steve (1). I remember those halter tops.
I have three brothers in summer 1956. It looks like we’re ready for bedtime prayers and no, we didn’t all sleep in the same bed.
Late summer 1956, before Russ was born in October. I’m holding/wearing a vintage 1940s Kodak Brownie Reflex Synchro model camera, handed down from my mom. Denny is apparently the geek, with his shorts pulled up high; Steve is the cool one, with the rubber sunglasses (you could pop the lenses out) and the Hawai’ian shirt.
Here’s baby Russ! It’s Winter 1956 and the three boys are in matching pj’s. Mom bought yardage and made all their pj’s from the same pattern and the same fabric. Russ and I might also match–I can’t tell for sure.
Winter 1956 again. Tom, Denny, and Steve are in the back; I’m holding Russ in the front. Steve’s baby picture is on the end table in the corner.
1958. I loved that dress! It was a two-piece, very in-style chemise. I wore it to the 4-H awards ceremony and had my picture in the local paper for being named the outstanding 10-year-old girl in the county. I’m wearing my gold 4-H award pin.
Fall of 1962. In the old days, before gender equality, I had to help Mom at home in the summer and on Saturdays, and the boys had to work with Dad at his Allis-Chalmers dealership and maintenance shop. Check out Steve’s “barn” lunch box and Denny’s more modern square one with the shorter, squat, wide-mouth Thermos that stood along the side instead of resting in the lid. I don’t recognize the people on Tom’s lunchbox, but I’ll bet he remembers who they were.
1963. We’re growing up. Steve (12), Tom (11), and Denny (14) are in the back and Russ (7) and I (16) are in the front. Mom spread out my skirt so it would look nice in the picture. My high school boyfriend liked that red dress, but I can’t believe those glasses were in style!
1967. We’re starting to leave the nest. It’s Denny’s high school baccalaureate evening and I’ve finished my sophomore year at UW-Madison.
July 2004. This is the most recent picture I have of the four of us–Tom, Steve, me, and Russ. Denny died in 1977. The framed photo on the bookshelf is Kari and Dean holding Sky, their first baby.
Just for fun, here’s one more picture I found. It’s a sibling picture of my dad and his three brothers (he also had two sisters). My mom noted on the back of the photo that “They are singing some song they made up.” Dad’s given name was Wilton, but he was called Pete; Ken’s nickname was Beanie; Harold was always Arch (middle name Archibald); and Bob would answer to Duck. Don’t ask; that’s just how it was. Ken and Arch are still living in Wisconsin and are in their 90s.
Probably sometime in the 1950s. Left to right, it’s Pete, Beanie, Arch, and Duck.
Tonight I finally had time to play with my Christmas toy. For many years, Thom and I have exchanged a small Christmas Lego set. I don’t remember exactly when we started doing this but, given the number of Christmas Lego sets I’ve received from him, it was a long time ago.
Here I am, building my 2018 Christmas Lego set from Thom. Note: Look at the red bell on the Christmas tree in the lower left corner of the photo. This was a childhood ornament of mine. My mother passed it on to me after I had my own home and my own Christmas tree. Two of my brothers also had bells like this. One was red like mine and the other was silver.
When Thom and I started our Lego exchange, the sets were sold at the check-out counter. They were small, wrapped in a cellophane envelope, had about 15-20 pieces, and cost $5.00 or less.
These are two of the early Lego sets I received from Thom. The candle and the elf were separate sets, so I received them in two different years.
Lego has evolved over the years and the pieces have become very specialized. In addition, a lot of people apparently like the Christmas Lego idea, so the individual holiday pieces have become multi-figured scenarios. They now sell for a lot more than $5.00 per set.
This is my completed 2018 Christmas Lego scenario. Compare it to the simple individual pieces in the photo above. There’s a big difference!
Every year, I enjoy selecting a new Christmas Lego set for Thom and I look forward to the one he sends me. Thank you, Thom. I love our Christmas Lego tradition.
It was a dark but pleasant evening. After dinner, I felt like taking a walk and working off some energy. Kathy offered to walk with me, and we had a very enjoyable walk and talk. Soon after we got home, I reached up to remove my necklace and discovered that the chain had broken and the pendant was gone. Surely someone at the dinner table would have noticed that the two ends of the chain were hanging down from my neck, unconnected and without a pendant. Since that didn’t happen, it seemed likely the 52-year-old chain had broken in some mysterious way while Kathy and I were walking.
I thought there was little chance of finding a pendant that’s only a half-inch in diameter in the dark, so I decided to retrace my 1.5-mile route in the morning. Between evening and morning, the overnight rain in the forecast could wash the small pendant down a sewer drain; a vehicle could drive over it and damage it; someone else could find it and pick it up; etc., etc. The pendant was a birthday gift from a man I dated during my freshman year of college and it had my birthstone (aquamarine) mounted on it. It wasn’t valuable, but I always liked it, I wore it frequently, and it gave me joy. I didn’t expect to find it, but it was worth a try.
In the morning light, Kathy, Annette, and I started walking, keeping our eyes on the road and scanning the concrete for my pendant. After a little more than a mile, I spotted my pendant lying face-up and undamaged in a hollow spot on the road surface. I shouted, “There it is!” and the three of us went into happy mode. We were all surprised but grateful that our hunt was successful.
Today I bought a new chain for the pendant and I wore it home from the jewelry store. It gives me joy again.
We had some weather excitement today: a wake low. I wouldn’t have known a thing about it if I hadn’t watched the TV weather report while I ate my lunch.
I learned that a wake low is a very special meteorological phenomenon, because: (1) only modern weather technology has made it possible to detect wake lows; and (2) they have been observed only in the Mississippi River valley (us), Florida, and the Great Plains.
A wake low occurs when there is a small low pressure area behind (i.e., in the wake of) a squall line, which is under a higher pressure area. As the squall line passes over low-level warm air, the air behind it cools (rain-cooled air). A wake low forms as a result of a unique rate at which the rain warms and cools the air, combined with a unique pressure difference between the high and low pressure areas above and behind the squall line. An identifying characteristic of a wake low is strong winds.
For those who didn’t see the noon weather report and therefore didn’t know we had a wake low, that means we had strong winds gusting at 50+ mph this morning in St. Charles County (us) and northern St. Louis County (Lambert airport), resulting in flight delays, some downed trees, and minor property damage. We didn’t have downed trees or property damage at our house, but we did have property movement.
This is our normal winter placement of four lawn chairs that we leave outside for sunny afternoons and firebowl evenings.This is the wake low placement of our chairs this morning. Three of them found new positions.
I can’t believe it: I have my own internet domain! This is so cool, technology-wise, and I’m easily excited about getting and working with new technology! I was excited in the 1970s when I bought my own electric typewriter, and again in the early 1980s when our family had one of the first Apple IIe computers. The thrill continues. In 2016, I bought a tech device Jeff hadn’t even heard of (because he didn’t need it), and last September, I changed a command in the root drive. Now I have my own domain name. I’m a hip, tech-savvy baby boomer (with Jeff’s help).
Readers, take note:
If you want to continue reading my blog, as of today, it is at https://dctrd.com. In case the string of consonants appears confusing, think “doctor d” and take out the vowels. Doctord, drd, and docdi were already taken. There must be people just like me out there, because I had the same issue with my personalized license plate which is also DCTR D for the same reason.
Now, the background story. Jeff has generously been allowing me to post my blog on his cyberschroeder.com domain, but he is going to retire that address in August. As a result, he had to select a new domain for his own blog, personal email, etc. and so did I.
I offer thanks to Jeff for setting up my new domain and for making everything work so that, for a transitional period, if you go to https://diane.cyberschroeder.com, you will automatically be re-directed to my new domain. This will be true until August when cyberschroeder.com ceases to exist, so if my few (think “select group”) readers want to keep reading my musings, change your bookmark for this blog.
As I told Jeff, I probably could have done this myself . . . with step-by-step instructions and phone support from him. For Jeff, who has all kinds of domains, it’s no big deal, but I never expected to need or have my own domain name. Thanks, Jeff, for keeping me cool!
Kari’s family opened their gifts at home this morning and then came to our house in the early afternoon to join Kathy, Annette, Ted, and me to open more gifts.
Dylan created two new games to give as his gifts to us and to Kathy / Annette.
Dylan was excited about his new pocket watch. It’s gorgeous, but challenging. There is no battery–you have to wind it; it’s analog, not digital; and the hours are shown in Roman numerals. Dylan is confident he can handle these challenges.
Teddy found happiness in two new pigs and a pig nose.
Ted and I saw some prank gift boxes while we were Christmas shopping. We immediately knew two people who “needed” them. Annette was the recipient of a Roto Wipe (box).
Note that this device is Number 1 in #1 and #2’s.
It’s ranked with 5 stars, beating out the car wash sprayer (3 stars) and the elm/maple leaf (1 star).
The mini version is even portable!
The other lucky (?) recipient of a prank box was Laralee, who enjoys jigsaw puzzles.
Only 12,000 pieces. The shiny box made a reflection in my camera lens. The entire sky is really a single shade of blue.
The 12,000 pieces are micro size (1/4″, according to the box) and require a tweezer (included) to place them in the puzzle.
If you like this puzzle, here are four more to enjoy. Again, each puzzle was a single color, without shading. (I need a better camera.) My personal favorite is “Summer Night Sky” with the two stars shining in the blackness.
Of course, the boxes did not represent the real gifts inside, although we included a small jigsaw puzzle to make Laralee’s box sound more authentic. After all the gifts were opened, it was time for a snack.
The St. Charles Christmas parade was so much fun last year that we–Kathy and Annette, Kari’s family, and me (Ted wasn’t feeling well)–decided to go again this year. Last year, the weather was very cold and blustery, and there was snow on the ground. We were more comfortable this year with sunshine and a temperature in the low 50s. We started the afternoon with lunch at Pizza Hut, which is always a hit with Kari’s boys. After that, we headed to Main Street for the parade. Perfect timing–we had five minutes to select a good viewing spot before the parade leaders came into view.
Since pictures of the period characters in the parade look very similar from year to year, I decided to “people watch” instead.
Yes, the carolers are colorful, but check out the guy in the red and white striped jacket on the right.
This family must be related to Mr. Burst. They came in their Christmas pajamas.
We were near the end of the parade route (closest to the riverfront for the Santa send-off), so we were among the last people the parade marchers saw. A number of them gave a thumbs-up to the lady with the camera for having the tackiest Christmas sweater along the route. It was covered with large Christmas lights that flashed.
Santa and Mrs. Claus in their horse-drawn carriage are the last people in the parade. The parade-watchers fall in behind Santa and follow him to the bandstand at the riverfront.
We were in the middle of the crowd, so this shows about half of the attendance. Santa was in a hurry this year. He’s usually the last item on the short program agenda, but this year, he was first. If you look closely, you can see his red suit in the bandstand and he’s already saying farewell to the crowd.By the time we arrived at the park gates, Santa and Mrs. Claus were in their carriage, leaving to go home to pack the children’s gifts for Santa to deliver tonight.
The parade and send-off were finished, so we went shopping in a few of the Main Street stores. Fun, fun, fun!
Ted started feeling a little bit sick on Saturday, December 22, the day before Kathy and Annette arrived for Christmas. He is still running a low-grade fever today, so he wasn’t able to go the St. Charles Christmas parade with the rest of us–Kathy, Annette, Kari’s family, and me. He doesn’t have much energy and feels achy. He should be feeling fine by the time our family Christmas is over and the girls have returned to their homes.
Kathy and Annette arrived today for their Christmas visit, and Kari joined us for dinner after her shift at the skating rink. Kathy and Annette brought unstuffed pepper soup and a salad for the main course, I made a cherry pie for dessert, and Kari brought cookies and candy she and the boys made for the holidays.
Kari and I previously decided we didn’t want so many cookies and so much candy this year. We agreed that we’d each make a full batch of two specific cookies we enjoy (cherry and chocolate freezer cookies for me; cut-out cookies and scotcheroos for her) and we’d each make a batch of the single candy we most enjoy (bon bons for me; turtles for her). Together, we’d divide the batches to increase our individual variety and to share the bounty with Kathy and Annette. We didn’t know that Kathy and Annette were also going to make some cookies and candy to share with us.
The pepper soup and the salad were delicious, but they paled in comparison to the desserts we had available after dinner!
Here’s the Christmas cherry pie I made with Door County cherries from Wisconsin and Ted’s mom’s cherry pie recipe.
The table groaned when we covered it with the cookie and candy selections. There were so many choices, and every one of them was tempting.
In November, when the St. Louis area was hit by a 4-7″ snowfall (depending on where you live), I posted a front-page St. Louis Post-Dispatch photo of Mr. Burst , shoveling his driveway in his bathrobe. I was surprised Mr. Burst didn’t even take time to put on his pants before going out into the cold.
I was even more surprised to see today’s paper. In a special section titled “The Year in Pictures,” Mr. Burst made the front page again. The November photo of Mr. Burst was used as the cover shot for the special section. What a guy!
Ted and I spent ten months of 2018 looking forward to our six-week trip to Bali, Australia, and New Zealand. In preparation for leaving on November 26, we did our Christmas shopping and gift wrapping in October, had a few holiday lights strung in the front yard by early November, and had selected a lot of the summer clothes we planned to pack . . . when we learned we would be canceling the trip.
I experienced some digestive problems for most of the year and was hospitalized for the problem in June. The symptoms continued to worsen, which led to the inevitable series of specialists and tests, culminating with three specialists agreeing that my best option for a long-term solution was surgery. I was given the choice to delay the surgery until after the trip, but I knew I wouldn’t enjoy myself and it seemed foolish to spend the money on the trip, only to spend my time in pain in my room or in a foreign hospital. Ted and I decided to cancel the trip, and we filed the travel insurance claims for a full refund. We plan to re-schedule the same trip for next winter.
None of the doctors knew exactly what the surgeon would discover, which was a little scary to me. Not knowing what to expect, Ted and I put our travel plans on hold but agreed that, depending on what kind of follow-up treatment I needed, our “consolation prize” for canceling the six-week Bali-Australia-New Zealand trip would be a shorter trip to Hawai’i as soon as I was well enough to travel. The surgery went well and my recovery is progressing as predicted by the doctors, so Ted and I sat down last night to book our Hawai’ian getaway.
Unfortunately, it quickly became obvious that if we want to go to Hawai’i during the Missouri winter, we need to book our flights months, not weeks, in advance. We planned to use our frequent flier miles to go back and forth and found that, except for a single first-class flight, the only remaining seats require an overnight stay between the connecting flights in both directions. (No airlines go directly from St. Louis to Hawai’i.) We have the miles we need to fly business class, but neither of us has enough frequent flier miles to go first class. As he put the travel books back on the bookshelf, Ted sadly remarked that “Maybe it’s a sign we should stay home this winter.”
