NOTE: Due to a technology glitch during a design update, my blog post last week did not go out to my complete mailing list, so I am repeating it this week. Look for a brand new post next week. We’re back home, after several weeks on the road. Our first trip was to Florida, to spend some time with our daughter as she was having – and recovering from – oral surgery. Then we came home long enough to unpack, do laundry, and repack for [...]
We’re back home, after several weeks on the road. Our first trip was to Florida, to spend some time with our daughter as she was having – and recovering from – oral surgery. Then we came home long enough to unpack, do laundry, and repack for a trip to visit our son and his family in Minnesota, celebrating the 4th of July and our grandson’s first birthday. On our way there, we spent a few days touring a number of Civil War battle sites, and [...]
We visited our daughter in Florida last weekend – the first time we’ve seen her in almost a year and a half. It was a much shorter drive than when we visited our son and his family in Minnesota a few weeks ago. Plus it didn’t involve any overnight stays along the way. Still, we took all the necessary precautions, plus a weekend’s worth of masks and hand sanitizer, as we hit the road. On the few stops we made – for gas or a [...]
We spent two days driving, then two and a half days at our destination, and another two days coming home. Some people might question whether the time we spent there was worth the time it took to get there and back. Under other circumstances, I might agree. But not this time. We were visiting our grandkids. My husband and I got our second vaccination in mid-February, and waited the recommended amount of time to allow the vaccine to come to full strength. Then we hit [...]
Have you ever planned a special occasion event – like a once-in-a-lifetime vacation or a major anniversary party – that was originally so far in the future that it felt like it would never get here? It sometimes felt as though the planning would go on forever, and then, when the event finally took place, it felt almost surreal. And afterwards, it felt a bit strange to get back to “normal” without having the event to look forward to, or more tasks and chores to [...]
It was the kind of dream that woke me up with a start, and left me sweating and with my heart pounding. I was still feeling shaky a little later when I started writing about it, although the more I thought about it, the sillier it seemed. Still, I found myself analyzing it in order to determine where it came from. Like many people, I’ve been glued to the television over the last few days, unable to turn away from the news of everything that’s [...]
There are many words we could use to describe the year 2020, and “surreal” is probably one of the kindest. The same can be said for how we’ll be celebrating Christmas this year. Like many people, my husband and I will be staying home for the holidays, rather than going home for the holidays to celebrate with family members who live in other parts of the country. It’s not our preference, of course, but we keep reminding ourselves that by staying safe at home this [...]
Thanksgiving is next week, and it will be different this year than ever before. Like many people, we will be staying home rather than traveling to be with family members in different parts of the country. And like them, our hearts are torn over not being able to spend the holiday with loved ones, whether they live across the street, across the country, or “over the river and through the woods,” as the old song goes. This is also a year when many people are [...]
This is the week of the Toastmasters Annual International Convention. It was originally supposed to be in Paris, France, but instead it’s taking place in my home office. And in kitchens, living rooms, lofts, studies, and wherever people around the world have their computers set up. For the first time ever, the Convention and all its activities – including the competition to determine the World Champion of Public Speaking – are taking place online. I’ve been to a number of International Conventions, in locations from [...]
I visited a club in Barbados last night, after meeting a woman from Barbados a few weeks ago in North Carolina. I was in North Carolina at the invitation of someone I met in Saskatchewan the week before that. He and I were the only ones who showed up at the meeting – apparently the Saskatchewans knew something we didn’t – so we chatted for half an hour and exchanged contact information before calling it a night. These meetings were all virtual, of course. I [...]