Rainy Travel Plans

The rain is spanking the SF Bay Area. News is reporting the cancelling of about 100 or so flights in the last 24 hours. Gray is indeed the color of the day.

Garry and I both awoke today with headaches, as we continue our winter cold journeys. Mine is now primarily a chest cold. The nasal and breathing are good but I’ve got that occassional cough, that clearly want me to bring up all of Hoboken. Grrr.

Last night, we went to a friend’s for dinner. He lives over in the Haight. It was a nice change of pace, even with the coughing and gloomy skies. He’s an old friend of Garry’s and there is generally a point in the evening when the two take opposing sides (they’re competitive) of a topic and play verbal table tennis. And it’s interesting for 5 minutes or so (depending on topic) there are times when others can interject and other times when it’s clearly a sport between the two of them. Remember the debate team in college? This is that debate team but written by Aaron Sorkin or David Mamet. It didn’t commandeer the entire evening, desert has a way of changing the focus.

Luna has been a real trooper around the rain. Yesterday I was able to fit her walks around heavy rainfall. Today it hasn’t stopped yet but we were able to get out early for a moment, she squatted quickly and ran back into the house. It’s fun to watch her studying things. One of her little beds is located in the living room, next to the main window looking out to our front sidewalk. She loves to stare out at the life that goes walking by This storm has her looking at the trees shaking as if they are going to reach over to her and over and offer her a treat. She takes it all in…always curious.

The rain has been giving us a chance to work on the specifics of our March trip. It’ll be back to Barcelona with some northern stops by car. We’ve got soms apartments via airbnb for Barcelona and Girona. It’ll be our first time driving a car there. I’m really looking forward to that adventure.

We have minimum requirements for an Airbnb place, hot water, good bed, center of town (so near restaurants), and something that makes sense for what we’ll be doing. Above that, if not too much then a balcony with some kind of view, and/or a building with some character.

Anyway this is all fun to play with when it’s coming down cats and dogs outside.

January 7, 2019 0

The light thru the fog

This last week has been one, physically for me, mired in a sick funk. It grabbed me last weekend like some cheesey horror flick villain and held on tight with mucus tentacles and Vicks vapo rub breath.

I still made it into work for a few days (days that I was scheduled) armed with Wal-phed and determination. And even though I pretty much collapsed upon returning home, it was good for my spirit to do something other than lay in bed and cough.

It is better today. I feel stronger. I’ll be getting on an exercise bike today and sweating some. There is a softball practice on the schedule for Sunday but the rain is also coming. I will take what comes but the main thing for me is feeling 100 percent better.

My Coasters’ tournament softball team is set to play in Las Vegas in two weeks. I’m already psychologically ready for it, now the physical part of it has to come.

This is not my local softball team. It’s the traveling team my buddy John and I have organized since 2001. We average a city a year but we’re now looking at a Memorial Day weekend tournament for this year as well. I try not to coincide this with any my local team (Cougars) want to do.

Play ball!

January 5, 2019 0

Holiday Happening

We’re going away for a few days over the holiday. Originally, we were heading to Las Vegas. Circumstances have changed the location of the trip and it hardly matters, except to jot it down.

Brian has been having a rough time with the proton treatments. The pain after each session is proving to be great so even with cannabis gummy bears it’s rough. The sessions themselves haven’t gone liked planned. They were supposed to have been done by the holidays but they’ve had to cancel a number of them because of the equipment.

What am I talking about? Let’s back up a second.

Garry and I made plans to see Brian and Joel over the holidays. The two have always been my logical family or fathers from another gene pool. We’ve been going out to Vegas for the last couple of years around the holidays to visit.

Brian has continued to fight a nasty skin cancer that has caused him to lose one eye. The latest treatment for him has been proton treatment, that is meant to kill everything in its path. The treatments have taken him away from their home in North Las Vegas to Loma Linda, California, where he is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. According to Brian, there is the treatment center, his Studio apartment across the way and nothing else.

It’s been tough on them as Joel has been back in Vegas working. Brian, alone in nowhere California is doing treatments and going back to an empty room. He is a fighter. It’s been his life for quite sometime. It will be great to see them.

An old friend of theirs called Guy, lives in Palm Springs and they’ll be staying there over the holidays. Joel drove to Linda, picked Brian up and made the trip to P.S.. Garry and I were able to put the points back in the Southwest mileage plan and get Palm Springs tickets to boot.

It’s not about location. I’d meet them on the moon so long as there is transportation.

December 24, 2018 0

Another year in the Divided States of America, I’m fully entrenched in my 50’s and absolutely see the country and the world in general, partially through the prism of my surroundings, history and personal development. I’m happy for it. I hope for much better in 2019 and remain optimistic.

December 20, 2018 0

Turkey Day Weekend Notes

Enjoyed the sunny weekend even if I don’t physically feel great today. I started the day with a bit of a migraine. I tried walking it off and having an extra cup of coffee. Naturally the extra caffeine helped me to be more awake about my headache. 🙂

We spent Thanksgiving at a friend’s home in San Rafael and the spread was impressive with hands down the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever put in my mouth. It all was good though, the turkey was moist and flavorful, the gravy (for me) sat there untouched because I didn’t want to mess with flavors I had and the string beans were tasty (yes string beans). There were a couple of different pies for dessert and Garry made a pumpkin pie, that I thought was good and creamy but Garry is a harsher critic of his own stuff.

I drove us back in the rain, which is not my favorite. I did get to drive Garry’s Mazda CX3 for the first time. It’s what is called a crossover vehicle; it’s somewhere between and SUV and car. I like the way it handles. The safety features are neat. It let’s you know when you’re getting close to a car, or driving on the white road lines.

It was great to get back home to Luna as she was alone for awhile. She’s having a tough go of it with her best buddy moving out of the neighborhood. She was friendly with the airdale next door. They were play buddies. He has packed his dog toys (with owner) and moved to another neighborhood. Luna has been mopey. Extra treats and love for a special dog

November 26, 2018 0