Home Again Home Again...

Me and Shirin

Sept 12

Shelburne Falls was a very cute tiny town. Shirin lives out in the country about 5 miles away and she met us there. We were a little worried about parking the RV but found an empty side street with plenty of room. We ate lunch at a middle eastern food truck, sitting at a picnic table outside. It was pretty good, including the piece of baklava Shirin and I had for dessert!

We hadn’t seen each other since September of 2018, when I flew back to Boston to go to the memorial for her son Sam, that had died from a brain tumor in the spring. He was only two years older than Sarah, so very sad. She is doing very well, however. She’s always been good at finding the positive in almost any situation. I’m glad we took the time to stop and visit, even though it added an hour to our drive. We said goodbye and hugged each other hard. I hope its not so long until we see each other again.

We got to the RV park around 4, set up camp, and then headed over to Eugenie’s house. I had her address, from Christmas cards I guess, but we had never been to this house before, a little bungalow with a beautiful backyard. She had fixed some very nice snacks, and then a beautiful salad with chicken and orzo for dinner. We sat around, drinking wine and talking. The dogs were very good, although we didn’t take any chances and still made Cosmo wear his belly band.

After dinner we took the dogs and went for a walk around the neighborhood. There is a nearby music venue in an old house on a big hill overlooking the Hudson. It was dusk and there were bats flying about. Just beautiful.

The Hudson at Dusk

Pretty soon after that we headed back to the RV. I was exhausted, slept hard, and moved slowly this morning, before I went for a run around the campground. It’s an interesting place. It has Airstreams and glamping tents you can rent, as well as traditional RV campsites. When we got here I discovered that for an extra $25 a night we could have a site with a deck so I talked Lee into upgrading for one of those.

Sept 13

We headed back to Euge and Ken’s after lunch yesterday. They gave us a tour of their little town and we got a coffee on the Main Street, and then headed over to Olney house, a beautiful Art Deco mansion on a hill overlooking the Hudson with grounds full of flowers and rolling hills. We spent some time there admiring the house and walking around the gardens. There were some large silk hangings that were very interesting.

Me and Eugenie

Silk Hanging at Olney House

Kenny

Butterfly Silk Hanging

After that we went to The Point and sat outside along the Hudson having some cocktails and enjoying the beautiful weather. Later we went back to the RV and they came over. Euge brought dinner, beef burgundy, burrata, bread and a cobbler for dessert. We provided wine and ice cream and a campfire.

It was a great visit. We always seem to pick up our friendship wherever we left off, no matter how long it has been. This morning we are on the road again, retracing our steps back home. 

Sept 14

A relatively short drive yesterday, 4 hours. We stayed in Byron, NY last night. Ate Beyond burgers at the picnic table, sat outside until it started to rain. It was a light rain, nbd.

We took it easy this morning, an easy drive again, and we don’t particularly like the campground where we are staying tonight so we’re in no hurry to get there. I did a fartlek run this morning. Warmup, then 6 x 2 minutes hard with a 1:30 recovery jog between each one. These types of runs are fun,  don’t ask me why.

Sept 15

We’ll be home in just a few days, I’m ready. Want to visit my flowers, see the grands, do laundry, haha. 

Harper has decided that the stove AND the fan AND the air conditioner in the RV all indicate grave danger.  Unlike the house there is no place to escape so she’s either underneath the table or in the farthest corner of the bed, panting and shivering. I swear she is going to give herself a heart attack. I think before our next trip I’m going to invest in a thunder shirt for her. We’d have to remember to put it on before we turn on one of her triggers but I don’t know what else to do. It’s that or Prozac, poor thing.

Nuclear Reactor

It was warm and humid last night. We ran the aircon for awhile and then opened the windows. I was hot and slept with only a sheet until early morning. No showers this am, we’ll take them tonight. We have a longer drive today, 5+ hours, plus we have to get up early tomorrow to make it to the ferry on time. We were on the road by 8:30, very good for us!

Sept 16

We made it to Vacation Station RV park in Ludington Michigan by 3:30 pm yesterday. I took the dogs on a good long walk around this very nice park and then set up a chair outside to enjoy the nice cooler weather and give poor Harper a break from her fears. We ate dinner outside as well, took our evening showers, and I was in bed by 8. I slept well, pretty tired from the previous night’s fitful sleep.

I set my alarm for 5:30 and it was a struggle to get up when it went off. We were ready to go by 7:45 and at the boat by 8. I took the dogs on one more walk before they were trapped in the car for close to 5 hours. Cosmo managed to get burrs in his paws and grit in his underbelly on a 5 minute walk. Talented.

We boarded the boat and watched them load the last of the cars, the vehicles with pets, a tour bus and a semi. We weren’t the last vehicle loaded this time, but pretty close. 

Ludington Lighthouse

Sept 19

We got home on the 17th, emptied the RV, ate carryout sushi and fell asleep in exhaustion. The next day I did laundry and ran, easy 4 along Smithtown Road. Its great to be home! Today I finished weeding the yard and ran a “lactic threshold” run, 3x1 mile @ HMP. At first my toe was okay but toward the end it wasn’t too happy. Its ok again this afternoon though. 

I’ve gotta say, I’m  pretty tired after that trip. I’m going to make sure we keep our driving days short on the way to Cally this winter, and figure in a few rest days on the way out and back too. At first I thought we'd just stay in the RV when we were out there, but its really impossible to find anywhere nice to stay that’s close to San Francisco, so instead we’re going to park at a State Park near Half Moon Bay and spend sometime with Dan and Kelsey, probably get a Kimpton for a couple days, maybe do something else too. Gotta figure out what works with 3 dogs!

We’ve talked a lot about how long we will be able to continue to do this. We think maybe 5 years. Next summer we’d like to go to Banff, the summer after that to Toronto and Vermont. We’ll see how Cally goes, if we think we can do it twice. We want to get away from Minnesota winter, but that’s a long long drive.

'

Moving to Minny

After the marathon, after goodbye bbqs and dinners, after tears and hugs and an achy heart, the day is finally here. Last Monday I ran the Boston Marathon in torrential rain and howling winds. My friends were at mile 19, then drove down to the finish line, met me at tbones after. These are really good friends. Only really good friends, nice relatives (Mark!), and husbands will do this sort of thing.

We are a bit of an odd group of friends. We range in age from early thirties to early seventies, and we met because we all have Diane, and because we have Diane, we all have Westies, and because we have Westies we have each other. 

But these aren’t the only people I will miss in New Hampshire. There are the ladies that belong to the Windham Newcomers Club, that I met when we first moved here from Texas and I was looking for friends and things to do. The club gave me people to explore with. We went to the city, we went to the shore, we went to the mountains. We went hiking, we went skiing, we went into the city and saw shows. We explored restaurants, and sometimes we just got together to chat, drink coffee, eat lunch, talk.

I will miss the people at the Food for the Hungry Food Pantry at Pleasant Street United Methodist Church. The dedicated volunteers that spend almost every Wednesday morning at the church, serving the clients, some of whom have come there for years, and come early so they can visit with their friend’s before the pantry opens. The pastor and congregation that have opened their church, their wallets and their hearts to the clients, even building a dedicated building for the Food Pantry several years ago.

Then there’s the Democrats that meet every Friday at a coffee shop in Salem, to try to elect progressive candidates to local positions. And there’s the people that meet to do yoga at Inge’s house around the corner a couple days a week. And there’s the ladies that have helped keep me pretty and also became my friends - Emily, Joanna, Janice.

We’ve really been packing for months, even before we went to Florida. Lee packed up the dining room. I went on a tear in the boxes of artifacts in the basement, throwing out all kinds of things, and organizing the last set of family pictures to be electronically scanned. When we returned from Florida is when things got real. Before the marathon I packed almost all the books, one set of dishes, all the nice glasses. Lee made crates and frames and packed all the mirrors and artwork. 

After the marathon we packed almost everything else. Only the food was left to pack right before the movers arrived.

One more run with Paula and Stephanie at Massebasic, my first since the marathon, and afterwards breakfast at Tucker’s. I got an enormous waffle with strawberries and whipped cream and an egg and bacon. I’m still eating like I’m carb loading for a marathon!

One more get together at Diane’s. It was a beautiful sunny day, the first real spring day in New Hampshire. The dogs had a wonderful time playing and rolling around. I was fine until I hugged Diane goodbye and then I lost it. You changed my life I whispered in her ear. I feel terrible about taking my dogs away from her, but at least she will get to see them in Florida.

On Monday Lee looked at the forecast and decided to see if the movers could come on Tuesday instead of Wednesday because there was rain in the forecast for Wednesday. They could, and as it turned out it was a good thing, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

The movers had said they would come between 7:30 and 8:00 Tuesday morning. It takes two trucks to move us, one standard large moving van and a smaller truck that can make it up and down our driveway. The large van was late; his gps took him a way that was not passable for a truck that large. When he finally arrived it was just him and another girl. They started inventorying everything and before too long he realized that the salesman’s estimate was way off. When the smaller truck arrived and they started loading things they just did not have enough people. We had plans to meet friends for dinner. They were still loading things when we went to dinner, and they were still loading when we returned. They didn’t finish until almost 11 pm!

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday night in the RV in the driveway. The dogs love the RV but they found it pretty confusing to stay in the RV right next to the house. It wasn’t that bad on Tuesday, because we would still let them in the house, but on Wednesday when we start to clean they couldn’t come inside the house anymore, we would let them outside into the back yard and they would go to the back door to to be let in. Harper figured out quickly that the RV was the place to be. Heather was confused, but got the hang of it more or less. But poor Cosmo! He was completely befuddled and actually a little scared. I had to make him come to me and then pick him up and carry him to the RV. It’s not that he doesn’t like the RV, he was just overwhelmed by this change in his routine. I knew that as soon as we got on the road he would be fine.

Wednesday night we met Paula and Rich for dinner at the Common Man. It was relaxing and pleasant, with a few more tears shed when we said goodbye. This ending has been hard, and a little confusing. I’m so excited to be moving closer to family, to be building a house again, to be exploring a new place. But I’m so sad to leave New Hampshire too. If only I could somehow combine the two..

Thursday morning I went on a short run even though it was raining. I have a dread now of the rain, but of course it wasn’t that bad. Nothing will ever compare to Boston, at least in running in the rain territory!

Then it was time for the walkthrough, prior to the closing at 10:30 AM. I was a little nervous about this. We hadn’t met the buyers before this, and they had been so picky during the inspection.....but it was fine. At the end of the walk-through the man got his wife on the phone and we walked through the yard together, me showing them all the flowers and plants, telling them when they would bloom and some basic care information. I love my yard but I’m not sorry to let it go. It was getting to be an awful lot of work. I’m going to replicate some of it, but on a much much smaller scale. 

As we walked around the yard suddenly I saw something that filled me with dismay. “Lee, the movers didn’t take my teak bench!” Well there was nothing to be done. The new owners now own a teak bench with a lot of history behind it. This bench first made its appearance at our first home on Laurel Drive in Columbia. From there it moved to place with a wonderful view overlooking the land we bought on High Point Lane, even before we built our house there. Then it went to Texas, and stayed there when we lived in Hong Kong. And for the last 8 1/2 years it’s resided in New Hampshire. “I’ll buy you a new one,” promised Lee, but I still feel bad.

The closing went without incident. Afterwards we went for lunch at Maddie’s. Then back to the house and on the road. 

That first afternoon we only drove as far as CT. We weren’t driving more than 400 miles in a day since we had to drive both vehicles, Lee pulling the RV with the truck, me pulling the dinghy with the car. As it turned out driving the car by myself was fine. It was more stressful for Lee pulling the RV by himself.

The next day we stayed somewhere back into the wilds of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is a surprisingly rural state. Once again we were in a remote area with little cellphone service and except for the rain a pretty place. It has been a little difficult to find campgrounds open this early in the season in the north. 

I go for a morning run, 3 times on a zig-zag route through the campground, for four miles total. When we take the dogs for a walk we try not to get them muddy. This day we drive 360 miles to a KOA in Elkhart Indiana, somewhere in Amish country. We can hear horses and buggys clip clopping as they go by on the road. I take the dogs on a long walk around the campground down to a fishing pond, on a little nature trail. Its cold this night so we have to turn off the water and bring the hose inside in the morning to thaw. 

On Sunday we drive through Indiana into Illinois and right through the middle of Chicago on I 90. There is Godawful traffic on a Sunday, I can’t imagine what this is like on a weekday! For the most part the roads are very good, wide and not too bumpy. Bumps throw things inside the RV into disarray, in spite of our best efforts to keep things stored safely. And for whatever reason some things are getting stress cracks and starting to leak, our Brita water jug and a bottle of gin (!).

Then we’re in Wisconsin, past Madison and up into the Dells. Indian casinos, indoor water parks, outlet malls, go kart tracks. But the KOA is very nice. Things are very quiet, with only a few other campers.

The next day is a short day but it feels long. We cross Wisconsin and enter Minnesota and soon we are skirting the Twin Cities and making our way to the southwest corner of the metro area, Jordan, MN where our KOA is located. While we’re getting settled the mover calls. They are showing up tomorrow morning! Wow, we didn’t really think they would get here so quickly.

We have business to attend to. First stop a store where we can buy dry ice, so the meat from the freezer with continue to stay frozen. Next to the lot; Lee wants to do some measuring of the location of the existing well. Next, the rental house. Lee has never seen it, and I’ve only seen it once. The house doesn’t seem as nice as before but it’s still pretty good. The back deck does I have steps to the backyard, but the back yard is pretty squishy from the melting snow, and because it’s downhill from a bunch of other backyards. The kitchen is adequate but cheap looking. There’s no good place to rinse off the dogs, and the carpet will make me nervous until I’m confident the dogs know it is INSIDE! Oh well. A year from now we’ll have a beautiful house that we built and life will start to become the new normal.

Florida 2017: Part I in Which We Travel from New Hampshire to Safety Harbor, and Get Settled

On Friday, January 27th we loaded up the truck and the RV, and started our now annual drive to Florida for the month of February. We're trying something a little different this time. Since we have the RV, why not hitch it up and extend our winter escape by a couple of weeks on both ends? The only catch is the RV isn't winter-proof so we have to get south of anything resembling winter before we can use it. Catherine is willing to put us up for a night, so our first stop is in Fairfax, Virginia. This works well, or it should have anyway, but in our quest to avoid driving the RV through NYC and Baltimore we go wayyyy out of our way, west into Pennsylvania before crossing into Maryland and heading east. It's a beautiful drive but we probably lose an hour at least by doing so. We'll have to figure out a better route when we head home.

Saturday morning we waste no time getting back on the road. We have another long drive, this time all the way to Hilton Head Island. We arrive after dark, but Lee has no problem backing into our spot. This will be our home until Tuesday.

I take the dogs for a short walk while Lee gets the trailer set up. When I get back Lee says "we may have a problem." There is water all over the bathroom floor. We have a leak, but at first he doesn't know where it's coming from. I keep the dogs out of his way, and periodically go outside to turn the water on and then back off. He finally figures out that the leak is coming from the toilet, and eventually figures out why. When he winterized the RV he blew water out of all the tubes and valves, except one. Now we have a cracked flush valve, and no functioning toilet.

Now that he knows what's wrong Lee can turn off the water to the toilet, but we have running water in the sinks so we're okay. We can use the park's bathroom for the time being, and we have a temporary "chamber pot" for that first night.

In the morning Lee researches his options. It's Sunday so a lot of things are closed until noon. In the meantime we decide to try out the Sunday brunch at the park's restaurant. Wow! Beautiful view and amazing food. Lee has fried chicken and biscuits, I have smoked salmon and grits. Usually when we go out to eat one entree beats the others and is declared the "best" but this time they both are so good there is no clear winner. Oh and the Bloody Mary's with smoked plobano peppers are amazing too.

After brunch we decide to take the dogs to one of the dog friendly beaches so they can get some exercise. They've been cooped up in the truck for two long days and have lots of yayas that need to get out. On our way out we stop at the office to meet Lily, the thirteen year old Westie that belongs to the real estate agent for the park. She is less than thrilled by the sudden invasion by three dogs, even if they do look like her. She makes her objection known immediately and our dogs give her a wide berth.

They realtor suggests that we try Fish Haul Beach. It has a nice nature trail and lots of open beach where the dogs can run to their hearts content. It's great except Cosmo ends up back on leash before very long because he won't mind his manners with other dogs we meet that are on leash, even though he is not.

Back at the RV Lee has a solution to our broken valve problem until he can get a replacement part. The shower has a handheld nozzle and it will reach the toilet, so we can use water from the shower to flush the toilet. We are back in business!

Jan 29th, Monday. After a short run around the RV park in the morning we decide to try to take the dogs for a walk in one of the Hilton Head’s nature preserves. The only problem is they are all closed due to damage from hurricane Mathew last fall. But there seem to be nice bike paths all over the island so we park in a little pocket park and start walking along one of the paths. Totally by accident we end up at another really beautiful ocean view, Alder Beach. We leave the dogs on their leashes but walk closer to the water to watch the dolphins playing in the waves. By the time we walk back to the car we have walked over 4 miles. It's frustrating that my back and leg still hurt, off and on. I will start trying to reduce the amount of pain meds I take, but I get to a certain amount and the pain comes back. It's nerve pain, so sitting for long periods makes it worse, and walking is more uncomfortable than running.

Jan 30th, Tuesday. We head to The Villages. We are going to visit Mimi and Sel, my aunt and uncle. Mimi is my father's youngest sister. It's only a five hour drive so we take our time leaving, and get to the Wildwood  KOA Kampground by 4 pm. The people in the front office are very friendly, but this campground wins the award for worst RV park we've stayed in so far, hands down. It's crowded. The campsites are tiny, with no privacy. The lots are not level at all. The roads are sandy. I take the dogs for a walk while Lee sets things up. It's definitely a challenge to get the RV level, in fact, we appear to be in danger of rolling right off our jacks, which would be very bad. Lee moves the wheel chucks around so that we feel more secure, but it still makes me uneasy.

We drive over to Mimi and Sel's. We bring the dogs, but their sweet little dog Scooby doesn't like other dogs, especially in his own space, so we leave ours in the big soft-sided crate out in their garage. It's a chilly evening, so it's no problem. We go to dinner at a nearby restaurant. It's so nice to see them, talk, catch up on all their grandchildren and their activities. We'll see them again on our way home, but we'll stay in a different RV park!

In the morning we take the RV over to the place where we are going to store it for the month. We don't need it in Safety Harbor and we don't have a place to park it there either. So for $60 it's in a safe place and we don't have to think about it until we're on our way home.

It takes longer than we thought it would to get the RV settled in its new home. We need some lunch but the traffic around the Villages is terrible this time of year because of all the snowbirds. We finally find a Subway at a gas station. Then we can make it through the short drive to Safety Harbor.

We arrive in Safety Harbor around 3 pm. Our nice rental house looks as great as ever, and the construction next door is finished so it's nice and quiet too. We walk down to the Raw Bar for dinner. The oysters are from the gulf so we get grouper bowls instead. I get a margarita too. We're happy to be back in our second home.

When we got back to New Hampshire people asked me how we liked our vacation. But it really doesn’t feel like a vacation. Its more like Florida is just a warm, sunny, beautiful place to continue living our lives. Lee has brought his industrial sewing machine along, so he can continue working on his boat projects. I have brought my embroidery and my camera, plus I can write, bike, and take boxing and other fitness classes at the spa.  Its fun, and enjoyable, but not an earth-shaking experience. We like it this way!

In the evening of our first night we walk over to the house that Dr. Pauls is renting for the month. When my friend Catherine visited last year she enjoyed it so much that she and her sisters found a house for their father to rent for the month, and the sisters (there are four) are taking turns staying with him. Joan, the second sister, is here for the next couple of weeks. We invite them over for dinner tomorrow. Its fun having friends in town! We feed them chicken a la Becca, a family recipe that involves a cut up chicken and a tangy tomato sauce. For dessert I bought dessert bars from Joey’s Biscotti, a bakery just a couple of blocks away. They come in many different flavors and the bars are huge. Each one is like a mini cake; we can split them four ways so we can have a taste of each one.

Leaf Peeping in Lancaster New Hampshire

Really if you’ve never done it, you’ve gotta come to New England in the Fall at least once in your life. It is so breathtakingly gorgeous. Its beautiful around our house too, but in northern New Hampshire and Vermont the mountainsides are blanketed in color.

Lee finds an RV park still open the week after Columbus day in Lancaster, along the Vermont border. The RV makes it so pleasant, and easy to bring the dogs. Our camping spot overlooks a little lake. There are very few campers, its late, and its getting cold up here, or it should be. Its actually unseasonably warm for our trip, that means 50’s and 60’s. I play with my camera.

The RV has a heater that works great, but its not set up for freezing conditions. When we get back Lee will have to winterize it. We’re thinking of taking it down to Florida with us this year. We can stop in Hilton Head, extend our vacation a bit that way. But we won’t be able to actually use it until we get pretty far south.

Back in Lancaster, on the second day of our little trip we take the dogs and climb Mt Prospect, just a mile up the road from our camping spot. The views are amazing, and the dogs are gung ho, trotting merrily up the hill. At the top there is a nice green space so we let them off leash to run a little bit, then head back down.

In the afternoon we leave the dogs napping in the RV and grab our bikes. We go for a ride along the Connecticut River, about 22 miles. In spots its very hilly, but we ride through a covered bridge, and admire the river. We even cross into Vermont for a bit on the way back.

That night we build a fire in the fire pit. 

The next morning I go for a 4 mile run. 2 miles up the mountain and 2 miles back down! Guess which way my times were better… 

On the drive home the leaves were even more spectacular. I love NH.

RV Road Trip - New Hampshire to St. Louis

In June we took a 3 week trip in our new RV to the midwest to see family and friends, run Grandma's Marathon, and explore a bit of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We have decided that the RV is a great way to travel, relatively inexpensive, nice for the dogs, stress-free for us.  Here is the story of that inaugural trip!

Monday June 6th. We drive across Massachusetts and New York to Brockville, NY outside Rochester. Hills and wind make for terrible gas mileage on our first day. The RV park is pleasant, quiet, rural. We set up camp; the new wire fencing makes a nice little yard for the dogs. We have an outdoor rug but it's too windy for Lee to lay it down. It's nice drinking a beer and hanging out in our little yard, but the dogs growl and bark at every passerby. Very annoying! They need a long walk but we are too tired.

That night I have a disturbing dream. I'm asleep in the RV. Suddenly I'm awake in a strange house. Where am I? I go outside, there is Lee. I ask him, "Do I have Alzheimer's?" He looks at me strangely, and says "Yes, of course!" like this was something I should have known. I realize I am having one of those fleeting moments of lucidity that Alzheimer patients sometimes have. This is frightening and I start to cry.

Later in the morning I realize that the majority of my dream time with Alzheimer's was....nothing. It was only when I became lucid that it was frightening. This was both reassuring and upsetting. I hope it's not a premonition, but if it is I guess it's nothing to be afraid of. It's mostly just nothing because my memory would be gone, a kind of living death.

Tuesday June 7th. I get up early because I'm supposed to run. But as I'm drinking my coffee I read an email my coach sent me last night. We've been emailing back and forth because my run on Sunday was very challenging and I was feeling discouraged again. His email said "don't run today, take another  recovery day." I immediately know he is right but I need a figure of authority to tell me that rest will be more beneficial than a run at this point. 

Now we're on our way to Ohio. The weather is more pleasant, although it is still windy. 

Thursday June 9th. Even getting up at 5, this morning's run was another hot one. It wasn't THAT hot, mid 70's by the end, but I'm working on speed and I'm not acclimated. All I can do is slow down, add more walk breaks, and run by feel. I have to work so hard for crappy times in the heat! It sucks. 

This RV park is a really nice place though. We are in St. Peter's Missouri, out in the St. Louis suburbs, on a large lake. There is a dearth of trees, and the high today is in the 90's, so we have the RV aircon on. There's a nice breeze, and with the awning up we had shade on the side of the camper until around 3 pm, but now we're inside. Earlier while I was outside with the dogs a neighbor came by to say hello and admire them. We've already met another Westie, and people love to tell us stories of the Westies they've known and loved. The girls are great, playing, hanging out in the shade, greeting people politely. But Cossy has to bark at every passing dog, every baby stroller, every truck. Defender of the pack! It would be funny if I didn't worry that he is annoying the neighbors.

If the lows are in the 40's and the highs are in the 60's for the race next Saturday in Duluth I will be fine, and will be able to do my best, whatever that ends up being. But if the highs start climbing into the70's I'm toast. I'll just have to chalk this up to a learning experience and save all the techniques and knowledge I've gained for another marathon.

In the evening we go to see Ray and Al, my aunt and uncle. We eat at Lesters, a deli favorite. We brought the dogs with us but left them in their soft sided crate in their house and they did great. 

Friday June 10th. I didn't do the fartlek run, with the heat I'm erring on the side of caution. That morning we went to pick up Nancy and Charlotte, my mom's cousin and friend. We were going to try to find the tree and the brick paver we had dedicated in Forest Park in honor of my parents. It was beastly hot, and I was a little worried about the ladies. They are both much more spry than my mom, but heat is heat and I didn't want them to have to do a lot of walking around. 

We had a pretty good map. We knew the tree, an Ohio Buckeye, was on a hillside near the Art Museum. We found a nearby parking spot thanks to Nancy's handicapped hang tag. We wandered around checking for the tree. There are pines, redbuds and dogwoods, but what the heck does an Ohio Buckeye look like anyway? Finally Lee found it. It was bigger than we thought it would be. We took a few pictures, and I got out my mom's ashes and sprinkled them at the foot of the tree. I felt like I should say a prayer or recite a poem, or something, but I didn't.

Then we walked around the corner to the area near the Worlds Fair Pavillion to find the brick paver. We knew what section it was in but we still had to read a bunch of the brick dedications before Nancy found it, practically at our feet.

Then we went over to the Boathouse to eat lunch. Although it was warm it was shady and they had their fans on so it wasn't that bad.

It was really nice to see Nancy and Charlotte, but it made me miss my mom a lot. It seemed so strange to be hanging out with them without Hilda. I felt like she was going to show up any moment. Maybe she did....

That night we drove over to Webster Groves to see Sarah and Jay Moore, old friends from Columbia. They took us to a great local restaurant, Robust, that had wine flights and lots of very yummy small plates. I especially liked the figgy flatbread and the baked Camembert. As we sat there finishing our meal my cousin Michael showed up! He said he might try to come and I was so happy that he did! He knows Sarah and Jay from work they all do at Doorways, a housing association for people with HIV and AIDS. It was a wonderful evening.