Happy New Year...and I'm home from California.
"Hark! It's midnight, children dear!
Duck! Here comes another year!"
--Ogden Nash.
Well, another year has come and gone. On the whole, this last year has been one I would prefer not to repeat. What with severe money problems forcing me away from even the few pleasures I've been able to afford, I haven't had a good time of it, on the whole.
I did get out to California again this year. My sister-in-law wants the whole family together, and I'm included, so out I went. The trip went as smoothly as it's ever gone---by this time, I've got a lot of this down to a science, and I was packing as lightly as I could. Ever since my Term in China, I've been a firm believer in packing light; I remember how, in the "People's" "Republic" of "China," I had just my big overnight bag with a week's worth of underwear and a spare shirt and trousers (and a paperback book or two; in some ways, I've never changed) and I was always ready and rarin' to go when my traveling companions were struggling with, in some cases, five months' worth of gear.
California was very nice. My nephew is now old enough to drive, and I rode with him as his passenger for the first time ever. He's still a little rough, but that's something that only practice will cure, and we had no close calls. My brother and I went to the Planes of Fame museum for the third time, and found some things, like a huge library of books about military aviation and related subjects, that we hadn't seen before. We fell in with a docent whom my brother thought might just be an Aspie with a focus on aircraft. He'd apparently been coming regularly to the museum since he was little, and he knew his stuff backward and forward.
While I was out there, my brother and sister-in-law and I talked about what to do about my situation, they had some ideas that I want to try to put into practice. However, I am leery enough to not be willing to count on success.
The trip back home was fairly OK; I was playing movies on my Surface tablet a lot of the way, although having it on those little trays on the back of the seat was problematic. Unlike, say, airplanes, trains have a nasty habit of jouncing unexpectedly. The weather had behaved itself while I was gone, and everything worked at home, so I was able to jump into a hot shower (after two days and more, I needed it!) and then sleep in my own bed.
Duck! Here comes another year!"
--Ogden Nash.
Well, another year has come and gone. On the whole, this last year has been one I would prefer not to repeat. What with severe money problems forcing me away from even the few pleasures I've been able to afford, I haven't had a good time of it, on the whole.
I did get out to California again this year. My sister-in-law wants the whole family together, and I'm included, so out I went. The trip went as smoothly as it's ever gone---by this time, I've got a lot of this down to a science, and I was packing as lightly as I could. Ever since my Term in China, I've been a firm believer in packing light; I remember how, in the "People's" "Republic" of "China," I had just my big overnight bag with a week's worth of underwear and a spare shirt and trousers (and a paperback book or two; in some ways, I've never changed) and I was always ready and rarin' to go when my traveling companions were struggling with, in some cases, five months' worth of gear.
California was very nice. My nephew is now old enough to drive, and I rode with him as his passenger for the first time ever. He's still a little rough, but that's something that only practice will cure, and we had no close calls. My brother and I went to the Planes of Fame museum for the third time, and found some things, like a huge library of books about military aviation and related subjects, that we hadn't seen before. We fell in with a docent whom my brother thought might just be an Aspie with a focus on aircraft. He'd apparently been coming regularly to the museum since he was little, and he knew his stuff backward and forward.
While I was out there, my brother and sister-in-law and I talked about what to do about my situation, they had some ideas that I want to try to put into practice. However, I am leery enough to not be willing to count on success.
The trip back home was fairly OK; I was playing movies on my Surface tablet a lot of the way, although having it on those little trays on the back of the seat was problematic. Unlike, say, airplanes, trains have a nasty habit of jouncing unexpectedly. The weather had behaved itself while I was gone, and everything worked at home, so I was able to jump into a hot shower (after two days and more, I needed it!) and then sleep in my own bed.