happenings
So earlier this week I returned from a two week trip to the States. On my first day there I visited an old friend that I knew wouldn't be attending our high school reunion. I was glad to see her, but I wish she could have a better life. It saddened me to see her in the same place she was when I left for college, only slightly worst off. So the next day, Saturday, I shopped. Whee...I had nothing to wear. So I went to a mall for the first time in about a year. Throughout the day I found a dress, shoes, purse, etc... and had a job offer. If I lived in Georgia I've have a job at one of the largest direct diamond importers/retail store chain in the states. That was a pretty good day. :) Later that night I attended my high school reunion....and I had a pretty good time. It seemed that there were only a couple people there that I didn't remember. After the reunion some of us went to "Downtown Smyrna" to a place called Zucca's. I barely recognized Smyrna...It has a downtown area now. Weird.
Sunday I flew to Jacksonville Florida to visit with my Mom and Step-Dad Bob. We had a rather uneventful first couple of days. I was glad to have some relax time. On the weekend Bob drove us to Gainsville to go to the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire. The day turned out well, as it had been raining for the 2 days prior, but my jeans were about 4 inches deep in mud buy the end of the day. We all had a good time and played several games of Where's Bob. Which is kind of like Where's Waldo but with a moving target in not so recognizable clothes. I visited with the SCA people who had a very nice tent with display and such. I ran into someone I met at Gulf Wars a few years ago and also played their fun game of shoot the target arrow at the guy with the shield in the head. (He was wearing a helm and all appropriate protective gear.) I didn't hit him the the head, but my second 2 shots hit his shield. Not bad for never having shot a combat arrow. When I shot my last arrow the plastic fletching grazed my finger. I didn't realize I was bleeding until about 5 minutes later when we had left the range. It scarred so now I have a permanent reminder of my trip to Hoggetowne. It was definitely a good day all around, I even found a few period patterns to try out when the box that I mailed them home in gets here.
Lesson 1: Never shoot archery without gloves.
Monday I rented a car and went on a planned detour to Port Charlotte for a couple of days. My cousin Alice (my grandfather is her uncle) and I got together to work on some genealogy stuff. We pretty much got straight to work when I arrived. I learned a great deal about my family and I got copies of all of her documents and research. I made copies of all of my documents for her as well. Alice gave me a bunch of original pictures of my dad and grandparents and 2 silver heirloom spoons from my great-grandmother. Her sister Mary Jane (same relation to me) also gave me a china plate from Austria that was hers. I really enjoyed spending time with the both of them and their family. She was more generous than I ever imagined. Now all my research is finished for my DAR application and I'm only missing one document for my John Howland Mayflower Pilgrim Society application... and I ordered that yesterday. :)
The only thing I didn't enjoy about the trip was the radio. It is a very difficult thing to keep hold of a radio station in Florida on 75 between Gainsville and Port Charlotte. I hadn't brought any CD's with me because I brought my MP3 player. I made it there okay but decided that I desperately needed a Book on CD for the 5 hour drive home. So The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy kept me company all the way home.
So Wednesday I drove back to Jacksonville... Wheee... and returned the rental car. Yeay. The next couple of days were relaxing with just a few trips to Office Max, Michaels, AC Moore, and the Post Office. I also fed my new little addiction...Sudoku and worked on some cross-stitch. I picked up a book of it in B.Dalton at the beginning of the trip and find that I really love it. :) I'm still on medium level puzzles but will be on difficult ones by the end of next week.
Lesson 2: I don't like the 2006 VW passat very much if at all....even with all the bells and whistles.
On Sunday, my last day, we all went to Saint Augustine. It was a very pleasant and peaceful day. First we visited the St. Augustine Lighthouse Station and took lots of pictures for Bob. Then we went to the downtown area and did some shopping and ate some pretty decent pralines. I really love all the different architecture and the history in the the city. On the way out of town we drove by the city gate and the fort which was built in the 1560's. We decided to go back to Jacksonville for dinner and we ended up at Copelands. It was a nice dinner and it was a fitting end to a very beautiful day.
So Monday I flew home. Well...after a few delays...
D.E.L.T.A. : Doesn't Ever Leave The Airport.
Apparently the plane that was supposed to take us the JFK broke down somewhere and they had to fly in another plane to come get us and fly us to JFK. Thank goodness that my connection in JFK was a good 4 hours after my original arrival time, so there was plenty of cushion for the delay. Some were not so lucky. New York's JFK Airport is the dirtiest airport I've ever been in. The Ladies restrooms were so disgusting that I went to the Delta desk and informed them of the state of the restrooms. My first impressions on New York were that it is dirty and it smells. Reader's digest was right. (Their survey of 50 large cities in the US showed New York as the 2nd Dirtiest City in the US. So after having some dinner and working a Sudoku puzzle it was time to get on the Trans-Atlantic flight to Frankfurt. The food was edible...I guess... and I was glad I had eaten already. The movie was Corpse Bride which I would quite funny and am considering buying now. Somewhere in here it becomes Tuesday...Valentines Day. :( Stu is still at Fort Knox until March. I didn't get to sleep very much and my flight arrived a half hour early into Farnkfurt. So I had a little bit longer wait before getting on my train. This turns out to be a not so bad thing since Delta lost one of my bags. I hate that feeling of standing at the luggage carousel and everyone is getting there bags and walking away and there are 2 or 3 bags left on the belt and they aren't mine. Then the belt stops and an attendant gets the last of the bags collected for those people who were held up for some reason. *sigh* The nice lady in the baggage office helps to locate my bag, takes a few minutes, and tells me that it is in a transit container and it could be a while before they can get it for me. So I hang out in baggage claim for about 30 minutes and then a cart pulls in with my bag and some others from the same container. I get to my train in plenty of time and get to Wurzberg where Maggie the Wonderful picks me up and drives me home. Yeay. Kitties! I missed my Kitties. Crash. Sleep.
My sleep schedule has still not corrected itself and I'm going to make a effort to be tired tomorrow and try to get to sleep at a "normal" hour.
good night.
Sunday I flew to Jacksonville Florida to visit with my Mom and Step-Dad Bob. We had a rather uneventful first couple of days. I was glad to have some relax time. On the weekend Bob drove us to Gainsville to go to the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire. The day turned out well, as it had been raining for the 2 days prior, but my jeans were about 4 inches deep in mud buy the end of the day. We all had a good time and played several games of Where's Bob. Which is kind of like Where's Waldo but with a moving target in not so recognizable clothes. I visited with the SCA people who had a very nice tent with display and such. I ran into someone I met at Gulf Wars a few years ago and also played their fun game of shoot the target arrow at the guy with the shield in the head. (He was wearing a helm and all appropriate protective gear.) I didn't hit him the the head, but my second 2 shots hit his shield. Not bad for never having shot a combat arrow. When I shot my last arrow the plastic fletching grazed my finger. I didn't realize I was bleeding until about 5 minutes later when we had left the range. It scarred so now I have a permanent reminder of my trip to Hoggetowne. It was definitely a good day all around, I even found a few period patterns to try out when the box that I mailed them home in gets here.
Lesson 1: Never shoot archery without gloves.
Monday I rented a car and went on a planned detour to Port Charlotte for a couple of days. My cousin Alice (my grandfather is her uncle) and I got together to work on some genealogy stuff. We pretty much got straight to work when I arrived. I learned a great deal about my family and I got copies of all of her documents and research. I made copies of all of my documents for her as well. Alice gave me a bunch of original pictures of my dad and grandparents and 2 silver heirloom spoons from my great-grandmother. Her sister Mary Jane (same relation to me) also gave me a china plate from Austria that was hers. I really enjoyed spending time with the both of them and their family. She was more generous than I ever imagined. Now all my research is finished for my DAR application and I'm only missing one document for my John Howland Mayflower Pilgrim Society application... and I ordered that yesterday. :)
The only thing I didn't enjoy about the trip was the radio. It is a very difficult thing to keep hold of a radio station in Florida on 75 between Gainsville and Port Charlotte. I hadn't brought any CD's with me because I brought my MP3 player. I made it there okay but decided that I desperately needed a Book on CD for the 5 hour drive home. So The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy kept me company all the way home.
So Wednesday I drove back to Jacksonville... Wheee... and returned the rental car. Yeay. The next couple of days were relaxing with just a few trips to Office Max, Michaels, AC Moore, and the Post Office. I also fed my new little addiction...Sudoku and worked on some cross-stitch. I picked up a book of it in B.Dalton at the beginning of the trip and find that I really love it. :) I'm still on medium level puzzles but will be on difficult ones by the end of next week.
Lesson 2: I don't like the 2006 VW passat very much if at all....even with all the bells and whistles.
On Sunday, my last day, we all went to Saint Augustine. It was a very pleasant and peaceful day. First we visited the St. Augustine Lighthouse Station and took lots of pictures for Bob. Then we went to the downtown area and did some shopping and ate some pretty decent pralines. I really love all the different architecture and the history in the the city. On the way out of town we drove by the city gate and the fort which was built in the 1560's. We decided to go back to Jacksonville for dinner and we ended up at Copelands. It was a nice dinner and it was a fitting end to a very beautiful day.
So Monday I flew home. Well...after a few delays...
D.E.L.T.A. : Doesn't Ever Leave The Airport.
Apparently the plane that was supposed to take us the JFK broke down somewhere and they had to fly in another plane to come get us and fly us to JFK. Thank goodness that my connection in JFK was a good 4 hours after my original arrival time, so there was plenty of cushion for the delay. Some were not so lucky. New York's JFK Airport is the dirtiest airport I've ever been in. The Ladies restrooms were so disgusting that I went to the Delta desk and informed them of the state of the restrooms. My first impressions on New York were that it is dirty and it smells. Reader's digest was right. (Their survey of 50 large cities in the US showed New York as the 2nd Dirtiest City in the US. So after having some dinner and working a Sudoku puzzle it was time to get on the Trans-Atlantic flight to Frankfurt. The food was edible...I guess... and I was glad I had eaten already. The movie was Corpse Bride which I would quite funny and am considering buying now. Somewhere in here it becomes Tuesday...Valentines Day. :( Stu is still at Fort Knox until March. I didn't get to sleep very much and my flight arrived a half hour early into Farnkfurt. So I had a little bit longer wait before getting on my train. This turns out to be a not so bad thing since Delta lost one of my bags. I hate that feeling of standing at the luggage carousel and everyone is getting there bags and walking away and there are 2 or 3 bags left on the belt and they aren't mine. Then the belt stops and an attendant gets the last of the bags collected for those people who were held up for some reason. *sigh* The nice lady in the baggage office helps to locate my bag, takes a few minutes, and tells me that it is in a transit container and it could be a while before they can get it for me. So I hang out in baggage claim for about 30 minutes and then a cart pulls in with my bag and some others from the same container. I get to my train in plenty of time and get to Wurzberg where Maggie the Wonderful picks me up and drives me home. Yeay. Kitties! I missed my Kitties. Crash. Sleep.
My sleep schedule has still not corrected itself and I'm going to make a effort to be tired tomorrow and try to get to sleep at a "normal" hour.
good night.