Drivin' and Flyin'

It was perfect. So, incredibly perfect.

Over the mountains, and through the desert

We got up at 8:30 on Saturday morning... I think I fit about five hours of sleep in there... we checked email and that sort of thing (free Internet!), went to breakfast at the Denny's with the hidden sign, and then started off for Yuma, AZ, where my little brother is stationed with the Marines. It took us 2 and 1/2 hours to drive... the mountain pass goes up to roughly 4,100 feet and then comes back down to sea level in the desert on the other side. It was smooth sailing pretty much all the way. I had used a car rental business that didn't let you take the car out of state (I had been planning on my brother joining us in San Diego) so we parked in a church parking lot in "Winterhaven, CA", two miles from Yuma, which, judging by the size of the town (one deserted street) probably had a population of 20.

Winterhaven, where we parked:

My brother came and picked us up at 1, and we headed directly for lunch at In & Out, which I had never had before. Their hamburgers came with tomatoes, a thick slice of onion and lettuce and their special sauce. A far cry from Mc'yD's. We saw a military antiques store (across from the base - had all sorts of WWI - WWII uniforms, swords, rifles, accessories, genuine McClellan saddles... but we only had a minute; the owner was closing down. Across a side street from this was a horse stable (odd location, right across from a Marine Corps Air Station) hmm. But we got to pet a very cute young horse that kept trying to nibble us. :) He was sort of forward. lol

We then took a look at his new post exchange (PX) and his new room on base. It was after watching the trailer for "The Blind Side" on his computer that we decided to go see it. So we took off for the mall and got there in time. It was a beautiful movie! Believe it or not, it wasn't a sports movie. At least it didn't act like one. A big part of this True story was the football, but they didn't have the annoying trappings of a generic sports movie. It was all about the relationship this family had with this down-and-out boy. Very good!

Afterwords, we went to Outback Steakhouse (and had to wait for a bit for a table). We had good conversation, and much to our surprise, a generous customer paid for half our dinner because my brother was (obviously, because of his hair cut) active duty. That was a neat surprise.

We then went to his room, watched a couple silly episodes of the TV show "Arrested Development" and then we had to go. At nine o'clock he took us back to our car and we took off for our motel. It was a great eight hours with my brother... it was needed. We got safely to the motel about 11 PM, and boy, did we sleep well!

We drove I-8 West this morning to I-5, and took the exit we had yesterday that went right to the car rental place. The van was there, ready to go, and we were off to the airport in minutes! They had vastly better service in the morning! :) All the airports had free Wi-Fi, so email and Facebook could be checked. But mostly we played Phase 10. A good pass-time. Our first flight (we had a connection in Sacramento) was so crowded we had to sit apart. I ended up next to a black WWII veteran (wow) and we talked the entire time! He was with Transportation in the Army/Air Force during the occupation of Germany from 1945-1949. He had so many stories... mostly about the German family he became friends with. I don't think I've ever had such a good flight. He joked about talking my ear off... lol! I so didn't mind. :)


So here I am at home. We got back in the middle of my Grandma's 96th birthday party (glad we made part of it!) I thought I'd get to bed early tonight, as tomorrow is going to be awful (it's always proportioned evenly against how good the weekend was - and this is going to be catastrophic), but of course, I first put away the stuff from the trip, then read the first chapter in a book that came in the mail (an interesting new theory about another level of meaning in the Narnia books from a C.S. Lewis scholar), and then watched a short movie with my parents. So what is new? I'm going to bed at 11:30. :)

'Night.
Jp

What Can I Say?

It's difficult to convey how wonderful today was.

We had two flights today with a short layover in Oakland. Got to see San Francisco and Alcatraz when we took off for the second flight... the first flight only had roughly 40 people on it, so it was very comfortable with lots of room. This was my first time on Southwest, and I was pretty impressed with their service.

After waiting about a half-hour for our rental car pickup (we were given a bright blue PT Cruiser), we drove north on I-5 to La Jolla (la hoy-a) and got there around 3:30. We were looking for dinner... and we didn't know exactly where to go. I knew I wanted to go to the beach to see the sea lions, so I'm very glad we passed up Subway (which was the first thing we saw) and kept driving until we found a very hip street right near the beach-front park. We ate at "The Crab Catcher" which had been rated in the sky magazine I read on the way down as one of the best seafood places in the country. Well, they were right! Not only were some dishes half price because it was during "happy hour", but it was so good! I had crab nachos and a fish taco and Meg and I shared some cheesy bread. She had calamari and a fish taco. I don't normally like calamari, but I tried a piece or two of it, and it was excellent.

It turns out that right outside the restaurant (there was a fabulous view of the bay) was a walking trail right out on the little cliffs above the ocean. The first thing I saw was all the pelicans... and the other water birds... and then we saw all the sea lions! My! There were a lot of them! We walked back to the car to get my camera and our coats:


And some of the animals:




And us (yes, those are hundreds of sea birds sitting on the cliff behind us):


The light was soon fading... so we figured our way back to I-5 after a bit of guessing, and went straight to Balboa Park. We changed into our play clothes and went to The Prado restaurant and had my favorite salad: mixed greens with avocado, cucumber and tomato. That only took a minute and then we crossed the street and picked up the tickets for the play "Lost in Yonkers" by Neil Simon. What a show! It was about a grown up, German-Jewish family that could barely get along with each other in 1940's New York. It was both hilarious and touching... a real treat. All the actors were quite superior.

Ms. Naughton played an aunt who had a speech problem: she couldn't finish a sentence without sucking in air and becoming quite unintelligible... which was so silly. She spoke with a shrill voice and looked exactly like Betty Roberts. And do I mean exactly! Long brown hair nicely done up in a simple '40's style and pretty, period dresses.

Meg had the thought to ask the house manager to get a message to Ms. Naughton asking her if she would meet us afterwords out front of the theater... so we waited after all had left, and soon a big, black car came to a stop on the street by the theater and I saw a figure coming at us, waving! She was so very friendly, and spoke to us about the play, how hard it was to speak while sucking in air... lol... and about Seattle (she was wearing a hat from Seattle!) and about Remember WENN. She had been to Linda's site, and was glad to hear it was still up and going... she very much wanted to do an out-of-station scene and talked about how they thought Queens could be similar to side streets in Pittsburgh... she said she didn't have a favorite episode, but asked me mine... she said she thought very much like Betty about who Betty should have been with (she said it depended on what episode they were doing :) and she seemed to like the idea of Doug and Betty... LOL! She said she was in California doing a musical when she heard of the cancellation, and that she heard it from Hugh. She also mentioned that she only had a few episodes on TAPE. Sigh. Yeah. VHS. Oh, she also said she had a lot of fun doing the Casablanca episode... making everything look different on the same set and getting to play Ingrid Bergman. :)

















Tomorrow we're driving to go see my brother in Yuma.
I'm beyond happy. :)
Jp

Away We Go

I just realized I haven't posted practically all week... where does the time go?

Hmm, how did things go? Well, Tuesday morning I went for a mile run in the morning (35 degrees) and I teared up it was so cold and I had a bit of flem in my lungs all day. That night was our family Bible/prayer time... I'm liking that we do that now... and afterwords we watched a film made in 2008 about a Marine who escorted a dead Marine to his hometown for burial. It was very touching and well made. And as an added bonus, JBL appeared in it as a Marine general! I wanted to see it anyway... :) It was really neat, because the Marine who actually experienced this in 2004 wrote the screenplay; so whatever things that might be odd if it was a piece of fiction were quite memorable, because it was real. It was called "Taking Chance".

Wednesday I got a package in the mail! And so that night we stuck in 'Mr. Lucky' from 1943. I loved the 'Mr. Comstock' gag (lol). It did have rather serious bits along with the comedy. I don't remember saying "thanks" yet, Mike, so "Thank you!" It was really sweet of you to send that so fast. :)

I thought today was going to drag, for tomorrow we fly. But it really flew by... I was very busy all day long. Even forgot to print of the boarding passes and had to go back to do it. Right after work I went to Jazzercise... (it's quite near work... maybe 2 miles) and I loved doing it then. I don't think I'll mind doing this every week. I liked the turkey sandwich I made at lunch so much that I made it for dinner too! Yum! Big slices of tomato with some turkey, cheese and onion.

So tomorrow is the travel day, and the night of the play. I really hope my brother decides to come out to see us! Here's wishing you a wonderful Friday, and we'll see if I come by on Saturday.

Cheers!
Jp

All Alone!

Well, after a solid weekend of noise, it doesn't feel bad at all, even if it won't last very long.

Today at work was totally blah. It's been hard to focus and get back into it. Mondays often are that way... I need to stop having such a good time on weekends. :)

I've just had a bite to eat by myself, and I think I'm gonna take a shower and read the Bible. I'm dying for both of them.

Jp

Over the Weekend and Through the Woods...

Except I live at Grandmother's house (from my niece and nephew's perspective).

Saturday was weird. I woke up about 7, and immediately tried to get the tickets for this weekend coming up, as that's what I had thought about as I went to sleep. It scared me pretty bad, actually, because I couldn't get any... and the ticket office didn't open til noon. Meg and I have plane tickets to go to San Diego this Friday afternoon... it's to see Ms. Naughton in another '40's era play (Lost in Yonkers). We're hopefully going to be seeing my brother as well, so it should be a great time. So, needless to say, I was worried! But I had to wait until I could talk to someone after noon.

So I went to Jazzercise for the first time in a few months, and I felt a bit sore the rest of the day. (Sunday was worse! :) I haven't been going in the mornings because I'm always too tired. I almost did do it on Wednesday last week, but I didn't want a barrage of questions as to why I've been a lazy bum for 3 months. Early morning classes only have about 10-20 people, so the teacher would notice if I came back. And there really isn't enough time to do it and get to work on time; it made it that much harder to get motivated. So I decided to compromise. I'm planning on going on Saturday mornings (8:30am) and Thursday nights (5:30), since that's a night when my parents are busy and I wouldn't be missed at dinner.

When I got back home it was only 10am, so I had breakfast with Mom and then finished reading the Bluejacket's Manuel. Can't believe I made it all the way through in less than a year! Wow... all 600 pages of it. There were a couple slow spots, but generally speaking, I was very interested. I am pretty excited for this change.

So noon-thirty rolled around and I was able to secure a couple tickets to Friday's performance. Whew! I really didn't feel like doing anything the rest of the day... I was tired and beginning to get sore from jumping around that morning. I watched "Persuasion" (1995) live on Netflix. It started slow, but I didn't mind. And the ending was really lovely. And then it was time to chat... and I really liked that. Meg stayed up late with me, baking cakes. :)

I slept in, Sunday morning; didn't get up til 11 or so. Everyone started gathering after a bit and then we sat down to some lunch. We then had cake right away, and then began a very long show in the living room: film slides on my parents projector... pictures from when they got married in 1977 up until 1988... right after my little brother was born. It was then that my Dad got a camcorder and all our family pictures went into motion. It was a lovely way to celebrate Mom's birthday. Many of those I don't remember seeing... and it was a lot of fun to see my parents when they were about my age right now. It helps you see things in a new light. Also mixed in there were many shots from trips to Tuscarora in north Minnesota. I think my parents went there every year ever since they got married up until my grandparents moved in 1994... so 17 years. I was only around for 11 of them. We'd spend up to a month there every fall. What an experience we had! We, as kids, took all that hiking, boating, canoeing, fishing and camping for granted. Wow, how blessed we have been.

Gee, that show lasted about 6 hours... we went through 3 boxes with 6 reels in each one. So much fun. Soon after that everyone went their separate ways, so Mom and Dad and I took in 'The Awful Truth' (1937). Mom and I were L'ingOL all the way through, and Mom doesn't LOL at movies very often. It was very, very funny. Such fun.

Jp

A Very Fishy Friday

Hello, again. :)

I got off of work a little early on Friday in order to go out with my parents to Red Lobster for my Mom's 60th on Sunday. We feasted together... I had a new dish (an appetizer, actually) of cold shrimp with delicious diced tomatoes and spice on buttered, toasted french bread along with a side of a couple crab legs... wow! that was good. We went early so I could make it in time to my monthly meeting with my recruiter at 1400, and it worked out perfectly. We weren't rushed at all... Oh! And we saw those ducks outside the Olive Garden next door to R.L. again! All eleven of them! LOL! Five mommies and six daddies, diligently patrolling outside the O.G. front door, in what looks like hopes of leftovers from exiting customers... lol

Once back at home (around 4) I read a bit more in the Bluejacket's and by then it was time for a snack of leftovers... including some tilapia Mom had made the day before. Very fishy, indeed.

For our evening enjoyment, we watched 'Reveille with Beverly' from 1943; a rousing, fun, radio movie... :) I loved it... playing records and talking like the band was right there... good memories.

Oh, and here's an article about the WASP's from Friday's Seattle Times.

Jp

Dear Friends and Good Food

My friend Julie was free Wednesday night. She's taking off Friday for her last two semesters of her degree from a college in Florida. It was much like what we did our last time together last year... played cards, had dinner, went to B&N for her to pick up a book for the flight. Oh, did we laugh and talk... I think I was a little slap happy... and it was very fun. I had come directly from a long workday (and had to sit in traffic a bit to get to her house) , so I was pretty tired. On the other hand, I rarely find it difficult to be silly with Julie. :) What a dear friend! And then back at home I had a very good talk with Mike... both a serious and a silly one. What a dear friend you are!

I found that in staying up late, I was able to get up easier than I had been able to all week (when I tried to get to bed an hour or more earlier than normal). I suppose my body is on some sort of clock, and I wasn't helping anything by messing up the schedule.

Today we had a celebratory lunch at work... for being the best department at our plant for straightening up our area and doing the most process improvement. We had Thai food... it was really quite tasty! I had the "special" which was a noodle dish, rice and very mild green curry sauce with chicken, soup and some egg rolls. Very nice... along with having a fun time with my coworkers. Goodness, we can be funny sometimes! And our youngest member of our team is leaving in a couple weeks... that will be sad.

Tonight we watched 'My Man Godfrey'... and I loved Mr. Powell, but the movie itself was a little odd. Strange storyline, and an off-kilter ending.

Wow, it's time for bed now. 'Night, night.

Jp

How the Wind Blows

Monday was such a long day. It was torture to return to work on such a beautiful, sunny day, as I left my Mom and sister home as I left to go back after lunch. I could see bits of snow on the distant Cascades under a bright blue sky. There was a fresh breeze that made it about 60 degrees (I might be able to get used to all the browns of January if they are all days like this) It was dreary work, scanning my dozen books for the rest of the day... it was so refreshing to return home... and Mom had tacos for dinner! :)

It had rained on Sunday, so the air was so clean and fragrant all day Monday. Today, again we had stiff breezes all day long. It was still about 60 degrees, and every second I was outside was wonderful. I even drove home with my windows open!

Tonight, Dad & Mom and I had a lovely time finishing Colossians and discussing a question my friend asked me on Sunday. We then prayed for our family and for gracious communication, as it says in the beginning of chapter four, that it always be with grace and "salt" or truth. There seem to be a lot of verses about keeping a watch on what you say... James, Jude, Proverbs, Colossians... just off the top of my head.

After a couple hymns, we all watched the 1956 TV special of "Cinderella" with Julie Andrews. Becky had lent me her copy... and as an extra, they have a snippet of the Ed Sullivan show on which Rogers & Hammerstein appeared to perform a song from the production to promote it, as it was going to be on the next week... ah, advertising in the old days. :)

If only.
Jp

Relaxing Day

It was, as Sundays should be.

I hung out with my dear friend Becky all day... we went out to our favorite Thai restaurant, and near the Southcenter Mall we went to Barnes&Noble, then returned to her place, watched a movie, talked, and then decided we were hungry again. Upon inquiry, her roommate said the closest Panera Bread was just a couple miles away in downtown Bellevue (one I hadn't been to before) and we had a lovely time. I got an anthology of poetry at B&N... I want to be familiar with the great ones and decide if I like them or not. I didn't wake up this morning until 11:30 or so... and I'm off to bed right away, so I *might* make it to Jazzercise in the morning (for the first time in a few months). We'll see.

Jp

LOL! A spelling suggestion for "Panera" was Panzer... Heh!
"You vant flat bread? Do ya?"

WENN It's In Mind...

Goodness! There has been quite a discussion about Episode 1 going on on WENNlist on Yahoo! (we're doing a re-watch of the series). Folks were wondering about how Betty found out about the contest, and about broadcasting range... so I drew from my vast knowledge of season 1 (lol) to answer questions about which cities they could reach:

Those references from "Hilary Booth, RN" are for cities that they don't normally get to broadcast to... Wilmington (NC) on the East Coast and Biloxi (MS) on the Gulf Coast... "coast to coast" in "ten cities" lol! But Adrian Carr made that happen somehow.

In episode 4, Victor offhandedly mentions to Grace that they can be heard as far north as Hackensack (NJ), but I'm pretty sure that he meant as far north as Hackensack *is from NYC* (where they knew each other before)... which looks like about 10 miles. It was his usual, silly, quiet humor that made him so lovable.

WNYW carried their signal in the before mentioned episode 13... but they were out of range of New York usually... (thank goodness!) lol

And I know Scott mentions a Philadelphia station that could carry WEEP's signal after the fiasco in "Two for the Price of One" in season 3.

Either a station around Elkhart (maybe Chicago?) carried their signal, or the contest was advertised on the radio or in a newspaper or magazine. They were pretty conclusively out of range. I wonder if Elkhart had any kind of radio station?

and from before:

About the station's broadcasting range... according to episode 13, it's 70 miles... http://rememberwenncharacters.org/Quotes.php#1-13 ...LOL

What good old fun!
Jp