On The Road in the VW

Tillie 2 is launched!

2010-08-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

It's true. There's more than one Tillie in our lives. John's new boat, a Tomcat named Tillie 2, sailed for the first time today!

It's especially exciting because John built the boat himself... the hard way, i.e. he used plans from a book and didn't build it from a kit. If that wasn't challenge enough, much of the lumber came from cousin John & Judy's trees. John & John cut down the tree and helped saw it into planks. Impressive to my way of thinking.

Exciting because John & Terry report it sails nicely - an unknown until today. (What? Me? Go out on that thing first thing? You must be nuts!)

Exciting because I made the sail (which proved to be the right size thank heavens!!!). I hope NEVER to make another! However, it does look impressive don't you think?

And best of all, the launching was exciting because the boat didn't sink!!! Admittedly there's a minor leak... somewhere, but nothing that will take it to the bottom. (You might remember that happened to a Comet sailboat we launched a few years ago.)

I know, you're still reading because you want to know the dirt. Didn't something go amiss that would make this launching really exciting? Well... it seems there's still a learning curve when it comes to docking. Coming straight in with the sail not completely down is not really recommended. John & Terry are down there now epoxying and screwing the nose back on.

For those of you who want to see more photos compliments of Bruce... http://picasaweb.google.com/pattyjohng/10BoatLaunchingBruceSPhotos?feat=email#

Tillie arrives!!!

2010-07-15T06:03:00.000-07:00

Tillie has finally arrived in Seattle!!! We're happy! The truck driver is happy! Tillie is happy! Bridge is happy! And, of course, Roscoe the dog is very happy!!! Bridge only had to open the door a crack before Roscoe was in and had claimed his seat on the inside.

And, the best part, she started right up when Bridge got in to back her off the truck. (Of course there was the small issue of Bridge remembering where reverse was...)

News from Seattle...

2010-07-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

Has Tillie finally arrived?

Bridge emailed to say her arrival has been postponed a few days. Tillie's "delivery truck" is in the shop for repairs... At least it's NOT Tillie this time!!!!

Last day in Seattle...

2010-07-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

Seattle has so much to offer. This morning it was the Wooden Boat Show including a sailboat ride in one of the old wooden boats. I must admit it was the first time I've ever been in a boat on a lake that was also a landing area for planes - a whole new level of excitement... John went crazy snapping pictures of boats and rigging and such (most of you will thank me that I chose NOT to include them on this blog.) My favorite boat was "Joe". (Great name don't you think Joe?) Can you read my favorite sign of the day? "Close Enough Engineering" with the slogan "Probably OK". I thought the van had potential as a replacement for Tillie but John thought I'd had enough ice cream already. Tillie, by the way, is going to be in her glory out here. In all our travels with her we've seen more old VW buses this week than everywhere else combined. Tillie, by the way, arrives next week and delivered directly to Bridge's door. As you know, she occasionally likes to make grand entrances so will be in her glory.

This afternoon we strolled through beautiful Volunteer Park designed by Olmstead. By now you'll probably recognize everyone in the photo except perhaps Dean on the right (he was in NY when we first arrived). We all look fairly energetic there don't we? That was before we climbed the 100+ steps to the top of the old water tower for a fantastic view of the city. As you can tell from the last photo in the collage (taken at the top of that tower) we're about vacationed out. Tomorrow we head off for NY saying goodbye and thanks to the family and good friends, old & new, we've met along the way. And goodbye to all of you who were with us in spirit if not in person.

More friends & adventures...

2010-07-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

I love it when kids we know grow up to be such fun adults... and such good cooks.. and move to places we want to visit...!!! For those of you who knew the "twerps" from McDonough days, that's Daniel (chef extraordinaire) and just below him, his sister Jennifer (they're still twins but have outgrown their "twerpiness", thank heavens!) Daniel's wife, Maya, is upper left, and their daughter, Lily, front and center and a delight. Sammy is Jennifer's daughter and as sweet as can be. We had a wonderful time with them all last night.

But today was another day and Bridge had us up early to go to the one place John wanted to visit while we were in the Seattle area - Port Townsend. It's an absolutely great place to visit - something for everyone, not just boat enthusiasts. (Bridge & I were concerned about that so we took plenty of reading material just in case...)

Photos... 1. Rowing skiffs. The Northwest Maritime Center rents space in their gorgeous new facility right on the water - you would LOVE it Bruce. 2. Inside the center where plenty of boat building goes on (John LOVED it!). 3. Washington's smallest state park (what you see is about it...)

4. & 5. A real sail loft (instead of my dining room table where I had just finished a sail for John before we left - NEVER again!!!) These women deserve every cent they charge for their sails! 6. That's Kendell, their oldest employee (age & years of service). He started there in 1979. The great bag I'm holding and which I had just bought, is one he made out of sail scraps. (Bags I can relate to, sails? well that's another story...) 7. Big leaves. 8. Seeing what the locals are wearing here, we obviously need to work on John's outfits so he can make more of a fashion statement when he launches his boat... 9. Bridge "on the rocks" near the lighthouse at Fort Worden.

More boats tomorrow as it's the wooden boat show in Seattle...

Vacation for me too...

2010-07-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

I know what you're saying... "Where is the blog?" We went to Vashon Island (only a short ferry ride from Seattle) to spend a couple of days of relaxation (do we need another excuse?) and to visit our friend Sharon. Her daughter, Becca (who has spent Thanksgiving with us off and on for 40 years), offered us her vacation home on the island. A treat for all of us (plus it has no internet so even I got a vacation!!!)
Picking up a few provisions at the Pike Street Market. A bald eagle sitting on Paul's cat boat he designed and built himself (a bit bigger than the one John is building - trust John is not getting any ideas). A tree house only accessible by climbing the rope. Even Win, who was top of her class in rope climbing in the 4th grade, only got half way up. We're told it has a chandelier in it but you couldn't prove it by any of use. Jellyfish along the shore (just for Mary). And John & Bridge barbequeing one of those Copper River salmon in the first photo. (Not to make you hungry, but it was the best salmon I ever had.)

And the friends photo...
Yvonne & Garry, Win & Bridge, Sharon, Paul (who built that boat), the bald eagle still sitting on the mast even though he's a bit hard to see, John, and Moshe (Sharon's husband) who seems to be taking a picture of me (and I thought I had exclusive rights to the photo taking.) Unfortunately we just missed Becca who is somewhere between here and Pittsburgh and NOT in a VW bus so she may actually arrive before the summer is over...

Down under to over the top....

2010-06-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

Up early and off for the underground tour of Seattle, a combination history tour and attempted comedy session (the "comedy" we could have done without! Far too many Crapper jokes.) Seattle in it's early life burned to the ground. Everyone agreed it was the perfect time to take the top of one of the hills to raise the level of the city above the "mud flat" level. The only thing was they didn't have money to do that and it would take too long. So, instead, the buildings were rebuilt with entrances on both the first and second floor levels. When tax revenues started coming in again, retaining walls were built around the buildings and the level of the streets raised to the second floor level. Fascinating! Of course this has nothing whatever to do with the photo on the left. That's the Seattle Public Library. (You would LOVE it Susan!) It's a beautiful building and, the best part, it was packed with folks USING the library, all 10 floors. There's a reason it's listed in the top ten things to see and do in Seattle.

Of course, nary a day goes by without great food. Bridge was not looking forward to taking the time to hand shred the cabbage when I mentioned I just happened to have a cabbage shredder packed in my suitcase (doesn't everyone travel with one?). Actually I'd found it at a thrift store in Boulder for $1 and thought it was too good to pass up. Worked like a charm too.

The bottom photo is Win cutting up the mangoes for the delicious mango bread pudding she made. Yum!
We'll have sweet dreams tonight...

Cool!

2010-06-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

Having spent a "memorable" night crisscrossing the Washington desert by moonlight and staying in a "marginal" motel, we were all too ready to head west this morning. By pure happenstance we came upon Cave B Inn & Winery. Beautiful, beautiful place in every way. (We couldn't help imagining what if we had found them last night...) The upper left photo is the entrance to their tasting room (we were there too early to taste). Bottom left - the grape arbor that surrounds the croquet court (and we thought the one at TI Park was special...) The whole facility has the most incredible view over a gorge. Right next to Cave B is the Gorge Amphitheatre -bottom right shows the stage and the small grassy bit you see in the lower right is part of the seating. Spectacular to say the least. Upper right - looks like we somehow got transplanted to the Alps but it's Leavenworth, WA. German food on every corner - John was a happy boy!

Finally Seattle and Bridge (right) and Win (middle). John's so happy to be here (the martini may also have helped...) he's actually smiling for the photo as well as pointing (seems to be contagious). You will be happy to know, Bridge has lined up a VW guru (female I might add) to keep Tillie running like a top.

Bridge has a whirlwind week planned for us. I'll try to post through Saturday, then that's it for this trip.

Tillie knows best...

2010-06-27T21:36:00.000-07:00

All aboard and we were off Saturday morning heading north from Boise toward Coeur d'Alene. As opposed to the route that leads into Boise from the southeast (flat, desert, old lava, hot, relatively uninteresting to me - you saw the photos), the route north is fairly dramatic. Steep mountains, incredible scenery, a prairie, lakes. The photos on the left side of the collage are from the White Bird Grade. Both the new & old roads gain about 2900 feet in 14 miles. The old road had so many twists and turns and switchbacks that if you put them all together they would make 37 complete circles (that's what the sign says that John's throwing his hands up in the air about). John remembered coming up that road in a '48 Kaiser Frazer and his brother, Frank, in a '52 MG-TD. Garry remembered coming up it in a '47 Chevy and his mother getting car sick (I'm sure she wasn't the only one). The road is still there should anyone choose to take it. (We did not.)

So how is Tillie? Did she actually make this climb? As you might recall, Tillie's alternator light was back on Friday night. John tossed and turned and was up at the crack of dawn crawling under her to check for loose connections and whatever. (If he wasn't awake when he started he surely was after Garry & Yvonne's sprinkler system kicked on...) He couldn't find the problem so we took Tillie back to the shop for her daily "fix". (We'll have her shipped to Seattle - not as much fun but we'll know she'll arrive safely.) I must admit I had tears in my eyes when we said our goodbyes, but after going up White Bird Grade, there was absolutely NO question this latest "breakdown" was fortunate. Yvonne's PT Cruiser made a case for the modern... Air conditioning - yes! No wind noise, i.e. conversation possible - yes! Easily went up mountains - yes! Didn't overheat - yes! (You get the picture...)

Our plans were to spend the night in Coeur d'Alene but there was something called Ironman and also Hoopfest going on. Every place in town was booked full. We decided to have dinner there anyway because it's such a pleasant place and then drive on to Spokane and stay the night there. Every motel in Spokane was also booked. After several more hours of driving back and forth across eastern Washington in the dark but moonlit night (Tillie would NOT have been happy) we finally got the last room to be had in Moses Lake around midnight. (Was this "support Washington motels" weekend or something?!) Except for the small incident of accidentally setting off the PT's alarm/horn system after we got to our room, then having difficulty finding the key to stop it (I'm sure the other lodgers were happy we'd "arrived"!), it was our first day of stress free driving in quite some time.

To answer your question, "What is an Idaho Spud Bar?" - it's a marshmallow filling, coated in chocolate and sprinkled with tiny bits of coconut. Supposedly it resembles an Idaho potato but I'm not sure the potato growers would think much of that comparison.

More Boise...

2010-06-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

Photo 1 - Boise Boys = John, Steve & Garry who all grew up in Boise. Steve never met the other two until he was in the same VISTA Volunteer group as John & me in NC. Although Garry wasn't an official VISTA Volunteer, he did manage to attend many an "off duty" gathering and was known as the "ambassador". (Karol - the picture was taken under the Basque sign especially for you. Steve sends greetings to any other "old" VISTAs who might be reading this blog.)

Photo 2 - The Idaho Candy Co. is actually older than our Boise Boys. It was established in 1901 and still makes Idaho Spud Bars. (I doubt you'll find them anywhere outside of Idaho... Perhaps they're a taste you have to grow up with.)

Photo 3 - Tillie in front of Garry & Yvonne's. The shop who worked on her all day is actually a family of VW guru's. It was the wife who fixed Tillie's brakes and the son did something else on her. John & Garry picked Tillie up just about closing time. She ran a couple of blocks before the alternator light came on so it was back to the shop - blown fuse. Then it was off to the car wash. And now it's in the neighborhood but with the alternator light on again. John is NOT happy with her! However, we did pry him away from the repair book long enough to go to Boise's outdoor theater for a wonderful production of "Midsummer's Night Dream" with music from the Beatles and an old VW bug that rolled in and out of scenes in the woods. If you live anywhere near Boise it's worth trying to get tickets.

Tomorrow? We'd planned to start heading toward Seattle but we're playing it by ear. Your job? Stay tuned once again...

A green day in Boise...

2010-06-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Boise! Yvonne (a person of many talents not the least of which is baking) made us homemade croissants for breakfast, a 12 hour process. In fact, she was up at 4 a.m. preparing them for their final rise. Talk about making one feel special! The result (from our perspective - Yvonne said she'd never do that again) was well worth it as they were absolutely DE-licious!!! I've never had a fresher and tastier one (okay so it was two... scratch that, three and it took a LOT of will power to stop there!) Thank you, Yvonne!!!

My memories of Boise always involve the words "hot" and "dry". This year is an exception to the dry part. Lots of spring rains mean things here are green and flowers are everywhere. Boise is filled with beautiful city parks and Garry took us to several of them. The bottom right photo in the collage is a chunk of the oldest/largest ponderosa pine that ever lived. It was 379 years when it came down. The house photo? That's the boyhood home of John & Frank and looking pretty good these days I must say although they don't have a plaque saying "Frankie & Johnny lived here"...

The bottom photo is especially for Frank & Rita. For you folks who don't have a clue who they are, they're all from Boise. Garry, Bob, John (okay, he's not from Boise now but he grew up there), Yvonne, & Elinor. As you might expect, the dinner Elinor & Bob prepared for us was great. And we managed to polish off a sizable chunk of the chocolate cake Yvonne had made. Thank heavens for that after dinner walk to the new park going in near their home!

And where's Tillie? She's at the shop awaiting parts - something to do with brakes and boots this time. I ask you... just how many parts can a VW have?!

Was it curtains for Tillie?

2010-06-23T22:14:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought there'd be so much suspense involving a trip across country by two old folks in a VW? Especially after yesterday's "cliffhanger". Would Tillie finally go to the scrap pile? You will, I hope, be happy to learn that Tillie is just fine. The massive spewing of oil over the engine and the back of the bus was simply due to the oil filter having rattled loose (some roads really aren't in the best of shape) and literally blown off. The VW gurus in Ogden (very nice and accommodating folks like the rest have been) had her cleaned up (no mean feat I'm sure) and re-oiled and filtered by ten this morning. In fact they were on the way over to pick us up at the hotel when they noticed Tillie was leaking gas so back on the lift she went. (For those of you in the betting mode I suspect you can count that repair as a separate incident.) Finally we were on the road, in the heat of the day I might add, and headed to Boise. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, this meant we didn't take advantage of the clever scenarios we had come up with including taking Garry (from Boise) up on his offer to come after us. John also checked into having Tillie shipped the rest of the way to Seattle (the best quote was $650 and VERY tempting I must say). But, no, we're determined to do it the hard way.

Today was HOT. The air was HOT, John was HOT, I was HOT, Tillie was HOT. John has gotten a bit more "sensitive" to Tillie's needs, so every time her oil temperature gauge would begin to go up, he's pull over, open the engine compartment, and we'd twiddle our thumbs while she cooled off. As some of you may know, I'm NOT a big fan of flat, dessert countryside. So I suppose Tillie was just trying to give us something to get stressed out rather than getting sleepy gazing at scenery that pretty much looked the same as it did half an hour ago. The last couple of stops John just decided to leave the engine cover up while we drove. Finally the worse part of the day has passed. We stopped for a final fill up before driving the last 150 miles. And, wouldn't you know, Tillie won't start. Once again I found myself snagging a guy getting into his pickup to help me push start her. Poor guy. He only stopped for an ice cream but his added push made Tillie start much easier.

Passing the lava bed scenery you see in the photo, I called the VW guru Tillie has "visited" before in Boise to tell him to expect her. It seemed like a much better plan to just drive her directly there and ask Garry to pick us up. Suddenly we were within 100 miles of Boise (a cause of great celebration since we get 100 miles of free towing if needed from AAA) so our stress levels greatly improved. Finally Tillie arrived safely at the repair shop where she'll be seen to tomorrow. And we arrived safely at Garry & Yvonne's where we'll have a couple of days of non-Tillie driving!!!! And John can sleep without waking up thinking about worse case scenarios. (I, on the other hand, slept like a log last night and plan to do so tonight.)

"This is the place"

2010-06-22T19:36:00.000-07:00

The kind folks at Meeker took Tillie in early this morning and, thanks to incredible overnight delivery from Denver of the needed parts, Tillie was back on the road by 10:00. The folks in Meeker were right about there not being a lot out there once you went west. A dinosaur, pink, in Vernal. Pink flamingos in Rangley. (What gives with this pink theme?) Finally Utah and another state added to Tillie's map. The welcome center was in Jensen (named, we're sure, for Sarah & Kenny & Bev & Orv). Lunch was at Betty's Cafe where everything is homemade and open for breakfast, lunch & dinner (a branch, we're sure, of Betty's in Norwich). And then it was back on the road heading toward Boise except...

Tillie must have heard Brigham Young saying "This is the place" and thought it meant her. That remote part of Utah (lower left in collage) has remarkable cell phone service. An hour or so later Tillie was checking out Salt Lake from an exalted height feeling fairly regal I suspect with the Mormon Temple in sight. John (as he has taken to doing) had made a list of VW shops on the way to Boise so we rode in air conditioned style (the most comfortable tow truck I've ever ridden in and you know I speak from experience) to Ogden where we are spending the night and where, hopefully we'll get a morning diagnosis. John is the nay sayer this time but my bets are with the tow truck driver who offered a more favorable outlook. The symptoms, for those of you who are interested in such things, were splatters of oil on the back windshield (the engine compartment is also covered in oil) and the oil light came on. (Okay, I admit that doesn't sound too good.) However, the engine was still running, John pulled over as soon as the light came on, and he turned the engine off with the key. The big question... What will tomorrow bring?

And then there was Meeker...

2010-06-21T17:09:00.000-07:00

5,000... 6,000... 7,000... (enjoy the view) 8,000... 9,000... (and more view) 10,000... 11,000... (if you think this was slow reading, going UP that high in Tillie gives "slow" a whole new meaning) Continental Divide and the Eisenhower Tunnel (thank you, thank you, thank you to the wonderful engineers who decided to go through rather than over!)

What goes up must come down, and so it was for us today. As we flew by the escapes for runaway trucks I did start to wonder if they would also work for Tillie. I also wondered if John had indeed checked those brake pads (but it was definitely NOT the time to ask). And I began to understand on some of those inclines how Sarah might have thought she'd seen a Madonna of the Mountains in her motorcycle days. (She kept thinking we'd find it in our outings with her but we never did...)

The west side of the Rockies looks very different than the other. The photo is of the Glenwood Canyon below Vale where you can go west by road, water (the Colorado) or railroad.

Finally we arrived in Rifle, filled Tillie with gas, and began our back country drive to Dinosaur, destination Salt Lake... which brings me to the next photo.

For those of you who bet Tillie was going to get off scott free in terms of repairs, you just lost. The alternator light began flickering (just before lunch of course). We decided perhaps we should make a stop in Meeker since the next mark on the map was 60 miles away. Everyone in Meeker (pop. 2,000) thinks we made the right decision. They just shake their heads when they think of breaking down in the back country of Utah. Tillie diagnosis - bad diodes (whatever they are) in the alternator. A new one has been ordered and should be there when the shop opens at 8 tomorrow. (I'm not sure how they're getting it since Meeker really is in the middle of nowhere, but I'm not going to argue.)

In the meantime Meeker has been a nice little town to visit. A wonderful museum (only closed 3 days a year so it was open for us to enjoy!), a great soda fountain, a nice place to stay just across the street from the repair shop (but then again everything is pretty close together here), very friendly folk. Meeker is home to the oldest annual rodeo in Colorado. This year is 125 so it's a really big deal when it happens over July 4th. Sheepdog trials in September that are, and I quote "the most prestigious in all sheepdogdom". (They sound like fun but hopefully we'll be on the road by then!)

The Meeker tourist info says it's 1,126 miles to Seattle. After all Tillie has been through it doesn't really seem that far away. We planned to make it to Boise tomorrow but...

Say cheese...

2010-06-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

First came the goats. Sarah is petting Claudia who was partly responsible for the milk we picked up at the dairy this morning. (Sarah had to sign her life away to verify the milk was for her very hungry cats...)
Then the kitchen was turned into the SarahLynn cheese making operation. First mozzarella and then ricotta - both wonderful! (I have all the instructions so can't wait to try it back in NY.)

While the women were bringing home the milk, the guys were in the backyard trying out the new tools by cutting a big hole in the door. (Thank you Habitat for the $5 door from the local Restore!) As soon as some beads or cloth is found, it's dogs in and out, flies out.

Showing their versatility the men proved their worth by making the pasta, then helping stuff the ravioli using, of course, the fresh ricotta plus herbs from their garden. Top the ravioli with Sarah's homemade sauce and even Italian grandmothers would be forced to give us high marks.

And the mozzarella you ask? Thin sliced between slices of local yellow & red tomatoes, a bit of basil & oregano straight from the garden, then a drizzle of olive oil. If you aren't hungry for your own Italian dinner after this, there is really no hope!

Tillie made two short outings today and Sarah & Kenny both said she ran like a top. Let's hope so. Tomorrow it's up and over the Rockies on our way to Utah.

The final photo? Let's just say we can say "meow" with the best of them...

Loop de Loop

2010-06-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

Saturday - a GREAT day for Farmers Markets and Boulder has one of the best. So good in fact that I got so caught up in seeing what they had to offer that I forgot to take more than two photos. Lower left was their mushroom vendor (Owen's mushrooms are much prettier!). Lower right was the knife sharpening guys who were doing a brisk business. (Bruce - you want to start a little business on the side with John?) Boulder's "push" this year is to encourage everyone to spend at least 10% of their food budget for locally grown items, to encourage restaurants to do the same, and to encourage the grocery stores to carry more local produce.

Great sales this weekend on tools, so John & Kenny happily shopped for a couple of new tools Kenny needed. (Sarah & I suffered through it...)

The other photos are of the Georgetown Loop Railroad where we took the steam engine train from Silver Plume to Georgetown & back. Beautiful weather again and lots of fun. The guy with John in the upper left photo is their hired "schmoozer" (he also takes the tickets). Nice guy and perfect for his job. John & he "bonded" right away - he used to have a 1968 VW camper. Drove it around Silver Plume until one day, while he was driving, a chinook wind came down the canyon and took the top right off. (A convertible is not exactly the type of vehicle you want in the mountains in winter.) His other claim to fame = he once arrested Joan Baez during a protest in another part of the state. She was laying over the tracks singing "I will not be moved". She was... and apparently looked the same as the other protesters in handcuffs.

Rocky Mountain High

2010-06-18T20:28:00.000-07:00

I know several of you have been fretting that we seem to be neglecting Tillie. Not true. John got dressed this morning and, before he'd even had his first cup of coffee, he was crawling under Tillie. On the way to Boulder she had developed a very noisy "rattle" around the gear shift especially in low gear. And, seeing the mountains that lay ahead of us, we doubt she'll being doing much 4th gear cruising. The problem appears to be a disintegrating gasket. John is optimistic that having now turned the gasket around it will last until Boise. (John refers to me on matters such as this as Ms. Negativity so you can probably guess what I think of this "fix"... ) Tillie already has an appointment to visit her favorite Boise VW guru she met when she was there 4 years ago so that gives me some comfort. Also Sarah has been out talking to Tillie to reassure her that she will do just fine.

Today Sarah & Kenny took us to our Rocky Mountain National Park on the route John had originally planned to take Tillie. Hard to believe you can go from flat Boulder at 5,000+ ft. to a park elevation of 12,000+ ft. in less than two hours. The old Stanley Hotel, upper left, was built by Freeland Stanley (you remember him - he built the Stanley steamer...) The scenery in the park is beautiful, rugged and a bit colder than Boulder down below, much of it above the treeline. At the bottom right is a "bachelor pack" of elk (take note George). Lower left is an elk/moose of a different breed (take note George?). We stopped because there were a bunch of young folks pointing up the bank. They were having a great time suckering folks into pulling over to see more wildlife. The young woman with the headgear was having a great time too. Having now seen the route through the park, I think Tillie was very lucky a less dramatic route is now planned.

Coming out of the park we took a back dirt road to go through the small mountain town of Gold Hill. When Kenny worked the "mountains" for the phone company he often stopped here for lunch where the food is "terrific". If you can see the sign in the window they also offer wireless. Worst luck - the store was closed by the time we got there. The second photo is thanks to Kenny who turned around (in spite of John's protests) and went back for me to take the shot... my first one with both a clothesline (have you put up yours yet?) and an outhouse (this little town is remote). If the air looks a bit hazy that's from the dust in the air from the dirt road. I'm not sure how much cleaner those pants will be at the end of the day.

UP!

2010-06-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

It was UP into the mountains headed to the small mining town of Central City. It continues to amaze me the stamina those miners must have had. Just to even get UP there on foot or mule with supplies must have been a feat. Many of the settlers were Welsh & Cornish, great lovers of opera, who built the opera house (lower left) in 1892. The theater has perfect acoustics and continues to offer a full summer opera season with performers from all over the world. We were fortunate to hear the orchestra rehearsing during our tour. The Opera House is original meaning no running water or heat. However, they own the old hotel next door which does have amenities. And a restaurant. And the famous "Face on the Bar Room Floor". (The face is spooky - rather dim in person but clear in photos.) The Opera House also owns 20 of the quaint little Victorian houses in town so performers stay in those. Not a bad gig if you can get it!

And, oh yes, Central City is also a gambling town with lots of casinos. John & Sarah "made me" put some quarters in the slots but I managed to come out ahead by $1.75 (but if you count what they put in...) After a short burro ride for Sarah it was on to the graves of Buffalo Bill Cody and his wife overlooking Denver in the distance. (Some "thoughtful" city planners allowed a huge communications tower to be built just down from the grave site effectively marring the view - go figure.)

Our last stop was Red Rocks, a spectacular theater built into the side of the mountains. Those are the seats with the stage just at the bottom. Sarah & Kenny went there Easter for sunrise service. Spectacular - the theater faces east, a beautiful clear morning, they were there before the sun came up. (No, I didn't climb UP all that way just to take the picture for the blog, I'm not that dedicated/nuts! There's parking at the top.)

A bit of NY in Boulder

2010-06-17T06:56:00.000-07:00

For years Chautaugua (near Buffalo) has been on our "places to go" list. Who would have guessed we'd visit it's sister facility in Boulder first. It also offers a fantastic classical summer music festival (unfortunately we're here a week too early to take advantage). But we did have lunch on the porch of their dining hall. Good food, good service (the waiter did everything on our "Tips for Tips" list - rare to find anyone who does that these days...) Sarah says they have beautiful trails behind the quaint cottages where folks stay. (Can't you hear our excuses... it's too hot, 88 degrees; we're not 20 anymore; it's UPhill - see those mountains in the background?; we're not yet accustomed to the altitude; aren't you supposed to wait at least an hour after eating before strenuous exercise?; I didn't wear my walking shoes...)

Back at Sarah & Kenny's, Lynne came to "tempt" us to think about another Tillie alternative. She calls it the Vargo (meaning gypsy van in Hungarian?). Lynne is so interesting. She graduates this week receiving her international certification as a permaculture instructor, a subject that is definitely on my list to learn more about.

The unphotographed hero of the day was Kenny who worked all day while we played and, yes I admit it, napped (the altitude you know). For dinner we enjoyed both the salmon and the ribs Kenny had spent hours smoking over the weekend. Wow! Were they DE-licious! (Auntie - have you eaten any of those they brought you? They are wonderful!!!!)

PS - A couple of you wrote suggesting adjusting Tillie's carburetor but she has fuel injection (perhaps the only modern part on her...)

Clotheslines R Us

2010-06-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

Cooler temps today and great driving weather. Texas is BIG and we still had a couple of hours of driving before coming to Oklahoma. Marilyn & Jim - you'll be happy to know that Tillie is now sporting your state on her "I've been there map". (Thank heavens Oklahoma has that little finger or we might not have made it there.)

Oklahoma also has a nice solid stone sign. New Mexico's on the other hand was a bit worse for wear - too many cowboys taking pot shots at it I guess. It was in New Mexico that we passed the Santa Fe Trail and watched the terrain change from the sorghum fields of the northern Texas panhandle (we never realized there was such a demand for sorghum) and its helium mines to having mountains in sight. I read in one of those tourist brochures that it's the biggest source of helium in the world. Excuse my ignorance but I thought helium was a gas so guess I better do some reading on how mining for it works unless one of you out there wants to enlighten us.

On to the mountains of Colorado and the first big pass - over 9,000 ft. Tillie didn't cough but did manage to do it all in at least third gear. Near the top of the pass we began to smell gas but it went away on the downhill slope so we're guessing Tillie just had a bit of indigestion at the thought of the mountains yet to come. It's a beautiful drive approaching Denver from the south and there was only one more pass that required a bit more of Tillie. As we went higher so did her temperature gauge. I'm holding my breath and John is gripping the wheel but we finally made it to top and on the downhill run she returned to normal. From there on it was an uneventful drive. Those of you who were betting on a breakdown today are just out of luck.

Sarah & Kenny welcomed us in Lafayette (just outside Boulder) with open arms, a vacant spot in their carport for Tillie, and the best sign ever hanging on their clothesline.

Cadillac Ranch

2010-06-15T03:52:00.000-07:00

Since Tillie was running like a top and
Since a cool front had moved through Amarillo (77) and
Since it seemed like the thing to do when in Amarillo....

We took the 12 mile drive out to the Cadillac Ranch to see view the "planting" of Cadillacs in the middle of the wheat field. Tillie was NOT impressed. We all know that old VW's run longer than Cadillacs...

Looking for pioneers...

2010-06-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

We left before sunrise this morning. For you folks who live in the northeast that's not really that early. Texas is on the western edge of the central time zone and south so the time was only 6:00 a.m. But it gave us several "cooler", if not exciting, hours of driving. This photo was taken near Lamesa (Spanish for table) and, in Tillie language, flaaaaaaat! And it is fairly representative of all the scenery today. Can you imagine crossing that by horseback or wagon? One could easily get lost. Even Ms. Garmin (our GPS) tried and failed to find us on her first search, asking us if we were still in Texas. The answer is "yes".

Lunch in Lubbock, the birthplace of Buddy Holly, one of the pioneers of Rock & Roll in case you're too young to remember that. Lubbock has put up a statue of him but it obviously didn't create much interest with the locals as we had to ask several folks before we finally found it. Our young waiter at lunch said he didn't much care for Buddy Holly's music but, if we were interested, he was friends with Peggy Sue's grandson. Would you have left him a bigger tip for that creative attempt to impress the tourists?

Tonight we're in Amarillo (still Texas). Tillie ran like a dream all day, started when asked, and didn't overheat. Perhaps she just needed a little warm weather to loosen up her joints (and of course those prayers and the threat of a spanking from Aunt Doris didn't hurt either...)

Auctions & homes...

2010-06-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the day of the big school auction with folks trying to out bid each other to become the new owners of assorted junk. Unfortunately the guy who owns the vehicle on the lower left, arrived too late to buy the stack of old tires (one of which HAD to have been better than the spare he was carrying - these Texas back roads are bad news...) We enjoyed a hour's entertainment before heading out. We even endured the auctioneer's comment to mind your purchases because very occasionally they have a Yankee from NY show up and you never know what they might run off with. It's a good thing we didn't drive Tillie over.

With the day heating up we headed to Mason for lunch with friends and to visit the new owners, Jimie & India, of the Habitat house we worked on in March. Their new home turned out beautiful and they love it as did we. (I'm VERY envious of their $45 month utility bill - super insulation and solar hot water really pays off.)

Then it was back to "the auction" (you just never know...) Becky & I bought sergers and Becky bought 3 sewing machines (and I thought I was bad!) but the price was right. I think I'll have to ship mine home.

Back with Tillie, John has now replaced the driving lights, one of which she "lost" on the drive down. Does that count as a breakdown or just ordinary maintenance? John says she's ready to roll so we'll be up early tomorrow heading north. Boulder here we come!

Almost forgot... the big bus?, it sold for $1,000 to some "lucky" person (not us or ours).

Notice of auction...

2010-06-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

Brady has a brand new school and brand new furnishings. If rumors are correct the old school is going to be renovated into a long term care facility (talk about supporting alumni!). Today was the preview for the auction of all the old furnishings and since the school is right behind my mother's we, of course, had to go take a peek (how much CAN I fit into that carryon bag at the airport?). My brother-in-law is interested in the BlueBird bus (bet this is news to my sister who is just now reading this..., right Becky?) I thought he was just joking until I sat down to write the blog. Then I got to thinking that JA is probably a whole lot smarter than any of us give him credit for. Look at that bus. Can't you just see taking all the seats out, pulling Tillie inside, and driving the whole thing to Seattle? Settles three things at once. Getting us out of Texas, giving us reliable transportation, and giving us a new rig once we pass Tillie over to Bridge. On the other hand I don't know if the credit limit on our card is big enough to buy the gas between here and there.

The other photo is for our art teacher friend Leigh. Art students have it rough down here!

A Matter of Degrees...

2010-06-11T05:16:00.000-07:00

First there was HOT (that's for a 7 a.m. walk, about the time the sun comes up here). Then there was HOTTER (grocery shopping at midday - no wonder the person after me asked for her groceries to be double bagged in paper; she was probably driving to the outskirts of town). And then there was HOTTEST (afternoon, not safe to go out).

On our list of things to do around Brady/Mason has been a visit to the James River Bat Caves where large populations of Mexican free-tail bats have their bat "nursery". Think hot, think bugs, think bats. I thought perhaps today was too hot but my sister pointed out that one day was as good as another until November. So I called the bat hotline (is there a reason it's called a HOT line?) to get the best viewing time (8:30 p.m.); John printed directions - something about turning onto various ranch roads (1 lane), crossing cattleguards, dirt road (8 miles of it - John does keep some things to himself...), stream crossings. First there was the little stream crossing, then there was the bigger stream crossing, then there was the biggest stream, a.k.a. river crossing (or not-crossing...)

No pontoon, no bat viewing. We DID wonder why that little bit of information wasn't mentioned on the hot line. However, we did see 2 jack rabbits (BIG ears and BIG back legs), lots of deer, a lonesome steer or two, a snake, a BIG bird (unidentified) with baby birds in tow, and a big snapping turtle. Not exactly what we thought we'd see, but an adventure nevertheless...

Tillie runs again!

2010-06-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

In spite of getting up yesterday in the predawn, John was so distressed by Tillie's refusal to start that he spent half the night reading "the manual" and searching the Internet for solutions, and the other half night dreaming about it. At dawn this morning he was back under Tillie fooling around. Result = Tillie started (on her own) before breakfast. The problem turned out to be nothing more than a loose connection. John promptly drove her over to my sister's and back again just to make sure. It was suggested later in the day that perhaps this had been an unwise trip. That was a mile wasted that would have taken us one mile closer to Seattle...

My feeling is that Tillie is feeling just a wee bit threatened with the many suggestions regarding her fate including... sell her; junk her; ship her by truck; ship her by train; buy a pickup and tow her; and, my favorite so far which just came in from friends from Missouri, take her apart and ship her in pieces. John's taken her apart and put her back together so many times this should be a piece of cake. However, we're slow learners so I guess we'll keep her awhile longer. To let her know how much we appreciated her cooperation today, John gave her a bath to make her looked a bit more cared for.

I, on the other hand, procrastinated about my morning walk and didn't leave the house until a bit after 9 forgetting two rules of thumb. 1. It's cooler inside than it is outside. 2. Texas in June is hot, even in the morning. You're no longer in NY, Patty. So instead of the brisk walk I'd planned, there were many breaks to take photos of all those wildflowers in bloom. Just those blooming next to the road (I did NOT forget the third rule - snakes like the heat and tall grass so stay on the road) numbered 23 different kinds.

PS - Curtis, the VW guru who worked on Tillie for a week when we were here in March, has retired. Perhaps Tillie pushed him over the top...

Place your bets...

2010-06-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

It's June 8th. We're back in Texas and the saga of Tillie, the VW, has begun once again. But first, a tribute to Auntie Kathleen (from Brooklyn) & Sarah (from Boulder), two of Tillie's most faithful blog followers. I thought today might be rather uneventful for Tillie but...

John & I were up at 3:30, that's a.m., (and it wasn't to pee either) for a very early flight to Austin where our nephew & his wife, Scott & Jessica, awaited to chauffeur us to Brady. For a minute we thought we'd landed in the wrong state when we saw those flamingos, but no, someone in Texas has just cornered the market on the pink plastic kind with a few old pickups thrown in for good measure. And in spite of all the things I've thought and said about Texas being dry, brown, dull and flat, they've actually had rain this spring. So the drive through Texas hill country was green and filled with beautiful wild flowers. And, best of all, the 100+ weather had passed so it was a cool 88.

Now for Tillie... I understand some of you are taking bets at the office for how many times she'll break down between Texas and Seattle. We'll leave it up to you to decide if breaking down in Mother's garage (while we were still in NY) and being repaired while she sat there (a ruptured gas line) counts as one breakdown. That brings us up to today. John, always the optimist, expected to start her right up. You're right. That didn't happen. That's JA & John with the battery charger with Mother looking on. Now, really, would you expect the battery (a new one) to remain charged after two months of abandonment? The answer is "Yes". The battery was not the problem. Tillie only started when Jessica & Scott, a.k.a. "The Pushers", lent their muscle to Tillie's behind. She finally started and ran long enough to get her gas tank filled. However, back in the carport, she's back to her old ways. You'll have to decide. Is the repair lined up for tomorrow considered part of today's problem or will it count as something new? Perhaps tomorrow I'll have to deliver the message 96 year old Aunt Doris from Syracuse sent to Tillie - "Behave yourself or I'll come down there and spank you!" Trust me, no one messes with Aunt Doris.

Clear as mud...

2010-03-28T17:30:00.002-07:00

Apparently I left things in a state of confusion with my last post. You have my apologies.

The master plan (as you know by now this is always subject to change) is to fly back to Texas in June. In the meantime Tillie is cooling her systems in my mother's carport and we're catching up on things in NY. However, mark your calendars. You can start looking for new updates to this blog on June 9. The game plan is to take Tillie on a straight? meandering? path to Seattle from whence she came. Bridge (her rightful owner - she's just been on loan to us) is ready to have her back for adventures of his own. And, although nothing, of course, can replace the one and only Tillie, we do have some alternatives in mind... Your suggestions, as usual, are always welcome...

Goodbye Hippie Dude

2010-03-22T19:26:00.000-07:00

All good things must come to an end, and so it is with this latest adventure with Tillie. Today we packed up, John did some last minute repairs on Tillie (the rattle in the dashboard was actually a loose/disconnected heat duct which may explain why it was so hot in the glove compartment & nowhere else...), enjoyed a nice lunch at a new tea room in town, visited an old Brady home family friends beautifully restored, and tried cooking prickly pear for dinner. Except for one person who said he remembers roasting cactus over the fire as a kid, no one I've met has ever tasted it. Now, as an experienced prickly pear taster, I can offer several words of advice. Unless you're looking for a new source of dental floss, look for pads that are no bigger than 5 inches. I used 10 inch ones - hard to peel, hard to cut, loaded with coarse threads, &, unless you swallow your food whole, impossible to chew. Second piece of advice, grill them. I sauteed it and, while it cooked the cactus, it soaked up all the oil. And wear gloves. Before Gene picked me the pads, he put on thick leather gloves and warned me about the little fine cactus needles that are a bear to get out of your hands. (For once, I listened.) How did it taste? Not bad but am reserving judgement until I can cook some up right. Maybe next trip.

While Hippie Dude monkey does look a bit panicked to be left on his own until we return in June (sitting so close to an Obama sticker in Republican Texas can be a bit nerve wracking, I admit), I'm sure he'll survive. Look for the blog to continue in June when we return to pick up Tillie and continue our adventures as we head toward Seattle.

Fountain of Youth...

2010-03-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

My mother is very excited to have received her first ever "Official Jury Summons". She lived in Arkansas for 60 years and was never called and now, after just over 4 years in Texas, her name finally comes up. (She may even go out and get a souped up hearing aid just to make sure she doesn't miss anything.) According to the Texas summons you may be excused from jury service if you are over 70 years of age. However, you are not required to claim the exemption and she doesn't intend to (even though reporting for duty does fall on a quilt club day but she'll make the sacrifice). The form also says (and I'm typing this as it appears including the bold and caps) "IF CLAIMING AN EXEMPTION FOR PERSON OVER 70 YEARS OF AGE PLEASE CHECK IF THIS EXEMPTION IS: __ TEMPORARY EXEMPTION __ PERMANENT EXEMPTION"

Do we conclude that once you're over 70 it's possible to get younger than 70? How does this work?! During my afternoon walk I may have discovered that tightly held Texas secret. Mesquite trees are everywhere and are usually host to one or more bunches of mistletoe (it's the green bunches growing in the tree). Lots of mesquite should equal lots of opportunities for smooching (except for those pesky rattlesnakes...) and lots of smooching should equal renewed youth if all those TV ads are to be believed. So do any of you guys out there have any clever new marketing/tourism slogans for Texas?

Spring is where?

2010-03-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

Let's see. We left NY in the snow and arrived in Texas in the snow. Today in Texas it was 25 degrees colder than NY and there was snow in the air while it was a beautiful spring day in NY. As my true blood Texas brother-in-law described the weather, "It's colder than a well driller's rear end in the Klondike." (He assures me this is a phrase all Texans know and use. You don't really think I could make that up, do you?)

My family from Brady & cousins from Austin braved the cold and Texas winds to see the Habitat house project, said "That's nice. Can we go back home now where it's warm?" Not only does it get cold here in Texas but the winds blow... HARD! It was quite an exciting ride back to Brady from Mason today. Tillie was blown all over the road (and it wasn't due to drinking either although I did feel that might have been in order to calm my nerves and warm my body. You do remember the lack of heat in Tillie when temperatures drop?) However, I did feel lucky. When we left the campground this morning there were still tent campers. How they managed to still be there is a miracle. When the front came through around 4 a.m. there was thunder & lightning & driving rain & high winds. Tillie was rockin' & rollin' and it wasn't because of anything happening inside the van.

But there are still many signs of spring including these wildflowers my mother picked in her yard. I think she picked them just so we could wish you a Happy Birthday, Sarah!

Extra, Extra...

2010-03-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of our Habitat build here in Mason. Somewhere between the camera & the computer, poof, the photos disappeared so you'll have to visit the web site I referenced in an earlier blog to see the lastest pictures. Even more upsetting, I lost photo proof there are at least two clotheslines in Mason! And for even more news you can go to the web site for Mason County News or pick up a copy at your local newstand where you leave your payment in the jar (Mason, of course).

Even though the Habitat home we've worked on will not have a clothesline, Jimie is spending her "bonus dollars" (discretionary money they can spend for a few extras for the home) on a rain water collection tank so she'll have water for the vegetable garden she plans to have in the back yard. Way to go, Jimie!!!

Tonight after chowing down on burgers at the Northside Grocery, Curtis & Reenie (it was their ranch we visited) invited all of us to their home in Mason for one last round of dessert. (It's going to take me weeks to get the extra poundage off my hips...) Anyway, Curtis has a collection of toy John Deere tractors including this one hand carved from mesquite. Truly a work of art.

Tortillas Are Us!

2010-03-18T18:08:00.000-07:00

Finally, the long awaited clothesline shot (it was "hanging out" behind the house across the street from the house we're building all this time and I had no idea).
Then there's the metal roof on "our" house project (the team on roof deserve multiple stars for doing that in the Texas sun today). If all goes as planned the roof will be completed tomorrow. It should last as long as the bit more challenging roof on another house in town. Isn't it beautiful?
Tonight was tortilla night in the ol' campground, a southwestern take on the "bring a dish to pass" concept. (Can't believe I never thought of it.) In addition to everyone bringing tortilla fillings we have Fred, a master at making corn tortillas, and Bea, a master of flour tortillas. By the way, Bea was the youngest of 21 children (only 3 were adopted) and helped her mother make a LOT of tortillas. I think Bea's were the best I've ever had but she says her mom makes better ones. Can you imagine how many tortillas her mother must have made over her lifetime?

Siding to a Texas ranch...

2010-03-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

We started the siding on Jimie's home today. That's her on the left helping put on the first piece.
At the end of the day, it was off to Reenie & Curtis' ranch to visit their goats and long horn cattle (and play at being kids again by riding in the back of the pickup). The goats are protected from the coyotes by two dogs, Jake &; Nilla who are Akbash, Turkish dogs bred for just this purpose. Curtis said before he got the dogs he lost almost all the kids that were born. Since getting them 5 years ago, he's only lost one kid. On the cattle front, he used to raise Angus but said his herd got too old so he sold them and now has registered long horns instead. The long horns turn out to be mellow and friendly, much less aggressive than the Angus. Even Larry who is a city person was brave enough to hand feed one. (We all begged off feeding the bull.)
Dinner was goat sausage and hamburgers (Try not to think about it. You would starve down here, Susan!)

Dear Jane & more...

2010-03-16T18:09:00.000-07:00

Doreen, the lady in the middle, stopped by the job site this morning to show us the "Dear Jane" quilt she made. She made the entire quilt by hand, not machine, (close to 5,000 pieces), all the fabrics are different (most are reproduction fabrics from the Civil War period), it took her 19 months and the work is absolutely beautiful (and, believe it or not, she is not bonkers!). Another lady in their quilt group made one in 9 months and two other ladies are nearing completion of their tops. So if you wondered what women do in Mason besides make monkeys....

Just down the road (within a mile) of Mason is Koochsville. (Loved the name.) It doesn't look like Kooch's old store is being used but it is a beautiful building although I'm not sure why he needed two front doors within a couple feet of each other. Thought I might find a clothesline but only free range chickens were "hanging out".

And, playing a bit of catchup, Monday is cattle auction day in Mason and the auction yard in only 3 or 4 blocks from where we're building the house. When someone stopped by to make sure we went down for a few minutes if we'd never been there, I thought I'd better go. Obviously, if you don't drive a pickup with a deer-catcher attached to the front, you're just not with it. This was a real auction where you couldn't understand a thing the auctioneer was saying. (What's happening with auction attire? Some of the guys were wearing baseball caps instead of cowboy hats! Honestly, what is Texas coming to?)

One of those white pickups with a deer catcher drove by our campsite this evening and the teenagers in the back yelled out the window, "We love your hippie van!" Tillie sat up a little straighter.

Monkey time...

2010-03-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

Yes, we do work. But after a long work day, Monday night is gals night out. How can folks with the same size socks come up with so many variations on a monkey?

Finally!

2010-03-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

A clothesline! even if it is attached to the back a camper. But I promise, if there's a clothesline to be found in the area, I'll get you a photo. Tomorrow is Monday, traditional laundry day, so maybe that will be the day.

No other keen photos to include. We went to Fredricksburg for a little R&R (as in rock & roll) at the Rockbox Theater. Great songs from the 50's, 60's & 70's played/performed by some very talented folks. A must do if you're ever in that neck of the woods. Our team fully expects to be rockin' it up tomorrow... John's favorite song of the day - "Down in the River to Pray". (I know it's not r&r but they did do a few other types from the era.)

A Day Away...

2010-03-13T15:28:00.000-08:00

Mother & Becky picked us up bright & early at the campsite for a day of sightseeing in Junction, a tourist hotspot (or so the Chamber of Commerce rep. would like us to believe).

Photo 1 - As Becky said, this photo op had "blog" written all over it. Please note the "tree" was created by the Kimble (Junction is in Kimble County) Business & Professional Women's Club. It didn't say if it's members shot all those deer "represented" or if they acquired those horns by other means. (The processing plant in the background is for wild game.)
Photo 2 - Head hanging in a Junction restaurant. Looks sort of like our old dog, Hans, doesn't it? (Really gives you an appetite doesn't it?)
Photo 3 - 700 Springs Ranch (the real reason we went to Junction). It opens its gates once a year to the public. Heard a nice talk by the county historian who said, among other things, that this is the true original location of San Clemente (the Texas one, not California; San Angelo now claims that honor) and they have the historical proof. Bonnie & Clyde also spent a night here 3 weeks before their demise. The owner of the ranch at that time reported them as "suspicious" to the sheriff in Junction but it was out of his jurisdiction and Bonnie & Clyde had moved on before they were confronted. And, according to 700 Springs Ranch web site, this is the most beautiful place in Texas. As someone told John, the springs/falls which come out about 20-30 feet above the river on the other side, may not look like much to us, but for Texans, this much water is a BIG deal. The "waterfall" shown in the web link above is the same one you're looking at across the river...
Photo 4 - A trip to Junction from Mason would be almost impossible without going through London. This is (what can only assume to be) the old high school, converted to a pub. The city park shares the parking lot. Looks like a fun spot to us.

PS - In response to someone's inquiry about photos of clotheslines, I'm still looking. Here it is, warm, sunny, a perfect day for drying clothes and our clothes seem to be the only ones drying in the fresh air. Folks in Texas don't seem to believe in drying clothes outside but I'll keep looking.

Bluebonnets...

2010-03-12T18:34:00.000-08:00

At last! Bluebonnets in bloom! There are plants just about everywhere so in a couple of weeks the hillsides are going to be blue with blossoms. It's 50/50 whether they will be blooming in mass before we leave for NY.

The women (Mary & Janet up in the air - you couldn't get me on one of those scaffolds for all the topaz in Mason County) are working at installing the windows. An excellent job, of course! I think I have forgotten to mention this is going to be the first certified "Green Energy Star" home with LEED certification in Mason County. Two thumbs up for Habitat!

And the last photo, John working on Tillie. Let's see, wine glass in the cup holder, snacks within reach, comfortable seat & sunshine. Doesn't it look like John's trying to figure out what he's missing?

Texas winds...

2010-03-11T17:08:00.000-08:00

There is absolutely nothing like a strong Texas wind. It is unrelenting. By the end of the workday we all felt like we'd been beaten. John may look like he's relaxing but he's just waiting for the final piece of sheathing to install on the walls. And if it looks like someone forgot a part of the roof to the left, that's supposed to be that way awaiting the porch rafters.

The other photo is of a yard we pass every day and pretty much has everything you'd want. The home water tower; a windmill that presumably pumped water for the tower; a birdhouse; a flag held nicely out by the wind; a cast iron bean pot hanging on some sort of rack which I suppose held it over a camp fire (it is filled with faded artifical flowers for a bit of cheer); and to the left of the flag pole is some sort of sculpture that I do hope you can enlarge - it's composed of assorted deer? horns and rusty iron stars. The gray thing? Maybe a gas tank? There's no telling what's behind the house.

The Pampered Bladder...

2010-03-10T15:43:00.000-08:00

Let me assure you that pampered describes your bladder, not ours. While Tillie (and us) have joined the group at the campground (look for the yellow), Tillie's "facilities" in no way equal those of our neighbors. John was the first to enjoy a "in the middle of the night stroll" to the public restroom. A couple of hours later I remembered that "exercising" in the middle of the night sure beat laying in bed dreaming of bathrooms. You, on the other hand, probably missed out last night on that "extra" bit of exercise (a plus for any weight loss program), the invigorating smell of fresh air (I'm sure that wards off all sorts of diseases) and the unanticipated excitement of wondering what that animal was running along on the edge of the campground lights... It's still too cold for the snakes to be wandering around at night, thank heavens!

This being Jimie's day off, she joined us at the work site with her daughter (who's on spring break). Among their new skills, use of a caulking gun and a cordless drill (Texans are always quick on the draw...) put right to use in the installation of the first window. Jimie has been posting pictures to the web site where she works, Gems of the Hill Country, if you'd like to see more photos than are on this blog. You might also want to visit that site if you're interested in topaz. To see her photos... on the left of their main menu choose Pictures; from that menu choose Habitat...

Tillie at the worksite...

2010-03-09T18:40:00.000-08:00

John knew you wouldn't believe Tillie actually made it, so here is photo proof positive. From left to right, me, India & Jimie (the new homeowners), and Tillie. That's their new home in the background. Many of the rafters went up today as did the shrink wrap. Have you ever tried to hang onto to an umbrella in a rainstorm? That's sort of what putting shrink wrap on a house is like in Texas winds. It's supposed to be even windier tomorrow, so everyone hustled just before quitting time to get the rest of it up and secured. We don't want to hold up progress. India is already "arranging the furniture" in her bedroom so we've got to keep making progress.

And then it was off to the campground and getting organized. Trying to remember where the socks go as opposed to silverware is proving to be a bit taxing after the end of the work day (not to mention happy hour...) If we can just find the sheets before we go drifting off to sleep...

Sometimes photos are worth a thousand words...

2010-03-08T18:11:00.000-08:00

The first photo is especially for Garry & George. It's the 1960 Jaguar Curtis is working on for the doctor. (From the amount of dust that's gathered "over time", I certainly am grateful that Curtis was able to work Tillie into a more prompt repair schedule...)

From the outside, Curtis' repair shop has 5 large garage doors in good condition that look like they open into your "regular" repair garage. From the inside... Well, there was no way I could begin to describe it, hence the photos. The last one is Curtis giving us thumbs up as Tillie is finally running again. She starts without being hot-wired and the use of a screw driver; the turn signals work (both directions at that!); the horn honks!; and just as important, the steering wheel is back in place (steering is just a little difficult when the wheel is sitting on the passenger seat.)

John drove her back to Mother's with no hiccups this time so we deemed it safe to add Texas to Tillie's "I've been there" map. (I suppose I should look for some gold or platinum stars to indicate repair shops where she's also been.)

No, Susan, no tent camping (yet). We've been staying at my mother's. Perhaps that's why Mother is smiling... she will no longer have to jockey with us for the bathroom in the mornings. Tomorrow night we plan to be parking Tillie next to the other Habitat folk in the campground (that is if Tillie hasn't gotten persnickety overnight!).

Ready for spring...

2010-03-07T16:47:00.000-08:00

Is this a peach tree? Whatever it is, it sure puts you in the mood for spring doesn't it?

The owner certainly thinks it spring too. That backwards red Texas next to the tree on the left is a hummingbird feeder. I haven't seen any hummingbirds yet but will now be on the lookout.

Today was a "landmark" day in terms of eating. It's the first day we've been in Texas that we haven't had pinto beans. When the USDA recommended eating more legumes I don't think they were talking about Texans. You don't suppose pinto bean consumption has anything to do with how windy it is in Texas, do you?

Where oh where is Tillie?

2010-03-06T15:06:00.000-08:00

Off to Brownwood today to get a better (or any) "handle" on what was happening with Tillie. Figured we'd just show up around ten since Curtis says he comes to work at 9 even though we've never yet been able to raise him by phone at 9... We were there at 10. Curtis wasn't. Is that Tillie we spot through the junk cars next to the building? Nope. That one's in worse shape than Tillie. Peeking in the garage windows Tillie was spotted inside next to a beautiful old Jaguar leaving us ponder if perhaps we weren't going to be financing its restoration.

Enough worse case scenarios! Better to do some shopping and leave the junkyard in charge of the dog. I tried calling every half hour or so to no avail. At noon John said let's just swing by one more time and, sure enough, Curtis is "in"!!!

Curtis was right. He is "sickly" (has the flu). And I was right. He is "older than dirt". However, he also really seems to know what he's doing (when he's well I suspect he moves faster...). The problem with Tillie was in the ignition which was so bad he said it was a miracle we'd made it all the way from NY. Some of the wires had melted and others had been badly spliced. He has made progress as he was out driving Tillie around last night and she started right up for John. However, during the "test drive" Curtis discovered the turn signals were also messed up (John had noted that on the way down, too) and something else wasn't working right so he had the steering wheel off again redoing those wires. To my way of thinking, working on the bus is probably a good project for someone who's sickly. He can take a nap in the back whenever he needs to which, noting the boots on the floor next to Tillie, may not be too far from the truth.

At any rate, John feels Tillie is in good hands and we're hoping Curtis feels better soon. I really didn't want the hassle of having her towed to the shop on the way into town that advertised "Horse breaking" and "engine tuning".

PS - The Jaguar belongs to a doctor in town who may have been waiting longer than we have...

And then it was Friday...

2010-03-05T19:14:00.000-08:00

A framed house (part of our week's effort) and another group shot, this time not for the obit page even though the empty seat does make it look like we're missing one of our own. A bit of trivia particularly for John & Judy. The guy (his name is Law, upper left in the floppy white hat) used to wear a similar hat similar that said "HEAD". Pre-retirement he was an engineer who helped design the machines used in the manufacture of Head tennis rackets. Joe (standing to the left of John) is also an engineer. Why oh why didn't we just have Tillie towed to the campground and let these two guys get her running for us? On the Tillie update front - John talked to Curtis again this morning. He's still feeling "sickly" (obviously Tillie is too since he hasn't fixed her yet...) We're going there tomorrow to determine (among other things) if this guy is alive enough to fix her so stay tuned...

Back at the building site, part of our sheathing crew are still having a good time and dressed to the nines, of course. It was only this afternoon that someone brought to our attention that it was "dress-down" Friday. As one of the ladies said, "If I'd remembered I wouldn't have shaved my legs."

And the last photo is "happy" hour to which we are all dedicated as you can see. Temps in the 50's and that cold Texas wind blowing but neither stops this hardy crew. I think Jan, the second from the right, depicts it all. Hat, heavy coat with layers underneath, yellow gloves and a glass of wine in each hand. Her blood's gotten a little thick (or is it thin?) since she left Buffalo...

Birthdays & the Press...

2010-03-04T18:50:00.000-08:00

Today was my sister Becky's birthday so of course I made her smile for that dreaded "Oh no, it's for the blog..." photo. Becky and friends have started a new fad - birthday "breakfast out" celebrations instead of some sort of evening "do". (The big advantages, of course, are no birthday candles to blow out or million calorie cakes to consume no matter how good they may seem at the time.) My sister & I gave up exchanging birthday gifts long ago but since we were in town and since we were being invited to breakfast it seemed only appropriate to take something. So last night before we left Mason we went shopping and found a book (previously read by someone) and a block with her initial. We had hoped to spell out her name but the antique/junk store was all out of vowels so we settled on just "B". John whipped out a ten for our purchase (obviously we were sparing no expense...) but Sam didn't have change so he told us just to take them and settle up the next time we were in town. By the way, Sam is the same guy who leaves the front door of the store wide open in case you want to look around and a note saying he'll be back shortly. Mason is an old-fashioned type of town.

And then there's the weekly newspaper, the Mason County News. Their "reporter" was at our lunch on Monday to take our photo and "get the scoop" and assure us of a good place in the paper. Sure enough. In this week's paper, there we are on page 3 right under the Obituaries (it's the most read part of the paper after all). We must have looked hungry because under the photo it says if "you would like to help feed these hard-working folks" to call Carlene.

In answer to your questions...

2010-03-03T18:24:00.000-08:00

Some of you wanted more info on the new block product I mentioned in an earlier blog. Always at your service, I knocked on Kent's door this morning (he's the owner) to find out more. The blocks are made from recycled paper they get from Houston combined with cement and a "secret additive". The finished product is much lighter in weight than a standard block (I can lift one with one hand and I'm a wimp!) and has an R value of 3.2 per inch which means an R factor of 32 for the 10" wall it makes. Photo top right is their "sample" building. They've been making the test block by hand but now that the 6 year testing period is over, they have an automatic block maker being manufactured for them in Canada. When it's up and running it will produce 15,000 blocks per day. And for those of you who still want more info, the web site is www.masongreenstar.com . (Do I get extra Brownie points or what?)

Photo 3 is also a recycling effort known as "dumpster diving". I'm here to report the paint crew managed to recycle a whole bag of "good" things including the bottoms of a whole bunch of jean legs. We could all think of uses for those.

Photo 4 is of another water tank, this one built with a concrete base. The older shorter one on the right was probably a holding tank for water for the livestock. It's built of native stone as was the one in the photo from yesterday. If your computer lets you enlarge the photo you'll also see a bucket with a pink ribbon on it hanging from the tree limb. That's where the key to the house is should you want to go in and look around (it's for sale).

And lest you think we're all just play, bottom left shows the paint crew working on the exterior trim (we're not counting the miles we've painted so far). And the last one was the house site at the end of the day. It's a fairly "unusual" method of construction since the interior walls are going up first (notice the shower in place?) and then the exterior walls are being added. If I understood it correctly this was because the interior walls got done first etc. etc. So far it seems to be working although they did run into a couple of glitches (correctable) with the interior wall dimensions. The architect blamed it on the local wine he was enjoying the night he drew up the plans.

And for the Tillie update... John talked to Curtis who said not to worry, "I'll git it goin'." (we're just not sure when...) It's something to do with fluctuating power going to the fuel pump from the ignition. He also said it was "newer" (Tillie is a '76) than what he usually worked on (I told you this guy was old!).

Breakfast, building & bulls...

2010-03-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

Today was another day of good eats! (If they don't quit feeding us we won't be able to move by the time this build is over..) Jimie brought us "tacos" for breakfast using her mother's handmade tortillas, a friend's farm eggs, and her father's homemade venison sausage. They were wonderful! Not to be outdone, Edna (photo upper right) invited us all to her historic home for a "sit down" lunch. Beans & homemade cornbread, pickled beets & tossed salad, German sausage & chicken and just in case we were still hungry, pound cake & Texas ice cream. Did I mention Edna is in her 90's? Texas & home cooking has agreed with her. And my mother, of course, was afraid we weren't getting enough to eat so made us a big meal filled with great vegetables. (Can't believe I'm still awake to write this!)

Now that I've made you all hungry, we really did do a little bit of work today. The walls that were finished were delivered to the job site along with the shower. (Apparently last year they forgot the shower until after the walls were up and they had to drop it in from above before the roof went on, a method of installation none of them wanted to repeat.) And the paint crew finished the last of the interior woodwork that could be painted before installation.

Fourth photo is happy hour. It was just barely warm enough to sit out, 53 (frost on the ground again this a.m.) but we managed.

The 5th photo is the back of Edna's house. The "tower" is the base of what used to be the water tank for the house. Now she's on city water. These old water towers are all over town and are beautiful & quaint.

The last photo is Gus, the steer, who showed up today across from where Tillie is supposed to be camping. Curtis (I finally got a name for the current VW guru) called to say Tillie's wiring is a mess patched together in a tangle. Among other things, he thinks the ignition is faulty but thought he had another somewhere out in the yard (whatever that meant). Curtis sounded older than dirt to me. If he's been working on VW's for 40 years, he must have been 50 when he started! At any rate, tomorrow is yet another day so we'll see what happens...

Mason at last!

2010-03-01T18:08:00.000-08:00

Then there were 20, Care-A-Vanners that is, here in Mason to help build a home for Jimie (pronounced Jimmy) and her daughter India (first photo). They are both very friendly and excited, of course, about what's happening. We all are.

Because it was cold (40's), windy, and looking like rain today everyone worked inside this huge empty soon to be factory to cut the wood and frame the walls to be taken to the home site in the next day or two. (The factory will soon be making a new type of building block from recycled paper and cement. I'll try to take a photo of their new product to post later in the week.)

Besides the wall crew a few of us wiser women went to the Habitat warehouse in town to paint trim and doors. We "wise women" did have several advantages... it wasn't as noisy; we had a flush toilet (the port-a-john didn't arrive at the other building until afternoon and although the men used the great outdoors, the women about knocked each other over in a race for the restroom at lunchtime!); it is next door to the Thrift Shop (you would LOVE it, Susan!) where we, of course, had to go to buy rags (and browse a bit...); and we were only a half block from the church that hosted us for lunch. Upper right are the buttermilk pies and the pecan pies they served for dessert. They do treat us well and between their cooking and my mother's cooking we'll be waddling off that plane when we return the end of the month.

How is Tillie doing? Wish we knew. John talked to the VW guru this morning (John didn't ask his name so we have no idea who he is except that he has Tillie), he wasn't sure when he would be able to look at her as he was "feelin' a little sickly today"....

About cats and rattlesnakes... last night at our welcome to Mason dinner, one of the Habitat board members was telling me about her 7 cats (and I thought George & Vicki had a lot of cats!). She credits her cats with keeping the rattlesnakes away from the house. Then she went on to say her husband never goes to fields without his pistol and shotgun. The rattlers she described as being 3 inches in diameter and stretching across the road (if that doesn't give you shivers I don't know what will). So I'm thinking, wow!, these must be some cats. But her theory is the pickings are slim for the snakes around the house because the cats keep the field mice population down. If it was me I think I'd adopt another dozen cats as added insurance...

Need I say more?

2010-02-28T09:05:00.000-08:00

"It looks like a salvage yard" was my mother's comment about the garage where we had Tillie taken.

When Tillie finally makes it to Bridge in Seattle, her true owner, we'll obviously need something to take her place. Should we look for an older version... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56XL0TysIn0

or the newer version... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJXTBZLRfR4

A bit of trivia to add to today's reading... McCullough County Texas (where we're at) has more than three times as many goats as it has people and Brady is the home of the World Champion Barbeque Goat Cook-off that takes place Labor Day weekend. San Angelo (the closest big-deal town) just had their Stock Show & Rodeo. The Grand Champion Wether Goat sold for $22,500; the Steer for $18,900; the Lamb for $14,550; and the Barrow (pig) for $7,500. Be honest. When you think of Texas livestock, what would you think of first? Perhaps you should think again...

Gardens, garages & gastronomes...

2010-02-27T11:45:00.000-08:00

Although these photos were taken yesterday, the activities are pretty much the same today except it is a tad warmer (do I dare tell you it is 70?!) and the sun has been shining all day. That equals spring planting here in Texas. My mother is hard at work in her vegetable garden planting Swiss chard to replace the turnips she just pulled. (And, of course, I have more laundry on the line...) It's amazing. From that little garden she occasionally has enough produce to give some away. Her words of wisdom for you to remember = "Cow manure is better than chicken manure".

I suspect you thought all our problems with Tillie had finally been resolved. Well........... only in our dreams. Tillie drove around town the first day we were in Brady but the minute John parked her under the carport she decided she liked it and has refused to budge. In a snit about taking her out in the middle of winter, I guess, and she is taking no chances that we might take her back. Her "buddies" this time are my brother-in-law on the left who brought over, Mike, the guy on his knees and is the best mechanic in the area. Mike actually got her running yesterday but when John went out to start Tillie up shortly after Mike had left, she refused to start again. Mike is on his way over again today but if that doesn't work it may mean a trip on a flatbed (whether she likes it or not) to another VW guru about 40 miles away. He has parts although I'm not sure what's left to be replaced...

And under the category of "not to be believed".... about a dozen blocks from my mother's is Brady Donuts which has the best donuts in Brady according to my family. Although there are no signs to tell you, they also serve wonderful Cambodian food at lunchtime (we can now testify to that). If you've never been to Brady, it is in the middle/heart of Texas a "million miles" from anything non-Texan and where BBQ brisket & Mexican food rule. However, no food shortcuts for the owners. They use the real ingredients driving 2 hours one way to the Austin Asian market for things like lemongrass & spicy basils that aren't available locally. The next time you pass a donut shop you might give it a second glance and wonder what else they might be cooking up in their back room...

A morning in Brady...

2010-02-26T11:17:00.000-08:00

Brady, the county seat of McCullough County, has a beautifully restored old courthouse. If your computer can enlarge the photo you might note that while they left the jury seats original (they swivel but are unpadded to keep the jurors awake I imagine) the general seating is nicely padded and comfortable. My sister goes for training at the courthouse this afternoon as the Democratic representative to help count and scan the absentee and paper ballots received for Tuesday's primary. When asked to bring a couple of her Democratic friends she allowed she didn't have/know any other than her husband & mother. (I know you are smiling out there, Joe...)

Next stop, Damuth Taxidermy. Never in my wildest dreams would it have occurred to me to stop there but it was fascinating and their work is impeccable. Museum quality to be sure. George & Joe - if you need a little stuffing done, send it here. On the other hand if you just need a set of antlers to "show off", the guy in the bottom left makes fake ones that look just like the originals. He says hunters sometimes have several sets made of a favorite rack to give to friends as souvenirs. The turkey "wing" was particularly spectacular and my mother & sister want everyone to note the table legs just in case you were wondering what to do with any spare legs you might have around the house. It's an amazing business employing 15 people full time and "memorializing" (my term, not theirs) everything from life-size giraffes for $27,500 (they just did one as a matter of fact) down to fresh water fish for $14 per inch. (Think about it KK...)

Back to the living, we passed a "Nut Hustler". I thought it was for picking up pecans & John thought it was for shelling pecans but it turns out it is used for spraying the trees to keep the bugs out of the nuts.

And finally, a trip to the supermarket to show you times are changing even here. Used to be stores here did not have olive oil or, if they did, it was in very small bottles. Now you can buy it in quarts. Of course lard is still king taking up 2 shelves and available in 25 pound buckets...

Of family & spring...

2010-02-25T12:22:00.000-08:00

This is my mother posing with a batch of her homemade hand-rolled hand-cut egg noodles made with farm eggs we brought from New York. She does make the BEST chicken and noodles which, if I remember the story correctly, my father insisted she learn to make the "right way" from his mother. She earned an "A".

And in case you're wondering, she a naturally happy person which is why she is smiling and not because the bottle of wine has been partly consumed...

Today was the day "set aside" for my sister and I to help Mother prep her next quilt for the frame. Years ago she ran out of quilt projects so I suggested she make one for her own bed for every season. This is the one for fall but has been stashed away for a bit while she quilted quilts for others. In the meantime she mislaid the name of the pattern so if any of you quilters out there know what it is, please let us know. She's already got it on the quilt frame. She listens to Diane Rehm while she quilts and tells me she's fallen behind in her listening.

One last photo for you folks in the northeast. Since Texas seems to have sent you their snow (in feet we understand), perhaps that means you will soon be receiving spring flowers as well.

Of snowmen & Olympics...

2010-02-24T08:16:00.000-08:00

I assure you that although this snowman on the left does look a bit like me after that harrowing trip from NY to Texas in Tillie, we did NOT bring it with us for NY. It is impressive that Texas had enough snow to make a snowman this time of year especially since the normal temperature for late February is 66.

The other two snowmen look a bit more jolly.

Perhaps they also think it a bit silly that school in Brady was closed yesterday and delayed two hours again today... Can't be too careful I guess.

With predictions of nothing but sun today and temperatures in the high 40's I hung laundry on the line. Pretty pathetic that all over France I had my choice of clothesline shots to include in the daily blog while here in the US I only saw clothes hung out three times on the trip down and have to take pictures of my own clothes on the line. However, it is my mother's clothesline and she still hangs out clothes when possible. (Rumor has it she's 88...) Perhaps we need to create an Energy Conservation Olympics with competitions in laundry hanging or garden digging or.... submit your suggestions...

The forecast for today is for a big melt

And now for the real scoop...

2010-02-23T07:47:00.000-08:00

Our adventure from yesterday that I was too weary to post last night...

After looking across the Mississippi into Louisiana for two days, Tillie finally added this state to her map. And we began seeing signs for things perhaps you won't see other places. Crawfish - loved the sign at a restaurant advertising them "live or boiled" (no need for a comment here, your imagination is as good as mine...). Then there's the person with BBQ barrels in his side yard and a handwritten sign saying "Fresh Coons" with a painting of raccoon just in case you didn't think you read it right. It seemed a bit early for lunch (or dinner or...) so we just kept going. "Strange Stump Grinding" was another goody.

But even in Tillie on Louisiana back roads it doesn't take long to cross the narrow part of the state so before noon we were in Point Blank, Texas. Another blink and on we went with the temperatures dropping. John reconnected Tillie's "heat" (by the way she can really crank out the heat when the outside temps are above 60... As the temperature outside falls so does her heating capacity.). Early afternoon we were in Huntsville the home of Sam Houston and his statue which is the "World's Tallest Statue of an American Hero". (Give it some thought. I suspect even where you live you could come up with being the world's something or other...) While we did take the time to find Sam, we passed on visiting "Old Sparky", Texas' first electric chair, at the Texas Prison Museum. (Was that just Tillie or did we all shutter as we drove by?) We were intrigued by the sign outside the working prison by the Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice for their "Horse Development Program". (Is this for horses gone wrong?) But time was short because of the approaching snow so we decided to "bite the bullet" (seems a most appropriate phrase to use in this part of the world) and drive on to Brady. The rest is, of course, history (please refer to yesterday's blog is you are unsure if we arrived...)

Natchez to Brady...

2010-02-22T20:22:00.000-08:00

A quick post so those of you who are following us won't think we're stranded somewhere... again...
Even though we hadn't planned to drive this far today, the treat of snow for tomorrow at my mother's in Brady (what is with this weather?!!!) spurred us on. For once Tillie ran like a top up until... With only 11 miles to go she began to cough and the generator light came on. We turned off clock, unplugged the GPS, put the lights on low which helped some. Then John remembered he'd turned on the heater fan earlier. When he turned that off, walla, she returned to normal. Since we almost never drive Tillie at night we had forgotten how bad she is at multi-tasking. So we made it to Brady without incident!!! Then the most amazing thing happened. About 4 blocks from my mother's we pass a VW just like Tillie coming out of a side street. He was amazed too because he followed us the rest of the way and we're now "in the know" about area mechanics should Tillie feel "the need..."

A Day in Natchez...

2010-02-21T13:57:00.000-08:00

Oh, the joy of sidewalks beneath your feet without the anticipation of "breakdown"! We woke up this morning to find Tillie tucked snugly in the parking lot so we were left to explore Natchez uninhibited by the limitations of a certain yellow vehicle. Using the suggested walking tour we walked the river front and "below Natchez" as JE suggested. Very pretty (but I think we're still panting - strolling downhill is one thing after several days of sitting but going uphill is another story...). At Rosalie Mansion John was allowed to run his hands across the keyboard of the piano which, I'm to point out to Terry, is a Chickering, the same year & maker as ours at home. (However, even tone deaf me can tell you there's a world of difference in how they sound.) In this same parlor room were also two ladies spittoons (not that that has anything to do with anything...)

Several churches, walkbys of many other beautiful "homes" & a visit to the Natchez Coffee Roasters (no roaster in sight and our coffee was served in a paper cup. Now really, they should be able to do better than that!) found us wanting more so it was off to Longwood, the largest octagonal house in the US. Our tour guide pointed out (for our benefit I'm sure) that NY state has the most octagonal houses - 130. This one was started before the Civil War and the project abandoned when the war started with just the exterior and the "basement" completed. We should all have such basements. Very elegant so don't take pity on the Nutt family who were "forced" to live there without completing the upper floors. Although a bathroom was in the plans for the second floor using rainwater collected off the roof, the family "made do" (sorry...) with a 5 seater outhouse, 2 rooms, one with seating for 3 and one for 2, no waiting. Amazingly, there were to be 6 floors (in the house that is) plus the basement. The person who bought the property from the family and gave it to the Pilgrimage Garden Club stipulated it was never to be completed. We understand a ghost wanders the building and they have a great Halloween party in case you are interested. Also, amazingly, that is Tillie you see parked outside. Longwood was just a bit too far out of town to walk. Even more amazing, Tillie didn't require a mechanic today either!!!!!!!!!

Dinner tonight was at King's Tavern, thought to be the oldest building in Natchez (late 1700's) where the food is good and the ghosts are renowned, especially Madeline. She apparently had been having an affair with King, the tavern owner, and his wife had her killed. Her body was discovered bricked into the fireplace in the 1900's and she still haunts the tavern (or so says the Enquirer). Two other bodies were also found but I guess they keep a low profile. Supposedly if you take a photo in Madeline's bedroom you'll see her aura. (You do see it, don't you?)

Tupelo to Natchez

2010-02-20T16:33:00.009-08:00

Look familiar? And just so we get this out of the way because I know you are wondering... the "mechanic of the day" is Chris Moak who came to our assistance, roadside no less. (His friends from just across the road from where Tillie decided to stop gave him a call.) For a real job Moak repairs huge Caterpillar generator motors on oil rigs in the Gulf. For kicks he plays around with a friend who is a VW guru. (The guru, although Moak is certainly no slough, was off digging an outhouse for artifacts... for fun...) At any rate, the guru has the part we need but we have to wait until he gets home so we left Tillie beside the road and Moak brought us to a hotel he recommended. He'll fix Tillie and deliver her to us later. Mississippi folks are the best!

Now that that bit of info is out of the way... we started the day at Elvis' birthplace in Tupelo. This is John age 65 next to Elvis age 13. Age is only an illusion. It also turns out Tupelo's shimmering and shaking is not limited to Elvis. It's also the home of America's first fish hatchery which we chose to bypass. Instead we hopped onto the Natchez Trace Parkway again and headed to Natchez. 260 beautiful miles through Mississippi countryside with no traffic lights or stop signs and almost no traffic. I counted 11 vehicles in the last 33 miles we traveled. Along the way we saw turkeys, deer, hawks, heron, daffodils, armadillos, cotton fields, Spanish moss and had a picnic lunch beside the Pearl River. It's a great way to cross Mississippi and enjoy one of our National Parks.

The one off the parkway stop we did make was at the little town of Kosciusko for gas. By chance, it turns out to be the birthplace of Opray Winfrey so of course we had to go take a look... Obviously no one has caught on that if they were to capitalize on this and open something for tourists on the site they might go a long way in bringing in some added jobs and revenue to the low income folks on this back country road. PS - This was the first stop of the day where Tillie had to be "defibbed" to get started again.

Given Tillie's fickleness, we dare not push our luck by traveling on a Sunday so we're staying put in Natchez for a day. Monday we have a better chance of finding someone new for Tillie to meet.

Tupelo, Tupelo, Tupelo

2010-02-19T17:51:00.000-08:00

Today dawned bright and sunny, warm at last with blue skies. Tillie started right up and we headed west across the rolling red clay hills of north Georgia into Alabama. My only notes from this morning were lots of fishermen doing their thing and spotting the first clotheslines with clothes hung out to dry. And, just in case you're interested, there's a zoo for sale near Paint Rock, AL.

Finally (we gained an hour and are now in Central Time), it was time for lunch so we decided to find something in the neat downtown section of Athens, AL. As we were rounding one corner of the square there was a loud snap and, E-gads!, no clutch (so much for lunch...). While John was once again groveling around under Tillie, I put on my "sleuthing hat" and went in search of info regarding a VW mechanic. Tillie must have the luck of the Irish because, sure enough, Hill Automotive was only 4 blocks away, and downhill at that so we could actually roll her there. Bruce (the beloved mechanic for today) did not have a new cable but was able to splice it with another one he had. Now let's be honest. You're thinking what a pain in the butt this all is and how it must be costing us a fortune. But that's not really the case. We get to meet a lot more people than you probably would zipping by in a nice new car. And, I suspect, if any of these things went wrong with your car you might still be waiting on parts. These old ones can get going again with practically nothing other than a little ingenuity. And the mechanics like them (and take pity I suspect) so never seem to charge the going rate. (The total of all 4 emergency stops with parts is still under $200.) There are some really GREAT people out there!

While Tillie was having her afternoon "fix" with Bruce the mechanic, I went exploring Athens. Loved the Limestone Drugstore (photo above) in the old bank building so wandered in to see what it was like inside. Turns out while you wait to have your prescription filled, you can get an ice cream at this beautiful old soda fountain. There is absolutely nothing on the outside to indicate it's there so if Tillie hadn't broken down I would never have gotten my first ice cream cone of the year. Cost me all of 81 cents I might add. Maybe I'm the lucky one!

Mid afternoon we were on our way again. Saw signs for Ivy Green, the birthplace of.... Helen Keller but decided to pass it by. About 5 miles beyond that was a sign for "Coon Dog Cemetery" but decided to skip that as well. I know, I know, we've just got no sense of adventure sometimes. But eventually we hopped on the beautiful Natchez Trace Parkway and made our way at a leisurely 50 mph Tillie pace to Tupelo (I just love that name). It's the birthplace of.... Elvis Presley so we'll probably be dreaming of hound dogs, or maybe coon dogs, all night.

A tribute to chickens...

2010-02-18T17:08:00.000-08:00

Today was a GREAT day for driving & enjoying the scenery. No snow, moderate wind, a relaxing time to take some notes for you as we traveled into South Carolina. Loved the NC license plate that read "S*NSHINE"; and the billboard for a motel that advertised "Fresh, new bedding" (as opposed to?...); Blenheim world famous ginger ale (now you know if you didn't before); a truck towing a container that read "Rain for Rent" (expect this is a low time of year for them). You can also tell it's getting warmer inside Tillie as well. John left his snow mobile boots in NJ and we shed our hats in NC. In SC we unzipped our coats and in Georgia I put away one of my lap robes. Things are looking up!

Tillie must sense that this may be her first and last trip through the south so seems determined to check in at least once a day with one our nation's backyard VW gurus. Today when we stopped at the Georgia welcome stop, Tillie refused to start again. John worked on her while I chatted up the personnel to locate "Hooker" who turned out to be only about 10 miles away. I also called AAA for a tow, but John got her going in time so that little "excitement" could be canceled. Hooker worked her right in and after putting in new timing stuff, she's running like a top again. (Can't wait to see who she'll find for us tomorrow...)

We didn't make it quite as far as we'd intended today so tonight finds us in Gainesville, Georgia which as luck would have it, is the Poultry Capital of the World, a fact that the tourist info office at the border fails to mention in its info but which we think is pretty neat. Never, ever have we seen a monument dedicated to a chicken, one of my favorite birds.

Of Bluebirds & BBQ

2010-02-17T16:31:00.000-08:00

Much to our amazement, Tillie started right up this morning. Guess the hot wire/jolt last night acted like a defibrillator and set her to rights. However, (why is there usually a however?) she absolutely refused to go into reverse and only begrudingly went into second. So it was back to our now favorite mechanic at CJ Buggs. A little adjustment to the clutch (plus, I suspect, a good talking to her by Charlie that if she didn't shape up she'd be sitting in a snow bank until spring with her cousin who is waiting on a new motor...) and we were on our way down the beautiful Shenandoah Valley.

Lunch found us in Union Grove, NC the home of the oldest old time Fiddler's Convention in North America and also the home of the Cook Shack. That's the kitchen to the right with the cook who makes the best cheeseburger in NC. And to the left (with me) is LW Lambert who has been world banjo champion 11 times in his career. He's now 84 but still plays most Saturday mornings along with other bluegrass bands at the Cook Shack. So if you're in Union Grove on a Saturday morning stop by for some great pickin' and some great cookin'!

Then it was on to Hickory to George & Vicki's where it is sunny (YES!), above freezing (YES!), the snow is mostly gone (YES!), the robins & bluebirds are everywhere (YES! YES!), the pork BBQ is just as good as we remember (YES!), and George & Vicki & the cat kids are looking great (YES!). While "the guys" were out doing guy things, I spent a relaxing afternoon seeing some of the wonderful things Vicki is doing in her photography classes at the college. She's on the high honors list - no surprise.

Tomorrow we're off again, to where? is yet to be determined.

And we're off... again...

2010-02-16T17:21:00.000-08:00

Braving the snow and the cold, we start Tillie up and we're on the road again, heading south.

We had forgotten but were reminded today how much VW's hate the wind. Between the winds and the trucks, traveling on 81 south certainly kept us awake. Plus it gave John a good shoulder workout trying to keep her in our lane. As for myself, I was just trying to keep warm.

Trivia question... What do Woodrow Wilson & the Stadler Bros. have in common?

Making it to our destination mid-afternoon we decide to fill up with gas before finding a place to stay and doing a bit of sightseeing. No problem except.... Tillie forgets how to start or turn over or even make a noise. I suppose you (not me) could say it is lucky that I have not forgotten how to push. Where oh where is Mary who was with us when Tillie had to be pushed on our last trip west?! For some reason she thinks studying jellyfish in Japan is more exciting than going with us on this trip - go figure! The first photo is the auto parts store who diagnosed the problem as a dead battery and they happily sold us a new one which John (not so happily) put in and which did NOT solve the problem.

However, as with all good VW's of which Tillie is one, they never break down unless they're in reach of a "VW guru". Sure enough, CJ Buggs was only two miles away and even though it was almost quitting time, Charlie took us in and got us going again. Diagnosis - a dead starter motor. None in town so he jury rigged a "jump start" system to bypass the starter so I don't have to push (I love that man!). Of course we still have to get a new starter but hopefully our friend George will have that situation well in hand by the time we get to Hickory tomorrow.

Oh yes, the answer to the trivia question is Staunton, VA (pronounced without the "u"). We had planned to walk around their pretty Victorian town and visit the Wilson library and.... but I guess that will have to wait for another trip south.

Waiting out the clipper...

2010-02-15T15:55:00.000-08:00

Let's see... Judy's wonderful blueberry almond french toast for breakfast; an outing to fill up Tillie's tank before the snow comes (it's evening and it's just arriving...); cousin John repairing John's band saw; a bit of grocery shopping followed by a stop at the Habitat Store (just our luck, it's closed on Mondays). Time? 10:15 a.m. Task left? A picture for this blog.

While it may appear John took up employment in a workshop style tavern, it's actually the new bar cousin John has in the works, complete with bar stools, for their home. It's made completely with wood from their own property and an original design by cousin John. The bar is almost done - needs a bit of finish that he'll do in their auto body spray booth. The stools need some steam bent wooden circles to hold the legs together - thank heavens! When I first saw them I knew there would be no way I'd ever dare sit on them as they are. Can't you just imagine those beautiful curved legs going splat?! And, of course, if we all come to visit, they're going to need a lot more than two!

Although hanging out at the bar has been a lot of fun, we hope to be on the road again tomorrow!

The Plan - Go to Texas for a little warm weather???

2010-02-14T14:16:00.000-08:00

The reality - well, your guess is as good as ours...

Add to that - we're driving Tillie, the VW. There are several things we knew (had forgotten but now definitely remember!). VW's HATE cold weather and particularly snow but where is there NOT snow in the US right now? This is Tillie "warming up" in our driveway in NY and the scene in NJ is not much different.

So what else had we forgotten? The inside of these buses in the winter are COLD! Except that they have motors, they are not unlike a buggy - bumpy, breezy, and invigorating. You bundle up with everything you have own (note John's driving apparel including the felt lined boots). For myself I added a lap rope (they aren't just for old folks' homes), then another... An hour into the drive the engine had finally heated up to almost normal although that does nothing for the inside heat situation but does make it run a bit smoother. Old VW's are also a bit breezy - no chance of carbon monoxide poisoning you will be relieved to know. Next - Tillie always draws a lot of attention making us feel rather like royalty on parade. This time of year, however, we did begin to think they were just wondering who let those two old crazies out? Then there is the issue of "wimpy" windshield wipers and John's groveling at my feet (we're stopped, of course) trying to get the windshield wiper fluid working. This involves finding the fluid hose, connecting the bicycle pump and giving it 15 pumps for pressure (who thought that one up?!). From my perspective under the lap robes, it was hysterical. Who knows what folks who passed thought John was doing at my feet that caused the lady to be laughing hysterically. Of course, this was followed sometime later by a discussion on where to buy a spray bottle so John could stick his arm out the window periodically to spray the windshield to clean it... (Mercifully, the road dried and this tactic did not become necessary...) And finally there was the air leak we could hear when we arrived, only to finally realize it was only static from the radio (static being the only station available on a VW radio - no surprise). But we're here at cousins John & Judi's in good spirits and, from the sounds of the weather forecast, likely to remain for a couple of days... Stay tuned...

Friday - Back in New York State...

2009-10-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

Actually, the first shot is Belvidere, NJ (my favorite town in NJ) at the best breakfast place we know - Thisilldous (to pronounce it, separate the letters... this 'ill do us - I'm ashamed to tell you how long it took me to figure that one out!). At any rate the cook makes really interesting and great tasting American breakfasts (cousin John had today's special of pumpkin stuffed French toast crusted with pecans). When we were talking to him about our trip he shared he had graduated from the Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. While there, he had lived on one of the boats under the Eiffel Tower. Small world!
2) One of our first views coming back into NY. How beautiful is that even if the umbrella of sunshine that has followed us around is missing?!!!
3) Pat "expected" to be on the road to Buffalo by noon but... dead battery... jump start... garage... lunch... new battery... She hasn't shown up back at our house so we hope that means she's on the road...
4) Clothesline shot (my own) sans clothes. It is raining here after all!

If you want to bear with me, we came up with a few "un-photographed" items, in no particular order, of our trip to share with you.
- There are 55 stairs from the entrance hall to Lizzie's guest rooms in London. Little did we suspect she was just trying to shape us up for those stairs in France!
- The walls of Zelda & Brian's cottage in Brittany are covered with his wonderful, colorful paintings of French country folk. (He doesn't sell or show his work - you are left to imagine.)
- On our second day of driving in France, cousin John was flagged over by a policeman at a round-about and given a breathalyzer test. Even though it was 1:30, we had not stopped for lunch so John was "clean" as the whistle he had to blow into. He did get to keep it for a souvenir.

- American music was everywhere we went. If you're into the music scene, the US is obviously the place you want to be.

- The French only use debit cards. No credit. If you don't have the money for it, you don't buy it. (Draw your own conclusions...)

- The public toilets are generally marginal and best left to our memories including my getting locked in the toilet in Vannes... (I'm home so obviously, I'm out...)

- In spite of several "near misses" where the collective sharp inhalations of our car's passengers about emptied the car of oxygen, the two driving Johns returned the car without a scratch and all of us without a heart attack.

We had a GREAT time!

And we trust that blur of red that passed us on our way home meant J&J did too!

Thursday - zigzagging our way home

2009-10-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

Our plane tickets - leave from Bordeau at 6:15 a.m. (Yes, you read it right. That's a.m. as in morning. Arg!) The general accepted rule for international flights is to be at the airport 2 hours before departure. Let's see... 6:15 minus 2 hours (it doesn't even bear thinking about - arg! arg!).

However, in Bordeau one cannot get a cab until 4:30 a.m. (they do have some principles...) So 4:30 it was. (Of course that meant getting up at... arg! arg! arg!) We, the passengers may have been at the airport a little after 4:30, but the check-in staff were not. So we waited, and waited, and waited until about 5:00 at which time staff began drifting in. By 5:20 we'd checked our luggage and gotten our boarding passes. However the security staff weren't there. They showed up about 5:45. (What's the big rush after all?) The cafe/coffee vendors? Who knows what their hours were. At any rate, by the time we got to the gate we were able to board promptly.

Then came Amsterdam. By that time we felt a bit like these guys who greeted us. Only a 5 hour layover there. To "allow" you to go home without any euros left the airport has shops for just about everything except beds. (If you want to start a new business this might be just the thing...)

Finally, we were on the plane for our flight home. It only took 6 hours to get to London so we were all thinking the same to get home. Forgot Amsterdam was a bit further away. Duh! Forgot it takes longer to fly into the wind than with a strong tailwind. Duh! Duh! So... 8 hours later...

New Jersey and Joe in the Suburban never looked so good!!! Thank you Joe!!!

And, it's true, our luggage (not to mention all of us) would never have fit in that red Corvette. But, where oh where could it be? As we came into Newark we had a great view of NYC and I thought I saw something red buzzing along a street in Brooklyn. Any sightings, Kathleen?

Check tomorrow for one final blog about the trip. After all, we aren't all home yet!

And sorry, no clothesline shot of the day. Bleary eyed travelers at airports may need to have their laundry done but...

Wednesday - Moving on...

2009-10-09T03:40:00.000-07:00

1) Amazing, but true - In spite of another week's worth of "expanding" we were able to pack all our luggage and the six of us into the car.
2) The "guys" - brothers, cousins, double cousins - too confusing...
3) The "gals" - simple friends (leave it to the women to keep things simple)
4 & 5) The red stone village of Meyssac on the way to Bordeau. Red or not, it was again lovely, interesting and built on a hill so we could get in a few last steps.
6) My clothesline shot of an upper balcony packed (if you can make it out) with drying racks.
7) Even a clothing store had a clothesline painted on the window.
8) One last photo of Meyssac. I actually had tried to capture the two little French women coming home with their baguettes, but these hill women are speedy and you only see a glimpse of the them to the left.
9) The land flattens out around Bordeau and is also a bit warmer so the fields switch over to vineyards. The new highway to Bordeau lets you zip right along.

Speaking of zipping right along, did Vicki & George and Sherm & Linda see that red Corvette passing through North Carolina in a BIG hurry?!!

Our last day in Peyrissac

2009-10-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

1) Rita moving her horses from a lower pasture back to the one by the house. These horses are worse than walking a dog - they have to stop and sniff everything plus they have to stop and munch newly fallen chestnuts and fresh grass along the way. (At least they don't lift their legs...)
2) The tree in the middle of the photo, the one with the thickest trunk, is within a hundred feet of Frank & Rita's. Admittedly, at first glance that doesn't look very interesting until you learn that it is sequoia/giant redwood planted in 1889 by one of the village women. Saplings were given out at the World's Fair in Paris which she went to - the same fair for which the Eiffel Tower was built. Moral of the story - you're never too old to plant a tree as someone will be along at some point to appreciate it. The lady who planted this one I'm sure never imagined YOU would be looking at it.
3) The view out our bedroom window (also the entrance to Rita & Frank's home).
4) The hound dog who barks all night and sleeps all day. (Where are those hunters when you need them?!)
5) Ladies in waiting (probably to appear on someones dinner table).
6) The post office in Mercoeur, the next village over and the town Peyrissac is in. You might also note the clothesline in the patio just before it. I suppose if you spoke French well enough you could probably negotiate to have your clothes washed, dried, and mailed home.
7) Off to Argentat for a last bit of sightseeing and lunch and, what else?, stairs, stairs, stairs. To take one's mind off the stairs you might note the clothesline with clothes hanging on the balcony.
8) The crew outside the Le Saint Jacques restaurant where we had lunch (after climbing so many stairs one does have to fortify oneself you know) - another GREAT meal I might add. For once we were close enough to our beds to actually enjoy an afternoon siesta.
9) In case you want to learn just a little French, the word for trash can is poubelle (pronounced poo-bell). This one is reserved for tourists. So polite the French! Merci!

Back in the states we learned that J&J always wanted to visit the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. I understand a red Corvette was seen in their parking lot. Keep an eye out, Joe...

On the roads less traveled...

2009-10-05T11:34:00.000-07:00

1) This photo is especially for George. It's hunting season here and because Frank & Rita give permission for hunters to hunt on their land they are rewarded with part of the kill. Rita is holding yesterday's delivery of the rear haunch of a deer. In case you're wondering these deer are much smaller than we're used to in the states - only about 4 feet high.
2) Pat & I found buried in her guide book a reference to a flour mill that has been in operation since the late 1200's (that is NOT an error in typing either). The next time you're near Cales, it's well worth a side trip.
3) The owner explaining how it works.
4) The flour "sifter" sorting the flour into different areas of fineness.
5) And, he saves the best for last, the upstairs where people have lived for centuries. It looked like he still does too as it had a modern stove and washing machine behind where I took the photo. He's showing us how folks used to use the walk-in fireplace. Also notice the bottle and small glasses on the table. Other than a wine tour, I think this is the first tour where I've ever been served a sample of the local brew. This one happened to be plum alcohol that you consumed with sugar cubes. You could also crack and eat some of their local walnuts if you were so inclined. (Bob had two shots of the plum liquor and treated us all to lunch. I looked in the grocery to see if I could find more of that liquor, but no luck - or perhaps it's Bob that's lucky...)
6) Parking - Yes it was under a cliff and more or less in the road, not that it mattered. Believe me, we were the only traffic there abouts.
7) John, Judy & Bob with Rocamadour, the cliff village, in the distance on the left. We chose to just view rather than walk dooooooown and uuuuuuuuup. Besides, it really is very touristy.
8) The entrance to Gouffre de Padriac, a huge cave that has a river running through it. That speck you see on the path down there is actually a person. For once this French site had a series of 3 elevators that take you down to the opening. Then (after going down a few more stairs) they take you by boat on the river deep into the cave where another guide takes you by foot deeper into the cave. It really is huge and has beautiful formations. Then, surprise!, it's up 150 steps (believe me we counted every one!) ooooh-ing and aaaaah-ing and hufffffffing and pufffffffing over stalactites & ...mites until we came down another 150 steps before arriving back to the boats for the return trip. Guess what? Those "few" steps we came down after getting off the elevator suddenly seemed to multiply but at least the elevators were still running.
9) In the cottage Pat, John & I are staying in, we also have a walk-in fireplace with, you guessed it, a clothesline!

Where is that red Corvette? Did Jeannette & Don see one in southern Missouri? And perhaps that really was a Corvette Beni & her friend saw in St. Louis heading toward the Arch...

Move over Julia... & Julie...

2009-10-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

Shots mostly from Peyrissac...
1) Pat "at home" enjoying a flat surface and her nightly read.
2) One of the trails that Rita, Mary & Frank cleared for the horses. It looks beautiful now but I can tell you it had to have been a LOT of work at the time.
3) A spring (they call it the source) in Rita & Frank's field. It's one of the springs pilgrims stopped at on their trip to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. They would stop at the spring and often spend the night at the monastery that's just over the hill and which still has monks. Rita & I were out walking this morning (the hills are STEEP so those pilgrims were in good shape, believe me!) when we heard the bells ringing. I listened but couldn't hear the monks chant. Next trip.
4) The ceiling continues to go up in between sightseeing, eating and drinking. Please note it's only the men in the photo that are related on this trip. Who knew so many women could put up with so many Grossmann/Keck's for so long!
5) After having just seen "Julie & Julia" and then coming to the heart of France, I felt obligated to make beef bourguignon for lunch to day. Bet Julia didn't have Rita's wild mushrooms to add to hers! It was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS even if I do say so myself.
6) Clothesline (really a drying rack) photo of the day with guard cat.
7) This is an alert to Pat's kids - that's Pat coming out of the realtor's office in Beaulieu. Your inheritance may be changing soon...
8) This photo is especially for Susann who sent Rita dye for her wool. Wouldn't you LOVE to have a studio like that?! (I do apologize, the collage cut off part of the building.)
9) The group enjoying the evening outside the cottage Pat, John & I are staying in directly across the road (all 8 feet of it) from Rita & Frank's. The dog with cats on top sleeps in the middle of the road - not a problem since they get one car once a week going by on the same morning each week. I gather the dog, sighs but gets up and moves for this car.

Back in Brady, Texas, my mother & sister (in separate houses) may have been wakened early this morning by the roar of an engine. It was the talk at the local coffee shop - could a Corvette actually make it from Arizona to the heart of Texas in a day? However, the pressure is on J&J to get back home because they know J&J will be flying back on Thursday plus... it is a Corvette after all plus... Texas roads are, well, flat & straight. Can J&J make it?

Sarlat & beyond...

2009-10-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

From one of our last trips we remembered the Saturday market in Sarlat. All the markets are appealing but this one is particularly large & varied (probably because it's also a tourist town).
1) Somehow I managed to quickly take a couple of pictures of the market where there was a lull in shoppers (no reflexion on the vendors in the photo I can assure you).
2) Meat "vans" complete with butchers not only come to the markets but also visit on a weekly basis most of the little hamlets in France. Rita said the one that comes to them looks like this. (If Rambo, our old RV, wasn't so rusty I'd think we might look at converting it.)
3) A bateau on the Dordogne River. (Don't even think about it, John!)
4) The village of La Roque-Gageac where we had lunch. It's squeezed in and up the cliffs by the river leaving just enough room for the road.
5) Looking up between two buildings you might be able to see one of the paths that goes up the side of the mountain. In case you're interested, there's also a clothesline strung across the first patio. And, yes, real people live here, not mountain goats.
6) Are you sure we're on the right road, John?!
7) Strawberries being grown hydroponically. These are the small, ever bearing French strawberries that are a larger version of our wild ones. The best strawberries you ever hope to eat. You can buy them all summer long, even into the fall and, yes, we bought some and ate them all.
8) The Grottes de Cougnac (caves) near Gourdon are filled with stalactites and some prehistoric cave paintings made by Cro-Magnon man (the paintings, not the stalactites). In fact if you want to see cave paintings, this is the region of France to visit as there are several caves open to the public where you can view them. Those of our group that went on the tour said it was very interesting. Pat, John & I (we just weren't in a Cro-Magnon mood) enjoyed a cool drink at the cafe instead.
9) This is an odd photo but perhaps you can make it out. Our car has a huge sunroof (upper part of the photo). This shot shows the road (far too narrow) we were on out the front window (bottom part of photo) with the cliffs on the side and at times overhanging the (far too narrow) road. The 3 folks in the way back were especially cozy since it's actually designed to seat only 2. They were also very happy when we finally got on a wider, straighter road and even happier when we finally arrived home.

We understand Judy's cousin in Arizona just might have caught a glimpse of a red Corvette zipping by.

Friday... An assortment...

2009-10-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

Everything around here is so photogenic, I just can't help taking lots of photos so you'll have to suffer two sets today.
1) One of the turns on the one lane road to John, Judy & Bob's cottage. The road is so narrow some trucks refuse to deliver there.
2) The stairs to Frank & Rita's front door & one of their out buildings.
3) Another clothesline - metal post.
4) The sign pointing to where J,J & B's cottage is (so you know it really exists and so I don't have to spell it).
5) A neighbor of Frank & Rita's out to feed the chickens. Unlike NY, France now has a law that you can't buy your neighbor's eggs unless they're an "approved" egg producer. For once we have less regulations than other places & I hope it stays that way.
6) A lovely fixer-up-er. Is that beautiful or what?!
7) Fun in the kitchen. Pat fixes her Polish ex-mother-in-law's fried sauerkraut. It was DE-licious! Add homemade applesauce & local sausages - we didn't go wrong.
8) Two wild parasol mushrooms that our car brakes for when we spot one (or two). Frank & Rita have harvested several using this technique. They look like...
9) John, under supervision of brother Frank, slicing the artisan bread purchased at the market.
1) The sign for the tiny place where Frank & Rita lives.
2) The home project for this trip - completing the sheetrock between the beams in the master bedroom. This may be a longer project than we imagined.
3) The start of the main road to Peyrissac. That's our car. It doesn't say but one can safely assume it's one lane.
4) Our visit to Chateau Castelnau-Bretenoux, the first chateau Bob had ever been to. This is very odd since he's traveled more than all of us put together. The only way to the top is by foot - up, up, up. Take special note of the round turret on the left.
5) View from one side of that turret.
6) View of Judy after she made it to the top of the turret.
7) On to Carennac - a beautiful little town on a river. Look hard and you'll see a clothesline in this lovely stone alley.
8) Even though it was right in town, what you see in the upper opening is a bee hive. There were lots of flowers in town.
9)Another photo of Carennac. The "penthouse" apartment on the right still looked available, just in need of a few repairs. If you feel up to stairs, make an offer.

Back in the states, cousin Carole flying out of San Francisco may have spotted a red Corvette on the Golden Gate Bridge. The Utah Salt Flats to San Francisco in one day?!!! It is a Corvette after all.

Thursday - Caught up!!!

2009-10-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

We're spending the next few days with John's brother Frank & his wife Rita. Peyrissac, where they live and which is on very few maps is very, very beautiful with lots of trees, steep hills and quiet you don't find in many places these days.
1) Rita was out early this morning showing me her garden. That's a VERY healthy aster blooming in the background.
2) The kittens seem to think their older dog, Oxane, belongs to them.
3) One of the stalls at the market we went to in Argentat this morning. (Yikes! I hope pointy boobs aren't on the way back again.)
4) Enormous loaves baked in a wood fired oven. Of course we bought one. (How is your oven coming, Leigh?)
5) Lunch ala Rita - fresh veggies, local beef (which made Pat very happy), fresh fruit. And Bob surprised us with coffee flavored macaroons for dessert which he found at the market. They were to die for!!!
6) Another in my clothesline series - this time it's our clothes thank heavens. It had about come to the point where we wanted/needed to drive along with all the windows rolled down...
7) Another in the clothesline series. Stone walls in the sun are perfect for the final drying of jeans. This wall is outside the cottage where John, Pat & I are staying.
8) It is English walnut season in the area. And this is one of the big containers filled with walnuts ready to go to the processing plant where they shuck, dry and shell them.
9) The cottage where John, Judy & Bob are staying. Note the roofs in this area of France are mostly stone.

The Salt Flats of Utah? Could it be that J & J are running the Corvette through time trials there after the Alaska trip? Wow!!

Wednesday - Moving south...

2009-10-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

We're on the road again, this time to Peyrissac in the Limoges region of France.
1) Road stop for coffee & .... Bob ordered a double espresso (somehow I don't think Bob's French is as good as he thought it was).
2) Things to play with in the car - a Renault Espace which they don't sell in the US. It has trays behind the front seats for the passengers. Of course the water bottle did not fit in the hole in the tray - assume they think passengers should drink only wine.
3) This is a French car. Therefore, how on earth is one supposed to collapse the tray? The instruction manual gave instructions for hanging on to the handle above the door but not for putting the tray back. Bob is a mechanical engineer and spent a good deal of time trying to look under the tray to figure it out. Cousin John runs a body shop and fooled around with it for several minutes. Actually the whole endeavor took at least 30 minutes to figure out and as many laughs. The answer - just push down hard on the front of the tray - Duh! Bob figured it out although I'm not really sure if it was out of frustration or engineering skill.
4) Are we in Kansas, Dorothy? Nope, it's still France. Just the part that doesn't appear in guide books. Note the wind generators in the distance (about the only thing worthy of note). Pat & I got several pages of our books read during the day.
5 & 6) Stopping in Niord for lunch, Bob spotted a sign for a restaurant with a waterfall. Trust me, the land around Niord looks exactly like photo 4 except for this one little road that takes you down into a hidden valley with a stream/canal and a wonderful place to eat. We whiled away a couple of hours over lunch.
7 & 8) Back on the road - note the roofs have changed from slate to red tile.
9) The main part of the view from the way back. Let's just say we were VERY happy when we found Frank & Rita's house in Peyrissac!

Out walking Roscoe, did Bridge spot a red Corvette driving off one of the ferries into Seattle?

Tuesday - To the Savage Coast

2009-10-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

1) Where to go on our remaining day in Brittany? We eventually decide (mainly it was decided by the last folks to bed) to head west to the Savage Coast. First stop - Vannes, also a medieval city with obviously the same first floor tax structure. Notice how the top floors touch but there's plenty of room to walk between buildings on street level.
2) Loved the roof line. Shakespeare could have built the Globe here as well.
3) Bridge over the moat - the flowers were lovely. Judy is thinking of having her husband build a bridge as well.
4) Crepes are a regional specialty and we couldn't resist eating here (nor, I suspect, could a lot of other tourists). It was named no doubtedly because it's in a cellar. (In case you can't see it, the sign is a mole.)
5) Vannes' answer to the Paris bike rental. LOVE those colors!
6) This photo is for KK & GG - one of the standing stones near Carnac. Turns out Carnac is "home to the world's greatest concentration of megalithic sites". And to think we just went there on a whim!
7) The coastline just past Carnac is known as the Savage Coast because of the high, crashing waves. The day we visited it was calm. The most savage photo I could come up with was to have Bob pose behind a motorcycle. Who knows? It may inspire Bob for his next trip...
8) I hope you can enlarge this photo to see the megalithic stones. There are literally hundreds of them in straight lines called alignments. This field of stones dates back to at least 5,000 BC (who knows what the decorators had in mind back then) and has 1,099 stones (we didn't count).
9) How many pounds of great French cheese and bottles of great French wine does it take to add a bit of girth to one's behind? (We're not telling.) How many well padded American butts does it take to break a French toilet seat? Six. How many Americans does it take to decide on a new toilet seat at "Mr. Bricolage"? Five. (Judy chose to look at curtains instead - go figure.) How many Americans does it take to install a French toilet seat? One with five Americans standing by hopping up and down on one foot.

Word is that more special Corvette tires had to be flown to Juneau, Alaska.

On to Monday - A Peek at the Coast

2009-10-01T05:36:00.000-07:00

1) First stop - Pontorson. Judy is already planning to have her husband John make some of these planters for her.
2) Notice the fence - instead of slates, they're made to look like colorful pencils outside the Notre Dame Nursery School.
3) Mont St-Michel. This Gothic abbey was built during the 13th to 16th centuries. It was built on a rock in the middle of the sea without power tools so I guess they were entitled to take a few centuries to complete it. This is a World Heritage Site and cousin Bob has been waiting until the 4th grade to see it (that's closer to a century than not but don't tell him I said so). It was a bit foggy when we started out but we got lucky.
4) We thought we'd left Tillie the VW at home. Looks like she's on tour as well.
5) Some of the stairs going up - no elevators for those guys (or us). Thank heavens the current residents did decide to modernize a bit and put toilettes part way up.
6) The abbey cloister - I don't want to even think about how many buckets of dirt they had to cart up that mountain to put this in!
7) They climbed (zillions of steps), they saw, the climbed down (zillions of steps), they sat... and sat...
8) Lunch in Cancale known as the French oyster capital. Some of us had oysters, some didn't. Turns out Pat, Judy & cousin John are a bit more squeamish in their eating than Bob, John & I.
9) Dinan - one of the best preserved medieval cities in Brittany. Taxes were based on the square footage of the ground floor so they built small below and broadened as they went up.

Word has it that Chicken, Alaska had to fly in special tires for this crazy couple driving a red Corvette on the Alcan Highway. They wouldn't have tried that, would they?!

Sunday - once again...

2009-10-01T04:13:00.000-07:00

John finally figured out a connection for our computer so I'll try once again for Sunday. (With English keyboard periods........... YES!)
1) Streets closed in Paris - you got that. Pat, still not fully awake but in the car (that's her in the photo). Cyndy off to the airport on her way home.
2) Our first toll booth experience - cousin John learns how to start the car & use a clutch...
3) Chartres Cathedral built in the 1200's with over 2,000 carved stone figures, some of which you see on the right & some of the best stained glass in France. (It does need a bit of cleaning however.) John & Judy are in the photo but are not carved - yet...
4) And then we're invaded by some sort of Scout Jamboree. They're everywhere. We decide to continue on our way -
5) But not before Pat & I stopped at one more church (it was Sunday after all). This one was totally different - painted on the inside, my favorite so far although I must admit I'm about churched out for this trip.
6) Judy in front of the cottage our friends Zelda & Brian from London so generously let us use near Pleudihen. I don't know what they said to those hollyhocks behind Judy but they're by far the tallest I've ever seen.
7) Our group enjoying a leisurely supper of sausage, cheese & wine in the cottage kitchen. Very relaxing to NOT be driving or squeezed between the luggage and to be in the country.
8) French cat - I think he spoke English.
9) Another in my clothesline series... those are concrete posts. Hanging clothes is not a one shot deal here.

Back in the states, Roscoe awoke Bridge early Sunday morning with his barking. Could it have been J & J in the red Corvette?

Sunday - Leaving Paris

2009-09-30T12:39:00.000-07:00

Finally, a connection! However, our wireless doesn't seem to work on Frank's (John's brother's) network, so I'll just a few notes for now and add to it later along with photos... I might also mention that this is a French keyboard where only half of the keys are in the same places. Arg!!!

At any rate we expected to leave Paris at 9:00 when the car rental place opened meaning Pat, the late riser in our group, had to drag herself out of bed earlier than usual but ready by 9 she was. Unfortunately, the French were not ready so perhaps Pat is really French at heart. (I can't believe this French keyboard capitalizes the location of the period... triple arg!!!) Anyway, by 9:45 the paperwork was completed & the car was being washed. 10:00 - wrong car - 5 seats. 10:20 right car, 7 seats. 10:35 most of the streets are now closed for a bicycle race but John & John managed to get close enough to our hotel to get us and our luggage. Is luggage going to fit? Just barely. John can't find directions for leaving Paris. Bob comes through with his 1971 map. And we're on our way at last!

Cousin John driving - first toll booth. Forgot the car was standard. Stalls. Where's the key? Finally remembers it starts with a button and our clown car is on the way again.

But it's late & this keyboard is driving me nuts but at least you know we're alive. Will write more tomorrow.....

Last day in Paris (this trip...)

2009-09-26T13:39:00.000-07:00

So much to see, so little time...
1. Yesterday Pat & Cyndy went to the Musee d'Orsay (my favorite). Not to be outdone, the rest of us went there today. Although it has one of the best collections of Impressionist art anywhere, you'll have to look those up to see them. Instead this is one of their "decorative arts" rooms. A cut above our hotel room I must say.
2. The museum is actually a beautiful old train station that has been converted into an art gallery - so wise the French. We said we'd meet up under the clock and actually managed to do just that.
3. This photo is amazing since we've all managed to stand and start moving once again after another wonderful lunch. Our restaurant (which I realized you can't see unless your screen is bigger than mine) is on the corner on the left. Where we're headed is Montmartre and the church on the hill which is visible at the end of the street (also probably not visible in this photo - oh well, I tried.)
4. The subway station, Solfenino (also the name of our restaurant) and Montmartre where we're headed. (I knew I'd never remember those names unless I took a photo. Besides, when was the last time you say the inside of the Paris Solfenino subway stop?)
5. Sacre-Cour, the beautiful church on the hill completed in 1914. It's up, waaaaay up, on the hill. After getting off the subway train the sign at the bottom of the exit stairs said (in 3 languages, almost unheard of in Paris) "Caution, 92 steps". We opted for the elevator even though we could have probably used to the exercise to walk off lunch.
6. The Montmartre area is full of artists and is a fun place to visit. This is one of the street performers who sang classic French songs to a crank music box. She was terrific and we contributed to her basket. Do you suppose John could do something like this on the streets of Earlville?
7. All over Paris are the "commuter" bikes. You put in some coins and take a bike for a few hours, then return it to any of the charging stations. Of course, you have to be absolutely nuts to ride a bike in Paris traffic but it's still a neat idea.
8. A little wine before dinner under the hotel mirror. Cyndy flies back to Philadelphia tomorrow. The rest of us brave all, pick up our rental car, and hope that most of Paris sleeps late on Sunday morning!
9, Looking down from our hotel room... Who are those rowdy folks? Could it be John, Pat & Cyndy?
Tomorrow we head to the country where the noise level will be considerably less. Am not sure what kind of internet access we'll find so it may be a couple of days before you hear from us again.

Back in the states, it's a little known fact that you can actually fly fish in downtown Boise (in the river that is). One fisherman reported seeing a whir of red on the street above. Could it have been?

Another dome day...

2009-09-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

The weather in Paris couldn't be more beautiful. Everyone is happy including the notoriously grumpy waiters!
1 - When I first saw these I thought they were an upgrade of the men's outdoor urinals that used to be everywhere (forget about ladies needs!) But equality has come and this convenience for men has gone away. These, instead, are recycling bins. I doubt you can see in the photo but there are pictures of items that can be recycled near the holes, the first picture is (you guessed it!)... wine bottles!
2 - This photo is especially for friend Debby who gave me a neat little book entitled Handmade in Paris. If it hadn't been for that book we wouldn't have found this little alley which is described as the "oldest arcade in Paris", a tidbit that none of the guidebooks we've read know about. The shop we're standing in front of is Pep's, an umbrella repair shop that's been there for over 100 years and where folks from all over the world come to have their umbrellas repaired. They were closed but, then again, none of us brought umbrellas, broken or otherwise.
3 - This is for Bob's sister Carole. We're at the Musee des Arts et Metiers (turns out that essentially means technology museum - not arts & crafts...). Anyway, Bob's standing next to a rustic loom made in the 1600's, part of a great display of various looms. (Carole is a textile artist so we thought she'd be interested.)
4 - For anyone who irons - MUCH more than I needed to know about how electric irons work.
5 - A fairly dramatic way to display old "aircraft". Judy & I decided we would NOT have wanted to be on the crew that hung that one up.
6 - Then it was off to the Paris Opera House (forgot to take photos - sorry) and to the local department stores. This dome was over the restaurant in the Au Printemps department store where we had lunch. Pretty impressive we thought. It's been a looooong time since I've suggested to anyone we have lunch in a department store. The food was wonderful too although John & I will probably be eating beans for the next year to pay for it.
7 - The other dome is in the center of the department store next door - Galeries Lafayette. It looks like a set for grand opera rather than shopping. Prices were WAY out of our price range so even Judy had no problem restraining herself.
8 - Paris' inside outside building where all the services for the building are on the outside.
9 - Look it up if you don't know what this is... We waved goodbye to the rest of our traveling companions at dusk here. They were all set to take a night cruise down the Seine, something John & I did last trip and loved.

Meanwhile, could it be that someone could actually drive straight through from Kenmare to Boulder? That red Corvette must have had the pedal to the metal!

A fun filled day...

2009-09-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

1 - After walking several blocks before having the perfect coffee and croissant, we happened upon one of Paris' great open air markets. This photo of a mushroom stand is especially for Owen who raises mushrooms near us in NY.
2 - The Place des Vosges - the oldest square & most think it the most beautiful square in all of Paris. We're not arguing.
3 - This store carries "Original Chicken Clothes" - your guess is as good as ours. They were closed so we couldn't explore further.
4 - The Carnavalet Museum recommended by friends of Judy & John. It covers the history of Paris from 1500-1900. Very impressive especially since Judy & I lost the guys in just under 15 minutes. It has a ton of rooms.
5 - This is the ceiling of Bofingers where we met our friends Marilyn & Jim for lunch today. Another impressive sight as, apparently were the urinals that have been in use since 1919. A photo shot by me was not allowed...
6. - One of the bridges across the Seine where entrepreneurs have set up massage stations for hurting tourists.
7 - More entrepreneurs - this time a symphony in the subway. They were really good too and sounded wonderful in the underground - better acoustics than some theaters.
8 - The Arc de Triomphe Napoleon built and which Judy & John can now add to their "I've seen that" list. 12 boulevards (that means BIG streets) merge into a traffic circle around it. How any of the drivers survive is miracle!
9 - Our friends Marilyn & Jim with their poodles (French, of course) Zehper & Zazoom. We're sooooo lucky and it's sooooo much fun to have nice friends in far away places.

Speaking of far away places, I understand birds were being spooked all along the roads leading into and out of Kenmare, ND by a streak of red....

Bienvenue au Paris!

2009-09-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

Photos of the day...
1 - Lizzie did it again and was the hostess with the mostest by having "her" car service pick us at the door and taking us to the train station (the ladies especially say THANK YOU!) If it had been left up to the Grossmann/Keck cousins you might have seen us fighting the luggage on the underground. Photo - John & Judy at the station with time to spare.
2 - Some of the happy crew on board the high speed train via the Chunnel to Paris. The women won again & got the men to part with a few extra dollars for better seats and wine and food! The trip was great and fast - as advertised.
3 - The lobby of the Hotel Jean d'Arc where we're staying in Paris. That's all of us in the mirror. Unusual frame,...
4 - Unusual room decorating - that's our room - even the lampshade matches the bed spread and, yes, that is a lavendar wall. Somehow I don't think I'll be duplicating this room back in NY.
5 - The group overlooking the River Seine on a beautiful day (why oh why did we leave all those warm weather clothes at home!)
6 - For Red's Auto shop crew - and you thought you didn't understand French!
7 - The back side of Notre-Dame Cathedral - the prettiest way to approach as far as I'm concerned.
8 - And of course you can't come to Paris without enjoying a cafe every once in a while.

9 - Just walking down the street and a whole store of nothing but cheese, cheese, cheese, cheese... am I in heaven or Paris?

And back in the states 2 folks were seen early in the morning walking along the Chicago waterfront, then getting in a red Corvette and zooming off. Could it have been....?!!

Our last day in London...

2009-09-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

So many things to see and do and so little time... Solution - split up. John & I went to the National Gallery in the morning to see the painting, The Bathers by Seurat. (We'd taken a class on Impressionism and our instructor told us if any of us ever went to London without going to see it, he'd flunk us. It was an ungraded class, but still... we went, we saw, we were awed.) John went on to a concert, then to meet up with John, Judy & Bob in Greenwich where time begins. I stayed and did a tour of the gallery. While we were at the museum, John, Judy & Bob went to see the changing of the guard while Pat & Cyndy went to the Tower of London. Pat & Cyndy met me for lunch (with their heads still attached) at St. Paul's (can you believe they charge 11 pounds to see the main part of the cathedral? = we opted to forgo religion & get dessert at lunch instead.) Then it was on the Mayflower Inn on the wharf where the Pilgrims sailed from. Pat has 6 ancestors who were on that boat (I'm guessing they survived the trip...). The inn was closed - so much for visiting the past.

In the photos = "The Texas Embassy" (bar & restaurant). Bob contemplating applying for a job as one of London Dairies' deliverymen. The National Gallery. Pat & Cyndy in front of the Mayflower Inn. And Lizzie & Tom's favorite pizza maker & his wood fired oven. (Sorry, Leigh, he didn't speak a word of English other than, "I don't speak English", so I couldn't ask him any questions about building an oven.)

Tomorrow we're off to Paris and that red Corvette??? I heard one was spotted zooming through traffic at Niagara Falls.

The Birthday Girl!!

2009-09-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

Today was Judy's birthday (we won't say which) so... being the tennis player that she is (her team did go to the USA Seniors competition this year and placed second), she wanted to go to Wimbledon. Therefore, most of these shots are of our journey there.

On the left, Judy & John on H??? Hill that you see on TV if you watch Wimbledon tennis (and, if you're a tennis fan which I'm obviously not, you'll know what H??? is). Below that is cousin John fantasizing what it might be like to win the "Gentlemen's Doubles".

On to the right - the most beautiful little quail eggs. Lizzie "hard boiled" them as part of one of the best dinners I've ever had. (Perhaps John & I should take up raising quails for layers in our retirement...) Next is John (in his Riley's hat) posing in front of Center Court (THE top court at Wimbledon). Under that is Judy at the end of dinner (I know it's small and blurry but so was she at that moment...). St. Luke's, not far from where Liz & Tom live & where they filmed 101 Dalmatians (just in case you wanted a bit of trivia). Then we're back at Wimbledon with John & Judy sitting in the Members only section of Court 2. Bottom - Judy & John sitting in the chairs where all Wimbledon winners & losers are interviewed. (Players are fined severely if they refuse to be interviewed whether they win or lose. J&J didn't have to pay anything extra to sit there.) And last, the magic formula for growing those pristine grass courts - GOSTD or Graded Organic Sports Turf Dressing. (Obviously Terry, this is the vital ingredient we've been missing from the croquet court at TI Park. However, if you think I'm carting that home in my carry-on you have another think coming.)

Speaking of TI Park, I understand there was a red blur (might have been a Corvette) seen passing over the bridge to the US today...

Meeting friends...

2009-09-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

Today we split up going in different directions. Cousin John, Judy & Bob enjoyed the London Eye among things (and left John G. breathing a sign of relief that he once again evaded taking the most terrifying ride of his life). Pat & Cyndy went off to Parliament - it just happened to be open to the public today which is rare (we're all envious) and even got a chance to talk with the guys that service Big Ben. (I can tell you the Johns were more than a little envious over that one!)

And John & I went to visit a long time friend, Zelda, her husband, Brian, and their daughter Chloe. It was a GREAT day we wouldn't have exchanged with the others for anything. The last photo is of John, Zelda & Chloe at one of the typical British open air markets that are sooooo much fun and which make you wish you'd brought a bigger suitcase and that fresh produce travelled better! (Notice in the background the double decker bus proving this is definitely London.) Lizzie wears nothing but pointy shoes with spike hills so I was tempted to get her the green & orange Wellies I spotted at the market but, since I didn't know her shoe size, she missed, or perhaps I should say, lucked out.

The larger photo is of Brian & Zelda on their back patio. Zelda wanted to take the clothes off the line but I axed that idea. Folks here tend to be energy conscious (gas is about $9 per dollar...) and a lot of folks have clothes lines, something more Americans should consider and use. (My green energy soapbox issue of the day.)

Meanwhile, I understand a red Corvette was seen heading into Quebec City...

Bob is found!

2009-09-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

It turned out that Bob, rather than being lost as some might suspect, was actually standing in line to go through customs (took 2.5 hrs.) Cyndy, who arrived two hours later, was through customs in 15 minutes. You tell me who lives right?

Today, in addition to eating VERY well, walking and enjoying a beautiful non-rainy day in London, we visited the Tate Modern. They had a great installation of a rusty VW camper (Tillie's cousin I'm sure) pulling 24 sleds filled with survival stuff. The caption was something like VW's (I hope Tillie isn't listening) aren't always the best survival vehicles. Also at the Tate - upper left... John as part of the "installation" or was he just feeling peckish as the sign suggests. (You should be able to pick him out of the crowd...)

A group photo left to right... cousin John (sorry I cut him off - the excitement of the moment), Pat, Judy, Tom & Liz (hosts extraordinaire), cousin Bob (he's hiding - probably doesn't want to be spotted by customs again), Cyndy and John in the red. Actually John's knees are probably already beginning to shake - no way did he want to contemplate going up in the London Eye in the background. Turns out none of us ended up doing that today anyway - our stomachs ruled instead and we had a great lunch on an upper deck overlooking the river instead.

Tonight it was on to the Globe Theatre for Shakespeare's "Troilus & Cressida". Wonderful, wonderful especially since we had great seats and didn't stand through the whole thing (it lasted 3+ hours) like the folks you see in the middle of the photo. I know standing in the middle was how it was done in Shakespeare's time and that it adds a LOT of atmosphere but, well, I'm a "modern" gal and much prefer to sit.

Back on the US front, I understand a red Corvette was spotted at the Maine/Canadian border....

We have arrived!

2009-09-18T02:53:00.000-07:00

Or at least some of us have... After taking over an hour to clear customs (through no fault of our own - guess they just wanted to make sure we all REALLY wanted to visit), John & I, John & Judy & Pat are here in merry ol' London. Bob, coming from San Diego, was to have arrived 3 hours ago and is still among the missing. Cyndy, coming from Philadelphia, should be here in about an hour.

In the meantime, we're enjoying Lizzie's apartment while she's at work and looking forward to a bit of sightseeing this afternoon (hopefully looking at London rather than looking for Bob...) And when Lizzie returns home we'll figure out how to sign onto her network and put up some photos.

PS - I couldn't be entirely sure, but was that a red Corvette I spotted as we flew along the Maine coast?!

A good trade?

2009-09-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

Cousin John & Judy have a beautiful candy red Corvette... seats 2... luggage? marginal. With 6 of us needing to go to the airport, 5 with luggage (Judy's nephew is driving us - lucky us!) the Corvette just didn't seem to be an option. So a trade was worked out - one shiny red Corvette for one dark blue Suburban. It remains to be seen who got the better of the deal.

In the meantime, if you see a couple streaking by in a blur of red, it's probably Joanne & Jack taking full advantage of the short term trade. How many miles & roads do you think they'll be able to travel in the next three weeks? I understand the leaves are starting to turn in New England and the fishing is still good in Montana and it's grape harvest time in California and...

And we're off!!!

2009-09-16T14:33:00.000-07:00

Another great adventure! Unfortunately, Tillie the VW is with us in spirit only as we're crossing the Atlantic this go around and Tillie is... well... sinkable.

Only appropriate as we head south to pass through the "gate" built by the workers of the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company to show their appreciation. The company treated its employees very well including giving everyone and their family members a new pair of shoes at Christmas. Doesn't sound like much? When was the last time your employer gave you a new pair of shoes or you decided your employer was good enough to its employees that you wanted to build a monument?! Need I say more? However, moving on...

We arrive at the first leg of our journey - cousins John & Judy in New Jersey where John was hard at work on his new bar. Pat, another of our traveling companions, John & John decided the bar top really needed a little breaking in before it is finished. Isn't it going to be beautiful? John is crafting it from the seven different types of trees growing on their property including the black walnut on the ends. The curve on the outside was formed using some sort of rig using parts from a Dodge Caravan. Much too technical for me but obviously cousin John knows what he's doing. I think it's best if I stick with taking photos and just sipping that wine...

Tomorrow it's off to Newark and the air. Wish us Bon Voyage!

Will the real winner please stand up?

2009-09-12T16:50:00.001-07:00

In answer to your question - "Don't you ever PLAY on that croquet court you worked so hard to "improve" and that we read sooooo much (probably far too much) about?"

I don't wish to brag but yours truly won the first game of the season (which my husband conveniently forgot by the next time we played...)

Therefore, I will only mention in passing that he did manage to win the next match only to lose to his cousin John in the final match of the day. Take note folks, no one is kneeling at their feet...

No comment...

2009-09-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

Is one to assume their second childhood has already begun? Oh woe is me!

Soooooo big!

2009-09-12T16:36:00.000-07:00

Peyton - what do you want to be when you grow up?

With those boots, perhaps a fireman? or a farmer? (he's only 5 so he does have a chance to grow up a bit to fill out those boots.)

However, notice that haircut, a la Peyton. Perhaps we have a budding barber in our future...

And then there were...

2009-09-12T14:44:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time there was a family named Keck who moved through the generations from Germany to what is now the Ukraine to what is still New York City. They had several sons (none of whom stayed in NYC) and a daughter who married a Grossmann and took her son "against his will" to Boise, Idaho. This son grew up in Boise and eventually moved to upstate NY, telling his wife (me) that, other than his brother, he had no relatives. So the photos you see are of the truly miraculous LIVING Keck family at the family get-together at our house this summer.

On to the photos - left to right. Bob & Carole hand grating the potatoes for those fabulous Keck potato pancakes. These pancakes are ABSOLUTELY the ugliest glop you've ever seen but somehow transform themselves into ABSOLUTELY the best potato pancakes you've ever tasted when Betty, photo 2, fries them up. Photo 3 - Frank, John & Jules (the patriarch of the family & whose parents took that boat to NYC) watch over the tray of German sausages. Photo 4 - It's Bob's birthday with one cupcake for every year (I'm not telling, you have to count them yourself.) 5 - The Lutheran heritage continues - John with cousins Michele & Helen (In case you can't read it, the tee says "I love Lutheran Boys".) 6 - The eating continues as John cooks breakfast for John (there were a LOT of John's) & Judy. (In case you're wondering that's oil, not boos. I trust the cap was still on. Yuk!) 7 - John & Bob keep the play quotient up. 8 - Ann (the Keck connection) & her family Robert, Helen, Michele & Bob. 9 - Bob huffed and puffed and blew & blew... and lived to blow another day...

The group family photo, related to my husband John and now to lucky me. Moral of the story - don't always believe everything your husband tells you...

And for those of you who care to know, from left to right, sort of - Bob, Michele, Brian, John, Noi, Kelly, Robert, Frank, Betty, Bob, John, Judy, Carole, Janet, Helen, Ann, & in front row, Paul, Jules & John (I got to take the picture.)

More views from the River...

2009-07-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

As some of you may remember from earlier blogs, there was this table devised by John for Terry's porch that used a Rube Goldberg type arrangement of pool table legs turned upside down as its base. While incredibly "funky" looking, one dared not touch it, let alone lean on it for fear of tipping it over. (Admittedly, it probably was a good training devise for teaching manners, i.e. do NOT put your elbows on the table during dinner, but does one really need that at a summer cottage?) So.... in my ramblings I happened upon an old examining table from a doctor's office with "sturdy" written all over it. If it could hold bodies it certainly could hold a table top plus it was the perfect size. One drawback... it was a bit high for a dining table. Let's just say it provided the dynamic duo of John & Terry with several hours of contemplation about just how high the table should be and thus how much to take off leading to how to take it off... I finished my book.

The house on the water on the right is actually the Frontenac, NY post office where you can still mail vacation postcards... I didn't.

The Wellesley Island State Park that all of us NYS residents own has many beautiful trails with overlooks of the St. Lawrence. The one on the bottom right is the Eels Cove overlook. The Park must also have at least one gigantic beaver if the size of the tree it's trying to take down is any indication.

Did I mention that this summer on the River has been unseasonably cold? Ruby's Christmas cactus must think so too. She brought it up to the island to vacation for the summer and it's blooming its heart out. Bundle up! Winter must be just around the corner.

Oh! Those Pies!

2009-07-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

Support your local library and buy a pie - what could be better?!

The library buys the pie pans, volunteer pie bakers pick them up and deliver pies at 8:30 in the morning. The first photo shows one of the bakers and the community's ace pie buyer, Tom, who is always first in line. Tom gets before 8:30 so he can look over every pie as they're delivered. This way he can also know where to head when the sale opens. (He also has other secret pie buying strategies which I'm not allowed to divulge.) By 8:50 the line for the sale stretches down the street. You may not be able to tell from the second photo but Tom is first in line and I'm second as "pie buyer in training". (I felt very honored as not everyone is invited to train under Tom.) The tapes across the doors are cut at 9:00 and folks rush in ("rush in" is more like stampede but you get the idea). I have my eye on a blueberry and a lemon meringue. Score the blueberry but the lemon disappeared before I could edge my way there. 9:15 and half the pies are sold. It takes a while to take in all that money after all. 9:30 all the pies are gone and the library has made well over a thousand dollars. Wow!

Now for a piece of that blueberry pie....

Roquet Court Update

2009-07-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

Will the real Tom Sawyer please stand up?
First there was Terry's idea to redo the court...
Then there was John's idea to rototill it...
Then there was Terry's idea to add top soil...
Then there was John's idea to roll it...
Then they both had the idea to get Fred to water it...
Then there was Terry's idea to aerate it...
Then there was John's idea get a reel mower...
Then there was Terry's idea to add more "stuff"...
It seems like there's no end...

(Frankly folks, the court still offers as many bumps and dips as it ever did. And, just like that fence of Tom Sawyer's, I suspect it will always need work. Either Terry will be trying to convince John or John will be trying to convince Terry that it ain't work... After all, does a boy get a chance to tend a roquet court every day? Where's Fred in all this? Somehow, I suspect Fred did a little reading of Mark Twain over the winter.)

Rollin' Again...

2009-06-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we waved goodbye quietly to all our old and new friends (who were probably still asleep or who should have been -- we left at 5:45 a.m.). We needed to get home to welcome guests the next day and, although Tillie is usually fairly reliable, she can sometimes decide one's vacation needs to be prolonged.

We decided to eat breakfast on the road and stop somewhere at a local restaurant. So we drove through first one town... and the next... and the next... Just as our resolve started to faulter and we thought we'd be forced to eat at a chain (Canadians seem to have this love affair with "Tim Horton's" or as they say, "Timmy's") we passed a general store with lots of cars. Only as we were passing did we see the fine print that it was also a restaurant. Tillie braked admiredly, turned on a something much larger than a dime, and we joined the other local supporters for breakfast. Actually it was so busy because a group of women were having a 40th birthday party for their friend. Who else would think to have a party like that before work? (I know some of you Dillon's out there will think they must have been absolutely nuts!)

Taking the back roads homes at a leisurely pace, we stopped in Petersboro to visit the Canadian Canoe Museum. Seemed like the thing to do since it was Canada's National Canoe Day (does the US have such a day?) and admission was free. They have a LOT of canoes.

Other than that I can't say we found much use for the camera. Although not exactly flat, most of Ontario is not very exciting geographically either. And, either we missed them, or there's not many first's or biggest's or smallest's or whatever around. Or perhaps Canadians just don't feel the necessity to advertise them.

So we arrived home just before dark - our guests arrived about half an hour later. Oops! I got my days confused. Luckily we'd left the house semi-ready before we left... and Tillie hadn't been in one of her moods...

House blessings...

2009-06-26T02:51:00.000-07:00

Today, Thursday, was the last day of work for some of us. Others, not wanting to offend the Legion who had signed up to serve lunch on Friday and who were not planning to travel as far on Friday, are working another half day.

In spite of having to sit idle for a hour and a half to wait out a thunder storm, our team did pour the concrete for the second home (trust me, it looks just like the first – it’s just that I keep forgetting to take my camera to that site); the trusses are all up on the first house and several more sections of fence have been built. And it was not quite so HOT, especially if you were one of the lucky women who were building fence in the shade!

One of the traditions of Habitat is the dedication they have for each new homeowner before they move in. Those with the Care-A-Vanner group are seldom there when this dedication takes place. One of our group, Jeff, has taken to doing a “blessing of the home” at the end of each of the builds he and his wife do. The photo is our group giving our blessings to the new homes (both homes are duplexes). Joining us is the next door neighbor, the ladies from the Union Church who provided our lunch today, and a couple of local volunteers. It’s something we hope will become a tradition at other builds we do.

Tonight we pack up, enjoy a very long happy hour with all the left overs from last night’s fish fry (the local fish from the bay is white fish – ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!) There wasn’t any fish left but we still have plenty of salads and snacks. Tomorrow we meander our way back home on the back roads. Who knows what we’ve find on the way…

Meltin'

2009-06-25T11:51:00.000-07:00

When it reaches 30C one can officially melt! Supposedly tonight brings a bit of a cool down – we hope! Our Texas folks says it doesn’t even get this hot in Texas.

Photo 1 – John, one of the local regular volunteers, and his wife, Janet, invited us all to dinner at their place last night. Their lupines were gorgeous and I’ve added yellow lupines to my “must have” list.

Photo 2 – John & Janet’s side yard. Not only is their place beautiful but Janet is a first class cook. We all concurred this is adding up to another 10 pound build (10 lbs. on the hips…)

Photo 3 – The ladies fencing crew putting up the brackets so the men could hang the sections we made last week.

Photo 4 – The guy in the blue shirt next to the house on the right is the local rep to Parliament there for a photo shoot. (They got their photos before his tee shirt was soaked through like everyone else’s.) Hopefully the coverage will give Habitat as much good press and it gives him.