Seasons Change But They Can Stop Right Here!

We’re about a week away from the start of summer! I think all that snow this past winter left me mentally damaged. It still doesn’t feel like it was that long ago that we had all that snow locking me in the house. I know, I know, to those of you that were out in it trying to drive or walk on ice or in knee-deep drifts, I had it made not getting out of the house. To the people in the Deep South who slept in grocery stores with diapers for pillows being locked in at home must sound like paradise. But let’s just be totally honest; the polar vortex tortured all of us. Even our plow guys went from a couple very lean years to not getting a day off.

But now things are good. The spring flowers weren’t as robust as I’d have hoped and I think I might need to get more bulbs this fall because some of them just didn’t survive the mild winters or got munched by burrowing critters. But right now as I look out the porch windows next to the table I type at I see lush filled-in greenery and trees with blue sky peeking through all washed in the sun’s yellow glow. The colors of fall are nice too, but THIS is the sight that soothes me after months of white and brown outside.

David and I took a vacation south a couple weeks ago. We saw a Columbus Clippers game on the first night and that ended up being the only baseball game of the trip. We had tickets to a Kannapolis Intimidators game in North Carolina, but the weather did us in. We met Stephanie and Danni, friends I know from scrapbooking and met in person at the game. Stephanie’s husband couldn’t make it and David could join in a little on the baseball talk, although b Stephanie and I are friendly-foes doing a lot of Reds-Cardinals talking on that subject. But for the most part the three women were taking scrapbook stuff. After a two-hour delay with the grounds crew trying to squeegee rain from the previous day out of the outfield the game was called for the second day in a row. There was just too much water still on the field. It was cool that we were dry and had all that time to talk! We left with the promise that net time we are in North Carolina or if they make it to Ohio, we’ll actually see a game or at least plan a nice dinner!

Before "the game that wasn’t" David and I met his cousin and her husband for lunch in Salisbury, NC. This is one of the two cousins who urged me to try David Baldacci’s writing. Needless to say it was one of those long lunches with non-stop conversation

Now, you might wonder why, aside from meeting some wonderful people, we were in North Carolina. It’s a David and Nani trip and I haven’t mentioned the trains yet, have I? Look at this:

The North Carolina Transportation Museum hosted the Streamlines at Spence festival May 29-June1. Grounds and the roundhouse filled with gorgeous restored or in the restoration process engines from the 1930s-1950s Everything was all lit up for night photography sessions the first three nights and there were train rides at no additional cost as part of entry every day.

I chose the first night for my night pass. Thursday would be the least crowded and photo crowds can tend to lead to lots of dark photos of butts from a wheelchair. David did all three nights and I got some relax time at the hotel on those nights.

Oh, talk about advertising and mental conditioning! On one of the nights I stayed at the hotel I ordered a sandwich for dinner from Jimmy Johns. All those commercials, I hit send on the order I placed online and immediately looked at the door expecting a knock. I laughed at myself because I realized how silly it was, but wow! The delivery was about 15-20 minutes later, yes very fast, but I think they edit a little of the wait time for the TV ads.

On Sunday, David and I rode the train. It’s the first time I’ve been on a train in the chair and I’m ready to ride Amtrak to Chicago now! The lift hadn’t been used that day and it took a little for them to figure it out, but they did. I enjoyed the short ride and felt really good because several people in wheelchairs lined up for the next ride. Well, SOMEBODY had to be first, right?

Now we’ve been home and I’m “recovering” from the trip. My legs don’t seem to have bounced back as well as I wish they would and I’m struggling a bit at home right now. I’m going to get an opinion from my physical therapist when I go in next week.

We had our first MS group meeting with me as group leader this week. It went well with some new faces and I’m hoping more of the regulars will make it for July.

June 1 was Marco’s birthday; we have no kittens in the house again. I have to admit though, Carla is just this past year starting to act like a cat more often than a kitten, but both Carla and Kaline still have their kitten moments too. Cats never 100% grow up.