The GW Jazz Band

 

It was an adventure for two 78 year olds and definitely outside our usual routines.  Yesterday Jeff and Susan dropped us off at an alley in Georgetown and we lined up outside the door of Blues Alley Jazz Cafe waiting for the doors to open at 6 pm.  By the time the doors were opened, there was a long line and we filled up the small venue completely.  The waiters did their best to take drink orders and then food orders.  We were not optimistic that they could feed all of us but they did amazingly well.  I enjoyed a spicy shrimp and grits and Jim had an even spicier Cajun chicken--New Orleans food for a blues venue.

The show began at 7.  We were told that they were a "listening" venue so to keep the conversation to a minimum during the performance.  Our grandson Michael played the trombone and we were so pleased to see that he was featured in several numbers --and he was terrific. The most memorable number for me was the familiar "Summertime" in which the soloist and Michael alternated lines.  

I

After an 8 am start to our day, we were home shortly after noon.  It took us well over a half hour just to get out of Washington DC with all the folks starting their work day.  It was great again to have Jeff and Susan in charge of the plans and the travel--especially navigating the crowded streets of DC.

Now it is back to our ordinary lives again after two adventures.  That is just fine.  We are thankful for our ordinary lives. 

A Birthday Celebration

 Last week was one of two important doctors' appointments for Jim.  Because this blog is primarily created for our own memories, I will mention our relief in that both went well and Jim got good news twice.  We are grateful and don't take such news for granted at our age! 

Yesterday was my birthday.  Laura and Michael sent a beautiful bouquet that arrived on Saturday in time for me to enjoy it for a day.  Jeff and Susan picked us up on Sunday morning and we headed to James'apartment near Baltimore, Maryland.  It was fun to see his studio apartment with a great view from the 9th floor.  We had a substantial brunch at a nearby hotel and then headed on to Washington DC.  Jeff and Susan warned us that the next few miles into the city were often congested with traffic and so they were--even on a Sunday afternoon.  

We checked into the Courtyard by Marriot Bonvoy hotel right next to the George Washington University campus. Around  4:30 we left for the Lisner  Auditorium where Michael was playing his trombone with the GW wind ensemble.  The concert was the final one for the graduating seniors so they were each mentioned by name with their majors and their plans.  Two more years and Michael should be one of them!  It was a lively concert with contemporary music.     

We drove into Arlington, Virginia--our fourth state for the day plus the District of Columbia.  We ate at an Outback Steakhouse and dined well.  Jim and I were thankful that Susan was driving and we did not have to negotiate traffic or routes.  

It was a typical restless first night in a motel for me but we were ready by 9 am to have Jeff drop Susan and Jim and me off at Founding Farmer's Restaurant for another brunch.  Jeff went on to work--a video conference at Fort Meade--in which he has to participate in person because of the security demanded in his work.  Afterwards. the three of us at my suggestion walked to the White House but we could not get much of a glimpse of it through the trees.  It was a good long walk for me with my cane but I made it with a couple of sit-downs.

A bit more about my birthday.  Jeff and Susan made a framed portrait commemorating the eclipse event of last weekend and gave it to me.  Dan and Alex called.  My sister and a few friends sent emails.  I felt celebrated!  Jim and I will celebrate together when we get home--an ice cream cake is a traditional treat. So it was an unusual birthday and a good one!

Solar Eclipse--Mirror Lake Inn, Lake Placid, NY

Susan, our daughter-in-law,  had asked if we would like to join them for a total eclipse experience.   She made all the arrangements and she and Jeff drove their van.   We had our own travel agent and guides!

We left around 11 am on Saturday and stopped briefly to visit with Dan and Alex at their home in the Catskills.  As we neared Lake Placid, the roads got narrow and twisty and there was snow everywhere on the ground.  It was like being in a totally different climate zone. 

Room 733 was lovely with an amazing view of Mirror Lake and snow-capped hills.    Susan chose a location keeping in mind that if there was cloud cover or rain, we would still have a great destination. And she was right!

 After we arrived, Jeff and Susan picked up a pizza order  on Main Street and Jim got a few beers in the lounge downstairs.  We watched NCSU lose to Purdue and Connecticut beat Alabama. 

On Sunday morning Susan and I walked to St. Eustace Episcopal Church for the 10 am service.  It was quite a walk for me with my cane--the first time to use it in a public place.  I was not pleased to see that no one had cleared snow off the steps to the church.  We walked up the hill and found a side entrance.  The windows in the church were memorable.  It was a treat to worship with my daughter-in-law.

Sunday afternoon we watched USC beat Iowa in a great game with two stars-Caitlin Clark of Iowa and Camilla Cardoso of USC.  We walked to an Italian restaurant and enjoyed an excellent meal including tiramisu.  

Monday was the big day!   Jeff and Susan staked out a place on the beach and put up chairs and Susan's tripod and camera.  Jim and I went outside around 2:00.  There were many other hotel guests nearby but it wasn't crowded.  It was very dramatic as we followed the sequence of the moon passing over the sun.  The weather definitely got cooler. The moments of totality around 3:25 were so amazing that it brought tears to my eyes.  People cheered.  And then suddenly it was over and the light came back on! At totality the hills were black and people were shadows against the lake.  What a memorable experience! 

The moment of totality

Mirror Lake is aptly named.

from the Washington Post

Susan was the photographer.

A Walking Stick (aka cane)

 

It is a turning point in my life.  I am trying to be thankful and not sad.  I definitely have mixed feelings.

Jim ordered me a cane through our three month opportunity to spend $40 with United Health Care.  He did not surprise me with his purchase.  He showed me what he wanted to do for me.  I did not say "No." 

The package was at the door already the next morning.  I used the cane when I walked to meet my friend Peggy at our usual spot near the clubhouse where we often sit and chat for a while.  Peggy was pleased with Jim's purchase.  

It is a recognition of aging and increasing fragility and that makes it hard to accept.  But it is also a way of being able to walk with less uneasiness.  I hope my pride doesn't get in the way of my using it! 

Jeff's reaction to my sending him a photo of the cane was a statement we had used with him ever since he was a little fella--"It's another sign you are growing up."  I appreciate Jeff's sense of humor.  Hmm.  Growing up or just growing old! 

  However I will be thankful I am growing old and can still (there's that word "still" again) walk on my own even if I need a visible sign of help. 

-----------------I just read Alice Fryling's  Aging Faithfully which was on my Kindle app for quite a while.  It was the right thing for me to read today as I accept the changes in my life and deal with them with Thanksgiving. 

Our Basketball Teams

 

Last week the Notre Dame women won the ACC basketball tournament.  We enjoyed watching freshman Hannah Hidalgo who was named the ACC tournament MVP.  She is so feisty; she steals the ball from opponents.  If she is double-teamed, she finds her teammates and gets an assist. So now we get to watch them again in the NCAA tournament beginning on Saturday.

And we watched the NCSU men surprisingly take the ACC tournament championship after playing five games in five days to do so.  They beat Duke, Virginia, and Carolina.  When they were playing Virginia, we turned the TV off when it looked like a lost cause--and then they tied the game at the last second and won in overtime.  We decided it was good luck for them if we turned the game off.  

So when they were playing UNC and were not doing well, we turned it off again.  And then UNC's star player, RJ Davis, stopped hitting all his shots and NCSU's star player DJ Burns (the body of a football center with the feet of a ballerina) continued to do his thing and they won!  Thus they were able to be in the NCAA tournament--winning was their only chance to do so.  So we can watch them later this week too!

March Madness is always fun and now we have two teams we care about that we can cheer on to victory--unless we decide again that we bring them bad luck and thus have to turn the games off.

---------March 31  ND's women lost to Oregon State but NCSU's men won over Texas Tech and then this evening over Duke in another great DJ Burn's show.  This means that NCSU has both men's and women's teams in the Final Four.  To be continued!  

The Saga of the Hips

Four and a half years ago while we were in the process of packing up 27 years of life in one house, I was having a lot of pain in my left hip.  I could hardly walk across the parking lot of the Air BnB where we were living temporarily.  I asked my South Bend doctor if he could give me a cortisone shot to get me through the next month of moving to Princeton. He said that only a specialist could do the shot. However it was easy to get an x-ray in his clinic so I had one done immediately.  He showed me that I had arthritis in my hip and warned me that in one to four years I would need a hip replacement.  Meanwhile, I could take Tylenol and Aleve every six hours for relief.  He told me not to stop when it felt better but to keep on for a while for more permanent relief.

For four years my hip gave me no trouble even though I was no longer taking pain medications. And then it started up again this fall with a dull ache down both of my legs and sometimes a feeling like my left leg was caving in on me. My primary care provider in Princeton warned me against taking more than two Aleve a day. I dreaded the thought of surgery.  A good friend had complications with her hip replacement surgery and had to have it done a second time.  So did my South Bend doctor who had to have his redone as well.  I knew rehab would be a problem with our living in a second floor apartment.

I did very little walking during our time in Florida not only because of my hip issues but also some balance issues.  I felt sturdier hanging on to Jim's arm.  He was kind enough to say that he actually liked it when I did so.  When we got home,  I began a routine of taking one Aleve in the morning and one at night.   I also found some exercises for issues with limping on Youtube and began doing them daily.  

And to my great relief, the dull ache down my leg is gone.  There is no pain at night when I am trying to sleep.  I feel some sensitivity when I walk but no feeling of my leg caving in.  Something is working!  My body is coping and maybe even healing.  I can live with this small amount of discomfort and am relieved not to feel like a hip replacement surgery is my only option.  

My Reading Life

 

I just spent an hour or more going over the books I read and recorded on Goodreads this year and last year.  I wanted to find all the books I rated five stars and then to look for more books by those authors.  In the last month I have rejected at least ten books that I brought home from the library or downloaded for my Kindle app. Sometimes I just take those rejected books off my "to read" list on Goodreads or the "For Later" list at the Princeton Library.  Sometimes I shelve them as "abandoned" on Goodreads and then write a "private note" as to why I abandoned them.  I never rate a book one or two stars.  If that is all it was worth to me, I probably abandoned it.  I know authors look at these reviews so I don't want to disparage any books publicly. 

Goodreads statistics show that I read over 1400 books in the last ten years.  I abandoned 140.  10%!  I know however that I give up on more than 10%.  Recently I came home with six books from the Princeton Library and I read two of them.  

I found 59 books in 2023 and 2024 that I rated five stars.  I jotted down the names of the books and the authors.  My next project will be to find other books by those authors.  Sadly, I have read everything Nicholas Rhea wrote before he died.  I will have to wait for more mysteries by Martin Walker or memoirs by Niall Williams and his wife Christine Breen. Hal Borland wrote many years ago.  

I wondered if I had recorded reading Jim's biography of R. H. Charles when it was published a year ago.   I had neglected to do so!  So I rated it five stars and wrote a review--the first reader to do so.  I think probably the target audience for such an academic book does not use Goodreads.  So the average rating as it stands today is "five stars."  

Goodreads saves me from rebuying books.  I get lists from EarlyBird books in my email and when I check to see what Goodreads readers think of a book before I make a purchase, I see that I have already read it--or rejected it.  I put books on a request list at our wonderful Princeton Public Library or if it is not there, I can often find out of print books at Better World Books or the used book list on Amazon.  I purchase a few books from Amazon every month for my Kindle app--for 99 cents or $1.99 or $2.99. 

In my retirement, I have plenty of time to read and am grateful to have ways to find books that I enjoy and appreciate.  

One more thing about my reading.  In the last year or so I have found email addresses for several authors and let them know how much I appreciated their work.  I have had lovely responses from each one making me realize it was worth the effort to find a way to contact them.  

Blog2Print and the Joys of Being Home

Since getting home, I have been aware of three folks who read my blog posts from Florida.  10 to 14 folks are usually recorded as readers but I have no idea of who these readers are.  I don't blog for my readers although I am happy to have readers!  I blog for Jim and me--as a record of our lives.  And then in January I make a Blog2Print book of the previous year.  We now have more than 10 years of these books and they are great for our memories.  We both keep journals and diaries but these books have photos.  

Life is back to normal.  Jeff has returned our plants.  We shopped for groceries and went to CVS for prescriptions on Friday which left Saturday strangely free.  It was rainy and cold yesterday so we did church via livestream again instead of having to walk from the municipal parking deck to the sanctuary. (Nassau Church has no parking lot.)

We do our NYT spelling bee in the morning until we get to genius--even if it takes many hints about initial letters for words.  We do a NYT crossword puzzle in the late afternoon, often going back into the archives to find ones we haven't done.  Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are days that we can do the puzzle of the day. Jim does Sunday from the magazine.  The puzzles earlier in the week are not usually challenging enough to do them together--although often plenty difficult enough for me to do alone.

We watch a lot of sports on TV and are happy to manage our own TV with minimal challenges. Yesterday it was two great NFL playoff games with surprising winners going into the Super Bowl next month. 

I miss looking out at the beautiful Boca Ciega Bay but we both really do like our spacious and comfortable apartment.  There is a requested book for me waiting at the Princeton Library and Jim has one to return to the University Library (which Susan checked out fof him.)  I have cooked meals for the last three nights and didn't find it so burdensome after a break from meal preparation. 

 I am contented enough to feel that maybe we should wait to pursue living at Stonebridge, the senior living community we had looked into.  But we have to remember that we need to commit to that while they are still willing to take us as "independent" seniors.  

Days 9, 10, 11, and 12

 

My sister said a friend of hers who comes to Florida every year said this was the coldest January in memory for her.  I would feel worse about that if I had any more energy for long walks or exploration. Walking has been difficult for me and I have been happy to take my husband's arm for support.  I have been quite content to sit in the condo and enjoy my books and enjoy sports on TV.  And to enjoy looking outside at the beauty of the bay at any time of day or night and checking out the pink sky over the Gulf at sunset.

We decided to enjoy a restaurant we have visited every year--Agave.  It is a very untouristy Mexican place with inexpensive margaritas and tasty meals.  It is noisy and crowded and it was great again.
 

The weather was a bit warmer today--and will get warmer each day with the warmest day this week the one in which we hope to be heading home.  

Our prayers this week have been with Laura who is struggling with pretty bad hip pain and has spent a lot of time in bed.  And for Susan's dad who had a heart attack and now has had complications from his treatment and is back in the hospital.  

Day 10  We made a quick trip to Publix and Dollar Tree before getting gas and returning the car to the Hertz kiosk across the street.  Jim put in a grand total of $2.64 worth of gas to fill the tank.  We had not gone far at all and the car was a hybrid.  

Today is the warmest day thus far.  I may even venture to the fishing deck on the bay and enjoy the sunshine.  I have just spent an hour perusing books on my "want to read" list on Goodreads and have downloaded a few of them.  We have some frozen lobster bisque for supper--I couldn't find any fresh servings which I knew they had last week.  Jim is always glad to have the rental car returned safely.  I always feel constrained without wheels.  But just one day and a half and we head home.  I checked the flight status and it is still a go on Thursday.  May that continue!

-------Day 11  

Yes,  that is Jim in shorts and sandals for the first time since we got here 11 days ago.  And we have just downloaded our boarding passes for tomorrow's flight at 12:14 pm.  It is a beautiful 76 degrees outside and we enjoyed sitting by the bay for a while.  We are having great weather just in time for us to leave!

On our last evening it was warm enough to enjoy drinks at the Tiki Bar across the street at Tradewinds.  A meal of jumbo hotdogs and french fries from the Food Truck next to it was perfect! 

I am so glad we have our boarding passes and am optimistic that things will go better heading home than they did getting here--with our delays of day after day.  I am eager to be home and yet feel a bit melancholy because I really do think we will not do this again.  Travel was difficult and stressful.  I am finding it hard to walk anywhere without taking Jim's arm.  Life gets to be more and more limited and I am thinking that is OK.  I like home and will be happy and I hope contented to be home soon.

------------And after listening to the news tonight, I am thinking that I am not going to fly anywhere again. There were too many air incidents. May we have safe travel tomorrow!  I am saying my prayers.  

------------Day 12  Home at 4:40 pm.  Our flight was uneventful and landed early in Newark. We had to wait to deplane because there was a medical emergency mid-flight and an ambulance was there to pick someone up.  Newark is a big airport and it was a long walk to ground transportation and lots of traffic where we were waiting for our Uber.  Six minutes away--now four minutes--now five minutes!  Four Uber rides for this vacation--and all went well.

So glad to be home!  Thankful for the beauty of St. Pete Beach and for the good eating and drinking we enjoyed.  But home is best!  

Days 6, 7, and 8

It is cold here in Florida.  And today it is rainy.  Yesterday our only outing was to get supplies at Dollar Tree and Publix--toilet paper, tissues, toothpaste, cookies for Jim and chocolate for me.  Plus more fruit and sandwich meat to make up a healthy supper that we could eat at our condo.

Today we ventured farther to John's Pass where we have our annual late lunch at the Pirate Grub and Hub.  We found the municipal lot and then ended up paying a whopping 23 dollars for parking because we couldn't seem to regulate the kiosk to do less.  It was drizzling so we ate inside but we enjoyed our beers and hot dogs in spite of the rain.

I got a phone call this morning from Jessie asking us if we wanted to reserve a place for next year.  I said that we did not want to commit to that.  I will have to remind myself next June or July that this really does need to be our last time here.  Once again, travel was so stressful--for far different reasons this year than last.  I find it difficult to walk any distance at all.  And the January weather is not great--even if we do appreciate being here when rates are less and restaurants are not busy.

But as always, the view of the bay is so lovely--early this am with big clouds over it--at dusk when it is all purple and the white buildings of St. Petersburg gleam in the distance--and then at night when the lights over the bay are twinkling.  

We did better with finding the TV sports Jim wanted last night--in the living room.  Jim is very patient with trial and error--and we enjoyed lots of NBA games and even one college game with Bronny James playing for USC.

 

Day 7  We walked across the street to the Gulf and sat on a bench that was coincidentally inscribed "Mary's happy place."  The sun was shining and it felt almost warm.  We took off our winter jackets!  

We left for an early dinner and drove to The Wharf in Pass-a-Grille.  We sat outside looking at the bay and ordered our tropical drinks and meals.  Jim was suddenly surprised by a sea gull tapping him on the shoulder and aiming for his bag of potato chips.  The waitress had given us a bottle of water to squirt at the menacing birds and Jim used it more than once during our dinner.  

Day 8  We enjoyed breakfast (55 and over menu) at IHOP--as we have done every year on a Saturday morning.  The sun is shining but it is a chilly 48 degrees.  Florida in January is not warm but it is not the blizzard like conditions folks are having in Indiana and Michigan and New Jersey. The plan for the rest of the day is another Publix trip and lots of playoff football.  

Days 3 and 4

 The view from our condo is lovely and for that I am grateful.  Because I have not left the premises since the first few hours after we arrived.  Yesterday I was just so glad to not have to walk through airports and today something disagreed with my digestive system and I stayed put.  So we didn't rent a car or make dinner plans.  Toast and cheese was good enough and Jim had another frozen Lean Cuisine.  He walked to Publix both days to get supplies. 

When I went out on the little porch I looked down at the green palms and noted the variety of green color from bottom to top--dark to light.  I had never noticed that before.  So it was my little bit of joy in an otherwise somewhat dreary day.  Plus the lovely orange and yellow buildings--colors we don't see in New Jersey!  

Of course, there is plenty of football--with wildcard games.  We could not get the living room TV to work but we succeeded with the bedroom TV so we have had happy hour and supper sitting in bed.  

I hope tomorrow is a day to rent a car and find some good seafood to enjoy.  

----------Tuesday: Jim rented a Corolla from the Hertz kiosk right across the street and we drove to Pass-a-Grille where we have eaten many times before.  We parked behind the Hurricane Restaurant and thus chose to go to Hurricane--eating inside because it is cold and windy.  I had a crab cake sandwich and Jim had a shrimp dinner--so we got our Florida seafood.  We ate early like the old folks that we are and came back to the condo for our daily Key Lime Pie dessert--our usual purchase from Publix.  

The news is about the Iowa caucases in which Trump won easily with Haley and DeSantis well behind and pretty much tied with each other.  I despair.  How can the Dutch Christian Reformed folk from our heritage in NW Iowa go for a man who is so unChristian in his life and actions and words?  

I am thankful to feel better today.  I wish the weather were warmer but it is not the blizzard conditions they are having in Michigan and the snowy condition in New Jersey.  I sat out on the deck and enjoyed a bit of sunshine and a warm breeze. 

We were frustrated trying to get sports on TV.  Someone came to help us use the living room TV but it was still difficult.  Jim was very patient and kept trying things--and finally got TNT so we can watch NBA tonight from the living room--not the bedroom.  Ah, there are many good things about home and our easy, comfortable life there!

We Made It to St. Pete Beach

 After two cancellations and reschedulings and much uncertainty, we traveled yesterday from Newark to Tampa on a Max9 plane that we trusted had been thoroughly inspected.  TSA in Newark was easy compared to the nightmare of last year.  The flight was smooth and arrived a bit early.  We found our Uber ride easily and successfully opened the lobby door and our 512  condo door with the new passcodes.  

We walked across the street to Tradewinds Resort and got our usual margaritas and chili nachos to share for supper at the Flying Bridge location.

Then the trouble began when we could not get back into the lobby.  This time the code would not work.  We called the emergency number and communicated with difficulty.  I envisioned our sitting outside for the night--unless someone happened to leave the building and thus open the door to let us in!  Eventually we got a call  from Bonnie, who was on call and told us how to open a lock box next to the bike rack.  Sadly it was too dark to see the numbers--but iphone flaslights helped.   The numbers were still hard to read--but we opened the box to get the key to the stairwell.  We were given strict instructions to replace the key in the box for the next person who might need it.  We walked up the five flights of stairs.

And we were able to get into the condo again.  It was not a good night of sleep for me--just too wired from the day's journey and too full of nachos!  This morning Jim walked across the street to get us muffins and Starbucks coffee and will probably make a solo trip to Publix with a list because I am walking with difficulty. We did our Nassau Presbyterian Church via livestream and heard a pastor from Myanmar speak of the dire situation there and how churches can and need to help. 

It's a cloudy and cold day here and we have even put on the heat.  But it's colder in New Jersey and it's blizzard weather in Michigan.

Max 9 and Us

Home and a gas fire

Last week there was a terrible scare with a Max 9 aircraft when a door fell off in the air.  No one was lost but it was very frightening.  So all Max 9 aircraft needed to be inspected.  That meant our flight for today was cancelled.  I spent a lot of time yesterday rescheduling for tomorrow--time on my United app and on the phone. 

 We woke up this morning to another text message saying our flight for tomorrow was cancelled too.  Jim got on the phone this time working with someone who was trying for different airlines.  Their connection got cut off!  He tried again and now we are scheduled for Saturday afternoon arriving in Tampa in the evening.  

So we lose two days in Florida.  That is not so bad.  If that flight gets cancelled again, I may have to see if the travel insurance I bought covers the condo fees.  At some point, we would give up and get our money back on the flight at least.  

It is a direct flight--out of Newark--so that is good.  We are familiar with the area around the condo so we can figure out food when we arrive.  And drinks!  

I am stressed but am grateful to be home and not in an airport.  But now I am convinced this needs to be our last Florida trip! 

Getting Ready to Travel

 Last year, I said it was our last trip to St. Pete Beach.   I pulled my suitcase through Newark Airport on our return home thinking it was my last time of air travel.  But I thought differently as the year went along and we made reservations for Sunrise Resort again.  And United Airlines reservations again.  It can't be as bad as last year--I hope--when they were opening a new terminal and were not prepared.  The weather is not good today or tomorrow but looks better for Thursday morning.  We plan to get an Uber to the Newark Hilton tomorrow evening so it will be an easy shuttle ride to the terminal the next morning.

So today it is a long list of things to do and people to contact.  Jim just got cash for the trip.  I contacted Sunrise Resort who said they had sent us the access codes but we have not received them.  So they are trying again.  One year we had a problem opening a lock box--but they don't use them any more.  But where is the errant email?  I asked them to send it again to Jim's email and my alternate gmail account. (update--we have the codes--hooray!)  Along the same lines,  my UHC health card had to be reiussued and was still in the mail.  Jim found a way to access it online and print it up.  But my laptop has yet to be connected to our printer.  I found a way to make a pdf and sent it to Jim who printed it up.  Now, we hope we won't need it but we are ready!  For our offspring and their offspring, this may all seem easy--but to us old-timers, we are very glad when technology works!

I am doing loads of laundry but will not start to pack until tomorrow.  I have downloaded books to read although that can be done at any time and from any place.  I have contacted our downstairs neighbor to let him know we will be gone.  I have canceled the weekend NYT.  We have both made sure we have enough  meds and eye drops.  I will distribute mine tonight so that I don't have to pack seven bottles of pills--ah, far too many but they do keep me in good health!  We are trying to use up the food in the refrigerator--and I've checked to see that eggs can keep for weeks so they don't have to be thrown out or eaten.  

We plan to bring our plants to Jeff and Susan's for watering while we are gone. 

United Airlines has recalled Max 9 planes to be inspected after a horrendous incident a few days ago when a door fell off a plane.  Supposedly they found loose screws on a few they inspected.   I am telling myself we are safer now than before the incident because they have checked for problems.  Even still, I try to put that image of the opening in the aircraft out of my mind.  And I don't know if we are flying a Max 9 plane or not.

We are renting the same condo (#512) as last year and it was lovely.  The bay view is wonderful at sunrise, all day long, at dusk and after nightfall.   Looking the other way, we can see the sunset across the busy boulevard between the hotels on the Gulf but it is the Bay that is most beautiful.  I am remembering Publix's Key Lime Pie and margaritas enjoyed with views of the Gulf or Bay and crab cake sandwiches. I hope I can post soon with an account of an easy and safe arrival.

----------uptdate on January 10  Because of the Max9 incident, our flight was canceled for tomorrow.  I jsut spent a lot of time on my app and on the phone and think I have successfully changed our flight to Friday.  Too many confirmation numbers and passwords!  But I did talk to two live people and they were helpful.  Alternatives were flying stand-by at 6 am or transferring in Houston or Cleveland--not exactly on the way to Florida.