31 October, Wed.: Cynthia's response to political questions: "I am A-political. Let's discuss religion," (Good idea, Ron!). Can anything good come from Halloween? Yes. It can become an opportunity to teach children not to be afraid of death nor to live with fear. I (CFB) remember a delightful time, a fun time, dressing up to going trick or treating without becoming too maladjusted as an adult... just a little weird around the edges. Superman is fun; forget Kardashian (CFB).
Ron is working at the seminary; CFB finished a five mile hike on the in-house trail (treadmill) awaiting Mr. Boo - eatty for dinner at Avenida's with the seminary gang.
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Happy Halloween from Mr. and Mrs. BOO eatty
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30 Oct Tues: Restless sleeping: the windows rattled until well past midnight when the heavy rain and winds stopped. No power. The hotel generator allowed hall lights, elevators and a few outlets to operate. The hotel manager, Al, enjoyed seeing the ingenious water siphoning system with a bucket quarter filled with water. He was standing at the lobby entrance door shivering with coffee from WaWa wishing he could have stayed in Florida. A cold breakfast of fruit, yogurt and muffins, sans coffee, was set up for guests. We went back to bed since the IPad, computers and cell phones were not working. A 12:15 noon knock on the door told us something might be going on. Indeed, it was. Al decided to close the hotel because it could be days before power was back on. Seems the power crews are still doing assessments. Lodging was located at the Hampton Inn at Plymouth Meeting, PA with ... guess what! Ruby Tuesday next door! Packed up and moved out in an hour, we made a quick stop at the seminary. Cynthia's grandson, Austin in University City, did not have experience a power outage.
29 Oct. Mon: Light rain is falling. Traffic is light. Most people from flood prone areas are evacuated (the ones who stay will become photo-ops for sensational seeking journalists). Cynthia is reminded of winter blizzards in Iowa: schools, offices, business were closed. Traffic was light. Moms and dads were home with the kids. The blizzard hit. The snow stayed. The power was out for days causing the kids to bundle up under piles of blankets and play board games or read. Dad flushed the toilets with water saved in plastic milk jugs. They washed hands using water saved in the bath tub. They ate cold food. A good time was had by all of the survivors.
Ron drove to the archives but maintenance did not want anyone working; everything is on lock down. We walked the halls of eight floors twice and the stairs twice - TWICE to get some exercise. Should the power go out, and the floods come, take a rowboat over to room 825 with the Do Not Disturb sign on the doorknob. We are cuddled under the covers with our battery operated computers.
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| Parking Lot at 6:00 PM |
The power went out well after eating a hearty dinner. Facing the east, our windows leaked from the wind pushing the rain into a crevice that soaked a bath towel in thirty minutes flat. But, with the bath towel absorbing water and the end of the towel in a large five gallon bucket, a large baggie underneath being used as a trough, the bucket caught the water that would have soaked the carpeted floor.
The windows rattled. The wind roared. Planning to move the car, advice came quickly from the police outside the hotel. "No. We do not recommend driving anyplace even to moving the car up the hill. See those tree limbs that came down only minutes ago?" Sleep came slowly.
28 Oct., Sun: Reformation Sunday. No one talks about Reformation Sunday now in the zeal to be politically correct. We enjoyed a marvelous lunch at the Corinthian Yacht Club on the Delaware River with Herb, Zofia, Sally, Nagle, Alfred, Sylvia, Bill W. Theresa and Austin. After returning Austin to his apartment, shopping at St Joseph's Bookstore, we became late, lost driving on dark roads without street lights in the rain arriving late for dinner at the Mediterranean Grill with Eric and Jean; a frustrated Ron became barky in the car while Cynthia who rarely reacts can occasionally become really rotten when hungry, overwhelmed by restaurant noise, and frustration with the menu. No rain on the way home at ten PM
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| Ron, Bill, Teresa, Sylvia, Alfred and Austin |
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| Herb, Zofia, Sally, Nagle at Corinthian Yacht Club |
We are remaining in Philadelphia waiting. Sandy, an unwelcome, uninvited and deeply troubled girl is headed this direction after leaving a path of destruction in Cuba and across the Bahamas. Knowing everyone reading this blog will be checking to see if we are OK: we are fine. After processing the hotel's preparedness with the manager, even Smooch Smooch is reassured we will be fine. The Holiday Inn at Fort Washington, has not had any water in the hotel, ever. Located near an important transformer, they have not been without power with the exception of one twenty minute period during Irene. They are stored up with food, water, batteries, and all of the necessary emergency items. We have a battery in the car that will charge two computers at a time so we can continue working.
27 Oct., Sat. Breaksfast with Joel G. and Ed M. (MIT alum) at Joel's home in Chestnut Hill. Dinner at Kim-Eric's with John P., Austin and Jim Z.
26 Oct Friday, Archives working, dinner at Scoogi's with John P and Jim Z. The last three nights we got to sleep about 3:30 AM. Ron is the editor of Vol. 6 of the Carl Magnus Wrangel bio, now in the hands of proofreaders. Index in process. Cynthia is multi-tasking projects.
25 Oct, Thurs. Archives working, dinner at Scoogi's with Jim Z.
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| Austin, Cynthia's grandson |
24 Oct., Wed. Archives working, dinner at Avenida's; Cynthia SHRIEKED first time viewing the newly digitized Craig Collection records on the computer. Her grandson, Austin, has accomplished this herculean task in 8 months. 80 boxes of records, scanned, OCR, redacted and now transcribing 10,000 family group sheets. Austin earned two degrees in four years, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, with university honors from the University of Texas.
23 Oct., Tues. Meeting at the hotel with SCS members re the website.
22 Oct., Mon: Meeting with Austin and Bill at the hotel to work on the Swedish Colonial Society website.
21 Oct., Sun: OH we were late for worship but the surprise was terrific. Mommy Bear made us venison soup with rice.
20 Oct., Sta. More of the same; arrived in Fort Washington, PA late after dinner at Scoogi's five mile walk at night!
19 Oct., Fri: En route to York, PA to surprise Pappa Bear and the Preacher Boys.
18 Oct., Thurs. Departed West on NY 20 following fall. Colors are magnificent. Pleasant drive on small road through lots of small NY towns. Spent the night at a Microtel in Bath, NY
17 Oct., Wed: What??? Whaddyamean that tiny scoop of egg white fluff is an omelet???? We cannot eat the continental breakfast at the Brewster Inn so we walked to Dave's Diner in Cazenovia Village; Ha! And fifty cents per vegetable??? Ha! They were so minuscule and over priced we don't plan to return. The library (with jigsaw puzzle) beckoned Imagine that! The temps reached almost 70 degrees today.
- Drove to Chittenango Falls State Park, located in the Central Travel Region of New York 4 miles north of Cazenovia. Trails above and below the gorgeous waterfalls attract thousands of visitors each year. No admission for the rest of the season. Now that Ron is AARP we can get senior citizen rates. The trails are not well marked; hence we got lost twice. But, we had a lovely three hours of hiking in glorious scenery before returning to dine at sunset. NICE! Ron returned to the library tonight to study???? HA! That puzzle needed completion.
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| View From Meadows Trail |
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| This is a Happy Man |
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| Brewster Inn |
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| Ron phoning Smooch Smooch |
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| The Falls |
16 Oct., Tues: Hiked through the Landis Arboretum and continued west on Hwy 20 through brilliant fall foliage with Cynthia driving for three hours; arriving in Cazenovia, NY... Ron spotted a restaurant and Inn, Brewster's Inn; swinging into the place we had some concerns about price because Syracuse prices were exorbitant. HA! fifty dollars less than the Holiday Inn Express, "We will take it!" Benjamin Brewster (cohort of John D. Rockefeller) and trustee of Standard Oil built this summer home in 1890; he died in 1897 and the home passed to his heirs for many years. We decided to stay for three nights. Oh, boy. A five star restaurant overlooking the lake. Sunset. Wine. This is a very pleasant place. After dinner we walked into the charming village with stately columned homes lining the streets boasting building dates of 1800 or thereabouts. The library (not to be outdone) was certainly a stop for the column salesman. We don't pass up libraries! Cynthia read the entire historical bio of Madame Tussaud while Ron found a jig saw puzzle! Wonders never cease.
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| Oak Tree is a fascinating study from many angles |
15 Oct., Mon: Hiked Sherburne Pass Trail despite MUD. It was very wet, slippery and slow. Post lunch we embarked towards Proctor to see an old Lutheran Church. The village is quaint but we could not locate the old church so we headed NW and somehow the GPS maneuvered us west on Hwy. 20. The fall foliage maps on the Weather Channel suggest west is best - but the color was marvelous west of Rutland much to our surprise. Of course, we don't drive that direction very often. Stayed at a Comfort Suites for 99.00 for the night. IHOP close by.
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| Peak is Past Sherburne Pass Trail |
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| Mill House in Western VT |
14 Oct, Sun: RAIN and RAIN and RAIN.
13 Oct. Sat: Hiked Gifford Woods State Park to River Road.
12 Oct: Fri: Yes, dear. I do. I will. I shall. I love you. Smooch Smooch.
Anniversary: 1 years 5 months 1 day
or 17 months 1 days
or 74 weeks 2 days
or 520 days
What can be said, but, thanks be to God. If people only knew our incredible story they, too, would say only God could have brought us to this place. In the four years we have been together [almost 24-7 rarely apart], laughter and joy fill our days and nights. Thanks be to God. Cynthia says, "A person has to learn how to be happy all alone on a flat rock before they are going to be happy with someone else: Wishing or waiting for something or someone is an invitation to a life of discontent." Being a man of few words, "Just thank God."
It is snowing in Vermont this morning.
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| Hiking Sherburne Pass Trail |
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| Jelly Beans???? |
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| Cynthia reached the summit: atta girl |
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| View from Sherburne Pass Summit |
11 Oct., Thurs: glorious colors, cool, crisp air, sunshine in abundance. The four hour hike from Gifford Woods to River Road was invigorating beyond words; six weeks without serious hiking but we are back ready for action:
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| Thunder Brook Falls Bridge Under Construction |
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| Smooch Smooch |
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| Hey Walter! Lookee Here! |
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| Sunset on a Perfect Day |
10 Oct., Wed: Rain, rain and rain; off to dinner at Little Harry's with a walk at Wally World and Price Chopper.
9 Oct, Tues: North to Alaska, Well, try Vermont. We are back at the Inn at Long Trail until Monday.
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| Monday's Hike |
8 Oct, Mon: Walked with the cousins, drove back to NH for turkey dinner with Wall, Irja, Representative Mary J., Ed M., Drew and B.D. A good time was had by all of the survivors. Thanks to Drew for advising us about our lake house's bulkhead collapse. Gulp. Expensive deal. Guess we will have to sleep outdoors for a couple of years.
7 Oct, Sun: Hillsdale, New York to visit cousins Marissa and her little charmers, kiddoes, Susannah (5) and Janie (11) on their awesome farm in the Hudson River Valley with incredible views of the Catskills. Cynthia gave artist Janie some lessons in portraiture, Ron instructed Janie on the old Mac (with discs). Janie asked how to find Safari. We enjoyed a magnificent feast at John Andrews Restaurant, Hillsdale.
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| Marissa and Susannah |
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| Ron, Marissa Janie |
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| Ron and Janie |
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| View of the Catskills and neighbors sheep farm |
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| Ron and Janie Hiking |
6 Oct, Sat: Jaffrey, NH; hiking with Marjorie, Richard while walking on roads used during the Revolutionary War. We had a pleasant stop to visit friends of theirs who live in a home built in 1760. Jane taught HS with Margie. The house was decorated in a timely fashion with great additions that fit seamlessly on the old house. The chestnut beams are so charming. Cynthia especially enjoyed Jane's awesome art studio making her wish she had time to paint and draw; but, the wish passed quickly, "Now is the never a time for wishing, but doing." Margie cooked a lovely roast chicken meal with gobs of goodies: veggies. Departure at 6:30, we arrived at Springfield, Mass Hilton Garden Inn right next door to the Basketball Hall of Fame. How fun is that? Using points for the $$$ inflated rates is the way to go to sleep.
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| Hiking the NH Nature Conservancy Trail |
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| Richard, Margie, Ron |
5 Oct, Fri: Cynthia had 8:00 AM Lab appointment followed by a humongous breakfast at the Silo Restaurant in Glens Falls, NY; foodified, we took off for Brattleboro, VT where we enjoyed a marvelous visit and dinner at the Chesterfield Inn with Beanie and Eddie. They are rejoicing because Beanie has 8 potential kidney donors. Thanks be to God.
4 Oct, Thurs: All day drive to Glens Falls, NY. Major problem finding lodging due to leaf peepers; but, we lucked out at a Ramada with a good price and good night's sleep.
3 Oct, Wed: Adventure 101: Driving to Kane, PA, we stopped to eliminate some excess coffee on a state game lands service road; Cynthia started driving east another hour to Kane for a lovely visit with Tom and Dot for a few hours. Ron drove east yet another hour all the while hunting for gas and food. Did not find food. Found gas. Did not find fanny pack. Where could it be???? Kick the memory into gear. Where was it Cynthia started driving? Where was Ron driving? Hour and a half of daylight left when we turned back west to search for that state game land service road where Cynthia started driving. Did not find the road. Darkness found us. Found deer playing along the roadside. Turned around to retrace our route once again. Cynthia spotted a road but we were uncertain since it seemed way too much like a real street or road and not a service road. FOUND the RIGHT ROAD! Headlights on, flashlight out, searching in the woods. WOWIE ZOWIE! FOUND THE FANNY PACK! Even Cynthia was happy to see the threadbare, worn out belted pack. Lots of lights were on in the adjoining section of land. Sign read, State Dept of Corrections. Whew! They didn't find us. Found food and bed: Italian restaurant with a Microtel nearby. Adventure 101 lesson: Remember to pick up the things you put down.
It is snowing in Vermont this morning.
