Motorcycling in March

31 Mar:  OhMyGod, March has done marched out the door.  Tomorrow we have to come up with a new catchy title for the April post.  Cynthia had foot pains that kept her from sleeping for a while last night, so she awakened late and hungry.  Exercises were done in a hurry so that she could stand on the scale and eat ASAP.  After a leisurely morning and lunch, we finally got out the door for a walk and talk about current events.  On the Big Park Loop, we met for the second time John, with whom we talked forever.  His opinion is that 4 o'clock is the name of the interesting plant that resembled Ron's grandmother's African violets a week ago.  (It has grown and bit and the resemblance disappeared.)  John worked for IBM for 25 years, then he and his wife traveled for three years in an Acura sedan - - so he understands our life style.

30 Mar:  After exercises and breakfast and pills, Ron walked to Clark's grocery for blueberries, grapes, carrots, and spinach.  All of these things are still available here in the Village of Oak Creek, and Ron found white JiffyPop popcorn and a 4-lb bag of frozen blueberries.  On the other hand, the Snyders pretzels are still in short supply.  I wonder if grocers are noticing which brands still linger on the shelves now versus the brands that disappear immediately.  We took the short, 2-mile Big Park Loop for our walk in the afternoon, and the direct sun was a bit too warm.  We met several lovely people at a respectable distance of six feet.

29 Mar, Sunday:  And we awoke on another Sunday in the Village of Oak Creek, another Sunday to spend thanking and loving God, although church services are closed to the general public for fear of spreading COVID-19, especially in this community full of retirees.  We might opt for a new hike today if we can find one perhaps a little longer than our longest to date.  We did that by adding the Baby Bell loop to our Courthouse Butte Loop, and we both arrived home tired, but happy by 4:30... after 8.5 miles!  Dinner of salad, potatoes, and broccoli with popcorn and pretzels for chasers leave us happy for the evening.  Goodnight! 

 Fleurs Say I Love You

28 Mar:  Exercises did, breakfast eaten, and then Wisch called me from Bremerton, hunkered down and reaching out for amusement.  I promised to send him a link to the Grateful Dead concert at MIT, so goodbye for now. He sent me a link to the Bob Dylan Nobel Prize lecture, a pretty amazing piece of poetry.  Now I need to take that shower "before noon."  Oops, Cynthia has filled the bathroom with bleach and those fumes are lethal, so I chose to clean the kitchen instead, an odious job.  Now that requisite is done, and Cynthia will come hiking with me.  Oh joy, oh joy.  First, we visited for about an hour with our neighbor Shelly from Indiana.  We are doing our part to maintain sanity despite social deprivation, and we all maintained a six-foot social distancing outdoors in her back yard.  Cynthia and I finally got off walking and did the four-mile Big Park Loop, arriving home just as the sunlight was brightening all the red rocks in our vicinity.  Looking at our nearest cliff, I realized that it is unusually thin and has suffered a major collapse not too long ago, geologically.  I wonder if the local homeowners' insurance covers rock damage.

Ron arrived home in time to alert Cynthia for this photo

27 Mar:  The forecast snow didn't show, nor have any showers, so Ron has decided to walk again to the Post Office to mail one postcard. (2.6 miles round trip)  While in the vicinity he checked out the frozen foods at Clarks and found a 4 lb bag of blueberries.  Now he has an adequate supply for a week.  Then he worked on Swedish Colonial packages, moving e-mails from Google into text files for permanent storage.  Around 4 PM Ron decided to hike the six-mile Courthouse Butte Loop despite forecast snow and rain.  It rained, snowed, and hailed at home.  Ron felt very lucky to see just enough snow to accentuate the trail for 100 yards and to display thin films of white on the landscape.  It was a surprise to see another large man hiking along in shorts, a sweater, and a stocking cap.  The second surprise was a thin woman in a raincoat with hood.  This spectacular sunset heralded his return.

26 Mar:  Ron has promised to walk to the grocery for a can of tomato sauce for pasta.  Let's see how early he gets out the door.  (What he really wants is big bags of frozen fruits and frozen berries.)  Well Clark's grocery was as devoid of large bags of frozen stuff as they had been yesterday.  Ron had misremembered a conversation with the stocker at Basha's market and thought that the conversation was at Clarks.  He was out the door shortly after 9 AM and back by 10:30, 1.3 miles each way according to Google maps.  Cynthia was on the phone to an attorney discussing foreclosure since her house buyer hasn't paid or responded to her in two months.  We finally exited the house on our typical walk around Courthouse Butte by 11:45.  We were tired by the time we finished that 6-mile loop and met a neighbor, Shelly from South Bend, Indiana.  Shelly informs us that the javelina and mule deer hang out in our yard and that there are coyotes and a bobcat in the neighborhood.  Boy-O-boy.

We start where it says "You are here"

Ron, footless, and Rock, topless

Cynthia is a small, lovely girlie

25 Mar:  Village of Oak Creek, near Sedona, Arizona.  Cloudy and chilly today.  Immediately after breakfast, we rode to Clark's grocery to buy our weekly supplies and found most of what we want, then to Safeway in Sedona to look for whatever wasn't available locally.  The Safeway was really quite well-stocked, apparently because their warehouse gives them a priority for shipments because they sell a large volume consistently.  Cynthia made an egg-white veggie scramble to fuel her towards another good hike this afternoon.  It was a treat for Ron to have frozen pineapple after a couple of weeks without.  It is still quite a puzzle to notice which items are missing from shelves (like flour) versus which items seem untouched (like cake mixes, chips, and sodas).  Our walk around the Big Park Loop is getting easier, and we did see a couple of new flowers and plants since yesterday.  Ron did get his clothes washed and the kitchen half cleaned, but it is now time to brush teeth and hit the sack.  G'night.

24 Mar:  Again awake, half-fed and starting to use the electronic devices.  Today looks to be another beautiful, sunny day.  Maybe we can get out for a walk early.  And we did get out for a nice long hike around Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock on the Courthouse Butte Loop Trail (click here.)  Now our legs and feet need a rest.  It has been another day of James Lea for Ron, but tomorrow will be different projects, cleaning the kitchen and mending and washing pants.

23 Mar:  Awake in the Village of Oak Creek, 1/2 fed, 1/4 computerized, planning to walk after lunch on this chilly day.  Self-quarantined, we are completing projects.  Ron is platting properties for the James Lea book that will surely make this a two-volume publication.  He has photographed and transcribed hundreds of deeds from Orange, Caswell, and Person counties, North Carolina to plot into a platplotter.com map showing all of the various Lea properties and their neighbors.  It is a slow, tedious process, like the 5,000-piece puzzle of Rembrandt's Night Watch which consumed him years ago.  Today he was excited to finally locate the property that Lawrence Bankston owned on Richland Creek.  (No deed or grant has survived to describe the property, and; it is mentioned only a few times as a neighbor.)  That obsession completed, maybe he will actually get to work proving which grandchildren belonged to which families in order to complete the book before the beginning of the next century.  Cynthia continues to work on a recipe book for her home town hotel where her grandmother cooked.  Weather was cold today (59 degrees at 1:30pm before the tiny, brief rain dropped it to 54 degrees); Cynthia luxuriated in an excuse to avoid hiking in the cold.  Ron left to hike at 6:18 PM in the COLD and enjoyed the magnificent rosy colors from the bright setting sunlight on the massive red rock that towers above us here.  The last several hundred yards of the Big Park Loop Trail (click here) disappeared as the light faded, but Ron got home more by guess than by golly.  It seemed that the stars became superlatively brilliant in the last few steps before reaching the house.  Ron has been eating a bowl of oatmeal and a portion of cornbread every night just before bed and has been awakening much less often than usual.  It seems to be a good recipe to improve his sleep.

22 Mar, Sunday:  In the Village of Oak Creek, the day dawned late for us.  We were delighted to have a full night's sleep to help our bodies recover from overdoing our hike yesterday.  It looks like a great day to repeat the hike if our bodies can stand it.  Once we arrived at the trail junction where a decision must be made for a short hike or long hike, we prudently decided to keep it short, and then at another decision junction, we decided to try a new, shorter return route that shaved 4 tenths of a mile and a rocky route (a former jeep trail) from our hike on the Big Park Loop Trail.  Ron continued being obsessed with James Lea until midnight but slept wonderfully well.

21 Mar:  Ron continues to work away at James Lea document, now improving the references to Hofmann's Granville books. (Cynthia says, "Smooch!  Thank you!")  We had a great hike circumnavigating Courthouse Rock - all six miles of it.  Cynthia took videos of plants, flowers, Bell Rock, Courthouse Rock and mountain views for her grandchildren, "Nature Walk with Grandmother." Adding to the six-mile loop is the one-mile trip to the trailhead, plus a mile return.  8 Miles.  Poor Cynthia has sore feet and a tighter IT band.  

20 Mar:  Ron hiked alone; it was too cold for Cynthia to venture forth.  He continued working on James Lea until much too late and found his night vision challenged by the intense darkness hereabouts after the sunlight fades.

19 Mar:  Snow - well, no, not here actually in Sedona, but Ron guesses (incorrectly) that Courthouse Rock is the one where we see the bright snow festively festooning the rock.  After breakfast, we decided to rush off early for groceries and rode the motorcycle to Sedona to enjoy the snow-covered mountain landscapes.  The huge surprise was seeing multiple areas where the red rock was adorned with glistening water rivulets in the brilliant morning sun.  Ron continues transcribing deed abstracts from Kendall's Person County deed books.  James Lea may never die.

18 Mar:  Wednesday, is a great day to sleep late and hike.  The taxes are turned into the CPA, proposals completed, and now it is time for fun - for Ron: the jigsaw puzzle.  And once that puzzle was muzzled, we hiked the same Big Park Trail for four miles, round trip, and returned home with wet coats and pants.  (We shoulda worn rain pants and better raincoats; Ron's favorite raincoat has deteriorated so that it is now good only for wind protection.)  He is back at work on James Lea while our Sedona world turns white; it is snowing.  Ron pulled the motorcycle into the garage after first brushing off all the accumulated slush.  We were disappointed to discover that the snow was short-lived and our world did not actually turn white.

17 Mar:  Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  We were delighted to see waitress Claudia at Sedona Red’s; she said they may close temporarily.  Cynthia has decided that we plan to stay at home for the next two weeks except for hiking and grocery resupply.  We are happy; Ron submitted six proposals, and Cynthia sent two proposals for lectures to be given at the National Genealogical Society annual conference in Richmond, Virginia on May 19-22, 2021.  Oh, joy (delivered deadpan without enthusiasm by Cynthia), Ron found a jigsaw puzzle.  It was colorful and fun, but only 550 pieces, missing 7, so it only lasted about a day. 

16 Mar:  Sedona, Arizona: After exercising and oatmeal, we rode to Sedona Red’s for omelets, but, our favorite waitress had the day off.   We stocked up on food, and OTC meds.  We hiked almost four miles on the Big Park Loop Trail (click here.) 

View From Our Veranda

15 Mar, Sunday:  The ride to Sedona from Dan and Donna's in Phoenix was a delight (as were Dan & Donna.)  After gaining entrance to the vacation rental, despite our confusion with the newfangled locks, we unpacked and hustled off to Clark's grocery (formerly IGA) to see if the shelves still held anything that we can eat.  We were delighted to find quite a few things that work, especially rolled oats.  Hiking is right out the door so we boogied off to locate Bell Rock Trailhead, a mile walk up and downhill on rough asphalt to the trailhead.  

The Happy Smooches

Cynthia at Donna's Lovely Home

Helmet in hand

Cynthia with Northwood friends

14 Mar:  It wasn't as difficult as usual to get packed and checked out of the hotel on time.  We then rode to Jason's Deli again to stuff ourselves full before riding north to visit Cynthia's friends from Northwood, Donna, and Dan.  Dan is a retired mechanical engineer, so he and techie Ron found lots of interesting things to talk about: interstellar collisions (how can the collision of two dark holes emit light?), the insanity of panic about coronavirus, push-ups, etc.  Unfortunately, Ron didn't realize that Dan also loves to do jigsaw puzzles; we coulda puzzled while talking.  Donna likes ping-pong and cribbage, but she and Cynthia had a ton of more important talking to do.

13 Mar:  Scottsdale, AZ.  This is a quiet day apart from a wet return ride to the hotel from Jason’s Deli.  We got soaked.  Why did we ride to the restaurant without rain gear when the forecast called for rain?  At least we were quite full enough for the rest of the day.  Ron continues working on his proposals for speeches.

12 Mar:  Globe, AZ to Scottsdale, AZ ... the rain has turned the mountains green and alive!  The roadside from Superior, Arizona into Apache Junction was bright with bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, white flowers, and yellow flowers; what a treat in this normally dry environment.  Our first destination was GOAZ Motorcycles to buy a new bike, but they only had one BMW R1250RT with a "Manhattan" green finish in stock.  We put a deposit on it, and they are searching for a blue model to match our eyes. 

Salt River Canyon on Apache Reservation

11 Mar:  Greer, Arizona, 8500 feet elevation and, on our day of departure, cold rain fell early this morning.  Today's destination is Globe.  Because of the rain/ snow forecast, Ron decided to take the lower route through Springerville to Show Low before turning south to Globe.  Light rain fell at Show Low and periodically thereafter, but none of it was enough to get us wet.  The most exciting part of today’s journey was riding through the amazing Salt River Canyon on the Apache Reservation.  The road is indescribable; imagine driving from rim-to-rim through the Grand Canyon.   At one point you are looking across the canyon at the serpentine road rising up from the depths on the other side of the canyon.

10 Mar:  The Rendezvous Restaurant is closed on Tuesdays, so we ate oatmeal and drank champagne.  Well, truth be told, we did go for a 2 mile uphill walk after oatmeal and before champagne, but we bought the bottle two days ago and leave tomorrow, and there is no room on the motorcycle for that heavy bottle.  Ron was able to move a huge fallen pine about eight feet sideways downhill to improve the step-over situation, and he delighted in moving several flat rocks into sloppy places.  Trail maintenance always in the forefront of his consciousness.  We ate all the salad fixings during and after champaign and watched the National Genealogical Society U-Tube video about creating presentations for their conference on May 19-22, 2021.  Tonight we return to Molly Butler's for the last baked sweet potato.  And it was just as good as yesterday.

Snow in Greer, AZ

Ron the tree-mover

Beautiful night skyscape

9 Mar:  Life is good here in Greer, Arizona.  We kinda hate to tell everyone about this marvelous little mountain town for fear that it will be overrun by tourists once the word is out, but we thoroughly enjoy staying here and hiking either to food or into the mountains along the Little Colorado River.  (Imagine that this little stream crosses a huge expanse of desert to empty into the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon ... after cutting an amazing canyon of its own there.)  We enjoyed visiting with another couple plus kids from Iowa (the quad cities) after lunch at the Rendezvous Restaurant.  Bad news at the Rendezvous is that our favorite grumpy old guy passed away in our absence.  Molly Butler Lodge did a great job on our baked sweet potato.  Hurray!!  

2 feet of snow in Greer, AZ

8 Mar, Sunday:  Daylight Savings Time has kicked in here in Magdalena, NM.  After the usual morning exercise routine, we walked to Kelly’s for breakfast.  Kelly did indeed deliver excellent omelets for breakfast - it pays to give him advance warning of specific needs and interests.  Thereafter we loaded the motorcycle and rode past the VLA across the rest of New Mexico to Greer, Arizona, where we will stay for three days.  The motorcycle ride was pleasant until about 2 in the afternoon when the wind returned for the duration of New Mexico; it "calmed" a bit after we entered Arizona.  Cynthia completed one lecture proposal, but she now must write a syllabus.  Ron is working on five lectures.  We recognized our waitstaff at Molly Butler Lodge and vice versa.  We enjoyed salmon, baked potato and steamed broccoli for dinner - perfect.  They agreed to bake our sweet potatoes for us for dinners for the next two nights.  Hurray!! 

7 Mar:  Magdalena, NM is an interesting old, almost dead, the town of 800-1000 souls where the population remains stagnant because old folks die in the winter and new folks move in the summer, and so the cycle continues. Retirees move here; some are lawyers and other degreed folks, but you would not know it by the homes or lawn care.  Fortunately, we carry oatmeal with us for emergencies like this, although Evett’s tried to make egg white veggie omelets.  Kelly's offered terrific spinach, kale and quinoa salad for lunch and an awesome entree of steamed vegetables for dinner.  He promises good omelets in the morning. 

6 Mar:  Do you know what too-much-overfull feels like?  We do.  Breakfast buffets are great places to overeat. We managed a thirty-minute walk before finishing our packing.  The keys actually stop working punctually at check-out time.  The ride to Magdalena was lovely and only interrupted by a very hungry girlie who wanted to eat at the Socorro Springs Restaurant, which we previously enjoyed in Socorro, NM.  The High Country Lodge in Magdalena is certainly a lot cleaner than our stay a few years ago.  The reason we returned is our interest in how the community is trying to restore the town.  Ron is preparing lecture proposals for the National Genealogical Society May 2021 Convention in Virginia.  Writing a syllabus is his present headache. 

Observe snow on the mountain
(and there was snow below us too ! )

5 Mar:  The plan is to ride to Ruidoso to the Inn of the Mountain Gods on the Mescalero reservation.  We've stayed there before and liked it, but this time we've reserved a room with a lake view. We were greatly surprised to see a snow view on the mountain with a breathtaking view from our room. It would be nice if they had walking trails. The Inn of the Mountain Gods is a great place to retreat, with wonderful views. We walked the dam only to learn it isn’t allowed. At sunset, we hiked up to the dam, but curious Ron decided to find out if the trail is really marked no admittance by going another route. Seven curious horses followed him home.  Yes, indeed. Seven horses ambled down the trail following Ron. They were at the lodge grounds yet that night.  

4 Mar:  Roswell, NM is a great place to sleep.  We awakened refreshed, exercised and ate breakfast while Ron did his usual morning Sudoko.  Now we are looking to see if any walks are available here.  The forecast rain wasn't much and has vanished.  Roswell, NM is famous for its UFO history.  Cynthia’s brother-in-law is one of the scientists who participated in the Roswell government research ... and no aliens were discovered.  After another humongous lunch at the Cattle Baron Restaurant, we walked the Spring River Parkway (a bike trail) to the Spring River Park & Zoo populated with all kinds of geese and duckies, miniature horses, longhorn steer, goats, and a gorgeous peacock.  The park boasted a 1917 vintage carousel, a train track for the Christmas train rides, and various buildings used for Santa’s Village, but none were operative today.  The temperature was 52 with a real feel of 44 at 12:30 when we left for lunch, but two hours later it was so warm we walked without jackets.  

3 Mar:  Up before the crack of dawn, we are exercised and oatmealing as the light opens up the morn.  At high noon and hungry, we arrived in Roswell, New Mexico a discovered mountain time when our stomachs disagreed with their clock.  The ride from Lamesa to Roswell, NM started in a light drizzle for twenty minutes, then we enjoyed nice dry weather until we turned onto highway 380, smack dab into the wind that continued to get colder and colder (50 degrees).  Strange that previous to our departure, the color radar showed rain throughout our first hour, but we saw no evidence of any rain for most of that distance.  After checking into the Comfort Inn, we drove to the Cattle Baron Restaurant for a magnificent lunch.  (Their salad bar is awesome, and they bake sweet potatoes.)  Ron bought pretzels at Walmart and retired early, stuffed full.  Apparently, this is a good recipe for sleep.

2 Mar:  Awake in Fredericksburg, Texas, fed very full and still trying to reduce produce being carried by motorcycle.  We are nearly packed at 10:22 (check out is 11, so that's the end of this update.)  Destination today is the Best Western in Lamesa, Texas, 279 miles northwest on US 87.  And we did arrive late afternoon (although the GPS detoured us west on Texas 29 and north on US 83 to save a mile).  West of Fredricksburg (aka the Hill Country/Wine Country) is vast ranches, with fields freshly planted.  Not only are the crops visible, but oil and gas wells are scattered widely, and so too are acres of wind farms.  Today's ride was cold but very pleasant until the strong wind returned for the last hour.  In West Texas towns, tacos reign supreme.  We are figuring out exactly how to really, really get an early departure to reach Roswell, NM by noon while avoiding the forecast rain. 

Ah ha !! Caught playing footsie while watching soccer.

1 Mar:  Aaauuuggghhhh!  The most stressful days in our relationship are when Miss "gets everything done yesterday" has to endure the perfectionistic packing by Mr "gets everything done by the day after tomorrow."  Mr. Ron admits to vacating the condo a half-hour late (11:30 AM instead of 11AM), and we did run into a few sprinkles due to our late departure and the wind pushed us northwards strongly and noisily the entire ride.  Hurray !! We arrived in Fredericksburg in time for dinner at Red Lobster ... no, Trader Joe's ... no, oh well, another notable dining establishment.  Oh, yea, K-Bob's ... or is it Billy Bob's?  Cynthia is showered and ready for bed.  Ron is now absolutely full and ready to follow suit.  The footsie photo was taken in Bastrop, Texas about 2:30; we had a picnic by a soccer game.  Our picnic meal was a protein drink, broccoli, spinach, apple, and frozen pineapple mostly thawed. 

1 Mar: Packing and recycling consume our morning.  At some point, we leave for Fredricksburg, Texas on the first overnight of our ride to Sedona, AZ

February 2020, another wonderful month to enjoy being alive

Bride-to-be Lauren with proud parents

Ron wearing his favourite head protection

When the baby looks small in Cynthia's arm,
she is indeed small

29 Feb:  Happy Leap Year!  A huuuugggggge smile appeared on Ron’s face riding on that big blue motorcycle this morning.  We dropped a dozen boxes into the storage unit helter-skelter, dropped another solitary box (to be shipped to Sedona) at Jon’s house, returned the rental car, ate a meal at the Magnolia Diner, and then returned to the storage unit to reduce the helter-skelter reorganization somewhat.  Ron aired up the motorcycle tires at WallyWorld, granddaughter Lauren and her parents picked up her wedding gown, and Cynthia is still smiling over her joy at holding the newborn.  

One very HAPPY grandmother

28 Feb:  was a busy day.  We delivered a trunk full of recycling to the center at Spring, TX, drove all the way to Westheimer for new hair cuts la la Sasha, ate a huge lunch at the nearby Jason’s Deli, and we really enjoyed a visit with our new great-granddaughter, Blaire.  As her smile testifies, Cynthia LOVED holding her new great-grandbaby Blaire.  Ron sat across the room for safety's sake.  We arrived home just in time for Cynthia to have dinner with Tina and Jon.  Ron walked over to the Yacht Club to greet them then returned to the condo to organize stuffs to go into the storage locker tomorrow.  

27 Feb:  Aaauuuggghhhh! We are in the throes of packing, recycling, and cleaning. But, we managed a seven mile walk in two sessions.

26 Feb:  Another day closer to departure from Lake Conroe, Texas towards Sedona - and Ron has not even looked for possible routes as yet.  He is still trying to dig through the limited number of boxes he brought out of the storage locker when we arrived in January with the admirable goal of putting significantly less back into storage than came out.  Friday is the first "deadline" day when we drop off recycling en route to see Sasha, Cynthia's hairdresser of 35 years.  Today dawned cloudy and windy although we are promised sunshine in the afternoon and calm, sunny weather tomorrow.  The big question is whether we will run into rain Sunday and Monday as we travel towards West Texas.  stay tuned.

Baby Blair of the strong lungs

25 Feb:  It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, the skies are blue, the sun is shining and so are we.  Ron is on the balcony overlooking Lake Conroe, tripod ready to begin photographing documents.  Ron has photoed everything he had ready including Cynthia's Gerbings heated gear (for sale), and got good pictures of Cynthia as a bonus.  We did our daily exercises and walked to the fitness center and back, twice!  Cynthia is elated that our new great-granddaughter, Miss Blaire Ryan Miller, began her earthly journey at 9:38 this mornings, weighing 5 pounds and nine ounces. She is tiny with strong lungs. 

24 Feb. “Up! Get up! I don’t want to.  I am tired,”  complained our brains when we had to arise and leave by 8:20 for the pharmacy and physical therapy. But the laundry list of errands didn’t stop there. Cynthia deposited a check reimbursement from Last Syllable, mailed the GOPro to the new owner, raced to the allergist, the ENT for an ear exam, had breakfast at Magnolia Diner, dropped off boxes at tge storage unit, and shopped at Walmart. Good news: Cynthia is happy she fits her size four skinny jeans.  It was a great day for a walk.  Granddaughter Rachel was admitted into the hospital with early labor. We will have a new great granddaughter tomorrow. 

23 Feb, Sunday:  LakeConroe for one last week.  Departure for church after exercise, oatmeal, and recycling organization soon, by 9:30.  Worship was marvelous. We enjoyed lunch with grandson Steven followed by a five mile walk. 

22 Feb:  Another less memorable day at Lake Conroe.  After hunting through the last couple of dozen of Uncle Lawrence's matches on GEDmatch, Ron spent the remainder of the day working on his silly perfectionistic approach to keeping accounts.  We managed a walk together to the lake about noon, and Ron went to the lake twice more at sunset and at 9:00 PM.  Now it is time for bed.  Goodnight.

The Smooches

Jon and Tina

Jim, Cynthia, Ron, Jan, Jon.  Tina is hiding behind the lens.

21 Feb:  Exercise, oatmeal and fruit, physical therapy and home to a four-mile walk were followed by electronics.  Cynthia completed the revision of an article that will be published in the Virginia Genealogist in 2020.  YAY.  And now we are off to dinner at the Yacht Club with Jon, Tina and Jan & Jim (from Iowa.)  

20 Feb:  Another day closer to departure, but now the carpet is clean.  Today Ron is taking a break to research GEDmatch "GEDCOM + DNA" for Uncle Lawrence.  It is a rainy, cloudy day, but we did get a good walk to the fitness center.  Cynthia is updating her article for the Virginia Genealogist. 

19 Feb:  Montgomery, TX, condo rental on Lake Conroe, a tiny bit of rain today although we did manage a complete to-the-lake walk just before noon.  And the carpet cleaner showed up immediately after we returned, so now we have CLEAN CARPETs  (emphasis added to impress me weefee.)  Cynthia did have a good physical therapy session.  Ron was still able to get in a good walk to the Lake at 9:30 but didn't get to bed until close to midnight.  We have to stop staying up so late; it makes us tired in the morning.

18 Feb:  Today's doctoring began with allergy testing at 9 AM.  Gosh, it is hard to get out of bed, exercised, and breakfasted before an 8:40 departure from the condo.  In the afternoon Cynthia saw Dr. Davis for stem cell treatment.  Ron found himself waiting in a girlie centric waiting room there, Ugh.  In between, we enjoyed lunch at Jason’s Deli. We had a major shock returning to the condo discovering someone had entered.  Yikes!  The condo is a frightful mess.  Management entered to allow pest control to spray.  I hope it doesn't affect the hubsand variety of pests. 

17 Feb:  Cynthia’s follow up appointment with spinal specialist went well. Upon request, he administered a steroid injection for Cynthia's bothersome bursitis in her hip.  Lunch at Jason’s Deli left us too much over full.  Another day has vanished without a trace.

Ron and Jon

Cynthia, Jon, Paul, Julie, and Roxanne

16 Feb:  Surprising that a luncheon at 10:30 can make Ron so rushed that he neglected his breakfast.  We slept a LOT last night after Ron snacked on fat-free pretzels (5 hours until first awakening.)  We enjoyed a lovely birthday luncheon with Cynthia's children.  In the afternoon Ron walked to the lake and worked on James Lea projects.  Cynthia's foot has begun giving sudden piercing pains from the sole.  We don't know what the issue is, but Cynthia is taking a break from daily walks to see if it improves.

Julie, Cynthia, and Roxanne

15 Feb:  It is such a treat to not have to rush off soon after awakening, exercising, and breakfasting.  But it is now approaching 10 PM departure time to run off to visit granddaughter Rachel to see the room prepared for the new baby - although Ron is betting that the doting mother will insist on having the baby in the same room with the parents for the first 30 years.  Later.  Cynthia loved seeing the drawers full of baby clothes and sitting in the new rocker.  The due date is before 2 March.  On that date, she will be induced.  (Her gall stones are the issue.)

14 Feb:  Cynthia had PT in the AM.  And another day vanished before we knew it. But it was a wonderful Valentine's Day for this Smooch family.


13 Feb:  A lucky Thursday for us.  We both woke up.  Now we are back to usual electronics for an hour before considering our morning walk and then errands.


12 Feb:  Exercised, fed and ready to walk when the drizzle started, so Ron decided to wash the motorcycle wheels quickly.  Then he spent a couple of hours rearranging things in the spare bedroom, looking for postcards to mail Richard - no success.  After dark he allowed himself to resume work on James Lea.  (This discipline is necessary if we are going to be ready to roll on March 1st.  Ron will need to clear out the spare bedroom and deliver everything possible to recycling.)  Granddaughter Rachel is 37 weeks pregnant. She and Ryan (with help from her aunt Roxanne and the rest of the family, Thanks Y'all) have created a lovely nursery for soon-to-be-new-baby Blaire. 

11 Feb:  Tuesday already ?? !!  Lake Conroe, morning exercises, oatmeal with berries, and electronic devices are the consistent staples of our life until the end of the month.  Ron is still listening to the same Grateful Dead concert and still working on James Lea documentation, but today his plan is to switch modes and start getting things ready for departure on March 1th.  Our walk this afternoon took us into a light drizzle, so we got damp without dampening our mood.  Life is good.  Cynthia has been garnering many kudos for her photos on Facebook.  (Cynthia interjects: photos of Ron are garnering the attention.)

10 Feb:  Cynthia drove to her ENT to have ears, nose and hearing aids examined.  We will nose about the nose after the culture comes back, the ears get goo applied for a week.  (Let's hope they don't fall off.)  And the hearing aids now have a stadium program and a music program - but Cynthia is now single-sided due to the goo in the other ear.  Ron continues to work on James Lea, eat frozen pineapple and mango, and listen to the Grateful Dead.  He forces himself to change diet after lunch to eat lots of veggies because veggies seem to cure the sores that form in the corners of his mouth.

9 Feb:  Up early and off to church.  (Cynthia skipped out on exercises; Ron did his in record time, half an hour.)  This is the big day of the granddaughter's baby shower.  Excitement runs high in the female half of the family.  Ron has decided to spend his "free" time cleaning and straightening house and recycling.  (Yes, it is about time - - - long past due is more accurate.)  Well !!  Cynthia was indeed surprised to return home and find the house CLEAN !!  And she was also surprised to find roses arranged by the bed.   It is rare that we are apart for five hours. 

Cynthia's FB Post - Sunday Offering

Life-enriching moments make memories. Today we made memories. I marveled at the women in my family, two daughters, three daughters-in-law, seven granddaughters, and two great-granddaughters gathered at a baby shower for an expected great-granddaughter. Strong women; creative women, from the oldest to the youngest, kind, loving, thoughtful women. And I am so proud, so very proud. I marvel at our hostess, daughter-in-law Karen, Scott’s wife, who raised their two babies alone after Scott died from Leukemia. Our hearts melted when my daughter-in-law Jill, soon-to-be grandma, gifted heirlooms: quilts from her grandmother and great-grandmother, plus tiny dresses I gave Rachel thirty-two years ago. And these women are makers. They make things. Granddaughter Corrie and her two little ones crocheted a soft, cuddly pink and white blanket. Granddaughter Fyn, five-years-old, received accolades with hand-made cards, a blanket, and a hat she sewed herself (perhaps with some help from my daughter-in-law Cheryl, her mother – designer and maker). Yes, this was a memorable moment, strong women in a family welcoming a new life with gifts from our hearts and our hands, children of the heavenly father. These life-enriching memories made another day wonderfully rich. Thank you, God.

Children of the Heavenly Father

Children of the heavenly Father
Safely in His bosom gather
Nestling bird nor star in Heaven
Such a refuge e’er was given
God, His own doth tend and nourish
In His holy courts, they flourish
From all evil things, He spares them
In His mighty arms, He bears them
Neither life nor death shall ever
From the Lord, His children sever
Unto them His grace He showeth
And their sorrows all He knoweth
Though He giveth or He taketh
God His children ne’er forsaketh
His, the loving purpose solely
To preserve them, pure and holy
Lo, their very hairs He numbers
And no daily care encumbers
Them that share His every blessing

Source: Lyric find

  

8 Feb:  Another day vanished without a trace.  Ron is finally beginning to be interested in hearing something besides the Grateful Dead concert .. but not quite enough to "change channels."

7 Feb:  We were off to physical therapy by 9:45 AM, followed by a trip to the storage unit to retrieve a new pair of khaki cargo pants for Ron; they have been waiting around until he wore out the ones he is wearing.  Cynthia had 22” zippers sewn into the lower outside seams to fully open, making it easy to remove dirty hiking shoes.  We loaded up on groceries at Walmart; Cynthia got her second and final shingles vaccine.  And Ron received his Valentine gift, an MIT basketball cap. Ron is making excellent progress on SCS projects. 

6 Feb:  Another blessed morning without appointments.  Ron is of the opinion that the worst part about staying in one place is either the inevitable appointments that interfere with life or the housecleaning.  The sun finally rose above the clouds about 8:30, even lazier than we are.

5 Feb:  The Smooch Family arose at 4:20 AM, well before the sunrise.  That's what happens without alarm clocks when our minds have programmed we must get up early.  And we did just that.  We were out the door and en route by 7:40.  Houston traffic is tough during rush hour, but we successfully arrived at Sasha's hair salon by 9:32.  Yes, it is a two-hour drive from the lake.  Ron looks even more gorgeous with a new hair-cut.  Peggy H. from the ELCA Gulf Coast Synod Leadership program joined us for lunch at Pappadeaux to discuss her new ministry kick-off.  She is a fun person, newly married (11 years) to a very successful techie civil engineer who is now on the brink of retirement.

4 Feb:  Sunrise this morning was nothing special except that we thank God for every day.  And we feel well-rested.  With no appointments, we were able to enjoy a leisurely morning exercise routine, breakfast and then Cynthia rushed off to a pedicure and manicure, so Ron took the motorcycle out for a ride around the block - - and into the Sam Houston National Forest.

3 Feb:  Sunrise was brilliant with flaming red early.  We rushed through morning exercises and breakfast to get to physical therapy at 9 AM - only to discover that this one appointment was changed to 11 AM.  Life is still good.  Then we ate at Magnolia Diner, egg white veggie omelets, and baked potatoes.  Ron decided to finish the leftover salmon (since it doesn't smell bad yet) and the squash that Cynthia cooked last night.  Ron has started working on the Cox package for the Swedish Colonial Society.  It was ordered on August 30th.

2 Feb, Sunday:  Up early, exercised, breakfasted and out the door to the church.  The pastor asked who has a charmed life.  Ron spent too much time thinking and missed the opportunity to raise his hand.  We ate brunch at the yacht club, followed by electronics and a four-mile walk.  By late evening, Ron had finished Volume 7 and dispatched it back to Ken.  Since his cell phone reported only 4% battery, Ron had to charge it before his late evening walk and used the time to do the dishes. YAY! YAY! Clean!  Oh, that charmed life has more to do with attitude than with facts.  His recent life has been so free from trauma and trouble that it seems that he has always been lucky and lived a charmed life - not to say that it is always free from trauma and trouble.

1 Feb:  Out the door early to drive all the way to Georgetown, TX to see granddaughter Zoe at college.  She is finishing up her freshman year and has had a great time.  We treated her to lunch at Jason's Deli, our favorite.  Ron worked on James Lea on the way out and on Volume 7 on the way back.  Where did Friday disappear?  How can it be Saturday already?  Is tomorrow Sunday so soon?  Ahh well, it is a joy to be alive.