Haven’t written for what seems like weeks–wait a minute, it has been weeks! Got busy getting ready for my trip back East, watching the Democratic convention, and doing bits and pieces to help Patrick head off to Burning Man. And then Patrick’s server went down while he was gone. So even if I wanted to post, I couldn’t. So here’s a huge post with lots of what’s been going on over the past few weeks.

Democratic Convention

I watched most of the speeches and thought all that I saw were great–especially Barack’s. Hillary did an excellent job as well. So we’ll see what happens. Someone put a McCain sign up in their yard just down the street from my house so I guess I’ll have to stop by the Obama headquarters soon to pick up signs for my yard.

Burning Man

Patrick loaded up his truck and trailer and headed out on Friday, 8/22, for his tenth year at Burning Man. I helped him as usual with his grocery shopping, but didn’t have to do much else. He pretty well has it down at this point with all the packing. I think he’s planning on taking a break next year, taking some other type of vacation with Veronica. I still have quite a bit of BM stuff stacked at the side of the house and in the garage, so we’ll be dealing with all that over the next few weeks. The big thing to get rid of is the trailer in my driveway. Patrick promises that will be removed this weekend.

Trip to Ohio

I left on Sunday, 8/31, for my final vacation trip of the year. The flight back was long, but uneventful and I arrived on time Sunday evening. We went to Mandy’s (Kelly’s daughter) for Labor Day and had a really nice day, visiting with family and eating lots of great food. On Tuesday Sally, Kelly, Mandy and I went to an antique mall in Indiana called Webb’s. I restrained myself and only bought a couple of pieces of carnival glass. That’s what luggage weight restrictions does to you. Plus, I just don’t have tons of room for much more in the way of antiques here at home. On Wednesday we went shopping at some local discount stores. It was fun to look, but I didn’t buy anything. On Thursday we took a break from shopping since Kelly had to go to the hospital for an MRI (more about that later). That night we all went to dinner at Olive Garden and then headed home to pack for our trip the next day to North Carolina.

Republican Convention

Needless to say I didn’t watch much. I did see Sarah Palin’s speech and felt she had a good speechwriter and that she delivered it well. However, many of her (or her speechwriter’s) facts were totally inaccurate. I’m amazed she agreed to say things that can be proven to be untrue. Guess she figured it didn’t matter as long as her words got big applause on national tv. I absolutely disagree with so many of her views and am terrified that she could be “one heartbeat away.” God help our country if that happens.

Mickey’s Wedding

My brother, Mickey, reserved a “rustic” lodge in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina for his wedding weekend. We all stayed there along with his bride Carol’s family. The scenery was beautiful, the company was great, and the lodge was….well, quite rustic. We had lots going on though, so we didn’t really miss lots of amenities. And there was a TON of beer and wine! The wedding turned out great and I’ll have lots of pictures uploaded to this site soon so that you can see for yourself.

Heading Home

I headed back to LA on Monday, 9/8. All seemed to be going well until I noticed the departure board listed my flight as being delayed. The plane was late arriving and we boarded about 1/2 hour late, but still with enough time to make the connection at Chicago O’Hare. Or at least we all thought. There was some sort of mechanical problem so we wound up sitting on the plane for close to an hour. We finally left but didn’t arrive in Chicago until 20 minutes after the flight to LA had left. Fortunately I was able to get on the next flight out, but that meant I wouldn’t get to LAX until around 9:30 pm–too late for Patrick to pick me up and get to work on time that night. My luggage somehow arrived on the same flight I was on and I took a shuttle home, arriving around 11:30 pm. Sent an email to work telling them I’d be in late.

Kelly

She had a cast on one of her legs up to her knee when I arrived. She developed an infection after a podiatrist performed surgery on her foot last March. Without going into all the gory details, she had something pop in her ankle the week before I got there and was told her achilles tendon had burst. She’s seeing a multitude of doctors and now has been told she has an abscess in her foot in addition to the infection that has spread into her bones. The good news is that achilles tendon seems to be okay. She sees the surgeon tomorrow and expects to go to the hospital soon for surgery to remove the abscess and try to cut away part of the bones to remove the infection there.

Back Home Again

I had a really good time getting to see and visit with all my family members, but it’s always good to get home and sleep in your own bed once again. I’m not looking forward to flying anywhere for a good long while so no one should be planning anything that requires me to get on a plane any time soon! The wonderful scent of the night-blooming jasmine greeted me as I walked into my family room Monday night. It’s good to be home.