Lessons in Futility

I've spent 3 days trying to figure out my username and password, in order to update this blog! I don't know exactly what I did, but here I am again. It's kind of like losing your address book, which is ALWAYS a nightmare for me!

Uncle Larry is over at his parents' house, taking care of his mom while his dad is in the hospital. Though they prefer to continue living on their own, in their own home, I fully intend to be installed in a nursing home when I'm older. Megan wants me to go to one now, but, really, I think that 57 is a smidge-bit too young for that, agreed? She has a lovely one picked out, too, for lower-income families. Hey, I know I'm an over-spender, but I'm really not quite ready for the poorhouse yet!

I'll try and remember my personal info so that I may continue with this little journal (not to be confused with a "diary," which is 'way too personal to publish!). For all of you who are bored by my ramblings, blame Angelique; she has a blog so she inspired me!

Difficult week...........

Yesterday, Uncle Larry's Dad went into the hospital, suffering with internal bleeding. It's scary because he just turned 86, and is one of the finest men in the universe. Anyone who wonders why Uncle Larry is "Mr. Wonderful" can just turn to his parents to understand. Although I generally despise using labels, the words "Salt of the Earth" creep into my thoughts. Mom and Dad are just decent, honest, hard-working people who care about their family more than anything else in the world. Mom can remember all the childrens',grandchildrens',great-grandchildrens',and great-great-grandchildrens' birthdays, and always sends cards to every one of them. Not only that, but to their spouses as well. How does she do that? Furthermore, they accept everyone who comes into the family: spouses, step-children, and other "children-by-request." Once they are part of the family, they are never NOT part of the family. These folks are an inspiration to us all. I hope you're feeling better soon, Dad. We love you ALWAYS.

On a somber note.......

My cousin Shannon lost her husband on Friday, August 18th, due to a terrible motorcycle accident over a month ago. I'm reminded daily how very dangerous my machine is, and try to ride accordingly. It's exciting and beautiful, and easily deadly. We start out each ride with the premise that someone wants to kill us. We don't know who they are, where they are, or why they are trying to do us in, but we know they're out there. So we watch for them to send a dog out in our path, or shovel gravel onto the road, or dig a huge pothole to shake the wheels off our bikes, or send a deer scurrying out in front of us. They also might open a car door and knock us down, or simply strike us from behind, or slam into us sideways. So we watch and watch and watch. I see it as a challenge, and you know I love a challenge! Please try not to worry too much; worry is "concern with a bad ending." Be happy that we are enjoying every minute of that challenge. And to Shannon and Amy: I am so sorry for your horrific loss. Matt was a great guy, a wonderful husband, and a fabulous father. I am so very honored to have been a photographer at your wedding, and love you so much.

I've taken up SMOKING!

August 20th, Day 3 of our great adventure: The rental office guy was a whole lot nicer to us, going 'way out of his way to get us a garbage bag to cover up my travel bag. I'm sure he felt sorry for us. Yep; it was raining. Absolutely POURING. So we decided to go to Massachusettes. Didja ever hear of the outlet stores at Kittery, Maine? Well, apparently EVERYONE goes there if it's raining! If you are just stupid enough to be riding motorcycles, on that route, on a Sunday in August, in the rain, you get caught in traffic that would rival New York City's. Also, if you are [technically] too short for your motorcycle, and you are wearing rainpants, chances are that your pants could catch on fire and melt all over your [very expensive] brand-new Vance & Hines 2-Into-One ProPipe exhaust system. Know how I know? Well, I've often said that "Being adventurous comes with a price." That price could include danger, expense, pain, and inconvenience. I am here to tell you that: riding a motorcycle in the pouring rain with your pants burning onto your new pipes easily includes all of those issues. I still have to giggle, though, when I think of Uncle Larry shouting over the motors' roars, the traffic, and the pouring rain, that "Your pants are SMOKIN'!!"

You'd think it was easy to reach Massachusettes from Maine, wouldn't you? I can even handle the rotories, if it's not too slippery and the cars didn't want to go sooooo fast! I really hate that screeching brake sound they make behind you, don't you? Missed me though; don't worry. So on we went to see Johnny & Stephanie & their 3-week-old baby, Hannah. I know; I know; "Johnny" sounds like a little boy's name. Give me a break; I've known him since he was 9 months old. We only took a few "shortcuts" before we found them, and Hannah is ADORABLE. I'm sure she'll get the hang of having papparazzi hanging around her eventually.... She's SUCH a good baby, though, and that isn't really right. She could be keeping them up nights but.. nooooooooooo. Not this little punkin. We had a fabulous evening of quiet conversation and pizza, and I slept like a baby. Well, that one, anyway; many of them don't really sleep all that well. Steph lavished us with breakfast fit for the princess that I already felt like, and we waved goodbye and left for home!

All the way home, we kept expecting it to rain again, but it didn't. No bad stuff at all! Ooh. Except for Massachusettes State Route 32. Sounds like a super-highway, doesn't it? Well, it isn't. In fact, that road was THE longest stretch of bad road I have traveled on since I left Moscow in 1997. I am not kidding. It was ridiculous. I hit one pothole, like, kaBLAMM!! Thought I was going to lose a wheel or something. We only put 683 miles on for the entire 4-day adventure, but what fun-filled excitement it was! Can't wait for the big one. Toodles!

I finally made it to PORTLAND!!

Anyone who is getting married soon, please please PLEASE get married at the Mount Washington Hotel!! (I'm dying to take a bride-and-groom picture on those rocks in front of it! http://www.mtwashington.com/ It's so gorgeous. We had the bikes set up for quite some time, before someone stopped for the view and I could ask them to take our pictures there! I'm going to have to learn how to add photos to this blog (JESS, where ARE you?!) In any event, it'll probably be our Christmas card this year! Yeah, I know. Uncle Larry's a freakin' saint.

'Most everyone who remembers my student pilot days remembers how my cross-country flight to Portland, via Bedford, Massachusettes, played out. I prefer to think that the fault lay with Manchester, Vermont, which presented itself as something else, causing me to zigzag across the sky looking for Manchester. Long story short, flight service from Boston ended up vectoring me up the coast to Portland, since I was within a hairs' breadth of violating the Terminal Control Area at LOGAN. Oops. In fact, I had nearly decided that my tombstone (future thinking, you see; I'm feeling fine. Really.) may just read "She ain't in Portland." Well, anyway, Uncle Larry and I drove all over Portland, looking for the Harley dealership so I could buy a t-shirt. I needed a few more of them, donchaknow. Met another couple doing the same thing, so we all zigzagged across Portland together! Then we drove here and there so I could take more pictures of the bikes, alongside Portland Head Lighthouse. Any question about why I call Uncle Larry "Mr Wonderful?" By then it's getting dark, so we decided to try and find an inexpensive room for the night. Yeah, right. On the Maine Coast, 8pm, we finally found a lovely little, uh, "Tidewater Cabin," in Wells, for $95. Pool closed right after we got there (it looked a bit green anyway), and the chap who rented it to us was a bit evasive when we asked him about a good inexpensive place to eat. Said that all the restaurants had the same kind of food, with similar pricing, and he never ate out anyway. OK; that was helpful! What an adventure, though! I slept like a log.

Trippin' the Light, FANTASTIC!

&%$@! AOL!! I wrote this entire blog, then the idiot system just shut down and took my entire blog with it. The air is still blue around me. ANYhoo; Uncle Larry and I just returned, as conquering heroes, from our scouting trip (scouting, because it's a precursor to our "Sponge Across America" tour, which we plan to enact in 2008). In one fell swoop, we conquered Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusettes, returning triumphantly to the Empire State about 3 hours ago. Such adventures we had! Waterfalls in Vermont; who'da thunk it? One was right next to the road, and I was dying to photograph us with our bikes, in front of it. Unfortunately, Uncle Larry, ever the party pooper, reminded me that, if the bikes didn't fall off the edge into the gorge, we would probably be hit and killed by the [many] cars on the road. Well, phooey. We met this lovely little family there(I think they were Quakers) from Kentucky. I know they weren't Amish 'cuz they had a camera (The Amish think that the taking of photographs results in a "graven image unto God"). They'd been on the road for 5 weeks, with 3 little kids in a car. YIKES! We then continued on, stopping every so often to rest our weary, well, you know, and take some pictures. We found this splendid place to spend the night, a motel called the Yankee Traveler in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. On top of a heated pool, clean room, a bathtub, and cable TV - all for only $89 - we also enjoyed free morning coffee and a fabulously nice manager. The icing on the cake (and EVERYONE who knows me knows how much I love frosting!) was meeting 3 bikers from Connecticut, who invited us to stay there anytime we want. Jerry gave us his name and address, and I'm sure we'll keep in touch! I have pictures of them, of course..... Anyway, we were thinking of riding the bikes up Mount Washington until Ginny, the helpful manager, advised us that the top was all narrow and steep and gravelly. She recounted to us the sad tale of a woman who sobbed all the way down the mountain because she was so terrified. We elected to postpone that adventure 'til next year, when we have new brakes and tires. I'll write more about the trip after posting this, before @#$%! AOL shuts me down again!

Today is the first day of the rest of my life!

My life is sooooo wonderful right now! We have a gorgeous little girl (she's 23) and a multitude of fabulous nieces and nephews; my husband is a biker; I drive a Harley, and we're planning a motorcycle trip to Maine this weekend. How can it get any better than this? More after the trip........