Pictures from Washington DC

Hi! We've been too busy having fun to talk about it. :) Washington DC was great. When we first got there, it was very hot, with a 105° temperature one day... with humidity too! I secured Michael's chemo drugs, and he took them from Tues - Saturday, just as planned. After Tuesday, the weather cooled and sunny skies greeted us each morning.

We had a whole week in DC, and we made good use of the time. On Wednesday, we took a GrayLine tour. It was a 1/2 day tour, taking us to the Arlington Cemetery and to some of the war memorials. We were both really impressed with the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and I got some pics.






Then another day, we went in on the bus/Metro train, with intentions to visit the Bureau of Engraving, where they make the money. When we got there, though, we discovered that we would have had to have arrived by 8am to get tickets. So.. no Bureau of Engraving tour for us.


A little dejected, we went to the Washington Monument, thinking that we'd see if we could get to the top of it. Again... tickets were required, and all tickets had been dispersed already. We got ourselves an ice cream bar and then went to the Monument, finding a seat in the shade of the tower.

If you know us well, you know how lucky Michael and I both are. Well, as we sat there, a woman came over and asked me if we were going up the Monument. I replied that, while we had hoped to, we had not gotten tickets in time. She held out two tickets. "Would you like these?" :)

We really enjoyed this trip to the top of the Washington Monument! Here are some views we saw from the top. The last one in this group is looking up from the observation deck at the warning light at the top.

Be sure to click all my photos, but particularly these panoramas:





Our next trip into the city we again started out with ambitious plans. We were going to visit the National Gallery. Well, upon arising from the Metro station, we were greeted with the most delightful aromas! There was a barbeque festival going on, and ... we were THERE! Food was consumed, free stuff was collected, and fingers were licked.

After we left there, I felt that we ought to have just a little culture, so we visited the Botanical Gardens, close to the Capitol building. I got a few good shots there. What a delightful place!





Along the way around, we took a few other pictures:




Here are a few pics that I took on the way to Washington. These are pics of our new RealWheels with the nice valve extenders. Purty, eh?



This is a shot of our trees in Bloomington and the clear blue sky on the day we left.
In case you wondered where Coolville is, it's in Ohio! And yes, all IS cool in Coolville!


Here's an arty pic that I made from a fern photo:

We left DC, and drove via Hamburg, NJ to Milford, MA, where we had a really fun week with Dave and his Dad. I'll ready my pics from that visit, and will post them as soon as I can!

Now we are writing from Madison, Connecticut. Today we went to the 4th of July parade! Great fun! And, Dave, we did finish your chicken salad and pilaf at lunch today! I think it was even better today, if that's possible.

Hi from Maryland

We left for the East on Friday. We stopped off in Greenwood, at Camping World, to get our valve stems and RealWheels put together. They did a great job and we have beautiful wheels with easy-to-check tires! We stayed the night there in their free campground and then left early on Saturday.

Chillicothe, Ohio was our stop on Saturday night and ... my advice is not to stay in Chillicothe Ohio if you have a chance to stay elsewhere.

On Sunday, I drove 340 miles, which is a long way for me. We spent the night near Hagerstown, MD, at a pretty KOA with lovely gardens and ice cream for sale at the office! :)

Monday we had just a couple of hours to drive, but Jack (our GPS) guided us to a state park instead of to the Cherry Hill Park in College Park, MD (near Washington, DC) where we had reservations. I had used the coordinates from their ad instead of the address, and I'll bet that someone was hazing them and told them the wrong coordinates. Anyway.. after driving 100 miles out of our way (or so it seemed), we arrived late ydy afternoon at Cherry Hill Park.

Michael's feeling pretty good today. He went to the gym here at the campground while I went walking in search of the pharmacy where I'd had his chemo meds called in. I found it just fine, but then they didn't have the medicine. They said that they had ordered it but it didn't come in.

Then they said there was a Safeway pharmacy that had it and told me how to get there. This was too far to walk, though, so I walked the mile back to the park, packed up the RV, and we headed off to Safeway. Jack helped us get there. But this place had MOST of the Temodar, but not all of it. We have to go and pick up the rest tomorrow. Sheesh. Anyway, we have enough that Michael can start it tonight, on schedule.

So after chasing around for medicine, we sort of just hung out in the RV, reading and working on the computer, putting things away, cooking meals, and taking care of the pets.

We cooked steak tonight on our li'l grill and it was delicious! Right now, Michael and Maddy are playing fetch with her little stuffed mackerel. That's her favorite toy. Eddie's sleeping in his little cabover nest, and so he's happy.

My new computer doesn't have a PCMCIA slot, so I can't do anything online with it, unless we get on WiFi. I'm just glad that I brought the little Fujitsu along too. :)

Ok... I sound pretty scattered, and I suppose I am. I just wanted to catch you up a bit on what we've been up to. I haven't taken many pics yet, but intend to change that habit starting tomorrow!

Zoobilation and some pics from February

We've been really busy having fun! Today I installed another towel ring in the Navion. This involved using my brand new DeWalt drill (yellow!). Yesterday Suzanne and I finished up the Parade of Homes. We had lots of fun. I do wish that there were more homes suited to older folks whose kids have left the nest. The attitude around here seems to be "the more bedrooms, the merrier."

Michael got the gate openers fixed so they all work. Now our big garage door opener is acting funny. I am hopeful that we're able to open it to get the RV out tomorrow. We're going to have our valve extenders installed on the back wheels.

On Friday, we went up to Zoobilation in Indy. This is a "Taste of Indianapolis" which is put on annually as a benefit for the zoo. The event is black-tie, so it's lots of fun to watch the people and look at the beautiful dresses. Food and drink are free for the taking, and everything is delicious and plentiful. Here's a pic of Michael and me. Well.. it's actually 2 pics put together! I couldn't figure out how to do the timer on the Nikon and didn't feel like fiddling with it.


Back in February, Bob and Ann came out to Tucson to visit us. We went to the Desert Museum and took a few pics. I'd forgotten all about these until I got into the Nikon to get out the Zoobilation photos. I guess I should use the Nikon more, eh? LOL!

The Turbo Resonator Eliminator Saga

YAY me! I got the old Turbo Resonator (a Q3) out of there! And… I got the new TR Eliminator IN there! What I'm talking about is a part on the Navion (RV) which is prone to failure. Enough people on the View/Navion newsgroup at Yahoo Groups had had failures and horror stories, that I thought that a pre-emptive strike was a good idea. And yes, Bob, I AM brave! Didn't you know that about me already?

Byron in that group gave me good advice about taking the old TR out of its hose clamp end before unbolting. And it did help to have a ratcheting wrench in a ¼” size to do that bolt loosening underneath. I think that the hardest part was getting the new Eliminator to “seat” itself on the O-ring side, so that the bolts would go in, but.. hey, I did it!

I still don’t think that the instructions are quite right when they say that this is a fix that anyone can do on the side of the road in 15 minutes. I am really glad that I did it in the comfort of my own driveway with my "creeper" and all my tools handy, and that I wasn’t worried about trucks or whatever whooshing past me.

Here are some pics of me with our li'l Nav. The first one I'm actually getting set to go under and take out the Turbo Resonator. In the other 2, I'm washing her:

We've been keeping very busy. We went up to Indy ydy to visit the zoo, but we couldn't find a place to park. They were parking folks there for the baseball game and so zoo visitors were out of luck. Dumb idea, if you ask me. They should charge triple to park if you're not a zoo member on game days. Or something. LOL.

So we couldn't go to the zoo so instead we went shopping for ladies' clothing! :) We went to Keystone at the Crossing and dropped nearly $500 at J. Jill, one of my favorite clothing shops. Fun! I told Michael that was his Father's Day gift.

Now today we're going to be going to Indy again, and this time we are going to the game! Michael's friend Geoff has tickets and asked us to go along so there we are!

In case you're wondering, we are still keeping up with our daily exercise. I park the car at the gym and then Michael goes and does his thing for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, I get Maddy out of the back of the car and we go for a 40 minute walk about town. We have enjoyed some really fun jaunts! Today we walked south on Washington St till we got to 1st St. Then we cut up to Lincoln and took that back to the Post Office. We got our mail from our PO Box, and then returned to the gym. It was getting hot already by 9:30, but not too bad, since it was pretty windy.

Time for some success!

Success is a heady thing. Once we've had a taste of it, it's hard to live without a bit of it now and then.

I tend to be a lucky person. I find pennies on the sidewalk, I pick 4-leaf clovers, and I usually see the cat's yack before I step in it. But today, I'm having trouble getting my Adobe CS3 to install on my new computer! This time I'd de-activated the software in Tucson before leaving there and so that's not the problem. I'll have just the 2 active licenses and so that should be cool. I wrote to the Adobe folks and we'll see what they say.

Then there's the Turbo Resonator situation. This is a part in the Sprinter chassis of our li'l Navion which is prone to failure. When it fails, the RV goes into Limp Home Mode, where you can't go over 20 mph and cars behind you honk and stuff. I didn't want to have to go through this hell, so I bought a part that was highly recommended by the online group I belong to at Yahoo Groups. It's called a Turbo Resonator Eliminator.

Well, I wasn't able to get the Eliminator installed on the Navion, but I think I was going about it backwards. Plus I was trying to do it with this tiny wrench and that made loosening the bolts unnecessarily hard. I'm going to get a li'l girl model ratchet set and see if I can't get that thing fixed. I'm not giving up yet.

So.. what's been good? We went to Mooresville ydy and enjoyed a nice dinner with Annette, Steve, Robert & Molly (who came down from MN), and Lisa and Aaron and both of their families. Our ears were ringing when we got out of there, but a good time was enjoyed by all! I'd post a pic but.. uh... I don't have Photoshop, and I'll need PS to get us all into the pic. ;)

We had lunch today at Michael's office, and it was great to see all the folks and to enjoy a great O'Charley's lunch.

We've had a rainy few days with the weather being really pretty unpredictable -- sunny one minute and pouring down rain the next. No big storms yet, though.

A normal day

We enjoyed today. We started out with breakfast and then a workout. I parked by the gym, and while Michael biked, I took Maddy for a walk. Today we went up Washington to 3rd Street, then cut back to 4th and up to the IU campus Old Crescent before heading back to Cardinal Fitness. Michael had just finished his 40-minute workout and met me at the car. This is what we do most days, but I do vary my route.

After our workout, we went to Michael's neurologist, Dr. Way. Michael continues to do well in a clinical sense. That is, everything still works, and his aphasia has not progressed. He does get frustrated when he can't think of things right away, but I tell him that, since he started out really smart, he can afford to lose a bit and he's still really smart. And that's true!

After the appointment, we went to his blood-letting, something that he does every Tuesday. We'll go and get the results of this bloodwork tomorrow.

We stopped at Marsh so I could get some milk. I came out with milk for me and cookies and a caramel chocolate bar for Michael. :)

Back home again, we had lunch and then, as Michael napped, I worked with my new computer, installing ICQ, setting up Quicken for my business, and doing some email.

This evening, we went to O'Charley's so Michael could have their BLT. I had the spinach/artichoke dip with chips. Dinner was delish! Then we hit Office Depot for an upgrade to my MS Office Suite for my new computer. I'll probably install that tomorrow. I know; just do it. I just have to do this stuff gradually!

a New Computer

I did finally get my new computer out of the box today and have been working on getting used to the new hardware and the VISTA OS. So amazing all the new and exciting bells and whistles. Even the Freecell game is prettier than the old. Everything is a surprise!

I basically hate getting new things, but have inundated myself with newness of late (new phone, new computer, new car, new RV, new DVD players and TV's for the cottage... on and on) and it's kind of daunting to me to have all this new stuff to learn about!

For those of you technophiles, the computer is an HP Pavilion 9000. It has 2GB of RAM, 240GB of HD, and a 17" screen. Oh... and it's a laptop!

Now I'm working on putting my software in. MS Office has been a problem, because it's all installed and wanting a serial number, but none of their directions for getting a serial number are working.

Our Race Day party went well yesterday with Brenda winning the pot for the 2nd year in a row. I think we need some new rules! LOL! The rain held off during the arrivals and departures, and for the food preparations, so that was good. There was a 2-hour or so rain delay, too, so we didn't know till everyone had left who won the pot. But it was still fun with plentiful and delicious food and nice people to share with.

We did miss Matthew, who didn't feel up to making the drive from Florida (and we don't blame him!) and Glenn, Julie, Matt & Julien who didn't want to make the drive from ... HAWAII! We'll hope to see all of you next year though!

Coronation!

That's right! I'm getting two new crowns! :D I had 3 hours in the dentist's chair on Friday, readying my final two uncrowned teeth. I'm gonna have the purtiest mouth on the planet by the time I die! LOL!

Today we spent finalizing plans for tomorrow's Race Day party. I made a Hawaii Pie, an invention of mine which has macadamia nuts, coconut, and pineapple. Meat's ready for the grill, and I will be making rice pilaf and my special vegetables to go along with the bought potato salad, Neptune salad, Romaine salad, French bread, and .. fixin's. :) Now we need for the race to be run, and if you're wondering, we're talking about the Indy 500!

Real Life

Hey there!
Life's been very hectic for us ever since we got home. It seems like we run errands all day now.

We just got back on Monday from Chicago, where we went for cousin Tom's wedding to his longtime partner, Frank. It was a lovely event, and it was cool to be able to see all their friends and to visit that side of the family for the first time in over 20 years.

I shot a few pics while we were up there, but didn't shoot any of the wedding. I have this rarely-held (it seems) belief that if there is a wedding photographer shooting pics, it's not proper for guests to also be shooting pics.

Michael and I went up there on Thursday, driving the new white CRV up mostly on little roads. The hardest part was in the city of Chicago itself. The expressways were jammed up with traffic, so we stayed on the surface streets, taking over 2 hours to get from the Illinois border near Whiting up to our hotel, the Wyndham Glenview Suites. The day was beautiful, though, and the drive proved interesting.

Friday we went shopping at the Old Orchard Mall, an open-air mall much like Oakbrook. We liked it! We had a pasta lupper (lunch-supper) at Cheesecake Factory, and took 2 pieces of their cheesecake to go. These were our evening snack back in the room.

Saturday was the wedding and reception. There were several "high points" to this day. Of course we both loved talking to my Aunt Carola and my cousins Ed and Tom. I loved meeting Diana, Ed's wife of 29 years. (How wrong is it to fall that far out of touch with one's own family?? We could have been FRIENDS all this time!) Anyway.. we enjoyed that.

One high point was after the wedding, when the right-hand wall of the church opened up, revealing a bright and beautiful yellow-walled room, with a huge wedding cake and champagne-toting servers waiting for us.

Tom and Frank's house was piled high with lavish and delicious food, too. Thankfully, there were sufficient guests to eat it!

On Sunday, we drove around a bit, driving past the beautiful Baha'i Temple, and then making our way south to the Chicago Art Institute, one of our favorite Chi-town haunts.

Monday we drove back home, coming out of northern Chicago on Hwy US 45 to US 30 -- a great way to come!

Monday and Tuesday we got Michael's MRI and did the drive to Indy to the neuro-oncologist. Things are pretty much unchanged, and, with this illness, that's a good thing. There is scarring from the radiation, and that can look like tumor, but, since it has not changed, they lean toward thinking that it's just the scarring.

We were talking about our travels and plans and I actually made the doc laugh out loud when I said, "We're putting the glee in glioma!"

We're getting settled back in at home, and it seems like I'm getting new technology at an alarming rate! LOL! (I don't do very well with getting new tech toys!) I have a new laptop computer which I just got ydy. I have not even turned it on yet but I did just now plug it in! Progress! It's an HP with lots of HD, 2GB of RAM and a big screen.

I also got a new cellphone, because the Treo's touchscreen stopped responding to my touch. It, too, is a little computer, with Pocket PC Windows in it and I like that. I made my first phone call today, to Michael! Hey.. gotta find the fun where we can!

Here are some photos from when we were in Forest City, Iowa. We were waiting for the service people with other Winnebago/Itasca owners. We made friends and had a really fine time!





While we were in Forest City, I did my daily walks with Maddy, of course. I love this photo that I shot along the way.


We drove on up to Waseca, Minnesota, claiming the award for being the first of Robert or Molly's family to visit them. Robert's my brother! We had a really fun day, touring Molly's Walmart, seeing their fine home, and walking around the town. We camped at Kiesler's Campground, a nice place:



Back on the road, Michael and I stopped in Morton, Illinois. This is the town where Michael grew up and where his parents lived till 1990, so there are plenty of memories for both of us.



We walked down to the street where Michael's parents lived, and the new people were outside. They invited us in for a tour of the beautifully updated house. What a thrill! Maddy waited for us outside, tied to a tree. :)