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What a lot we had to be thankful for this year! Last year had Michelle feeling weak and beaten from her recurrence of cancer, and Becky feeling weak and beaten from her cancer, and me feeling weak and beaten from having just lost Michael. But this year, Michelle was strong, working non-stop on preparations for the feasting. Becky is exuberant, as she has been told that her tumor is gone.
I was feeling a little maudlin about being not only without Michael, but without Jack. And then we were talking on the phone and he said that he wished that he could meet all the family -- people I've talked about often. And we decided that he would come down, and so he did.
Wednesday night, Angie made the best lasagna ever, seriously -- homemade sauce.. just plain yummy.
Thanksgiving day was the feast with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberries, green beans, and then desserts. Pies this year were my cherry pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and a bought caramel apple pie.
Friday Jack was still with me, and we went to the Frazier Museum, seeing lots of weapons, armor, guns, spears, and other interesting things. Then we went to KT's and had a delicious dinner, went to Graeter's for ice cream, and returned to the house at about 9. Another great day!
Jack was with me on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Then, this morning, we shared breakfast before he went north and I went south and west. And now we're 850 miles apart.
Tonight I'm in West Memphis, Arkansas. The Where is Janee Now link over there --> shows me in my actual campground, near to the actual space where I'm camped! The APRS is working very well, and I'm getting lots of position reports throughout the day. I wonder if this will continue as I head on westward. Here's a screenshot of the Where is Janee Now in Satellite view. You can see a barge in this picture, and this is like the 2 barges that I saw going by here earlier, when I was doing my walk. Click it to see it full-size!
What is she saying? I thought that Janee was going to be traveling across the country on Thanksgiving! :)
Well, here's what happened. I awoke on Sunday in Effingham, IL, and got onto I-57 south. Then I got a phone call from Angie and George (Michael's brother). They were both on the phone and they strongly urged me to turn left onto I-64 East, when I got there, which, as they could see by my APRS, was going to be very soon!
So that's what I did, and I'm going to spend Thanksgiving here in Louisville with them and Michael's whole end of the family. I'll be making a cherry pie tomorrow, and helping to greet all of the guests as they begin arriving from around the country today.
I've been staying for the last two nights in their guestroom, but I'll be staying in the RV from now on, because the house is already "booked" with visitors! :)
Weather has been mostly fine. I did my walk in Cherokee Park, and did not get lost, on Sunday. Ydy I went to the St. Matthews Mall with Becky and I did my walk there, because it was raining. Today's supposed to be 50 ° and the sun's shining brightly, so I'll likely walk outdoors again.
The APRS, to which Ray referred in his comment on my last post, and to which I referred at the beginning of this post, is the system that I use to fuel the "Where is Janee Now?" link, over to the right. It stands for Automatic Packet Reporting System, and is an amateur-radio-GPS-based system for showing the world my location.
In short, I have installed in my RV an antenna, which connects to a power booster. This connects to my amateur radio (2 meter), which is attached to a small Garmin GPS unit -- not my new one. This one is decicated to APRS. The position on my GPS is fed into my radio, and the position is reported to the amateur radio community. The magic comes in, when a station acting as an Internet Gateway receives my signal. This signal is then reported to the internet, and you can go to that site in my link and see where I was and what I was doing (sort of -- if I'm driving, you see how fast I'm going) at the time that the signal was reported.
Be sure to click the Satellite View button in the upper left corner of the map! And then zoom in! Right now, I'm shown close to arrival again at George and Angie's house. That's because Becky and I were out doing errands ydy in the RV.
I'm having a great time, and I hope that all of you have a very happy Thanksgiving!
This gray was the color of the sky for most of my drive today. That's right: I'm on the road again, heading out to Arizona. It's just me and my little cat Eddie, because Jack has some business to get ironed out before he can travel. I just reached a point where I chose not to deal with the cold, ice, and snow, so I'm on my way to warmer climes!
I'm not there yet. The furnace and my little space heater are working overtime to keep things comfy inside. And to make things worse, because the RV is winterized, I have to use the bathhouse! I'll be going there for my nightly toilette soon, and I'm not looking forward to that! While it's 27 here, though, it's 18 right now in Big Rapids!
Today I left at 10:10, and I traveled 411 miles, before arriving at Effingham, Illinois to Lakewood Camp. I lunched at KFC, just nibbling at some chicken strips and baked beans. And I filled with fuel in the same town, Michigan City, Indiana. It was cold and windy. I stopped a couple of times at rest stops to.. rest... and to check my location and destination with the gps.
This is a pretty campground -- a place where Michael and I had stayed 2x before. It was pitch dark when I arrived here, though it was only 5:10pm local time (CST). The guy who checked me in took me to my site, and helped me to see where to hook up the electricity, which was helpful. Then I went for my walk, doing 25 minutes of round-and-round, in the freezing cold.
Ok... shutting down now and I'm off to the bathhouse!
My last posting about Tracking Snow ... LOL I discovered that I'd mistakenly posted that in the FHTV Computer Club blog! Duhhhh! And no one even mentioned it. How embarrassing. I think I wrote it on the 16th of November.
"Tracking Snow" is something that I'd not even heard of just a couple of months ago. But up here in northern Michigan, it's an important thing. In Tucson, AZ, they let school out for the first day of Rodeo. But here, they let school out for the first day of firearm deer hunting season. Camouflage clothing, deer stands, conservation officers, blaze orange hats.. they are everywhere here. Tracking snow, for those who don't know, is a freshly fallen snow layer that enables hunters to follow their shot deer to where it has fallen.
The interesting thing is that most of the people I actually have talked to don't hunt, but perhaps go along to deer camp, in order to do the driving, cooking, take photos, or just to have some beer-induced camaraderie.
Firearm season starts here on the 15th of November, and yes, we do have tracking snow. It's pretty on the trees, and the ground, but it's still too warm for the snow to have stuck on the roads here in Big Rapids. They are talking about lake effect snow around the leeward side of the Great Lakes. And up in Traverse City, where we were last Tuesday, they are predicting 4-6" of the stuff.
I don't like to talk about plans in here, but I will say that, when we do leave here, I'll let you know. I don't yet know when that will be.
We went on a small road trip up to Traverse City on Tuesday and Wednesday. We stayed at the Cherry Tree Inn right on the bay, and, while the weather was anything but relaxing, it was great to just get away and be us. Tuesday was my day to drive, so I drove us up there. We went to the mall, did our walk, and prowled around in the stores. Then we drove down to the bay, drove along the main road that goes past all the hotels, and found a lovely one with a bay view, a balcony, lots of TV channels (instead of the ONE channel that we get here at Gary's), and free breakfast!
We then took off for the outlet mall, where we roamed about, collecting a few things. We bought Gary a set of nice non-stick cooking pans, a couple of long-sleeved shirts (which will also be good for Tucson) for me, and a meat pounding hammer for Jack! Then we supped at Red Lobster, sharing a meal of scallops, shrimp, and chicken over wild rice.
Wednesday morning, we dined on the free breakfast, then Jack drove us up to the Grand Traverse Lodge, where we had a look around. It's a more lavish hotel than the one where we stayed, with restaurants and fancy shops on the lower floor. We took the clear glass elevator up to the top, where we enjoyed a quick glance at the bay, before heading off for downtown Traverse City.
I enjoyed the walk along the little main street of this quaint tourist town. Shops of all descriptions lined the way, each trying to lure us in, with attractive window presentations. A few managed to do this, and we bought a few things.
Lunch was at the Green House Cafe, where Jack got a hamburger and I had cherry chicken salad on a croissant. Traverse City, by the way, is the cherry capital of the world, with cherry stuff to be found everywhere!
Just as it began to mist rain, we left downtown, and went to the site of the Traverse City State Hospital, a former mental institution, built back in 1885. What a place! It's not just a building on a hill, but a huge complex of buildings. Many are still standing and are being restored as home for an inn, restaurants, and shops. The grounds are now open to the public to stroll or just drive around.
We stopped at an outfitter and at Best Buy on the way out of town. I'm looking for an upgrade for my Garmin -- one that will offer me multi-destination routing. I'm enchanted by the idea of 3D buildings, too! I didn't buy anything yet, as I'm still in the researching phase. I can buy an RV on impulse, but something like a GPS unit requires weeks of careful study!
Yesterday, while Jack was taking care of personal business, I went with Kay, Chuck, Gary, and Doug to Grand Rapids to have lunch and see a movie! Doug drove. The day was wonderful, with warm air, blue skies, and the last of the autumn leaves quivering on their branches.
The movie wasn't so great, though. We saw Rock 'n Rolla. It was about drugs and violence, but the plot was confusing, with many flash-backs. None of us liked it enough to want to see the sequel, which the end of the movie promised. I was happy to see it end. To make things worse, because we'd eaten a hearty lunch (Chinese buffet), we didn't get popcorn!
On Tuesday, Jack and I went over and raked leaves at the house that will soon be his again. It's amazing how many leaves and pine needles one little yard can hold! And now I am feeling muscles that I didn't even realize that I'd had! The day, again, was beautiful. With temperatures into the 70's, we didn't even consider jackets.
We've been eating well. After church on Harvest Dinner weekend, they sell the leftovers from the meal, and we scored enough stuff to make some fantastic turkey soup as well as lots of trimmings. The dressing was fabulous on Tuesday evening, rolled up into pounded chicken breasts and baked, with mashed potatoes, which he'd fried up. Mmmmm! And this morning, Jack made omelets, bacon, and hash browns. :) I have been cooking some too, but mostly acting as Jack's sous-chef. ;)
The question came up in one of the comments from my last posting, so I'll answer it. Jack and I are friends -- good friends. I am living with Eddie in my little RV which is parked outside of the house where Jack lives. We have it plugged into electricity, so we stay warm. Since it's getting to be winter here, I had the RV winterized -- water drained and RV antifreeze installed into the lines -- so I don't have bathroom facilities in the RV, and I don't cook or eat in there either. My address is a PO box for now.
Jack's been involved in theater for many years, in set construction, mainly, though he did direct the Far Horizons play last winter. I've done plays, singing and acting, since I was a teenager, so it's not much of a stretch that I would become involved in community theater here.
And it's also natural for both of us to be involved in large-scale food operations! Yesterday we did just that, working to prepare and serve the Harvest Dinner for the church. I folded napkins, set tables, filled salt shakers, cut pies, and scooped out green beans. Jack did.. LOL just about everything else. There were probably dozens of people helping altogether, so it was light work, and fun!
There is no blue in the font choices for this blog that matches the wonderful blue of this Michigan sky! Today it is 66° here in Big Rapids, and the leaves that are left are gorgeous against the blue.
I had a fine and fun birthday. Jack and I traveled south to Annette and Steve's. We left on my birthday and returned on his, just 3 days later! High points were many, but included fantastic food (chicken, chicken/noodles, and pot roast -- YUM!), a trip to DQ, shopping with Jack at Circle Center and Keystone at the Crossing, getting a tour of Dow/Agro and having lunch with Annette during her workday.
At Keystone at the Crossing, I found some neat clothes at Coldwater Creek, and dropped a bit of money there. It was time. I needed a shopping spree -- and new clothes, too. You may recall that I had given away nearly all my wintery things before I left Bloomington, thinking that I'd be wintering from now on in Tucson!
Other things: On the 24th, we went to see the plays the high school kids put on at Morley Stanwood High School. They had done Midsummer Night's Dream and Shut and Bar the Door. While MSND was well done, we both laughed our heads off at Shut and Bar the Door. These plays were ones for which Jack and I had helped with set construction, and we had our names in the program!
We have been helping with set construction for the Stage M production of A Male Animal. While Jack was helping the guys with nail-pounding, I painted flats. Aside from the room we were working in being freezing cold, it was fun working with the folks.
Then ydy, Jack and I were both up on ladders installing siding on the new Stage M building. I've discovered that, while I rather like the siding installation process, I am not enthusiastic about ladder-climbing!
Today I'm home while Jack's off moving the sets for the play. My tummy hurts and I didn't feel like putting my back in harm's way, either, so I'll let him do that.
And tonight's Halloween! Being way out here in the countryside, we will not likely get many trick-or-treaters, but.. we may, too, and we're ready!
Last Thursday and Friday, Jack and I took a 4-hour watercolor painting class! The focus was on just learning to draw and then to paint with watercolor... and specifically how to paint botanical subjects. What fun it was! We learned to draw shading of leaf veins, and how to shade more darkly or lightly. And then we learned to paint -- something that I'd not done since elementary school. Here's my watercolor-painted pepper:
Then on Saturday, we went to a Homecoming Parade Party at Doug and Pat's, and that was really fun.
Luanne and Dan asked if we wanted to go to the game, and.. sure! Off we went! I looked spiffy in my Ferris State sweatshirt and the new "Imagine More" Ferris State button that I'd collected at the parade, and the spirit was in the air. Winning wasn't in the air for Ferris, though Wayne State played an admirable game.
After a speedy walk back to our van (at Doug and Pat's) we came back, took Chuck out, and headed off for a Chinese buffet supper with Luanne and Dan. What a fun day, and a great evening!
Sunday we went to church, then breakfasted (just us) at Bennigan's. While their breakfast was officially over, they fixed us our own breakfast, and it was great! People still smoke in restaurants here, which is annoying and needs to be fixed, but I'm hopeful that happens soon. In the meantime, we just ask to be seated as far as possible from the smoke, and that usually is ok.
Then we went to Meijer to get supplies for my Apple Crumble. I made it for our contribution to a benefit dinner that night at the church. Not only was it fun, but we raised a bunch of money!
Walking has been good, with mostly days in the 50's. I most enjoy walking along the river, where I shot those photos from my last posting.
Today the sky is crisp and blue, and the van is at Chrysler, getting its power steering fixed, so Jack and I are taking care of business concerns at home today.
