Good to be back home - Day 1520 (Year 5, Day 59)

Augusta, GA

Even though "home is where we park it," it was nice to return to my own comfortable, little space and into the arms of my darling husband.

The return flight, thankfully, was once again uneventful.  We hit a little bit of minor turbulence, but not enough to scare me.  I arrived at JFK half hour before schedule so I had 3 hours to kill.  I decided that since I saved a few $ taking a shared ride shuttle rather than a taxi, I would splurge on a nice breakfast rather than a fast food bagel.

On the way to the airport, the driver had to pick up 4 more people around various other areas of Manhattan.  I felt almost like I was on a tour bus, getting to ride thru some of the more touristy parts of midtown, such as Rockerfeller Plaza, Grand Central Terminal, Times Square and Central Park West, as well as passing the Intrepid museum.

Arrival in Atlanta was also about 45 minutes early (thank you, tailwinds!).  I was supposed to arrive at 2:20 pm, and the nearest times for the shuttle back to Augusta was either 2:30 or 3:45 (obviously, I was booked on the 3:45).  But since I arrived at 1:40, I was able to make the 2:30 van (with about 10 minutes to spare) and arrive back at 5:00 instead of 6:30.  That was a real treat.

Mitch also did fantastically while I was away.  Although he  me a lot, he cooked himself a bunch of real meals (no fast food) and I returned to a clutter free home.  He even did the laundry and changed the sheets on the bed!  It's these little things that are so meaningful and I really appreciate how much above and beyond he went to make sure I had a happy and peaceful return.

Anyway, having missed out on a full day of work, I have over 30 emails that need my action.  So... back to work.

Almost home - Day 1518 (Year 5, Day 57)

New York, NY

This has been one hell of a whirlwind week, and the exhaustion finally caught up with me last night, when I went into bed and collapsed at 8:00.

I came into Manhattan on Friday to take sis-in-law home from the hospital.  Knowing that I needed to shop at Trader Joe's which was a few blocks away from the hospital, as well as pick up all her bags, I chose to only throw a few items of clothing into a tote bag and leave the rest of my stuff in the Bronx.  The plan was to bring her home and spend the weekend getting her settled in and return to the Bronx on Monday afternoon.  I took the NYC subway to the city; it's been a few decades since I rode the train.  It hasn't changed at all except for the payment method.

Unfortunately, things didn't go quite as planned, as she needed quite a lot more assistance than we expected.  She's making tremendous progress now, but it was clear that I needed to spend the rest of my time providing physical support to her, rather than emotional support to my dad.  I made the trip back to the Bronx by train on Sunday, spent a few hours there and returned via taxi with all my stuff (which is too heavy and bulky to carry on the train and up the stairs).

I have a real big complaint about New Yorkers and need to vent my outrage. My apologies in advance to my friends and family who live in NYC, as I know this doesn't apply to you, and probably doesn't apply to about 1% of the NY population either.

Although she is making good progress, my sister in law is only able to get around very slowly using a walker.  We took a little walk outside yesterday to do some grocery shopping and run a few other errands. There is a supermarket around the corner from her building and the other stores we needed were across the street. 

I just could not believe how rude and outright DANGEROUS many people were. They either rushed right past her, practically knocking into her, or more often than not, they were looking down at their phones and very easily could have run into her because they didn't see her right in front of them. And then there was the bike rider who did not ride in the bike lane and rode right through a red light and almost knocked her over.

In most other parts of the country where we've visited (and how I was raised as well), if I was walking (without looking down at a phone) and saw someone with a walker or in a wheelchair, I would either slow down, get out of the way, or offer assistance.

I just cannot believe the rudeness and self absorption of the people who live in this city.  New Yorkers certainly live up to their reputation.

Rant over.

On another note, I will be leaving tomorrow to return home (Augusta).  Flight leaves at 11:45, and I will be taking a shuttle service to the airport, which will pick me up in front of the building at 6:50 am.  The shuttle service from Atlanta will pick me up at 3:45 pm, so I hope to see Mitch again by 6:30.  The flight over here was uneventful, with no turbulance.  I pray it's the same way on the return flight.

Visiting NYC - Day 1511 (Year 5, Day 51)

Bronx, NY

I don't recall if I had mentioned that I was planning this trip, which was arranged about a month ago.  I learned that I had a lot of unredeemed points on my cash rewards credit card and it was just barely enough to redeem for airfare to NY.  I have many friends & family to see, but unfortunately time and travel logistics doesn't make it possible.  The main part of the trip was to spend time with my dad and step-mother here in the Bronx, as well as to spend some time with my sister-in-law in Manhattan.  That was originally going to be an overnight, but as it turns out, she was in the hospital and is being released from rehab while I'm in town, so it works out that I will spend a few days getting her settled in.

I had to leave from the Atlanta airport which is 150 miles and 3 hours away.  My flight was at 10:30, so I had to leave at 4:30 am (took a shuttle van service there).  Atlanta is the largest airport in the US and from the main entrance to my gate I must have walked at least 2-3 miles if not more.  Then from the gate to the exit of JFK was also about the same distance, although they did have people movers in some areas. (recall I have arthritis and bursitis in my hip which prevents me from walking more than 5 minutes before needing to stop.  It was very difficult and I am still very sore today and having an even harder time getting around).  But gotta keep moving....

I am not totally off work, and this morning was very busy.  Fortunately I was able to quit around 1pm.  We went out to lunch at a very lovely Italian restaurant across the street, then afterwards Selma and I went into "town" to get her phone fixed.  Then we stopped at one of her favorite clothing stores, had coffee, picked up some fresh fish for dinner and returned home.  I'm exhausted!

Fort Gordon museum - Day 1502 (Year 5, Day 42)

Augusta, GA

This actually happened last week, on Wednesday, 8/1 but I haven't had a chance to write about it until now.

I had mentioned before that Mitch was working a map at the Fort Gordon army base, which is the headquarters of the Signal Corp. and cyber security (with NSA offices as well). 

         

While there, he had discovered the signal corp. museum on the premises and wanted to visit there with me.  We had to wait for a rain date so he would have paid time off (they're not open on the weekend).  Wednesday was finally the first day in a long time that we had rain that lasted more than a few minutes in the afternoon, so he came to pick me up (the base is only about 4.5 miles from the campground).

Neither of us realized that any and everyone entering the base needs to go the visitor center first and requires a photo to be taken and a background check to be done, whether it was a person picking someone up, or folks like us just visiting the museum.  It took us about an hour to get that completed!  I complained that I hoped the museum was worth it (and yes, it was).

Below is a picture describing the purpose of the museum as well as the scene when you first enter.  It is also used for training purposes and as we were about to leave, a group of about 50 new recruits came into the building or a brief orientation and the requirement to visit all the exhibits and learn as much as possible about the history of the signal corp.

I really wasn't that much aware of this branch of the military and found it rather fascinating.  It actually started out during the Indian Wars, and being long before technology, they used different colored flags waved in different directions as their signals.  Much later (during WWI and II), better signaling equipment was invented, as was Morse Code.

      

We're still here - Day 1495 (Year 5, Day 35)

Augusta, GA

Just a real quick note to let you all know that we haven't fallen off the face of the earth (G-d forbid!) since it's been 21 days since I've last written.  Just that there hasn't been anything interesting or eventful to report on.  During the week it's been life as always with both of us working, and on the weekends there isn't much to go out to do that we haven't done already (or that we're physically capable of doing), so Sundays are spent catching up on shopping, laundry and general household stuff.  I know... B O R I N G!!!!  Indeed.

In addition to his arthritic knees (for which he gets shots), Mitch has been having a lot of back problems lately.  He started going to physical therapy a few weeks ago, but hasn't noticed much an improvement yet.

I have a trip to NYC planned in 2 weeks (from 8/14 to 8/22).  I plan to spend most of the time with my dad in the Bronx, and at least an overnight (possibly more) with my sister in law Doris.  I wish I had more time and a way to get around so I could visit with all my other friends and relatives scattered around NY and NJ, but that's not meant to be this time around.  For now, it's just for Dad whom I haven't seen for a long time.  Mitch will stay home as he can't take the time off work.  Hopefully in the near future we'll be able to travel with our home to the area and stay for a while.

The goal is that Mitch is trying real hard to find an alternative remote vocation that will pay the bills, allow us to travel more freely, and be a lot less physically taxing for him.  If any of my readers have any leads... !

Augusta History Museum - Day 1474 (Year 5, Day 14)

Augusta, GA

On Sunday, we finally made it back to the History Museum (it was closed when we went there on April 23rd -- that was the day we saw a train that ran in the middle of the street).  The place was much larger than we thought, and we spent 4 hours there, and still didn't see every exhibit.

It was quite fascinating and it had galleries & exhibits dedicated to the history of Augusta, from prehistoric times to the present day (did you know James Brown and Brenda Lee were from here?)  It was good that for the antebellum and war period, it was referred to as the Civil War, not the War of Northern Aggression.  It was interesting to note, however, that Abraham Lincoln was not mentioned even once, although General Sherman's vicious attacks were mentioned often.  Because of its location off the Savannah River, it was a tradepost for tobacco and then cotton, as well as had many types of mills (including a gunpowder mill that was used for ammunition during the Civil War).

Mitch learned of an air & space museum located at Fort Gordon AFB that he'd like to visit (about 15 miles away).  It's only opened M-F during business hours, so we'll plan on going on his next rain day (which he hasn't had for a while).

On another note, regarding our November vacation:  the resort reservations were made, and we finally got confirmation that we will be here in Augusta until the end of November, so we can start to look for flights now as well.

Fourth of July - Day 1470 (Year 5, Day 10)

Augusta, GA

As the 4th of July rolls around again, as always, we didn't do anything to celebrate.  There were a few all-day festivals going on around town, culminating in fireworks at night, but we chose not to go because (1) didn't want to spend the day in the 100+ degree heat index, and (2) due to large crowds, it would be impossible to find a place to park our monster truck (hard enough for a regular car to find a parking space).  We chose, instead, to just stay home and relax (read, watch movies) in the air conditioning, although Mitch did a little bit of puttering first.

Interestingly enough, when I was in bed at 9:30 pm, I heard what sounded like fireworks coming from the direction of my window.  I turned over and opened the shades, and lo and behold -- there was an actual fireworks show which appeared to be almost across the street from the campground, just beyond the tree line (I looked at the map and there are no parks or public areas there; the closest that could have been in that direction was 8 miles away, but due to what I saw, there's no way it was that far away.  It was most likely an unpublicized show, although I have no idea from where).  Even so, it was beautiful, complete with spirals and "rainfall" and lots of colors; all of which I got to view from the comfort of my bed!  Only drawback is that they needed between 3-5 minutes between "sets" to reload, so each time I thought the show was over and put down the shades, the banging would start again.

For the most part, the campground was pretty much empty (except for all the regular long-termers).  Then again, this isn't a destination city other than when the Masters are in town, and it certainly isn't a destination campground with anything to do here (not even a playground for the kids, and you can't light a campfire), so weekend campers tend not to come here unless they have family in the area or are just stopping by en route to somewhere else.