Saturday, September 9, 2017

September 4 - 10. 2017, MN, WI

Tuesday, September 5. Labor Day was yesterday, the end of summer and boy, has it whizzed by.  Another five weeks from now and I will be heading to the southeast again.  That means that during the next few weeks, I have to arrange for storage for my stuff, make a trip to Wisconsin, get my stuff moved to storage, and move in with Ben for a week.


After Tom and I took Frisco for his walk in the morning, we walked to Bruegger's for a bagel for breakfast.  Later on, during naptime for Camille and Norah, we returned the canoe to Ben's house and helped him to find a better spot in his garage to hang it, so it would be a little bit more out of the way and give him more room.


I cooked some chicken breasts and Tom made a salad for our dinner and after an evening walk, we tried to watch a movie but just didn't have strong enough wifi.  A cloudy day and and just plain poor wifi makes it almost impossible to stream a movie here.  I won't miss that at all.


Today was a cool one, I don't think it got to 70 degrees all day.  We ran some errands, picked up some things that Tom needed for his trip, and got some silicone so he could repair my leaky coffee pot.


Friday, September 8.  On Wednesday morning, our alarms were set and after some coffee and packing up Tom's stuff that was in the refrigerator, we headed over to the storage lot so he could hook up and head out for the last few weeks of his summer trip.  We will meet up again in Colorado Springs next month.  It's getting harder to say goodbye.


The last 10 days with Tom have been so enjoyable - it has been so nice to share the simple daily experiences with someone after being solo for so long and it just feels very comfortable to be around him.  


I've been taking care of 'moving' stuff the last 2 days - reserved a storage cube, arranged a truck and movers to get my stuff there - checked that off of the list.  I also did some shopping at Costco to restock vitamins and coffee.


I did a first time ever in my 69 years today - went to the theater to see a movie by myself.  It was not in the plan but when the thought crossed my mind, I just pulled into the parking lot and saw that the movie was starting in 20 minutes - good timing.   I saw "The Glass Castle", a true story about the life of Jeannette Walls, the author of the book that I read years ago.  I thought the movie was very well done - Woody Harrelson acted as the father, Rex, and I thought he did very well, as did all of the other characters.  I pictured the mother, Rosemary, as a bit more crazy and flighty than she was in the movie.  Now, I'm hoping that the 2nd book, "Half Broke Horses", becomes a movie too - the story of Rosemary.


I picked Norah and Camille up after school - they saw me walking toward them, When Miss Natalia gave them the ok to come running to me, Camille tripped and fell as she was running toward me, getting a good scrape on her elbow.  A bandaid was just the fix.  I hung out and had dinner with the family.


Sunday, September 10. I packed up and headed for Stoughton yesterday morning.  What a beautiful day for a drive!  There are signs of fall along the roadsides that provided me with a layered palette of color - at ground level, the browns and yellows with a clump of burgundy red Sumac scattered here and there.  The mid-levels were silvers with some orangey yellows and then tallest backdrops were the bright yellow, orange, and reds of the Maples - it was gorgeous!


It sure was nice to arrive at Pat and Tracey's once again and I'm looking forward to hanging out - no big plans, just spending time together.