On Tuesday, we had several hours between our flight from Bismarck arriving in Minneapolis and our flight to Montreal departing. We settled in at our gate for a rather long wait.
Our gate for the Montreal flight was in the A Concourse, a section of the airport currently in the middle of renovation. There is new carpet, but no electrical outlets to charge phones and devices. There is unfinished drywall and exposed heating and pipes.
The monotony was enlivend by observing two little brown mice emerge from a hole in the wall and scamper under a row of seats, snatching any available crumbs on the floor. When startled, they went back in the hole until they felt safe to reemerge. Our fellow travelers were both alarmed and amused by their antics which went on for our whole wait. People took their photos. My main concern was that they didn’t run up my pant leg or end up as a stowaway in our carry-ons. A ticket agent commented this was nothing new, and she had seen them a few gates down earlier in the day. I thought that Airport Mouse would make a fine series of children’s stories.
What are some of the odder things you have seen in airports. Think up some plot lines for Airport Mouse.
Although I probably won’t go down again to boil sap, I truly enjoyed the experience. Part of it was learning all about the process, but a lot was also the ambiance. Not in any particular order…
The weather was just about perfect. It started about bright and sunny (I put on sunscreen) and even when it clouded up in the afternoon, the temperature seemed just right for boiling. Not cold enough that you really felt it but not warm enough that the work made us sweat. There was a short rain shower after dark, but when it cleared up, the stars in the night sky were amazing. As a city gal, I never see stars like that.
Before dinner we had tea but instead of plain old boiling water, we used the boiling sap. Very sweet tea but wonderful drinking it outside.
There was good company while we were working. Astrid is a big dog with a big deep bark but a big softie; after dark we heard coyotes and while Astrid worked hard to convince us that she was a guard dog, she didn’t move more than 20 feet from us. Whiskey looks like a cat, but he is really a dog. He comes when he is called, hangs around most of the day for petting and doesn’t seem to think the rain matters at all.
My godson doesn’t actually “farm” but is embracing country lifestyle. He was happy to tell me about all the classes he has taken at the local folk school (bee keeping, chain saw safety, how to “manage” chickens, syrup making and to show me all the improvements he’s made to the house and outbuildings. He has some animals: chickens and a mean rooster (I have bruises to prove it) and also a small herd of goats. He has just acquired a male, so perhaps there will be kids and milk in the future. I shared with him the wonderful soaps that Barb made when she had goats.
He is also a terrific cook and by the time he went in to make dinner, I had a handle on the boiling so didn’t need to panic. Several of the borscht ingredients come from their garden and it was delicious. Just soup and toasted baguettes. Yummy.
Children. He has three kids – 7, 5 and 3. I got to play Legos with the youngest. Lots of racing “vehicles” and crashing. The 5-year old was obsessed with arithmetic so we did a ton of “what is ten plus ten” and other combinations. He hasn’t worked on subtraction yet, so we did some “what is three minus two”, using fingers. There was a very lively conversation after the 7-year old got home from school concerning the weight of the earth and how you would weigh it. He’s got a lot on the ball for seven and there was gravity walls/barriers and gravity robot discussion. My godson brought up the planet-building spheres from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, to which I replied that the weight of the earth is clearly 42. The 7-year old didn’t get this joke but god son did!
It was just a wonderful trip, even if you don’t count the maple syrup (and a bonus small bottle of their black walnut syrup which I’ve had before and it fabulous). I can’t imagine how it could have been better!
When was the last time you just really enjoyed something?
With YA out of town, I’m in my “eat what’s here and don’t shop” mode. I actually enjoy this part of YA traveling. (Not as crazy about being in charge of Guinevere’s early morning and late night trips outside, but I’ll live.)
This week there have been quite a few leftovers in the fridge – more than usual. Since I also worry about food going bad, I decided that I would have dinner for breakfast. I’ve done breakfast for dinner many times in my life but except for a handful of cold pizza starts to a day, I’ve never actually heated up what I think of as dinner food and had it as the first meal in the morning.
I heated up some rice with carrots and parsnips and had it alongside some brie and applesauce. It was very nice and now I’m thinking I should switch things up more often. The only hitch was the feeling that I needed dessert afterwards!
Do you have any foods that you wouldn’t normally eat for breakfast?
We have been at our son’s home since Friday, and the cold weather has made for a great deal of family time. Son, Daughter in Law, Daughter, Husband, me, and Grandson are all here together. There has been lots of time playing Uno, putting together jigsaw puzzles, doing art projects with grandson, cooking big meals, watching the first two How To Train Your Dragon movies, playing with the Westie and the cat and sleeping late.
I have been a nervous wreck since before we drove here on Friday. The cold frightens me more than it used to. I have developed great anxiety anticipating driving in this cold weather, mainly surrounding the van breaking down in the middle of nowhere and then freezing to death. We were supposed to go to see my 93 year old aunt yesterday in Watertown, SD, about 40 miles north of Brookings, and I was so relieved when she phoned in the morning to say she had a cough and a fever and we shouldn’t come. Husband has been going out to start the van at intervals and even drove it into town yesterday, so he is keeping the engine warm.
This cold weather is unprecedented in my experience, and I am really worried about the trip home on Tuesday. The subzero windchills aren’t supposed to let up until Wednesday, and I might try to convince Husband to stay another day and leave on Wednesday. We have lots of blankets in the event of a breakdown. The van is working well, but you never know!
What do you have in your winter survival kit in your vehicle? How are you coping with the cold? What are your favorite indoor family activities?
I’ve traveled internationally more in the past year than ever before in my life. I’m not used to it. I get anxious over airports and flying, but I’m getting better at it.
My friends, Jim and Nancy, invited me to join them for a week in Mazatlan. They extended the invitation last fall. I’ve been trying to get some of my older friends to go places with me since I retired, but it’s been like herding cats, so when Jim and Nancy invited me I accepted immediately.
I arrived at Mazatlan on Saturday afternoon. Jim provided detailed instructions, and I had them in hand, for getting through the airport, getting a taxi, and getting to their place. I was able to give the driver the address in Centro Historico in Spanish. After an exciting cab ride through the city, Jim and Nancy met me at the gate of Villa Serena. It’s a block of apartments with a maze of tiled outdoor hallways, pools, birds and trees. Their apartment was on the third floor and had more windows, fresh air, and natural light than most. They told me it was the biggest apartment in the place. I had my own room and a shared bathroom.
There were hummingbirds and orioles at a feeder hanging outside the windows. The red tiled areas in front of their white washed apartment were open to blue sky, and the tops of palm trees. It was colorful and lovely. There was a view of a central courtyard in front of a large, golden cathedral. There were bells chiming frequently throughout the day, often on the quarter hour, especially on Sunday. No one can figure out the pattern for the chiming, or the reason.
One evening, just after sunset, there was a tiny gecko on the window screen. It was only about an inch and a half long. It charmed me to my toes.
Jim and Nancy are friendly, outgoing people. They have lots of friends there. Most of the people I met were from Mexico, followed by British Columbia. There was one couple from Prince Edward Island. I didn’t meet any other Minnesotans. Some of the people who stay at Villa Serena gather for a daily happy hour. Jim and Nancy attend it sometimes, but not while I was there. I met lots of people and learned lots of card or dice games, including a fun game called Mexican Train.
We walked a lot. We walked to the Mercado several times. Nancy bought lots of fresh food there: fruits, veggies, spices, and some large pieces of red snapper. I was fascinated by all the things there were to see, including a pig head with eyes.
We walked a few miles to a beach called Stone Island one day and spent the day there. It was lovely. There were stray dogs who were friendly but so thin. It wasn’t hard to give some of my quesadilla con pollo to a sweet dog with warm brown eyes who put her chin on my lap. I wanted to bring her home with me. I looked for sand dollars but didn’t find any. Some people swam in the ocean. I didn’t swim, but I did wade a little. I identified some birds, including an American oystercatcher, an orchard oriole, and a cinnamon hummingbird.
Nancy and I walked to the “Malecon” one day and just walked along the beach. I was struck by the persistence and determination of the many people who approached us asking if we wanted refrigerator magnets or sunglasses or blankets or ball caps with visors. A young girl selling pistachios said “Pleeease?” We gave a little boy some pesos but didn’t take the candy he offered. He ran away calling, “Mama! Mama!” I learned to say, “No, gracias,” and keep walking, even though the disparity was hurting my heart.
They’re getting ready for Carnaval there. There were huge, colorful, papier-mâché statues on the Malecon. Nancy took my picture with my arm around a bronze statue of John Lennon, the other three lined up behind me. I don’t think the likenesses were very good, but it was a fun memento of the trip.
We went for gelato in the evenings. It was really beautiful walking through the squares at night. There was music and light everywhere. The gelato was delicious!
There was a lot of noise, all night, every night. There was music, people laughing and singing, dogs barking, horns honking, and roosters crowing. It took three nights before I could sleep through it.
I brought my mandolin along, packed tightly in my big checked bag, so Jim and Nancy and I played music a few times. One day we took our instruments and walked a mile or so to a friend’s apartment. He played fiddle and we had a great time playing music together.
On Friday late afternoon, we began hearing the explosions of fireworks. It was very close and loud. Jim said it was probably coming from the central square area in front of the cathedral (an area that we passed through often). There was still daylight so we couldn’t really see the fireworks, but we could certainly hear them. That was followed by some up-tempo music, then a very loud, very long and colorful parade. Nancy thought maybe they had chosen the princess for Carnaval, but we really didn’t know for sure. The festivities lasted two or three hours.
We played Yahtzee every afternoon, then played music, then went out for gelato. They told me they weren’t very exciting and had a routine they followed. It was fine for me. I’m just glad to go somewhere like that. I liked that we were in the central historic district. I got a big dose of culture, language, music, and art, and I enjoyed it very much.
What activities do you enjoy with your friends? Ever played Mexican Train?Where in Mexico would you want to visit?
Last year our local college terminated the Theatre, Music, and English departments. There is a rather fine auditorium at the college that has remained pretty silent and unused for the last while. It is in the main building on campus and is surrounded by the library and classrooms. There are multiple ways of accessing the other rooms and hallways from the auditorium.
The Badlands Opera Company is putting on Into The Woods in a couple of months. They often use our church sanctuary for their productions, but this time they are using the college auditorium. Last week the Opera Company folks paid a visit to the auditorium to scope out the place and see what they would need to do to get it up and running. There is a loft above the stage that was used for costumes and props. It was left in incredible disarray by the theatre faculty as a sort of “screw you” to the college administration. Much to the Opera Company folks surprise, they noticed a cat sticking its head from out of the loft ceiling. They also noticed a litter box and the personal effects of someone who had been squatting in the loft.
They phoned the police and campus security, who secured the auditorium and found another cat. Both cats were taken to the city animal shelter. They also figured out who had been living in the loft and had him get his stuff out. I don’t know how long the guy had been living there. The college is upping its security. The Opera Company folks decided that they would only go to the auditorium in groups of three from now on. It was interesting that public comment indicated more concern about the welfare of the cats than the fact that someone had been living in the theatre loft. I hope they are comfortable in their new digs at the animal shelter.
What is the most memorable hotel you ever stayed at? What hotelwould you like to stay in if you got the chance.?
A high school classmate of mine has found a really interesting gig lately. She has become an international house and pet sitter. I had never heard of this before, but there are companies you can sign up with who certify you as a good and responsible person, and then allow you to travel to house sit for people. You have to pay for travel expenses, but you stay for free in the home you are caring for.
My friend is currently in the south of France in a lovely old farm house caring for a couple of dogs, two cats, and some chickens. She is working remotely at her job in the States while she is there. The most difficult part of her current stay is firing up the stoves that warm the house. This place has no central heating. When she isn’t working or hauling wood and coal, she is traveling to quaint villages and markets nearby. The only down side to her current trip is that her luggage first went to the Canary Islands before it came to her.
Her previous stay took her to Montreal for two weeks. There, and now in France she stated that the neighbors take a keen interest in her and take her all around to show her sights, feed her, and socialize. I don’t think she speaks French, but that hasn’t been a problem. I am curious where she will go next.
The photos above were taken from YA’s hotel room in Banff.
It’s still a little bizarre that YA now works in the same travel division as I did for 33 years, albeit in a different department. She designs website and mobile apps for group travel; when a client purchases a mobile app, she accompanies the group to provide onsite support for the app. She seems to enjoy it.
I know people who have retired from the industry and many of them have really missed the travel. I would even call it grieving in a couple of cases. I wondered if I would feel the same, but I have not. I’ve always felt extraordinarily lucky to have had my job and visited so many fabulous places; I even fantasized about making a life in many of those places. My favorite destination was almost always the last place I’d visited.
Banff is a gorgeous place and I’ve been there twice, both at this time of year, when there is snow and the air is clear and brisk. Seeing YA’s photos did give me a momentary pang but it was replaced with a great feeling of gratitude that she is getting to have some of these experiences – experiences that certainly enriched my life.
Any place you think would be nice to visit in January?
People watching at the airport is almost as much fun as at the State Fair – if you’re not stressing out. I take a page from my mother’s playbook and always get to the airport with way too much time so I’m not usually too worried about time in the TSA line.
There was a pretty long line on Saturday so there was plenty to watch. The most interesting was the young couple in front of me. When I first noticed them, the young man was wearing a fairly large, stuffed backpack and handling a big carry-on as well. The young woman was unencumbered. Before I had a chance to process that, she tried to take over carry-on duty. He wouldn’t let go of the bag. She was mad. She ripped it out of his hands and if looks could kill, he would have been a goner. Then he made two really bad mistakes. First he tried to take the bag back and when she spoke to him in a stern voice, he smiled. I wanted to say “ooh, buddy, bad move” but I didn’t need to. She blasted him and they didn’t speak for minutes until they got right up to the TSA desk. I didn’t see them again.
Our plane wasn’t at the gate on time – late from its last stop I assume. There was a red-haired woman who was just freaking out about this. Not enough to get security called on her, but enough that all of us in the waiting area heard every word. She somehow seemed to think that the gate agent could magically make a plane appear. After venting her spleen she wandered off; I didn’t see her come back. There weren’t any other flights that were leaving any time around the time of our flight so I don’t know what she did. Maybe she had a couple of stiff drinks and was the last one onto the plane?
Of course when the plane did come and we were all loaded, the pilot made an announcement about some outside door flap being frozen. Twenty minutes they said, which is airline speak for “at least an hour”. We were going to St. Louis, so I’m guessing from the flurry of panicked phone calls, there were quite a few people with connecting flights. The woman in front of me was positively melting down about it. I wasn’t connecting although my sibling gathering was planned for that afternoon. No meltdown from me.
We made most of the hour up in the air so I was in time for the sibling gathering but not enough time to stop at the deli to pick anything up for the party!
Most days on my drive to work I travel on Villard Street, which is the main east-west route through our downtown area. It is also known as Old Highway 10, the route that ran from Detroit to Seattle before the interstate highways were built.
Villard runs parallel to the BNSF railroad tracks through town, and the street and the tracks are no more than 20 yards apart. There are always trains, either chugging through town or parked, waiting for who knows what.
I get a good glimpse of the train cars on my way to work, and I am always amazed at the intricate graffiti on them. Last week there were very nice Boris and Natasha portraits on one. I never observe people painting on the cars in our town. They would be seen, given that the cars are parked in the middle of town. It makes me wonder where on the train route the cars can be parked long enough for people to paint them without getting caught.
It seems that the graffiti is inevitable. I think it would be terribly fun for the railroad to have train car decorating contests, and legitimize what is going to happen anyway. Think of the fun!
What would you like to paint, or see painted, on train cars? Any memories on Old Highway 10?
Trail Baboon 