A birthday celebration and lovely evening…With a thoughtful gift for me!…

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Heather’s daughter Hannah sent these lovely flowers with her mom to give to me last night. I’ve never met Hannah and couldn’t believe this thoughtful gesture. Hopefully, soon, I will meet her. Thank you, Hannah!

When Miles got his driver’s license on his 16th birthday yesterday, it was fun to celebrate his special day at Pizza Luce last night. He couldn’t have been more excited; seven of us shared his enthusiasm at dinner. The food was good, the ambiance was festive, and it was fun to be with family again.

Heather walked in the door holding the above flowers, and I said, “How thoughtful to give flowers to Miles on his birthday!” Heather giggled, “These aren’t for Miles. They are for you!” I was stymied about why there were flowers for me until she explained they were from her adult daughter Hannah, whom I’d never met, who could not join us at Mother’s Day brunch on Sunday.

I couldn’t get Hannah’s number quickly enough to thank her for her thoughtfulness, especially when she hadn’t met me yet. We both feel fortunate, along with Greg, to have Heather in our family with her four children and our six grandchildren in Minnesota.

There’s no doubt in my mind that being away all these years has only accelerated the appreciation of our family members. When we lived in the US almost 12 years ago, we loved and appreciated our family. But there is an added element of appreciating how much our kids, grandchildren, and now Heather’s family mean to us, having been away for so long.

We are so happy that Greg and Heather have found one another and brought their total seven children into their love equation. We’ve been busy seeing everyone since we arrived here last Wednesday and look forward to many more get-togethers over the next few months until we head to Cleveland.

In about 30 minutes this morning, we leave to go to a highly reviewed physical therapy clinic only a few miles from here. I am struggling to be mobile right now, most likely due to my heart condition, and I need some help improving my mobility. My exercise regime wasn’t sufficient enough to affect a change, and I’m willing to admit defeat and accept professional help.

I must improve my strength and mobility before I have the surgery. Right now, I am having trouble getting up out of a chair or out of bed. My walking is difficult and unsteady. Indeed, if I don’t do something right now, I could fall, and that could be a fiasco. We have so many plans over the next few months, and I want to be able to participate in all the activities with family and friends.

Tomorrow, I will report what I’ve discovered at this morning’s assessment. We have no plans tonight, and after the appointment, we’ll head to the market to pick up a few items for tonight’s and tomorrow’s dinner. We try to avoid dining out every night, not only due to huge portions and also not knowing what’s in the food but also to save a little.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, May 14, 2014:

This creative display is so Morocco, with brilliant colors that are beautifully presented. For more photos, please click here.

A lovely Mother’s Day and into the evening…Thanks for all the warm wishes!…

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A gorgeous pink rose in the garden at our new Campanario, Madeira (Spain) location.

Somehow, Greg and Heather found a lovely restaurant for Sunday’s Mother’s Day Brunch at Cosmos Restaurant in the Lofton Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, close to the Target Center. With all the bad press about downtown Minneapolis being dangerous these days, this location was safe, and we felt comfortable.

The beautiful location had ample seating and no waiting, which is odd for Mother’s Day, as waiting to be seated and served on this busy day can be tedious. The food was fresh, hot, and well prepared, and our table for eight worked out well. In attendance were Tom and I, Greg, Maisie, 17, and Miles,16, whose birthday is today (Madighan was at work), Heather and two of her four children, Megan, 15, and her son, Doug, 23.

The time went quickly, and before we knew it, the brunch ended, and Tom and I were on our way back to the hotel with no plans for the remainder of the day. We arrived at 1:00 pm after stopping and picking up a Chicken Bowl from Chipotle (not as good as I remember) for me for dinner. Tom had Panera Chicken Wild Rice soup that he heated in the microwave in the hotel’s kitchen on the main floor, along with plenty of crackers.

In no time, evening rolled in, and we had dinner and streamed a few movies while settling in for the night. It was all pleasant and relaxing after several busy days in a row. We’ll celebrate Miles’ 16th birthday at dinner at Pizza Luca, a short walk across the hotel parking lot. Today, Miles goes for his driving test and hopefully passes, adding all the more cause for celebration.

This morning at 8:00 am, we headed downstairs for the included breakfast at the hotel. It’s not a big deal breakfast as is the case for most included breakfast at any hotel, usually consisting of premade scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausages, cereal, fruit, coffee, and tea. Fortunately, they have hard-boiled eggs, and I don’t eat premade scrambled eggs since they contain wheat and chemicals.

Dining out frequently creates a few issues for me, but I always find something suitable for my way of eating. Tonight at Pizza Luce, it’s easy when they serve gluten-free meatballs with sugar-free sauce topped with mozzarella. I love this dish and often order it when we go there for dinner.

This morning, I called a well-known physical therapy clinic nearby to see if my insurance would pay for services. Lately, as my heart issues have escalated, I’ve had more difficulty walking and using my arms. As much as I try to exercise on my own, I need professional help and monitoring to build my strength for surgery over the next three months.

I am waiting to hear back from them after they check with my Medicare and Plan G to ensure I am covered. If I can build my strength and stamina before the surgery, I will do better after it’s over. We’ll see how this goes.

In the interim, we should get a call back for an appointment with Costco’s Hearing Aid Center for Tom. He’s finally decided to buy correctly adjusted and fitted hearing aids when his hearing has worsened over the past few years. It will be great for him and for me to have a conversation with him without raising my voice. If he can’t read my lips, he can’t tell what I am saying.

That’s it for today, dear readers. Thank you for countless and thoughtful Mother’s Day wishes from many readers, family, and friends. I am very grateful.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, May 13, 2014:

We couldn’t imagine that tourists would visit during the peak of summer due to the heat. For more photos, please click here.

Cleveland Clinic update… Fantastic evening with my son Greg and family…

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My 17-year-old granddaughter Maisie and I were at the Children’s Theater last night.

While we were on the challenging road trip from California to Minnesota, I received a notice for a few bills for upcoming tests and cardiology appointments in MyChart, which had been set up for me weeks ago without any recent updates.

When I called CC’s billing department, they advised me to ignore the bills since my Medicare and Plan G supplement would cover them 100%. It was a relief to see my new insurance plans doing their job.

When I hung up and looked further into the bills, I noticed the appointment date of August 28, over three months from now. Then I returned to MyChart to see if I was booked for three appointments on said date, starting at 12:45 pm, including tests and consultations.

I sighed in relief, seeing the appointments in place. Little did I know this was how I would be informed about upcoming appointments at the prestigious facility via My Chart rather than a call or email. Nonetheless, I was relieved. How I found out is irrelevant. The fact I have the appointments is of the utmost importance.

You may ask why the appointments are so far out when my Mitral and Tricuspid valves are severely regurgitating. Isn’t this an emergency? They take cases based on when they were requested and how urgent the cases are. I am still walking around and not in the hospital. Many patients are already in hospital, have had heart attacks or strokes, or are bedridden at home. These cases would supersede the urgency of my case.

I will continue to watch for potentially dangerous symptoms, like shortness of breath, swollen legs and ankles, and chest pain, none of which I have right now. Sure, I feel like a walking time bomb, but I can almost function somewhat normally. My biggest issue is my inability to walk since my legs and my arms feel like lead, a sign of poor blood flow to the extremities.

However, I will wait with determination and a positive attitude, making every attempt to live generally over the next three months. Tom is very helpful and supportive, as are family members and friends. No doubt, time will pass quickly while we keep busy with social events and time spent with those we love.

Speaking of “those we love,” last night, at 5:30, Greg and the kids picked me up to go out to dinner at Champs and then off to downtown Minneapolis to the Art Institute’s Children’s Theater, where the musical. “Frog and Toad” was being performed. What a delightful musical! It was full of humor, great singing and dancing, and excellent acting. It couldn’t have been more fun.

My grandkids, as did Greg and his girlfriend Heather, were stuck by my side and joined us at the theater. My 17-year-old granddaughter Maisie, shown in the above photo with me, was a constant joy, as were Madighan and Miles. How lucky I am to have them.

Tom got together with his son TJ and had a great time visiting with him, as always. We both ended up back at the hotel around 9:30 pm, and shortly after, I went to bed for another great night’s sleep. Tom didn’t join me until about 11:30 when I was already sound asleep. Today, I feel good.

At 3:30 today, we’ll be at Billy’s Bar and Grill in Anoka, a 45-minute drive, to meet with his sisters and other family members. Billy’s is a weekly tradition in his family; we will join them all each Friday while we are in Minnesota.

Yes, our lives are up in the air, but somehow, we will make it through.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today. May 10. 2014:

Undercover at the ATM area, where there were multiple machines. For more photos, please click here.

We’re finally made it…Quite a challenging road trip…Tomorrow, details of my upcoming appointments at Cleveland Clinic…

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The snowstorm was much worse than shown in this photo as we left Layton, Utah.

We finally made it to Minnesota and arrived at the hotel last night at about 6:00 pm. It was a relief the long and stressful road trip was over after encountering 2½ days of challenging driving during a blizzard in Utah and Wyoming, the longest stretches during the four days of travel.

I tried to take photos during the blizzard but found it impossible during “whiteouts.” I was so busy hanging onto my seat that I couldn’t get a photo through an open window when the wind was blowing at 70 to 80 mph, nor could I get a photo through the windshield, which was covered with snow between each fast swipe.

Numerous accidents along the highway often slowed us down for long stretches, including cars, but more so semi trucks that toppled over in the high winds. What an ordeal. I couldn’t imagine how we’d get through it without being scathed. If we got trapped, we had a big blanket in the SUV, our mugs of Crystal Light iced tea, lemonade, and some protein bars. We were as prepared as we could be.

The Virgin River Gorge in Utah.

But, thank God, we made it through with Tom’s expert driving skills, although at times, I thought he took too many chances and asked him to slow down on several occasions. He was determined to get through it. We had a couple of close calls when vehicles started sliding toward us.

Thank goodness, living in Minnesota most of his life, he had acquired excellent driving skills in inclement weather. But, even for the more expert drivers, driving through this nightmare was a real challenge. After the blizzard, the high winds remained, and more accidents occurred.

Getting out of the SUV to go to the restroom at a petro station or rest area almost blew me away. I hesitated to walk outdoors on the way back to the car. Whew! The winds continued after we arrived in Nebraska but finally died down on the final day.

The Layton Utah Temple is a three-story, nearly 94,000-square-foot structure. It sits on a slope between the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains and the valley floor at 1400 Oak Hills Drive. The sacred structure is the second house of the Lord in Davis County.

We had a great dinner and breakfast with Marylin and Gary in their hometown of Layton, Utah. It was a charming town of 82,000 people with a strong Mormon influence. They drove us to see their new temple and showed us the snowy, peaked mountains surrounding the quaint and charming town.

When we went to dinner at a Mongolian-pot-type restaurant, I proceeded to order a glass of wine, reminded that no alcohol can be served in Utah unless under exceptional circumstances. I ordered an iced tea and forgot about the wine, or lack thereof, in seconds.

In the morning, we met up with them for breakfast and then were on our way. The skies were cloudy, and a light dusting of snow covered the car. An hour after leaving Layton, we were entrenched in what became the most challenging long drive in a blizzard neither of us had experienced, especially for such an extended period. As we read along the way, Wyoming is one of the US’s most deadly locations to travel. We certainly got a taste of that.

As mentioned above, once we reached Nebraska, the blizzard ended, and many miles later, the winds died down, and we could enjoy the remainder of the trip. We drove through Nebraska and Iowa and then entered Minnesota, encountering traffic. The last few hours seemed painstaking.

The Wasatch Mountains, also known as the Wasatch Range, border Layton, Utah, to the east. The Wasatch Range is a 160-mile mountain range from the Utah-Idaho border to central Utah. It’s the western edge of the Rocky Mountains and the eastern edge of the Great Basin region. The Wasatch Mountains are the most prominent landmarks in the area and define the east boundary of Davis County. The mountains are still rising today due to the Wasatch fault, which causes the earth’s crust to shift suddenly. It was beautiful to see.

Since Tom was still full from a massive breakfast at Perkins in Lincoln, Nebraska, he wasn’t hungry for dinner, but I’d only eaten a small omelet and two pieces of Tom’s bacon for breakfast. Nine hours later, I was ready for something for dinner. We walked across the parking lot of our hotel to the Pizza Luce restaurant, where I had an appetizer size of gluten-free meatballs with sauce and mozzarella. Tom ate my garlic toast.

Back at the hotel, I set up the room’s TV to work with the streaming apps on my phone, and we relaxed and watched a few shows until bedtime. We both had an uninterrupted good night’s sleep. This morning, we ate at the hotel “included breakfast” and met a lovely couple our age. We enjoyed a lively conversation with them for over an hour.

Tom headed out the door 30 minutes ago when he noticed a retiree lunch for railroad guys starting at 11:30. He didn’t tell any of them he was coming, and it will be a fun surprise for his old railroad buddies. At around 5:30, my son Greg will pick me up to join them for dinner and a musical at the Minneapolis Children’s Theater after that. All three of my grandchildren and Greg’s lovely girlfriend, Heather, will be attending. It will surely be a pleasant evening.

In the future, we’ll be posting daily as we have in the past. Tomorrow, I will share the details and dates of my appointments at Cleveland Clinic.

I appreciate your patience with the lack of posts in the past few weeks.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, May 9, 2014:

My friend Joan posted this on Facebook last night, and it caught my eye this morning. So true. For more photos, please click here.

We’re on the move again…Leaving Los Angeles…Heading to Mesquite, Nevada…

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Marisol Cocina Mexicana is a Baja-style cantina at the west end of Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California. It serves authentic Mexican food, including tacos, fajitas, and margaritas, and has views of the Pacific Coastline and Los Angeles. Marisol also has outdoor dining, live music, and rooftop seating.

We are sorry for today’s late post. I decided to write the text on my phone while on the road trip toward Utah and upload photos once we arrived at the Hotel in Mesquite, Nevada, this afternoon.

At the Hotel, I will be better able to post photos using my laptop and upload the entire post at that time. We are glad we planned two days for the road trip to Utah, which is over 700 miles. We didn’t want to make the long drive in one day.

We can only imagine the value of the properties along the beach.

Also, we stopped every few hours to get out of the vehicle and walk. I am wearing compression stockings, a priority with my current heart condition.

We were thrilled to see the Santa Monica Pier. I hadn’t been here since I was a teenager.

Unfortunately, we have to drive back through Las Vegas to access the best roads to Utah. We’ll soon enter Nevada as we make our way to Mesquite, Nevada, where, as mentioned, we will stay tonight.

Palm trees line the boulevard by the Santa Monica Pier, a popular tourist attraction.

We had a great time in LA hanging out with my sister Julie. We laughed, we cried, and we reminisced. Tom kept busy in the hotel room for a few hours each day, enabling Julie and I to catch up. When the three of us were together for meals, the conversation was lively and animated.

Famous buildings line the boulevard, including the famous Georgian Hotel.

At one point, Julie and I went through many of our posts and our busy YouTube channel. It was such fun sharing everything with her in person. She loves animals like I do, making it all the more enjoyable.

Seeing the cousins at yesterday’s lunch at Katella Deli was delightful. Sure, we all looked older but familiar after decades apart. The conversations flowed with ease. The food, ambiance, and service were impeccable. Hopefully, we will see everyone again in the future.

Tom, standing next to a cannon.

However, I don’t know when we’ll return to California. It’s crowded with outrageous traffic, and this morning, we paid $6.50 a gallon for the lowest-priced fuel option. This is the most we have ever paid for fuel anywhere in the world.

Maybe next time, we will meet up with Julie somewhere in the world. Only time will tell.

That’s it for today, dear readers. We will stay in touch along the way.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, May 3, 2014:

We wrote about losing our friend Lane, who passed away the prior day. Here is a photo of Lane and Peggy and their beloved dog. For the story, please click here.

Sightseeing in California…

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Wen didn’t realize until last night that Julie lives in Brentwood, a famous and popular area of Los Angeles. We noticed these bottle brush plants in the garden in front of her building, where small two-bedroom apartments are valued at over $1,000,000. Wow!

We have to leave to pick up Julie in about 50 minutes, so I will be rushing through today’s post to be able to walk out the door on time. Once we pick her up, we’ll head to a famous deli in Los Alamitos restaurant for the reunion lunch with my cousins whom I haven’t seen in 60 years. There will be eight of us.

On our way to sightseeing in Santa Monica, we noticed this sign for one of the oldest and longest streets in Los Angeles.

Tomorrow, I will report back, hopefully, with photos of the group, keeping in mind that some do not want their photo posted online. I always respect such a request.

After lunch, we’ll head back another 45 minutes to Julie’s place, where we’ll spend the evening. If we get hungry, we’ll order carry-out food to be delivered, have dinner, and do a load of laundry at Julie’s house. With that, we’ll be ready to embark on the next leg of our journey.

One can only imagine the cost of this narrow vacant lot in the expensive area. It appears that construction has begun, or perhaps it has been sitting this way for a while due to the pandemic.

I spoke to Marylin and Gary this morning, and they are looking forward to seeing us in Salt Lake City on May 5 for dinner. We will drive toward their area and find a hotel near the restaurant so that on May 6, we can commence the balance and longest portion of our road trip. It’s odd, but we must return to Las Vegas to drive to Salt Lake City. There is no easier or quicker means of getting there. It feels funny that we’ll be heading back there but will only stay one night before we continue on to Utah the following day.

Santa Monica State Beach is a 3.5-mile-long beach in Los Angeles, California, known for its soft sand, bike trails, and many activities. The beach is located on the edge of Los Angeles and overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

We had fun seeing the Santa Monica Pier, which I hadn’t seen since I lived in California 55 years ago. I was brought up in Long Beach, about an hour from Los Angeles, and I had no desire to return there when it was so long ago, and we don’t have any family or friends there.

We had no interest in embarking on the long walk on the pier since Julie has a severe ankle injury and my walking, well, as you know, isn’t that good. Instead, we took several photos, people watched and reveled in the exciting area. I had a vision of gorgeous people in skimpy clothes on skateboards, as shown in commercials for this area.

Santa Monica State Beach is a 3.5-mile-long beach in Los Angeles, California, known for its soft sand, bike trails, and many activities. The beach is located on the edge of Los Angeles and overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

Ha! That is not the case. They were just like us, ordinary folks in casual well-covered clothing without skateboards; since many tourists were our age, it’s unlikely they’d be on skateboards in bikinis. Nonetheless, the people and the dog watching were exceptional, and I couldn’t help but squeal with delight over everything we saw.

After sightseeing ended, we returned to Brentwood for another fantastic dinner we all thoroughly enjoyed. We dropped Julie off at about 9:00 pm and returned to our nearby hotel. I awoke during the night and had trouble going back to sleep. I try not to think unpleasant thoughts at night, so I watch a few funny videos to pull me back to sleep an hour later.

The best path to the Pier from Downtown is to walk under the historic Santa Monica Pier and Yacht Harbor sign at Ocean and Colorado and down the Pier bridge. If you are on Main Street or coming from hotels and other destinations along Pico, head towards the beach and take Ocean Front Walk.

I awoke this morning well-rested but later than I should have, and thus, I must rush to get today’s post uploaded before we need to leave. Our lunch is scheduled for 11:30, which will require driving in traffic. We’ll see how it goes.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, May 3, 2014:

A broken egg that I found yesterday in Marrakesh outside the door to our bedroom, most likely a bird egg that fell from the top of a door or a decorative item on the wall. For more photos, please click here.

Los Angeles is another world…The traffic is outrageous!…Fun dinner out with Julie…

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We encountered hundreds of wind turbines as we entered California.

It was a perfect road trip. We decided we’d be OK with burning some data on Google Fi at $10 a gig and would listen to podcasts while on this long road trip, ending in Minnesota around May 10. While here, we won’t listen to any Garage Logic and other podcasts as we do daily and save the episodes for the remainder of the drive across part of the US.

For our friends and readers who live outside the US, here is a map of the country showing how far we’ll be driving from Los Angeles to Minneapolis, with a stop in Salt Lake City.

United States political map

Road trips across the entire US can be made by car in about five days without having to drive 12-hour days. We prefer to drive about six hours daily since I have to be mindful of not getting swollen feet and legs on longer drives due to my heart condition.

Yesterday, we drove for about 6½ hours, and that was plenty. We stopped every few hours to get out of the vehicle and walk around. Plus, we stopped for breakfast at the beginning of our trip and then for fuel partway through.

But the magic of yesterday’s trip was using our new Bluetooth speaker, paired with Tom’s phone, to listen to the podcasts. Tom’s lousy hearing, especially when driving due to road noise, makes it easy for him to hear the podcasts. This made a world of difference to him, and I also enjoyed listening.

The hours flew by, and before we knew it, we checked into our hotel, the Comfort Inn in Santa Monica. We have never booked a Comfort Inn in the past and were concerned it wouldn’t be a good hotel. We didn’t expect much at $216 a night in this expensive area. But it’s OK with comfortable bedding, good parking, and clean rooms and facilities.

The traffic started picking up about one hour before we reached Los Angeles.

After all, this isn’t a “vacation.” This is a part of our daily travels concerning where we’ll rest our heads at night, and although in most cases, it’s lovely locations, hotels such as this are OK from time to time. We slept well and welcomed the larger bathroom and sleeping area over the tiny spaces in Apache Junction, living in a park model.

Fortunately, we could use some credits we’d accumulated with Expedia as VIP members, bringing the cost down by over $250 for the three nights. Dining out for the three of us will run an average of $175 per night. Breakfast is included with our hotel reservation. It’s the usually processed eggs, ham, and a few odds and ends, most of which I don’t eat. I had a small container of cream cheese, a dollop of processed eggs, and a few thin slices of Canadian bacon. That was fine. It will hold us until dinner tonight.

Snow on the mountains in California.

Speaking of dinner, we went to a fantastic restaurant in Brentwood, the Wood Ranch. The only odd thing both Julie and I observed was that the red wine was served too cold for our liking. We asked for room-temperature red wine, but the waiter informed us all the red wine was kept cold. These were good wines. I didn’t understand why they kept them so cold.

The waiter was happy to oblige and swapped our glasses for white wines, which are best chilled, and we were content. The smoky open-fire grilled food was delicious. Tom had the beef brisket with mashed potatoes, beans, and all three buns served at the table, which neither Julie nor I would eat. See the photo below.

These rolls looked and smelled delicious. My guy ate all three of them. He sure likes his bread, doesn’t he?

I failed to take other food photos, but the conversation was lively and animated, and I completely forgot to take food photos. Nonetheless, the meal was divine and well worth the $140 bill for us.

We will try another of Julie’s favorite restaurants closer to the beach tonight. Julie and I will look up menus today and see what works for all three of us. Tomorrow, the “cousins” lunch is in Los Alamitos, about 45 minutes from here in traffic. There will be nine of us.

I’m looking forward to seeing my cousins, whom I have seen in about 60 years. Oh, good grief, I must be old.

Tom will drive Julie and me to her doctor’s appointment at UCLA Medical this morning and pick us up when we’re done. Then, he’ll drop us off at her house, where she and I will stay and chat until he returns to pick us up around 4:00 pm to head to the beach and then dinner. He’ll gladly spend some quiet time alone in the hotel in the afternoon. It will be another good day.

This trip to California will certainly be worth the detour of our route to Minnesota, and of course, seeing my sister after four years is lovely.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, May 2, 2014:

It was odd to see these blue jeans in the souk. For more photos, please click here.

Talked to Cleveland Clinic…One day and counting…

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More colorful wares were offered for sale in the souk in Marrakesh.

With the utmost determination, yesterday I called Cleveland Clinic and spoke to Tina, the rep handling my file. I felt bad calling again after sending several email messages with no response over the past three weeks. Tina explained that the doctor has been on vacation and is returning tomorrow, Wednesday. Of course, he didn’t look at files in his absence to determine who takes priority in upcoming appointments.

Tina apologized profusely, especially when I jogged her memory, about how my UPS package was lost after delivery to the clinic, which was verified with the tracking order. At that point, until they found the file, I’d lost a week on the waiting list. Tina promised to work on getting me an appointment as soon as possible.

I am not holding my breath, but I am a little more hopeful that I will hear something soon. They will want me to see a cardiologist to do the ultrasound again. However, I sent them two of the three ultrasounds I had done: one in South Africa, another in Ecuador, and the third, most recently in Las Vegas.

In most cases, a medical facility wants to do its tests, and I have no problem with that. I expected another cardiology appointment. Tina is working on setting this up for me. We shall see.

So here we are, one day from departing Arizona to drive to Los Angeles to see my sister. As of this morning, before I started this post, I am fully packed. Tom will head to the Mesa Airport at noon to pick up the rental car, which we’ll keep all the way to Minnesota until May 30, which I hope is big enough for all of our stuff. We’re hauling the extra foodstuffs we’ll use in Minnesota at the Residence Inn with a full kitchen. It’s not that we’ll do a lot of cooking, but avoiding eating out when we’re not dining out with the kids will be good.

The hotel room isn’t big enough to have the family come for dinner, and since they don’t cook much, we won’t be dining at their homes. We will figure it all out once we get settled there.

Separating the packing for the road trip and the first few weeks in Minnesota was easy. Until we know when we’ll need to head to Cleveland, we won’t fully unpack. There isn’t enough drawer and closet space in hotels for all of our stuff.

Yesterday, on our way to Taco Tuesday on Monday at the VFW, we stopped by the Goodwill store to drop off a bag of clothes I no longer wear. This eliminated about ten pounds of unnecessary items. Each time we pack, I make every attempt to lighten our load.

Afterward, we stopped at Walgreens for Margie and CVS for Colleen and then went to the taco lunch. Once again, we had a lovely time and returned to our place around 3:00 pm. I did a little more organizing, after which we settled in for the remainder of the day and evening.

The taco salads we ordered were small, and by 6:00 pm, we were both hungry again. I made a huge onion, ham, and cheese omelet with bacon on the side that we shared. We are taking Margie and Colleen out to dinner again at JJ Madisons, which we all enjoyed. There aren’t a lot of restaurants we like in Apache Junction, so we’re happy to drive for 15 minutes to this establishment for today’s dinner.

Tomorrow, since we’re leaving early, I will write the post while in the car on our way to Los Angeles. Once we arrive there, the other days will be easy to do the posts in the mornings before we head to Julie’s home where we’ll spend the day. Julie has a severe ankle injury, and she’s unable to walk. Thus, we won’t be sightseeing. We’ll help her get into the car when we go to dinner each night and lunch with the cousins on May 4. It will all work out.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, April 30, 2014:

Shop owners and workers in the souk often play with their phones as they await the next customer. For more photos, please click here.

Two days and counting…Slight change in plans…

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Colorful handbags are on display in the souk in Marrakesh, Morocco, and many have designer labels that are “knockoffs.”

It’s shortly after 8:00 am, and we have the laundry going in the building close to the business office. I’m still amazed by the software on my phone that allows us to pay for and start the washers and dryers. Now, back at our place, knowing we’re leaving for Taco Tuesday on Monday at the local VFW at 11:30, we knew we needed to get going early today.

We’re both showered and dressed for the day and have made the bed. I’ve even managed to get in a little more packing this morning, knowing we’re packing two ways: one batch for when we arrive in Minnesota, the second for the three days in California, and the four or five-day road trip.

As it turns out, we won’t attend Sister Beth’s 70th (anniversary of being a nun) Jubilee Celebration until June 15. At first, it was explained that only one family member could attend the event due to a shortage of space, so we thought we’d go early to see her. But yesterday, we received the notice that all the siblings and spouses could attend.

As a result, we’ve decided to drive to Minnesota from California. We’ll stay at a hotel from our arrival date, May 8th or 9th, check out on June 14, leave our bags at the hotel, take only enough for two days in Milwaukee, and then drive to Wisconsin for the event. When we return, we’ll check into the hotel and stay put until we need to go to Cleveland Clinic.

If we do it this way, we won’t have to pay for two hotel rooms simultaneously. With the high cost of hotels and all the fees and taxes, it makes much more sense to do it this way. As a result, we’ll never unpack when we arrive in Minnesota for the first month. We can easily launder the clothes we wore for California and the road trip and wear those again, never having to open our suitcases until we finally settle in after returning to Minnesota in mid-June.

We’d love to have been able to stay in a holiday home in Minnesota, but the prices were either too high or the locations were not safe. Our best option is to stay in a hotel with a kitchen and maid service since we could be there for a few months or more. Only time will tell.

Yesterday, we ate dinner around 3:30 pm, and by 4:15, we were at Margie’s home for the four of us to play cards. We had a great time, laughing and talking, while Tom won most of the games. I didn’t win a game, although I won many hands. It’s not so much about winning, although I’d like to, but the pleasure of playing with his sisters makes it quite enjoyable.

As of now, we’ve already switched the laundry to the dryers, and everything will be dry in about 35 minutes. Tom will pick it up, and I’ll fold everything when he returns, carefully sorting what we’ll take to use for the road trip and what we’ll leave in our suitcases for future reference.

We still have a lot of packing, most of which we’ll do tomorrow in plenty of time for our departure on Wednesday. Tomorrow, Colleen will drop Tom off at the Mesa airport to pick up the rental car. Today, he fill Margie’s car with gas and get it washed. We didn’t use it for more than 150 miles and are grateful for the loan.

As for posting during the road trip, we’ll try to post each day, including some photos we encounter. Driving to California is mostly desert, so there won’t be much to see, and we’ll want to get there in time for dinner with Julie. We have a reservation in Los Angeles for 6:30 pm. It’s about a seven-hour drive, and we hope to stop for breakfast in the first few hours.

Plus, we’ll get checked into the hotel in Santa Monica before we head to Julie’s house to pick her up for dinner. It will be wonderful to see my sister. It’s been at least four years since we were together.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, April 29, 2014:

Products such as these are often offered for sale and placed on the ground in the Big Square. For more photos, please click here.

Three days and counting…Time to “get the show on the road”…

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It is a commonly seen type of wall art in Morocco, utilizing well-crafted stained glass.

The month in Apache Junction is almost over. We’ll drive away in three days. Colleen and Margie are the only two sisters yet to leave, and they’ll be returning to Minnesota in a little over a week. Of course, once we get to Minnesota around May 12, we’ll see them all again, except for Rita, who lives in South Dakota.

Tom has six sisters, a few of whom we hadn’t seen while in Arizona this past month. One is Patty, who lives in Blaine, Minnesota, and his sister Betty, known as Sister Beth, who lives in a retirement home for nuns in Milwaukee, whom we’ll visit on our way to Minnesota, most likely seeing her around May 9 or 10th, while we spend one night in Wisconsin. The next day, we head to Minnesota.

We have a reservation in a Residence Hotel in Eden Prairie for May 23, when we thought we’d stay here longer. But, since we’re leaving early, we’ll need accommodations when we arrive, two weeks earlier than planned. But, in this case, we’ve decided to wait to book those first two weeks to avoid having any pressure during the road trip. That way, we can take our time.

Also, we haven’t informed Sister Beth that we’re coming to see her and won’t do so until a day or two before our arrival. That way, it will prevent her from being concerned about our arrival.

We’ll do our last loads of laundry tomorrow morning and then join Colleen and Margie for “Taco Tuesday on Monday” at the local VFW. We’ll have a late lunch and won’t be concerned about dinner. If we get hungry, we can eat the remaining bacon and eggs.

Yesterday, I made a turkey breast with leftovers for today, with rice for Tom and salad for both of us. Today, before visiting Colleen and Margie, we eat the leftovers. Soon, I’ll make a fresh salad since we have ingredients we need to use. We’ve used everything that was in the freezer and most of the food in the refrigerator.

We’ll be taking seasonings and non-perishables with us since we were in Minnesota, and we’ll have a full kitchen at the residence hotel and be able to cook. We could be in Minnesota for quite some time and don’t want to eat out every day as we’ve often done. Dining out is very costly in the US.

Last fall, we were shocked in Minnesota when we started ordering Jimmy John’s unwich sandwiches to pick up rather than have delivered where there are so many fees. However, we get free delivery with Grubhub, which is offered to Amazon Prime members. The cost was $22 for each sandwich, including no sides. It doesn’t make sense to pay that much for a breadless sandwich. We can purchase the ingredients at a grocery store and get two to three meals by making our own.

We’ll possibly be staying in the hotel in Minnesota for two to three months as we await my appointment at Cleveland Clinic. With the cost of staying in a hotel for so long, we will be mindful of our other expenses. Also, renting a car in the US for such an extended period will be costly. It would be fine if we could keep our food costs in check. No one ever plans to live in a hotel for so long, but with a kitchen, we’ll be fine.

Once we get to Cleveland, we will repeat our living style in Minnesota, staying in a residence-type hotel with a kitchen and making our meals. While I am recovering, Tom can make easy meals, order takeaway, or pick up food ready to eat.

I took a break from this post and emptied a full-size suitcase for us to use to take in and out of the hotel in Santa Monica and on the road trip. This way, we won’t have to haul all of our bags into the hotel room each night. We have a big blanket to cover any bags in the vehicle’s trunk. My main clothing bag is packed, and I have a bag of clothes to drop off at Goodwill in Apache Junction.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, April 28, 2014:

Baskets of spices outside a spice shop in the souk in The Big Square in Marrakesh. For more photos, please click here.