June 2019

June 2019

VA, PA, GA, NC, Boreno

1- SA-VA- Clay ran in the VA high school state competition for the one mile race and came in 7th and then in the two mile race and came in 4th. It was great, hot, sunny day.

2- SU- VA/GA- Clay, Gus and I started out for our trip south.  I thought they might be interested in helping with some fo the driving but I was mistaken.  They played video games, listened to their music and napped.  It was as if I was driving by myself. We didn't get to Pam and Doug's house in Atlanta until 830 PM.

3- M- GA- Doug Peterson gave us a tour of Atlanta and the Olympic Park.  Then we headed over to the Civil rights Museum.  I don't think the museum interested the boys as much as it did me.  We met Pam for lunch and then we went to the Aquarium for the afternoon. I think the boys are overwhelmed with the urban environment, the homelessness, the heat, and the noise.

4- TU- GA- Pam and I picked up Uncle Dick and Aunt Jo and we went for a picnic.  I haven't seen them in almost 15 years so they aged dramatically to me. Uncle Dick's Alzheimer's Disease seems less severe than I had anticipated. We went for pizza for dinner and then to the 1996 Olympic Track Practice Field.  Clay ran a lap around the track and as we were leaving we engaged in a conversation with DeeDee Trotter, a woman who was a 2012 Olympic Gold Metalist.  What a thrill.

5- W- GA- Gus wanted to go to the science museum so the three of us went off on our own.  I think Doug was thrilled to have a day to himself.  We saw the IMAX movie, Appolo 11.  i dont think this movie was as thrilling to the young boys and they are used to space travel.  But I still choke up every time I hear Neil Armstrong's declaration, "One small step for man, one giant lead for mankind."

6- Th- GA- The boys went sailing and Pam agreed to make us a big ass shrimp dinner.  So we went off to a local market and bought pounds of shrimp and crawdads. We picked up  Dick and Jo and my job was to entertain them while Pam did everything else.  Revie came over and joined us. And we all sat at the table and ate like pigs.  The boys shared some of the memes that they find so interesting and we shared them with each other.  A generational gap emerged as those of us over 60 did not understand most of them.  It was a pleasant evening.

7- F- GA/ SC/ NC- We left GA by 10AM but it was a lot of  driving in intense rain and lots of traffic. We stopped at a fireworks store and the boys were immensely happy.  They dropped about $100 and they left with enough explosive to annoy their neighbors for most of the summer. We got to our hotel around 5 PM and went to the Heist Brewery for dinner.

8-  SA- NC/VA- we only had 4 hours to drive today but it still took all day to get hime.  We arrived just in time for dinner and to shoot off a few fireworks.

9- SU- VA/ PA- I left early enough to get me home in a decent hour.  But after I took off from Brian's house, he texted to to let me know that I forgot my backpack and laptop.  Damn, damn, damn.  I had to go back and get them.  I stopped off at Gabe's Department store,  A Brewery and Gandler Sports Store.  It rained most of the time I was driving which was challenging and fatiguing.

10- M- PA- It rained and rained and rained all day and I spent most od the day in bed, listening to podcasts.  I made arrangements with Brain and Pam to figure out what they are going to do with all of Uncle Dick's antique tools now that they are closing down his house in Hilton Head, SC. A group of us went to Lemoncello for dinner to celebrate Lucia's bday.

11- TU- PA- It was a beautiful, cool day. Tricia and Bill came over at 10AM to sit at my pool.  Damn, that was early.  We sat for a few hours and caught up with the last few weeks of our lives.  Then we went off for lunch and by mid-afternoon, they were finished with me and went home.  I had dinner with several people at Debbie's house.  We continued our celebration of Lucia's bday.

12- W- PA- today was a day of frustrations and failures.  I started by driving all the way  to a Cancer Center in Bryn Mawr to pick up a cancer patient and she found another way home and we had to track her down to make sure she was safe.  That was embarrassing.  I ran a variety of errands and came up short on all of them. I did buy yet antlers double-walled thermo cup.  I think I have 37 of them now. I did book a flight for a trip to Colorado in August.

13- TH- PA- My new night guard came in today which is normally not something to be celebrated but I am so glad to have it.  The one I bought (for fucking $800) was already worn out and wouldn't have lasted another year.  So I went to the dentist and demanded a new one at no cost to me and she complied and now I am so damn happy.

14- F- DE- I went to the Hagley Museum with Jaye.  Her mother was a guide there fro 30 years.  In light of the fact that this woman just died last month, it was comforting to Jaye to be in this place that gave her mother so much pleasure.  This museum is the first of 12 museum I hope to visit this month. I bought a Brandywine Trail pass that gives me access to 12 venues and I am determined to get to all 12 of them at all cost.  This shall be a challenge because I have to see all 12 before Sept 2 and I am going to be away for at least a month this summer.

15- SA- PA- Someone was giving away two bar stools and a display cabinet so I grabbed them and stuffed them in to my overstuffed apartment. I could use the display case for all of my knick-knacks I've picked up along the way.  But I don't need the bar stools but they were in such great condition that I just had to take them. It's Laurens 26th bday.  So the Anderko and I went out for dinner. The five of us seem to be the family pack for all of their family events.  We went to an Italian restaurant that gives a free plate of pasta to take home with some of their meals.  So we all struggled with the dilemma of ordering what we really want or ordering the meal with the free pasta.  I ordered what I wanted and Tricia agreed to give me her free lasagna plate so I was pretty damn happy.  However, I forgot and didn't take her dish home.  She's eating it now.

16- SU- PA- I got up and had coffee with Debbie in the lounge.  I went shopping fro food and a few more unnecessary things for my trip.  I spent much of the afternoon listening to Patti Smith's book, Just Kids and I loved it. My new, blue beverage cup is missing and I am mourning its loss. I love that cup.

17- M- PA- it's raining again today.  I went to the bank to order money for my Indonesia trip.  I ordered $400 and I will get over 5,700, 000 in IDR.  Shit, this exchange rate is really going to be a challenge to me. I cleaned out my car and bent over and found my blue beverage cup.  I am back on an even keel again.

18- TU- PA- I went to see Elton John's movie Rocket Man with Kathy Flatley and I can honestly say I am a luckier, but poorer, person than Elton John.  He came from a dreadful family.  I found out that Mrs Oakes from Overbrook died.  She was 94 and her son is is my age, died three years ago.  I feel old.

19- W- DE- Jaye and I went to the DE Natural History Museum and I loved it.  Among a variety of exhibits, we watched a movie about the micro-plastics in the oceans.  It was a call to action for me.  I thought the oceans were the last pristine frontiers but we have fucked that up as well. Afterwords, we went back to Jaye's house and had dinner with Dom.

20- TH- PA- I had to take a cancer patient to treatment.  She finishes tomorrow and her throat is burnt due to 7 weeks of radiation.  She has no teeth which I can only assume is a result of her cancer. I thought she looked to be about 75 years old but she told me that she was only 66.  Damn, she looked really bad. I have nothing to complain about. I picked up my Indonesia currency from the bank.  I don't know how I am going to manage this exchange rate.  I have 25 bills that are 100,000 IDRs.

21- F- PA- Jaye and Dom were going to come over and hang by the pool but the day was cloudy so they just came for dinner.  We went to the Appalachian Brewery which was nicer that I had anticipated.  We wandered around town and stopped for a gelato and then we came back to my place and hung around the fire pit. It was a nice, easy night.

22- SA- PA- Gabe and Dom came home from Italy, their first trip abroad.  So Debbie had a few of us over to dinner to listen to the boys' stories. Dom had lots to say.  I love to hear kids talk about their first big ass, transformational trip.  On Facebook, Dom thanked his dad for this trip of a lifetime.  I started a new book, What's Become of Bernadette.  It's been made in to a movie and I want to read the book before I see the movie.  It's kooky.

23- SU- PA- It was a beautiful day so we (Phylis, Debbie and I) went tot he movies.  We went to see Pavarotti and I loved it.  There were moments when I had chills as he ht those high notes and I clapped when the movie ended. I got the schedule for my Celtic Colours Music Festival in Nova Scotia.  I will be going there in October and there will be tons of musicians.  I cant wait.  I don't know any of the performers but I know it will be great.

24- M- PA- OMG, I can waste a day and this was one of those days.  I just wandered around my apartment building and chatted up people.  I spent most of the day, packing for my big trip.

25- TU- PA/ In flight- Today I leave for my three week trip to Borneo, Bali, Java, and Jakarta.  I cant wait. My flight is at 9PM.  I have a 13 hour flight to Qatar and then a 2 hour layover and then a 9 hour flight to Jakarta.  I expect paradise. On another note, Ida, my grandmother would be 118 today.

26- W- I crossed the International Date Line and so I missed this day altogether.

27- TH- Jakarta, Indonesia-  I arrived at 730 AM, after 24 hours of traveling, and I didn't feel too bad. I was allowed to get in to my hotel room by 9 AM and had high hopes of napping for a few hours and then maybe wandering the streets or hanging at the pool.  But that didn't happen.  I barely made it in time for my 5:30 PM orientation/welcome dinner with my tour group.

28- F- Borneo- A 3:15 AM wake up call wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.  By 4:30. we were off to the airport for a flight to Borneo.  We then boarded a wooden boat and headed down river in search of the Wild Men of Borneo, the Orangutan.

29- SA- Borneo-

30- SU- Borneo- We visited feeding station # 2 and #3 today