Day 91 -- Hope for Dad

Dad had a very difficult weekend trying to breathe and was hurting so badly he couldn't stay out of bed hardly.  I was so fearful that we might lose him at any time.  But thanks to my brother devoting his entire day to dad's health, we got X-rays showing the fluid in his body cavity and Danny also got him to Abilene to have it drained.  It believe it saved his life.  Lesson learned today:  we will not depend on others to tell us what to do with dad.  We will use our own observation and gut feelings to take his care into our own hands.  It has given me hope that we can keep him comfortable and with us longer.  By the time he got in the car to come home, he was alert, hungry, and without the pain he had been experiencing.  He had the energy to to some of the small tasks he had quit doing every evening and was able to stay up longer.  Praise God for small victories!

Day 90 -- Saying Goodbye

On my way home from Haskell, I stopped at my cousin Kellye's new house in Stamford to get a tour and to see my other cousin from Odessa, Tracy, and my aunt Gay.  Kellye's house is absolutely beautiful and comfortable and workable.  I just loved it.  I learned distressing news while there--Aunt Peggy had called Aunt Gay and told her that Uncle David was now in hospice and they didn't expect him to last long.  I had already been planning to stop by Abilene and see them, so the visit became much more urgent.

When I got there, I visited for some time with Carl, Stormy, Casey, and Aunt Peggy and got to go in to see Uncle David for just a few minutes.  It was a precious chance to tell him how much I loved him and how he had always been my favorite uncle and to just kiss him and love on him for a few minutes.  I'm not sure he knew who I was, but I think he did.  It was such a sad time, but one I will treasure.  I also got to love on the rest of the family and just listen to Aunt Peggy as she talked about one thing to another as her mind tried to wrap around her soon to change life.  They have been the best aunt and uncle to me that I can imagine having.  I regret the long stretches of time when I have not called them or gone by to see them, but I cherish the many times I got to stay with them during summer, and that awesome train ride with Aunt Peggy to Illinois where I got to hear so many great stories from the past.  Time is short for all of us even when it is 90 years as with Uncle David--we must share our love with those who are dear to us and not let time get away from us before we have the chances to say goodbyes.

Day 89 -- Cassie's baby shower

What a joy it was to be able to attend a baby shower for Cassie and Cody's baby girl Charlotte Ann.  This baby is truly loved by so many before she has even arrived.  The hostesses did such a good job of decorating and baby Charlotte got more clothes than any girl could ever wear out!  I was so happy I could be there to participate in this joyful occasion.  Can't wait to see that baby girl!  You have all seen my pictures of the shower on Facebook so I will forego posting those again.  I'm going to be a great-aunt--yeah!

Days 84-88 Tyler Solo Nana Camp

I'm combining these days because they were Ty's days with Nana for Nana Camp this year without his buddy Clay.  I'll just say as the adult in the situation, that Nana Camp with two boys is easier than with just one because they entertain each other.  But I was Ty's buddy this week and we had some good fun!

Day 84 (Monday July 24) I had a meeting to attend in Austin and as chairman couldn't skip.  The meeting lasted one hour (a miraculous first for this committee) so I headed out to Kyle to meet Jodi and Tyler at a jumpy park and got to watch him have great fun there for an hour or so before we left for lunch.  After lunch, Jodi said her goodbyes to both of us and we headed to Belton to begin a week of spoiling Ty on my part and manipulating Nana on Ty's part!  First on the agenda for Tyler was riding the scooter down the hill made by our driveway and that went on for quite a while.  He is quite the daredevil and likes to make my heart stop from time to time.  But we got through all that without any blood or tears!

This old hat has certainly make for a good photo prop!

Dancing in the rain on a clear sunny day!

Daredevil

What fun!

Day 85 (Tuesday July 25) we went over to Georgetown to the Interspace Caverns.  Tyler had never been to a cave before and I think he really enjoyed it.  I enjoyed watching him be wowed by some of the things we saw, and he really paid attention to the guide and learned a lot of things about caves and how this particular was found when the interstate was being built.    When we got home, we decided we would just get in the hot tub which is not hot right now as it is turned off and we played some until Ty said he was cold.  We got out and he continued to be cold and by dinner, I decided to take his temp and it was 104.4 degrees so all fun was suspended and he went to bed.

Only place in cavern you are allowed to touch

Day 86 (Wed. July 26) Ty woke up feeling just great so we began having fun again.  He loved playing with our dogs so that was a lot of what he did in our in-between outings time.  We also played a lot of Go-Fish and he won every stinkin' game!  We took the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood and he loved that--but he told me he wanted to walk Lucy and not Holly--go figure!  We went to Waco and went to the mall for me to get my glasses tightened and then he did the bungie jump ride which he had a little trouble figuring out and then played laser golf (which I learned is just miniature golf with black lights!)  The great thing was that both were in air-conditioning--it was just too hot to do much outside.  I learned that Tyler has a gift for golf--he instinctively knew how to bank his shots and got several holds in one!  After that we went to a trampoline park that is across from the mall and he made a mad dash to the dodge ball cage playing with kids bigger than him--but he held his own with them!

Day 87 (Thurs. July 27)  We stuck around the house and played and watched some cartoons and then I had my trainer from 1-2 and took him with me.  He took his iPad to watch videos but Nana exercising was way more fun to watch.  So I got him out there with me and he did some of the exercises with me and had some fun.  Next we headed to Chucky Cheese for lunch and play.  He had a big time with the games.  After that he wanted to go to the park, but that only lasted about 15 minutes and he was done with the heat.  We went home and got back in the cool hot tub and played.  He also helped me with watering all my plants on the days when that needed to be done and was very good at it.

Day 88 (Friday July 28) We packed up and made our way to Haskell to Granny and Granddaddy's house.  He never went to sleep in the car but watched videos--he was a very good traveler.

I had so much fun (although it was tiring being his only playmate) with Tyler on his solo Nana Camp.  He is such a sweet, sweet boy so full of energy and happiness.  I feel very blessed to have him as my grandson and happy that I could spend this quality time with him.  He makes me laugh and warms my heart with his hugs!

Day 83 -- Recovery day from vacation

Today we recovered from our vacation as always seems to be the norm after a trip anywhere.  I was doing my usual stuff of washing clothes and getting ready for Ty Nana Camp.  So there wasn't really anything new--just home from a different location.  I really enjoyed the New England states we went to and will definitely try to go back--hopefully in the fall sometime.  I did finish reading a book that Avis loaned me called The Midnight Assassin which is a true story of a serial killer in Austin in the late 1800s who was never caught and was even  believed  by many to be one and same as Jack the Ripper because when the killings stopped in Austin, they began in London.  Very interesting book!

Day 82 -- Cambridge to see Harvard and MIT

We didn't have a lot of time this morning as we had a plane to catch at 12:30 but we checked out of hotel and made our way to Cambridge to just take a glimpse at two gold standards in university hall-of-fame.  I would have loved to have gotten out and strolled through Harvard--its grounds and buildings are so old and so historic and beautiful.  MIT as might be expected, is much more modern and techie looking.

Building on MIT Campus

Entrance to "Harvard Yard" the commons area of the campus

Harvard

Book Store

Building on Harvard Campus

Building on Harvard Campus

Day 81 -- Back to Boston by way of Maine coastline

We packed ourselves up and headed out about 10:00 for Boston via Maine and down the coastline to Boston.  Our trip took us first to Portsmouth and then down the Atlantic coast to Kennebunk Port, Ogunquit, ME and a lunch of lobster sliders in York Harbor, ME.  We crossed over into New Hampshire and went through Portsmouth, NH taking the MA Scenic Coastal Route down to Newbury which was established in 1635, Essex which was established in 1632, Gloucester established in 1633 and then to Salem, famous for the Salem Witch Trials through the play by Arthur Miller, The Crucible.  They were all such beautiful and mostly quaint places.  We saw the Bush's compound in Kennebunk Port proudly flying the Texas flag in front! The town was just swamped with summer visitors so that you could hardly drive down the streets for so many people crossing in front of us.  The Long Sands Beach was another place completely covered up with people.  We stopped and spent some time in Gloucester which was a destination Bill wanted to see.  Salem is a very large city, struck with all things witchy and kitschy so we just drove around and didn't get out.  Then it was on to Boston and our hotel where we freshened up and then went to Legal Seafood for dinner--yum!

Just a sample of the beautiful landscaping everywhere!

Kennebunk

Kennebunk

Kennebunk Port

Bush Compound

Kennebunk Port

Kennebunk Port

Statue at Glouchester Harbor

Gloucester

Gloucester
We saw signs for lobster $5.99 each!

Fish Stick Capitol!

Salem--witchy culture

At Boston Harbor across from Legal Seafood

Day 80 -- Drive to Mt. Washington

This was the day to go to the western side of the White Mountains and up to the tallest peak in this range--Mt. Washington.  On the way we encounter 3 more covered bridges and just had to do a lot of slow driving.  The drive up was beautiful and we stopped to have a picnic at Evans Notch so we could use up all our food before packing up to leave our condo.

Bridge over the flume

Roaring water

Near top

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Higher still

When we got to the base of Mt. Washington, there is an auto trail to the peak as well as a cog-driven little train.  However, when we got up to the area to enter and pay to go up the auto trail, we all kind of chickened out.  There were so many warnings about no rails, possibility of sudden storms and winds, etc. that we turned around and didn't do it.  I had purchased a book called "Not Without Peril--150 Years of Misadventure on the Presidential Range of New Hampshire" and at the time had not read it.  I have since read it and am very glad we didn't go up there.  The highest winds every clocked in the world have been at the top of this mountain.  Just didn't need that experience.  it is was very interesting book to read in the vein of "Death at the Grand Canyon" and "Death in Yellowstone".  Saw lots of pretty sights but it was a long day of driving the past couple of days so we were glad to get back early on this evening to our area and eat and be back to the condo before dark.  It was our last night in the condo so had to get packed up and check out by 10:00 on Friday.

 
We didn't take this path!

Day 80 -- Half way between a hot place and a cold place

Today we had the bright idea of traveling up higher into New Hampshire and then cross over the border into Quebec Canada.  On our way we stopped at 3 more covered bridges, but then we discovered a great marker by the side of the road that pointed out that we were half way between the North Pole and the equator--this was outside Stewartstown, NH.  Avis and I did a short hike and saw some pretty scenery.  All the state highway signs in NH have this profile of a man on a mountain so we decided we wanted to hike up to where you could see it.  There was a big sign and big parking lot, etc. pointing to the viewing site for this natural profile.  Once we got to the end of the trail where the view of the "old man of the mountain" was supposed to be, we found out that all those granite boulders that make the profile had fallen to the ground in 2003!  So all we saw was the place where the former old man of the mountain's profile had been.  We got a great laugh out of that when Bill told us when we got back to the car that he had looked it up on the internet about 2 minutes after we started our hike and knew it wasn't there anymore!

Granite image of man on side of mountain

Cool quote from Daniel Webster about the old man

                                                          




We went through a town named Pittsburg which was an independent nation from 1832-1842 when the local folks didn't like the politics of the local leadership and just pulled out.  This independent nation was called the The Republic of the United Inhabitants of Indian Stream Territory.  After 10 years this republic was brought back into the fold by way of the NH militia.  We also went through a town called Berlin, NH, which was and still is a big logging industrial center.  Lots of historic buildings.  After WWI, the townspeople changed the pronunciation of the town to burr' lin so it wouldn't be confused with the German city.

Berlin

                                                     

The big river through Berlin lent itself
to creating the logging business there--
logs were sent down the river to two different mills

Convict moose escaping the police

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All I have to say about the crossing into Quebec is that it was a horrible ordeal.  The border crossing area was in a very remote farming area with only one booth to go through.  No one else was there but us, and the Canadian border agent asked us the normal questions you get when crossing a border--and then he told us to pull over under a covered carport-like area.  When he came around, he ordered us all out of the car and to stand in front of it and he and his partner began going through everything in the car, all parts of the car including under the hood and the under-carriage.  After taking all our things out of bags, etc. and looking through all of Avis' money, they didn't put it back, they broke a Christmas ornament I had purchased just that day, and they didn't bother to zip up the wallet that held the money or put anything back in our bags.  We were all just furious but what can you do?  Then after it was all said and done, the lady border agent decided to play nice and got us a map to show us interesting places to go.  We went in and drove about 45 minutes through some beautiful farm country and left the province--just had a bad taste in our mouths my then.  And of course everything in Quebec is in French and we weren't going to try to tackle much of that with the locals!

Border crossing

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Border crossing

Farm in Quebec

Name of the area of Quebec we were in--Valley of the Coaticook