FRIEND TIME

The day after I returned from California, I repacked my suitcase and headed for Virginia Beach, Virginia.  It’s pretty amazing to think that in the course of two days, I traveled the entire width of this great country—over 3,000 miles from coast to coast.  I went to visit my friend Gayle, who retired recently, quickly sold her home in Michigan, and moved back to her hometown.

Virginia Beach is a beautiful city that spreads itself generously along the Atlantic Coast, just east of Norfolk.  There's a naval base here, so this is a typical site.

Gayle's mother still lives here, and Gayle’s been enjoying time with her, as well as the company of her youngest daughter Leah, who is living with her for a few months.

Gayle and I have enough in common to enjoy a good friendship, but we are different is some significant ways.  Gayle is very athletic, where I am definitely not.  She hikes, bikes, runs, and indulges often in her favorite sport, kayaking.  At the time of my visit, she was in the midst of final preparations for a six-week, 631 mile kayaking trip down the Alabama River.  She and a friend are doing this trip together, just the two of them, and it’s by far the longest run they’ve ever attempted.   People often comment on how courageous I am to travel alone around the world, but this is a woman who is truly brave.  She’s traveled to more than 50 countries, about half with her two daughters—backpacking, camping, staying in hostels, eating street food, etc.  I would never attempt this type of travel.  I really admire Gayle for her spirit of adventure. 

I kayaked for the first time with Gayle and her kayaking meet-up group.  And here’s the proof for those of you who might think I’m blowing a little smoke ;-)  It was comforting to have a partner for the first time out.  I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, and I think I might become a fan.  It certainly would help me build the upper body strength I need to schlep my luggage around airports and train stations hither and yon.

Here's Gayle in the sleek new kayak she bought for her upcoming trip.

We also spent several afternoons at the beach, and this, as most of you know, is one of my favorite pastimes.  The tourist season was over, so the beaches weren’t very crowded.  It was beautifully relaxing.

I ate a lot of crab cakes and enjoyed a parting lunch, with Gayle, her mother, a kayaking friend, Jenine--and delicious blueberry-basil mojitos.

There's nothing quite as sweet as time spent with a good friend. The weather was very warm, and the 60 degrees that greeted upon my return to Michigan was a little shocking!

Now I’m settled in the apartment of another friend in Ann Arbor, while she explores the wilds of Chile.  I’ll be her guest in absentia for a couple of weeks, then move back to where I was before I went to California.  No moss grows on this female nomad!

SISTER TIME

The icing on the cake for me after the wedding was my last day in California, when, for the first time EVER, my two sisters and I spent a day together alone—just the three of us.  We went to a Six Flags park and saw lots of animal shows.

   Porpoises

       Elephants

A white tiger

A tiger being fed from a milk bottle

   Birds

We could also observe other animals in their zoo-like enclosures.

     Penguins

   Sea lions

      Land lions

    Monkeys

           Giraffes

We didn't go on any of the rides, although this old-fashioned roller coaster was very tempting.

We all suffer from vertigo to some degree.  This ride made me dizzy just looking at it!

We had a great day, and I hope it’s not the last opportunity we have to enjoy some private sister time together.  

It rained a bit on the way home and when we stopped for dinner, we noticed this double rainbow.  It's the second one I've seen since returning to the U.S., and I'm sure this must portend good fortune for the coming year.  

WEDDING TIME

I’ve been on the move here in the U.S. almost as much as when I was traveling abroad.  I just returned from two separate trips—the first to California for a family wedding and the second to visit a friend in Virginia.

My niece’s oldest daughter got married at age 20.  She and her husband looked like children to me, but that’s just because I’m at the other end of the lifeline.

But I’m sure most of my friends will agree that this looks pretty young.  

Madison, or Maddie as we call her, is a beautiful person, and she was a glowing, beautiful bride.  Her new husband Kenny, clearly adores her, which makes him okay with me. 

My sister’s house was a whirlwind from the moment I arrived.  Maddie requested that her Grammy make her famous apple crumble pie as a dessert for the wedding party, so my sister made 15 apple pies.  The first day I was there, I peeled apples for a few of these.  I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but my sister’s apple pie is definitely worth the calories.

My younger sister Tonya and I helped my niece Shelley with preparations for the wedding party, which took place at her house.  

Each table had a beautiful flower arrangement and candles.

There were candles in glass jars hanging from the trees.

Madison chose to have a barbeque, so we ate pulled pork, smoked brisket of beef, macaroni and cheese, grilled vegetables, and cornbread.  Besides my sister’s apple pies, there were also chocolate pies and a wedding cake.  It was a step away from the norm as wedding dinners go.

It was hard to keep dry eyes when the newlyweds danced for the first time as a married couple.

I lost it during the father/daughter dance—it was just too touching to hold back the happy tears.

This is the very proud mother, my niece Shelley, and my lovely sister Kendra.  They were just beaming all evening.  

Madison's lovely bridesmaids were all dressed in yellow, but with different dresses--I liked that.  The girl on the far left is my great niece Ellie and the one to the right of the bride is her sister Katie.  

The young fellow in front is the fourth of my niece's children, Jonathan, who struck this pose whenever he knew his picture would be taken.  Pretty silly, but funny.

The couple will have a delayed honeymoon in December, a generous gift from my sister and her husband.  They are both still in college and will enjoy this belated celebration of their nuptials during their winter break from school.  

My wish for these two is enduring love and happiness.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEWLYWEDS!

FAMILY TIME

I've never seen much of my sisters and their families.  My one-year-older sister lives in California, and typically, I see her twice a year.  She visits my mother in Michigan for one week each year, and I usually go to visit her in California once a year.  My 16-years- younger sister lives in Ohio, which borders Michigan, but she's always been very busy with her job, her family, and her avocations.  For example, right now she and a friend are starting a small internet business.  They make purses with reversible covers.  (You can see them on Facebook--at this address:  www.facebook.com/handbaggin.boutique

Here's my mom with her three daughters.  My sister Kendra from California is behind me and Tonya is holding up the other end of the sofa.

My sister Kendra hasn't flown in several years, and her husband, Gary, who loves to travel, hasn't been able to convince her to get on a airplane for about the last 18 years, I think.  I'm not sure how he coerced her to do it this time, but she got on a plane to fly to Michigan for this year's annual visit with my mother and seems to have survived the experience with no trauma.  I joined them for a few days last week, and my younger sister and her daughter Cassie spent a day with us.  

My lovely niece with my two sisters.






Cassie recently completed her Master's Degree in Physical Training and started her first job just last Monday.  We're all very proud of her.

Kendra attended her 50th high school class reunion this year.  She always reminds me of what's to come in my life, since I follow her by only a year.  About 50 of her classmates came to the reunion dinner, and she had a great time.  

My little home town of Blissfield sits in the middle of excellent farm country in southeast Michigan.  I'm not sure why, but my sister wanted a picture of her husband standing by a cornfield.  I think the corn is actually as high as an elephant's eye!  (For my Italian friends, this is a corny reference to a song in the musical "Oklahoma".)




It's strange, but I'm spending as much time as I usually do with my sisters, since at the end of this month, both my younger sister and I will be flying to California to celebrate the marriage of my niece Shelley's oldest daughter.  The person I won't see as much as usual is my mother, but she has always believed that her daughters should live their lives as they please, and thankfully, she's still in reasonably good health and able to live independently.  And I'm always only a plane ride away.

I always cherish these few days with my sisters because they are so rare.  You don't choose your relatives, but I'm very lucky to have some pretty nice ones in my life!

MICHIGAN, MY MICHIGAN

It's nice to be home again.  You appreciate home more when you haven't been there for a long time.  Michigan is a really beautiful state, especially in the northwest part of the lower peninsula, where I've spent the last 2 weeks visiting friends in Petoskey and Traverse City.  

My friend Barb and her husband Steve live on Lake Walloon, just south of Petoskey, in this beautiful log cabin-like house.  

Barb is president of a 200 member women's club and they were preparing for their annual fund-raising event.

I volunteered to help prepare the food for the Slightly Gourmet Cafe, a major source of funds for the club.  My first assignment was cutting up the 50 melons we purchased for the fruit cups and chicken salad plates.

Then I worked with this delightful group of women wrapping napkins around plastic tableware.  My job was to place an adhesive seal around the napkin to hold everything together.  I got an idea of what it might be like to work on an assembly line!

Two of the club's talented women provided lovely flower arrangements for every table in the cafe.

Barb worked tirelessly for three days, but took a minute to ham it up a little.  I had a great time, and I'm pretty sure the Women's Club set a fund-raising record.  

I worked hard, too, but every day got to come back to this beautiful view from Barb's front porch.  Walloon Lake is about 7 miles across and has 30 miles of shoreline.  Ernest Hemingway spent his childhood summers at a lakeside home here that is still owned by the Hemingway family.

I also visited my friend Grace, who is spending the summer in the beautiful Norman Rockwell-like resort community of Bay View on the east side of Petoskey.  Bay View is a private community of about 440 cottages, many of which are beautiful Victorian summer homes.  Bay View is truly a vacation community, because people who own these cottages can live in them only from May to October each year.  There's a wonderful lecture and music program available to residents from mid-June to mid-August, and there's also a private beach for residents.  

Grace is very well known in Bay View, so I met dozens of people during the three days I spent with her.  And I saw some beautiful sunsets over East Traverse Bay.

One day we had lunch with some friends of Grace's at a Polish restaurant called Legs in Cross Village, north of Petoskey.

This restaurant is on some beautiful grounds that overlook Lake Michigan.  You can dine outside in these beautiful gardens if you wish.

The decor was quite rustic and included this family of bears.

And there was driftwood all over the place--very interesting pieces, some of which were incorporated into the architecture of the restaurant.

Other forms of wild life were also present....Grace and I after a very filling lunch of Polish food.

Don and Ann were our lunch companions.












I spent another 5 days visiting with my college roommate, Linda, who lives on a small lake south of Traverse City.  For four of those days, we went shopping--in Traverse City, in some smaller towns in the area, and at an art fair.  

Everywhere we went, there were more beautiful lakes.  For those of you who aren't familiar with my beautiful state, there are over 11,000 inland lakes in Michigan, and then we are surrounded by the Great Lakes of Michigan, Superior, Huron, and Erie.  So this is a frequent sight when driving around the state.  In northern Michigan, you also have the beauty of rolling hills, very different from the flat farmlands of southern Michigan where I grew up.

Unfortunately, I didn't take very many pictures this last week--I guess I was brain-drained by all the shopping!  

It was really wonderful to spend a couple of weeks visiting three of my oldest friends.  I enjoy their company immensely.  I'm back in southeastern Michigan now, lodging with a newer friend in Farmington for the next five weeks--still a nomad, but in my home state where everything is familiar to me.  That feels good for a change!