Raincharm’s Weblog

So yesterday there was a hike to Betty’s Cove, on the northern shore of Gitchee Gumee (in Canada). But I missed it due to lack of sleep and too many cold symptoms.

What I did do was read. I finished “Dooms Day Book” by Connie Willis. My son lent me the book, and I will leave it in A2 so he can get it back the next time he is there. It was a good read. [Rey – I was sure that Father Roche was somebody from the future. At first I was sure it was Dunworthy, but that did not work, so just somebody. In the end I was wrong.]

This morning we got up a bit late. Pooh rode to the Point Iroquois lighthouse, and we followed later in the car.

Iroquois Point Lighthouse

After a bit of walking around the point we adjourned first to the Dancing Crane, and then to the Cozy Inn for a whitefish lunch.

On the Boardwalk

Apparently the lunch was more than some usually eat for lunch.

Just Resting Our Eyes

Carl & I took a beach walk. It was very smooth water, and the water was out – leaving some areas where the water could move in very shallow waves over the sand.

small waves from three directions

The blackish stuff is sawdust and vegetation.

This is what three-way waves create

It helps define the ripples in the sand.

little sand pockets

A day or so ago there was a big blow, and there were at least 5 dead seagulls, a dead Canada goose, and a dead fish (or shoe) on the beach. Lots of live gulls too, and some mergansers.

I have also started another book, The Map that Changed the World, by Simon Winchester. I need to finish it before returning, as it was borrowed from St. Louis.

OK – I am on vacation, and I have not been posting regularly.
I could blame the lack of internet access at this remote outpost, but that would be a lie.
It is really more due to lack of energy. I never get sick – at least not when I am in my normal work life. And to tell the truth, we had been on vacation for more than a week before I decided to really relax. That was after the driving from here to there, and schedules, and things to do had been done.

I think the problem was that I did not have any structured plans once I got to my place of relaxation, so those little bugs that just kind of hang around on the periphery decided this was their chance.

Nothing bad. Took a mile or so walk a few days ago, and then basically slept the rest of the day. Aches and pains, no stomach upset. The next day was a bit better, although it only had a short walk (Doelle’s) at the end of the day. Today is “better”, but really it has just moved to the next stage, which in my case involves post nasal drip (there was no pre-nasal drip to go with this) and coughing. I signed my life away to get my favorite dry-em-up drugs [I don’t do meth] and hope to go for a hike tomorrow.

So there has not been a lot to report on recently, and I still don’t have the correct frame of mind to reconstruct our days of travel in the oppressive heat. (Maybe I just don’t want to relive that part.)

However, I had started writing a bit earlier about a strange occurence, and reoccurrence while we were in St. Louis.

When we were visiting Pooh and Mark’s fine abode, I merged its floor plan with Carl’s parent’s old house in Wilmette, Illinois. Every time I went to go to the stairs to the second floor I headed in the wrong direction. Every time. And we were staying on the second floor, so I had ample opportunity to go to the stairs. Not just the first day – but all the way through the 2 days we spent in their company.

I would get up from the dining table, the kitchen, the living room, etc, and head toward the front door, from which point the stairs should ascend. There was a side table, closet and entrance to the computer room at this location. Realizing my mistake at this point, I would circle back through the living room and dining room to the correct location off of the dining room.

When starting at either the kitchen or dining table, I would basically walk past the correct entrance to the stairs to get to my incorrect location.

Pooh was sure if I just walked into the closet by the front door, just once, that I would cure my little issue with directions.

I have been to this house before, less than 10 years ago. And Carl’s parents moved to Colorado, probably more than 10 years ago. Who can tell why my brain works the way it does.

OK SHORT DESCRIPTION OF TODAY.

Up by 7:30, without prodding.
Breakfast and coffee.
Walk the beach.
Futz around. (Carl & Pooh both did some sweeping chores)
Went to Penny’s Kitchen for Monday lunch. [REY – a shout-out from Barbara Mullin. She says she misses you and wishes you were here.] Also got to catch up with Daschie (sp?) Piedmont-Colbert (not sure what she uses as a name, but her husband, Charles Colbert just published a book titled, “Haunted Visions, Spiritualism and American Art“, and Betty Piedmont. (When I had just given birth to Rey, Betty’s youngest had just given birth as well – and that baby just got married! Are they old enough?!?)

And now it is time to go spend a bit of time in the sun, in case the predicted thunderstorm comes to pass.

Short post – many things have happened since the last time I blogged, which I think was 3 days ago.

I am sitting on the new front porch of the old cabin – on the internet.
Thank you KW & GG!

There are two freighters out on the lake in the waning sunset, both west of Round Island.
One is a salty that has apparently been there for a few days, most likely waiting for a pilot. The other is a lake freighter, loaded and downbound.

I would post a picture or two I took from the beach, but the cell phone is roaming, and thinks we are in Canada. I don’t know what it would cost, and want to limit the damage, so I have turned it to “Airplane” mode. Hopefully that will provide some $$ protection until I figure out from those that know – what my options are. One is just turning it off completely.

There is our last day in Tennessee to discuss.
And there are the travel days to report on – Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and of course Michigan. But I am a bit too tired right now, and am leaning toward sleep.

Suffice it to say – it is always great to be back at the cabin.
Friends and relatives, and quiet – and of course, the lake.

Yes, we have been swimming. And for Lake Superior, it was rather easy to get in, and under. Temperatures in the 80’s here (during the heat of the day).
But that is 20 degrees cooler than yesterday – and we are not complaining.

My only wish is that more were here to share this with us.
And Happy Birthday Mark. I thought about you as we were eating Aimee’s cake.
Your car is running beautifully, and we will clean the windshield when we get gas.
I

We have been internetless for a day, so did not get to post these last night.
Actually, come to think harder about our schedule – we left about 8:30 AM and did not return until 1:15 AM (this morning).

We started by going to a Smokey Mountains Visitor Center.
This happens to be located at the ball park where Rey works.
We dropped him for work and spent a bit in the Visitor’s Center deciding where we should spend our day.

First stop was a Food City grocery store, to lay in supplies for lunch.
Oh, and gas was really the first stop, but that is like saying you have to occasionally stop for a restroom.
Then it was on towards, “the quiet side of the Smokey Mountains.” In other words, anywhere that is not close to Gatlinburg.
We went through Townsend, and on to the Cades Cove loop. This is a scenic 11 mile drive, that will likely take you an hour to traverse. The road is like a grown up kiddie-car race track loop. Up and down over small hills and valleys, with turns to the left and right. Except there is only one lane, and the cars move exceedingly slowly.

About halfway through the loop there is a trailhead for the Abram’s Falls hike.
We parked and with our sandwiches in hand started along the 2.4 mile trail to the falls. The trail “follows” Abrams Creek, but with some ups that the creek just doesn’t take. They tend to flow downhill only. If you can see the creek in this aerial shot (dark line amidst the trees), the ups are where the red line (very approximate trail location) does not follow the creek.

Abram's Falls trail - very approximate

We stopped for the first sandwich at a location where there were sittable rocks in the stream.

Carl, along Abram's Creek

Evil? Good? You decide.

Evil? Good? You decide which is which.

Then we continued on to the falls.

Two Wild Ones

There was the adventure of finding different fungi along the route – but that is more of Pooh’s thing. I did try to capture some wildlife.

The Swallowtail butterfuly is flying. The blur at the top right of the picture.

Abram's Falls

We did this hike last year as well. “It was so nice, we did it twice.” This year there seemed to be more families. Although towards the end there seemed to be more groups of old kids/young adults, making their way to their local swimming hole.

The Swimming Hole

And a butterfly (Blue Skipper?) that held still for a picture.

Carl, or his presence, always attracts wildlife

If you look closely, there is a butterfly on the top of the boot.

Cooling our heels

After the trek back, we dipped our feet into the cool waters.

Now Carl, make sure you don't track anything into the car.

But this was just the entre to the day.
After spending the next half hour completing the rest of the Cades Cove loop (who knew a few deer could cause a traffic jam), we were out on the open road.

Back to Rey’s office at the ballpark.
As it turns out, they were using the ballpark for the opening ceremonies for a softball tournament.

Softball teams on parade (the fans are all in the shade, out of sight).

We got to see the last hour, and waited for Rey to finish cleaning up and putting away.

Rey hard at work guarding a pitching mound

Finally released, it was on to Knoxville.
Dinner at the Downtown Grill and Brewery.
Very good food – and enough that three of us needed a to go box.
Which went back to the car, and we headed for the piece de resistance.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.

The 10:05 show.
It was a good show, and none of us even threatened to fall asleep.

After we returned home, I looked at my phone, and it said 1:15!
Thankfully, Rey was the only one in our party that had to get up and go to work this morning. And we have spent a relatively quiet day.

The Seattle Sounders game was on yesterday afternoon.
Rey does not have a television set, and it was not on ESPN3, so we set off to find a watering hole with TVs.
After a brief stop at the library, the move was on to Soccer Taco.

Soccer Taco is a mexican restaurant catering to sports – with a heavy emphasis on soccer.
Most of the TVs were tuned to the Copa American – quarter finals.
We managed to get them to tune some to the Fox Soccer Channel.
The Sounders were playing the Colorado Rapids.

The Rapids scored early, but were tied by the Sounders. Each scored again to make it 2-2. Finally the Sounders pulled ahead 4-2. The Rapids made it interesting near the end by pulling within 1, but it ended 4-3. Yeah. Our cheering certainly caught the eye of a few of the other patrons, and theirs did us.

We took a short walk down to see the Tennessee River. If you are trying to cross the river, you will want to choose your bridges carefully.

Then it was back to the square in old Knoxville. This was where the Shakespeare on the Square was being performed. A Comedy of Errors was the play for the evening. Well done, but with a few microphone issues that meant occasional lines were missed. For those that don’t know, the play involves two sets of identical twins. For further hilarity, the cast included a set of identical twins, although not in the roles where their identicalness would have been useful. It did, however, provide the opportunity for several double takes amoung the cast members throughout the play.

This morning we rose and breakfasted at home. And eventually made our way to Morristown and the Witt Baptist Church. This was, I believe, the first regular church service that Carl has ever attended. He survived, and everybody there was very cordial and had nice things to say about Rey. Here we are in our Sunday finest. (Not bad for vacation wear.)

Tennessee Sunday Best

Left St. Louis during the morning rush hour.
I had some pictures crossing the Mississippi, but have not been able to get them to the correct location to post – so use your imagination.
The first was a picture of a bit of the Arch, with several other buildings around it.
The second had a bit of the Arch (on edge) with Pooh driving (so Mark would know I did not wrest the wheel from her immediately).
Then a bridge adjacent to the one on which we were traveling.

Eventually we stopped at a rest area outside Metropolis. (At which point I did wrest controls of the car from Pooh.)

Superdude in Metropolis

After reaching Jefferson City (Tennessee) we stopped long enough to unload the car, and loaded back up with a full load of people. We took off for Greenville and a Pioneer League game between the Elizabethton Twins and the Greenville Astros. The game went well, although the Twins prevailed 8-0.

After arriving back at Rey’s place we set up our bunk house.
Two full size beds (one blowup and one mattress) and four people.
I think everybody slept just fine.

So up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and we are still hanging around the apartment.

The object of our Tennessee venture

That should about wrap up our day. Except we bookended it with chatting in the morning and a birthday party at a brewery (Schafley) in the evening.

The City Museum is like no other place I have been before.
It is an old shoe factory that has been transformed.
The transformation includes parts of other factories, buses, planes ….

And slides – there are slides everywhere.
And a ferris wheel on top.
And at least two mazes – they go up and down, and through holes, and down slides, and across the ceiling overhead of those below.
And did we mention the slides, including a 10 story slide.
Which 3 of the 4 of us went down, spiralling down until the last bit straightened out.
And the slide that started with squeezing into the top part, to make sure you could fit into the tube. And down and through the tube, but not quite all the way out so you had to scooch the last bit.
And the glass bottle wall, and ….. on and on. Here are a few pictures.

And then we went to lunch at The Fountain on Locust.
They serve martinis.
And ice cream.
And after about 5 pages of drinks and desserts – they had sandwiches, soups and salads.
One of our party had dessert for lunch, but the sandwich I had was delicious.

For a one day trip – it was great.
(Great hosts help out immensely, along with the temperature staying below 90)

Started by picking some raspberries to take with us.
Since they are about a month late, we are now going to miss some of the harvest.

The bus was not too crowded, and the train had plenty of places to sit.
The plane, on the other hand, was full.

We arrived at the airport a bit early, and saw that the USA vs. France game in the Women’s World Cup was just at halftime, USA 1 – France 0. I tried to get the game streaming on line in the waiting area, but was stymied in my normal methods. A woman across the aisle had it going, and when they scored I would run over and check out the replay. Along with me were several rather tall women who were sitting in the next row of seats. It wasn’t until I looked one of them in the eyes after watching the replay, that I realized I was looking at Sue Bird, and the tall women were the Seattle Storm WNBA team.
(Final result USA 3 – France 1.)

It started a bit late, but we seemed to be making up time.
The seatbelt sign was lit for most of the trip, and in the second half both Carl & I thought a trip to the loo would be in order. But there was the small matter of the seatbelt sign and the rather large person sitting between us and the aisle. We had just decided to manage the trip the next time the seatbelt sign turned off, and the loudspeaker asked for any medical personnel to make themselves known.  And could everybody stay in their seats so the people who need to move around, can move around.

As it turned out, a young girl (teenager I think) had come out of the loo ashen white, and then swooned. And further, her seat was directly across the aisle from us. They eventually led her back to her seat with an oxygen bottle in tow.

And when we landed, everybody waited in their seats so the paramedics could get through. They led her off, and then deplaning began.

There was a rush for the bathrooms by all of us that had been waiting for a couple of hours by then as we hit the terminal. The terminal had a fair amount of plywood in evidence. When we found our hosts waiting with their new steed, they reminded us of THE TORNADO from a few short months earlier. We then noticed that there really was a large amount of plywood at the airport. Inside and out.

Note the brown windows - except one transparent pane.

Dropped the bags and out to dinner at Blueberry Hill. We passed a new statue of Chuck Berry on the way to the restaurant. And who was playing at the restaurant later that night? Chuck Berry himself. We did limit ourselves to dinner, and then a walk around the area.

Bob Gibson's star in the Loop Area

Oh – the weather. We thought we were going to double our temperature from 55 degrees in Seattle to 100 degrees in St. Louis. BUT it was only 88 when we landed.

Tomorrow is supposed to be equally “cool” so we should survive.

That is what several of Carl’s friends call him.
It is mostly based on his encyclopedic knowledge of minutiae that only a select few will want to hear. But many of those select few (is that possible) have found him, and like to hang out with him.

This occurs most of the time at Mariner games.
But there is another side, that is much closer to his heart – playing the game.

After a few years layoff, followed by a comeback – including a dislocated elbow, followed by another layoff, we are now in yet another comeback year.

Here are a few, slightly blurry, pictures of Sunday’s game.
The windup, and the pitch.

This was followed by a snag of a line drive back up the middle. YER OUT. But I was not fast enough to catch the catch.

Tale of Carl’s part of the game:
7 Innings, 14 hits, 4 strike-outs, 1 walk, 2 hit-by-pitch. 4 runs scored, of which 3 were earned runs.

It really is good to get out and play games. It is a great place to get to know people that share your love of that sport, but maybe nothing else. Good exposure all around. And even the old geezers can make some pretty nice looking plays from time to time.

And then it was off to work – desk work.
Today I got to spent half a day visiting sewer lift stations.
And it was nice out. And the adventure was not too odoriferous.
I will admit after almost 24 years in the business I am not grossed out by looking at sewage, but it usually smells more to me than it did today. Even Inglewood was not too bad (that’s for Ashlan).

We spent the morning and afternoon working on our our various projects. Laundry, dishes, work. So in the late afternoon we took a break for a walk. It was nice out, although only in the low 70’s by my reckoning. (Goose bumps when not in the sun, with a little breeze.)

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