Today was the day. We had never wanted to be a five-cat family, and the other cats were having trouble adjusting to the new kittens (Emma never came out of the lower level of our house, and Bocca started peeing on the rug). So, with sadness, we gave Folio and Quarto to their new mother, our excellent house/cat sitter. I will miss the wee beasts – they are VERY cute, and Folio was so active, he was always fun to watch. Quarto is perhaps the sweetest cat I have ever met, and he had a plaintive (but cute) mewing chirp that demanded instant attention. He had taken to falling asleep in my lap, just this week. I wish Foley and Queuey the very best in their new home.

Last Saturday we got to go with Kelly, Paul, and WCN to the University of Alabama’s outdoor pool. I was picturing an athletic-style pool, but this was not the case at all. The outdoor pool is family-centered, with a kiddie pool (maximum depth of 2 feet), and a large pool that had a max depth of about 4 feet. The large pool also had a lazy-river section, where you could float with the artificial current. Most importantly, the large pool had a three-story water slide.

I played with WCN in the kiddie pool for a little while, until she started to fuss about going in the big pool. I left her in Mom’s expert care, and ran off to lazy river with Meredith, which was fun – we floated along together for most of the trip, separating when we threatened to run over a group of kids. Once along the lazy river was enough when compared to the siren call of the water slide, so off we went to the slide.

The slide turned out to be tremendous fun. It was certainly as big as any slide I had been on in my youth in Maine (think Bear Pond for fellow Mainers). I suspect that I had not been on a water slide in 20 years or more. Fun! This one was not super fast, but had plenty of corners which felt fast. I concentrated on speed by trying to keep my head back and keep my weight even across my body, and that worked well. I got quite a bit of height on many of the corners. I thought it was great. So, I rode it again. And again. And again. I conservatively estimate that I rode the slide about 30 times. I suspect the lifeguards on slide duty thought I was nuts.

After the swim, we mellowed much of the afternoon away watching the Olympics in Kelly and Paul’s beautiful loft. They even had digital cable! Certainly a better picture than the old rabbit ears give us here.

WCN’s baby sitter came over about 6:00, and the adults (and me) headed off to the newly opened Longhorn restaurant in town. Being new, it was mobbed, and the wait was over an hour. We were able to spend the time quite pleasantly in the nearby Barnes and Noble bookstore, where I came away with three books and a very nice triple-chunk cookie.

The Longhorn food was very good, but the service was spotty at best. I suspect they were still working out the kinks in the kitchen and in table management. The salads and soups came at the same time as the meal (which was slow in coming), Meredith did not get the dressing she wanted, I did not get all my food without asking two separate times, Paul had to wait about 25 minutes for a basic margarita, and our waitress, while nice, was not always attentive to us. I suspect that they will get their act together, but my recommendation is to stay away from restaurants for the first month or two until they get things figured out. Having said all this, the food was excellent, and the company was great, so it was still a fun evening.

We went with Kelly and WCN to Kelly’s church the next day (Paul was not feeling well, so he stayed home), where we heard a very good homily on God being into the spectacular, even in ordinary lives. The only bad part of church was they ran out of post-church donuts before WCN got hers, but that was rectified by a quick grocery stop on the way home.

Meredith and I had to head out after church – we wanted to do the 7-hour drive to our friend’s house while it was daylight. We left about 1:00 or so, and had no trouble in getting to Louisville. Beverly welcomed us warmly, and we laughed while Beverly told stories on how she met her late husband; she is quite the storyteller. It was a work (school) day for Beverly on Monday, so we turned in around 11:00.

I had planned on taking Meredith to Kings Island amusement park, which is outside Cincinnati, but that plan fell though when I did not sleep well (on the order of two hours’ sleep). We’ll have to catch it next summer. The early start did get us home early (around 1:00), where I was able to grab a two-hour nap.

It was a short trip, but it was great to see Kelly, Paul, and the WCN. It is nice to be able to picture their house, and to know where Paul works. I’ll have to see what else I can buy for WCN at CVCA’s next auction to give me a good excuse to go again.

Friday was our first full day in Alabama, and it was Mer’s and my tenth anniversary to boot. We had a good day of it!  We slept in, and then I got up and showered and went downstairs, where I had cereal with Sammy and we watched a Richard Scarry cartoon about the alphabet. We had a leisurely time while Kelly and Meredith got ready, and then we all headed out to the Childrens’ Hands-On Museum.

CHOM was fun. We did not see too much of it, since WCN generally got fixated on what she was doing for a fair amount of time. First, we went to the farmer section, where WCN slid down a silo, played on a bridge (I was briefly the troll under the bridge), and then sorted vegetables into separate bins. We then headed over to the beaver dam section, where there was a beaver dam house and slide. Everything is small-sized for kids, but WCN wanted mom and me to get into the beaver house with her. I managed to squeeze in, and once I was in, it was plenty big.

We spent about an hour or so at CHOM, and then we headed to a sandwich/wrap place where we ate very well (I like wraps). We swung by a German bakery, and then walked home, where Mer and I ate our chocolate-filled, frosted croissants. Yum.

It was then time for WCN to have a nap, and in a display of support, I had a nap too. After my nap (WCN was still sleeping), Kelly took me and Mer to the gym so I could run and Mer could read in the lounge. I managed to run 7 miles at my last year’s half-marathon pace (7:08/mile), so I was pleased. The University of Alabama’s fitness center is a very nice facility – the place was spacious and clean, and the treadmill I was on was soft on the feet, and had a built-in heart meter (I maxed out around 182 beats/minute). It was a good workout.

The University of Alabama is a nice campus. The buildings are all red brick, and the campus has a nice uniform feel to it. Even the frat buildings look nice. Not too surprisingly, the football stadium is pretty central to the campus, and can be seen from much of the school grounds – it is huge.

We went back home to an awake WCN and Paul, and we got cleaned up so we could get messy eating  barbecue. We went to a nearby restaurant, where Mer, Kelly, and I got good pulled-pork sandwiches, while Paul got ribs and WCN got chicken tenders.

After supper, we went home, where Sammy got ready for bed, and we headed up to Kelly and Paul’s loft to watch the Olympics’ opening ceremony. It was a nice day.

As we headed into Alabama on Thursday, Meredith needed a bathroom break, so I pulled off at the first rest stop, which was also a state welcome center. It was near Huntsville, which is where they manufactured the Saturn rockets, so happily, the rest stop had a Saturn III (I think) rocket on display. Needless to say, I was happy about this rest stop.

We got to Kelly and Paul’s about 6:00. We were greeted by Kelly and Paul and the World’s Cutest Niece. It was good to get here, and the welcome was very warm, although WCN was a bit shy. We brought our stuff in while WCN watched from the safety of Mom’s arms. Mer and I then brought in our present for WCN – a fancy rocking horse that we got at the CVCA auction for WCN. She was still a little shy, but seemed to like “horsey.” She still has not ridden it, but pets it and gives it kisses. Did I mention she was the World’s Cutest Niece?

Kelly said we were going to go out for supper, and we could go for barbecue, or we could go to a local Arts Night, which happens on the first Thursday of every month. Since it only happens once a month, I jumped at the chance to go to the Arts Night to hear some music. The fact that Arts Night is put on by Mary’s Cakes, a bakery, had nothing to do with it….

The bakery is a short ride (15 minutes) from the house, and we were one of the first ones there. The weather was threatening, so it was a smaller crowd, but that was okay for us. I think it topped out at about 30 people or so, and the atmosphere was very relaxed, with people wandering around, chatting, and even dancing (mostly with the abundant numbers of toddlers).

The band had a good sound – it was blues with guitar, sax, drums, and an Englishman (the English play blues?) on keyboards. The leader, a woman, was very interactive with the crowd – chatting with us, encouraging people to dance, and even wandering into the crowd (she had a wireless electric guitar). They were fun.

Supper from the bakery was pretty much limited to sandwiches, but that was fine. The real fun was in the bakery. Mer and I got chocolate-covered brownies (very nice concept!) that had a hidden bonus of mousse inside – chocolate brownies topped with chocolate mousse covered in chocolate. Mmmmmm. As if that were not enough, one of the bakery employees had a birthday, so they gave away free cake. There were two cakes, one white and one chocolate. Each had four separate tiers, and each tier was a different flavor of filling. Cake and brownies and music and family, in a relaxed atmosphere outside. Very nice.

We took a brief wander in an antique store to look at the antique prints and maps, and then we went home. It was a nice evening. 

We are visiting my sister and her family in Alabama. It is about a 12-hour drive, and I can’t do drives that long anymore, so we decided to break the drive up. About five and a half hours into the drive is Louisville, Kentucky, and that seemed a good distance, especially if we left after I got home from work. As a great added bonus, we have a friend and former colleague who lives in Louisville, so we could stay with Beverly and visit (and save on a hotel room).

We left Ohio about 4:00, and had a nice day for driving. We stopped just south of Columbus around 6:30 to eat  at a Ruby Tuesday. We had a gift certificate, so the meal only cost $10. I had a really messy, but really good, burger, while Meredith had some Mexican egg roll things with a salad bar. It was a welcome respite from the road.

We used the last of our daylight getting through Cincinnati. I had never been through Cincinnati before, but it looks nice. It has the Ohio river, and lots of hills, and the downtown looks fairly happening (at least while going 55 mph), but is small enough to look manageable. Maybe some weekend I’ll swoop Meredith away for a two-night stay there – it looks fun.

We finally got to Beverly’s house about 11:00. Her mailing address may be Louisville, but she is a long ways from downtown – we never even saw it. She must be a good 20 miles or more from the actual city. She lives in a very nice development, and I do not often describe developments as “very nice.” The houses in the development are all brick, and while there may be similar models, the same style houses are not side by side, so it does not look like a cookie-cutter development. They also have a lot of trees there, and that helps enormously.

Beverly is a wonderful Southern lady – she is hospitable, funny, and no-nonsense, She always makes me laugh with her stories and opinions. She loves her students, but puts up with no foolishness. While at CVCA, she told a student that she had thought he was a good-looking and smart kid, but she had changed her mind – now she thought him lazy. She encouraged him to try harder, and he did. Beverly can pull off stuff like that – she is a really good teacher.

Even at that late hour, Beverly took us on a tour of her lovely house. It has a fireplace, and lots of windows, and high ceilings, and lots of open spaces. Our bedroom had a lovely bed with a huge headboard (and the bed turned out to be very comfortable!). Everywhere we went, we were followed by Beverly’s 15-year-old Persian cat, Yossarian.  Yossarian may be the most mellow cat I have ever met – he let strangers (me and Meredith) hold him, and he just purred up a storm.

After the tour of the house, we talked and laughed until 1:30 in the morning. It was good to catch up with Beverly – she is good people.

Beverly insisted on cooking us breakfast in the morning, explaining that “it’s a Southern thing.” We had Beverly wake us up about 7:30, with my goal to be on the road by 9:30 or so. Beverly got us up at 7:30, and Meredith and I both took showers, and we chatted with Beverly while she made biscuits from scratch. We ate a great breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and biscuits, and we chatted more. I took a quick look at Beverly’s computer (it had 70+ spyware programs on it), and we got on the road. At 11:00. Beverly has too many good stories to tell to get on the road at 9:30.

We stopped about 12:00 at a Dairy Queen for a pick-me-up (and to get gas). It was quite a happy cultural experience. The DQ had a smoking section, and it was twice the size of the non-smoking section. The older lady who took our order had a thick accent, and she was very nice. All the people working there had thick accents, and the people ordering from the drive-through had accents. As Meredith said, it is nice to see in this age of chains and mass-media that we still have local cultures.

Ten years! It hardly seems possible. Meredith and I have been married for TEN years! I am a very lucky man – I love my wife and she is my best friend, She makes me a better person, and we laugh together all the time. She is great.

As appropriate – this morning an alarm went off by accident at 7:00 am. I could not find it, and Meredith came over to her bag (where the alarm was) to help me. As she turned the alarm off, she said cheerily, “Happy tenth anniversary!”, to which I responded with a loving, thoughtful, “Grrrrr-uuuggggh!” as I went back to bed. My language center was not working yet. She must really love me!

We are in Alabama visiting my sister, her husband, and their daughter. We had a nice day today, including eating out twice and getting ice cream. I took a nap, and while I was asleep, Meredith left me this note on my suitcase:

“I have now been married ten years. I know what it is to live
entirely for and with what I love best on earth. I hold myself
supremely blest–blest beyond what language can express; because I
am my husband’s life as fully is he is mine.”

It’s from Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. My wife is a gem!

The kitties have grown much in the last 6 weeks or so! They are still very cute. (I hope to write about the rest of the Maine vacation over the next couple of days , but it had been quite awhile since the last Quarto and Folio update.)

Candlepin bowling is always a must when we come to Maine, so Mer and I decided to do that yesterday, and then go see Wall-e, which Mer had seen but I had not. Imagine my shock and dismay to find out that the bowling alley in Augusta is closed Tuesday-Thursday during the summer! Who knew? Note to people traveling here soon (and you know who you are!) – there is unlimited bowling on Mondays and Fridays from noon-three for $8.00! Still, we did not get to bowl yesterday.

That left us in Augusta with two hours until the movie started. So, we decided to explore around. I drove us along the river to downtown Augusta, and then we were forced to turn one way or the other, so I went down toward (and across) the river. We were coming up on one of Augusta’s two rotaries (roundabouts for some of you), so on impulse I turned down a road that I had never been on. It ran right along the river’s edge, and was not looking too interesting. I was just about to turn around when I saw a small gate with the sign “Augusta Arsenal – historic landmark”, and decided to investigate.

I’m glad I did. The Arsenal is a bunch of old stone buildings in the middle of a walking park, right on the river. The buildings are sitting empty, which made me a little mad. How could cool old buildings that look right out on the river and across to the Capitol Building sit empty – and for years, from the look of things? If I had a lick of entrepreneurial spirit and any capital, I’d open a B and B or a restaurant there – what a great location!

We drove around the complex area, and a few of the buildings do seem to be used for state of Maine government stuff. One end of the Arsenal complex appears to be a hospital, with a bunch of new buildings. We left the park area near the hospital, and went our way to the shopping area where the theater is.

We were still about an hour early, but that was easily remedied – there was a Barnes and Noble next door to the theater. I got a cookie and hot chocolate, and then set off to find a biography on George Burns and Gracie Allen. It turns out that the biographies on them appear to be all out of print. That is frustrating. In my humble opinion, when a book goes out of print, the publisher should make it available for download as long as it is for personal use, but I’m clearly dreaming on that front.

We did see Wall-e, but had to sit through about 5 tedious and awful-looking movie previews. I recommend Wall-e – it is a touching movie, and clever (it is Pixar, after all). It is fascinating to see how much body language Pixar was able to give the robots, who (mostly) don’t speak. If you do see it, keep an eye out for a satellite that hits Wall-e in the face – I’m pretty sure it was Sputnik (probably a Pixar tribute).

Wall-e is a sweet movie, and got me choked up in a couple of places. Not that I can relate to a devoted, single-minded, nigh-obsessed robot or anything.

Fun facts – the full-power noise that Wall-e makes is a boot tone from an old Macintosh, and the voice of the auto pilot is not a real voice – it was Macintalk, the voice simulator that has been on Macs for a long time.

So, in the summer of endless travel, Mer and I are now kicking it in San Fran’s sister city (cosmopolitan-wise), East Livermore, Maine.

We took our normal two-day trek to get here, stopping in Albany the first night, so we had a relatively short drive of about six hours on Monday to get to Dad’s. Fun times in Albany: we stayed near the airport. I did not realize how close to the airport we were until the next morning when a plane flew right over my head as I was loading up the car. It was a real jet (not a small one), and it was probably only a few hundred feet off the ground. Nifty. We also ate at the Wolf Road Diner near the hotel, just to continue our SF diner experiences (except we got away with a bill of under $20).

I like Maine very much – it is pretty, and it is home. I also sleep like a rock here. I don’t know if it is the darkness (no city lights), the quiet, or the fresh air, but I sleep really well. I managed to get up around 9:30 this morning, and I feel much better for the rest.

What made me feel less better was my first run since getting back from the Dominican Republic (about three weeks ago). The area around Dad’s is  not very runner-friendly; your only option is to run on the road. Adding to the fun is that Maine has many hills, and the ones around Dad’s are pretty noteworthy. I ran for a total of about 24 minutes, but I had to walk some, and I did not feel all that great. Still, it is a (re)start.

When I got back from running, Dad was outside installing anti-deer whistles on his car (to try to scare deer off from the car so as to avoid collisions with large mammals). So, I started chatting with Dad while I stretched. Before too long, a neighbor pulled into the driveway, got out of his car, and started chatting.

This is one of the greatest things about Maine, and I cannot seem to get Ohio folk to process it. People drop by in Maine. You swing by; you drop in. You don’t need to “get on the calendar” or call days or weeks in advance. There is no expectation of a big meal, or a perfectly clean house (although Dad’s house is always spotless). People just want to visit. It is how things should be – good friends should be comfortable enough to swing by when they feel like it – if the person is not home or too busy, then you just keep going. It is simple. Yet, no matter how I try to explain this to my Ohio friends, I can not remember anyone in seven years ever taking me up on my open-door policy (with the notable exception of my former neighbor Sara, who understands this policy perfectly well). To me, dropping by is the ultimate expression of natural hospitality – it says that you are always welcome, and that you are important enough to stop most things to visit with you. We get way too busy in Ohio, and work and chores become more important than our relationships with our friends and neighbors. Phah, say I! Drop by my house, darn it! You are welcome.

I’ll put the soapbox away now – I have some visiting to do.

A few final thoughts on San Francisco:

We left Wednesday, and had an easy and comfortable $5.00 BART ride to the airport. The BART train from the airport had been like Chicago El trains – plastic seats and standing room; what I expected. The BART train back was like a commuter train – plush seats, lots of room – very nice! It took about 30 minutes to get from our hotel BART station to the airport. Thumbs up for BART!

San Francisco is beautiful and unique. Mer kept commenting on how she had never seen anywhere like it, and she has traveled quite a lot. The buildings (on the vast whole) are well kept and pretty, and the streets are clean (they have street cleaning three times/week in some places!). The natural beauty of the bay and the many hills make for a fantastically interesting city.

San Fran is a nice city to walk in – the city is small, and most places are within a three-mile walk. There are always quiet side streets to walk down, and the people are very friendly.

San Fran has steep hills. Lots of steep hills. I’m really not kidding! I have never seen cars parked on a 45-degree incline before. The hills really take your breath away!

San Fran is an expensive place. Eating out, even for two teetotalers, routinely ran $30 or more, and we never ate for less than $20, even at cafes and diners. Our hotel had a great location, but you pay for that.  Our hotel was listed as “inexpensive” in our tour book, but was $170/night (including tax).

While there is much to do and see in SF, I feel as if you can hit the major sights in a 7-10 day vacation. We were in SF for 3 days, and we could have seen the last three major sights (Golden Gate Park, Alcatraz, and the market) if we had been there for 3 more days. Note – Alcatraz is booked up several days in advance; if you want to tour the island, call ahead and make reservations before you go. While you can make SF a meaningful vacation for 7 days, I think you could easily do 12-14 days if you wanted to have a car for part of that time – the coastal scenery and state park system near SF are breathtaking, and wine country is close at hand as well.

San Fran is only about 750,000 people, which helps it feel manageable, but it is still a very cosmopolitan city. It has the world-famous SF Chinatown, plus a very good Little Italy, and everywhere you go you hear people speaking in foreign languages. The French and Germans seem especially fond of San Fran.

The weather is perfect for touring (my sunburn aside). With a light jacket in hand, you can walk all day and never be uncomfortable. The temperatures at night were always in the 50s, which makes for sound sleeping, and I’m not sure we hit 70 during the day. If we did, it was just into the 70s – it was perfect for wandering around (probably a bit cool for swimming in the frigid bay, but that was all right by me).

All-in-all, I give San Francisco two big thumbs up. We both had a great time, and felt as if we crammed a lot into 3 days in the city. We are even thinking of going back next summer to visit our friends and to see the things we missed. I highly recommend a trip out that way if you get a chance.