Joy Despite the Rain

Saturday, February 6, 2016
We woke to very grey skies this morning and the promise of not only very cool weather (high of 55) but rain for most of the day.  Luckily it didn't even start till around noon which meant I was able to ride my bike the morning (just love flying down the road on it and feeling the breeze in my hair), go to Praise Moves (Christian form of yoga), and then travel with Ken to Altoona to visit my Uncle Bob who just last week was moved to the assisted living area at Lakeview Terrace where my parents lived for the last years of their lives.

Bob has a nice view of the lake from his room but otherwise it was a rather depressing room.  He'd been moved there without warning last weekend so only his TV and a chair made it to the room leaving it quite bare.  Two of his kids will be down next weekend and able to make it a bit homier. But how wonderful it was to be able to spend time with him reminiscing about some of the things we've enjoyed doing with him through the years.  When our youngest daughter, Janet, was 12, we took her to New York to see the sights and attend the theater.  We were able to stay at my Aunt and Uncle's home in New Jersey the first night and then ride in on the train to the station below the World Trade Center and ride up to the top to the Windows of the World restaurant for a fabulous breakfast and view of the city.  He also took us to his office at E F Hutton where Janet not only got to hold on to a several million dollar bond but look out his office window at the Statue of Liberty.  Then to top it off he took us to the New York Stock Exchange where we could look down on the floor and watch all the activity.  He offered to take Janet down on the floor but she turned him down and has regretted that decision ever since.  Still it was an exciting intro to the city and a great inside look at the New York Stock Exchange and financial district.  We even got to ride in a chauffered car provided by him to our hotel where we would stay for the weekend.

Part of our treat to ourselves to make the day even more special was a stop at the Oakwood Steakhouse for bbq ribs -- and what a treat that was.  The restaurant is just a block or so from the entrance to Hawthorne where my parents lived for 20 years so the drive really brought back lots of memories since we made at least one trip there a year from the time they moved in back in 1979.

So while the rains fell and the windshield wipers worked hard we had a delightful day walking memory lane and spending time with a very special guy.

I was slow on the draw and didn't get a post up for yesterday but we did have a great time then too. Gary and Judy Mosholder drove up from Bradenton to enjoy some time with us.  They wanted to see our new place so came here rather than meet at Sweet Tomatoes down in Brandon a half way point for both of us.  We invited Frank and Bette to come over and enjoy some time with them too.  We ended up going to the Golden Corral for a very extended lunch visit and then returned to our place to watch a slide show I had created back in 2009 when we toured Alaska on a Winnebago caravan. That is where we met.  They then did the New England Caravan with us and a couple of years ago we toured Michigan together showing them all the high points.

Several text messages flew back and forth between us and Janet while we were doing this because Karsten had surgery yesterday getting ear plugs again as well as having his adnoids removed.  He has had one ear infection after another ever since he was born and did have this surgery a year ago but the plugs fell out.  The infections had greatly affected his hearing so this was a necessary evil.  Janet said after his afternoon nap he woke up talking and never stopped till he fell asleep last night.  He must be thrilled with hearing his own voice :-)