I finally made it to Nebraska yesterday at 11:00am. It took me as long as if I had driven… two days. But I was glad to make it. When I got to Seward, we went straight into the celebrations. We started with a turkey dinner. It was so good to eat real food. I had mostly been eating Pop Tarts and trail mix for the last two days.
We continued with The Opening of The Presents.
BEFORE
AFTER
There were many fun and awesome gifts. Grandpa and Anna and Tara all got robes.
The evening ended with the traditional Smashing of The Plate.
Actually, the broken plate was an accident, but it was a Corelle plate, so it was worthy of note. My mom had had that plate for more than 20 years. That’s a pretty good record, I’d say.
So I’m so glad to have made it for actual Christmas. After a good night’s sleep I feel great, and the rest of the week is for hanging out and having fun. Yay, fun!
No picture for this post. I’m writing from an internet cafe in the Detroit airport.
My flight to Lincoln was delayed because there wasn’t a pilot. Then when there was a pilot, there wasn’t a flight crew. Finally, they decided to cancel the whole thing. I’m leaving at 6:45am for Minneapolis, then going to Lincoln. I’m supposed to be there by 10:30am.
I got a free hotel voucher for Days Inn from Northwest. I’ll see about getting something more when I write to them.
Merry Christmas!
My plane leaves at 12:47 today. I’m glad, because I have a few things I have to do today. I had already scheduled another visit with the medical study doctor before I leave. He has to check in with me about once a week, so if I didn’t go today, it would be too long between visits. I also forgot to go to the post office and stop my mail delivery. Denis left for the Philippines yesterday, so there’s no one to get the mail. Fortunately, the post office opens at 8am.
So, it’s the post office, then the tree hugger grocery store for some flax seed meal (I need some for Nebraska), then to the doctor’s office. I’ll go to the airport directly from the doctor.
It should work out fine… just fine.
Here is my reminder that I need to go to the post office.
Yesterday was the Christmas party at Principal Monique’s house. She and her husband John live downtown Baltimore in a condo. It’s really cool. It’s an old building that has been completely reconfigured for condos. John and Monique’s is three stories, really open, and has lots of windows. It’s awesome.
Here I am looking down from the third story.
They also have a roof-top patio. It’s really cool. It would be an awesome place to hang out when it’s not so cold. I would cover it with potted plants, of course.
The party itself was really nice. The food was good. There were people from John’s work at Lutheran World Relief. And there was a jazz band playing the whole time. We ended by singing some Christmas carols. It was a nice way to get into the Christmas spirit.
While I was at the Sommerer reunion this past summer, I had a conversation with Lloyd’s cousin Sam’s dad. Having roomed with Sam in high school, I had already met his dad many times. We spent some time catching up. In the course of conversation, it came up that he’s collecting the state quarters. He mentioned that almost all the quarters he ever sees are from the Denver mint. He thought I must see Philadelphia mint quarters all the time. In fact, he said, I could probably get some for him. Then he went into his wallet, gave me $50 and asked if I could get him some quarters and maybe some dollar coins too.
I tried to get some quarters from the bank next door right when I got home, but apparently I asked incorrectly, because the woman looked at me like I was crazy and said, “You have to go to a commercial bank for that.” That turned me off to looking for quarters for a while.
Now five months later, I’m on the verge of going to Nebraska, where I can give Uncle Ralph’s coins to Lloyd, who can take them to Missouri next time he goes. Yesterday was my last chance to go to a bank without worrying about weekend or holiday hours. But it was a very unpleasant experience. I got the same response everywhere: Do you have an account here? Then you can’t have any quarters. Four banks, four identical responses.
At the fifth bank, I was very pleasantly surprised. When I asked if it was possible for me to get some new quarters, they said “Sure! How many do you want?” Wow! I couldn’t believe they were so friendly. I got a roll of the newest ones (Utah), and a roll of dollar coins (James Madison). I also got a roll of old, mixed quarters. If I have time, I’ll pick through them to see how many are from the Philadelphia mint. I have a pile of change I can use for substitutions.
Based on my wonderful experience with them, let me give a hearty Bradaptation recommendation for the Chesapeake Bank of Maryland on Joppa Road.
Yay, friendliness!
