Saturday, July 23, 2016

Tuesday,July 12, through Friday, July 22, 2016: A Varied Eleven Days:


Because of the ugly scars on my head due to the three cancer surgeries I had in 2015, I’ve been thinking about investigating the possibility of getting a toupee or wig to cover them up.  It’s not from vanity, it’s out of concern for people who have to look at my head.  Whenever I expect to see people, I’ve been wearing a hat; and I got some strange looks at the Buckelew festivities, being the only person out of hundreds who was wearing a hat---indoors.  So on Tuesday I contacted Classy Sisters Wigs in Phoenix to start a dialog.  We’ll see how it turns out. 

 
Also on Tuesday there was a terrible accident at the canyon.  A 35–year old woman stepped aside to let someone pass her at Ooh Aah Point, and she fell off the trail, falling 400 feet to her death.  I’m not sure people appreciate how dangerous hiking at the canyon can be. 


On Wednesday, Becky went all the way to Flagstaff to try to give blood, and was rejected because her blood pressure was too high.  She immediately made an appointment to see Dr. Gibula. 


On Thursday, Becky took the dogs to Kaibab Lake for a nice long walk.  We received a shipment of four new white-wine glasses Becky had ordered.  One of them was broken.  The company said they’d send us another four-pack.  It arrived two days later, with another one broken.  Oh, well, we ended up with six new glasses for the price of four. 


Friday was my day at the dentist.  While Becky paraded the dogs around Flagstaff, Dr. Stark made me two new crowns with his magic machine, and I was in and out in less than three hours. 


It was a totally painless experience.  We picked up a Pablo Picasso Mexican Salad at Oregano’s for dinner on the way home.  As usual, it was delicious. 

On Saturday, Joe and Stephanie Hap stopped by for lunch. They are a couple who attended Becky’s first wedding more than 40 years ago and whom we ran into at my (and their) doctor’s office in Flagstaff four months ago.  They now live in Williamson Valley---outside Prescott, Arizona.  It was fun getting acquainted. 


Our backyard hummingbird feeder was not working out well, so Becky moved it to the front of the house, and we now have two of them there that Becky has to refill every few days. 

On Sunday, we spent the time to watch the two-disc set of The Godfather-Part II.  I realized early on that I had never seen it.  It was very good, probably better than its prequel. 

 
Monday, we were visited by Isabelle Karsh, a long-time friend that Becky met when she lived in the desert---before meeting me.  Isabelle brought with her Walter, Marilyn, and their daughter Fabienne, who are from Austria, and who had hosted Isabelle’s daughter, Alexina, a few years ago.  They were on their way to the canyon and stopped by for a late afternoon snack and drinks.  Very nice people.   


Monday night, I somehow fell in our bedroom closet and in the process broke apart part of the built-in cabinetry.  Tuesday, Becky joined Isabelle and the Austrians at the canyon to give them the insider’s tour,

 while I stayed home, fixed the closet cabinetry I had broken the night before, and baby sat the dogs---who slept the whole time, as usual.  

Wednesday, I had my usual visit with Natanya.  Becky then had her hair job in Flagstaff, and later I started drinking the more-than-a-gallon of a solution I had picked up in preparation for my colonoscopy on Thursday.  The worst part of a colonoscopy is the preparation.   

 
I also finished The Fifth Horseman, a James Patterson novel I’ve been struggling to finish for weeks.  It’s a novel on which he had a co-writer, and is part of his Women’s Murder Club series.  It’s not up to his usual standard.  A lot of the dialog is cheesy, and some of his legal details are clearly incorrect. That’s why it took me so long to finish it.     

We dropped off the dogs at the GC Railway Kennel early on Thursday and headed to Flagstaff.  


The procedure, itself, is a breeze, and I danced out of there a couple of hours later, feeling just fine.  Maybe it was the anesthesia still wearing off. 

Thursday evening, Becky matched my Monday fall with a slip and fall of her own due to some water on the kitchen floor.  She woke up on Friday with a magnificent black eye.  She now has a match for Libby’s very prominent black patch on her right eye.  Becky wore big sunglasses while walking the dogs in the neighborhood.       



 

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Saturday, July 2, through Monday, July 11, 2016: An Eventful Week And A Half:


Saturday started out with a riot of wind and rain.  And thunder.  Ramsey was not pleased.  Libby is relaxed all the time.


It turned into a nice day, though, topped off by our watching The Godfather via Netflix.  I hadn't seen the movie since its opening in 1972, but it was so memorable that I recalled a lot more of it than I expected.


We had pasta for dinner, and hit the sack early.  Sunday came bright and dry.  We did a little back yard maintenance.  The redbox movie was Eye In The Sky, with Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman.  A pretty good drone strike thriller.


Monday was the 4th, of course, We watched the morning parade down Route 66.  It's always fun. 


That afternoon we barbecued brats for dinner.

Tuesday involved a visit with Dr. Mathern, which went well.  My anemia has slackened quite a bit; I'm feeling much better.

Wednesday morning I had my regular massage from Natanya,


followed by an appointment with Dr. Boettcher.  The treatment to fill the tiny hole in my scalp seems to be progressing nicely.  The Netflix movie was Secretariat, a feel good Disney film starring Diane Lane. The dialog was a bit corny but the racing scenes were very exciting.


Early Thursday morning we dropped the dogs off at the Cinder Hills Kennels then picked up my rented suit at the I Do I Do store, and returned home to finish packing.  We then left on our 896-mile round trip to Long Beach to attend the wedding of Alan and Chris Buckelew's daughter Erin to John Farnsworth at the Queen Mary in Long Beach.  The Thursday night stop was at the Rodeway Inn in Barstow.  It had the noisiest air conditioner I've ever heard.  Otherwise it was fine.  We had tasty Mexican food for dinner at Jenny's Grill, the restaurant next door.


We were in no hurry Friday to start on the leg to the Queen Mary since check-in was supposed to be after 4:00.  We had all-you-can-eat sushi for lunch at the Octopus Restaurant in downtown Long Beach.


We arrived at the ship early but were checked in anyway.  We learned that we had inadvertently booked an inside cabin, which we quickly upgraded to a very nice dockside room.


The rehearsal dinner was at 7:00, and was very nice.  I spent quite some time talking with one of Alan's buddies from his Viet Nam days.

Saturday morning we met Joyce Levinson and David Kriesel at the ship for breakfast in the Chowder House Restaurant.  Joyce and David are long-time friends; Joyce worked with Becky at Union Bank.  It was fun seeing them for the first time in 7 years.


In the early afternoon, Becky took the obligatory photo of me waving from our porthole.


The late-afternoon wedding was beautiful, naturally.  The reception was in the Grand Salon, attended by several hundred people.


At the pre-dinner cocktail party we started talking with what appeared to be a young-ish couple (Amber and Jim).  It turned out that Jim was 63 and Amber was 35, and Jim had been only a year behind Becky at San Marino High School.  They spent the next hour playing Whom-Do-You Remember?


while Amber and I talked about law school.  She's an LLM candidate at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, having obtained her JD degree in her native Ohio.

Sunday  morning was a group buffet breakfast on the ship, our chance to say goodbye to everyone who had stayed over. 


We then headed for Needles.  On the way we stopped for coffee at the Starbucks in Barstow, and spent a half-hour at the most crowded Starbucks I had ever seen.  The only excitement getting to Needles was a slight delay due to an overturned FedEx truck that required three cranes to get it out of the median ditch.  We arrived in 113 degree heat at the Quality Inn in Needles.


Becky got our dinner at the McDonald's next door.  I had yummy Chicken McNuggets and fries. This place had a very quiet air conditioner and a super comfortable bed, and we slept beautifully.

We got an early start on Monday, since we had to pick up the dogs before 1:00.  We first stopped at home to drop off our luggage, then in Flagstaff to drop off the suit I rented, then on to the kennel to pick up Ramsey, Kelsey and Libby, all of whom were very happy to see us.


After we rested a while, we returned to the usual routine.  We watched more of The Americans that evening.  That ended our busy week and a half.