weekend visits

I admit that the crab fest at my brother's house was a scary event that I did not know quite what I was walking into. Fortunately, everyone but my nephew and his wife were vaxxed and tested. No illness reported afterwards and there were some truly nice people there. Meeting my brother Jeffrey was great - much better and fun than either of us expected. I already felt like I knew his wife from our previous conversations. 

 A couple of weeks ago, we hosted our friends Brian and Laura at our house. We are on the route between Atlanta and where his family lives in North Carolina. It was a great visit. We introduced them to Karen and Bob. Brian and I went with Bob & Karen to The Forge Greensboro where Bob gave him the penny tour of The Forge, their facilities and what they do there with education in industrial arts while John and Laura went antique treasure-hunting around town. All of us met up later at Crafted The Art Of The Taco where we had one of their giant tables to ourselves near the front of the restaurant. It was also the first time Brian and Laura had seen our house in North Carolina. 

We both got tested again last week. 

Last weekend, we traveled to Black Mountain, near Asheville, NC to visit John and Kathy at their beautiful home in the mountains. It was, like the time with Brian and Laura, a very emotionally restorative visit. We both felt renewed after the visit.  We visited the studios and shops of downtown Asheville and traveled up the highway to visit the Folk Art Museum and the Grove Park Inn. 

While we were stopped at one scenic overlook I overheard one couple talking unmasked and without worry about testing positive for Covid19 two weeks ago while a tween-age boy was spitting on the sidewalk. Once we got back to the house and my sandals, I threw the my shoes in a plastic bag and didn't wear those shoes on the way home. The soles were covered in bad memories of those strangers at the overlook. All of us were masked the entire time we were out of their house. Rather than eat out, we had takeout the first night and the next two were great home-cooked vegetarian meals. 

We feel fine. I'd like to be tested again after we pass the 10-day mark from the trip. 

Speaking of trips, I have decided not to go to my niece's baby shower in Marietta, Georgia. I had one call with my sister-in-law when called to check what the protocol would be for the shower. It's going to be much bigger party than I thought and none of them are masking or are vaccinated. No one, including my pregnant niece, has any intention of ever being vaccinated. She was discouraging my decision to wear a mask. That is too much risk for MonsterMustDie and myself, and I certainly don't risk to bringing an infection of any sort to anyone especially vulnerable. 

I cancelled my RSVP in a phone conversation with my sister-in-law. I tried to phone my niece twice to let her know first but she never returned my calls. Anyway, it is my sister-in-law who is officially organizing the baby shower. 

We are still planning to visit Brian and Laura this weekend and I hope the weather will allow us to get together with some of the Women's Night group of friends on Friday evening and possibly another day while we are in Atlanta. Masked and outdoors and in a small group preferably. 

After this weekend, I believe all of our social activity will be online-only until after the holidays. That includes our local friends, Bob and Karen, because Bob is facing vascular surgery next week to deal with a dire situation that was made worse by a miscommunication with his doctors - they mixed up or lost his tests when he made an emergency visit in April an now he is a ticking time bomb with a 81% blocked inner carotid artery. 

I hope everyone endures and comes out on the other side of these times okay. 

A day in Atlanta

Spending most of today waiting in the car while MonsterMustDie shops for antiques.  I've had enough walking b around looking at dead people's stuff. At least we made it to a liquor store to get a few things we can't get in NC like proper maraschino cherries and bitters,  as well as cheaper booze.

We had lunch at Farm Burger, where the waiter dropped my salad dressing on the floor, causing it to splatter all of its contents on my shoulder bag, foot, jeans and T-shirt. Now, I have to wear the remnants the rest of today.

Update: We went to Junkman's Daughter for me to buy two new shirts for myself to wear to dinner. I wiped off as much of the dressing as I could from my bag and pants with paper towels and soda water. 

Dinner was great. I got over my unfortunate event earlier in the day. We met our favorite Soogs at Shoya Izakaya Japanese pub where I had good sushi and sake and sake. Then, we went next door for desert at Kula, a more family-style restaurant with food coming to the table on conveyers after orders were made from a tabletop touch screen. Everyone ordered ice-cream or frozen mochi. Lots of lively conversation as we all tried to catch up with each other. 

Looking forward to this weekend

The swelling in my leg has finally gone down so I look much less like the elephant man now. My skin is remaining clear for now too. This is good news, since we'll be traveling to Atlanta this weekend. We'll be in MonsterMustDie's car, so I won't have the freedom of movement to choose what to do with the earlier part of the day unless someone else volunteers to drive me around - my choices will probably be riding with the old Dutch man as he goes antique shopping at all of his old haunts. That, or I could just stay at the Buckhead apartment that my niece arranged for us to rent for a couple of nights. Some time late Friday or early Sunday, I hope we'll be able to work in some visits with friends. 

We'll be in Kennesaw on Saturday, celebrating my mother's birthday in a surprise dinner party at one of her favorite restaurants. We are hoping her health and spirits are good on Saturday. She stays in a very delicate state most of the time now and how she will feel from one day to the next is unpredictable. 

Sunday, we'll be heading back early, after brunch and some shopping at the farmers market for things I can not find where we live now. There are a lot of little delicacies I want to stock up on. There is now NC equivalent to Red Rock Gingerale and no markets sell sprouted wheatgrass or fresh carrot juice. Not even Whole Paycheck. If I can find dry ice to keep things frozen, it would be great to make it to one of the weekend farmers markets for Spotted Trotter meats or some hard-to-find organic produce. I believe we'll have a freezer at the apartment so I should have the option of shopping for things that need refridgeration without fear, as long as things are well-iced and the drive is straight up without stops at more antique shops. Really, just this one time, please let me have a good trip. He's welcome to make all the stops he wants to on the trip down. Friday can be all his if I can just have the Saturday morning market and Sunday's return trip with goodies.  

visitations

I am finally considering what to pack for my brief trip to Tulsa this week to visit Spike and Namek and Nate. We'll be talking about Spike and his son-in-law's latest project and how I might be involved in it, from photography to website design, to just giving my opinion. I'm a bit anxious about how useful I will be but I am also looking forward to visiting old friends. This will also be my first visit to Tulsa, so I can add that city to the list of places I've been to in the United States afterwards.

I made the mistake of telling my mother about the visit beforehand. The first thing that sprang to her mind and out of her lips was that I will be in tornado country. I will guess that chances are quite small that I will be there in the path of a tornado while I'm there but I know my mother will be worried about that during my entire visit.

And this is a photo of Spike from his visit to Atlanta last March.

Christmas Holiday 2010

Briefly:
Spent Christmas eve with friends I love dearly. It was a group dinner out at Harmony Vegetarian Chinese restaurant, followed by a long night hanging out in what can best be described as an Irish wake for a dog. They had to to put down the second of their two old dogs. They lost the first one a few months ago. I brought the traditional Crowe Family holiday snacks to share after dinner. Stayed late drinking crying and talking. It was a hard night but I was glad I was there.

Christmas morning, we had coffee, opened our gifts to each other and a few that we had not gotten into yet, and then had a decadent breakfast of bacon and eggs that I cooked in the cast iron skillet. In the afternoon, we drove to Kennesaw in the snow to spend the day with my family at my mother's house. As much as she likes having a family dinner at home on the holidays, it is becoming very difficult for my mother to clean, decorate, and prepare a meal for everyone. She was running hours behind schedule and had already injured herself twice (one bad fall and one cut on the had) before we got there. I don't know how much longer she can try to do this to have a Chrismas holiday every year. Thanksgiving is kinda long gone already but it makes her happy to have this day as her own. One of the most difficult things is that she refuses any help with things - always has, so I know better than to try - and so I always have to stand back and let things happen however they're going to play out. It would make me insane if John was not there with me for it. A crowning moment of perpetual dysfunction in my family relationships.

Today, we started out to visit Mr. Monster's mother in Alabama but kept driving into progressively heavy snow fall and decided to abort the trip for today. He did not want to face the drive back later in the day. He said he didn't mind driving on snow or ice as much as having too many other idiot drivers he'd have to look out for. We'll try again on Tuesday or Wednesday to visit his mom. This was sending me into serious cabin fever and loneliness because nothing we had planned for today was happening. Fortunately, Fun Lisa came to El Rancho and rescued me from a growing state of ennui. Tonight, I'm drinking hot cider and he's watching his new Avatar Blueray DVD, camped out on the couch.

Both of us are without work til January 3rd, with the possible exception of a few hours for either of us to work on Thursday. The rest of the week is open, weather permitting, for whatever comes up.

UPDATE:

We visited MonsterMustDie's mother on Tuesday and spent the day in Alabama. She was having an especially good day and the visit was pleasant. We took her out to eat. He went to the bank with her to manage some things for her. The weather was sunny and warmer than it had been for several days.