Summer Travel Map

Friday, May 18, 2007

A Busy Week

May 18, 2007
Albertville, AL

Well, it's been a busy week. So busy, I've neglected the blog, which I'll have to remedy. We've spent time getting acclimated to how things are with Mom at this point. At 81, she's had a year or so of poor health and, although there's nothing physically wrong with her at this point, she's become pretty adept at convincing herself that she can't do various things anymore. Not that she's convincing anyone else, of course, but she's trying.

Rick, Annette, and Alyson are headed for a week in Florida next week, so we need to be prepared for the caretaker duties, mostly involving medications, meals, and exercise. I'm sure we'll do fine, and we'll try to get some cleaning done in her apartment while we're at it.

Last night we had dinner at Annette's parent's (Gerry and Lois Berg) home. They live in Albertville as well, about 15 minutes away. We had "shrimp on the barbie", and I brought a bottle of Spanish red wine that I found at Central Market in Plano called "Red Guitar". It was a blend of old vine Garnacha (aka Grenache in France) and Tempranillo. The name made me think of an old U2 lyric ("All I need is a red guitar, two chords, and the truth"), and the wine was pretty good for a sub-$10 import. Now, of course, we're a thousand miles away (literally), so who knows when I'll find some more. Geez, I miss Canal's wines in NJ.

We're all caught up on our mail and any needed follow-ups, so we'll be able to relax a bit for the next week and a half before we hit the road again. I wonder how high fuel prices will be by Memorial Day and into June. I stopped for gas in the car this morning on the way to Lowe's (no Home Depot in Albertville), and the price had jumped 20 cents by the time I was on my way back! And, no, I wasn't in Lowe's that long. ;-)

Today's the big day: Alyson's graduation is at 7:00 tonight. Apparently, it's a long-standing local tradition to hold graduation on the football field, which has to make it hard for all the young ladies in heels. The good news is that it's been cool, breezy, sunny, and dry since Wednesday. It'd be a real mess I'm sure if it was rainy, or hot, or both. We'll be heading over there early to get spots in the handicapped section for Mom and Lois, and I'll bring the camera in the hopes of getting a couple of good shots. It looks like digital is the format of choice for sharing purposes. I'd been planning to shoot the F6 with film for prints initially, but it looks like I'll bring the D200. Maybe I'll just bring the camera bag with both. :-)

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