We're all "safe thus far."

Ellen and I have arrived safely in Alpine and John and Cynthia have arrived safely in Westminster. They had the worst of it - freezing rain much of the way up Route 5 from Springfield to Putney. They stayed in a motel last night and came home today.

We had good roads, good weather, all the way from Denver to Alpine. We stayed in a motel in Rawlins, WY  last night, then drove to Alpine today.

Katie picked up her new skis, boots and poles today and loves them:

       The new skis .....

            .... and the skier

They made it!

John and Cynthia arrived in Hartford at about 2 a.m., and went to a motel. Cynthia sent an email at about 3 a.m. from the motel and I read it at about 4:30a.m. their time (2:30 a.m. ours) when I got up to pee. Much relieved (in every sense).

Still Waiting??

Here it is, 11:04pm Tuesday night, almost 5  hours after John and Cynthia's flight was scheduled to depart from the Denver airport, and we don't know if their plane has actually departed. I have gone to the Southwest Airline website repeatedly and it says that the flight is estimated to leave at 8:40pm and is delayed, but of course 8:40pm was over 2 hours ago. So SWA has not updated the information on that flight for over 2 hours, which seems odd. I called Cynthia's cell phone to see if they are in fact in the terminal, but her voice mail answered and said it was full and could not receive any messages. So we don't really know what is happening there. I hope Southwest Airlines is taking care of them, but I'm afraid it may be a mess.

We dropped John and Cynthia off at the Denver Airport after we all said our goodbyes to Betsey, Rob and Katie. It will be hard for Betsey because she has had first her wonderful two-week road trip and then the Christmas holidays to look forward to for months, and now that is all behind her and her family has left. But she and Rob and Katie and Gertie are a tight unit and I know they will deal with it. But there will be some letdown for sure.

After dropping off John and Cynthia, Ellen and I headed to Wyoming. We are now in Rawlins, in the First Choice Motel. Our trip was largely uneventful, weather-wise, though toward the end it began to be blowing snow conditions. It is also very cold - about 5 degrees or so. We are not used to that!

We will drive to Alpine tomorrow, arriving sometime after 3pm. We sure hope John and Cynthia will get home ok and not too exhausted. There is a big storm going on back east, and when they talked with a neighbor earlier this afternoon, they learned that there had been a lot of icing in their area. So they may find they have an impassable driveway. Godspeed John and Cynthia!

Approaching the Denver International Airport

Quite a sight, against the late afternoon sky

As we approached Rawlins, we went past this otherworldly sight in Sinclair, WY

This "otherworldly sight" is of course an oil refinery going day and night. But after seeing Star Wars, it looked to us like something on another planet. 

Waiting

We just got an alert from Southwest Airlines that John & Cynthia's flight has been delayed by 55 minutes to 7:10pm. So we have some extra time. We imagine that the delay is due to weather in the Midwest or East where there have been many flight delays which could have a ripple effect on Denver. The weather here is fine.

              The travelers are checking forecasts

                        Here we sit like birds in the wilderness

Our last day

This afternoon we will take John and Cynthia to the Denver airport for their flight back to Hartford. The weather does not look good for them back home: snow, sleet, freezing rain, etc. They get in at 11:30pm - pretty late. It will probably be raining in Hartford by then after an earlier storm of mixed precipitation, but farther north it could still be mixed precip. So they might have to hang in a 24-hour diner, or go into a motel. Or the main roads may be ok but their own driveway could be a total mess. So they will have to play it by ear. 

Yesterday we finally got a chance to take a nice walk, in midday, then after that we went to a 2:30pm showing of the new Star Wars movie in Boulder. It was assigned seating - Rob had made reservations fairly late - and Ellen and I were in the second row! What an experience! Katie and Betsey are pretty informed Stars Wars buffs, John less so, but everyone far more so than I. Ellen has actually seen most of the previous films with Max, who is a huge Star Wars fan, has all the books, etc., and actually we will probably see the movie again with him later this week! But we went out to eat at an Indian Restaurant, Sherpa's, in Boulder after the film, and the talk was all about the film, the new characters, theories about what the genealogical history of the new characters might be - are they related to Luke Skywalker, or Princess Leia, or Hans Solo, or even Darth Vedar or Obi Wan Kenobi (sp?). Katie was looking at stuff online - various theories being spun by others. It was an animated conversation. I am mostly fascinated by the mythological features of the Star Wars story, and the many parallels it has with classical myths, including the whole biblical story. It is in many ways a religious myth, and the various interpretations are already spawning what might be called denominations. Everyone agreed that there will undoubtedly be more Star Wars films. It has already grossed well over 1 billion dollars in just a few days.

When we came home, several of us tackled the jig-saw puzzle in earnest. I think Rob and Katie continued to work on it after the rest of us went to bed - it may be finished.

Ellen and I will probably head out for Wyoming after we drop John and Cynthia off. There is some weather going on up in Wyoming too, but nothing like back East. Hopefully, we will have good roads.

One of the features of our stay was a full moon over Boulder:

Full moon over Boulder - from our bedroom window

Post-Christmas shopping!

Katie and I went to Boulder Ski Deals today. It was really busy! But we got a salesclerk, Patrick, pretty quickly and Katie found what she wanted. She got the boots first - she tried on one pair and they were ok, but the second pair she really liked. Very comfortable. Nordica. They warmed them up and she wore them for fifteen minutes so the foam would be molded to her feet.

Then she looked at skis. It helped in making a decision knowing she could bring them back if they weren't just right. Patrick assessed her skiing level and chose a good all-round ski. Then she got bindings and poles. The full package! She was happy. 

We contacted Ellen, John and Cynthia and met them at The Leaf  cafe - a vegetarian/vegan restaurant with gluten-free options. Very good food. Meanwhile J&C had gone to a kitchen store, Peppercorns, to redeem a gift certificate. They found some very nice bowls. A satisfying shopping expedition. 

    Katie waiting to try on ski boots

      Warming up the Nordicas

       Form fitting!

      The new skis!

Coming home, we worked on the jig-saw  puzzle, had a simple supper of rice, beans and corn bread, and watched Love Actually, another Christmas movie, a romantic comedy. Then to bed. 

       The jig-saw puzzle

Winter!!

After an extended Fall in Vermont, we've hit cold and snow in Boulder. Katie and I were going to go shopping today for a pair of skis for her, but it was snowing steadily this morning and we eventually got 4 inches or more - not that much but enough to convince us it would be a good day to have fun at home. I did go out with Rob to sweep off cars and do some shoveling, but it was light and fluffy snow - not a big deal. So we ate, started a jig-saw puzzle, watched YouTube videos (we watched several Katie had made of the recent Shay trip through WY,  OR, and CA, but we also watched Bad Lip-reading a hilarious series that has taken videos of the Presidential debates and given them a whole new sound track-putting new words into each candidate's mouth, but matching the words exactly to the movement of their lips. It is outrageously funny.

We also watched The Christmas Vacation movie with Chevy Chase, a classic "disastrous Christmas" comedy. And Katie introduced us to an on-line game called GeoGuessr in which you are given a randomly selected (by Google) video of a place on earth which you can explore as you would using Google Earth Street View, and you have to guess where you are. You get points based on the number of miles your guess is from the actual location (fewer miles/more points). It's addictive. 

I couldn't help but be aware how different this day was compared to day-after-Christmas's in the past. The jig-saw puzzle is a vestige of a former era, but everything else involved "devices." No board games, no singing, no "MadLibs," etc. It was fun but I still prefer the more old-fashioned kind. 

           After shoveling

     Winter wonderland 

Christmas Day

What a special day! It began in a very leisurely way - we didn't get moving until after 9 a.m., when we heard kitchen sounds. Rob was preparing gluten-free pancakes, sautéed apples and sausage. We all had a late breakfast and by the time it was all cleaned up and last minute presents wrapped it was close to 1p.m.

                  Santa has been here! 

Gertie had two special outfits for the day, in addition to her antlers: a nifty sweater and a Santa outfit. She started out with the sweater, but she didn't really like it and kept trying to shake it off. So she didn't wear it long. 

             Betsey and Gertie with her new sweater

Gift exchange went on much of the afternoon. Some gift tags had clues - an old Crockett tradition - which were fun. Probably the most talked about gift was a small drone for Katie to use for aerial photography. But figuring out how to attach a camera and get the thing to fly was another matter entirely. Her Uncle John helped her figure out some things but they finally decided to put it aside until tomorrow.  

                                   Trying to figure out the drone. 

After gift exchange, Rob put out another fabulous snack array, and started preparing Christmas dinner. Outside, it began to snow. 

Dinner was in the dining room. The table was set beautifully: 

                 Christmas dinner is served!

Gertie wore her Santa suit for the occasion: 

                     Katie and Santa Gertie

Everyone thanked Rob for a wonderful meal: 

                                            Thank you Rob!! 

We pitched in to help with clean-up and pretty soon it was bed time. A very special day! 

Christmas Eve

Here we are! All together! We arrived at the Shay's at about 2:30 this afternoon. 

John and Cynthia got to the baggage area a bit after 10:30a.m., we squeezed everybody and everything into the car and drove into Boulder for lunch at Alfalfa's, which proved to have something for everyone's tastes and preferences. We did a little shopping there, stopped at a bank and drove up Sunshine Canyon to the Shay's.

The first thing Betsey showed us was her most recent MRI, which she had on her phone. The tumor and the cyst have both significantly shrunk! It is really striking to see the difference! This is a miracle and an answer to prayer. A coming together of Betsey's determination, her new chemo regemin, her work with Lyria, her Qi Gung healer, her doctor's skill, her diet, the prayers and hopes of hundreds, a cause for hope and a wonderful Christmas gift! So there was much animated talk, a marvelous snack tray, good wine from their recent trip to Napa, CA, a showing of pictures Katie took on the trip, with narration, climaxed with a feast of oysters in two styles, red cabbage and rice. Wow! And even with all that, Gertie managed to steal the show now and then! 

      Cynthia with Gertie

       Gertie the red-ribboned reindeer 

     Christmas Eve dinner

More Denver Airport

Now we are actually at the terminal near the Southwest baggage claim area where we will meet John and Cynthia in about a half hour.

Last evening I totally repacked the car to make room for John and Cynthia and their luggage. It will be tight, but I succeeded. 

I did not get a lot of sleep last night. My heart was pounding most of the night, and I suspected something in the bed clothes was "getting to me," so I got up at about 5a.m., got quietly dressed and went outside to get fresh air in my lungs. My heart quieted down to a slower rate. Then I hung out in the lobby lounge until about 7, went upstairs, showered, and Ellen and I had breakfast at the motel breakfast bar - quite ample. So here we are. We are getting a little old to be doing this sort of thing, but we'll soldier through. 

                        Central atrium at Denver Airport

A Thomas Mangelsen print. There is a store devoted to just his prints here in the airport. 

They cost about $6000 for a large one. He is from Jackson, WY. Ellen is very familiar with his name. 

                 America Map greeting visitors from other countries.

I guess the following is meant to portray what these visitors to our shores have left behind:

               Mural in Denver airport lounge area 

And this is our happy "ship of state" in which people from all over the world find refuge. 

There is some irony in these murals, given the current political discourse! 

Meanwhile, a quartet is caroling passengers:

Denver airport

We have arrived at our motel near the Denver airport. At the moment we are at the Village Inn restaurant, and since it is Wednesday, it is "free pie day !"

                     Entry of Village Inn restaurant

          My meal - chicken pot pie comfort food

 

                                   Our room at Best Western

We both had a hot shower. One glitch - the hair dryer didn't work for Ellen after she had washed her hair. Called front desk, they brought up a key for the room next door. That hair dryer didn't work either. Third try was a charm. 

Gorgeous day

We went through a patch of heavy rain mixed with snow west of Lincoln with temps below freezing, but now, west of North Platte, it is a gorgeous sunny day, temp is 37 degrees and we're listening to Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Lovely!

         Gorgeous day on I-80

Lincoln, NE

Here we are in Lincoln, and it's raining. 

We just got gas at a place called "You Are Nowhere" (or is it "Now Here" - your choice!). 

We spent last night at an America's Best Value Motel and there was a glitch at check-in: they had no record of my reservation. It turned out that someone at the motel had moved the email from <booking.com> which notified them of the reservation but had not assigned a room. It all got straightened out and we got a room and actually slept well, but it led to an interesting conversation at breakfast with the very friendly and accommodating manager (who is a native of India). I learned some things:

1) it is always wise to call the motel after making an on-line reservation just to double-confirm. 

2) if I had made the reservation directly with the motel I probably would have gotten a better price. E.g. they were running a 15% holiday discount that I didn't get through <booking.com>.

3) The trend in new motel construction is to interior corridor access to rooms, not (as ours was last night) exterior drive-up access, because the typical patron now ranks security concerns higher than convenience. However, truckers prefer convenience (as do we).

4) Almost all the on-line booking services are owned by one company: choice is an illusion. 

Rain is now mixed with snow. That wasn't in the forecast. 

Darn sinuses!

This afternoon I went to Cadence Health Care - a walk-in clinic in Bartlett - because I've had a lot of congestion, and some coughing, etc., and I didn't want to bring something into the house in Boulder with Betsey on chemotherapy. Jerry took me to the clinic and hung out the whole time, while I went through all the paperwork, and then the examination, bless his heart. As it turns out, my lungs are fine, but  I have a sinus infection that is sending a lot of gunk down my throat into my upper chest and causing irritation that triggers a cough.  So I'm on an antibiotic and by Thursday should be in better shape, and more pleasant and safe to have around. I got my prescription filled at Walgreens (no Rite Aid out here), and just down from there is a Polish deli which we all went into and found quite interesting. We ended up having a Polish supper of sorts which was quite tasty: stuffed cabbage, meat balls, small potatoes, veggies, blintzes. After supper, I watched the Tar Heels walk all over Appalachian State in basketball, even though they now have two key players who are injured. Earlier in the day I just took it easy, after another not-so-great night of sleep, but I did get over 20 Christmas cards and letters into the mail. Tomorrow we'll drive from Bartlett to Lincoln, NE where we have a motel reservation - it's half-way to Boulder. We also have a reservation at a Best Western near the Denver airport for Wednesday night so we'll be handy to pick up John and Cynthia Thursday morning at 10a.m.

The Christmas Coffee House - 1

Last night was the Christmas Coffee House - #1. #2 will be held on Dec. 26th at Susie's house - the traditional location - for those unable to attend tonight. Only a relative few could be there tonight - Susie and Dennis, Becky and the entire Costello family, Rachael and Brendan and the four children: Ronan, Maura, Marve and Declan (besides Maggie and Jerry who were hosting and Ellen and myself). Peter and Lori were supposed to be there but were sick and Dan was in Minneapolis with a friend at the Chicago Bears/Minnesota Vikings game (sadly, the Bears were slaughtered 38-17).

The Coffee House is like a cabaret. Those who wish to, sign up to provide an "act" of some kind: a song, a reading, a skit, etc. There are annual mandatory components like The Twelve Dogs of Christmas, the singing of which always starts things off, and a MadLibs story, which Susie usually writes, and everyone else contributes words. Both of these are inevitably hilarious. 

This time I read a bit of the chapter titled Dulce Domum from Kenneth Graeham's Wind in the Willows (in which Mole returns unexpectedly to his humble but beloved home with Rat, and they are caroled by the field mice), and we sang a setting of the carol the field mice sing, Villagers All, by our friend, Andy Davis. 

Maggie and Jerry artfully acted a skit titled Dining Out, in which Jerry played the waiter who fastidiously set the table for the fashionably dressed patron, played by Maggie. The punch line is: Patron: (screams) "What is this fly doing in my soup?" Waiter: (peering into the bowl) "I believe he's doing the back stroke!).

Maura eventually overcame her shyness and played Silent Night and Jingle Bells on the piano, Ellen played along on the tenor recorder, and we all sang. We ended with a hearty rendering of the Hanover Winter Song with Maggie accompanying at the piano. 

And of course there was a great deal of food: cheeses and crackers and cookies and nuts and dips and chips and tenders and spring rolls - what a spread! And as always a great deal of laughter. A lovely evening.

Singing the Twelve Dogs of Christmas  Each group stood when it came to their verse!

 

              The Spread, with Becky  (and a bit of Maggie).

Ellen with Maura and Maeve (and a construction the girls made with Bristle Blocks,

 representing a family sitting around the table for Christmas dinner).

       "Formal" portrait:  L.to r., front row: Maggie and Jerry

        Second row:  Maura, Dennis, Maeve, Ellen and Larry

        Back row: Rachael, Ronan Declan, Brendan, Becky, Susie

Chirping night!

Last night after the Dems debate we tried to go to sleep. Well, I tried - Ellen went to sleep during the debate. I was about to succeed when a loud "Chirp" broke the silence. What was that? About ten minutes later it "chirped" again. I finally figured out it was the smoke alarm battery telling us it needed to be replaced. I checked the clock - 2:39 a.m.! What to do? Ellen was asleep. The chirp was not waking her. I didn't know exactly where the alarm was. If I got up and turned on the light it would wake Ellen, who I knew was very tired. So I tried to ignore it. But that was hopeless. I considered getting up, turning on the light, finding the alarm and removing the battery. But the ceiling was high and beyond my reach. I would have to stand on something and there was not a chair in the room suitable for that. So about 3:30a.m., I got up and called the front desk. I figured the negligence of management in failing to replace the battery in the fall - as we all should do, right? - esp. If you are running a motel! - required that management pay some price of inconvenience, so I felt no hesitation in calling at that hour. I felt badly for Ellen. That did wake her up. But the guy came pretty quickly, apologized, changed the battery, and that was that. Ellen went back to sleep immediately but I didn't. It was probably 5a.m. before I got some sleep, and then I slept until after nine and woke up when Ellen got up to take a shower. Not a good night.

                          Room 12 at Motel M

We got a good breakfast at Samantha's Restaurant in Angola, IN, which helped. We'll be in Bartlett before 4pm for sure. 

Wauseon, OH

We are in a motel near Wauseon, OH tonight. Just off I-80 SW of Toledo. We'll have a leisurely morning here and an easy drive to Bartlett tomorrow. We had a relatively easy drive today but Ellen did not get a lot of sleep last night so she is tired. So we'll take it easy tomorrow.

Wonderful concert!

               Rainy driving!!

We heard a very beautiful concert this evening by Piffaro, an early music instrumental ensemble, together with a string ensemble, Tempesta di Mare and Choral Arts Philadelphia, a choral ensemble. Music of Praetorius, Scheidt and Schutz. It was held in the Cathedral Basilica of Ss.  Peter and Paul in downtown Philadelphia, near Logan Square, a church visited by Pope Francis during his recent trip to the U.S. Perhaps the most exciting piece was the Praetorius Magnificat, which pulled all the stops. But the whole concert was gorgeous.

Cherry Street and City Hall - we ate at a Fridays near here before the concert 

I stayed home and rested at Wallace's today while Ellen visited Sarah and Harry. I was sorry not to see them but I didn't feel well at all. I feel better tonight for the rest and Ellen had a good time. 

We got to Swarthmore after 10 pm last evening after a long drive, hard rain, heavy traffic and a missed turn that led us to the Jersey Shore instead of Philly and we had to cut across the state on Rte. 70 - way out of the way.

      Cathedral Basilica of Peter & Paul

              The performers

 

              The rector of CBSsP&P greets the audience.

               A side altar

Today (Sat.) we drive toward Chicago, arrive Bartlett, Sunday aft.

About ready

 It's almost 2a.m., but I think we're almost ready for our trip to Boulder. It being  Christmas, with gifts and all, there is more than the usual preparation. Plus, we have a funeral in the morning. We'll go to that all packed and ready to roll, and head for Swarthmore immediately after it ends.

Last night there was a gathering of singing friends at Andy and Robin Davis' house. That was very nice: good food, good conversation and good singing . 

Tony Barrand at last night 's gathering. 

                Peter Amidon and Andy Davis

         Calvin Farwell, Julie Petersen and Jack Wesley, Robin & Andy Davis. 

Two concerts

Saturday was a two-concert day for us - one we attended, the other we sang in. When we came back from the Revels performance Friday evening, we stayed at Katie and Savanna's place instead of going back to Vermont, had breskfasf wiith them Sat. a.m  - scrambled eggs and nice freshly baked muffins-and then headed down to South Hadley Falls to the lovely new Public Library where Brendon was in a concert with the South Hadley Children's Chorus. Each song they sang had some connection to a children's book, e.g., Kipling's Jungle Book, A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh, Travers's/Disney's Mary Poppins, etc., so after the children sang a song, the librarian read a portion from the book it was based on. The children sang very well, and it was a charming program.

         Brendon in the chorus.

The setting of the concert overlooking the Connecticut River.

After this concert we had lunch with K, S & B at the Tailgate Deli in South Hadley, and then Ellen and I came back home, picked up some things and hightailed it to Putney for our River Singers concert warmup in the newly renovated Next Stage - the former United Church of Putney now a classy theater and performing arts space. A new venue for us. 

        River Singers warming up

Our marvelous  Rwandan singers: Apollonaire and Enathe.

I led the choir again Sunday morning in Dummerston and then we had a Music committee meeting after church, a second River Singers concert in the afternoon, and a rehearsal of Carmina Burana in the evening. A full day!