Back in the States

And here we are, back again! We flew in to Seattle, went through my annual Long Covid RECOVER Study medical testing, and bought a car. Due to the vagaries of the governments of the US and Canada, we had to make a pretty quick exit from the Pacific Northwest and rush off the Sweetgrass, MT to have our Nexus interviews.  

The new wheels (relatively new, it's a 2018)

That completed, we are now taking a leisurely lap around the Mountain West visiting friends and family. We started with Mark and Jenn in Helena, MT. We visited Mark last year during our crossing, and when we walked in the door this year we were greeted with the big news - they're engaged! So Mark's June-Boy now has two cat siblings and everybody is happy.

Brian with June-Boy last year. Because I dropped the ball on blogging.

With Mark, also last year, because I forgot to take photos this visit.

While in Helena, we took the tour of the Montana State Capitol, which was very cool. It was the first state capitol building built with electrification: yay copper mine money! The funniest thing were the original seats in the gallery which have wire hat holders under them, for your Stetson. We did some other random stuff, including buying a car cover. Mt. Spurr in Alaska is threatening to blow and I figure all the protection will be sold out before we make it home. Best to be prepared.

Next we popped down to Teton Village, WY and hung out with the Zs. Brian and I hit the mountain (he on a snowboard, me on skis) and it felt amazing. We also watched some great films and had a wonderful time.

We're now in Ketchum, ID where the World Cup ski races are being run. We've been out enjoying the festivities (mostly people watching), fireworks, and watching the races today. I'm hoping to hit the mountain soon. The weather has been....variable. In the meantime, we've had quality family time and sourdough waffles. The important things in life.

We'll be heading north to Alaska soon....

~Lucy  

January

Goodness, January 21 already and somehow I've forgotten to blog for weeks. It's been an odd time. It's quieted down in Paris post-holidays. It's gray and foggy and the Seine is running high and fast. We have no set schedule. We get croissants in the morning, go for walks, read books, visit cultural sites. I have been following a yoga practice (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs73lvN0l8A). The days flow by.

We have had visitors. Robert and Eli came from Munich for several days and we greatly enjoyed seeing them. Claire came from Chamonix and stayed. Both visits have been excuses to return to see Notre Dame. The crowds have gone from wildly overwhelming to merely packed, and it is still fascinating to see all the changes. 

There have of course been unusual and exciting times. Saturday we were evacuated from the La Motte-Piquet-Grenelle metro station by very efficient and loud employees, then herded away from the neighborhood by a large number of police and military. Apparently there was a bomb threat to the McDonalds above the station. No idea why. 

Earlier we thought there was a street fair in our neighborhood and went to take a look. It turned out to be a protest for "Frexit". Not something we support, tho we have no vote in the matter. But damn they had the bounciest music!  

We saw a cavalcade of horses in the Bastille neighborhood, then caught up with them again on the Left Bank. They may have been out for Le Pen's funeral, or for the state visit of the President of Angola at Invalides. There was a lot going on that day. Paris is a very happening place.

We're feeling very separate from the news of the US, and that's probably good for our health. I deactivated my Facebook account for the month. I may go back, I may not. I do miss the connection with family and friends, and texts are not sufficient. Or I shall find workarounds. Brian hasn't used Facebook since 2016. We are also reevaluating our media consumption and sources in light of the new world order. Lots of changes to be made. But hoping for health and happiness in the new year, however they come about.

Cousins Robert and Eli

Niece Claire, at Notre Dame.

At the Legion of Honor Museum - free and pretty! 

The French are in for Dry January, with a huge selection of non-alcoholic wines. 

Back to the Louvre, of course.

To pay for the restoration and get with the times, Notre Dame has now installed credit card readers for the prayer candles.  

Our random horsey parade.

(Sound on for the cloppity clop)

~Lucy

Vanessa in Paris

....and who is Vanessa, I hear you cry? My cousin. In the completely Lucy "big tent" version of family. Vanessa is my (late) stepfather's biological first cousin Gunter's daughter. This is made a little more confusing because my stepfather Hank was adopted, and did not meet his bio family until later in life. This is even more understandable as they are in Germany, and he was born shortly after his bio mom immigrated to the U.S. 

I've previously met Vanessa, and visited her in Munich eleven years ago (!!), so I was thrilled when she was able to take the train over and spend a weekend with us. She had also never been to Paris before, so much running around to see the sights was done. 

Of our four guests, three spoke a lot more French than us, and three were vegetarian (with some flexibility). We now know a lot more about good vegetarian restaurants in Paris, and we suckered Vanessa into eating escargot, which she liked.

What a lovely time. 

Eiffel, of course.

A view from the Seine.

Bistro dining, avec escargots.

Relaxing coffee shops.

Outside the Pompidou

True words.

Reveling in the Paris-ness of it all.

~Lucy

 

Kona Thanksgiving

We joined our loved ones for Thanksgiving at a fascinating agricultural tourism property - Ohana Retreat. The site included 150 fruit trees, including one that had a fruit that tasted like brown sugar, cinnamon, and maple. I still need to figure out what that was.

Adjusting to the Kona side was a little hard. It was much hotter and I got heat exhaustion, followed by heat rash. Yuck. Luckily there was a nice pool to cool off in.

Sunsets on This Side of the Island

Brian in the Pool

A Brief, Unplanned Cocktail Hour

 

My Mind-Bogglingly Enormous Family

~Lucy

Back in Alaska! Now What?!?

First, opening 6.5 months of mail. Lots of holiday cards. Two of which had glitter on them. One from my side, one from Brian’s, so the blame is evenly cast. Now we get to add the new decorations to the fridge.

 

Second, celebrating my dad’s 80^th birthday! We had a family gathering, ate tasty food, and joked about niece Kayli missing her April 15 due date – to the relief of her CPA spouse. And we're still waiting on our new family member's arrival.

 

Third, after a mere 3.5 days home we already booked two trips. One to Fairbanks to celebrate godchild’s high school graduation, another to Hawaii for a massive family Thanksgiving gathering. Other trips will surely appear soon. Oops, yes. I forgot a camping trip in August. Does that count?

 

Fourth, as a gift to both of us, I went skiing with Dad. I haven’t had the energy to even put my boots on for the three years I’ve struggled with long Covid. So enjoying a bluebird day on the mountain with my dad was pure magic. He continues to act as the action photographer.

 

The fabulous view over Turnagain Arm

Muscle memory is a beautiful thing

Still stuck to the cruisers

Plus one bowl run

An awesome day

 ~Lucy

Exotic Locale - Seattle!

Okay, obviously not really. We left Spain, flew through Frankfurt, and managed to upgrade from economy plus to business for the 11 hour flight. Definitely a win!

We had a hard date for return to the States, because I had medical appointments in Seattle for the Long Covid study I am participating in. All went well, except I did not get the good phlebotomist this time. That meant a total of two appointments, 6 needle stabs, and 17 vials of blood drawn. 

Being in Seattle also means getting the chance to visit with our wonderful family and friends. One thing about being on the road so long is the distance from people you love. It's been special catching up. And Seattle is in spring bloom! Camellias, cherry blossoms, tulip trees, manzanitas, (more!) jasmine, tulips, daffodils are all showing us their good sides. That said, we've basically failed to take any photos other than of our cousin's cats. Because they are endlessly amusing.

[The alpha and omega of our time out of the US - we left our friends in Philadelphia who have a cat named Mabel, and returned to Seattle where we are staying with felines Felix, Quincy, and Mabel. Popular name!]

Brian has managed to go to both a Mariners baseball game and a Kraken hockey game.  I'm sure he had fun.

In addition to the medical and social aspects of Seattle, we are indulging in a little retail time. Mostly for others. We have bought a car (as a concierge delivery service to my brother), various IKEA goods (for friends), liquids that won't ship to Alaska (various family members). We have about an hour, and then we will launch ourselves north on the AlCan Highway. We hope to be home in Alaska this week.

Cats. Really.

Goofy Cat

Philadelphia, Phamily, Phriends and the Phillies.

So Boston down...Thanks Joaquin and Eleanor, Matt and Sunny, and the fog, so much fog...

So when driving from Boston to Philadelphia one naturally thinks of Allentown, no? Well that is where one of my aunts lives, and that is where we headed from Massachusetts. After a relatively uneventful 6 hour drive we were able to spend time with my aunt Sherry and cousin Josh in Allentown. We experienced part of the Philadelphia sportsgasm there. What is that you may ask? Apparently when multiple sports teams are having success in a single city it is called a sportsgasm (or a sportspocalypse). I'm not sure who made that up but we are rolling with it. After a couple of days we drove south to Philadelphia proper for an extended stay with our friends Brad and Christie and their new puppy Jackson. Jackson is a Cardigan Welsh Corgi who is roughly 4 months old. OMG is he cute...

Here sleeping next to Brad and myself, notice the blerp of his tongue.

Those ears!!

Lucy and I may be a little addicted to this guy. So much personality, so damn cute. It's going to be hard to leave him behind.

We managed to visit with all of my aunts (2) and uncles (2) and many of my cousins (too many to count) while also watching much sportsballs (World Series, football, basketball and soccer) in between gatherings.

Thanks Bob, Brad looking like his puppy. 

 

Let's make funny faces!

Sound on.

Now do a time-lapse on the roof deck.

We also made it to another cemetery so that Lucy could get her fix.

Still great fall colors going on at Laurel Hill

Lucy found the Jeni's Ice cream shop.

Now we're off to New York City for a few days to see a show Some Like It Hot and get some culture.

 

~ Brian