I have been home a few days.....and I'm getting ready for the next big trip which starts Wednesday.
My 1992 mile trip.....was a wedding trip.....on to Ohio to work with my daughter on wedding arrangements and then on to Chicago to get wedding stuff.
Ohio was as hot as the south.....and gruesome in the temperature department.
We sweated and phewed our way through making payments for some of services and checking out one or two hotels to recommend for guests.
My daughter's house has a basement which turned into a spot of bliss. Cool cool and cool.....it was a relief to sit there for a spell. It was so comfortable, we decided to work on the special wedding tables down there...the Heritage table, with all the old family pictures, and the Sweets table with assorted places for treats. I was happy.....she liked everything I brought up for the wedding....and we were in total sync until we got to the mock up of the dinner table.
We bought beautiful lanterns and some votives.....and I placed a few artificial roses in the lantern....scattered the votives and said....viola honey.
Rejoicing because it was easy and we would be done.
She turned to me and started to pout. The lantern idea came from a wedding magazine but the lantern in the pic was surround by various vases of flowers, bowls of rocks and foliage and other little trinkets. She wanted to copy it.
Before I could even think....my lip puffed out too. I couldn't comprehend the fuss and the expense of the arrangement she wanted to copy......also....it seemed too high.....if you sat down at the table you couldn't see your seatmate across the way because of the centerpieces...a definite no no in my book of conversation.
I walked away ....kept quiet and just asked her to make up her mind before I left the next day.
The next day arrived and she handed me the artificial roses and said she wanted the table to match the picture. I didn't say a word.....that's just fine I thought.....she could purchase the vases and price the flowers and accessories and decide if it was worth the cost......especially if she was paying for them....lol....sometimes perceptions change when you are footing the bill.
Chicago was just a blur of stores and obligations and I was back on the road in less than 24 hours.
I had saved an audio book for the long drive home that turned out great.
When I was on Long Island I visited Sagamore Hill, the home of Teddy Roosevelt. I arrived too early for tour and decided to wait for the next tour in one of the rocking chairs on the veranda. Since there weren't too many tourists that day....I had the porch all to myself....and I tried to imagine myself sitting with the Roosevelt family on their porch way back when.....asking for a lemonade....rocking and chatting.
It was so enchanting to look out over the large expanse of lawn and just rock....I missed the next tour and just rocked back and forth.
Finally, I pulled myself out of the chair and viewed the rest of the house which was fascinating....filled with trophies and exotica from all over the world. I made a promise to myself to read up on Roosevelt.....and learn more about this eccentric and intelligent man.
So now, a couple of years later, the audio book took me through his early life up to the day he became President. Although I got a few names and political intrigues mixed up, (I did have to pay some attention to my interstate driving), it was a splendid book to drive home with....and I often flashed back to my memories of the land, the house and of course the rocking chair on the porch.
Yippee....book two of the trilogy was available from the library and heads off West with me on Wednesday.
Now even I have to admit...this is one big trip coming up......so I best go pack what's on my to-do list today: reading material, audio books, electronics and shoes.....lots of shoes...and get ready for all the stuff I have to do tomorrow before I leave.
