Chicago to Sitges

Katie Soler and I headed to Sitges, Spain on Montday May 5. We started at O'Hare Terminal 5, enjoying Air France's Sky Priority check in because I booked us in Premium Economy. We bypassed the check in line and and were in the short line through security for a good start.

The newly remodeled Terminal 5 is nicely done with lots of dining options. Katie and I chose Tortas Frontera where she had tortilla soup and I had salad. No white table cloths but a nice spot for a little meal (though the servings where huge!) If you are leaving through here and need something to eat, take a tour of all the options, There is a Big Bowl, Toco Italian, R.J. Grunts, Totas Frontera, and a couple of others.

After our break Katie and I went to the gate and had a short wait and enough time for a selfie before boarding.

Premium Ecpnomy from O'Hare to Paris gets mixed reviews. Priority security and boarding was nice. The service on board was horrible. The food was not good. The seats are odd. Wider than coach but no recline. There were good entertainment options and I watched Gravity. A note on service - we were served our meal - the whole meal at once not in courses as expected. We were not offered an apertif before the meal. Plunk, here is your meal and a plastic cup of Champagne if you want. That was it. We never saw another flight attendent. Katie and I were almost finished with our meal when I pressed the call button. Someone finally showed up after we had finished and offered us a roll. I asked for wine and it took forever before they came back with two individual bottles of white. Bottom line - my expectations for the Premium Economy meal were not met on this flight. Interestingly our experience with Premium Ecpnomy from Paris to Barcelona was great. Good seats, nice, tasty light meal, and good service.

At Charles de Gaulle, getting from Terminal 2E to 2F felt like going through a maze. Down a hall, down escalators, on a train, up esclators, anound corners, down halls, up escalators! Where are we? However, with Sky Priority through security no line. Also no line at passport control. Oh, I thought it was odd that we went through security before passport control! Lots of walking but we made it to gate on time. My connection worries were groundless even if the flight was slightly delayed. It was secheduled for 10:00 but delayed until 10:22.

As usual at Barcelona we had a long walk from the gate to our bags which arrived after we got to the baggage claim but came out quickly. We headed to the bus stop and had a short wait for the Monbus to Sitges and thena short walk to the Piso. Our bags got pretty heavy as we lugged them to the top floor! We had to do it in phases. What happened to my thoughts on packing light?

Katie and I opened up the piso and rested for a bit then headed down the hill for lunch by the sailing club. A bottle of rosé, a salad, and a wonderful seafood canneloni while sitting outside in the sun was great. Katies and I then did a little shopping - wine, cheese, and bread then it was back to the piso and onto the roof. Both of us fell asleep up there for a while. I came down for a showere, we talked for while then had a snack - our shopping success prizes - and by 9:30 we knew it was time to turn in after a long day.

 

Childhood Memories

This week I was reading Hanna Rosin's The Atlantic article "The Over-Protected Kid." As I contemplated the article I remembered my childhood where I was not over protected. My mother set rules and boundaries, which I often ignored, but then she pretty much left me on my own from the time I was about six years old, or likely even before.

League City, Texas

I remember when I was in first and second grade and we lived in League City, Texas, right across the highway from Galveston County Park, I recall two rules - don't cross the highway and don't go past the railroad tracks. I was pretty good at not crossing the highway and the railroad tracks were a good natural boundary. But, I roamed far and wide with my buddy Byron Marshall with plenty of freedom. (Our street was named for Byron and his sisters Crystal and Velvet had their streets too.) I do remember once when I must have been hanging too close to the house and going in and out, my mother told me to stop banging the screen door. She finally locked it, keeping me out. Byron and I used to climb a row of pecan trees about a block away from the house, hunt for horned toads, walk through the fields watching the swallowtails fly, lose my shoes in what I referred to as quicksand. We had plenty of unsupervised adventures. Looking at the map of our neighborhood today, I see that the boundaries set were not too wide but for a six or seven year old they seemed large.

We moved to New York I strolled the streets around our apartment in New York City and then later in Yorktown Heights I remember roaming through the woods surrounding our house. There were streams and an abandoned quarry and small graveyards dating to the 1700s, and many other things to explore. My limit in one direction was the Taconic Parkway, not because my mother set a limit, but because i did not want to venture past it. I was an explorer but I had my limits. In the winter I would seek out the best places to sled. In the summer I played with trucks and plastic army men in the dirt, road my bicycle all over the place, and explored the woods, fished in the Quarry, and traded comic books, Friends I remember - Peter Smallman, Mike Hendel, Peter Torpey, and my next door neighbor Bruce Jenner (yes, the gold medal decathlon and Kardashian Bruce Jenner.)

Spring is FINALLY Here!

I had my doubts but spring has finally arrived in Glen Elllyn. No patches of snow on the ground, the crocus (is the plural of crocus croci?) are finally blooming, fish are begging for food, and the grass is greening. Sharon has been home this week and we have been doing spring cleanup in the back yard, filling bags with leaves and the remains of last year's growth, getiing the garden ready for seeds, and pots ready for flowers. The PVC I used for the pond piping last year did not all survive the winter. I don't know if the issue was water freezing in the pipes or exposure to sun. This is PVC designed for interior use, so it is not meant to be used outside. Research is in order, but for now, replacement PVC.

The past couple of days it has been very comfortable outside in the afternoon but still a bit too cool in the morning. I have made the transition to sandals but jeans and sweat shirts are still in order. I'm looking forward to having my morning coffee outside in the sun in shorts! (Next month I'll be having cafe con leche at Cafe Bar Roy in Sitges and I will be wearing shorts!)

This week I have been putting together a ukulele song book to take with me on the road. I've included many of my favortie ukulele songs plus some I want to learn. I still find I need to look at words and chords when I play. I wonder if I will ever actually memorize songs? Oh, just remembered I need to add some kids songs for when I am entertaining Brady. The Wheels on the Bus and If You're Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands. And while on the topic of ukuleles, I added a decal to my outdoor ukulele.

John sent this great photo of Avery with a beautiful rainbow trout taken on the Crooked River during spring break. I wish I was there with them this year. My favorite guys to fish with on my favortite river to fish.

Kristie sent this one. John is now a soccer coach. Love the pose with John and Anika!

Gotta include a cat picture. This is Shelby posing and looking pretty.

We have finalized plans for getting to and from Sitges this year. Katie Soler and I will be heading there on 5 May and Sharon will follow us on 12 May. We are flying Air France this year, through Paris. We have always flown American and/or Iberia but price and availability was an issue this year. We are trying Air France Premium Economy which cost a little more but does give us larger seats as well as enhanced food and beverage service. We are all coming back on May 30. As we have for the past few years we will be staying in the Soler piso in Sitges and are planning little more than relaxing on the beach, in cafes, and on the roof. There will be side trips to Barcelona of course since it is only 40 minutes away by train. We may do a train to Girona, maybe to Valencia, maybe Madrid. We shall see what pulls us. Matt Olson has been enlisted once more to house sit and cat sit while we are gone. It is good to know someone will be looking after everything here.

Enough writing! Outside to finish pond repairs.

 

A Spring Cocktail

Sharon asked me to make her a cocktail so I came up with a new one inspired by the Negroni.

I might call it "Colby Dreams of Italy"

• 1/2 Lime
• 1/2 ounce Campari
• 1 ounce gin (I used one with a citrus infusion)
• 3/4 ounce Jordan Cranberry Liquor (our home made concoction)
• A squeeze of Orange juice
• Served over ice in a highball glass and garnished with a slice of orange

 

When Will It End?

Cold and more cold. Spring officially arrived last week and it snowed. We had a hint of spring the next two days and then it turned colder again. I saw my gold fish when the ice melted and no longer covered the top of the pond, but then yesterday morning and this morning there was a new layer of ice on the pond. Yes, it was thin, but still ICE.

We are now expecting snow tonight and the temperature dropping to 16° and then warming all the way to 29° on Tuesday then slowly warming to the 40s and perhaps as high as the 60s on Sunday. Can you see how I am tired of this? Update March 26, 2014. The pond has been ice covered for three days now and yesterday morning we woke to one inch of snow. It is now 11:00am in Glen Ellyn and the temperature is a balmy 25°.

Cat pictures of the day. Every morning Shelby has to lick water from the shower by pushing his head around the corner of the shower curtain. He usually manages to get both his head and his tail wet which he then shares with us but rubbing up against us. He also has to be on the sink when we are using. LC will sit on the edge of the sink occasionally, and will drink from the water glass placed on the sink for them, but she is much nicer about the whole bathroom water issue. Other cat owners will understand the cat/human bathroom interactions. You are never alone in the bathroom with a cat or a toddler.

Shelby in the tub

Shelby behaving

Brady and Kathy visited last weekend. Kathy was here for the Shamrock Shuffle walk/run. We got to spend some time with Brady while Kathy was in the city. We had a nice, though sort visit.

Sun through the snow

Sometimes snow can be pretty. One of our last snows came down wet and clung to the trees. Then after the snow the sky cleared and the sun and blue sky was beautiful against the snow. Our official snow totals this year indicate just over 80 inches of snow for the season. this is the second or third most snow since Chicago record keeping started in 1885. This has also been one of the coldest winters on record. Brrrr.

I smoked ribs today - this first time using the smoker since last fall. There is still snow on the patio but I can get to the grills and smoker. If I've done this right, this You Tube video shows you my secrets. I haven't done anything like this, except for some short ukulele and kazoo videos. This is a long one and was a learning experience! All done with my iPad.

 

Cataract Surgery

I just got back from a visit with my opthamologist. Her first question was "Are you ready for surgery now?" I think I am, because three years after chemo the cataracts are not getting too much worse but they are bothering me. Thank you steroids! NOT.

I am bummed about the whole thing. First, that I did not have cataracts before chemo. Second that because of chemo I have cataracts. Third, I need cataract surgery. And fourth, I have to go without contact lenses for at least two weeks before they can do some measurements on my eyes. I am thinking that the last of these, two weeks or more with glasses is the worst. I feel my vision is best with contacts and I am uncomfortable out of the house with glasses. The doc checked my vision and I am legal to drive with my glasses, but still legal to drive and comfortable and confident to drive are different.

On the positive side, when the surgery is complete it is quite possible that I will only need glasses for reading. Because I have worn glasses for 64 years and contacts for 50 years, this will be life changing.

But, there are risks. I have short eye balls. This increases the risk of hemmorage and blindness as a result of the surgery. Research is in order.

I am drinking bourbon to help digest and cope with the situation.

Two blog posts in one day may allow me to keep up with January's good start.

 

Wireless Home

We've pulled the plug on our land line phone and ported the number to a cell phone. Recently we decided to leave AT&T after many years for both land line and cellular use. Our service with AT&T has been very good since we switched to iPhones almost three years ago. But T-mobile promised to reduce our monthly cost for cell service and provide unlimited data service and much better voice and messaging pricing in Europe. Even though we may only be in Europe a few weeks to a month a year, this is a nice bonus with T-Mobile. We are using one of our old iPhones for our home service and this is costing us only $10 a month versus the $45 a month the land line cost. Sweet. And, I purchased a device from Cobra, a PhoneLynx BT215 that allows us to use our old home phones via cellular. This is a neat device, I connected it to the cell phone via Bluetooth. Now we can call out and receive on the old handsets. A year of so ago I cut the cable and put an antenna on th house for TV. We still are wired for Internet access, I don't yet have an option to replace that.

Sharon and I now each have an iPhone 5S. A little longer and a little lighter than the iPhone 4 with some nice touches - like Siri and the touch ID. The camera is said to be better but I have yet to use it. The screen quality is better - more pixels? Sharon and I both think the sound quality during calls is better.

Enough with phones - on to SNOW! Yes, it is snowing again. Right now we have big, fat snow flakes coming down in Glen Ellyn. It is March 5th darn it! Enough with the snow and the cold. I don't want to go outside and shovel it or drive in it. I just want it to go away!

Did I mention Brady's third birthday in a previous post? No? Shame on me. We went to Davenport to join in celebration of Brady's third birthday. Everyone had a great time, especially Brady. Kathy put together a very nice little party and made all of us feel welcome and comfortable. I made margartias with my 1,2,3 recipe (1 part fresh lime juice, 2 parts orange liquor, and three parts tequila, add a little agave nectar to taste, throw in some ice cubes, pour and serve.) Kathy brought in Chik-fil-A to eat and bought an awesome cake!