East of the Border

My birthday present from Nancy this year was a day-long bus trip to a casino in Canada, just across the St. Clair River from Port Huron. Nancy, Richie, and I met up with the bus early Tuesday morning at the Finnish Center. We were definitely the youngsters on board the coach, surrounded by a crowd of old Finns. We picked up another group of gamblers enroute to Canada, most of them elderly women who apparently felt that wearing massive amounts of perfume would make them appealing or attractive or something. Or maybe they had just become hard-of-smelling in their old age.

The casino was great. It was just the right size - not so big that you got lost, yet not small, either. The place had a nice variety of slots and was pleasantly uncrowded. We all played a long time with the comp money given to us by the casino. We ate lunch at a lovely restaurant overlooking the river. At the end of the day, Nancy and Richie actually won some cash and I was happy to break even.

On our bus ride home we ran into rush hour traffic and rain. Fortunately, the previously overly fragrant ladies had lost most of their scent during the day. We arrived back at the Finnish Center around 6 p.m. and headed home. We all had a fun time and look forward to another casino bus trip in the future.

September Shindig

Yesterday we had the family celebration for those of us with September birthdays. Nancy hosted the bash and everyone had a boatload of fun. The weather was nice so we were able to party both inside and out. All in all, it was a great day!

Julia and Muffin strategically placed the candles on the cakes. Pattye and I were unable to blow out all of our candles in one breath. Laura, on the other hand, was successful.

Lights Out

I was leaving Richie's house the other night and flicked the CRV lights on as I backed out of his driveway. Richie was standing in his garage and I absolutely could not believe it when he waved his arms and told me that my right headlight was not working. Back in May, three head lamps burned out within a week on the CRV. What is going on with that? Jim is flying in from Texas tomorrow so I decided to once again leave the bulb-changing task for him. Hopefully this next headlight will stay lit for more than four months. Oy.

Hay Fever Season

I don't know about anyone else, but my allergies have been on the warpath recently. I was pretty congested when I was in Texas in early August and things did not improve (as I hoped they might) when I arrived back in Michigan a month ago. The congestion, headaches, scratchy throat, goopy eyes, sneezing, and coughing have just gone on and on. I have checked out allergy reports online and discovered that both weed pollen and mold spores have been in the high to very-high range around here. Ugh! My allergies had not been too bad the past few years, so I suspected that maybe I was "outgrowing" them; something my mother told me would happen eventually. Ha - no such luck! Now all I can do is take allergy pills as I wait patiently for the first good freeze that will kill most of the ragweed in southeast Michigan. Hopefully that day will come sooner rather than later this fall. This week would be fine with me.

North of the Border

This past weekend, Jim and I jetted off to Alberta, Canada. Jim's company's headquarters is located in Calgary and the company was throwing a shindig for their "Long Service" employees. (Jim has in 30 years!) We departed Detroit on Friday morning and stopped in Chicago enroute. While at O'Hare Airport, we needed to get from one concourse to another, so we followed signs to the "Gates E & F Shuttle." Both Jim and I were amused to find that in order to reach our connecting gate, we had to schelp our luggage down two flights of stairs in a dingy, concrete stairwell, walk outside to the ramp between two aircraft, and climb into an old van, where we then proceeded to be driven across the the bustling tarmac dodging taxiing planes and speeding luggage carts. We found it difficult to believe that in this day and age, at the world's 4th busiest airport, that there was not some sort of tram or train to whisk us between concourses. Odd. When we finally arrived at our gate, we discovered that our flight would be taking off about an hour late because a tire on the main landing gear of our airplane needed to be replaced. The captain was so chatty, amiable, and friendly that no one even minded the delay. His words of wisdom were, "we'd rather be on the ground wishing we were in the air than in the air wishing we were on the ground." Very true!

Jim and I arrived in Calgary to find much warmer-than-usual temperatures and beautiful blue skies. We spent the remainder of Friday walking around downtown, eating, drinking, and spending a few dollars at the local casino. On Saturday morning, we were signed up for a tour of Banff and had to meet our group at 7:45 a.m. in our hotel lobby. The 8-hour bus trip to the Canadian Rockies was simply wonderful and included numerous sightseeing stops, a gondola ride to the top of a mountain, an amazing lunch, and time for shopping. We arrived back at the hotel with an hour and a half to get ready for the "Awards Dinner" that night. There were company people from all across the U.S. and Canada in town for the weekend and Jim reconnected with some other "Long Service" employees that he hadn't seen in years. All in all, Jim and I had a great time and realized that it has been almost 20 years since the two of us have traveled anywhere without at least one of the boys in tow. Yesterday, Jim flew to Houston and I flew back to Detroit. Our flights were uneventful, which is a good thing considering it was the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and security was extra tight. The next time we will be eligible to attend the "Long Service Awards Dinner" will be in 2016 when Jim logs in 35 years. I hope he is still with the company then because it sure was a fun couple of days!

At the top of Sulphur Mountain. The little building at the peak above Jim's left shoulder is a weather station. We would have hiked over to it if we had more time.

Jim and I posed near a waterfall in the Rockies.

The town of Banff as seen from the gondola.

Curious Climate

The weather here in Michigan has been downright wacky lately. Our typical high this time of year is in the upper 70s. On Friday I was at Norm's pizzeria and - holy moly - I cannot remember ever feeling so hot. The temperature outside had risen to 99 degrees and the combination of heat, humidity, and 550 degree pizza ovens opening & shutting caused me to sweat more than I ever had before. I was not a pleasant sight.

It cooled off considerably over the weekend, and on Monday the high temps had dropped 30 degrees from Friday's oppressiveness. Yesterday and today, as Jacob walked to the high school bus stop at 6:10 a.m. (Eeew, too early!), it was in the low 50s. Today's high was only 64.

The weather in Texas has cooled off somewhat, too. Well, at least they are having normal highs of 91 or so instead of highs in the 100s. The horrible drought continues there, though, and the forecast does not call for any rain in the near future. The tropical storms this year seem to make landfall to the east and to the southwest of Houston, but never close enough to drop any precipitation at our house. Some of the numerous Texas wildfires have reached the county that neighbors ours and, in my opinion, that is a bit too close for comfort. It is weird that so much of the country is deluged with floodwater, yet the Lone Star State is dry as a bone. What's up with that, anyway?