There are pics this week.
Mom & Glen
Our news this week was big and bigger. The first big news was a visit to West Palm Beach. We had a wonderful time with Mom & Glen. We arrived around Noon Monday. This was Martin Luther King day and a holiday for Danita. The big activity for the day was upgrading Mom’s computer to Windows 10. After the initial shock of seeing so many changes in Windows, Mom was delighted to learn that the only real change for the way she uses her computer is how to shut the computer down. And even that is a pretty small change.
Mom & Danita
Tuesday Mom and I went out to pick up a new rug for their appartment. After that I installed a DVD player. During the summer when the “snow birds” go north, there’s not a lot if entertainment in Century Village. There’s a library very close to Century Village that has a huge collection of movies on DVD. They’re available to borrow for free, but they’re no good without a player. After the installation, we spent a lot of time practicing switching between the DVD and cable TV. Then we went to the library and borrowed “Kiss me Kate” from 1953 with Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel — an oldie for sure but a very good adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew”. For dinner, we went to a very nice seafood restaurant, Bimini Twist.
Glen and Mom (be sure to click this one to see it full size)
Wednesday we went out for lunch. We went to a hole-in-the-wall Greek place called Souvlaki Grill. It was a bit of a drive, and it wasn’t much to look at, but the food was very good. Mom and Glen weren’t up to going out Wednesday afternoon, so Danita and I went out alone to explore the South Florida Fair. Our favorite was the animal exhibits, especially the rabbits and chickens. They had an amazing variety of exotic breeds. We saw the best of the best. Every animal on display was an award winner.
Thursday we went out for breakfast. We visited a very good breakfast-and-lunch restaurant called Pete’s Place. We all had a great breakfast. Danita’s stuffed french toast was the most outstanding selection. Mom decided she didn’t like the rug we had picked up Tuesday, so after breakfast we returned it. On the way home, we stopped at a farmer’s market and bakery to pick up some honey. The market is close to Century Village and on the way home, but Mom & Glen didn’t go there often because it was run down. It was lucky we stopped because we found that a new owner had taken it over about three months ago. What a difference the new owner made. The place was popping with customers and overflowing with colorful, attractive produce. The bakery was well-stocked with freshly baked delicious treats. Glen is quite fond of apple turnovers. Mom brought some home and found them to be excellent.
Our flight home was Thursday evening. This was quite lucky for us because the great blizzard of the 2015 / 2016 season was starting the next day. Every last seat was taken. Our flight home was a little late, but otherwise uneventful. We had intentionally used up the food in our house before we left. Danita got up early Friday morning to go to the grocery store before going to work. She found Wegman’s had all hands on deck, desperately trying to keep the shelves stocked as everybody in the area laid in supplies for the big storm. She found most of what she wanted. I tag-teamed her and went out to more stores looking for those things Wegman’s didn’t have, while Danita went to work. It took three more stores, but I was able to get everything we wanted (including the snow emergency wine, naturally). UMBC closed the university at 1, and Danita was home an hour before the snow started.
Earlier this year, our power company offered a free energy saving thermostat. Its main feature is that it’s hooked up to our Wi-Fi so we can control it remotely. We decided to take advantage of this feature by setting the temperature back to 45 when we left. While we were in the WPB airport waiting to board, I used the airport Wi-Fi and my tablet to set the temperature back up to 68 where we normally keep it. It was a great idea, but it was so cold outside that when we got back, the house was only up to 50. That’s where it stayed overnight while we snuggled under an extra layer of covers. It took until 2 PM Friday to get the temperate back where we keep it. And that required running the fireplace most of the morning. I wanted to keep track of the house temperature but I was upstairs working on my computer. Running up and down the stairs wouldn’t do, so I spent much of the morning with my tablet open on the side so I could watch the temperature through the Wi-Fi.
The snow storm was our other big news for the week. It started snowing Friday afternoon and didn’t finish until Saturday evening. Depending on who you listen to, “Snowzilla” was the biggest snow in Baltimore history. It was officially a blizzard. It dumped over two feet of white stuff. I remember “Snowmaggedon” of 2010, which dumped 3 feet of snow. But that was two storms back-to-back. I spent quite a bit of time moving snow off the deck. I was concerned that the weight of the snow wasn’t good for the deck. Besides that, snow was blowing up against the house, and I didn’t want it to start melting and leaking through the doors. Besides, what else was I going to do? Everything around here is still closed. UMBC announced they will be closed Monday. Our neighborhood streets and driveways aren’t cleared yet. If they were, the rest of the side streets around here are mostly still blocked.
We had a good time during Snowzilla. I spent a lot of time working on the new website feature. Danita spent a lot of time cooking. Last night we had a snow emergency wine and snack party. (I read that stores sell more junk food than anything else before a big storm.) We never lost power, we had plenty of supplies, we should be cleared out sometime tomorrow.
That’s plenty of news for this week. I’m off to a snow emergency ice cream party tonight. I hope this finds everybody doing well.