Now I know where I am

I glanced at the title of the last entry, and that's how I decided what to title this one.

I am sitting in our green room, also known as the Florida room. About 90 minute ago Kathy and I arrived home to a bit of activity that ended and then the house was quiet.
Seconds ago I looked in on her and she was sitting in the other room with her laptop and we both said, "Home again, home again, jiggity jig".

This Labor Day weekend was a vacation weekend for us. A lot has occurred in our lives this year, and about 5 days ago we talked about doing something special this long weekend. Finally Friday night we started planning our get away with the idea of a trip to Ohio this time. After searching on line at B and B's, I was a bit concerned due to the holiday weekend, if we would find ANYTHING!

Well Friday night we packed up some things, and Saturday I made about 3 phone calls and found a place called the Bay Haven Inn in Port Clinton, Ohio that had an opening for 2 nights! Exactly what I was looking for. Overlooking the south shore of Lake Erie, and near a few tourist destinations, and less than 3 hours away.

We finished packing and off we went with rain clouds above us all the way there and it was very windy too when we arrived. Since we had no agenda, but to relax, it could have rained the entire time and we would have been fine. Then the search began for a coffee shop. Up and down the highway we traveled, finally heading about 20 miles south to a Starbucks Kiosk sitting in the produce section of Kroger’s!

Saturday night we went to a restaurant called THE GARDEN, just about 2 blocks away and lingered 2 hours over dinner.

Sunday morning, we awoke to a cloudy sky, headed downstairs to meet the other guests at the B & B for breakfast and discovered an energetic man of 41 with his wife, 2 sons and mother were occupying the other two guest rooms. They also were from out of town, near Columbus Ohio, and they had a boat docked near by. They gave us a couple pointers on how to get to an island known as Put-in-Bay, Ohio; and after breakfast, off we went!

The weather broke (that means changed) and the Sunshine took over. With the coolness of the season and the warmth of the sun, it was a perfect day. After taking the Miller ferry to the Island, we rented a golf cart which is the most common form of transportation besides bikes and busses. We headed downtown where Kathy shopped, and ate at a great little restaurant with a lake view. We moved the table around to sit side by side and the waitress made some comment like, “well, that’s different”. Maybe we will start a new trend.



We took a walk down one of the peers where there was a young boy fishing. He was there from Michigan with his grandparents. Later we drove our golf cart to a place called the Butterfly House, where they have over 7000 butterflies flying around and they tell you how to get a butterfly to land on your finger.


Next we crossed the street to see the Crystal Cave. This is a part of a winery and it turns out you have to go on a Winery tour first, and then they take you on the Crystal Cave tour, and give you a sample of their wine. My dad would have had something to say about the whole racket they had going on, and as Kathy and I were driving home today, I came up with a way to make it a much more pleasant experience for everyone, but they’re going to have to pay me for this marketing idea!

Finally Kathy challenged me to a game of miniature golf and was ahead for the first several holes. At her suggestion, I then took my jacket off and proceeded to come back from behind and beat her. Uh, let me clarify, I won the game; I did not beat my wife, although she threatened to club me near the end.

After a trip back to the mainland from the island, we stopped and dined for a couple hours at a place called Mon Ami, and then headed back to the B and B.

Today was a relaxing drive home after breakfast and now I sit here relaxed and refreshed, thankful for the many blessings including my wife Kathy.

Do you know where you are?

I recently discovered that this blog was being linked to by another blog. This particluar blog you are reading focuses on the more personal side of my life and there is another one that is updated regularly that is focused on what I spend a majority of my waking hours doing. Here it is and feel free to comment on either one.

Bike rides and family

Well, Kathy and I, (or is it me and Kathy? Don't know and don't care) along with her brother Mike took a bike ride today. I knew it was going to be a long one, but not sure how long exactly. We went to New Haven, along a new section of the river greenway that just opened up this year I believe, connecting New Haven with Fort Wayne. There is a bit of maneuvering to get to the greenway. We are about 2 1/2 miles further away than last year. When I first met Kathy she lived about 3 blocks from the greenway.

It was a fun enjoyable adventure. Nobody would admit to being tired at first. Fortunately we had a plan in mind as to where to go and have lunch so we were all on the same page the whole trip.

The trip home, we went our separate ways. But got back within 15 minutes of each other.

The memory that I had just before coming home was of my Dad and I riding in "Bike-a-thons" each year. When he was my age of 46, I was 17, so I had flashbacks of thinking, "so, this is what it must have been like for my Dad to keep up with his only son."

The other memory came to me while we were eating lunch, and thinking about the latest e-mail I got about my Uncle Carl. He had a heart attack this week and with all the other health problems he has had in the past 12 or so months, this is finally going to be the end. My Aunt's last e-mail on Thursday night:

Dear all,
Late last night Carl had a very serious heart attack. I talked to the cardiac doctors this morning. They were very honest in telling me that Carl has almost nothing left to keep his heart going. They do not know any more than I do how long it can last. He is very weak and can hardly talk at times and is in a lot of pain. We are trying to decide what our next plan should be. Carl is not going to recover and we need to concentrate on keeping him comfortable and pain free. He is still in the hospital but out of I.C.U..Since there is little they can do, it seems they are already treating him as a hospice patient. My heart is breaking and this is very difficult to write.
Love, Lorraine

I remember the last days and weeks of Carl's brother's life, my Dad and sadness comes over me. When I made it home after the bike ride I dreaded looking at e-mail, but as of right now at 4pm on Saturday, there is nothing. And at this point hearing nothing about Uncle Carl is good news.