Life is Good

It is 6 AM, and I am sitting at the table in the beach house watching the world wake up. Small and large boats are heading out of the bay into the ocean, there is a huge freight ship cruising by in the distance with with a eye-catching light display that makes me wonder where it is headed and what it is carrying. Several groups of walkers and runners have passed by on the paved path-what a great way to start the day. Several huge waves have just crashed into the rocky break wall on the far side of bay-maybe from the wake of that huge freighter. The skies are clear, promising sun and warmth later in the day. I'm not too sure of the outside temps yet, but folks look pretty bundled up.

Already, I am feeling rejuvenated by the green grass and sunny skies. I guess one just gets used to the dreary, gray weather that Rochester has served up this winter. 

I think I will go find a few more layers and head out for a walk before Jim and Tucker get up. 

Hope all is well.

Sunny Southern California

Here we all are in sunny San Diego. I left Rochester at 10 this morning amidst the blowing snow and arrived in San Diego to be greeted by sunny skies and temps in the 60's! What a shock to the system, a pleasant shock! Jim and Tucker were at the airport to meet me and carry my heavy suitcase and they whisked me away to this wonderful beach house. Here is the view that awaited me at the airport-palm trees!!!

Now if you are planning a trip to San Diego and are going to be here for more than a day or two, let me recommend this rental beach house. It is right on the beach with the ocean just a delightful sand stroll away. We went for a sunset walk on the beach right after we arrived and walked by several beach volleyball games and then watched the surfers catching the last of the waves in the daylight. This beach house has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a large open kitchen, living room, dining room area. The dining table is surrounded on 3 sides by large glass windows and sliding glass doors, which lead to a small deck. There is also a deck area on the ground level where there is a picnic table and a grill. Tucker hopes to go to a local fish market and get some fish for us to cook up on the grill one night for dinner. Sounds good to me.

For dinner tonight we met up with some of Jim's teammates at a restaurant in the Little Italy section of Downtown. As we were finishing up our delicious dinner, Corey called Tucker to say that they were walking around the Little Italy area too and wondered where we were. He stopped into our restaurant so we had a mini family reunion. 

I am really tired tonight with the jet lag and 2 poor night's sleep leading up to this trip. 

I did a good amount of knitting while traveling today. I finished my Sock Club sock and started the second one. I'm pleased with the way the first one looks. I did break 2 of my size 0 needles today, but fortunately I had brought some extras. I now have a reason to visit a San Diego knitting store to get some new spares! 

Race Day tomorrow. Check back for the latest and greatest news from Sunny San Diego.

Hope all is well.

San Diego Here I Come!

Three of the four Robinson family members are in San Diego and this member that is still at home can hardly wait to get there. I do need to go to bed real soon because I am quite tired after getting up at 4 this morning to take Jim to the airport. His flights were all on time and he and Tucker were settling in to our rental beach house when they called. Here are a couple of photos that they sent me. The first one is the view from our balcony, as you can see it was a cloudy afternoon. When Tucker called me later, it was raining. That weather is to move through tonight and the forecast is for sunshine and 70 degree temps for the next 4 days! Yippee!! The second photo if from the inside of the condo. Both Tucker and Jim agree that we got lucky renting this place off of the internet. 

Corey and his teammates and coaches arrived late this afternoon and they all met up at the race course to check it out. 

Grandpa Update: He had a good day at home and had a visit from a Visiting Nurse, who spent 2 hours with them. She cleared up the issue of using a gas stove while oxygen is being used in the house. She said that the oxygen just needs to be more than 12 feet from the stove. Phew-that problem is solved. They go to the doctor next week to see how long Grandpa will need to be on the oxygen. Did I mention how glad we are that Jeannie is in town with Grandpa and Grandma?

Happy Valentine's Day to one and all. The kids at school were very excited about the days' festivities and my last class of the day was on quite a sugar high! 

One of the packing decisions I needed to make tonight was what knitting projects to take. I decided to continue to work on my Sock Club socks and take another pair of socks in my checked bag if I happen to finish my Sock Club socks. That would be a lot of knitting, but I do have 2 long days of travel. 

My flight is scheduled to leave at 10 AM tomorrow and Gram is taking me to the airport at 8. If all goes well, I should be in SD shortly after 4 PM. The weather is looking good in the cities that I fly into and out of, so I'll hope for no mechanical problems. 

I have computer access while in SD so I should be able to blog. Check back for updates.

Unless I am too busy!

B, S, and L: Have a great trip to Ottawa and take a skate for me!

Hope all is well.

Home, the Good and the Bad

Home-the good news is that Grandpa came home from the hospital late this afternoon. There is an oxygen service coming to their house tonight to deliver a cannister of oxygen for Grandpa. I think Jeannie was his good luck charm. She was here for 24 hours and he managed to get himself well enough to come home.Home-the bad news is that Jim is home. He was supposed to fly to San Diego this afternoon but when he arrived at the airport he discovered that his flight from here to Newark was cancelled, thereby messing up his connection to San Diego. He will try again tomorrow morning, early, at 6 AM. That means we will have to leave for the airport at 4:30 AM. Yikes-that is early. I guess that will allow me time to pack for my trip before I go to school instead of having to do it when I get home. The flight was cancelled because of weather in Newark, but tomorrow's weather looks good for flying. I hope my flights go as planned on Friday because it would be difficult to make alternative arrangements and still get to see the race on Saturday. I will try not to worry about it because worrying will not change anything. 

We talked to Tucker tonight, who had a safe and uneventful trip from Bluff to San Diego. He said that at one point today the weather was so pleasant that he was driving along with the windows down! He is in the hotel room that Jim had booked for the 2 of them and Tucker said it is quite nice. There is even a telescope in the room for whale-watching from his ocean-view room! And poor Jim is stuck here! 

Corey flies to SD with his teammates and coaches tomorrow. Hopefully they will have good luck with their flights. 

So Jim just got home from Grandpa and Grandma's house, checking up on the patient. The oxygen guy was there and set up the compressor that concentrates the level of oxygen and delivers it to Grandpa through a hose. The guy was saying that there should be no open flames in their house because of the oxygen which poses a problem because Grandma cooks on a gas stove with open flames. Sounds like dinner out every night to me!!! I guess they are going to have to change how they do some things and see what their options are when Grandma needs to cook. Here is a photo of the oxygen set-up.

I will say it again, we are so glad that Jeannie is in town, as we are trying to head out of town. 

Time to go to bed since the 4 AM alarm is going to rattle our cage too soon.

Thanks to the folks who have made comments on the blog or via e-mail. I will try to address them in the near future.

Hope all is well.

Wheely Excited!

I am wheely, wheely excited! Today I bought the spinning wheel that I loved at spinning class last Saturday. But let's back up here a minute and let me tell you what happened at 5:40 AM today.The phone rang and I had to go downstairs to answer it because Jim had done something to the phone by our bed when our phone service was out. The call was a recorded message saying that Greece schools were closed (because of severe wind chills)!!! Unexpected days off are such a treat-I was so excited I couldn't go back to sleep. Jim and I talked about me getting the spinning wheel at my next class, but I thought if I got it today I could use it today! So here is a photo of my Ashford Traveller spinning wheel.

The wheel is made in New Zealand from New Zealand Sweet Birch wood. I tried 4 different wheels during my 3 spinning classes and this one felt the most comfortable and seemed to "fit" me best. 

I spent 2.5 hours spinning this afternoon and spun 2 bobbins of single ply yarn and then plied the 2 yarns together to make usable yarn. It was so enjoyable and my technique is getting better. I was able to make the adjustments to the wheel as the bobbin filled and seemed to have good control of the wheel speed. I finished spinning my one bag of Romney wool, and still have a small ball of roving from the Corridale sheep. Below is my bobbin full of finished yarn. Finished as far as spinning goes. I still need to "wet" finish it, which means I have to soak the yarn in water and then let it hang dry to set the twist.

After dinner we went to the hospital to see Grandpa, but he had just left the room to go for a CAT scan. We didn't stay because we didn't know how long he would be. We did leave 2 photos of his cats-that should put a smile on his face. We then stopped at Grandma's house and she gave us the Grandpa update. He now has pneumonia but his temperature has been normal all day. He did more walking and even some stair climbing today. So, I think today was a good day.

Jeannie comes tomorrow and Grandma will be glad to have her here. 

Jim spent a great deal of time yesterday replacing the headlight on my Beetle. When it wasn't apparent how to get to the lamp, he went on the internet and discovered that it is a very complicated job. But he was not deterred and using directions he found on the web, he got the job done. That probably saved us about $100 by not having to go to the dealership. Well Done!

Hope all is well.

Grandpa Update 2

We visited Grandpa this afternoon for an hour or so and he was sitting up in a chair when we arrived. He had just gotten back from a walk around the hospital floor and was pretty tired but in good spirits. He had a fever earlier this morning, but none while we were there. He thinks he will be in the hospital for another couple of days. It would be really difficult for him to come home if he cannot walk confidently. 

Grandma was at the hospital for a couple of hours today, but this is a pretty stressful time for her. We stopped over to their house after the hospital and she was resting. We talked about where we could put a bed downstairs for when Grandpa comes home, so we may need to go over and get that set up in the next day or so.

Jeannie comes to town on Tuesday and that will be perfect timing. She will be a big help to Grandma when Grandpa comes home. Plus her time in Rochester will cover most of the time we are in San Diego.

From a warm winter day on Saturday to an Arctic blast today. There was a bit of sun today, which is a spirit-lifter even if the temps are in the teens!

Back to work tomorrow.

Hope all is well.