23 November

23 November 2009

From the travels of Fran, Katie and Neal

Monday noon, 16 November, we met Charlene Sims and her husband Curtis in the Fairbanks airport. Charlene was an elementary school teacher for all of our kids except Steve Sweet, but she knows him too. Curtis is having both knees replaced in Anchorage on Wednesday.

We enjoyed a spectacular view of Denali and snow covered mountains of the Alaska Range as we flew from Fairbanks to Anchorage last monday.

While checking into our overnight lodgings in Seattle I discovered that I did not have my Alaska Drivers License. I put it and about $60 in bills in my dress pants pocket for the Harvest Ball last Saturday night so I would not have to carry my bulky wallet. We brought out passports rather then drivers licenses for personal identification as we boarded aircraft so I did not then realize I was not carrying my drivers license.

Steve easily found my drivers license and sent it by Fed Ex overnight service to me in care of Eileen and Ed in Austin.

While we had a rental car reservation for Austin, because I did not have a license, Fran drove us to Eileen and Ed's. The air and car trips were easy and uneventful.

Katie is a wonderful traveling dog. She just lay in her padded carrier at Fran's feet during flights from Fairbanks to Anchorage to Seattle to Austin. She never fussed nor made any noise. She?s pretty perky otherwise so we think the antibiotic she is taking for her urinary infection is working.

Wednesday evening Eileen and Ed invited several of their "usual suspect" friends, which included Mike Sweet to dinner in honor of our coming. A lively fun conversation and good food was had by all. Laura was not here as she had left early Wednesday morning to attend an art therapy conference in the Dallas area.

Thursday evening we met my cousin Dodi Watkins and her husband Jeff for dinner at The Oasis just west of Austin. We've been told that it is the third most popular place in Austin. It can seat roughly 2000 people in stacked up open balconies over looking Lake Austin, 450 feet below. It is a spectacular place, and has a reputation for outstanding sunsets. Dodi and I have been exchanging family history of late. Her grandmother was my father's sister. We had a great evening together.

Dodi and her husband have made their living on eBay for the last 11 years. They sell inexpensive imported jewelry at www.mrvalue.com.

While Fran, Eileen and Ed went to the gym Friday I kept Katie company and took some pictures of her in her Texas digs. Nearly 1 1/2 inches of welcome rain fell on Friday too.

The inexpensive car Tom Tom GPS I bought last year frustrated the hell out of me from the moment I turned it on here in Austin until Friday evening when I finally figured out what the problem was. The map onboard when I bought it was so bad for Alaska that I bought and installed a special Canada Alaska map some time ago. When I turned the unit on here in Austin it would tell me my exact coordinates but not show me any map. I finally figured out how to get into it while connected to my laptop and once there could see it had only one map stored in it and that it has such little onboard storage I would have to uninstall the Alaska Canada map to install a stateside map, which I did. It now works perfectly. I shared some of this frustration with Mel and Derek who borrowed it before they left Alaska to use in British Columbia. When I related this story in more detail to Derek and Mel, Derek responded that he had also ran into problems trying to use it to navigate in New York and Vermont. Derek said the "evil GPS" had more than once tried to direct him to drive into Lake Champlain :)

Fran and I met Michael and Laura's friend Cam for breakfast. Mike, Fran and I then went on a guided tour of the State Capitol of Austin Saturday afternoon. It is a magnificent and interesting building.

Melody emailed us a story so cute, I want to repeat it here.
Derek and Porter have been watching the Star Wars trilogy together for the past week or so (Porter has been begging to as some of his friends have seen it). Porter, being Porter, talks to Derek constantly during the movie, commenting on the the plot and characters and asking Derek many, many questions during and after the movie about what is going on. In the first movie, he was especially interested in the whole Luke Skywalker - Darth Vader relationship and fascinated by the idea of good vs. evil and how/why characters are "good guys" or "bad guys." Then, as they watched the Empire Strikes Back, he was very surprised to learn that Darth Vader was Luke's father.

I missed the exchange, but evidently Porter was at the table earlier this week, picking hesitantly at his taco dinner (that Derek had just spent an hour putting together) and asked, "But, Daddy, what made Darth Vader go to the dark side?" ?Derek couldn't help himself: ?"Well, one evening when they were having dinner, Luke Skywalker just wouldn't eat his tacos..."

Derek said he wished he could have caught the expression as Porter's eyes quickly got very wide. Then he looked at Derek with alarm for a second or two until, slowly, a big smile crept across his face. Pretty good b.s. awareness for only almost-5 :).

Molly Tannian Schneider sent the following, which caused a great deal of laughter here in the Lundy household:

Michigan football practice was delayed nearly 2 hrs this morning after a player reported finding an unknown white powdery substance on the practice field. After a complete analysis, FBI forensic experts said that the white substance, unknown to the players, was the goal line. Practice was resumed this afternoon after special agents decided the team was unlikely to encounter the substance again.......
Nat and Tina have major renovations underway in the basement of their Seattle home. They are reconfiguring space there for a guest room and a bathroom.

Kris emailed Sunday 22 November: Out at Neil and Marlyn's now. We had a full T-giving dinner last night since we'll be separated this year(I'm saving why they will be separated for next Monday's BAG). Marilyn cut her hand badly on a knife doing dishes and had to go to the ER and get some stitches on her right hand. ?She'll be fine, but it was a pretty deep and bad cut.
Noa is the first up, and playing with Cleo.

Ari's end of year soccer party is tonight. She had her last game yesterday. They lost but played an incredible game. She really throws herself into, and loves, the games.