Sandals Royal Barbados

Barbados

Last week we escaped the cold temperatures with a trip to the all-inclusive Sandals Royal Barbados. This was the second time we have stayed at a Sandals, but our first time visiting Barbados. We had a direct flight from Charlotte to Christ Church, Barbados, and were blessed that no one occupied the seat between us. Entering the country was quite easy, and we had a short 15 minute drive on the Sandals bus to our resort.

The Barbados property actually contains two Sandals resorts side by side, giving us access to 21 dining options and multiple bars and swimming pools. We stayed on the Royal side, which is newer, and had an end room on the top floor (5th) of building 7. This afforded us a partial ocean view, which was great to enjoy from the large balcony. Our location also enabled us to listen to the live music each evening from the privacy of our balcony if we so desired.

Some of the online reviews of the resort were fairly negative, but I tried to keep an open mind going into the trip. I'm glad I did, because one thing I have learned is that people like to complain. We found the staff to be almost overwhelmingly helpful and friendly, most of the food was very good, the drinks were tasty and for the most part not watered down, and housekeeping took great care of our room.

Was service sometimes slow? Yes, but you are on island time so just accept it. Our one try at room service was dismal. The food took over two hours to get to us (we were told 40 minutes), my sandwich was nearly inedible due to being soggy and they forgot to include a spoon for my soup. But that was just one meal, so no big deal. The food at the specialty restaurants exceeded our expectations, and we particularly enjoyed our experience at the Japanese restaurant.

Kimonos

We took advantage of the snorkeling trip offered by Sandals. Unfortunately the boat was not located at the resort, and it took way longer to get to the boat and back than the actual time we spent snorkeling. That is one area I might mark them down a little. At other resorts we have typically been taken to a couple different areas to snorkel. In this case they took us to one, and it was fairly crowded with other excursion boats. Nevertheless, it was cool to see the sunken ship, the fish, and especially the sea turtle!

snorkeling

We hired a private driver to give us a tour of the island. Barbados is only 166 square miles, but the road system and traffic make it impossible to get anywhere fast. So in our four hours we traveled from our location in the south up the west coast to the north coast and back. We saw a little bit of Christ Church, then visited St. Nicholas Abbey and its rum distillery. The tour of the house and the rum operations was very interesting.

St. Nicholas Abbey

Overall we had a wonderful time in Barbados. We met some nice people from Great Britain, Canada and the United States, enjoyed the resort grounds with its wildlife, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and made some great memories.

Sandals sunset

Lighting the Christmas Spirit

We do very little exterior Christmas lighting ourselves, but we love to look at what other's have done. While we haven't had an opportunity to go see any large light installations yet, we did go to see a house that is in Mount Holly.

This guy does extreme Halloween decorations as well, apparently. We haven't seen those, but this is our second year of driving to his neighborhood to see the Christmas display. It is so large that you really need to park and get out of the car to truly appreciate the extent of the decorations. It really put me in the Christmas spirit for sure!

the Christmas house

My Christmas cards were put in the mail the beginning of the month. All of my shopping is done, and my last two gifts should arrive in the mail today. Once I get those wrapped, I will definitely be ready for Christmas! 

Thankful for Friends

fall is hanging on

We had a non-traditional Thanksgiving this year. Our kids were not coming into town, and we were not traveling anywhere. We could have attended the Thanksgiving gathering here in the neighborhood, which is comprised of other people like us who do not have family living in the area. We have gone to that in the past, and it was very enjoyable.

But we found out that another couple in our community were not spending the day with their kids either. They are neighbors who have turned into good friends. So we decided to just have them over for the meal. We made the turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing and gravy. They provided two side dishes, rolls and a couple of pies. I made a cute pumpkin cheese ball, which was served with crackers, to tide us over until all the food items were cooked. Everything turned out great, and after stuffing ourselves (pardon the pun) we played a rousing game of Mexican Train.

Thanksgiving 2024

When we moved here five years ago, knowing that we had no family or friends in the area, we could only hope that we would make new friends in our community. We never imagined that we would find people that would become closer to us than our own family members, or that we would share holidays and vacations with them. We have a lot to be thankful for, that is for sure!

Oh Deer!

The other day I was looking out my back window and caught a movement on the opposite shore. We keep a pair of binoculars on the windowsill for this very reason, and I saw that there was a young buck who was going to try to cross the lake. The water is very low due to residual storm repair from Hurricane Helene, so I could see why he thought it was safe to cross.

He was pretty confident at first. The many sandbars gave him a good footing. But I don't think he anticipated the strong current once he got to the main channel. He was struggling to come straight to the shore down at the bottom of our property, but he wasn't going to make it. Thankfully, he ended up turning and going with the current instead.

Rooting for him from the yard, I watched as he swam downstream but still towards our shore. He ended up making it to the slope of my neighbor's yard two doors down. It's hunting season in our area. Did he sense he would be safer on our side as no hunting is allowed in the neighborhood?

young buck

Mount Holly Lantern Day Parade

Lantern Parade

With all the drama surrounding the theft of my rental car (and there are zero updates there), I forgot to post about my community's entry in the 7th Annual Mount Holly Lantern Day Parade. This was the fourth year that Imagery has entered the parade (our community was only formed in 2019).

The theme was "The Fantastical World of Flight", and the options of what to build were endless. Our design team takes into account the fact that we have many people in the neighborhood who, while they may never help in the building process, want to walk with us in the parade. So obviously we would not choose to build one large lantern, like Dumbo for example. We like to have a number of lanterns in our entry. The second consideration is that we want to appeal to the kids, as there are many of them along the parade route. For those reasons we decided to go with Santa and his reindeer.

We constructed a six foot long sleigh for Santa, and built his nine reindeer, each of whom was five feet long. We added ten twelve inch square gift boxes, four lollipops and four candy canes. All of these were constructed of wire, lit with fairy lights, then covered with two layers of tissue paper. We also have a lit banner with our name - Imagery - in from of our entry. We had 32 people in our unit, including two of our own parade marshalls to keep people in line and five of the Singing Elves from our community. 

We had requested to be last in the parade, and our wish was granted. What better way to end any parade than with Santa? We were greeted with many claps and cheers, as well as spontaneous renditions of "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" along the parade route. And we won First Place in the "Group" category for the fourth year in a row! 

Imagery Lantern Parade entry

Next year's theme is "Into the Deep Blue Sea". We have our thinking caps on...

Stolen Rental Car Part Four

A couple of miracles occurred today with regards to the stolen rental car. I contacted the police department again and left a message for my responding police officer to give me a call regarding the recovered rental car. He actually returned my call, and seemed puzzled as to why I wanted to speak to him. He did not realize the car had been located, but when he looked at the police report he could see that it had been found by the city police and that I had been contacted. I asked him if the car had made it to their lot, and he said no. He ended up calling their towing vendor, and they said they had no record of my car. He then found out that the car was still in the lot used by St. Louis city police. He said they have no intentions of taking possession of the car to dust for fingerprints as they have more serious crimes to attend to than a stolen car. This statement confirms my suspicions on how my case has been treated from the beginning. At least I know where I stand with this.

The second miracle is that when I called this same police department and asked for records, I actually got a live person and not the recording to leave a message as I had the previous five times I have called. The lady checked into my case, said the record was ready and could be released, but that I had to go to her city's website and fill out a form and pay $10. Then she can email me the report. I have done that, so now I wait for the email.

Since I was on a positive roll, I again called Budget's customer service number to request a copy of my rental agreement - for the fourth or fifth time. This representative asked how close I was to the rental office so I could just go in there and get a copy. I explained that I am in North Carolina and the office is in St. Louis. He then said I was talking to reservations and not customer service, which is odd because it is the same number I called all the other times when I spoke to customer service reps. He said he would transfer me, but after fifteen minutes on hold, I hung up. I went ahead and filled out a form online to try to get a copy of my agreement, and I attached a copy of my confirmation email showing that I had indeed rented the car. I just got an email back from them stating that since I made the reservation online, no signature is required so they cannot provide me with a signed agreement. I need the signed agreement for the insurance claim. What a trick bag I am in!

Stolen Rental Car Part Three

Budget Fastbreak

With Budget I am a Fastbreak member, and have been for many years. I reserve my car online and either go to a special line when I pick the car up or am told through the app where to get my car and bypass a line altogether. When I rented a car from them in Des Moines earlier in September, I checked in at a desk in the airport but was given no paperwork. She just went from my confirmation number.

In St. Louis I was directed to a spot in the Budget lot, but no car was there so we had to go inside the building. Again, I gave the clerk my confirmation number and she checked my drivers license before telling me which Avis spot to go to. When we left the parking lot, a woman scanned our transponder and checked my drivers license to make sure it matched their records. Again, I was given no paperwork and I didn't think anything of it.

When I logged into my Budget account at home, mysteriously only the Des Moines rental shows up. Not the St. Louis rental. I called customer service to request a copy of my rental agreement, and the gal apologized that it hadn't been emailed to me following my rental. She requested my reservation number, which I gave her, confirmed my email address and said I would have it within four hours. Two days later it had not arrived. I called customer service again, and a different gal said she didn't see a copy of my agreement, and that she would have to request it from the local (St. Louis) office. She said that would take 7-10 business days, and then it would be emailed to me. 

Two weeks later I still don't have it, so I called again. This time the gal said that it looked like I had never signed a rental agreement, and that I would have to contact the St. Louis office myself. She provided me with a phone number, which actually took me to the airport itself and not Budget. The man who answered kindly gave me the Budget number. When you call that number, you get a series of choices and none of them takes you to a live person. Most of them dump you back into the main Budget customer service center. I'm at a loss as to what to do with them at this point.

In the meantime I have called the police department records center five times, never getting a live person but only a recording. Five times I have requested the police report for my stolen car, explaining that I need if for filing a claim on the car. I have received no callbacks.

Very early in the morning on Friday, October 25th I received a phone message from a police officer in the district where the car had been stolen, telling me that a City of St. Louis police officer had found my rental car. The message gave me the officer's name and told me to call the city police. A phone number would have been helpful to me. After muddling my way through the various phone options, I left a message last Friday but did not hear back from him.

The city police officer works nights, so I had to figure out when I could call that he would be there. So on Tuesday I called at 5:30 CST and was able to talk to him. He said that a male from Avis/Budget saw that their stolen car was pinging at a certain address, and asked that they try to locate the car. The officer responded and found the car where they said it was pinging. He told me the car did not appear to be damaged, and the dash looked okay though he didn't have a key to get into it. He saw a female driver's license on the floor of the back seat, but couldn't tell if it was mine. This is interesting because a woman (maybe) reached out to me through Facebook Messenger to tell me that her grandson had found my driver's license, and that she has it in her possession. She wanted to talk to me. I checked out her Facebook profile, and things seemed a little sketchy to me so I didn't talk to her. If my license is really in the car still, she was obviously on a fishing expedition.

The city cop also said the Florida plate had been switched out to one from Missouri. They took the car to their impound lot as the other police department said they would come and get it so they could process it for fingerprints. As of the time he and I talked, the car was still in the city lot. 

I left a message for the original responding officer to call me with an update on the case since the car has been recovered. I am curious to know if any of my other personal items are in the trunk. I'm hoping he will call me back, and that he can assist me in being able to get a copy of their police report.

Stolen Rental Car Part Two

With the warning that I needed to be at the airport really early in order to try and get clearance to fly without any identification, we were dropped off at Lambert St. Louis International Airport three hours before our flight. We first stopped at the American counter, where you normally have to show your driver's license to get your boarding pass. It helped, I think, that I had a credit card with my name on it as it had been in the gas pump when the car was stolen. The desk agent printed out my boarding pass, as well as Jim's, and directed us to TSA downstairs. 

When we got to the TSA agent, I explained that my rental car had been stolen, along with my purse, ID, and all my luggage. He asked if I had a piece of mail on me. Really? I said I had nothing but my credit card. At that point he called for another TSA agent, and had us stand off to the side. A female agent came to get me, and told Jim he had to go on through the checkpoint as he normally would. She took me to a separate desk, where she proceeded to ask me a bunch of questions. Then she said she had to call someone else (Homeland Security?), and explained that they would ask me a series of questions. She said I would only have one try to answer them correctly. Okay, no pressure... I guess I did okay, but then she took my new phone, my credit card, and one of my shoes for a special test. I went through the security line, and got some extra patting down. All that was just fine with me, and I was able to board and go home. I do have global entry status, and I'm wondering if that helped. 

Our neighbor picked us up at the airport in Charlotte, and while driving home we noticed that both Jim and I had a bunch of "No Name" calls on our phones. When he got one that said Creve Coeur, he answered in case it was something to do with the car. It turned out to be a north county police officer who was looking for me. I took the call, and it ends up he had found my suitcase and my iPad. He had gone to the parking lot of an apartment complex to arrest a suspect in a different car theft. When he got out of his car, he saw a transponder laying in the lot. His first thought was that it had been pulled out of a rental car, so he started searching the area. Thats when he found my suitcase and the luggage tag nearby that they had torn off. He also found the iPad, which he opened up. He saw a message from someone asking if I got home okay. He just asked me to describe the iPad, which I could as it has a case on it.

He told me I needed to pick up my stuff by 7:00 that day as that is when his shift ended. If I didn't come and get it, it would be boxed up and taken to the central headquarters in Clayton, and it would be harder for me to retrieve. I explained that I was back in Charlotte, but would see if a friend could come and get it. I admit that I was surprised they didn't want to dust the items for fingerprints, but maybe I've watched too much crime t.v. My friend was able to go and collect my stuff, and we did a FaceTime call when he got back to his house and opened up the suitcase. It was obvious that they had gone through everything as my packing cubes were all emptied out. Some items (like the iPad and my pickleball paddle) had been in the backpack, but the paddle was now in the suitcase. My friend shipped the suitcase and iPad to me the next day.

When I received my stuff, the suitcase was all muddy but in good working condition. As I went through everything, I realized that the packing cube with my dirty laundry in it was missing. So I didn't get back some pickleball clothes, underwear, shorts and shirts. Also out of my makeup bag they took my mascara, nail clippers and tweezers. The backpack, which has not been found, contained ear buds, my purse, charging cords for all my devices, sports glasses and a pair of sandals. 

The thieves managed to use my debit card (even though they didn't have the PIN number) five times before the bank shut my card down. They used it immediately after the theft of the car, so before I was able to finally get to a phone to call and cancel the card. My bank's fraud department is taking care of the charges. I called the police department where the car had been stolen and told them the addresses where my air pods and phone were located, and also where the debit card had been used. I talked to a detective (not the responding cop), and he said the debit card locations would be very helpful. And I said yes, especially if they can match the description with my eyewitness. He said, "You had an eyewitness?" And I told him about the lady on the motorcycle. I said she couldn't hang around and wait for the police as they were trying to outrun the rain from the hurricane, but she gave us her card. He asked if I gave it to the cop, and I said we tried to but he said he didn't need it as he would review the surveillance tape. Which then made me ask the detective if they had seen the tape? He said there was no record of it, so I was sure it was long erased by then. While I had him on the phone, I told him I had left two messages with his department requesting the police report. I need it for insurance purposes. He said it would be 7-10 days before it would be available. He did take down the names and numbers of the two people who had been filling up the same time as me.

In reviewing our documents, I found that the credit card I used to pay for the car rental covers damage as well as theft of rental cars. I have rental car coverage on my automobile policy, but I decided to file the claim through the credit card company instead. Virginia Surety handles these claims, and they need a copy of the police report and rental agreement to process the claim. I also filled out on online claim form with Budget to cover all my bases with them. They, too need a copy of the police report.

Little did I know how problematic it would be to get a police report or a rental agreement. Stay tuned...

Stolen Rental Car

Toyota Camry

My flight back to Charlotte from St. Louis was scheduled in the early afternoon of September 28th. I left my friend's house at 9:45, and drove my Toyota Camry rental car to a Phillip 66 gas station that was located near the rental return area across from Lambert St. Louis International Airport. I pulled up to the front pump, exited the car and inserted my credit card into the pump, which was on the driver's side of the car. There was a man at the pump next to me, and a man and a woman on motorcycles at the pump behind me. It was 10:30 on a Saturday morning.

I had just unscrewed the gas cap and was looking to see if the car had a place to store it while filling up, and the lady with the motorcycle started yelling. I looked at her to see what was wrong, and she said, "Your car! Your car!" I turned back around and saw my car moving. My first thought was that I had forgotten to put it in park. But then the car sped up and pealed around the back of the station. The woman yelled that the guy who took my car had gotten out of a black car, which I saw going out the opposite exit of the gas station. The black car had no markings or license plate on it. Apparently the thief got out of the black car, crouched down low and climbed into the passenger door, then scrambled over the center console to get to the driver's seat. I had not unlocked the passenger door that day, and apparently the car did not have the safety feature of only unlocking the driver's door when the button is pushed on the key fob. My own car automatically does that, so it didn't occur to me to check the other door when I got out.

To say that I was stunned is a vast understatement. I just could not comprehend what had just happened. My phone was in the car, and I keep my driver's license, insurance card and debit card in the phone case. And of course my suitcase and backpack were in the vehicle since I was on my way to the airport.

I dashed into the station and asked the clerk to call the police because my car had just been stolen. He said he didn't know the phone number. Really? It's 911, I told him. Then he said he had to call his manager to get the number. If he wasn't in on this whole deal, I'd be greatly surprised. While waiting for him, the man at the next pump came in. I'll refer to him as John, though I know his real name. He gave me his phone so that I could call Budget to let them know about the car. I explained to the lady who answered the phone that my car had just been stolen. She asked me for the license number. Again, really? I said the car is gone, I don't know the license number. Then she wanted my reservation number. Hello, my phone is gone along with the car so I can't look that up! I suggested she just look up my rental agreement with my name. By then the police had shown up, and I said to the woman, "You have a transponder on that car, can't you tell the police where it is right now?" She told me that I needed to just calm down. Hmmm...I handed her over to the policeman so he could give her his information.

John let me use his phone to call my husband, who was off on a motorcycle trip with his friend somewhere in the middle of Missouri. His plan was to fly home on the following Wednesday. I knew Jim wouldn't answer a call from an unknown number, so I left a message. Fortuitously, he and his friend had just stopped for a break so he actually listened to the voicemail right away. He said they would head back to St. Louis immediately.

In the meantime, John tried to give the policeman the business card from the eyewitness (woman on the motorcycle saw it all), and he said he didn't need it as he would review the surveillance tape. He never interviewed me to see what happened or what I had in the car, or John to see what he knew. He did say that four cars a week (!) get stolen from that gas station as well as the QT down the street. He was very matter of fact about it. He said they were going to go down the road, throw my stuff out the window, and use the car for other mischief.

The cop then asked where I wanted him to take me because "ma'am, it isn't safe for you here." He wanted to take me back to Budget and when I asked why he said so I could rent another car. I reminded him that I was on the way to return the car so I could fly home. And he said you aren't going home today with no ID. The cop gave me his name, badge number, and case number, and then he and the other two cops took off.

I was at a loss as to what to do or where to go. I don't have any phone numbers memorized (except my husband's) since they are stored in my phone, and I couldn't even come up with anyone's address. My new friend John (who is a professional driver) said he would take me where I needed to go. I didn't know the address of where my husband would ultimately show up, but I could direct John on how to get there.

John was a rock for me, and somewhat restored my faith in humanity. His wife made some calls to see how I could go about flying with no ID. She found some helpful information. When we got to our friend's, I had no way to pay him for all of his help and kindness. But I got his address so I could mail him a thank you gift.

Once inside our friend's house I used their phone to cancel my debit card and talk to the airline. My ticket allowed for no changes, and while they were sympathetic they would not budge on giving me a credit for the flight. Once Jim got there we went to the Apple store to replace my phone. While the employee was able to get me set up with my Verizon service, we could not transfer anything over to my new phone because I couldn't sign into my iCloud account. Where is my password stored? On the stolen phone. Luckily I had my phone passcode protected, so the thieves couldn't get into it and it no longer had any cell service on it once I transferred to the new phone. And with the new phone, the police could get in contact with me if need be.

We had to cancel Jim's flight for Wednesday, and again lost that money. We booked both of us to fly home the next day. That night I slept in a shirt I borrowed from Jim as all I had were the clothes on my back. Sunday at the airport I found out it is possible to fly without an ID. More in my next post...

You Can Go Home Again - But You Might Not Want to

Last month we went back to St. Louis to visit friends and family. We also made sure to hit some of our favorite food and tourist attractions. For the first part of the trip, Jim and I were together for the food and attractions. Our first stop after picking up the rental car was Imo's Pizza, and we hit the one near our old house since it was too early to check in to our hotel. After eating, we stopped by Jim's old business, SWT Design, to say hello to some folks. Then we drove by the house that had been our home for 32 years. It was so nice to see that the new owners are taking good care of the 1902 beauty.

Imo's & Favazza's

That night we had dinner with Jim's former business partner and his wife at Favazza's, which is our favorite Italian restaurant in St. Louis. The next day we visited the Missouri Botanical Garden, Merb's Candies, Dad's  Cookie Company, and Ted Drewe's. We were saddened to hear that Ted had died the previous month. He was quite an institution in the area! We had dinner with another couple that night.

MoBot, Merb's, Dad's, & Drewe's

The rest of our time together passed quickly, with stops at the Missouri History Museum to see the World's Fair exhibit, looking at new SWT projects in the area, and finding a nice spot for a sunset. It was also great to see my sisters family for just the second time since she passed in 2020. We, of course, managed to get in a little pickleball as well.

Missouri History Museum, Creve Coeur Lake, MO Pickleball Club

Jim then met up with his motorcycle riding buddy, and they took off south for a few days ride. I drove out to my friend Diane's to stay with her for a bit. She has a new house out in the O'Fallon area, and it was fun to see her place. We spent time eating, walking, going to parks, and checking out the Rawlings baseball museum in Westport.

fun adventures

The fun times were somewhat marred by Hurricane Helene, which somehow managed to swing up and around to North Carolina. With all the rain, Duke Energy had to release water from the Lake Norman dam, which then flooded our lake and subsequently the lake below us. Our community was without power for about 30 hours, so of course food spoilage was a big concern. Our area was very lucky compared to what went on in the mountain region of North Carolina, however. It will take years to recover there.

My flight to come home was on September 28th, while Jim was scheduled to come back on October 2nd. But something happened to my rental car on the 28th that messed up all those plans. And it is why I may not want to go home again. I'll write about that in my next post.

High School Memories

Charlotte to Des Moines

My high school class recently had it's 50th reunion, and we flew to Des Moines for the festivities. I can remember when my mother-in-law told me she was going to her 50th and I thought, "Man, you are old!" And somehow here I am...

The flight to Des Moines was blissfully uneventful. It wasn't until we got to the Budget Rental Car counter that we encountered a snafu. I had requested a small SUV, which usually means a Rav 4 or the like. The lady told me that she had a Jeep Wrangler for me. I informed her that no, she did not because I requested a "small" SUV. She said my options were the Jeep, a minivan (are you kidding me???) or a pickup truck (seriously? I'm 5'3" on a good day.) 

I chose the Jeep, but as it ended up it was a Jeep Wrangler Sahara - one they hadn't even bothered to wash for us. It is definitely a vehicle better suited for off-roading than driving around town or on the interstate. It has a terrible ride, uncomfortable seats, and is noisy as heck on the road. While it was supposed to be a hybrid, the gas mileage we got was 19 miles to the gallon. The best I can say is thank goodness it had a grab handle so I could hoist myself up into the driver's seat. And it was cooler to show up at the reunion in that as opposed to a minivan!

We decided to stay at the reunion hotel in West Des Moines, as did our good friends Kathy and Paul. The four of us had dinner the first night with some other Des Moines friends. The next morning we were joined at breakfast by my friend Mary Ann. She and her family lived right across the street from me in Des Moines, and I often baby-sat their three kids. It was great to catch up with her.

We were excited to see that Smash Park - an indoor/outdoor pickleball and games facility - was located right across the parking lot from us. We checked it out, and even got some games in Friday afternoon before getting ready for the informal event at Felix and Oscar's Restaurant that night.

Smash Park

Felix and Oscar's was packed, which meant a good turnout from our class and their guests. But it was very difficult to hear and talk to people. I did get to spend a little time with my speech teacher, Bill Springer. We found a quieter back room at the restaurant, and shared a table with a few of my classmates and their spouses.

Saturday morning we did a tour of my high school and wow, what a lot of changes! My class had 439 students that graduated in the spring of 1974. Another 30 or so had graduated early. The school had 1,200 students in grades 10-12. Today the school only has 900 students in grades 9-12. We had perhaps 3 Black students in the whole school when I was there, and that was the extent of our diversity. Today over 40 languages are spoken at Hoover, so English as Second Language classes are a huge deal. It was fun to walk the hallways again to relive memories and see all the improvements. 

Hoover High School

After the tour we went directly to Merle Hay Mall as the class had organized some play at Dink's Pickleball. Dink's is actually located in an old Kohl's store, and what a great reuse of empty retail space. Sixteen of us came out to play pickleball, and we had a lot of fun!

Dink's Pickleball

Jim and I broke off after pickleball while he sought out some billiards with Paul, and I drove to my old neighborhood. It's always interesting to go back to the house where I lived for 17 years. It stills looks really good, as does the whole area. We met back at the hotel to get ready for the evening program, dinner and music. That night it was much easier to have conversations with classmates. We had a great time, and I'm very glad that we went. We have already lost so many from our class, so it really points out how we never know if or when we will see each other again.

50th reunion

The next morning we went to another friend's house for breakfast. Steve and Michele lived down the street from us in Webster Groves for awhile before they moved away. Coincidentally, they also graduated from Iowa State University, and we have remained friends for nearly 40 years. They are one of those couples where even when you don't see them or talk to them for years, you can pick right back up where you left off. 

From there we headed up to Charles City to see Jim's sister and her family. We stopped first at the High Trestle Bridge, which I had read about but never seen. It is part of the Iowa trails system. It was very cool, and definitely worth the detour.

High Trestle Bridge

We had not been to Charles City since Jim's mom died. It was hard to go knowing that neither Lorraine or Jerry would be there to greet us as they both died within months of each other in 2020. But it was good to see family and friends in the area and catch up with all of them. A couple of cousins even drove down from Minnesota to see us, which was fantastic. We also drove around town to see all the beautiful murals that have been installed since we were last there.

Charles City Murals

The visits to Des Moines and Charles City prove that you can go home again. It just might look a little different from the last time you were there.

Still Waters

 Last weekend we finally had the opportunity to take our kayaks out on Mountain Island Lake. It's been quite a while since we've been able to do that. But the lake was calm, the heat wasn't too oppressive, and we didn't have anything else scheduled for the morning.

There were so many birds out! We put on our Merlin app, and it quickly picked up the sound of over a dozen different birds (including a wild turkey!) We saw a flock of geese, several herons, osprey and egrets. The water is a little high right now, so we were able to get back into some coves that are sometimes too shallow even for a kayak. It was a beautiful and restful adventure.

Mountain Island Lake

Escape to the Beech

Our friends purchased a condo in Beech Mountain, North Carolina recently. They invited us up for a visit last weekend. We have stayed in the complex where their unit is located in the past. It has nice views of the mountains and ski lift, and has an indoor pool and tennis/pickleball courts. It is walking distance to a playground, dog park, small grocery store and several restaurants.

We watched as our friend played pickleball in a tournament on Friday at the Beech Mountain Club, which is a really great facility. We have played there before with some other friends who have a membership. The rest of the weekend we hiked, played Mexican Train and just enjoyed the company of a really fun couple. While it did rain a bit, the temperature was nearly 15 degrees cooler than what we left behind, so that was a welcome relief in August for sure. What a great natural area less than 3 hours away from us!

Beech Mountain, NC

The weather has broken a little bit here. Today the high only hit 82 degrees, but what I love most is the fact that it gets into the 60s at night. It's wonderful to sit in the screened porch in the morning and drink my hot tea while catching up on the news. 

Last night was a Super Blue Moon. The moon is called "super" when it is closest to the earth and thus appears larger. Typically a season only has three full moons, but summer 2024 has four of them - thus the "blue moon". Our cloud cover parted in time for me to snap a picture of it. Gorgeous!

Super Blue Moon

Debby Downer

When we looked at retirement locations, we both agreed that we did not want to live near the coasts. We didn't want to have to worry about hurricanes and all that comes with those. We were also happy to leave the tornadoes of the Midwest behind. So we settled in an area just northwest of Charlotte.

Well, the joke was on us! Our first fall here there was a tornado warning. As our house is built on a slab, there is no basement. We hadn't considered tornadoes here, so we searched for the safest spot in the house to hunker down during the storm. That ended up being our laundry room. Fortunately no tornadoes have touched down anywhere near us, but it is still scary when the warning comes.

We also did not expect to get the backlash from hurricanes here. I'm not sure if being by the lake exacerbates weather conditions or not, but Tropical Storm Debby brought us crazy winds and rain. We watched as the trees out back bowed to the wind (though none fell down), and the rain pelted our plants and house. We received 7 inches of rain in a 24 hour period on Thursday. It was crazy.

We only lost power for about 45 minutes, but many people were without for hours. Roads were flooded, trees came down and the area was just a general mess Thursday into Friday. 

I guess there is truly no where you can live that is without perils of some type. It has just been surprising to see the weird weather here. But the view makes a lot of the other things seem forgivable.

calm after the storm

More Lip Service

My dermatologist was able to squeeze me in to have my lip zapped on Wednesday. Even though that is my favorite pickleball day, I just wanted to get on with trying to get my lower lip healed. Even if that meant making it worse to get better.

I'm no stranger to the torment of liquid nitrogen (cryotherapy), having had many spots frozen on my skin over the past 30 plus years. But I have never had my lip treated with it, and was warned that it would hurt and look bad for at least a week. I figured that was one way to help me along with my class reunion diet - less likely to eat if your mouth hurts, right?

It did, indeed, hurt like a son of a gun when she froze the two spots on my lip. It brought tears to my eyes for sure. Maybe that's why it's call cryotherapy? But once that settled down, the pain has not been bad at all. It is difficult to eat without bumping the sores, and my lip looks horrible. It looks so bad that when I had to do some errands yesterday, I wore a mask. There was no reason for the people in the bank or stores to have to see that mess. I'm hoping it looks better over the next few days, and I'm really praying the zapping does the trick. The doctor did warn me that sometimes it takes two tries! 

The best news I got at the doctor's office is that my biopsy from July 29th came back negative. So at least I don't have to schedule an ED&C for the spot on my right shoulder. Now if the lip behaves, I won't have to go back there until my 6-month appointment in January.

lip cryotherapy

Friendly Visit

Some friends from St. Louis came to visit us last week following a conference they attended in Asheville. While it is always a bit of work to get ready for guests, it also motivates us to quit procrastinating and get some jobs done around the house.

National Whitewater Center

It was fun to show them a bit of what we love about living in this area. First and foremost is our house, with the lovely view of Mountain Island Lake. While it was a bit hot, looking out back at the lake is always refreshing. 

We took them to the U.S. National Whitewater Rafting Center, as that is unique to Charlotte and a short drive from our house. The Center is a 1,300-acre outdoor recreational and athletic training facility for whitewater rafting, kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking and ice skating.

There are also numerous trails for hiking in addition to biking, aerial sports including an obstacle course, and multiple zipline options. Newer additions include a dog park and Wildwoods, a play area for children. The Center has a decent cafe, and we had lunch there while watching the activities on the water course and the zipliners flying by above.

The second day we drove up to Grandfather Mountain where it was at least 10 degrees cooler than the Charlotte area. At one point the temperature dropped to 68! Unfortunately it was cloudy, so the view wasn't as stellar as it normally is. It also started to rain, so we got back across the metal bridge in case of lightning. We stopped at a fun restaurant for lunch before driving back to our house.

Grandfather Mountain

On the way back we drove through a couple of cute little mountain towns. Once back on the highway south, we found a produce stand on the side of the road. I was able to pick up a peck of peaches. After our guests left, we made thirteen and a half jars of peach jam. There is a lot of sweetness in our future!

peach jam

What's Up, Doc?

biopsy

Yesterday was my regular six-month checkup with the dermatologist. She froze one spot on my right cheek that has been continually peeling. Unfortunately, she also saw a spot on my right shoulder that she felt should be biopsied. That wouldn't have been too bad except it is right where my bra strap sits. I am highly sensitive to any adhesives, and I've yet to find any bandage that does not make my skin break out in an itchy rash. While the wound doesn't necessitate a bandage, the fact that I have to keep it smeared with vaseline and its location make it impossible not to keep it covered for a few days.

But I was most interested in hearing what the doctor thought about my lip situation. I showed her a photograph from when it looked its worst, and she does not think it is due to cold sores. She believes it is severe lip damage. I don't know what caused it to react so extreme as I wear a big-brimmed hat if I am going to be outside, as well as Z-Block on my lips. 

She wanted to use the liquid nitrogen on my lip, which she said would hurt and look bad for about a week. As we have company coming today, I did not have her do it. She said just schedule it when it's convenient for me. When would that be? When is it convenient to have your lip look awful for a week, and have issues eating and drinking??? In the meantime she called in a prescription for an ointment that should at least make the lip feel better until I can get that done.

Our community brought in a gal from the Carolina Raptor Center yesterday afternoon to talk about their organization as well as raptors we might see in our area. She was great and very enthusiastic about her job. What I wasn't expecting is that she would bring three birds with her. She also had talons, a small skull and bird wings to show us. It was a wonderful presentation, and well worth missing our normal Wednesday pickleball session.

Carolina Raptor Center

Read My Lips

It's now five weeks that I have been dealing with lip issues. My bottom lip is much improved, no question. But it is still sore and sensitive. I have my six month skin check with my dermatologist on Tuesday, so I decided to wait it out to see what she has to say. Hopefully there is just some prescription cream I can put on to finally heal it up. I'll also be hoping that she doesn't see anything that needs to be burned off or biopsied. We have guests arriving on Thursday and I don't want to have to deal with any of that while they are here. Fingers crossed...

The dog days of summer have certainly been here. We had excessively high heat here, like a lot of the country. We were in a drought, but this week brought us some much-needed rain. It was great to get a break from the daily watering of our outdoor plants. The temperature has also been a bit cooler the past few days.

We so enjoy having the lake out our back door. The other day we watched an eagle fishing. He caught such a big catfish with his talons that he could not lift up out of the water. Instead he channeled his inner Michael Phelps and did the breast stroke across the lake. When he got to the shore, he rested and had himself a feast. My camera lens isn't long enough to capture an image that far away, but it was certainly something to see. Fortunately I can always get a nice sky picture from my backyard.

Mountain Island Lake

Lip Service

damaged lips

Ever since we returned from visiting our daughter in Los Angeles last month I have been having a problem with irritation on my lower lip. Because I wore a wide-brimmed hat and use Z Blok on my lips, I was surprised to have any issues. To be fair, my lips are always sensitive due to prior sun damage. With my history of 19 skin cancers to date, my dermatologist had suggested a couple visits ago that I put a chemotherapy cream on my lips due to the sun damage. I've used the cream once on my forehead with dreadful side effects, so I did not jump on that suggestion. I don't know how you would eat or drink during that treatment. 

Regardless, my lips have gotten worse over the past two weeks, to the point where I was indeed having problems eating and drinking. My usual Carmex didn't help, nor did Vaseline or Aquaphor for lips. Concerned that I might have an underlying infection going on, I called my dermatologist first. She is on vacation, so they suggested I go to my primary care doctor. She also is on vacation, but one of the other physicians could see me last Tuesday.

After asking me a lot of questions and looking at my lip, he feels that this is just a cold sore. While I admit that I do get those on occasion, they are always on my upper lip and I have never had them spread across the entire lip. It also did not start out with the usual tingling sensation I get when a cold sore is coming on. He prescribed Valacyclovir, which is a drug used for cold sores and also shingles, chicken pox, etc. You only get four pills and take two at a time, twelve hours apart. He also said to use Abreva on my lip.

My pharmacy did not even get them in until Wednesday afternoon, so I took the first dose at 5:30 p.m. Sadly I was awake early enough the next morning to take the next two at 5:30 a.m. Unfortunately, this medicine works best if you take it just as you experience the first symptoms, and I was already two weeks into my ordeal.

The good news is that I did not suffer any side effects from the drug. That's good to know for the future when I get another cold sore. But while the lip definitely looks better, it is still not 100%. I have not been going outside during the day at all as I don't want to experience a setback. The doctor said if it didn't get better, and for sure if it got worse, to let them know as it might turn out to be a different kind of infection. I'll probably see how things go over the next few days before I make any decision on the next steps.

Smithsonian National Zoo

We drove up to Springfield to be with our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter for the long holiday weekend. Virginia always has clever signage along the interstate, and this trip was no different. Way to get across the point to not drink and drive, Virginia! 

Virginia road signs

National Zoo

Because it was so hot and our granddaughter is still pretty young we mostly stayed close to the house, going outside early in the day to let her play with her splash pool and water table. But on July 5th we headed out early to go to the National Zoo. My husband and I had not been there before, and it was the little gal's first time as well. Until we arrived I had no idea that the zoo is part of the Smithsonian, which explains the free admission. You just have to pay $30 to park.

Even though the temperature was pretty high, the humidity was low which made our time there bearable (pardon the pun). It also helped that they had many mist sprayers available, and some of the exhibits are inside as well.

We have been to a lot of zoos, and this one was pretty nice even though the pandas were sent back to China. They are supposed to get a new pair sometime later this year. Apparently the two countries have worked out their differences, at least as far as pandas go. 

National Zoo

orangutan

My favorite exhibit, though that seems like too small of a word to use, was the orangutans. They have two separate enclosures, but to get from one to the other they climb overhead on cables called the Orangutan Transportation System, aka the O-Line. The visitor walking path is directly below part of the cabling systems, so you definitely don't want to be standing there when one goes (literally) overhead!

Overall, we had a great time in Springfield with our family. And of course it is always a pleasure to spend quality time with our only grandchild.

July 4th in June

fireworks

Our community of Mount Holly has their 4th of July fireworks show on the Thursday before the 4th, which meant that the fireworks this year would take place on June 27th. That seems pretty early, but that's how they roll here. We decided to go to see them since the weather was not too hot.

But some residents of our community were going to go to Muddy River Distillery at 7:00 that night. Muddy River is the oldest legal rum distillery in the Carolinas. It used to be in Belmont, but the owners purchased the oldest mill in Gaston County and renovated it into a beautiful bar and event space. It happens to be located in Mount Holly, which is great for us as we love their rum.

Muddy River Distillery

We parked on Main Street around 6:20, and walked the short couple of blocks to the distillery. A food truck was there so we grabbed dinner and settled in with rum cocktails. Then our neighbors began to arrive, and we ended up with about 14 people there. It was fun to catch up with everyone.

As it began to get dark, we walked back to our car, grabbed our chairs and some water, and crossed the street to the Mount Holly Community Garden parking lot. It was a good location on a hill, and we had a nice view of the fireworks. The best part was that afterwards we were able to make a quick u-turn on Main and head home. No traffic jam for us this year!

Mount Holly fireworks