Let’s recap… Read on ye fearless wonderers for a mostly factual report on our continuing quest to obtain a quiet, comfortable, drama-free retirement… Like sands through the hour glass so go the days of our lives… (too soapy? try this) like the charred White Oak barrels used to age and house that special Kentucky “punch” so popular around here, our Bluegrass based dynamic duo are “aging finely” and at about the same pace as the “punch.” Although I fear each year we more and more take on the shape of the aforementioned barrels. With the usual family visits and gatherings, band concerts and football games, trips to Florence to watch the Yall’s play baseball, filling in the blanks, the year was mostly an OK experience. IF you ignore the fact that we are both orphans now with the remaining parental figures departing in January and May (but we were able to put the FUN back in Funeral), to continue, we paid thru the nose for the new tires for her car, the lawn mower put a rock thru the back window, none of the vine so carefully planted in the new backyard took root, had a lovely visit from the COVID family, and we STILL had to deal with Daylight Savings Time… yup, other than that not a bad year.
Let’s Focus… just the facts this time… On Wildfire On! to
the Highlights.
Winter… We’ve made a list and checked it twice and STILL can’t find any reportable activities in January and February other than binge-watching “Psych.” January and February is winter in these parts so that may explain it…see you in the Spring.
Spring has sprung… If you don’t count doing taxes and that pesky Daylight Savings Time thing, nothing fun happened in March either. On to April... two trips to Michigan about covers it, in what is fast becoming more of a commute than an out-of-town trip. One of these featured a trip to the Blind Squirrel and peanut butter and jelly hamburgers (don’t knock em til you’ve tried em). May saw us on the a road trip to improve our cultural ranking at the EKU Center for The Arts in Richmond, KY, to see Alton “Good Eats” Brown in concert. He played, he sang, he cooked, he made us laugh, nuff said. Ironically, I can’t remember where we had dinner.
Summer, and the grass is riz… Any guesses where we went in June... starts with a “Mich” and ends with “igon.” This time to celebrate JRTR’s 1st birthday and pronounce him a keeper. On our way we got lost and ended up at Zia’s on the Hill in St. Louis for dinner, then north to Manitowac, WI. Where we boarded the SS Badger, a large lake Ferry, and sailed across Lake Michigan, once they had fished the body out of the harbor. Then it was across the lake and south toward family visits and home. We also continued our search for culture by visiting the “Van Gogh” immersion experience in Cincinnati. A perfectly good July is up next and we barely used it. Well, to be completely transparent, a trendy thing to do I’m told, at least if you read the paper, there was a trip to see, hear, and feel the Louisville Symphony do their Star Wars Return of the Jedi in concert. Took Hayden with us and had a noteworthy (pun intended) and high-calorie night out. Then, on the 30th… came our infamous trip to Myrtle-You-Can-Catch-It-Here-Too-Beach. Well, August got interesting... Myrtle Beach was nice and we enjoyed the sights and being with brother Cordell and Sister-In-Law Kris. It was the post trip COVID hangover that was a bit of a bummer. Adding to that, it had been raining forever in 5 Eastern Kentucky Counties. When the rain stopped they were all a mess and in some serious trouble. Long-story short a non-stop line of utility repair trucks, food and commodities caravans, and thousands of clean-up Volunteers converged down there. I went to help out the weekend of the 26th working in Hazard as Communications Director at the Helping Hands Command Center. What a sobering experience. I saw the best people in the worst situations they can be in. Whatever else your year was like, it was better than the summer these folks had…
Fall, and I wonder where the flowers is… September started with a visit to the Festival of the
Horse, parade, midway, street vendors, kettle corn, a ribeye sandwich, but no parking.
Then we were off to the Alan Jackson concert in Lexington. Next up was our 2nd
trip of the year to the Beehive State, this time for my 123rd class
reunion – they held it at the cemetery to keep the attendance numbers up. We rented a Mustang, had Subway food, and
tried to identify all the old people standing around trying to identify all the
old people standing around. Returning to
the Bluegrass State I was off to Owensboro and a 4-day conference with my old
KLC political cronies. I got free food
and a speeding ticket while Sandi, spent 2 days at a TOFW chick-fest in
Covington. No report on her food or driving habits. October… time for our annual Fall Colors Get-Away. This year we traveled north along the west
Michigan coast, slowing down long enough to see family. Then it was up thru the Great North Woods, and
on to the Upper Peninsula for a couple of days, then back down Michigan’s eastern
coast of MI and home. Our timing was
good and we saw some great color. Take a breath, November…
will take a minute. We left for Manaus, Brazil, and the Amazon Valley on the 3rd. Our first overseas trip since before the
pandemic, it was an adventure to be sure.
We had a 1-day visit in Panama City on the way down, took a couple of
days to look at the greater Manaus area, and then four days on a cruise ship on
the Rio Negro, where it meets the mighty Amazon. Each day saw us embark on sweaty but
adventurous off-ship excursions to native villages, rain forests, river tours,
and cultural sights and food experiences.
Upon our return and recovery we binge-watched Harry Potter with Bailey
our granddaughter. And suddenly, its December… which
is just getting started so you know as much about our December as we do. Feel free to make up stuff that sounds interesting
to you. We know there will be drives to
see the lights, sights, and sounds on multiple Christmas dates. There will be lots of good food, family time,
and TV. We’ll also take care to
celebrate the reason for the season. You
should too.
Let’s talk about the Kids? … Oh Yeah – The Kids -- They’re fine, well mostly fine. On the whole, better than last year, so we’ve got that going for us…
Well boys and girls, we’ve pushed you thru our annual family
time warp, and summarily reporting our doings and undoings. Congrats on having accomplished
this your most important holiday task. We wish most of you the hap-hap-happiest
Christmas on the block. Remember we’re
all going to go through 2023 together so let’s play nice. Spoiler alert – next
year all there is to know about our back yard!
Best
to all, The Christensen’s !!!
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