Sunday, May 31, 2015

All Aboard!

Time to tell about another Adsit Adventure!! But first...a little background information for you.

Friday was a special day for us...very special indeed, as we celebrated our 39th anniversary. And, by default, the beginning of our 40th year as a married couple. We had promised in our wedding vows, standing together at the altar of Jackson's Christ Lutheran Church (using a phrase insisted upon by the Lutheran pastor who co-officiated) "for as long as we both shall live together," which sounded both silly and rather like hedging our bets...but guess what? Here we are...still "living together"...and more importantly, still having adventures together. 

About this year's anniversary adventure...it all started on a rainy day last month. Nothing unusual about an April shower, right? Well, as it happened, I had planned to work in the garden that day (again, nothing unusual), but the weather wasn't cooperating...and I got bored. So I decided to amuse myself by planning a trip. 

I think I've told you before...and often...that I love train travel. Always have, probably always will. No, the recent wreck hasn't deterred the little pitter-patter my heart does when I hear a train whistle. And I have always wanted to go cross-country on a train...well, on several lines as it turns out.

And that's what I was amusing myself with that rainy April day. I was on the Amtrak website, cobbling together a trip from East Coast and back. I was enthusiastically sharing my findings with Mr. T...when I realized that he had a look of sheer panic on his face. 

"Wouldn't you like to travel cross-country on Amtrak?" says I.
"Well, maybe we could start with a shorter journey," says he.
"And where would you like to go on this "shorter journey?" I said, starting to see the humor in the discussion.
After thinking about it for a bit, Mr. T says: "Raleigh."

And so, there we were, on our two-hour train ride to Raleigh. Actually, my trip was two hours, since I left from High Point, using a ticket that I'd rescheduled from an earlier planned-but-untaken ride. 







Mr. T dropped me off at the HPNC depot, then headed 20 minutes away to the Greensboro station where he would board. This would work out better in the end, with me getting off in Greensboro on the return trip, since we needed our car to be in GSO, in order to get to our next adventure: the Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball game.

We enjoyed our relatively uncrowded ride and arrived in the State Capital without incident. The day was absolutely beautiful, and we enjoyed our walk of a few blocks to the downtown Marriott. Here we would take advantage of their lobby Starbucks and WiFi connection to allow Mr. T to participate in his conference call (yeah, so much for "taking the WHOLE day off). Then, business managed, we headed to Bükü...my favorite downtown Raleigh restaurant that I was eager to introduce to T.

When we shared that it was our 39th anniversary with our waiter, he brought us glasses of champagne to celebrate! How lovely!! Since neither of us was required to drive a vehicle until much later, we enjoyed every drop. 


I had the yummy Greek Salad with a grilled salmon steak, and Mr. T ordered the burger that he pronounced as both good and "huge!" And then we shared a dessert they call Trilogy: three cremé brûlée cups...one vanilla, one chocolate mint, and one ginger...with fresh fruit. Delicious!



To walk all these calories off, we headed toward the Capitol building and the state museums, starting with NC History and ending up in the Natural Science's cafe called The Daily Planet. If we'd had three days, we probably couldn't get it all done. Here's a shot in front of the Capitol (admittedly, not the most impressive state Capitol in the country), of the three Presidents born in North Carolina...but from Tennessee...


Our ride home didn't go as smoothly, with our train running nearly an hour late. No matter, we arrived at the ballpark in time to see the Hoppers score first...and last...in the game with the Blue Claws (gotta love Minor League team names!). In between, we also were treated to a mention on the Jumbotron and by the announcer: "Happy 39th Anniversary to Thomas and Patricia!" Woohoo! I wasn't quick enough to snap the moment, but it's a nice memory all the same.



And now, loyal readers, you probably know what comes next. "Wonder where we'll be this time next year?" Guess what...I have an answer! Seattle. Yes, we already have our reservations on an Alaskan cruise for our 40th...on the Ruby Princess, for the ruby anniversary! We should be returning to port on the 29th, and we will probably return to one of our fave University of Washington-area restaurants, Ivar's, to toast this special occasion...with a fave wine that is a local there (Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling).

Wonder if we tell the waiter, s/he will also bring us champagne?

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Ye Merrie Month of May

Goodness, time is flying! Hyper speed. And since I haven't figured out how to work in the garden and blog-post at the same time, I've had to defer one for the other. Garden wins this time of the year, hands down. And since I am one "hand-down," so to speak (back to the orthopedic doctor in mid-month following a flare-up of the DeQuervain's tendinitis...another cortisone shot...back in the splint...take it easy...yadda yadda yadda), I sometimes have to choose. Gardening or blogging.

[Yes, we have a separate blog for posts about the garden, which you can find here (http:gardenwithgiants.blogspot.com). I'm no more diligent about posting there at this time of the year, either. Sigh.]

This is the week to remember. As of tomorrow, we will have lived here for six years. Count 'em, s-i-x! Not yet a record, but give us six more months and it will pass our previous "length of stay" in our Cordova house (6 years, 5 months).

Of course, it may be a race at this point, since a move in conjunction with retirement is on our horizon. Still no date for either, but we discuss our options often. No matter...what is for certain, we need to do a little prep work between now and then...whenever "then" might be. In making our lists and checking them twice, we have three BIG to-do's that have been looming large:

1) Decluttering, in general; getting rid of a ton or so of paper (records, receipts, etc.) that we have just boxed up and moved instead of destroying 
2) The Garage
3) The Deck

While gardening and yard word leave little time for other to-do's this time of the year, I am pleased to report that I successfully combined something from the above list with a necessary garden chore. It was time to weed, feed, and mulch the corn. And, once again, we found a use for several pounds of documents that we can't just toss in the trash (sensitive and/or personal information that identity thieves would love). Maybe you will remember that last year, we mulched the corn with a mountain of my parents' old documents (some dating back to the '70's!) that we first thoroughly soaked in the galvanized tub before using to suppress weeds in the paths...worked great! This year, I shredded a large part of the contents of the box dedicated to 2005...which will keep weeds at bay and make a nice dent in Item 1. Check out the corn in the Block Garden...where it looks like it has snowed!



Item 2 is still on hold until the cooler Fall months, but we can now check off Item 3...the Deck. I'm happy to report that our old, sad, badly worn but structurally sound deck is now a thing of beauty. We applied a couple of Rustoleum products called Restore 10X and Restore Solid Stain in a lovely, bright clean taupe called Driftwood. Just check the pictures:



From worn (above) to WOW! (below):



Whew! That was a huge project! Time for some rest and relaxation. We certainly are looking forward to turning in our paint brushes for some fun on Friday, when we celebrate our 39th anniversary. And celebrate it, we shall! We are taking the train to Raleigh for a fun day, then returning to enjoy the Grasshoppers game. More on that in my next post.

We've already "exchanged" our gifts: two new roses. I know, I know...seems an odd choice for folks who may soon be leaving their Rose Garden behind, but we couldn't resist. You see, the gift suggestion for 39th anniversaries is lace. LACE. Really? That just wouldn't do, so we just skipped ahead to the suggestion for next year: ruby. Much better! And we chose two ruby-red roses: a Don Juan and a Mister Lincoln. 

To pick out new inhabitants of our Rose Garden, we took a little adventure to Roses Unlimited in Laurens, SC, to check out their Open House. Once a year, visitors are allowed to go through the greenhouses where the newly-propagated roses are...a little like looking behind the Wizard's curtain in Oz. And then we checked out an eatery in Spartanburg. All-in-all, a fun Saturday.



So, May has been a merry month. A merry month, indeed. Wonder what June has in store for us? Hmmmm....

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