To the Azores - via Boston

Saturday February 9

We had started to pack last evening and not much had to be done this morning. It was very civilized since we did not have to leave the house until 10 am. We actually left a little earlier.

Our flight to Boston was with JetBlue at 12:35 or so. We decided to better have lunch before the flight. When the waiter brought James' he mumbled something like mine would come later and put a fruit salad in front of me. He was a strange fellow.

 the fl

JetBlue was on time and efficient. We had perfect flying-weather.

Yup, we were flying over Manhattan and of course I could not resist taking a photo of where we used to live when we first came to America.

At 2:35 pm I took this photo out of our hotel window. We had a good look at the goings-on at Boston Logan International Airport.

We tried to decide what to do but it was just too beastly cold outside. We had been at the Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor before and just stayed there, chilled in the room and had a light dinner downstairs. We each had a soup and then shared an appetizer. They had two versions of calamari and we tried the lesser known. There were veggies mixed into it. Quite nice. A beer went nicely with it.

You could have seen this behind James. The view is really nice.

Sunday February 10

Almost the same view looking across the harbor the next morning.

We decided that we could not be in the hotel room all day. Well, we had to vacate at noon anyway but had to take the shuttle to the airport about 6 pm.

So, we decided to pack up, ask whether we could store our luggage and take an Uber to the Museum of Fine Arts.   OMG, people everywhere. A line outside to get in. A line to pay for the very expensive tickets. Oh well. Yes, we found that everything in Massachusetts seems to be expensive. 

Finding your way around in this museum is not that easy. It's like a rabbit warren. After we had our tickets and "were in" we really would have liked a cup of coffee and something since we didn't have breakfast yet. We finally found a place were we could get a coffee and a muffin ... for a king's ransom.

 

We did not get into the Ansel Adams special exhibition because the line was to the moon and back but there were plenty of things to see. This was in the Monet room. The young lady was very nice to talk to. She explained how the "old masters" would paint. There were special preparations for the canvas and they had to make their pigments or paints. No wonder they can figure out when something was painted and whether it is an original or forgery. 

Weather vanes in the folk art room.

Porcelain and furnishings. Another example that we laid the family silver totally wrong on the table all these years. We found out not too long ago why the family crest was on what we thought was "the wrong side".

So interesting ... especially since we have been to Egypt and the Valley of the (dead) Kings. This room contained pieces of the sarcophagus from Governor Djehutynakht and his wife. The little boats which were part of the grave are all painted wood and from about 2010-1961 BC. I just could have spend the rest of the afternoon looking at all the details.

We came across a cafeteria and had a sandwich each and water. The place was very full but James got the last sandwich with smoked salmon for me and he had something with cheese. It was actually very nice.

There was more to see and admire and when we reached the point of information overload we decided to head back towards the hotel. First we walked a little along and came to an Irish Pub. Had to take steps down from the street into a basement. It was an interesting place. James is at the bar getting beers.

He said his was a really good Guinness. And I thought they were all good. No, some are better!

Almost as much to see as in the museum. In the corner was a Man Cave, a large table surrounded by benches. Way back in Germany we would have called that a "Stammtisch", the place reserved for regular customers who just come in to see who might be there from the circle of friends.

We were at the airport in good time but the counter wasn't open yet and we had to keep our luggage. We were back shortly after 6 pm and found a line and a sign saying that they open at 6:15 pm. That's what they promptly did and the line went fast. We had arrived just at the right time. The line got longer behind us. But we had nice conversations with other travelers. 

Oh dear, more time to waste. I am afraid all this waiting these two days will go to my waist. At least a bloody mary is all about veggies, right?

Finally we boarded the plane. SATA or Azores Airline. 3 seats on either side of the  aisle. It was a full flight but by some miracle our third seat stayed empty so I scooted to the window seat. Thank you, thank you.

Bye bye, Boston! Hopefully bye bye, cold weather!

One week back home, then our vacation start too.

Not the best week we ever had, but not much to report.

We were back from Nashville Sunday night around midnight. There was no reason to set an alarm for Monday morning and we could sleep in. Nothing on our agenda but to see the children "over the river" Monday evening. Sarah had invited us for dinner because they were leaving on vacation the next day and we would be gone when they returned. They loved seeing us and we had a good time.

But already on Tuesday James and I started to not feel that great. The rest of the week both of us were not our usual selves. At different times both of us had a fever. We kept "barking" (coughing like crazy) and it just was no fun. We had to cancel things and just "hung out" at home trying to get better. 

Our highlights were texts and called from either of our girls. Helen reported that William missed just a couple of days of school (2?) but then he was ok except for coughing. Sarah and family made it ok to Florida. She texted photos to us which were much appreciated. It was a very long drive for them, but they had been so excited ever since Christmas. Aren't they cute?

Yes, this week should be forgotten soon ... but in my not so great form I managed to screw up the kitchen sink. Totally stopped up. Doing plumbing work is not one of James' favorites. I could persuade him to leave it alone for a day. The next day we did super team work and in no time we had solved the problem. Well, James did. Didn't even say a bad word to me for being so stupid in the first place. 

Friday we finally felt like taking care of a few errands. Saturday morning before 10 am we were on our way to the airport for our flight to Boston. 

Another week in Nashville

I can't remember any more when we had William for the nights ... several times even if there was school the next day. Papa had tried it out and decided that the drive/traffic to school at that time in the morning was not too bad. William is an excellent guest to have and we had a lot of fun.

When he was in school we tried to help Helen. This room was previously a "catch-all" but she wanted to change it into her office (to prepare for her classes etc) to make space in the living area for William to have a little desk with drawers. That was his wish.

I had tried to support Helen as much as possible when she was not working. She sorted an immense amount of stuff and also parted with incredibly much not needed any longer. I was the helper with the trash bags to the bins outside. When there was not much left to sort in this room and she was working, James and I put a coat of paint on the walls. She was soooooo happy which made us happy of course too.

We also had a good suggestion about her problem with the breakfast overhang. It was tipping and might come loose. She had another piece of furniture which was EXACTLY the right size. Helen had to dismantle something from underneath the counter though but she is good at that.

Papa and I also found a barstool for sale which Helen liked (take photo, texting, get go-ahead, love my gadgets). I don't have a photo but William is so happy and eats his breakfast there every morning.

The rewards were eggs from her "ladies". I must say that the hens are actually quite fun to watch. I had brought my brand-new portable induction cooking plate and pots to try out more things and learn. It was a Costco special purchase and I am so happy with it. The whole two weeks there I didn't use the "regular" stove even once. The eggs turned out really well... and faster on the induction.

Of course as many 8 year olds, William likes computer games and his iPad. Of course those are not bad in general. I for example love my gadgets too. Oh yes. But you know, too much ...

But he is so good. I think he actually gets bored of it because when you have an idea what to do he is very happy to do it with you ... especially games like Monopoly, Connect4, etc

We found a cheap Battleship game which had never been used. So the pegs and ships needed to be separated. 

Ah, Saturday! 

William was spending the night in Lebanon at his father's farm. Helen's friend Betty (which we learned later actually had been Ben's mother Joy's teacher way back) wanted to meet us again ... and we her. She is such a sweet and interesting person. She came around 10 am and brought a birthday gift for Helen. James put a nail over the door to the back yard later for it to hang. It looks perfect there. 

Time just flew. Not a boring minute. We had given Helen a Christmas pudding in the Advent-calendar but she had passed it on to Betty (who knew where it came from). She had brought it back with two different sauces (I think her husband had British roots). She even had brought a little bourbon to pour into one of the sauces. The cake went well with the coffee and we talked about the different customs of Christmas pudding.

Betty had to leave shortly after noon and William arrived later too. We had found cheese fondue in Richmond and brought two packets for Helen. This is the evening she wanted to enjoy it and came over to the townhouse. She also brought the salad, ha-ha. 

William loves veggies but not cooked. So we had raw veggies and hummus for him to nibble as much as he wanted. Even though he loves goat cheeses (manchego) he was not impressed with the fondue. He was happy what we had for him though. It was a lovely evening.

William spent the night and Helen went home. William didn't have a good night. At 3 am he woke me that he was very thirsty. He went back to his bed but said (in his sleep) that his heart was racing. Needless to say I did not get much sleep for the rest of the night. He was truly puny and not feeling well when he  woke up in the morning. After conferring with Helen she told us to just come over with him. We had planned for him and Papa to do something together after dropping me off. It was supposed to be our last day until we were leaving in the evening to drive half way. 

Plans changed. With William not well (even had a temperature) and Helen having to take care of him,   we left soon to pack at the townhouse. At 1 pm we were on our way ... skipping lunch.

As it is our custom we stopped after 2 1/2 hours in Strawberry Plaines to have our lunch (normally breakfast). Don't know whether it was before it was Sunday or Super Bowl Sunday or something else but the roads were good to drive. The weather was perfect. 

When we had to fill up with gasoline we couldn't resist the DQ. Don't worry. He did not drive like this. We were parked.

We were home at midnight. Not bad at all. We had scratched our plans to stop part way for the night. It wasn't necessary. As always, sorry to leave Helen and William. Hope to be back soon.

Happy Birthday, Helen!

Thursday January 24

Also CONGRATULATIONS to me for having such a nice daughter. After all, I had something to do with that birth when it was so horribly cold in St Louis that year.

Helen's wish was to go to a Hibachi Restaurant. Of course these places are quite entertaining.

There is some waiting in-between too but Auntie called FaceTime to congratulate her sister.
Was it bath time?

Of course we told them that we were celebrating a birthday.

VIDEO!     (0:17 sec)

Next day on Friday William spent the night with us James had picked him up from school every day when we were there. He likes that. Friday's he has pizza quite often with Ben so pizza it was for supper. He picked it out himself.

Of course he likes dessert too. Extra whipped cream from the can is one of his favorites (on fruit).

Helen's wonderful friend Kim had arranged a little party for her on Sunday at 1 pm. I was the designated cake-maker. The wish was Black-forest Cherry Cake. You can see I had a helper.

Saturday

Papa and William are making plans what to do.

They dropped me off at Helen's so I could be of help to her with her projects and they went to the TN State Museum. He loved it. Papa had "orders" to take photos and took three.

They had lunch across from the museum.

Sunday
Recipe says to bake the cake a day before but assemble two hours before needed.
Note to Christa: Spray cream is not a good idea. It melts very fast. I had to "repair" at Kim's.  Well, I usually don't like to use it anyway but I had to do with the situation not being in VA. And ... nobody turned it down, ha-ha.

James took these photos with my camera. Bummer though, I have no photo of our gracious hostess. But, I suddenly remembered why this was the requested cake. Look here!  I even found the same candle.

It is one of my favorite cakes! Glad she asked for it. Happy happy Birthday, Helen!