Travels with The Rayman

I’m distressed.  My gizmo for my iPad doesn’t work.  AT&T just notified me I have exceeded my minutes and  I messed up our arrival time into Venice.  It is raining.

All this to say, I probably need to throw in the towel on this “go on your own” travel.  It seems to be getting harder and harder.  My mea culpa, perhaps.  

Some random thoughts as we whisk thru the countywide speeding at 200 mph on the train.  When we left Rome, we were traveling forward.  Leaving Florence, we are riding backward.  And we are on the same train.  Italy has left us in the dust in the train department.  While Ca just became the 5th largest economy in the world, we are fighting the concept of high speed rail. Let me just point out how easy it is.  No TSA.  Loads of legroom.  You can watch the scenery fly by.  No seatbelts.  Great terminals.  You can set your watch by their schedule because they are on time so waiting on the tarmac is not a thing.  No turbulence!

But I digress.  

We are thinking river cruises.  Easier.  Just sayin.

Yesterday was our last day in Roma.  We we’re out of gas.  Went to the coliseum without tickets, regarded the llnes and pooh poohed the idea.  Took the bus tour of the city, went back to our room and napped.  This is May.   I would hate to see it during the summer when school is out.  That said your best bet would be to show up early with prepaid tickets. Or take a tour.  

So impressed was I, I decided to take a video and as I was doing this, we entered a tunnel.  This was amazing because the tunnel just went on and on and on.  The more amazing thing was that there were about 20 tunnels on the trip between Rome and Venice.  Which makes it all the more incredulous that we aren’t clamoring for high speed rail.   And of course there is The Great Wall of China.  

Changing the subject is now is necessary, as I do not want to get too far afield.  

Arriving in Venezia was impressive. Water World.  Having now been here for 24 hours I would like to share Rayman’s impression of the place.  I inquired of him what he thought of it while we  sipped on spritz drinks (we were told that was the only drink you could get here that was served with ice) and we needed a cold one—thank you bicycle friends).  His reply was that it reminded him of Disneyland…a million people packed into narrow streets and lots of selling of trinkets and food.   Gondolas standing in for rides.   Blasphemous, perhaps but not inaccurate.  This impression was tempered by our events of the last 24 hours which I will attempt to capture with humor.

Yesterday when we arrived, we were told by the AirBnb host to text our arrival to his daughter who would meet us at the water taxi and take us to the apartment.  We did.  She texted us and told us to board the water taxi 4.2 but she did not tell us where to get off(read disembark).  I texted her but got no reply. She did mention that she was a tall blonde and was wearing blue and white striped pants.  Rayman perked up.   But he was anxious about not knowing where to get off.  His temperature rose.  We kept looking for the tall blonde at each stop.   Then our phone rang and Sara told Rayman the name of the stop just as we were docking at the stop.   Close call.   We jumped ship.   Where was she?  We looked and looked.  Finally she showed up with an apology, led us to the apartment and off she went after handing  us the keys to the second door place.  There were three keys.  

Our apartment was quite, roomy, and met our expectations.   After settling in we went out exploring which meant we battled the crowds.  Narrow passageways and too many folks. 
Still though it was unique and I managed to get some nice pics.   After a bit we picked a restaurant near our place.  Rayman left me on a park bench and made a detour to a grocery store to buy water and bananas for this morning.  There I sat people watching when a incoming soccer ball hit my arm.  Kids were playing (everything is cement and hard surfaces so the children must play in the plazas) kicking the ball which would bounce and boomerang off the cobblestone surfaces or the walls of the buildings that helped form the piazza.   What a surprise but not shocking when you consider.  Another ball came at me and I managed to return it with a kick even though I was sitting.  Think that surprised not only the kids… but me too!

Rayman returned with a bag of groceries and we walked to the restaurant.  It was 6:45.  They did not open until 7:15.  So we planted ourselves on chairs outside but we were asked to moved because they wanted to set up the tables.  So we walked a bit and when we returned all the tables outside were filled but one and it was just 7. 

We requested indoor seating since it was cool and found ourself alone in a back room as they had taken out all tables to the patio but one for a big party   Well, ok.   Things were ordered by me in my fledging Italian.  Pasta carbonara for me.  Pesto pasta for Rayman followed by insalada mista and 1/2 liter of vino Rosso.   Mine was rich and I asked for a container to take it away.   That’s when English was required because our water said our fish was coming.   OUR FISH, we exclaimed in unison as I recall.   “We didn’t order fish.”.  The waiter ran from our private room to presumably to cancel the fish.  We don’t know know what happened. Saved by the doggie bag, I would say.   

While eating our gelato dessert excitement erupted.  Our room opened into another room where a young French family was dining.  All of a sudden their daughter, about age 10, disappeared.   The young son sat in a face plant with his phone while the parents frantically searched the restaurant before going outside to continue the search. It seemed like forever and then through the door came the girl.   Her brother told her she was in big trouble and she left the restaurant again before Rayman ran out to tell her to stay.  About that time the parents re-emerged.  The father was madder than a wet hen, the mother relieved and the brother was face planted in his device.    The chewing out was in French so we didn’t understand much of it.  The body language was unmistakable.  We were extremely happy all ended well.

Then we waited and waited for the bill.   We had a hard time getting seated and we had a hard time retreating.  Manana isn’t only in Mexico.  Once the bill was settled, we lumbered back to our apartment, put the groceries away and then I realized I did not have my purse.  With all that excitement, I forgot it.  Rayman raced back to the ristorante and called me to report that it was exactly where I had left it.  A few minutes later, he called back to report that he could not find our apartment. Well, what to do?  I opened up the window and shouted his name.  He could hear me but couldn’t find me.  So I kept shouting out “RAY” ( many times) and then started flailing my arms while leaning out the window.  He kept asking me to yell again. I did. Pretty soon, a woman across the way stuck her head out of her window and I am pretty she told me to keep quiet in Italian. Just about that time the Rayman found our street (think alley) and we were reunited.   Just as an aside, there are no porch lights, everything is made of stone and the streets are very narrow  so voices are like soccer balls..they boomerang making it  hard to pinpoint.  That’s our story and we are sticking to it.

Fast forward to this a.m. I awoke to an email inquiring about our whereabouts from a hotel in Venice that I don’t remember, that didn’t sound familiar.  Why hadn’t we shown up last night?   OMG. What had I done?   Short answer is …I don’t know.  The place doesn’t ring any bells so I emailed them back explaining that I do not remember such a reservation.  I search all my old emails. Nothing.  Rayman called and a conversation ensued which resulted in them informing us that we we no shows and would be charged.   For one night.  Now, I debated if I should disclose this to my readers because it surely evidence that 1.  I must be missing a step these days. 2.  I was hacked. 3.  My organizing and planning skills have been a mirage and it is just catching up with me, finally. 4.  All of the above.  Pick one.  Bottom line, we were out one nights charge for the room and glad it wasn’t more.   And we decided not to let it ruin our time.

After much walking, gawking, photographing, and getting lost on foot…we stopped for that previously mentioned spritz and did some reflection which included the following:  1.  We are human.  Humans make mistakes.  We are not unique.  There.  2.  Traveling like this may not happen again because it is getting harder, not easier.   3.  Venice reminds Rayman of Disneyland.  4.  I don’t entirely disagree. 5.  There are too many people creating scrums worldwide.  6.  Far from the maddening crowds is a book title that we relate to now and we are looking forward to the countryside.  7.  Seeing things ( buildings come to mind) from the outside are often times more interesting than from the inside. 8.  There are too many churches.  9.  Jet lag hurts.  We are just getting back to normal.  

God this is frightening.  I sound a lot like my Uncle Ralph.  He came back from his trip to China and mused that there were too many Chinese.  He traveled all over the world and holed up reading his books ( I’m blogging).   Having visited Paris a half dozen times, he told me he had not visited Napoleon’s tomb.  

Just sayin.

We ate leftover dinner and lunch tonight.  Rayman bought a bottle of vino rosso and it was bubbly.  After dinner we went out again to see Venice after dark. 

It was great except we got lost and it took us 40 minutes to walk To St. Mark square.  On the walk which was starting to feel like a march, we stopped for gelato.  I ordered fig and walnut and it was outrageously good.  Rayman did chocolate.  We were so tired by the time we reached our destination, we searched around for a water taxi. 

For 7euros a head, the boat dropped us off a few hundred feet from our joint.   We managed to find the place, unlock 3 different doors with 3 separate keys and gain access.  It was 11:00…and that was our adventure.  

Lord only knows what will happen tomorrow.

What a day in Roma.   Quite sure we took 30,000 steps and 10,000 of them were retraces, doublebacks and around in circles.   We are tired and our feet are sore.  It was raining too.

We started off looking for the Pantheon.   With maps apps, a paper map and no idea where we were, we crisscrossed our own route so many times that it was deja vous all over again.  And in the rain.  With umbrellas over head.  At one point we were so desperate, we asked a female soldier carrying an uzi for directions.  Oh, what a day.  

By accident we found ourselves at waters edge at the Trivola fountain.  Just stumbled upon it.  Turning a 12 minute walk into an hour takes some special sort of genius.  When we return, perhaps we will apply for a Menza membership.   

I personally asked about a hundred people for directions because things are not marked very well.  And because sometimes we could not understand the directions.  And because people assumed we knew things we didn’t.   A confluence of confusion.  

We finally found the Pantheon. An enormous example of architecture built way back when. How did they do it?  If it were explained to us, we would as confused as we were with directions.  Just sayin.

After we viewed the Pantheon, we headed to the Vatican because we had prepaid tickets for tour and an audio tour.  We bought a 3 day pass for public transport and off we went on the bus and then the metro.  Emerging from the abyss of the very efficient Metro, we ambled toward the Vatican Museo.  The entirety of Roman visitors were there.  Massive lines.  People working there were very helpful and thru ignorance on our part coupled with our aged looks, we were able to advance our cause of visitation.  

The Vatican was too much. A museum on steroids.  It reminded me of a rugby match with us advancing from scrum to scrum.  Really people, there are too many statues of dead people.  And the tapestries would put any video game or teenage boy movie to shame.  Daggers and blood.  Men, men, men everywhere except for an occasional Virgin Mary ( which I regard as a myth).  

If a fire should break out, we all would have been trampled to death.  Safety was not a concern except for the strict rule of no videos or pictures in the Sistine chapel lest the flashes destroy the ceiling art. They treated that safely, I suppose it could be said.  

God, we were glad when it was over and we were grateful that the day was cool with rain because it was very hot in some places.  A man at dinner tonight (from Holland) said that if a person stopped to listen  to the tape at every designated place, it would take 21/2 years to complete the tour.  It was by all accounts overwhelming.  

After we escaped the place, we just wanted to get back to our hotel and that was not to be.  We went back down to the Metro  but unbeknownst to us, we went the wrong direction.  The end of the line for the wrong direction shared the same name as our station so that when we emerged, nothing looked remotely familiar.   Rayman could hardly walk.  He barely slept on our flight over and he wasn’t at the top of his game.  Really, I was the navigator all day.  So we decided to get some espresso and ducked into a joint to refresh and regroup.   We asked the woman barista where we were in relation to where we wanted to be.   She had no idea even though we had a map.  Finally Rayman overheard a woman speaking English so he rushed her before she could escape. We were so far afield that our map didn’t include our present location.  She set us straight and by the time we left the shop, we were laughing and Rayman even hugged the barista…he was so excited.  We then walked back to the Metro we had left and rode back to our station and found our hotel.

We cleaned up and went to dinner and had a great meal, met and visited with a family from Holland, and walked back to our hotel and here I am blogging. 

Quite an adventure for our first full day in Rome.  

Woke from my air nap to have a sore everything.   Our premium business class seats did not recline. And that is all I will report.  We were glad to arrive without major incident.  Only to be greeted by an hour and a half queue at Customs.  And I was in an ambien walking dead mode which didn’t help our plight.   I highly suspect that our agent was watching looney toons on his iPhone because he was 1.  Slow. 2.  He never made eye contact.  I could have been twerking and he wouldn’t have known.

After escaping the queue, we went in search of the termini.  That is Italian for train terminal which we found and boarded. Squished and standing, we rode non stop into Rome.   That is when we got dazed and confused trying to figure out their metro.  Two wonderful Italian women took us under their bosoms and helped us unload some euros to buy our tickets in la machina.  Too bad they did t hold our hands and lead us to the appropriate train. We managed to get on the B train instead of the A train.  We had a 50-50 chance. Mid route as Rayman was being bugged by a potential pickpocket, we discovered our error and scrambled off. At this point Rayman put his foot down and insisted we take a taxi.  Who was I to argue?  

I was still sleep walking.  

The cabbie didn’t speak English so the ride was done in silence.  I did not say the address right so I showed it to him in writing and we arrived after an extra twirl or two around city blocks choked with people.  Arrival to our hotel commenced, we checked in and I fell upon the bed and fell asleep.  Immediately.  I have no idea what Rayman did.  He couldn’t sleep on the plane so now he lays next to me at 5:00 a.m. snoring.  

We dined at the joint next to our hotel, waited forever to get the check.  So long that our waiter gave us a discount without us even grumbling.  When in Rome…

Back to our room and to bed.  

Today we do the coliseum and Vatican and gelato not necessarily in that order.   Without suitcases the ride on the metro should be fine.  We do plan to get to the Vatican early just in case since we bought tickets.  Don’t want to keep the Pope waiting.  

Observations.  What the hell?  Traveling didn’t seem so hard in earlier adventures.  We are not as nimble.  We hold onto bannisters for dear life.  We forget things…In search for lost chords.  It a bit disconcerting.  On the other hand, it is exciting and challenging and it catapults us out of our comfort zone.   

Will check in later, post gelato.  

Yippee.  just got my itty bitty keyboard to work.  Up until now i had been using the keyboard on my iPad.  Much easier now.  And faster.  

I think that an ex-NBA star works here in the maintenance department.  The TV is up by the ceiling which is about 20 feet tall.  The snack refrigerator is tippy toe high.  It’s a hoot. 

One other observation.  The throne is on high.  About 7 steps so we have ample opportunity to fall, stub, and kill ourselves going to the loo.  Once you get up to it, the bath is fab.  A bidet too.  And all marble and granite.  Lovely…

And did I mention that our tour of the Pope Palace is at 1500 or 3 p.m. today and that heavy rains are expected?  Lordy, is all I can say about that!

Later.  

Yesterday we drove south to Buellton to spend the night with our friends at Flying Flags RV park.  What a splendid time we had Coverting with our friends, the animal bicyclists we know and whom I have spoken of in past blogs.  A fine group that thinks nothing of riding 41 miles one day, followed by 35 miles the next while pedaling up mountains, descending into valleys, and back up the mountains, stopping for refreshments, turning around and riding back, then fixing food for a potluck barbecue and cranking open copious amounts of wine bottles to wash down all the delicious food.

To put things into prospective, I would have retreated to my room for a long nap if I had done what they did.  Then would probably not wake up until the next morning.   Just sayin.

Most of this group is retired.  Ron and Elizabeth from Ashland, OR were there.  They have biked across America.   He wrote a book about their trip.  Across and Down by Ronald Zell.  It’s on Amazon.  They also rode from the Canadian border to Mexico. OMG.  Super hero’s to me.   

 

But I digress.

We had a blast and we spent the night in the Covert’s RV.   They are our RV muses and they hail from Sacramento.  They excel at entertaining.  And that included cooking us breakfast this morn. Before we took off for our trip to Italy.  

Let me speed ahead and replay our trip to LAX.  We left about 8:45 a.m., turned left and headed to the freeway on ramp. It was closed.  So, we turned around in a state of panic ( traveled less than a mile and this?).  We went north on the freeway and ran into a backup.  We sped pass the off ramp becuz it was backed up and drove to the next off ramp.  Got off only to discover that the southbound entrance was also closed.  What the f&$k?  As the minutes ticked by, our panic increased.  It wasn’t pretty.  So we made a decision to go north to highway 154 and go the back way.   We still have no idea what the problem was but we couldn’t risk sitting in traffic. 

It worked.  We went up over the hill and dropped down to Santa Barbara to merge onto 101.  And to keep ourselves “under control”, we listened to a Pod Save America podcast.  That helped immensely and we arrived at the Van  Nuys Flyaway garage where we parked our car in covered parking for $4.00 a day, bought two round trip tickets to LAX for 19.50 each.  The day was cloudy and very cold.  We nearly froze to death wbile we stood outside checking our bags.  Ice. That’s  what my hands felt like when they finally let us board.  And did I mention it was drizzling?  Yes it was.  We had to laugh. How many ovies have you seen that were shot on L.A. where it was raining?  It hardly ever rains there and yet Hollywood embellishes with the rain.  L.A. Confidential comes to mind.  

 If I digress

We arrived at the airport, checked in, and headed to our gate. It was a very long walk that took us to gate 142.  We didn’t know there were that many gates.  And get this. When we finally were called for boarding, they put us on a bus.  Yes.  A bus.  And they drove us to the further point west where our plane was located. All by itself like a lonely stepsister apart from all the major happenings of all the terminals.  Why?  We do not know.  

So here we are, well fed, two glasses of wine consumed flying high just north of Columbus, Ohio.   The sun is waning and so am I.  Rayman plans a movie.  I plan an ambien for sleep a bye time.  We are on  777 in row 14 which affords us a view of the clouds blanketing the nation and the left engine of the aircraft.  We have a bulkhead Seat which features a tv screen mounted on the wall.  It reports that we are traveling 640mph, 35,000 feet and it’s 62 below outside.  Amazing stuff, this air travel.   

So, travel tidbits.  1.  Our Chase Sapphire Reserve issued us a priority pass that got us into an airport lounge where free food and drink were available.  We called Chase a couple of weeks ago and they sent us a card to flash.  2.  Just because you have TSA preapproval does not mean you get it every time.  It randomly selects people.  We were not selected so we had the distinct honor of paddling around without shoes (barefoot in my case) thru security.  Grumble, grumble.  And age was not a disqualifier.  3.  If you have euro coins, no one will convert them to paper money.  So Rayman has 40eros of heavy coins in his carry on.  4. Not all planes have wi-fi on board.   5.  Alitalia served us Mac and cheese with a chocolate mousse and raspberry coulis and they have loads of foreign movies as well as U.S. movies.

 

Keep Reading…

We flew to Portland yesterday.  On Alaska.  From Fresno.  You know, the flight was very scenic with cloudy skies and the Sierras stretching along the state of California like a giant dragon…spikes snowed-covered.  We all take so much of this for granted, don’t we?  It is wonderous.

One of the main reasons for the visit is to be with family….make that the main reason is to be with family. We have a quite a few relatives and it makes the trip so much fun to visit everyone.  

On April 15, 2012 Leyla was born.  She will be six.  My objective was to help celebrate the event with a cake and a shopping trip to the western store in hopes of buying her a pair of cowgirl boots.  After all, a six year old diva needs boots.   What a trip to the store.  She immediately saw and desired a pair of boots with lights.  And of course, they didn’t have her size.  This caused Leyla to want them even more.  We had her try others on for size.  After near-tears, we agreed to order them.  And that was about the time that she decided she did not want to wait for FedEx to deliver them.  So, the plain pink ones became at once more acceptable.  We all know how that feels.  After spending about an hour in the store, we left with pink boots in hand.  She made a very good choice.  And all was well with the world.  Tears avoided.  Such fun.

This a.m. was the time for the cake “project”.  Leyla was asked what kind of cake she desired, and it was determined to be a chocolate cake with vanilla icing.  This girl has great taste and she knows her mind.  Two traits I am confident will take her far in life. 

Being the cook and collector of recipes, I had come to Oregon armed with recipes.  And so this morning recipe review was front and center with my cousin, Sue (I call her Susie).  First thing she exclaimed was, “My god, this cake calls for 4 cups of sugar.”  I had not noticed that when I picked out the recipe.  Oh, well, I never use all the sugar a recipe calls for so I offered that up as a comment.  Sue took exception to something else…I can’t remember what but it was enough that I figured I should look for another recipe.  So, I picked out another one and there was something askant with at one too.  Can’t remember what.  Doesn’t really matter since I then took to the internets and found yet another recipe from Fine Cooking.  That one seemed to be acceptable.  And so it was settled. 

The guys went to the grocery store and bought a few ingredients she was missing.  And when they returned cooking commenced.   Sugar, butter, flour, what could go wrong?   Well, the recipe called for 3 cake pans.  We had two.  So,  I cooked two, reserved batter and cooked the third after the first two had cooled.  No big deal.  However, Sue, was aghast as how “small, unrisen” the cakes appeared.  She called them cookies.  Huffing and puffing may have ensued.  She made me so worried, I offered to do another cake.  She offered to make her favorite cake from her Mom’s collection.  And the more the conversation transpired the funnier it became.  Really, folks, it was just a cake.  A flat cake.  But a cake.  So, out of desperation, Rayman found a picture of the cake and it looked skinny.  So, we all relaxed with the skinny cake and walked to lunch.   

Upon returning from the pub, I went about frosting the cake.  No story there.  So, now the cake is done.  I post it here for your consideration.  Complete with unicorn and Leyla!!

My pinkie finger on my left hand is undergoing a make-over.  This involves a “digit widget”.  It looks like an oil derrick of the grasshopper variety.  See below.

This has happened because I have a genetic disease.  See Dupuytren’s Contracture.  Google it, I mean.

Loving to write means typing.  I’ve trained myself over the years to express myself in writing using the computer.  It took some doing but there you have it.  And I need that pinkie to hit the keys on the keyboard.  With a “limp” pinkie, it was becoming exceedingly difficult.  Hence the digit widget.

Ode to the Digit Widget

Bent by contracture the pinkie needs help

The finger is stubborn like a wet piece of kelp

It cannot get wet nor can it lie dormant

Stretching it hourly in hopes it will not torment

Me.

The widget is mechanical and simple in form

Screwing into the bone it tries to perform

A miracle.

Oh, digit widget, my constant appendage

Will you right the wrong brought on by my lineage?

For if you deliver on the straightening as designed

My hand will be more useful and I will be resigned

To continue my typing

As long as I can.

Finis

Now that I am someone inhibited, I’ve had to make some changes.  No swimming.  No dishes.  Showers by the Rayman.  And life is a stitch.  Now I’ve taken to walking the dog for an hour each morning.  Good for doggie.  Good for me.  Showers are a kick.  Rayman has to wash my hair and body for the most part and help me towel dry.  I recommend everyone to try this even if you don’t need to.  It’s very fun.  For both of us.

Other advantages include no dishes.  Gee wizz.  Rayman often cleans up after dinner anyway, but now it is a given.  No negotiating.  This may last up to 6 weeks.  I’m a week and half into it.  Glory, glory.

We have been studying Italian and take one class a week, on Wednesdays at 5:30.  This interferes with Valentine’s day so we improvised and did a good dinner last night.  Rack of lamb roasted with slices of eggplant, tomatoes, garlic and olives.  The whole thing was washed down with great Opolo zin.  And we enjoyed some See’s candy that Rayman bought for the occasion.  Hope you all have as good a time as we did. 

But I digress.

Italian is fun.  No grades.  He speaks to us in Italian and that’s where my blank stare comes into play.  I have no illusions of speaking the language other than some perfunctory phases.  However, we will be able to read some of it and get the gist.  Oh, we leave for Rome on May 1st for those that don’t know.  For a month.  Should be wonderful.  And the digit widget will be off.  Yippee.

Several of our friends have fallen victim to various diseases and this concerns us.  We very much wish them a speedy recovery.  You know as you age that things are going to happen and yet, we are always surprise when they do.  My advice is to get out and do whatever while you can, if you can.  As if you need my advice.  Still.

One thing we can’t seem to do is ignore the politics de jour.  OMG.  Never thought it could be this bad.  And yet.  Here we are.  So, Rayman and I are trying to curb our habits of getting carried away.  It isn’t easy.  Enough said.

We are racing back to Stanford tomorrow for a follow up appt on my hand.  Driving to the Bay Area is such a good drive.  Beautiful fields of vineyards, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuces.  A meandering Salinas River.  All the signs with Spanish names, Arroyo Seco, Gonzalez, Soledad.  A reminder of all that  has come before us.  We owe so much to the Mexicans.  it is so much a part of our culture.  Life would be boring without tacos, enchiladas and our gardener, Vicente.   I count my blessings as being empathic to my fellow man allows me so much joy and many tequila drinks!   I hope you all feel the same way.

My writing has stopped because of my duties as trustee.  Since June, 2016, when my uncle died, I have been working as trustee.  It’s hard work.  It takes effort, time, patience, and lots of it.  Perhaps I should write about the job of trustee.  There is so much to know.  And if you want to do it right, you need help.  And then there are faux pas, mistakes, issues to handle.  A book would be good to write as it is still fresh in my head.  I’m thinking about that a lot these days.  I compose paragraphs in my head all the time.  Do you ever do that?  Make up stories?  Compose letters?  I often times find myself doing that and I wonder if that is what most people do.   One does have to wrestle with the mind, doesn’t one?  Keep it moving in the right direction.  Keep it positive.  Keep in fun.  It all takes work to corral the good and cast off the bad.  And I’m not always successful.  However, it is a goal, nevertheless.

So, happy Valentine’s day to you all.  Love is a good sentiment to celebrate.  It is positive, heart warming, and good to remember every day, not just VD day.  Have a good one.  And if you have the ensuing baby and want to name it after me, I use two n’s in my name.  Dianna.