Blog

Today is the day of the big party. We all came here to celebrate Joyce’s 90th Birthday, Susie’s aunt. It is also Susie’s mother’s birthday. Hope, Susie’s nephew’s wife, birthday was just a few days ago. So it was a day full of birthdays.

I started the Saturday morning with the usual and then meeting up with Barb, Susie’s sister at Joyce’s apartment. The party was at 2PM, so we had plenty of time. Barb and her whole family wanted to walk, so I joined them.

This is my, “I am up what are we doing” text picture from this morning.

Well, Ashville downtown is about 1.5 miles from Brook-Howell. Clint, Susie’s niece’s husband, decide to stop once we got to the first strip mall and left us to acquire breakfast and to fill Hope’s order. I then continued with Barb and family for another mile. Mesha, Susie’s nephew, married to Hope (if you are keeping score) was also was us. He is a gluten-free guy, and so we need a more let us say a less traditional breakfast.

We found the Green Sage Cafe, which fit the bill. It was very well accommodating to gluten-free and vegan and other options. I tried to order a vegetable bowl but was informed that only breakfast was served, so I asked the cashier what she liked and order that. I did not know what it was. It included two still runny fried eggs–excellent. I broke the eggs and let the golden goodness enhance all the rightful veggies and rice. My that was good. You tell you are in the south as the food was perfect.

Mesha headed over to a gluten-free bakery and Gordon, and Kaleb (Barb’s husband and their son–got out a scorecard yet?) headed back. Leaving me, Barb and her daughter Emma to explore the Yoga Festival. This was just a bit of the part of the festival in downtown (I learned later) and some folks selling services. The greater festival was elsewhere: Asheville Yoga Festival.

It was still lovely, and if you need equipment (i.e., mats, weighted blanks, tees, yoga pants, marijuana, jewelry, tea, and so on), they had it ready for you to purchase. We walked through the park where the little festival was set-up and looked at the options. I met folks for a retreat center where you can “Restore Inner Balance”–maybe next time: OM Sanctuary.

I was happy to meet the people that made the gift I sent my sister: A cloth grocery bag with “Eat Locals” and a zombie on it. I did not know they were based here in Asheville until after I purchased them. You can see that the gal has an “Eat Locals” shirt on.

Available on Amazon or at their shop or at the park in Asheville or their website: Moonlight Makers.

We, now just Barb, Emma, and me, next tried a few shops with amazing tees (one with a cat Darth Vader using the “force” on a goldfish). The unofficial motto of Portland, Oregon is “Keep Portland Weird,” but Asheville has a tee that says “If Asheville is not weird enough for you, you ARE too weird.” I did not know that Portland had competition.

Next tea. We went to Dobra Tea for tea. It was great and calm. Our phone had exploded with texts. The folks back in Brooks-Howell were trying to find the syrup and waffles. There was a lot of texting and back and forth, but in the end–from what I can tell–everyone who needed a waffle, pancake, or other forms of syrup using foods was served and syrup supplied. We walked back.

We then collected Susie, Leta (Susie’s mother), and Barb’s family and headed for lunch at Chick-fil-a. I had never been to one that I remember. Leta is not a fan as Chick-fil-a is infamous for its political stance on Trump (pro). I do not use politics to judge food; otherwise, I would miss out on some excellent and healthy eating. I liked my sandwich, spicey.

The party started at 2, so we rushed back and got ready, and I helped put the AV in order and grabbed my laptop to play the PowerPoint of Joyce’s life done by Barb. It seems that only my computer, Apple MacPro Retina 2014, had the older DVI to connect up. Gordon and Emma had to rush off and get no sugar added ice cream for all of us with sugar issues. They were back soon, and we had a great time. The other members of Brooks-Howell’s community came and we, the family, served them ice cream and cupcakes (with and without sugar) and cake (as usual) while Joyce’s life as a Methodist missionary showed on the screen.

 

Susie chatted with the folks. I played with the young kids, when I was not helping to eat the ice cream, who then ran off with my wallet and phone. Kaleb retrieved them for me. We fed the local mosquitoes.

We sang “Happy Birthday” for Joyce.  We had photos taken of the family. I did not get those. I suspect I will see the prints of the pictures in family homes for years.

Clean-up and then Pizza for dinner. I return to the room. I closed my eyes for just a moment, Leta wakes me “When are we leaving”? Actually, fifteen minutes ago. Oops. Susie said nothing about me falling asleep.

We drive back to the places I walked to. Parking is a mess. I found a hair salon that sells its parking, on the same block, for $5. Sold. No reason to hurry and about 40 minutes later we have all 18 of us crammed into two booths.

The Mellow Mushroom is a chain of edgy pizza, again reminding me of the Pacific Northwest.

 

One hundred minutes later or so the pizza comes. The waiter explained that they are understaffed (on a Saturday!) and the managers are re-learning their pizza skills. I think she said, “Bless them, they are trying.” It was good pizza (we did call them three hours ahead to tell them we were coming).

Back late. Off to church in the morning. Most folks are headed back home or on to more adventures on Sunday morning. We leave on Monday.

Joyce and me

Barb and me

Today was our trip to The Biltmore Estate. I cannot really describe this as it is a vast estate open to the public. The house and everything are massive and over-the-top. Biltmore, built in the 1890s, is still the largest house in the USA. This is the Vanderbilt family estate and is still owned by the descendants. I did get in trouble. I walked up to the staircase and was informed that I could not do that as the tour direction must be followed. We stuck to the tour after that. We road in a 120-year-old manual elevator to the second floor and saw many of the family rooms. We had to stop as only stairs, a lot of them, allowed access to the third floor and the basement. On the second floor, we watched a video of the parts of the house that Susie and others could not reach. A bit odd, but it worked for us. The third floor was for servants, and the basement had the kitchens, laundry, and a few different things like a bowling alley and a swimming pool.

(I forgot my phone in the car, so there are few pictures–I bought a book)

I then walked with Barb and family, and soon others joined us in the walled garden. Susie, Leta her mother, and Joyce Susie’s aunt decided to rest on a bench while we checked out the gardens. I love old roses and was surprised to see so many new ones and awed by roses from the 1700s in the garden and 1800s. Emma, my niece, and I walked through all of it. I am happy to see so many old roses.

The indoor gardens had a model train running around it. Orchids in full flower were placed everywhere. We also so some bog plants like pitcher plants and other carnivorous plants. I like the garden more than the old house. It was alive and yet classical. I also wanted a shovel to take a few old roses back to the Portland area. I have ten different roses growing at my house. I found one, Mr. Lincoln, at Biltmore. Emma was surprised by how tall it was, five or six feet for some bushes.

As always, time runs out, and there is still much to see. Our tickets had us enter the house at 1:45 and still at closing, we had things to see. Amoung stuff we did not see was The B-52s, who had a show there tonight. We heard the sound tests, and we were wondering why it sounded familiar and then saw that it was the B052s were on tonight. It also may explain the tiny outfits some gals were wearing to the Biltmore. It just did not seem the right crowd for 1890s mansion tours–ah, tour and show package.

We instead rushed back to Brooks-Howell as we had agreed for dinner there. We got there late and had dinner served not on plates but boxes as we were late. It was good, and we saw everyone. The grandparents had taken the kids to a farm-like setting while we did mansion. Everyone survived that.

The kids went off to swim in the pool after eating (did we not do that when I was young) and I met Barb–Susie’s sister, Gordon–Barb’s spouse, and Emma–Bard and Gordan’s daughter–for a few boardgames. We played Escape From R’lyeh. It is an easy to learn Lovecraft styled card game. Later Clint and Hope (both night owls, in-laws like me, and gamers) came over and played two more games. We then talked about board games for a bit.

So a busy day and really fun. Tomorrow is Joyce’s party for turning 90. We are all so happy to be here and celebrate and visit and play spooky Lovecraft styled games.

Before all this started, we got up and got organized. I had in our room the waffles.

I sent a text out that we had the waffles (see above). Soon others came to partake of our bounty. Toasters are only allowed in a shared space with a dire warning about always watching the toaster. We managed to get Susie breakfast and others who wanted waffles too. The youngest enjoyed microwaved waffles–that was new to me.

That is all and it is late. Good night.

We got up on time, and everything has gone well. We were up before the alarm–sleep was fitful for both of us as it was unfamiliar, hotel room. We were dressed and at the front desk in time to get the shuttle that was running late for the earlier time of 4:40 at 4:55. We left, and I saw folks running after us–the driver was not stopping as he was full. That was the group for 5:00! Pays to be a bit early in PDX.

We got dropped off, and we did the usual things. Being first-class makes everything easy–that is why I picked that for this trip. I do wonder about our international flight to Amsterdam, which is the economy class will be like. But that is in December so I will worry about that in a few months.

Here is Susie as she passed the security check. They decided to just do the metal detector for her. No issue for me.

We got to the gate about the same time as sunrise:

And being PDX, there was always something odd:

We got our seats changed to be next to each other. So we spent four hours enjoying first class and breakfast served at 30,000 feet. On this part of the trip, I read a paper translated (mostly) from German on how to use LED to detect radiation. I want to detect particles caused by cosmic rays, so I am curious. It is interesting as the trick is not to identify the particles but to be able to amplify the signal so it can be processed as a digital signal. Susie read a book by Nora Roberts. Yes, I did nod off a few times, but it was not the content.

Our connection to Chicago was short, 35 minutes, and they had the wheelchair waiting and everyone on the plane waited for Susie, and they were very supportive. The gate was five minutes away. We waited twenty minutes to board. I resisted Nuts on Clark shop with really good looking popcorn. It is Chicago after all. All that Cubs buckets overfilled with popcorn.

A nice guy in a suit exchanged seats with me to allow me to sit next to Susie. The next flight was just popcorn (!) and drinks. I got the Internet working on this one buy paying for it (growl).

We are landing soon in NC. I have to find a car there.

We met the same team that helped us last time here at Charlotte Airport. Last time we ran the whole length of the airport. This time we only need the bags and to get the rental. Still, they remembered us, and we had a lovely time getting everything and leaving the airport. They are really nice and good at getting you where you need to be.

Turning to the drive, I feel few things will take you out of your comfort zone like driving a car you never touched before in places you have never been and not really knowing how to get to where you are supposed to be. I seem to get this deal a lot. So far, I have not hit anything or broke anything. It is crazier when I do this in Europe, but NC is not Oregon. I saw some aggressive driving: Oh, how I miss that. I watched some passing by intimidation. And I had trouble not going over 80 in a 55 to keep up with traffic. Yes, I did wear away my be polite PDX driving just a tiny bit and cut one car off. It felt so wrong and yet…

After about 2 hours and a half, we reached the town and found a funeral home in Ashville. Not right. Drove right by it, Brook-Howell. Found it. Checked in and waiting to hook up with Susie’s family. Everyone headed to rest and so we will assemble in the morning.

We are staying in the guest apartment. This appears to be assisted living directed. Here is a view:

So starting again about seven in the morning (4AM PDT!).

We are here in the Red Lion Inn at the PDX airport. We have a 7AM flight and so we have parked the car here at the hotel for the trip and have a lift to the airport at 5AM. Our flight is at 7AM to make it to the East Coast by the evening. We then pick-up a car and drive another two-hour-plus. So a busy day comes.

Today I took the day off from the shoe company and tried to decompress a bit. I slept into an indecent hour: 8:15! I did some laundry and even painted some figures, just getting them started. I rallied Susie about eleven and finally got dressed (washing all the remaining apparel except my robe) after a shower.

Figures after initial priming in black with a white dry brush.

I made Susie her favorite, scrambled eggs with cheese. I added some ham as that is what I like. I keep frozen cooked bacon (decedent I know) and made that also for Susie. We had lunch or breakfast together. I then went to wander Hillsboro as it was after all my day off. I also needed to get out a bit.

I went to the antique mall and found a perfect table I have been looking for. A folding table made of oak. I managed to not acquire it as we have to travel today. Stopped by the hobby shop and bought expensive glue stick thingies and glue.

I then found the gaming store, Runes and Boards, I have heard about. Huge store and well cleaner than most. A trans person, Mary Ann, was there to assist customers–how perfectly Oregon. The prices were about the same as I have seen in other stores, but there are lots of table and chairs, and the A/C was working. Again, not like most game stores. They just got their beer license and “was working out details with the city” I was told by the owner. Mary Ann told me they were not that busy on Tuesdays and maybe some weekends. I had first commented on the fact that the first game you see when you walk in is Twilight Imperium 4, “You have to love a store that starts with TW4.” The suggestions I think she was trying to make was that it would be great if I could get some TW4 going on a Tuesday or unbusy weekend. Most people expect to be hit-on for sex and/or relationships. I get hit-on to run games–Just as well as Susie is OK with me running games.

I next meet a 30ish beard guy who heard Mary Ann and I talk about painting figures. He then brought me over to a table, and we looked at his miniatures. They showed almost no shading but the chrome and metallics were bright and made the figure pop. I learned that he was using a chrome pen to get the look. It looks too shiny for fantasy figures, I like those to have a brushed look to the metal, but for SciFi oh that was really nice with chrome that looked like flowing metal! So we went thru is ten or so figures for Monsterpocalypse Miniatures Game to admire and make a few suggestions. I have to get a chrome pen! I can see some Twilight Imperium ships models getting some brightness!

The game has you buy monsters and have them crash through a city. I even saw an Empire State Build model you could buy. Hmmm…

I came home after than with my prescriptions and tiny toothbrushes with tiny tubes of paste. Ready to pack. I packed.

We had burgers at Cruise Inn for the best burgers and some beer. The Smiths and us Wilds are talking about a possible joint trip to Turkey next year. More to come as we think about this.

Short trip thru Portland flying Air Volvo. Now we are resting here at PDX. Goodnight!

photo from a train by me.