2013 is turning out to be another wonderful year.
Andrea still enjoys her job as a Staffing Pool Intensive Care nurse.
"Staffing Pool" means
that she goes from ICU to ICU . . . Med/Surg, Cardio, Neurotrauma, etc . . . wherever
she is needed. She cut down to part-time (two 12-hour night shifts per week) to save
her sanity, and that has worked out very well for us. But Andrea has been
working for Mission Hospitals for a decade now, so she is considering a few
changes. Instead of working part-time, she may choose to work
"PRN", which means she would become a 1099 employee with even greater
scheduling flexibility. She would continue to work for Mission, which
would keep her current with her licensure and continuing education requirements,
but she would have even more time to pursue other interests as well.
For example, she is joining the Assisted Vacation team, a new start-up
headquartered in Nice, France and Asheville. Assisted Vacation puts together
individual and group trips for people suffering from Alzheimer's or even
terminal illnesses. The client might like to have one last crack at Paris,
Vienna, Madrid, Hong Kong or . . . wherever. The goal is to improve
the quality of life of elders and their family caregivers through
person-centered vacations. Andrea would serve as a
nurse/traveling companion, a job for which she is perfectly suited. She is
professional, energetic, well-traveled, and multi-lingual. I myself look
forward to joining her from time to time on these interesting, educational
journeys.
Speaking of travel, this has been and will continue to be a great year. This spring, we visited Aruba, Colombia, Panama, St. Lucia, and Jamaica. Andrea even had an early-morning private tour of Ocho Rios' Dunns River Falls sans tourists and the hoards of aggressive vendors hustling the cheap crap for which Jamaica is so deservedly famous. We did a lot of snorkeling, sightseeing, gawking and exploring. Unfortunately, weather prevented a planned foray into Costa Rica, a place we really love. Instead, we drank rum all day at the Sandals resort, and wove our way around rainclouds on a catamaran. I think.
We have taken a few three-four day trips, too, to Charlotte, Atlanta, and other
spots in the drivable vicinity. These mini-vacations are great. We
can't do it all the time, though, for two good reasons: 1) We love our
mountain home in Asheville, and we particularly enjoy spending time in our
garden, which will be featured in a five-page spread in Carolina Gardener this
September, and 2) We have both enjoyed our usual physical regimen of near-daily
runs and workouts. (As I write this, Andrea just completed an 11 mile run
and is jumping into the shower.)
Still, during August we will spend a couple of weeks in the Keys fishing and diving, then we will take a trip with Walt and Kathy Loy to visit the Davises near Knoxville. We met the Davises on Sea Cloud II some years ago. Andrea and I love aquariums, so we'll probably manage to visit the great aquariums in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Gatlinburg sometime during this little trip.
During leaf season, we will zoom up to New York, maybe catch some theatre and poke around here and there before boarding the Emerald Princess for a cruise from NYC to Quebec City via Newport, Boston, Bar Harbor, St. John, Halifax, Sydney, and Charleston. If the leaves are bright and the weather inviting, we'll take a few extra days and drive to Ottowa via Montreal. Then we'll return to Asheville.
But not for long! Soon we will board a flight for Vienna to help Walt
celebrate his birthday in Baden.
Rick and Nancy Davis will be there, too, as will many of Walt and Kathy's other friends from
around the world. (Every major birthday they pick someplace in the world that is especially significant to them and invite their friends to join in the
festivities.) After Baden, Andrea and I will take the train to Salzburg
for a little sightseeing and perhaps to take advantage of the ball season.
Of course, we can and will do that in Vienna, too.
From Salzburg, we will take the train to Bregenz, Andrea's home town for a week or two of skiing in the Alps. Afterwards, we'll head back to the Keys. We really love the Keys house, where we always look forward to our grateful visitors from the cold frozen North.
I got a couple of bites on the Lighthouse Point Townhouse, so we'll see . . .
One of the things in the Keys I have enjoyed more than I expected was
re-kindling of friendships with guys that were really more David's friends than
mine. Bob Fennesy and John Cheek come immediately to mind. Bob is a dive boat
captain in Key Largo, and is an avid blue-water fisherman. We had a ball
together this past season. John Cheek goes back a long-long ways. He and David
were the closest of friends, and now we really enjoy getting together with him
and his wife, Rainey, whenever they visit their Keys house, not two blocks away
from ours. John has a plan for murdering Yellowtail by the score, and we're
going to implement it this summer, with any luck.
There are other unexpected pleasures, too. I have gotten so see my daughters, Tracy and Melissa, much more often. They live just north of Ft. Lauderdale, so when I'm in the Keys we're only an hour and a half apart. They have both stayed at the Keys house with us with their families, and we truly had "the best of times." Randy, Melissa and my grandson, Jake, drove off just this morning after staying a few days at Camp Rushlow. We kayaked the French Broad, sampled many local brews (Save the Ales!), took the LaZoom Comedy Tour, visited the Grove Park Inn, hiked and set up a special bug-attracting light over a white sheet to watch moths all night. We had well over 300 species, including beautiful Lunas, Regals, Ios, sphinxes, and more, showing off their sometimes garish, more-often subtle colors and delicate scrolling. Melissa said it was the best nerdiest thing she had ever done.
Gosh! Nearly forgot our anniversary! What a night.
I reserved the
in-kitchen table at Rezaz Restaurant in Asheville, arguably the best restaurant
in a city known for great dining. Walt and Kathy Loy and Henry Stern
joined us for an amazing 7 course dinner, expertly served under a chandelier
consisting of the 32 pans Reza opened the restaurant with, sandblasted and
welded to a steel frame. We did not get to pick the menu; I only specified
that one of the entrees be lamb, which was served with a Grand Cru Pommard.
We first enjoyed an excellent champagne (a surprise gift from our new friends,
Heinz and Dawn Grohs), followed by Moroccan gazpacho, an
excellent non-oaked chardonnay, three salmon-based appetizers, North Carolina
black grouper served with sea scallops, a palate cleanser, sliced breast of duck
accompanied by perfectly sautéed eggplant, rack of lamb, and three (count 'em)
kinds of dessert. We were all so stuffed we could barely hobble out of the
place!
As Walt said, "this was an event, not a meal."
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Last minute animal update! Woodchucks don't really chuck wood. Instead, they destroy tender leaves, flowers and stems found in the garden. We inadvertantly offer a perfect habitat for them, and we were worried about the damage our resident woodchuck would cause during our quick trip to Florida this morning. Not to worry: We trapped the critter last night and drove him to his new home far, far away. This morning, though, we discovered that our resident bear had discovered a yellowjacket nest deep within the soil of a raised garden in our backyard. As bears do, she dug up the nest and ate most of the unhappy hornets and their larvae. Dug up our roses, too, but did no damage to the dry-laid stone that supports the dirt. Bears are actually fairly tidy; they mess things up no more than they must to survive. |
Updated mid-summer, 2013
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