The flight home, and The 46th Street Coffee Klatch

Jan 17

We arrived home Monday, Jan 13. The trip was shorter (28 hours instead of 34 hrs. when we went to Thailand) due to shorter layovers and a 150 MPH tailwind. In Beijing we changed planes and security was holy hell. He yelled at all the flyers and searched for items that weren't there.  The security person took every item out of Ron’s backpack and looked at his screen multiple times saying Ron had a knife. Not so. We had arrived 45 minutes late, and it took 20 minutes to get to our gate after we landed on the tarmac; I thought we might be driving to SFO as the Beijing airport is HUG. 

Security took about 20 minutes because of the security person's sense of importance.  Then we literally ran to our gate and got there 15 minutes before the plane was supposed to leave. Fortunately, there was a long line to board the plane and we made it. However, there was little room for each of our two carry-on bags. I put my backpack under the seat in front of me and got my laptop bag in a bin. The attendant told Ron there was no room for his. Not a good thing to say to Ron who believes there is ALWAYS room for one more and sure enough he persisted and squeezed his bags into two different bins. We took our sleeping pills after the meal and both got some sleep. There was a lot of turbulence and we were jostled during the parts of the flight.  A couple of times in my sleep I was thrown towards the man on my other side, but he was asleep also so he didn’t seem to mind my intrusion.

We got to San Francisco but our bags didn’t make it. We were not surprised given how short our time in Beijing was. But we didn’t have any bags to pick up in SFO to go through customs so we were able to make our connection there as well.

The weather was quite cold when we arrived in our sweaters. The next day it was even colder with strong winds and the temps below 40 degrees. We have had very light snow multiple days. Quite a contrast to the 86 degrees in Thailand. Our friends Dana and Wayne who stayed in our house while we were gone had dinner prepared for us when we arrived. Wonderful tortilla soup and green salad with fresh pears, walnuts, and feta cheese. I was overwhelmed with gratitude and thankful I didn’t need to run out and buy groceries for dinner. There were fresh flowers for us as well. Some people are so very thoughtful

We have been playing catch up since arriving. Our neighbor handled our mail while we were gone so we sorted through that. We are attempting to see friends we haven’t seen in months, restocking the pantry and refrigerator and starting to cook. The construction is in progress in fits and starts. Ron had a meeting with the contractor and was only partially satisfied with the results. The insulation team started right after the meeting but didn’t pass the inspection. We have been here before back when we used to remodel fixer-uppers but this particular project has been more problematic than we anticipated. However, one of the men, Pokkay, asked if he could work Saturday and Sunday. I thanked him profusely and said ‘yes we would really appreciate it’. He showed up both days at 8:30 and I had hot coffee ready for him

My ‘to do’ list is longer than the day is. I haven’t finished yesterday’s list and today’s list is even longer. I need to get a grip. We DID finally get our hinnies back to the gym. We joined a gym here but it is too far to walk to. Yesterday was our first day back and it felt so good to be back in the exercise mode. We are both out of shape. But neither of us gained any weight while gone. YAY! The new fitness room is very large in contrast and has the latest in equipment. I miss our funky weight room in Portland that was two blocks away but I am happy to be in Vancouver. My biggest problem is I haven’t found a good source for artisan bread…not a real problem so I would say we are doing just fine if that is my biggest issue!

Jan 19

Yesterday we made it back to the gym and are almost back to our full routine. It feels so good to be exercising regularly.

It’s Sunday and it has been a lovely relaxing day. After our traditional Sunday breakfast of a Dutch Baby by Chef Ron, we went across the street for the morning coffee group visit. Five us of show up almost daily to visit with Henry (93), Shirly, his bride of 72 years and also in her 90’s I think and their lovely spunky adult daughter Karen who left San Francisco last year to come up and help out. The five visitors are all in the neighborhood and range in age from the mid-60s to mid-80s. We laugh every day with funny stories. I doubt I will ever want to leave this neighborhood. It is unique and special. People really watch out and care for each other, it is quiet and safe. Hard to beat that combo. Henry has the coffee pot ready every day and visiting hours are 8:30-10:00.

Henry is my hero. At 93 he is about 6’ 4” or more. He strikes me as a strong man in every sense of the word. He is handsome and one of the sweetest men I had ever encountered. He is courteous and friendly as can be. I fell in love with him the first day I met him which was three days before we closed on the purchase of the house. Shirley and Karen are just as sweet and friendly as Henry. Henry had a huge farm in Iowa before moving to the NW. In addition to growing crops, they had cattle, loads of chickens, I think sheep and more. I have forgotten all that they raised.

Afterward, we took a walk because the sun is out today. A rare sighting this time of year. We came home and I did some laundry. We had lunch and later went out for another walk down by the waterfront.  When we came home, we spent some time looking through our inventory of boxes to find some items we needed and found what we wanted. I have a ‘scarf collection’ from our travels and Karen said she wanted to see it. It took a while but I found it in three different bins/boxes. YAY! Ron found some family photos he wanted to put on his dresser and we found an oven thermometer. The stove here runs really hot and after burning a number of things I want to get a reading on the temperature from the oven versus the setting. All in all, it was a good day.