Saturday, January 18, 2014

Kemah Boardwalk today with Rob, Helen, their granddaughter Tess, and five other friends and family members (Rob & Helen's, not mine).  This is an amusement park about 30 miles away, on the coast, so right on the waterfront.  Beautiful spot, great fun for the kids - we all ate at Landry's- mainly seafood on the menu - then walked around.  I was introduced to DippinDots - tiny balls of ice cream in a cup - and Helen and I explored the shops.

At the entrance to the Boardwalk (admission is free - you just pay for rides or games or food once you're on the grounds)

Fountain where there are remote control boats which you can sail

Landry's restaurant, where we ate a substantial lunch

View from our table!

And again. . . 

Double Decker carousel

Gotta love all those palm trees!

Caught Helen in the middle of a cup of dippindots.

Along the waterfront

Friday, January 17, 2014

Since I've been back in Galveston for almost a week, the Buffalo debacle is fading into a crappy memory - a conversation piece, even! I arrived at my rv last Saturday around midnight, thanks to Rob coming and picking me up from the Houston International Airport. This is what greeted me (of course, I took the pictures and got the full effect the next morning):

                                     This was sooo awesome, after the week from hell in Buffalo! . . . and the Blue Moon beer gets the seal of approval from Bobby, so it must be good!

A yellow ribbon tied all around my entire rv!

Yellow ribbons dangling from the palm tree!

Yellow ribbon tied around the signpost!

A closer-up shot of the yellow ribbons on the palm tree.

Even my chair has yellow bows on it!

. . . and the mirrors

It's been "cold" here, but yesterday was gorgeous, especially out of the wind. In the morning, I went to water aerobics in the new spa (about a dozen people were there - almost filled the spa, although we could have accommodated a few more - that's how big the new spa is) and then came back and lay in the sun for about an hour - so fantastic!

Using my Dickens on the Strand mug to good advantage.

Towel, bathing suit, and robe - signs of warm weather!

My little yard.

Sophie, Mia, and Jack enjoyed the sun too.

Then, for lunch, Rob & Helen, Tess, Elaine & Marvin, Joan & Susan and I all went to lunch together at the West End Marina, about a five minute drive west on the island (the opposite way from Galveston).  Lovely restaurant right on the water.  Joan & Susan had researched it and found that they have a half off special on hamburger combos from 11:00 to 5:00 every day.  Yummy burgers and great company!

Elaine, in front of one side of the marina

Our waitress, plus Helen (elbow sling and all) and her granddaughter, Tess.

From left to right:  Helen, Rob, Elaine, Marvin, Joan, me, Susan, and Tess.

After we got back, Joan, Susan, Daisy and I went for a walk on the beach:

A lone fisherman in his waders.

It's really quite a wide beach, and people drive their cars on it.

Cool posts, separating the public from the private - I think - the only difference seems to be that, beyond the posts, nobody drives their cars. . . 

The gulls have chosen a post each 

Susan and Daisy

Cool shell

The beach just goes on and on . . .

Daisy, Susan, Joan

Another shell

Bye for now, beach!

Last night was Mexican Fiesta night at the potluck, so lots of burritos and enchiladas and tacos, etc. etc. I left early - too much noise, too crowded - obviously, Jamica Beach is becoming too damn successful!  They are in the process of building the clubhouse out further, so when they finish, there'll be more room for the potluck.
Today is laundry day for me, and updating this blog - and tonight we want to do something special with Elaine and Marvin, since they're leaving tomorrow.  It doesn't seem that they've been here a whole month, but they have!

Another catchup!

Thursday, January 10th, 2014: Christmas was nice this year - Julia suggested Google Hangout for our Christmas Day chat, and that's what we did. It was awesome to see and hear all of my family at once and have a real family get-together.  There's always a depressing side to Christmas: since my kids all left home and embarked on their own lives, this is definitely a time of year when I do feel lonely. Christmas was always an important family time for me, and I guess I thought that at some stage, my kids would take over organizing Christmas get-togethers. That hasn't happened, though, and any effort to visit or celebrate Christmas with my kids comes from me.  I guess I raised them to be independent, and excluding their mother from their lives is just part of the natural growing up process.
I flew to Niagara Falls last week to restart the 63 days of my extended health insurance, and have been caught in the storm that has been sweeping through this whole area. On my way here, I flew from Houston to Chicago, then got stuck in Chicago overnight because of a canceled flight.Stayed in a hotel, as well as paying the hotel in Niagara Falls (non-refundable).

The rather bleak  view from the Chicago hotel

Another view - same window - note the snowplows . . . 

 I was re-routed through Detroit - just a walk from one gate to another, though.

Cool Christmas tree in the Detroit airport

Yep - that's me - I was really there.

In Niagara Falls, I got some shots of the falls, walked uptown and had dinner at Kelsey's, taking some pictures of the incredibly commercialized downtown core. The next day (Saturday), I met my friend Sue-Jane and her sister Judy for coffee at Tim Hortons.  This was great - I've been looking forward to seeing Sue-Jane!

Part of the falls

Lots of ice

Crazy commercialism!

More of the same.

Sue-Jane and I at Timmies.

Final looks a the falls from the cab drive to Buffalo

On the way back, I took a cab to Buffalo ($100) only to find that my flight was canceled. That was last Saturday. I was booked for a flight Monday afternoon and stayed at a Best Western at a reduced rate ($65 per night).

This is a zoom shot of the Denny's right in front of the hotel, and the Olympic Restaurant across the road - the two food sources near the hotel.

Tracking the snow storm from my hotel window.

Worse

Worse still

And whiteout!

From my booth in Denny's

From the front door of Denny's

Nighttime - yep - still  snowing

Morning of Jan. 9th - finally letting up

The ceiling of my 4th (top) floor sprung a leak, so they moved me to a room directly under it, on the third floor.  They then put up a scaffolding, in order to work on the roof (rhymes with "woof") and I opened the curtains one morning to see this guy on the scaffolding outside my window. Just a little creepy . . .

 Monday my flight was canceled and I was rebooked for Thursday. That's today, January 9th. That flight was canceled and I'm now rebooked for Saturday afternoon. Living from day to day in a hotel in Buffalo has got to be one of the more depressing things I have done in my life! No laundry, so I'm washing my clothes out in the bathroom sink with hand soap. The nearest mall is a $20 cab ride away and the severe weather has prevented any long walks. Because I'm close to the airport, with free shuttle service to it, I'm really in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing to do but watch TV and surf the net and read. Thank God for wifi and ereaders! My solace lies in the number of friends and acquaintances who have commented on my facebook posts - that's really my communication link with the outside world. It really hurts that not one of my children has expressed the slightest bit of concern for me, though.