Who Would’ve Thunk …

Saturday, 31 December

… that on New Year’s Eve day we’d be able to sit on a park bench in Washington DC and enjoy an al fresco lunch?

Well, we must have been hoping that the forecast for near 60F (15C) temps and sunshine would hold true, because we packed some sandwiches, baby carrots, and apple slices when we left the house shortly before noon today.

The Destination: Washington DC.

The Plan: take the metro to the Rosslyn Station; walk across the Key Bridge from Virginia to DC; stroll along the C&O Canal tow path; have a picnic lunch somewhere along the way; and wander through Georgetown before returning home.

By the time we got into DC, however, the clouds had moved in and there was a stiff breeze. The walk along the tow path was no longer appealing, so we scrapped that part of our plans. Instead, we found a bench at the Francis Scott Key Park near the entrance to Georgetown and enjoyed a picnic lunch while the sun played hide and seek behind the clouds. Then, we strolled through Georgetown, which was unusually quiet and crowd-free, and stopped to get some Belgian chocolate-chocolate ice cream at the Häagen-Dazs shop that happened (!!!) to be on our way to the Foggy Bottom Metro Station. Yummm … brings back great memories of our 1999 trip to Cancun; but that’s a story for another time.

a beautiful winter day with fall-like temps.

So, our plans didn’t work out as intended. So be it. We had fun anyway … and we got out of the house for a couple of hours to boot.

Blast from the Past: In the Spirit of the Season

Saturday, 31 December

After Mui finished his basic training with the US Air Force, his first assignment was at Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

In the eight years we were there, one of our favorite places to visit during Christmas was Temple Square in the heart of Salt Lake City.  Decorated with twinkling lights galore — 215,000 of them to be precise — it was definitely the place to go for a bit of holiday cheer.

As we round out 2011, it seems appropriate to post this picture from 28 years ago to wish one and all a fabulous 2012.

TIMELESS HOLIDAY CHEER
THE sALT lAKE tEMPLE, CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS — uTAH
(scanned from photograph)

Beware … Blasts Are Coming to a Blog Near You

Thursday, 29 December

In 2010, as a step in downsizing for getting on the road, I started scanning the zillion photographs we had — and still have, for that matter — in albums, journals, and file boxes big and small.  The plan is to scan and post the images in a blog so that we can revisit past memories when and where we wish, and get rid of the clutter at the same time.

I opted to start with 1982, the year we made our permanent move to the US and continue through the years to the date in time when we moved into the world of digital photography.  In one year, I made reasonable headway.  I got through 1982, ‘83, and ‘84, and most of ‘85.  The blog is here if you want to have a peek.  The photos are good for a laugh or two!  Aaah, how young we were!

Anyway, between the sale of the house, the move into the condo, and our trips near and far, the scanning project came to a screeching halt mid-year.  Oh, and yes, we upgraded to Mac’s Lion operating system and our 10-year-old scanner stopped working!  That made an impact on progress, too.

A month ago, we gave up on finding an upgraded driver for the old scanner and bought a new one instead — a CanoScan 9000F.  We’re thrilled with the results thus far.  Mui’s been scanning up a storm of articles — travel ideas for when we’re full-timing — and I’ve gotten back into the swing of things with my photo scanning.  In the past week alone, I’ve finished up 1986 through 1988, and 1989 is all sorted and waiting to be scanned.  I should be moving into the ‘90s soon :-)

I have given up on the idea of posting the scanned photos in our Blast from the Past blog.  Not permanently, mind you.  I still plan to get back to that, but with less than a year before we start full-timing, I’m going to just get the photographs and other memorabilia digitized and saved on an external drive first so I can continue with the downsizing of “stuff.”

I’ve already cleared out two shelves filled with photo albums; now I just need to get
through all these journals and loose photos.

All of this is just a preamble to warn you that I will be posting a few of our memories from those past years in this blog.   Don’t say you weren’t warned!

We Almost Had No Christmas Cards

Tuesday, December 27

When we sold our townhouse and moved into the condo in May, we dutifully contacted the post office to change our address and have our mail forwarded.  As requested, we completed the online application and then sat back to wait for envelopes with yellow forwarding stickers to show up.  During the first week, a few envelopes were delivered.  And then … nothing.  Mui stopped by the post office and talked to someone at the counter to verify that our request was on file.  It was and he was assured we’d be getting our mail.

It’s not like we get a lot of snail mail anyway, so when there wasn’t much in our mailbox during the subsequent weeks, we weren’t too concerned.  Until, that is, the woman who bought our townhouse sent us an email to let us know that she was still getting mail for us at our old address.  Another trip to the post office; more assurances that the problem was resolved.

Fast forward through summer, fall, and winter.  There were plenty of envelopes showing up in our mailbox, so we assumed all was well even though the yellow-stickered ones were few and far between.  Which is at it should be, right?  After all, each time we had a piece of forwarded mail, we contacted the sender to change our address.  Well, we were wrong; all wasn’t well.

The day before Christmas Eve, we received an email from the owner of our former townhouse saying that she had a stack of what looked like Christmas cards for us!!!  A trip to pick them up from where she left our mail on her stoop was followed by another visit to the post office.  Apologies, assurances, and whatnot … but it doesn’t matter anymore; we simply don’t believe them.

Almost missed out on having any cards this year.

With service like this, is it any surprise that we have curtailed using snail mail?  Even that description doesn’t apply anymore … it’s more like “disappearing into the black hole of the USPS mail.”  From this point forward, we’ll be using the US Postal Service only if alternative options are not available.

Of course, our problem isn’t nearly as bad as Paul and Marti’s mail-forwarding woes (post here).  Lesson learned … we’ll be switching our mailing address to our South Dakota domicile well before we get on the road.  That way, we’ll still be here to resolve any issues that crop up with getting our mail forwarded to Alternative Resources, the service we plan to use while we’re full-timing.  We’re also going to personally contact any person/company of importance and provide them with our new address ourselves.  Hopefully, we’ll thus avoid any major headaches.  What’s that adage about an ounce of prevention?  Perhaps we can make it work for us.

Merry Christmas

Sunday, 25 December

Merry Christmas and a Happy & Healthy 2012 to all