Upon returning home, some things are the same, some are different: my desk is still messy, piled full of papers and other "to be filed" items, the same. This morning I waded through the mail which arrived after I left for WI, and opened all the greeting cards, different. I tuned into my morning radio shows right off the bat, the same. In listening to the program, however, it appears to be "best of" Neal Boortz program, the same. However, I did miss many programs during the time my sister was here and while I was away, so now I can catch up, different. The river was outside my windows when I woke up--same, but with extremely low tides--different. The sun was shining into my room, same, but the outdoor temps were not reflective (a play on words!) of it's heat, different. We are having some, relatively speaking, cool temperatures in the a.m.s, with the highs expected to be low to mid 70's.............ah, that's more like it!
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Nearly my, our, entire day was spent traveling, or not traveling, from WI to FL yesterday. I'd hoped that at least I would get a pat-down at the airport as a birthday present, but nope, cleared security with no contraband telephones tucked away. Oh, well.........My sister, Lynn, and Mom drove us to the airport without incident, as more winter weather advisories were in effect. In fact, they made such great time going back after "dropping us down" (as Timmy used to say) that the two ladies stopped at our favorite bakery in Sheboygan for coffee and sweet rolls! Snow did come eventually but long after they were safely back home.
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Justin's flight was scheduled for two hours earlier than mine so we checked in at our respective airlines, meeting in the middle. We had plenty of time to spare, since already at check-in, Justin found out his flight was delayed! We went up to the Food Court to have a breakfast sandwich. He delighted in showing me clips from "Dark Knight" which is downloaded on his telephone (new-fangled inventions!) but it really is a bit "dark" for me.
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We both flew from the C Concourse so sat together in his gate area until it was time for me to wander to mine, just down the hall. His flight was really really late, but would still allow him to catch his next flight in St. Louis. When I got to my gate, I found out mine, too, was delayed over an hour, which meant my connecting flight in Charlotte would be gone when we landed. The airline had already re-booked me on the next flight which would get me in at JAX around 7:00 pm. Ugh! We had birthday dinner plans!!!!!
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Well, it all worked out---Justin waited for me to arrive in JAX, collected me, plus both my bags, from the claim area, and asked me drive because he felt like his foot was too heavy or something. You must know Justin to appreciate this.....a Justinism. Of course, his car was also out of gas, with the little gas pump symbol illuminated on the dash, which he knows I hate!!!! He claims it was 'an accident' that he ran low on gas, but he did have the car running to cool him off while he waited for me to land. How ironic, to be running the car to remain cool instead of desperately trying to get the frost off the windows!!!
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We gassed up, him pumping and me paying, of course, and then headed to Carrabba's to meet Joanne and the Ross family for my birthday dinner. By the way, Justin's bag wasn't there at the airport, but a different red suitcase was left instead. It appears that someone accidentally took his luggage and the airline assured him that when they brought the bag back, the airline would deliver the correct piece of luggage to him. He asked them to bring it here since his student housing doesn't have ready access, and my name is the one on the bag anyway. It did show up yet last night, and it was delivered to my door sometime during the night. Justin asked me to leave a signed note on the door saying it was okay to just leave the bag, and sure enough, it was there this a.m. when we got up! Now he's in a pickle because he'd "cancelled" his CHRISTmas celebration at his father's under the guise that his presents were in the missing bag! I feel badly for Justin, finding himself in such a spot all the time.
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I just heard from my friend, Judy J., whose birthday is today. We sang to each other, and then she told me about her birthday surprise---her son flew in from Detroit to celebrate her birthday with her! When she called me, Jeff was sitting in the driveway in a lawn chair, soaking up the sun. Another irony!
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Instead of the pat-down at the airport, I did have another neat experience......I had gotten several birthday wish phone calls while waiting for my plane. It's not easy to have private conversations on the phone in the airport. While sitting there, I'd made my usual eye contact/smile contact with the gentleman sitting across from me. He was just a moppin' his face and entire head, that's how warm it was for him. I was fine, of course. As he stood up to catch his flight, he wished me a happy 'birfday' and offered God's blessings to me. I thanked him 'warmly' (ha ha) and then he asked me if I liked art. I assured him I did, and told him I was a member of the Art Guild here in Florida. He gave me his business card and told me to contact him at the website listed. The man, a gentleman of color, informed me he has a condo at Jax Beach and a permanent home in Atlanta, where his art studio is located. He wants to give me a piece of his art as a birthday gift! Can you believe this?? No strings attached, just being a nice guy to poor, weary traveler in the airport on her birthday............
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Another almost nice thing happened at the airport---the young lady working at the gate desk who was struggling to re-book all these folks told me that she would have upgraded me to first-class seating IF the airplane actually had a first-class! All because she felt sorry for me being delayed from attending my birthday dinner at Carrabba's. In this case for certain, it is the thought that counts!
This un-retouched photo was taken on Friday, December 19th, before the sun rose, if it did that day. The snow makes for an almost spooky look over Mom's parking lot. You can barely see the legs of an overturned lawn chair sticking out from the bank, which helps demonstrate just how deep was the snow. 
Wisely, I stuck a yard stick into the bank/drift on my Mom's patio, just off her living room. Sadly, only I know what it said as far as depth goes, and you'll simply have to take my word for it that the measurement read 11".
My niece, Alayna, busily attempting to remove the ice and snow from Grandma K's car, as it runs in the parking lot. This was not the same day as the first blizzard but more likely after one of the smaller storms we experienced that two weeks I was up there. Someone asked me today if I'd given more thought to moving back up to WI, and my answer was swift---NO!!!!!!!
