Author: backpackingbill

We all slept like logs last night. After a great meal at a nearby Lebanese restaurant we all passed out for the night. This morning Emma and I found a nearby French bakery. Yes, I do mostly talk about food.

Tina and Emma indulged me. We went to the National Gallery, London, and saw the three Caravaggio’s that they have here. I believe I should start a list of the Caravaggio’s that I have seen.

Also saw Hogarth’s “Marriage A-la-Mode”, a series of paintings I have wanted to see since college. We also saw a number of impressionists. We met one of Emma’s friends from Vietnam at the gallery cafe and had a great time chatting with her.

We next ventured to the opposite side of the Thames and had a great lunch at the roof cafe of the OXO building.

Emma traveled to Devon to meet her husband this afternoon. Although we were sorry to see her go, it is certainly good to meet James after having been apart for a while.

We finished the day by having a traditional English roast dinner per Emma’s suggestion. We went to a neighborhood pub near our Air B + B.

Last minute haircut but made it to the bus. Emma, Athena and I are on our way.

Peter Pan got us to Boston. And the silver line got us to Logan. Had a small snack and got on the first air leg. Flying to Atlanta to catch a flight to London seems like going the wrong way. Even if you look at the spherical geometry, it’s the wrong way.

Made it to Atlanta and are on the plane to London. As we were leaving the plane inbound to Atlanta, the pilot asked where we were heading. When I said London, he said “I hope you didn’t check any baggage”. I hope he was making a joke regarding the recent baggage problems at Heathrow. Needless to say, I am now in a state of concern about luggage.

Made it to London. Baggage arrived without a hitch. Figured out the tube (subway) to our lodgings.

First day in London we set out to see some sights.

As I had previously posted, our daughter, Emma, got married while in Vietnam. Due to Covid we were not able to celebrate the event with her in Southeast Asia. To correct that, all of us (Tina, Bill, Emma and Jim) will be traveling to England, Emma’s husband, James’ home county. In England we will host a celebration for family and friends. This will be an opportunity for the rest of us to meet James’ family, something Tina and I are looking forward to. The logistics are a Gordian’s Knot of activities. Last week Emma came to the US with their dog, Noodle. Emma could get to the US with Noodle but not to England then to the US with Noodle. The tangled web of travel plans to get everyone to England and back is something I am not going to attempt to describe.

This afternoon, thinking that all was ready, I checked the Delta App on my phone. Flight cancelled. we were rebooked on different flights to England. After three hours on the phone we managed to get on the same flight. Sans Comfort Class and sans direct flight.

As the adventure progresses, I will be posting photos and descriptions of the proceedings.

Today I am completing my seventy fifth year here on planet earth. Frankly, I never anticipated making it this far, considering my family history. But, here I am on the green side of the grass.

Being around for the better part of a century one would suspect that I have gathered some wisdom along the way. So, what wisdom do I have to pass along after three quarters of a Century? Well, please indulge me as I reflect and pass on a few thoughts. They are in no particular order.

Always learn things and be curious. A young person once asked my why I read books that require me to have a dictionary at close hand? I replied that I couldn’t imagine reading something that didn’t require me to have a dictionary. Sometimes I surprise myself with a pearl of wisdom. Of course now we have Google.

Keep moving. One of Newton’s Laws is that an object in motion will stay in motion and a body at rest will stay at rest. I believe that is the case with our bodies as well. The longer we move the longer we stay on the green side of the grass.

Embrace the bad and tough times. Crap happens in every life. It’s not necessarily the end when challenging things happen and it probably isn’t the end. At the times when bad things happened, I thought I was pretty special. I thought I was facing a unique tragedy that others have never faced. I thought that I would be forever crippled, no end or good will come of this. Well, if you muscle through it, if you think through tactics and strategies, if you gather the right support team, there is an end. And you will come to a better place. Going through the tough times and truly has made me a convicted Christian. Again, I am not unique or special; everyone I meet with seventy five or more years has gone through rough times and have come out the other side to a better place.

When I look over the pearls of wisdom that I offered above; I come to the conclusion that they are all pretty lame. So what is the conclusion to be drawn? I would like to offer that life is a path. Take care of yourself the best you can, learn as much as you can to get the most out of life and handle the crappy times because they will come. But, most of all have some fun. After all, we are not here for a test drive.

Last evening Tina gathered a number of our friends here in Bluffton at our place to celebrate my birthday. I did make the observation that I don’t have a great deal of wisdom to offer. I made a toast to the crappy times that got us all to the good times. I have wound up in a good place. As far as I am aware, I am in in descent health, I have a wonderful wife, great kids, I live in a beautiful community and have a wealth of friends.

As I merrily make my random posts about mundain stuff I am doing, my children have been doing some pretty remarkable things. The assessment about remarkable just demonstrates that I am a conventional parent. Here I should make a short reintroduction of my children. My daughter, Emma, lives in Vietnam. Emma went to Vietnam to teach after graduating from UCONN. She now teaches and works for a marketing company in Hanoi. She recently married a guy she met in Vietnam, James. James is an expat from England teaching in Vietnam and is also a semipro soccer player (I guess it is called Football in countries outside the USA). My son, also a James, is a recent graduate of Penn State working in the wine industry and recently got a prestigious certification in that industry. Both offspring sent me something to listen to that they had done independent of their primary line of work. I was blown away by what my children had done. will share these here and will go in order of their birth.

Emma does a radio program in Hanoi. The one I will share with you here is an interview she did with her friend, Pearl. We met Pearl when we visited Vietnam a couple years ago. Pearl is a remarkable and fun young woman.

Please Click on Link below

Jim, has from childhood been interested in the city of Hartford. His interest matured to an exploration of how the city of Hartford went from an historically significant cultural technology and commercial powerhouse to an insignificant wasteland of a city. He researched the issues and developed a podcast of his conclusions. After listening to the first installment of the series, I was completely blown away. This is a truly professional job.

http://theroadthatkilledacity.com/

Now Jim has an article in the local online version of the Hartford Courant, has been asked to do a radio interview and has many people reaching out to him.

Bravo and Brava to my kids.

It is hard to express emotions tugging at me regarding Ukraine. On one hand my heart goes out to the Ukrainian people. They are very much in my prayers. On the other hand I feel a great fear. Circumstances can spiral out of control; pulling many into the conflict. Terrifying.

Tina and I spent a day in Charleston. During the wonderful day we spent there, I was presented with a powerful moment of reflection. There was a stack of protest signs leaning against a court building.

In a park next to the building there was a statue dedicated to a local poet, Henry Timrod. These lines from one of his poems was on the back of the statue.

It seemed both timely and appreciated.

I think something is starting to get to me in a bad way. One of the primary reasons we are at our place in South Carolina is that there is a major repair being done. There were issues with the original construction, a settlement, now the remediation. New exterior stucco, new gutters and drainage, new exterior lights and new roof. We felt it to be prudent to be on site during the times when there was to be significant work being done, we made the trek south. We are fortunate in that we can go between South Carolina and Connecticut at will. We also planned to do some short trips, hence our visit to New Orleans. But, it is tough to be here right now.

• The furniture is covered and moved away from exterior walls.
• The windows are covered with plastic, it’s like being in a perpetual dense fog.
• The exterior is covered with scaffolding.
• Workmen need access to the inside for windows removal, trim repair and repainting.
• Dust flies
• It is noisy

The noise is interesting. Nail guns sound like small arms fire, there are thumps like distant artillery and some tool that sounds like a machine gun. The title of this posting sums up the experience we are having. That is if you take the negative to the extreme.

That’s the bad stuff. There is also good stuff.

• At the end of all this we will essentially have a new structure.
• The work that is being done is truly top quality
• The project manager is open with communication, proactive with every issue (as are the supervisors), knowledgeable and smart. He is also a very pleasant individual.
• We are able to get away during the day, movies, the gym, the beach and lunches out are all fun.
• We are able to do some small interior projects at the same time. Tina is redoing the downstairs powder room.
• The workmen are courteous, clean (they remove their shoes when they come in). And, there is a background of latin music on their radios.

I am reminded of what my mother used to say when I started to complain. She would use an old German expression “Quitchurbitchen”. It’s not German nor is it an expression but it got the point across.

On our last day in New Orleans we had not yet decided our route home. We knew that we wanted to spend the morning at the Audubon Park but had no plans beyond that. But, the idea of spending the evening on a beach was appealing.

The Audubon Park is in a beautiful upscale neighborhood with a great walking path, golf course, water views and a multitude of birds.

A little before noon we start heading back to South Carolina. Initially, as I mentioned above, we were thinking of stopping on a beach. The Florida panhandle is right here, what could be better? However, the weather was cold and windy so we decided to forego the beach. Tallahassee was the next potential stop. Well, we would up traveling all the way back to Bluffton. Probably a good decision as we made it back to our place a little before midnight. It took us right at eleven hours for the trip including rest stops (note that there is a time change in the middle of the Florida panhandle).

Today was indeed a full day. One of the prime attractions in New Orleans is the World War 2 museum. It is a huge well designed and totally modern facility. We were told that we could expect to spend a full day there. And, one could easily spend an entire day here. We, however, spent several hours then went to the very extravagant movie/experience at the museum. The “experience” was well worth the money and time. (This feature includes vibrating seats, snow falling during the “Battle of the Bulge” and very realistic small arms directed at the audience). As we have limited time in NOLA, we moved on to other activities.

Finally got the hang of the trolley system app. It really works well and is an excellent, inexpensive and fun way to get around. But, in New Orleans tradition, don’t expect fast.

We next went to one of the prime facilities that builds the Mardi Gras floats. The entire city is getting geared up for Mardi Gras. Bleachers are being assembled and houses are getting decorated

As we did a great deal of walking today we went back to our hotel, and decided to go to the penthouse bar. The penthouse bar “Hot Tin”, is a dog friendly place so we took Sheba. While there Sheba attracted a very interesting couple from Detroit. Tina and I spend a couple hours in fun conversation with them. It must be a New Orleans thing that people are very friendly and outgoing here even if they are from other parts of the country, something in the atmosphere.

That evening we went for a very elegant dinner, sans dog.

The place we had dinner is famous for their “Mile High” ice cream pie. Since we are visiting close to Mardi Gras, the restaurant configured the pie in honor of a “King Cake”.

https://images.app.goo.gl/dMXkXTiMFJwva8V76

Link to a “King Cake” above.

Upon first arriving in New Orleans I admit that I was a bit apprehensive. Many years after Katrina there are still signs of the damage the hurricane. Some business properties are still boarded up and blue plastic still covers some roofs. There is also a homeless issue; however, I believe this is an issue that predates any weather event. Using a ticket app in an unfamiliar city is a challenge. Fortunately all the trolly and bus drivers are helpful and accommodating. So, we did manage to get around. It is interesting how once a system is familiar, like the trolley app, a place becomes familiar and accessable.

We first ventured out for a breakfast of Beginets and Cafe au Lait. Interesting but give me Croissant and an Expresso.

We next explored the French Quarter where Tina and I found some very interesting shops. We did go to Bourbon Street but spent most of our time on Royal, one street over. The architecture in this part of the city is what we associate with New Orleans.

In the late afternoon we strolled through part of the Lower Garden District. Had a great early dinner at a really nice outdoor restaurant where we chatted with a couple who were lifelong residents.

Preparations for Mardi Gras are evident. NOLA has become familiar enough that the city has become truly enjoyable. Tina came to this comfort long before I did.