Christmas Visit in South Carolina, part 1:
I arrived in Columbia SC at approximately 10:47 a.m. Wednesday (having taken the red-eye out of SFO at approximately 11:55 p.m. PST the night before). The flight was most pleasant from San Francisco to Atlanta. The cabin was kept dark and the staff were most accommodating and non-intrusive. I meant to sleep and sleep I did.
Despite everything, however, no amount of sleeping on such a flight will compensate you in the day ahead. I was determined to stay awake all day and stuck to my guns. My mom left for church around 6:30 p.m. and I went to bed at 7 p.m.
Thursday, I arose at 6:15 a.m., made coffee and retrieved the morning paper from the mailbox. It had rained since my arrival and the rain seemed to have move on along, but it remained overcast and "damp". At 8:30 a.m. we embarked on our annual trip to place flowers on the graves of my maternal grandparents and great grandparents.. Our first stop was to visit with our cousin Dot who has been in hospital aboug 5 times this past year. Dot is in her late 80s but she is a determined spirit. Her daughter Karen is taking care of her and staying over with her, leaving her husband to his own self-maintenance. The very odd thing is that her husband was diagnosed with double-pneumonia and is taking care of himself, for the most part, including preparation of his own food. Karen does what she can for both but she and her husand live across town from her mother and the stress must be intense.
Dot was up for a good meal and we all went to Wade's in Spartanburg. Dot had planned ahead and knew that on Thursday's, Wade's serves up its very delicious turkey and dressing as one of the menu items. (If we had gone on Friday, we could have gotten dressing, but not turkey!). After we said our farewells (and it was obvious to us all that Dot thought it might be the last time wo would see one another on this earth), my mother and Aunt Doris and I went to the cemetery and placed poinsettias on the graves.
We then set out to the West Gate Shopping Center where, unbeknownst to me, a shopping-for-Ron event was scheduled. I had not expected to do this kind of "shopping spree" until later in my visit. The end result was a couple of really pretty shirts, a new belt, a pair of shoes and some wonderful Christmas socks! These will be duly wrapped and placed under the tree.
After all of that, we started on our return trip which wold detour us toward Whitmire SC where my cousin Rick has his dental practice (for 32 years, the only dentist in town!). We were going to be treated to dinner at Rick's and Susan's (his wife) and it was a real treat for me as I have seldom visited him at his home and looked forward to it. Three of his four children (from a previous marriage) were going to be there, as well as his granddaughter. They have a beautiful house, inside and out, on extensive grounds (not as big a deal here in SC as it would be in California, believe me), but the house is on 24 acres of really nice property surrounded by a state forest on three sides. The evening was a delight and the dinner was excellent -- Rick grilled large, thick rib-eyes, and I had a meal I just "could" finish. The evening was very pleasant and I really enjoy talking with Susan who is very cultured/well-travelled (and is doing her best to expose Rick to the world).
Alas, all good things must end and we said her goodbyes and began our trek home. We got home at about 10 p.m., and once again, it was time to fall into bed and recover from the toils of the day.
Yesterday was a stay-at-home day. I spent my morning decorating our Christmas tree and then putting the remaining decorations away. It took a couple of hours (I'd sit and ponder each stage of the process...the lights, the ornaments and, then, the icicles). I also knew I had to get busy catching up online. All of my efforts to log onto Facebook and my e-mail were thwarted. "Suddenly", neither would recognize my cell phone (android) which I'd used constantly over the past year to check both locations. Additionally, when I attempted to log-on using my mom's computer, I got the same result. BECAUSE of my attempt to log in using my smart phone, my on-line (PC) attempts were thwarted. Only this morning was I able to start breaking through the barriers that are Facebook and Yahoo security (and believe me, those two concepts are mind-boggling...with questions they say you've provided answers for in the event of such a thing and yet they asked me questions I'd never have selected to provide answers for!!).
Oh, well...the rest of this day should be peaceful.
