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Showing posts from July, 2012

annual college reunion beach trip

SO MUCH FUN!!! It was a little hectic getting down to the beach on time, but sweet hubby and I managed to arrive the night before the friends and babies were due to fill up the beach house. (We arrived from Chile, unpacked, repacked, and headed out in the same day!) This year, there were no last-minute trips back home to cope with the house being broken into -- thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. House-Sitter! We played hard all weekend, and this morning, in the rain and thunder, the friends headed home. We watched movies on the big screen, played some putt putt, swam at the beach, kayaked, went for a boat ride, and had a picnic on a private beach. SO MUCH FUN!!!

I am....

back in the states! at the beach! waiting on some college buddies and their families to arrive. hoping sweet hubby won't be grouchy when I wake him up to help me clean this house before the friends and families arrive. getting happy about going back to school in a few weeks. happy to be in the hot weather again, rather than freezing my toes off in the snow. excited for boat rides and sunshine! glad the car place still had my tire, five weeks after my daddy had dropped it off to be repaired and I left the country. still praying for the MacGregors, who have finally received a diagnosis -- Graft vs. Host disease, attacking all of Mr. MacGregor's muscles, including his heart and lungs. Treatment for GVHD has begun, but I'm unsure what the response to it so far has been. probably too excited that today is payday. surprised that my mama had an architect draw up plans to add bedrooms to the beach house, so that we'll actually have enough rooms for all of t

hard times

My dear, dear travel buddy is losing her father. He was diagnosed with pre-leukemia a while ago, and endured several different treatment options to change his blood counts and reverse the course of the disease. The major complication, throughout his treatment, has been a decline of mental stability. He was diagnosed as schizophrenic a whole so, which wasn't a huge surprise to those who knew him well, and also fits hereditarilly with my travel buddy's twin. The situation has progressed, and I've just been informed that the family is all together, at the ICU, waiting for her father to have a permanent release from the increasing confusion and delirium that has played him since February, when he received a bone marrow transfusion. In short, the doctors don't know what is causing the increased mental problems, although they have done every imaginable test and many of them twice. This is a very hard time for my travel buddy and her family. If you pay, please pray

i am...

Wearing my teal blue snow suit and about 75 other articles of clothing, too. Drinking navegado rico beside the wood stove. Enjoying having the lights on in a town that has been dark for several hours...my electrician father-in-law knows how to create a back-up system! A little bit bummed to have lost my first chance to run in several days to snow. Looking forward to the pictures of our excursion to the country, where the road were almost frozen and the snow kept falling. Waiting for the asado that the menfolk are preparing for supper, yum! Starting to think that the emails I send from my tablet don't actually get sent, which could be why I haven't heard from my mama in over a week. Getting excited about seeing the cat and going to the beach in a few weeks.

Chile

This trip has been a rollercoaster ride so far. Great times spent with family and friends followed by long stretches of frustration. Such is life in Latin America. We arrived to RAIN. RAIN rain RAIN rain RAIN. Several days later, we finally had some sun, so we headed up to Lonquimay, a town near a volcano. Since it was Sunday, nothing was open. We wandered back down the mountain to Malalcahuello, and treated ourselves to a night in a five star hotel with a thermal pool. That is definitely one of the highlights so far. Another fun time was spent in Temuco with sweet hubby's best friend and his future wife. I discovered an amazing initiative in some of the parks here....outdoor, one size fits all, workout machines. There was what seemed to be a complete set at the park in Temuco. Here in Curacautin, there are only two machines, outside of the local hospital. Prior stared at me like I was the most peculiar thing they had ever seen the day I decided to use them after a run. Tha