Please, I beg of you, the next time I mention taking the train to California - please shake me. Hard.


Friday May 25th 4:10 pm On time departure from Albany. I didn't miss the train and have to banzai to Eugene to catch this time.

Saturday May 26th 9:30 am: 2 hours late arriving in Martinez, CA. Not bad really. I can handle showing up at 9:30am instead of 7:30 am - your day is not really ruined, especially if you usually wake up at 9:00 on a normal day anyway. I sat next to a very nice lady who was on her way back to Los Angeles, and got a lot of hooking done.

Monday May 28th 11:00pm: The way home. On time leaving Martinez - great! I sat next to a very nice little British man who shared his laptop and headphones with me so I could watch Mr and Mrs Smith before going to sleep. Somewhere around Mt Shasta is where the long wait began. They tell us that there is a broken track and it is being fixed and we'll be on our way soon. About an hour and half later we move forward, about 100 yards, and stop again. Yup - you guessed it, another broken rail. This time they know it is going to be a while, so they back up to the exact spot we had just been stopped at, and let us out to stretch our legs - for about FOUR HOURS. I was supposed to roll into Albany about Noon on Tuesday - instead it was about 9:00pm.

So yes, I will agree with the 27 some odd people that told me last Tuesday - I need therapy. So I am going to try out that novel concept - again - on Wednesday. He claims he can cure me in one session. We'll see. The problem with this issue I have with flying is - you need to fly to see if it worked! Crap. Test flight to Finland anyone?

But - seeing my grandparents, Aunt and sister was fun! The reason I went down was to celebrate my birthday with my Grandpa! He and I share May 24th as our birthday - I turned the big 3-0 and he the big 8-9. Cathy busted out the Dom for the occasion. Not bad at all. I am still a Rum girl myself though.
















These are my adorable grandparents Pat and George. Shortly after this picture was taken Nana dropped some blue cheese on Cathys very newly reupholstered couch - leaving a huge black mark in the ultra-suede. Cath did a great job of holding her composure when, in trying to spray Spot Shot on the stain, it unintentionally sprayed ALL OVER the back cushions. It dried, but the stain was still visible - so Mary flipped the cushion over. Perfect solution if it was my couch. Cathy still assures me that she knows its there.