Running, Blueberries and Cats… Trip Recap
Remember when flying used to be fun? I’m not talking about pre-Covid- I mean years ago, when it seemed exciting and luxurious. HA! Those days are sure over. Last week I flew to Chicago to see my sister. The flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Midway wasn’t too bad. At my sister’s request, I wore a mask. She and her husband are “Covid virgins” and they would like to keep it that way. I would say maybe a quarter of people in the airport had masks on? Maybe less. But as I was waiting I could hear an announcement for a flight to the Bahamas that was boarding, and they said “To board the plane your masks must be on.” Apparently they still take Covid very seriously in the Bahamas! The flight was uneventful. I had a window seat and read the whole way. The flight home was a different story- but we’ll get to that. Running I mentioned in my last post that it was hilly where my sister lives (a south suburb of Chicago.). Not hilly by Colorado or Utah standards, I’m sure (I mean, there are no mountains in Illinois) but definitely hilly by South Florida standards. I was slightly concerned that all the hills would bring back my shin pain, so I was monitoring that closely. I did a three mile run on Friday and a hilly walk on Saturday. So far so good! No shin pain. On Sunday I headed out for a planned five mile run. It was cool- by Florida standards- and rainy, and I felt great. It was so fun to be running in a different town, different terrain and different climate. It was the best run of the whole summer! I ran faster! I felt invincible! I— wait… what is that horrible pain in my HAMSTRING? GAAAAAAHHHHH! Yep- I was so focused on my shin that I failed to notice a nagging pain in my hamstring until it really hurt. Right around that time I was passing by my sister’s house and I heard thunder and saw a flash of lightning- and reluctantly cut my run short at three miles. SIGH. Cats But wait! There were lots of good things- all vacations should include cats. My sister and her husband have two of them. One is elderly (they think she’s almost 20) and because she’s nearing the end of her life, they really baby her. One thing she loves is to drink water from the bathroom sink. She’ll meow and meow until they lift her up, put her on the sink and turn on the tap so the water is just dripping, and she drinks right from the faucet. While she’s doing this she purrs loudly. We also went to the “cat brewery.” This place has a real name, but Luther the cat lives there, so they just call it the cat brewery. Luther wanders around happily, saying hello to everyone and getting lots of petting. As a souvenir, I got a “Luther” glass which I will be using for iced tea (and beer of course) from now on. Blueberries As I also mentioned, we went blueberry picking. It was super fun and we may have gotten slightly carried away. It was hard to tell how many we had picked until we were finished, but we had twelve pounds between the three of us. Since I could only carry a small amount home, my sister and her husband were a little concerned about how they’re going to eat all those blueberries. Obviously we had to have a blueberry pancake throwdown. We made two different blueberry pancake recipes and compared them. When I got home and told my son about it, he was laughing at us because he knew that we would have made two “healthy” pancake recipes. He was right- in addition to being vegan, the pancakes had ingredients like oats and chia seeds. And no sugar. I could tell he didn’t think much of our throwdown. And… that flight home… Ahem. I flew home on Sunday (note to self- don’t do that again) so Midway was super crowded. This was also the day that I hurt my hamstring so I was cranky to begin with. Sitting on the plane for hours didn’t seem like it would be helpful. The flight was delayed, and then when we finally boarded it was so full they didn’t have enough room for all the carry on luggage so I had to check mine, ARRRRRG! Of course by the time I boarded all that were left were middle seats- but I’ll admit there was a silver lining. I ended up sitting between two slender women who were both wearing masks. So it wasn’t all bad. The plane landed, I grumbled my way to baggage claim to retrieve my “carry on,” my husband was there to pick me up, and then I was home! Back to my family, work, hamstring rehab… you know. Regular life. I was sad to leave my sister, but it’s good to be home. I’m linking up with Kim and Zenaida for their Tuesday Topics. Ladies, thanks for hosting and also tolerating my meandering topics every week! Did you fly anywhere this summer? Did your flight go smoothly? Are you a cat person or dog person? – I like dogs just fine, but have always had cats.