My Trip Diary--Day 1

Well Sweet things, I’m back,

I arrived by train late last Wednesday, and back to work on Thursday, so much to catch up with, but all done and now we are having a mini-heat wave, yesterday was very nice so I filled up my panty, washing, dusting, bill paying (such a bore).

Today I drove to Antioch for the Gun show there at the fair grounds, it’s a small show, what I saw was nice, however nothing really leaped out at me, but very nice people, good food and conversation and right next door a flea market, well that made my day, because I never know what I will find at a flea market. But it was getting very warm, even with the breeze off of Suisun Bay, so I drove home in the afternoon but even here it was warm, very warm. A sign of things to come for the Summer I'm afraid.

But now it's a little cooler and in the next few minutes, Lillian is coming by for Coffee ice cream and she’s bringing Mission Impossible season 5, so we must indulge.

While I’m waiting for her I’ll tell you about visiting my parents for Easter; it was a bit new, strange and exciting; so much has happened that I’ll have to post it in bits and pieces.
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Traveling home by train on Wednesday was for me, a treat, to not have to worry about driving especially with the rain that we had, just enjoying the scenery, has left me “Diva Spoiled”. (purr) But if one wants to look glamorous, then I recommend soft silk slacks, a silk blouse and a cashmere sweater as the way to go, and go light on the makeup.

I am all for supporting railroads, such less trouble than flying, unless you really need to get somewhere in a hurry, but for me getting there is part of the fun.

And it helps to have someone there to pick you up; the only thing that had me concerned was how late I would be arriving. But it turned out to not be a worry, baby sis and her “boy friend” (well they are not an item but are friends—hmmm but who knows) picked me up, with the Parents in tow.

Baby sis was such a joy to see, the smile on her face made me feel so happy and there was her ‘gentleman friend’ Ted, so handsome and with an open face that you knew was friendly and---well ---honest. My impression was they seemed well suited to each other, that somehow I knew that they would be together for a long, long time.

But the first thing that surprised me was how Mother had changed, her hair was no longer in braids wrapped in a bun behind her head but cut short with soft curls, and a 50’s style hat that flattered her face, and a soft pink lipstick, and a touch of blush on her cheeks, she still was dressed in the old fashioned style but this time instead of the dark drab colors she was wearing a soft sage green suit with darker sage trim, I knew it was from one of her patterns but what a difference the color made. She looked younger, happier, livelier and beautiful.

And for the first time I smelled her wearing perfume I recognized as ‘Chantilly Lace’. She had never worn perfume, but this was just---Wonderful! But where did she get ‘Chantilly Lace’?

And to hug her, really hug her felt so wonderful and welcoming!

Then I turned and looked at Father, he was dressed the same but there was a slight smile on his face, and his eyes held a soft light that I had never seen before, he took my hand in both of his and said “It’s good to see you again, I’m glad you came. Are you all well from the Flu?” (I had recovered from the flu) and I said that I was, although I still had that slight dry cough which seems to plague people. Father said that it had been going around his office as well, “I bought bags of cough drops in different flavors to help the staff, the cough can be very tiring, and I have a bag here if you need it.” Which I did.

I looked at Father and saw that his face didn’t look hard or forbidding at all, but thoughtful, softer, and I saw that there was more gray in his hair, he still stood ramrod straight, but I felt that he could now be yielding. I also noticed that he was wearing an old fashioned silk tie of red and cream pattern. Such a change from his usual black and dark blue ones, I said “That tie is new, I like it, it looks good on you” Father laughed, I’ve never heard Father laugh, it was so different and his face just lighted up with the laughter and he said “Oh that’s your sister’s fault, but I think a good one, she should tell you how that happened.”

We got my luggage and got into Ted’s car, a Dodge caravan. very practical and comfortable. Father and Ted sat in the front with Mother, baby sis and I sat in the back, well Mother and I sat in the middle seats and baby sis behind us

Everyone was asking me about riding on the train, what I liked about it and what I saw, Father said that perhaps one day he and Mother would take the train to visit me and see San Francisco, maybe even go as far as Seattle, Washington. He said he still didn’t trust airplanes, and now with all the security checks, it just didn’t’ make sense to him to fly if getting there by train was more comfortable. We discussed the pro’s and con’s of train and plane travel and then we arrived at my Parents house, and here even in the late evening I was seeing a change, the whole house had been painted a new color; instead of the dull mustard color and tan window frames it gleamed with white paint, sage green trim and a deep maroon accents, the whole look of it was very refreshing and uplifting

My mind was spinning at all the changes I was seeing, Mother, Father, baby sis, the house. What miracle had happened? I was glad I brought my lap top so I could document all this, even if it is in bits and pieces.

Ted took my luggage upstairs to the bedroom while we went into the living room and as I walked in I had to stop and make sure I was walking into the same house. Such a difference, everything my sister told and written to me about was true, all these little changes had made the house warm and cozy, friendly and welcoming. Granted it was still the same old furniture, but such changes. But on top of that was one more; next to Father’s chair was a wicker dog bed.

I pointed to it and asked, “Who does that belong too?” “Oh” said baby sis, “that’s Trixie’s” and she went into the kitchen and opened the swinging door and out trotted a fox terrier mix, that came up to me and started barking.

Father said “Trixie, enough, sit” which the dog did, “Shake hands” and the dog held out her paw and I took it and said “Hello Trixie”. “Good Girl” said Father and the little dog went to her dog bed and sat down.

Mother and baby sis went to make tea, while Father and I sat down and I saw him pet Trixie’s head. Father told me how Trixie came to be part of the family it seems back in late January, he went out to catch the bus to go to work and found the dog on the porch, dirty, exhausted, starved, and cold with cut paws, he said that when he approached it, it cringed and shivered from fear, “It’s one of God’s creatures, I took pity on it, but in the back of my mind I was saying to myself it’s a mistake, now I can see it wasn’t.”

He called work and told them he had an emergency. He and Mother took the dog to the vet, and except for it being hungry, sore paws and dirty it was in good shape, gave it shots, brought it home with some medicine for the paws, bathed it, followed what the Vet said to feed it, took it back a few days later for a follow up, bought a collar and leash, then checked to see if it had an i.d. chip, which the dog didn’t.

They bought papers to see if it was listed in the lost pets, checked with the animal shelters, “Nothing” said Father “So it looked like we had adopted a dog, we didn’t know what to name it until I said ‘well that’s going to be tricky’ and the little thing responded to ‘tricky’ so I said Trixie and the little thing came right up to me, then she started sleeping next to my chair, I thought it would not be right for her to be sleeping on the rug, it can get hard and…well… she also has a sleeping bed under the kitchen table, but I’ve caught her sleeping on the rug on my side of the bed, not all the time but some times, for some reason I didn’t have the heart to scold her. She’s well house broken, and for some reason seems to like being around me.”

I looked at Father and smiled, “I think she likes you”, Father just smiled at me, sat back in his chair and said “You’re going to find a few changes around here, I hope you like them. When we can get some time alone I’d like to talk to you privately, there’s some things I’ve been thinking about, not to worry, but I’d like your thoughts on some things”

I nodded and said that would be fine. Mother and baby sis brought in the tea and home-made lemon cookies, Ted joined us, and for the first time I felt that this house was beginning to become a home. We chatted some more then Mother saw that I was beginning to droop and asked me how long had I been up and I confessed since 6 a.m. I thought I could nap on the train but seeing the scenery change kept me so interested, that I didn’t take a nap.

With that Mother took charge and said I had to get to bed, which Father agreed, that it was late. I said my good bys to Ted and I followed Mother up to my old bed room while baby sis, Ted and Father remained down stairs, Mother told me that I might see something different in the Bed room. And she was right, the room was brighter with new chenille bedspreads and pillows, some lovely framed landscape prints on the walls, and new drapes and curtains. Mother told me that the bedspreads and some other things were ordered from the “Vermont Country Store Catalogue”, baby sis found it on line at the college.

Mother told me that what I had done last Christmas at the Church caused something to make Father take a good look at himself and things; she didn’t know all of what had happened but his sitting down with her and baby sis has caused a lot of changes. “But” she said “We can’t change everything, I have to respect your Father’s feelings and wishes as well and I’ve grown use to many things so it’s not a problem for me to accept what he would like to keep the same, but do talk to him tomorrow, your sister and I are going out tomorrow morning to look for patterns and your father has taken a few days off from work to be here with you and all of us, so talk to him, find out what is really going on with him.”

She told me that although she was enjoying the new changes she was also afraid too, it was something she couldn’t put a finger on but all seemed very sudden, “And it’s made me a bit breathless, help me to understand what is going on in your Father’s mind.”

I promised her I would and she hugged me again, I felt I was seeing her in a new light, and that lightness had come into the house, but I remembered to “go slow and take it one step at a time” I couldn’t change a life time of habits and thoughts, but now I could understand them and work with them.

She went down stairs and I started to unpack and put away things, then I heard a light tic, tic, tic, turned and saw Trixie at the door, then I heard Father’s voice say “Trixie you know the rules”, and she turned to the sound of his voice and Father came to the door. “Sorry, I guess she had to check on you, she’s let us know more than once if a stranger has come around, so this is new to her.” Then he said to the dog “O.K. now go to bed” and the dog quickly went down the stairs “She’s smart too, never had a dog, this one maybe my one and only”

“A lot of changes, Father” I said. He looked at me and said “Yes, a lot of changes, I can’t make all of them. I have to use a computer at work, I don’t like it, but if I think of it as a sort of fancy typewriter it works, push this and push that, it’s a different world now, more for younger people.”

I sat on my bed and he sat on the vanity seat, I said to him “But it’s the older people who know how things use to work and there are a lot of people who want to learn all of that, some people want to preserve a lot of the old technology, like typewriters and rotary phones. But technology forces us to move faster than many people can handle, it’s become a 24/7 world. What happens in China or the Middle East affects us within a few hours, many people are not happy with that.”

Father asked me how do I deal with it, all the new things “Very carefully” I said “And I try to learn as much as I can about it, there are some things I really don’t need, but it’s easy to become enamored with the latest gadget or technology, so I focus on what I need to make my work easier and better, it’s not easy and one can still get burned.”

Father nodded then he stood up “You better get some sleep, if I know your Mother and sister they have a very busy time planned for you.”

I agreed but said “They’ll be out tomorrow doing things, will you be home?” And he said yes, so we made plans to have our chat tomorrow and went off to bed.

I finished getting ready for bed and typed all this into my lap top and just now baby sis came up and asked me what I thought of the changes in our old bedroom, I could only agree that they looked great and that I was happy with what I’ve seen.

The next day when Mother and baby sis went out to shop, Father and I had a very long talk, and I found out that what I had said at his church last Christmas was the final jolt that he needed upon something that was already happening to him internally.

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But Lillian is here and Coffee ice cream waits for no one. I'll post more in the next few days, and Fram I am giving serious consideration about what attracted me to firearms, and I will do a post, but as you said, when I'm in the mood.


Until later Sweet things.