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Gigi and Dale arrive, Dale loads MM in the back of the truck first, picks
up Mack and the bloody zip finally decided it was going to give way. Luckily
though, nothing fell out of the case, so he just loaded it on the back
seat for me to sort out once we got home. At the house, Gigi puts
water in the coffee machine to make a cup of tea while Dale went to bed,
he only got half an hour's sleep before he had to get back up to go to
work. Gigi said that he'd had about 6 hours sleep before they left
home, but they had both been having a bad night with a stomach virus. He
did well though, he got up at 5.30 no trouble, but Deidra, their daughter,
couldn't get up for school, her stomach was giving her trouble too.
Gigi and I talked till 8.30 when we finally decided we were exhausted
and crashed out. Woke at 1pm and it was off to the doc's with Gigi
and Deidra to get them some medication. Dale's mum, Helen, came and picked
us up. Back home we put Gigi to bed. I did manage to get some
photo's of part of the town while they were in the doc's surgery though.
We'll see how she is in the morning and if she's feeling better we'll
go for a walk.
It's Thursday morning and I slept in till 9am. There's not a
sound to be heard except the heating kicking in and out. Gigi is
fast asleep in bed still, but there are signs that she had been up earlier
to get Dale of to work and Deidra off to school. Deidra showed me
last night how to use the coffee machine to boil water so I make a cup
of tea and settle down to work on my photo's and pages.
Gigi is still not too good, we sit on the couch, Gigi rugged up to keep
warm, pills at hand to make sure she takes them on time, and we just talk
the day away. After lunch we try a short walk to get her some fresh
air and sunshine. We wander around the property where I learn about
the China Berry tree, in flower it smells like lavender and when the berries
are ripe you peel the shell from around them to reveal a round hard seed,
with a hole right through the middle, which makes it convenient if you
want to paint or polish them and string them together for necklaces, bracelets
or decorations.
There are also peach and plum trees, crab apple trees and the wildlife
that can often be seen seen around here.
I get online to see which is the most economical way to get from here
to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Checking the planes, trains and buses
for fares and schedules, the bus wins out on both. A bus ticket on
the Greyhound bus is booked for Sunday afternoon,
arriving in Michigan on Monday afternoon.
In Perth it's now the 8.30am, 26th January, Australia Day. Hope
you all have a great day at whatever celebration you attend. I'll
be having a beer here and thinking of you all.
Saturday 27th and it's a relaxing morning before we have to get ready
to go the Gigi's sister's wedding. The wedding was really nice, informal,
and I was made very welcome by the family. We actually got there
a couple of hours early to help set up the church hall, and I must say,
Robyn and I did a great job of the lighting.
After the reception the family all pitched in and got the hall and kitchen
cleaned up, there was plenty of food left over so Dale got to taste a few
of the dishes. He had to work so couldn't attend, not that it worried
him I'm sure, men and weddings really don't go together that well.
Sunday morning and Gigi and I are relaxing in our pj's catching up on
a last minute chat before it's time to put me on the bus to Michigan.
We load the cases in the truck, Mack didn't burst open this time, thank
goodness, but I'm still going to have to send a parcel home. Gigi calls
Helen to let her know we're stopping at Dean's for lunch, but by time we
get there we have to leave Helen on her own and get ours "to go" as we're
running out of time to get me to Columbia bus station.
I ate half of mine in the truck on the way, and Gigi was feeding Dale
as he was driving, talk about meals on wheels hey.
Checking the cases in at the bus station Mack is overweight.......again.....
definitely going to have to do something about him. Gigi and I do
our best to move stuff around but it's knowing how much 14lbs is when you
don't have any scales. We take a wild guess and go to lock the cases
again and I've lost one of the locks. Oh well, there are a couple
of spares hanging on Mack that really don't need to be used till I'm
flying home, hopefully when I get to Julie's and start sorting out the cases
again I'll find it dropped in one of them.
A big thank you to Gigi, Dale and Deidra for everything. I had a
great time meeting you guys and other members of the family. I really
did enjoy the rest and just chatting the days away.
