First Leg: Bristow, Virginia

 

Topsail, 2015

2015, Celebrating Our 50th Anniversary

Topsail, 2015

It's early, 6:00, and we want to be off by 8:00. I have decided to relax and not kayak this morning and instead enjoy my coffee, write the blog, shower, and get ready for the seven-hour drive to our daughter Jill's house. We know it by heart by now — where to stop, where to get cheap gas once we get into Virginia. This will be our fourth time in Topsail Beach: the first for our 50th anniversary, the other two during Covid.

6:00

6:24

Thursday was not much fun: getting ready for a trip, trying to decide what to bring, then packing up and finally trying to fit it all in our Kia. Unfortunately, my day began early, at 5:45, so I kayaked and was back in time to drive to Bemus for breakfast with my friends.

When I came home from Bemus, I finished the blog, then drove to Dunn Tire to get my tires rotated. They said it would take a half hour, so I walked across the street and perused Runnings and ended up buying something for my great-grandsons. Sorry, grandchildren! On the way home, I filled up the car with gas — $4.35 a gallon. Thanks, Drumpt.

I was home by 11:15 and decided to get the lawn mowed, so that took close to an hour, with occasional timeouts for a water break. I came in and finished deciding what to bring to Topsail and checked my written lists of things I wanted to bring and things to get done. Around 1:00, Evie made me lunch — the last of the cauliflower soup and a cheese and tomato sandwich. I started a new series, The Crystal Cuckoo, on Netflix, not really caring what it was because I won't be watching it after tonight. I am not enjoying my novel Flashlight much but am persevering because it was nominated for both the Booker Prize and the National Book Award. I think I napped briefly, although I am not sure, because I was worried about how we were going to pack all our stuff in the car. I didn't use to worry much about things like this, but now I do, joining Evie.

By 4:00, we were ready to get things done. We packed our clothes in one suitcase, then started filling the car with stuff. Gradually, things began to fit, and by 5:00, we were mostly done except for the frozen pastitsio, which we'll put in tomorrow, as well as my computer stuff.

We were able to have a couple of glasses of wine, and by 6:15 we had dinner: fried eggs and potatoes along with breakfast sausage. We watched another couple of episodes of Berlin ER, and it does not get any saner — just more chaotic and out of control. Evie went to bed around 8:00, wanting to get an early start, and I stayed up until 10:00 watching junk TV.

9:20 PM