I Went Back to Ohio

My mother turns 80 at the end of this month. Back in August, my cousin Aimee contacted my sister and me about having a birthday party for her. Aimee’s mother—my Aunt Elaine—is my mother’s older sister. With Aimee’s generous help, we planned a party for my mother for the afternoon of November 6th.

My trips all have a lot of moving parts. Lots of moving parts means lots of opportunities for things to go sideways. I had planned that the girls and I would fly from Seattle to Ohio for the party. I would drive to Spokane on Monday, spend the night, then drive to Seattle Tuesday morning to meet DD#1 from her flight from Ketchikan. The girls and I would spend Tuesday night at a motel near the airport and fly out bright and early (6 am) bound for Cleveland.

All was going as planned until I got to Coeur d’Alene on Monday. I stopped at the Joann Fabrics store there to peruse the remnant rack, and when I got back in my car and started it up, a big warning light came up on the dash: “Drivetrain malfunction! Drive moderately.”

Some warning lights can be ignored until the husband can look at the car. Warning lights about the drivetrain—rather necessary to making the car move—cannot. I motored over to the BMW dealer in Spokane to say hello to Kevin. Again. Fortunately, they weren’t terribly busy, so he was able to get my car in and get it looked at. After running the diagnostics on it, they determined it needed a new emissions sensor. That would be a five-minute fix, if they had the part. They did not, and Kevin said it would take two days to get there. Could I have driven the car to Seattle? Probably, but I was risking a breakdown in the middle of Washington state where there is limited cell phone service. Also, I had a plane to catch. Kevin said that if I left it there, they would have the car ready to go when I got back the following Monday.

I decided the better approach was to spend that Monday night in Spokane as planned, then catch a flight to Seattle Tuesday morning. The BMW dealer got me a ride to the hotel and I Ubered to the airport Tuesday morning, arriving in Seattle just a few minutes before DD#1’s plane landed. DD#2 came and picked us up. From there, the rest of the trip went smoothly and we got to Ohio Wednesday afternoon.

I was able to get together with some dear friends from high school and college and saw lots of relatives. I had dinner with my friend Joyce Wednesday night at a favorite local restaurant. One of the entrees was pierogis with chicken paprikas. How could I not? I don’t get either of those in Montana unless I make them myself:

We did some shopping on Thursday and Friday with my mother and sister. I will provide a Joann Fabrics/Hobby Lobby report in a post later this week.

I think my mother enjoyed her party. We set up a “photo booth” area and took lots of pictures. Here she is with my girls:

No, she doesn’t look 80. She doesn’t act 80, either. She is still working and bowls in a league every week. That’s why she looks so good at 80.

The return trip was mostly uneventful, although between the time change and flying through three different time zones, I had about 36 hours where I wasn’t sure what day it was or what city I was in. We got back to Seattle Sunday evening. DD#2 dropped us off at the hotel and went home. DD#1’s flight back to Ketchikan left at 7 am Monday morning, so we went to the airport together. I saw her off, then sat and waited for my noon flight back to Spokane. I arrived at the dealer mid-afternoon and retrieved the car.

I had a bit of a dilemma—I could have driven back to Kalispell that afternoon, but with the change back to standard time coupled with the fact that Montana is in Mountain time and Spokane in Pacific time, I would have hit full darkness halfway through the trip in an area with no cell service. However, a storm system was marching across Washington state and expected to arrive in Spokane Tuesday morning. That meant snow across the passes. I decided I would rather take my chances with snow during the day than with a car breaking down again at night (or hitting a deer), so I spent Monday night in Spokane again. I did run into some significant snowfall over Lookout Pass on the way home, but I have excellent snow tires, and my winter driving skills came back quickly.

I arrived home at noon, unloaded the car, then turned around and went into Kalispell. Our first Ruler Club meeting was yesterday afternoon at the quilt store, and I also had to make a Costco run and pick up some music. I’m supposed to accompany a couple of school groups in an upcoming concert, but we’ll have to see how it goes as I don’t have a lot of time to prepare.

I think Ruler Club is going to be a lot of fun. This one is more structured than the last one. We’re using Amanda Murphy’s Lollipop rulers:

These come with a book and a panel for us to practice on. The class has 10 students, which is almost twice what we had in the other one.

The next two weeks are jammed full of some obligations that need to be met, so I’ll be busy.