I’m not all that disappointed to see 2009 disappear into the history books along with the end of a decade. We’ve had a very nice end-of-year trip out to Pennsylvania which is also coming to an end and will disappear into our memory banks. Fortunately, some of that trip will be preserved in (digital) pictures and (digital) blog posts. That seems somewhat transient!
The new year rolled around while I was sleeping. Some of the family stayed up to toast the new year (with sparkling cider) but why should I break tradition? I think the last time I stayed up past midnight on a new year was ten years ago when we were all worried about the Y2K bug as the year changed from 1999 to 2000. Because of a lot of very hard work and long hours in preparation, the calendar change was a non-issue and I was able to go to bed and sleep soundly.
On New Years Day we left Dawnmarie’s house and drove a couple of hours west to Mayfield Village, Ohio (an eastern Cleveland suburb) near where Nina’s sister Pam lives in Kirtland, Ohio. We’ve had a good time visiting with her and her husband Ed. Yesterday Ed and I went out, prowled through some bookstores, the Apple store, and a couple of pawn shops. After a nice Italian dinner in Mama Robertos, a rustic Italian restaurant in Mentor, we spent some time playing with his new electronic music machine. This machine can record a number of tracks, save them in various formats, and render them onto a CD. It’s quite amazing what Ed can do to the music once it’s recorded in the machine.
Ed is a very good musician and owns a delightful number of musical instruments. On New Years Day he played some of the songs he’s written (very good and very entertaining) and hopes to record on this machine. In the process I’ve learned a little bit of new vocabulary such as “bounce”, “master”, and “time mark”. Don’t know what I’ll ever do with it, but it was a whole bunch of fun.
Tomorrow morning we’ll head west. The weather map is not nearly as quiet as it was when we came out here fourteen days ago! It’s also a whole bunch colder going through the midwest.
I hope to be able to get as far as Council Bluffs, Iowa by Monday evening. Anything past Davenport, Iowa would be a bonus for sure.
We’ve got a busy couple of weeks ahead of us when we get home. We’ve got a whole new year to get used to as well (how many times will I write 2009 before I get 2010 fixed in the brain?). We’ve had a great vacation and a good start to this new year.
Happy New Year!