Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Blue's Updates

Even more months have gone by without a rant or gentle observation; no excuses, just busy with work and family, vacation and illnesses.

Littlest Blue has left the family nest for the Fall Semester at our local State University, just a few miles down the road and in the same town. We get to see her once a week or so, particularly when she needs to do her laundry. She's enjoying herself, being semi-independant, probably a lot like I did when I first came to this burg back in 1973 to go to the same school.

Her big sister is still at home, though finally starting the local Community College (again) next semester. She's got issues, that one, and maybe, just maybe, some day she'll shake them off like a bad cold and start making some progress with herself.

Mrs. Blue had a scare with cancer over the summer. She had surgery and it appears all is well, no chemo or radiation therapy needed (or wanted). She's finally back at work, which may explain the increase in her blood pressure over the last week.

We took a family vacation in August to Maine, Quebec and Vermont for three weeks. We flew to Maine and rented a car, driving up the coast to Bar Harbor eventually. I had my first taste of fresh Maine lobster and wild blueberry pie and took the opportunity to tour a potato vodka distillery and sampled the wares of various microbreweries.

After getting a short view of Maine, we drove through the middle of the state up to Quebec, staying first in Quebec City, then the little town of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Perade and finally Montreal. We enjoyed our stay, trying out the new foods (and more beer) and learning a little French here and there.

We finally dropped back into the States by going to Vermont and seeing where Ben & Jerry's ice cream is made (by a large multinational conglomerate now), celebrating Mrs. Blue's birthday at at nice Chinese restaurant in a nearby college town and finding a mom-and-pop soda company that we ordered unusual soft drinks from. We also had dinner at a microbrewery that we were glad we found, almost by accident.

Me? I've been back at my job, nailing people to the wall again and counting the years until I can (and probably should) retire. I periodically listen to politics and get disgusted, listen to the drumbeats from the chicken hawks in the Administration about nuking Iran because they won't comply with our eminently reasonable demands that they obey us in all things and feel sad that my girls will probably live in a world where the U.S. will probably be a lesser-power in the not-too-distant future.

As the late, lamented Kurt Vonnegut used to say in his novels (or rather, had the Tralfamadorians say), "So it goes".