CJ's World

> Carefully research who you hire to provide airport transport, water plants inside & out, check frig functioning & a.c., etc. Because:

It should have dawned on me the potential pitfalls of my choice of facilitator as the chauffeur got lost finding the small airport 15 minutes away. During this delayed airport arrival time, an exposé of the driver’s past history unfolded. This included multiple seizures, neurological surgery to correct, resulting in loss of short term memory, etc.

Not to worry. I filed this information for future reference, I was going north, escaping the unprecedented heat dome (so they say, I haven’t lived here long enough to dispute).

Waiting for my return flight, wishing I would have taken up the invitation to spend a couple more weeks with my hosts, landing, waiting for luggage (being short & nobody helping me stow my overhead suitcase on past flights, I succumbed to my age and waning strength), texting my driver, now waiting for my pickup as the very nice and kind driver circled several times, me barely able to breath in the still stifling heat.

Arriving home slightly after midnight, I discovered several things that brought back to memory how important short term memory can be. Dramamine just about worn off, adjusting the thermostat, I discovered several things, including plants had not been watered, inside as well as outside.

On the positive side, this energized me to unpack, do laundry, flush the toilets (I found out the hard way this is necessary to avoid certain unpleasant odors), get to the grocery store & stock up on cold stuff: salad, fruit, gelato, etc.

More positives: disposing of dead and straggling plants became easier as I envision spending more northerly time next summer.

More tips are coming and as you wait, I implore you to find the humor and positives from your vacation disasters. You too can join me in this blogger phenomenon