I missed it last year. I was in the bathroom. *
We had one or two days of lovely weather and then seventeen consecutive days of rain. Yesterday was soft and breezy, but today it was 84, and it is supposed to be in the 80s all week. Next Thursday, they are predicting rain, and temps “only” in the upper 70s. At least, the night-time temps are in the 60s, so sleeping is pleasant, and we can make do with the fan, without turning on the A/C. We finally got the papyrus plant out of the living room and into the pond last night. This is the best it’s ever looked after a winter in the living room.
We went over to Charlestown today to visit my brother-in-law. Shared lunch, and then he showed us some photos of his canal trip from Amsterdam to Alsace. Such beautiful country side, and everything is so clean! They offered quite a few day trips at each city along the way. Some were free or relatively low-cost, but others were, to my way of thinking, outlandishly expensive. There was one beer-and-dinner night on the town which was $99 per person. George said he skipped that one. Lots of photos of castles and cathedrals, and one shot of a restaurant that sent me into a fit of giggles – it sold shish-kebob and pizza. He also paid particular attention to the various pipe organs, as he plays the organ, and often fills in for his church.
He mentioned how nice the organ is at our church, but we had to tell him it isn’t any more. We had a contract to get the leathers treated and the electronics tuned up four times a year, but it was decided to drop that, and the thing is getting, Sunday by Sunday, more and more out of tune. It is virtually impossible to purchase a new pipe organ, so in a fit of penny wise and pound foolish, we’ve let a valuable asset full (almost) to ruin. Ah, well. They won’t let me run it, so there you are.
He was an electrical engineer before he retired, and it amused us that he took pictures of outlets and such in the cabin. One thing they had on the ship was a gizmo that caught the sliding closet door about two inches from the end of its “run” and closed the door slowly and firmly. You had to click something to reopen the door, but this prevented closet doors from slamming shut and disturbing the person in the next stateroom as well as keeping the door closed in case of rough weather.
The river cruiser was fairly narrow and quite low, to go under all the old bridges, so as a result the ship was very, very long. He said he was never aware of any roughness, and they did have several days of rain and wind.
*That is not an original line, BTW. I borrowed it from the late Michael Flanders. He and his partner, Donald Swann, wrote some lovely, and VERY funny songs.
Tags: brother-in-law, Holland to France, papyrus plants, pipe organs, river cruise
People have often remarked, not without good reason, that The Squire and my dad looked enough alike to pass for father and son. My dad used to have great fun taking The Squire places and confusing the daylights out of folks who knew he only had two daughters. We went to a viewing for one of my uncles and my cousin came over to me and admitted that he and his sister had spent five minutes trying to figure out “where he fits into the family. I finally remembered he’s your husband.”
thisendoftheswamp 