How to keep the line moving.

In failing to blow up our airliners, the crazies have succeeded in turning our airports into chaos. If you plan to fly anytime soon, be sure you are as near as possible to barefooted, wearing only Spandex, and carrying your medicine in a plastic bag. Anything else you need will be for sale on board the plane at inflated prices. Check clothing and little else into a sturdy suitcase and cross your fingers in hopes that it will arrive whereever you are going at approximately the same time that you do.

Never lock luggage. They will just break it open to see what you are trying to safeguard. Smile a lot and be nice to the crew. They don't like this mess any better than you do.

Somehow, it seems to me that they are paying more attention to what you are carrying than they are to you.

Just in case you are dark-skinned or have some other feature that makes you look a little different, take the train.

How does you garden grow?

My garden isn't doing so well at the moment. We have been very hot and dry recently. We are getting some nice vegetables, but a few things aren't doing well.

But being retired, we have to raise a garden. I think it must be a requirement.

The corn is small and racoons are getting most of that. Beans produced for a while, but they are fading fast. Squash bombed out completely, not that I lose any sleep over that. Our green pepper plants are beautiful, but very few peppers on them. They will do better after the heat breaks.

Tomatoes like hot weather, so they are doing great. We planted them deep with mulch under them and then surrounded them with more mulch on the surface. Until they start bearing, we usually pour the plant food to them.

Beets, okra, and purple-hull peas have done well, as did the few onions we put out. Early stuff like lettuce and radishes did well.

If we can find a cruise we like, the garden may have to fend for itself for a couple of weeks.
Howard

Trip to Iceland

Iceland is not as cold as the name suggests. They are in the path of the warm Gulf Stream current that flows at three knots up the coast of America from Florida toward England. It actually begins in the Gulf of Mexico, but when it comes around the tip of Florida, it is part of the North Atlantic Gyre.

England also has a milder climate than its latitude suggests, for the same reason.

Our daughter, the travel agent (altotravel.com), organized a trip to Iceland. She took her kids, her sister-in-law, her nephew and a few neighbors. I didn't get to go this time, but after hearing them all talk about what a wonderful place it is, I may sign on for the next trip.

I have always liked to travel with someone who has been there before. Or with someone who speaks the language. It just makes things easier. Travel sometimes requires a lot of problem solving, and traveling with the right person reduces the number of problems. Of course, experienced travelers do very well even in places they have never seen.

If you have never been to Iceland, put that on your list.
Howard

I need a little work.

This is my first post here in about a month. Cronic travelers sometimes have to go in for a little repair work, and I am going to be out of commission for a week or two. Nothing serious from a physical point of view, but it certainly will good to get back to traveling again.

I plan to speed my recovery by taking a car trip. We have been talking about doing the Natchez Trace Parkway north to south, ever since we did it from south the north. I've noticed that when traveling, you see different stuff when you are going in the opposite direction. It is also a good idea to make a reverse trip during a different season of the year.

After a month of going mainly to doctor's offices, I will really appreciate a trip made just for fun. Maybe I should mention that all of those doctor visits are not for me. My wife has had cataract surgery and her mother is having problems with her hearing aid. It adds up.
Howard