What a trip! Not quite what we planned.
It all started when the cab driver picked us up. Within two minutes of being in the cab we knew he was "recovering" and had begun healing his relationship with his 15 year old daughter for whom he bought cigarettes (it's her mum buys the beer) and who was having a tattoo party for her Sweet 16. Awwww, sweet. About 15 minutes later I was ready to throw myself from the cab. He was weaving in and out of traffic at over 85 mph, jerking the car back on the road every once in a while, had no idea how to get to the airport from the 476 (hint, you'd have to never have driven before), kept crossing several lanes of traffic at once, and could not read the giant green highway signs (we weren't sure if he needed glasses or was illiterate). I asked him to slow down once and he did, but when the driving rain started, he did the only logical thing and sped up to 85 again. This time, the dude asked him to slow down.
With the driving rain and lightning, we figured our flight would be further delayed (it was already an hour and ten minutes late). And it was. Somewhere around 10:00 pm, they changed our departure to 11:15. At 11:15 our flight disappeared from the board all together. Turns out, our plane had arrived. We were boarded by midnight. And then we sat on the runway in traffic. Our 9:00 pm flight took off at 1:00 am. And then we had to get to the hotel 40 minutes from the Orlando airport. We finally got to bed at 4:00 am. Which scuttled the plans for visiting Epcot. Instead we went to Johnson's Diner for lunch. And if I had remembered to bring my camera (d'oh) I would have taken photos of the collard greens. They were that good. I had the collards, corn casserole, and candied yams with my fried catfish. The dude had smothered pork chops with collards, mashed potatoes, and okra and tomatoes. For dessert, peach cobbler (better than mine) and sweet potato pie. I'm telling you all this because if you ever find yourself in need of a meal in Orlando on a Friday you should go "off property" to Johnson's Diner to eat the collards. I think they only have greens on Fridays. You are warned.
It mostly rained all weekend. I didn't get out by the pool but I read two books and did lots of stitching (photos below). Finished LHN Dog House Sampler for Sissy. Made good progress on beading the Olympic Stitching project. I hope to finish all the beading by this weekend when we are in Maine so someone can bring it to Casual Cat for framing. At least that's the plan.
We left before the tournament was over* so we could be back at work today. Some of the chess players were really disappointed because when we left, the dude was one of the leaders in his section (under 1700). He took a half point bye for Sunday evening which meant the best he could do was second. And he did end up tying for second (60 entrants). That went well! I'm not sure how I feel about accompanying him again. He has to eat at weird times: one day we had dinner at 4:45 and another we had lunch at 2:45. We averaged about two meals per day. OTOH, I did mostly do what I would have done at home alone: read and stitch and flip through the channels. It was nice for him to come back to the room and have me there so he could share the results.
*And as Tropical Storm Fay bears down on Florida, I think we totally did the right thing. They are predicting that Orlando will not be spared. And I'd pretty much enjoyed all of the delights of the Hilton "North Orlando" by Sunday.
Thank you all so much for your wonderful, kind comments about By the Sea and Toy Gatherer. Thanks especially for not mentioning that it took me 13 years to complete. Of course you wouldn't point that out. You are my people! You understand my plight.
