Here you see a somewhat frazzled damned old dude with a Damned Bloody Mary, the traditional anti-frazzling airport beverage. Autumn is traditionally the time that Brugger and I take a trip somewhere. Last year, we made it to France and Italy. This year, we opted for a slightly less ambitious venture: a few days in Michigan visiting her parents and then a few more in the Upper Peninsula at a secluded cabin along Portage Lake, where we might catch a view of the Northern Lights. For this trip, our frequent traveling companions, Terry and Beth, planned to join us after an extended outing of their own in New York.
Now, just prior to all this, both Kimberly and I had each been dealing with some severe health stressors. Without going into detail, we both had cancer scares. After several tests each, both of us — much to our relief — received clean bills of health, at least on the cancer front. So, we made our travel arrangements, and everything seemed good to go.
As a tangentially related aside, for several months now, Ms. B. and I had planned to attend the Dark Shadows Halloween gathering at Seaview Terrace (Collinwood in the TV series) in late October. However, a while back, the gathering was canceled due to scheduling conflicts with HBO, which has been planning to film a series on the estate. Then, a few days ago, those plans flip-flopped, and the Halloween event was back on. Things looked fairly good for Ms. B. and me to attend as originally planned.
A couple of weeks ago. Terry and Beth had set out on their adventure with plans to meet us in Michigan once we arrived. Things started out on the right foot, but then Terry got hit with gout, which damn near crippled him for a few days. Just as that ugly situation began to improve... enter COVID-19. Terry and Beth both got sick midway through their trip and, with a bleak outlook for the duration, they opted to turn around and head home. Naturally, we were sad about this, but for their part, it seemed the only prudent course of action. Brugger and I opted to stay the course with our Michigan plans. For us, this meant we would need to rent a car rather than rely on Terry and Beth for our transportation.
Okay, for the moment, everything looked as good to go as it was going to get.
Then, the day before our flight out from NC, Kimberly's dad, Mr. B. (a.k.a.
Delmar), sent us a text saying he was down with strep throat. It was really
too late at this point for us to throw in the towel and reschedule everything,
so — in the interests of avoiding strep if at all possible — we booked a hotel
in Midland rather than stay at their place. By now, though, our unexpected
expenses had piled up to the point that the
Dark Shadows Halloween event had to go back off the table.
Bloody fook.
Still, the absence of cancer for either of us has cast a nice shiny light on
these other most admittedly first-world problems.
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
By way of United Airlines — so, so, SO much better than American Airlines,
based on our relatively recent travels to
Necon
— late in the afternoon, Ms. B. and I departed Greensboro, bound for Saginaw
with a connection in Chicago — but with only about a half-hour between
flights. Happily, not only did we not have to run through O'Hare for our
connecting flight, the gate assignments were changed at the last minute so
that our arriving and departing flights were literally next door to each
other. Both went off without any undue complications.
At the Saginaw airport, which is only about twenty minutes from Midland, we
met Kim's parents, fully masked up, who'd come to meet us. We headed back to
their place and spent a little time with them, as socially distanced as
practicality allowed. Fortunately, Del was well into his regimen of
antibiotics, so it seemed unlikely he would be contagious. Fern was the
wildcard here because, all during Del's illness, she hadn't shown any
symptoms, even though strep throat is quite contagious. As best we
could, we all treated each other as if they were the Plague Incarnate. Del and
Fern were kind enough to lend us their vehicle until we could pick up our
rental car on Friday. After a brief spell together, we said our goodbyes, and
Ms. B. and I settled ourselves into our hotel.
Thursday, September 15, 2022
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| The Bradley Mansion at the Herbert H. Doan Midland Historical Center |
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A massive hornet's nest on the window of the Bradley mansion. |
Ms. B. and I started the day on a somewhat later-than-usual note since we had been up until the wee hours the night before. Our first order of business was to grab coffee and a light breakfast at Live Oak Coffeehouse, which has been among our regular destinations on trips here over the years. From there, we headed after a few geocaches at the nearby Herbert D. Doan Midland History Center. Mission accomplished, we headed to Casa di Brugger and spent a fair portion of the afternoon hanging out on the back porch, where we figured germs would be least likely to get the upper hand on us. Even after all this time, Fern remained symptom-free, and Del appeared up to his usual snuff, as he went out to mow the lawn on his big ol' riding mower.
During the afternoon, we entertained ourselves hand-feeding peanuts to a remarkably domesticated, exceedingly tubby squirrel the Bruggers had named Stubby (due to his unnaturally abbreviated tail). Stubby is exceptionally polite, and he enjoyed the treats we offered him. I don't imagine he will have any issues weathering the winter months, given the excessive bulk he gained just today, thanks to the generosity (read gullibility) of several humans smitten by cuteness.
For dinner, Ms. B. and I went to Villa D'Alessandro, a nearby Italian restaurant we had enjoyed a few years back. It was a lovely evening, so we sat out on their Italian-style terrace. For dinner, we ordered a bottle of Campofiorin Masi, a dry red from Veneto; Ravioli Formaggio for the nice lady; and Lamb Osso Bucco per me. All quite delicious. For an after-dinner diversion, we drove to downtown Midland, which turned out to be hopping: live music, food trucks, and all the shops and restaurants doing a booming business. We decided to visit Grape Beginnings Winery, since we had been there once before, a few years ago. At that time, the wine was so-so, but I'd say they've really come up in the world. Brugger's Merlot and my Italian-style red blend both proved excellent.
Then it was back to our hotel, where we mellowed out for the rest of the
evening. So far, we're all physically well. May we remain so.
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| Ms. B. giving a handout to Mr. Stubby |
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| Pardon me, might I trouble you for a peanut? |
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| Smilin' happy again at Grape Beginnings Winery |
Friday, September 16, 2022
Both Del and Fern appeared to be doing fine — no bugginess in their house
whatsoever — so we departed our hotel and set ourselves up in our traditional
places at Casa di Brugger. It's tradition on our visits for me to
provide at least one dinner for the folks, and since Del and Fern prefer their
larger meal midday and nibbles in the evening, I decided to make larb gai (Thai chicken) for today's feast. This required a jaunt to Meijer for
supplies. Much to my dismay, Meijer doesn't carry ground chicken. What kind of
bourgeois bullshit is this?! Anyway, Brugger and I debated whether to chop up
chicken breasts or substitute ground turkey, which Meijer carries in prodigious quantity, for the requisite protein. For kicks, we settled on ground turkey.
Once back at the house, I set to work in the kitchen, and... well... the
turkey turned out excellent. Frankly, yes, I would have preferred chicken, but
this version more than satisfied the lot of us. (You may find my larb gai
recipe
here.)
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| Somewhat non-traditional larb gai. Damn good stuff! |
Tomorrow, it's off to the UP.
More to come....