greetings from Ashtabula!
Nov. 25th, 2022 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingWhich is a completely random point en route between Chicago and Ithaca, picked mainly because I didn't want to get up early the morning after Thanksgiving, and my mom get very nervous about the idea of me driving long hours alone in the dark. And I mean, I don't mind night driving at all, but I am not one of nature's long-haul drivers so I don't exactly mind knocking off early and taking an extra day to get home.
We had takeout for Thanksgiving again this year, though from a different restaurant -- less Italian, and with squash soup as a starter and some almond-encrusted white fish as a supplement to the turkey. The soup was far too sweet for my taste, but otherwise fine, and the fish was very nice. The green bean casserole was WEIRD because for some reason they made it with whole green beans??? The entire point of green bean casserole is to use French-cut beans. But the sauce was good and the fresh mushrooms were nice.
This year we ate at Aunt Cara's actual house instead of at a hotel. This of course meant that Dad, Nick, and I were all moderately doped up on Benadryl because Cara has three cats, but we managed with an afternoon walk between the snack/cheese course and the meal, and then an evening nap between the meal and dessert for Dad and Nick. (I sat and worked on my cross-stitch project because I was pretty sure I'd go wobbly if I tried to stay standing up and do stuff in the kitchen.)
I also got to meet Cara's two birds, whose names I have promptly forgotten. They are conures, probably the pineapple morph/variety of the green-cheeked conure (Wikipedia reference), and both male. They are very sociable and like to play, but they bite fingers so I interacted with them both vocally and via a large gardening glove so they either bit empty fabric or at least I had some insulation between beak and skin.
It was good to see Aunt Cara -- I don't see her very often, and this may well be the last time I visit her current house, since she's slowly easing into the house-hunting process in preparation for moving to the Twin Cities.
It was also good to see Mom, Dad, and Nick. Nick is doing okay. He has a date scheduled for surgery to fix his problem, which is Superior Canal Dehiscence Syndrome (SCDS). (Wikipedia intro, Johns Hopkins info page, Cleveland Clinic info page, UCLA info page). He's not sure if he'll go through with the surgery -- it's still kind of experimental, since the syndrome was only identified in 1998, and outcome reports are mixed -- but it's a relief to at least have the option lined up.
In less fraught news, Dad shaved off his beard and moustache. He has had a beard and moustache for longer than I have been alive, and longer than he and Mom have been married -- so 50+ years. But apparently Mom has always found them mildly annoying, and around 15-20 years ago, when they first started making actual plans to retire to Minnesota instead of just having vague intentions, he told her he'd shave once they moved. She didn't really take him seriously -- probably because he never told anyone else! Nick and I certainly had no idea! -- but during his final stint at the cabin this fall, while Nick and Mom were down in the Twin Cities, he shaved and then appeared bare-faced to general astonishment.
And then none of them told me, probably so I could experience that same astonishment. *wry* It sure was a surprise! I am still stuck in the cognitive dissonance phase, but I will get used to the change eventually, I suppose.
I think I honestly might be having less cognitive dissonance if he'd shaved his head and left the beard and moustache intact, which is a wild thing to say but remember: Dad has had the same facial hair for my entire life, whereas I am at least used to seeing his scalp hair cycle through various lengths as it gets shaggy, he notices it's grown long and gets a very short haircut, and then it slowly gets shaggy again.
Ah well. It's his face! He can do what he likes with it. I'm sure I will be less discombobulated by Christmas.
Hmm, what else...
My drive has been smooth and uneventful in both directions thus far, and I expect it to continue similarly tomorrow. The hotel's free breakfast ends at 9am, so I intend to get up around 8-8:15am, and then hit the road by 9:30, which should get me home by 3pm, allowing for miscellaneous lost time and a short nap if my eyes get highway strain and I need to close them for a while.
And then I'll probably wash all the clothes I took on the trip, just to be on the safe side. I have been checking for bed bugs, but you never know. :/
We had takeout for Thanksgiving again this year, though from a different restaurant -- less Italian, and with squash soup as a starter and some almond-encrusted white fish as a supplement to the turkey. The soup was far too sweet for my taste, but otherwise fine, and the fish was very nice. The green bean casserole was WEIRD because for some reason they made it with whole green beans??? The entire point of green bean casserole is to use French-cut beans. But the sauce was good and the fresh mushrooms were nice.
This year we ate at Aunt Cara's actual house instead of at a hotel. This of course meant that Dad, Nick, and I were all moderately doped up on Benadryl because Cara has three cats, but we managed with an afternoon walk between the snack/cheese course and the meal, and then an evening nap between the meal and dessert for Dad and Nick. (I sat and worked on my cross-stitch project because I was pretty sure I'd go wobbly if I tried to stay standing up and do stuff in the kitchen.)
I also got to meet Cara's two birds, whose names I have promptly forgotten. They are conures, probably the pineapple morph/variety of the green-cheeked conure (Wikipedia reference), and both male. They are very sociable and like to play, but they bite fingers so I interacted with them both vocally and via a large gardening glove so they either bit empty fabric or at least I had some insulation between beak and skin.
It was good to see Aunt Cara -- I don't see her very often, and this may well be the last time I visit her current house, since she's slowly easing into the house-hunting process in preparation for moving to the Twin Cities.
It was also good to see Mom, Dad, and Nick. Nick is doing okay. He has a date scheduled for surgery to fix his problem, which is Superior Canal Dehiscence Syndrome (SCDS). (Wikipedia intro, Johns Hopkins info page, Cleveland Clinic info page, UCLA info page). He's not sure if he'll go through with the surgery -- it's still kind of experimental, since the syndrome was only identified in 1998, and outcome reports are mixed -- but it's a relief to at least have the option lined up.
In less fraught news, Dad shaved off his beard and moustache. He has had a beard and moustache for longer than I have been alive, and longer than he and Mom have been married -- so 50+ years. But apparently Mom has always found them mildly annoying, and around 15-20 years ago, when they first started making actual plans to retire to Minnesota instead of just having vague intentions, he told her he'd shave once they moved. She didn't really take him seriously -- probably because he never told anyone else! Nick and I certainly had no idea! -- but during his final stint at the cabin this fall, while Nick and Mom were down in the Twin Cities, he shaved and then appeared bare-faced to general astonishment.
And then none of them told me, probably so I could experience that same astonishment. *wry* It sure was a surprise! I am still stuck in the cognitive dissonance phase, but I will get used to the change eventually, I suppose.
I think I honestly might be having less cognitive dissonance if he'd shaved his head and left the beard and moustache intact, which is a wild thing to say but remember: Dad has had the same facial hair for my entire life, whereas I am at least used to seeing his scalp hair cycle through various lengths as it gets shaggy, he notices it's grown long and gets a very short haircut, and then it slowly gets shaggy again.
Ah well. It's his face! He can do what he likes with it. I'm sure I will be less discombobulated by Christmas.
Hmm, what else...
My drive has been smooth and uneventful in both directions thus far, and I expect it to continue similarly tomorrow. The hotel's free breakfast ends at 9am, so I intend to get up around 8-8:15am, and then hit the road by 9:30, which should get me home by 3pm, allowing for miscellaneous lost time and a short nap if my eyes get highway strain and I need to close them for a while.
And then I'll probably wash all the clothes I took on the trip, just to be on the safe side. I have been checking for bed bugs, but you never know. :/
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-26 05:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-26 02:37 pm (UTC)The weirdest part is that when he's wearing a facemask in a public indoor area, he looks completely normal... and then he takes it off and it's like "OMG who are you???" *wry*
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-26 07:43 am (UTC)My uncle, who I couldn't recall not having a beard, did the shave thing and everyone just noped out and asked him the grow it back. His youngest daughter, about five at the time, didn't recognise him just screamed at the stranger. We now all just pretend the great unbearding never happened.
I guess I've been doing something similar. I had dreadlocks for 21 years, sod all people I know have seen me without them. Took them out a couple of months back. Forced to go into the office for the first time in two and a half years just after I did it, so me having short, purple hair was a bit of a shock.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-26 02:34 pm (UTC)I am reminded of the year I wore contacts instead of glasses, back in high school. The first day I walked in without my glasses, multiple people failed to recognize me and asked if I was a new student. (For context, I have worn glasses since I was 6 years old.)
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-26 09:31 pm (UTC)My appearance might have had more of an impact, but most of my team had never met or even seen me. I loathe video calls, so if anyone insists on video being on, they get to watch one of my dogs as my proxy. Several of my team harboured a suspicion that I may have actually been a small, orange husky. However, one of the guys I have worked with for years, who has been back and forth with us as a contractor over that time, and I didn't realise that it had been even longer since we'd seen each other when he was more surprised that one of my arms is fully tattooed.
I do have to wonder how observant people are. There's an Australian comedian who's missing a foot. Typically the school uniform switches between Summer and Winter after a term break. Every time it would switch to Summer (long trousers change to shorts), he'd have people freak out on the first day back and ask him what happened to his leg over the holidays. People are weird.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-26 01:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-26 02:45 pm (UTC)Anyway, in times of stress, I find that I want the rest of my life to be simple and stable so I have something reliable to hold onto -- small things become a lot more load-bearing than they would normally be.
I think facial hair going gray/white before scalp hair is a fairly common thing -- that happened to my dad too.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-26 02:03 pm (UTC)I remember when Dad came home WITH a beard and mustache when I was small... and it took me some getting used to. I am sure it is strange in reverse.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-26 02:29 pm (UTC)