Thanksgiving and Popular Culture

Well, we are back from a whirlwind trip to Maryland for Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great time seeing family and friends, although there (of course) was not enough time to see everyone and do everything that we would like. Our trip down on Tuesday was rainy - we were making great time until we hit Co-op City, just north of the GW Bridge, and then it took almost 3 hours to go the next 20 miles! What a nightmare. I guess there's no escaping NY traffic. The trip back home on Sunday was not much better - rainy again, but we decided to take the Tappan Zee. It wasn't backed up as much, but we spent plenty of time on Route 1 when 95 was slow, so it took about 9 hours anyway. We had a wonderful feast at Tim & Laura's, and we were all especially glad to see Kristin, who flew in from Dubai as a surprise for my mother-in-law. (Pic of Kristin & Laura on the left). Jon & Dana were in town, too, and Laura & Tim graciously agreed to host a brunch so we could spend some time with them, too (although I forgot to take pictures - sorry! Suffice it to say that Iron Man Jon is very skinny and Dana's new job seems to be agreeing with her).

We did get to visit my Dad at the VA nursing home in Baltimore, and he seemed to be doing pretty well, although there hasn't been a lot of change. He has a cool wheelchair that he can propel himself with a sort of a hand pump, but because he can't really steer it, they don't let him move himself around much. His fine motor skills seemed to be better than last time we saw him - he was much steadier when feeding himself and things like that.

We also saw a few friends Friday night at my mom's house, which was also nice. I have to say, I think I may have become a Wii convert. We played with Mark's Wii Fit, and it was totally fun: yoga, ski jumping, balance games, hula hooping. Very cool, very nontraditional for a video game. Of course, we also watched movies on Mark's enormous screen - that sofa is really comfy, it's better than the movie theater! Saturday we had enough time to go to brunch in Annapolis before Terry and I had to leave for a wedding in Havre de Grace. My friend Suzanne's wedding was beautiful and so much fun, and it was great to see my buddies from GCS. There are plenty of Thanksgiving photos and wedding photos on Facebook, so check out the links. Some of them are pretty funny!

The other thing that I really enjoyed about being in Maryland was the radio. There is absolutely no good radio in Providence. I was a bit obsessive about listening to WTMD and WRNR when we were in the car in Maryland. I do listen to internet radio when I'm in front of the computer at home (thank goodness for WXPN), but I sure miss having a decent station in the car. I guess the upside is that I am now familiar with Top 40 music and popular culture. If you can call that an upside. Maybe it goes along with my broken resistance to video games, now that I see the appeal of the Wii. :)