Home Sweet Home

...help me to value the humdrum periods of my life, which prepare me for action when it comes. (Patricia Houck Sprinkle, Daily Guideposts - 1986, 4 September)

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We enjoyed a nice five day trip to Norfolk, VA and Raleigh, NC. While in Norfolk we saw the families of Melva's godson, Raul, and his sister, Linda. It had been five years since we were last in Norfolk when we attended Hannah's first birthday. In Raleigh we visited the family of my college ROTC friend, Rich. I'd been talking about going to see him for many months. We were surprised that it only took six and a half hours to drive back from Raleigh when we used U.S. Route 1 and Interstates 85 and 95.

I'm looking forward to resuming the project to share more of my genealogy reports via my Box.Net account. I'm planning to convert some files from HTML to PDF. This will allow me to once again share some of the information that used to be available on the AOL website.

We had trouble with Melva's GoPhone account. The online account summary showed a balance when the phone announced that no more funds were available. Yesterday I called their 800 number to see if I could get help. I was on the line about ten minutes while the person who took my called worked on the problem. They didn't indicate what happened. It's a good thing we had two phones on the trip.

I noticed that the feed of this blog to Facebook Notes isn't working again. I wonder if there is something I can do to fix the problem. I'll have to decide whether I care enough to try to get help.

Mr. Dickie
12/Sep/2010 9:26

Vacation In Panama

Anger makes us stupid.
(Toni Sortor and Pamela McQuade, The Word On Life, 30 May)

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Yesterday's plan to stop at the Cellphone Waiting parking lot at the airport didn't go as planned. I cut the timing on our trip to the airport too close. Just before we started to cross the bridge over the Potomac River my cellphone rang. Cyndi was already waiting for her two bags to arrive at the baggage claim area. As we rounded the curve and headed to the new terminal the phone rang again. Cyndi was at the sidewalk in front of the "C" doors. We arrived there in a couple of minutes and pulled to the curb directly in front of where she was standing. We loaded the bags, switched drivers and were on our way to Bethesda in a matter of minutes.

Cyndi showed us a DVD of one of those house hunting television shows. In the show the agent was the daughter-in-law of friends of ours in Panama. One of the three houses she showed the buyers from Philadelphia was the house of our friends.

Cyndi also started up her computer to show us all of the photos she took during her visit. She got some very good shots.

Mr. Dickie
28/Jun/2010 8:49

Father's Day - 2010

Remembering my father, Edward Charles Henthorn, today and the blessings he passed on to me. May he rest in peace.

Happy Father's Day to all my friends who are fathers. Keep up the good work.

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Yesterday Melva and I returned from a two day vacation at Solomon's Island, Maryland. It's about sixty-five miles from our house. Cyndi made the hotel arrangements and paid for our stay in honor of our 43rd wedding anniversary.

I'm enjoying being in closer touch with my relatives in the United States via Facebook. In the last week we learned where Katie will go to school this fall and that Kristyna is engaged. I think it's more fun when the news is timely.

Mr. Dickie
20/Jun/2010 8:58

Vacation In Panama

Riande Hotel near the Tocumen Airport in Panama

A continuous look at our assets and liabilities, and a real desire to learn and grow by this means are necessities for us. (As Bill Sees It, p. 161)

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Last night we drove to Bethesda to pick up Cyndi. We got back to the house about 9:30 p.m. Melva and Cyndi worked until midnight repacking the three suitcases. I helped by lifting the bags each time we wanted to weight them on the bathroom scale. The goal was to be certain that none of the bags exceeded fifty pounds. They left behind some of the bulky and heavy items. Each bag was full before we reached the weight limit. While doing some last minute printouts Cyndi noticed that there is a summertime embargo on extra bags and boxes to certain countries. We got lucky, Panama was excluded.

Cyndi set the alarm for 2:15 a.m. We left the house for National Airport by 3:00 a.m. There was heavy traffic on New York Avenue and we saw lots of flashing lights where there was police activity. We arrived at the American Airlines counter before they opened. Cyndi was the first one in line. She had to wait for one of the clerks to turn on the check-in machines before she could printout her boarding pass. I paid the extra amount to ship the third bag. We waited for Starbucks to open at 4:30 a.m. Melva and Cyndi each bought something. After they finished what they bought we went downstairs to the security check. Because Cyndi had a First-Class ticket she was able to move to the front of the line when she decided to go though the checkpoint.

We took a different route back to the house. We were already in the house before the airplane took off at 6:10 a.m. Cyndi called from Miami where she changed planes. She called again about 2:00 p.m. after she was in her room at the Riande Hotel near the airport. Melva had the portable phone in the basement, ready to take the call when it came. Cyndi will stay at the hotel for two nights before moving to the beach in the hotel van on Monday. She reported that she enjoyed the First-Class treatment. Maybe one of her cousins will come to the hotel to visit this afternoon.

Cyndi left her thumb drive with me. I copied the photos she took the day she took us out to eat at Edgewater, MD to celebrate my birthday and Mother's Day.

Mr. Dickie
12/Jun/2010 14:25