Made my flight reservations today and I feel really good about the decision to head back to South Africa. It’s taken a lot of soul-searching and deliberating and even with the huge issues South Africa faces (riots, corruption, elections, poverty), it’s still the best place for me. And I really don’t do well in limbo, and having made several other decisions in the last week, I was able to decide on my departure date and start getting things set up here - to get things set up there!

My last couple of weeks have been filled with scanning, scanning and more picture and slide scanning and I’m still not done! Now I (think) I can see the end in sight! It’s certainly been trips down a lot of memory lanes. But a lot of fun and I’ve managed to get rid of a fair number of originals. But it’s not easy to throw them away and as Ryan said, “You can’t throw out memories!”

Making Memories

So instead I’ve been making new memories as Ryan came to visit last weekend and it was like rolling a week of activity into 3 days! At the end of it I was exhausted and felt like I need a week off. But what fun.

He arrived on Friday and first we went to the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field. We went there years ago but it has expanded and there are several planes to actually go aboard, including an Air Force One and the Concord.

Then a trip to the Funko Pop Store. That was different! I had no idea these toys were so in demand and popular. Ryan has collected them for several years and I understand now the fascination, as he is, and always has been, such a collector of all sorts of “collectables” starting with baseball cards!

Friday evening we went to see the Tyler Henry Hollywood Medium Show but unfortunately, due to f**king covid rules, we weren’t able to actually go visit with him. (Ryan worked on his show for a few years, so knows him well.) But the show was fun and Tyler did several readings that were amazing and apparently, very accurate. The only negative was that it was held at a casino which allows smoking! So it was very smelly. It’s on an Indian reservation and they apparently have different health rules.

The following day saw us on a 2-hour Food Tour at Pike Place Market in Seattle. That was a blast! We started out early, before it got too crowded with a group of 14 people. And tasted our way around a wide variety of food stalls and purveyors; from Greek yogurt topped with local marionberries to smoked King Salmon to the very good Pike Place Market tea.

Then the ferry ride (in the rain that started just after the tour) over to the Olympic Mountain side and home to Jim and Mardelle’s. Next day was the Farm Tour around this area and we managed to do a bit of cider tasting along with inspecting the animals and local farms. Dinner was a delicious smoked King salmon (from the market) pasta.

And next morning, back to the Seattle airport, a 4-hour round trip. I collapsed when I got home! But wouldn’t have changed a thing!

Now I must focus on wrapping things up here and planning some time in Southern California before heading back south, way south!