It's been a while!
Short update..
We took the "mother of all road trips" from Montreal to South Padre Island, Texas, with overnight stops in Nashville and Memphis.
The trip was high on our wish list.
Time to do it before we can't anymore.
Mister GPS drove. I wrote a journal/itinerary as we rolled past small towns, mountain ranges, dead animals, eighteen wheeler trucks and endless ranches.
Fifty two days in all.
Thank you, Texas, for being so welcoming to two"Winter Texans."
We loved this trip.
Back home, Montreal continues to be in what looks like stage never ending infrastructure repairs on highways leading into the city, plus repairs to streets, condo construction and preparation for the many summer festivals that make this city rock.
Ste. Catherine, a main shopping street, (stores are open) is being re-done and you know the drill.
Cones. Orange cones.
It's all going to work in the end, but when is the end?
Best advice- take public transportation into the city when possible, or ride a bike.
One of my favorite activities is going to the library and reading for a couple hours.
The New York Times Sunday Magazine is my number one read. Excellent journalists, cutting-edge articles.
But have you noticed how much noise is tolerated in libraries these days?
I went to my library yesterday, hoping to have a nice quiet read. Sat down at a table, magazines piled in front of me.
Boom.
To my right, a woman pulls out a laptop, a bag of papers, spreads the whole thing out, plugs her laptop in, glances my way, opens her Grand Canyon purse, yanks out a pack of chewing gum, shoves some in her mouth and begins chewing, mouth open, like a horse eating apples.
She commences to crack and pop her gum like a drummer while whacking the keyboard of her (I feel sorry for it) laptop like a woodpecker on steel.
A uni student walks in, sits on the other side of me, removes laptop from backpack, spreads her work all over the table, snaps open a soft drink, slurps it down and sighs like a boozer sipping the last drop from her last call glass.
Not done, she opens her backpack, removes a bag of nuts and crackers(oh no),revives dead cows opening the package, eats one nut at a time.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
While chatting with her internet buddy.
Each nut crack a door slam.
So here we have nuts, crackers and gum popping in the library.
"I hear a symphony."
Oh, here comes an older dude. He walks up to the desk and begins telling the librarian his entire life story, including all the jobs he had, his many bosses, the countries he worked in, and the medical reasons he had to retire.
I could write a book by the time he's done.
This conversation began softly, the way it used to go in libraries. But as the dude became animated, his volume increased. I couldn't help but wonder what the librarian was thinking, as I heard only a few minor responses from her side of the conversation.
Maybe, my mom explained later, the guy has nobody to talk to at home, or perhaps his spouse has heard those stories a million times and is glad he leaves the house for a while, so she can do her own thing.
I give major props to librarians who do more than their job description, by listening patiently.
I know what you're going to say.
"Buy some noise cancelling headphones."
I hear you loud and clear.
I bought a set yesterday.
Am going to test them out this week.
At the library.
Maybe I'll bring along bag of corn chips and dip- see if I can hear myself chomping while wearing them.
