Indy 500 Race Day, 2009

Sunday, The Day of the Indy 500!

No photos.

I’ve been home a smidge over a week, and am caught up on everything but cleaning house. One is never caught up with cleaning house, is one?

Tomorrow I begin writing again. Up in the morning, coffee, and a few hours at the computer. I usually take time for emails now and then, and phone calls, but mostly, my nose is to the screen and my fingers on the keyboard, with several breaks for coffee input and output. Was that too much information?

Several people have asked me where my favorite place on our trip was, and after thinking on that, I can honestly say, “Wherever I was at the moment.” I loved the wide open of the Great Plains, but I also loved the East Coast and the Rocky Mountains, and the deserts of the Southwest and the swamps/bayous/everglades of the Southeast. As much as I enjoy travel and new sights, it’s really the people I meet and or reconnect with that makes it worth the while and is the most fun. I try to be where I am at the moment, and wherever that is, it is usually a great place to be.

I added another Sister of Choice to my Family of Choice, that’s always a good thing. One can never have too many friends or too many family members, and when one gets to choose both, well, that’s calorie-free cheesecake no matter how one slices it!

One of the best books I read on the road was while we were in Fargo, with Donna. I read her copy of The Last Lecture –by Randy Pausch. I wouldn’t call it life changing for me, though it did remind me to update my Bucket List, but it was a fascinating read – well done, not at all maudlin, and I think anyone who reads it, young or old, will enjoy it. The younger ones might get a few really good insights into their Childhood Dreams and the Achievement of same. Thanks, Donna, for the recommendation, and the loan of the book. (Did I mention it’s both well-written and a quick read?)

Another good book, for those interested in American history, is Geronimo – His own Story -- The Autobiography of a Great Patriot Warrior As told to S. M. Barrett. I picked up two bios of Geronimo, one by a man who had a definite bias not only against Geronimo, but toward Apaches, or maybe just Native Amercans. I think I left it in some hotel room. This book was much better, gave the same information, but in a much different light, and no, it was not an apology. Geronimo was very honest.

For a change of pace, I picked up a copy of Inspector Imanishi Investigates by Seicho Matsumoto, translated by Beth Cary, from the sale rack in one of the libraries we attended – I think it was in Independence, Virginia. I seldom buy hardbacks and about equally seldom buy murder mysteries, but this was great fun. (I told Kay I bought it for the photo of the author on the back. He looks like a Japanese hippy cleaned up in a suit – longish hair, and a bent cigarette in his mouth.) At any rate, it was fun brain candy for the trip.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” - Mark Twain