April 9 -- a travel day

We left the cottage around 5:30 a.m. to get down to Toroonto (Mississauga) by 9:30 for our dentist appointments. Traffic was light, since many were still off for the Easter weekend. I managed to get to the TD bank on the way to deposit a couple of cheques.

Sandy's appointment was shorter than mine so she went to the Vet's office to pick up some flea stuff for Abby. It seems that Abby's oral flea medicine stops fleas from reproducing but does not stop adult fleas from bugging her until they eventually fall off and we assume that she picked up said adult flea (we saw one) either in Virginia from all the deer that are in the area or more likely from Daisy, Shane and Cynthia's dog up at the lake. She was romping with Daisy and said flea could easily have "made the jump" so to speak, in the process. This flea stuff is goes on her fur and is supposed to kill any fleas within 2 hours -- we wanted to ensure that we were not bringing fleas into Stef's house, where Abby will be staying for the next 3 weeks.

We waited for almost an hour at the border -- Easter weekend traffic no doubt, plus the time of day that we got there -- and then had an uneventful trip to Philly arriving at Stef's place in Exton around 7pm. Jeffrey and Sara came over shortly thereafter and we had Easter dinner, a pasta recipe prepared by Kylie. It was great to get together -- we miss those Sunday family dinners that we used to have when we lived in Radnor.

During dinner they mentioned that I had a package in the basement -- and when I opened it (I was not expecting anything) it turned out to be for David Jr -- window cleaning stuff for David's business (David note -- squeegee rubbers ?) -- which were delivered long, long ago, it seems.

I left my bike at Stef's -- hopefully I'll be able to get a ride in tomorrow, although it will not be warm.

Sandy and I left Stef's long after my bedtime to get to our hotel down by Philly airport -- we're staying there because our car will be left there while we travel and because our flight on Wednesday is at 6:30 a.m. They have an incredible deal in that they only charge $5 per day for parking -- even though it will be left there for 2 weeks -- much cheaper than airport parking itself. In effect the hotel becomes almost free.

oh -- I talked to Don Mines of Boeing (and George, and Arlene, and Alice) along the way -- his operation was a success, although there have been complications so he is still in the ICU. He sounded strong and more alert than I was expecting based on Rusty's (his wife) warning when she handed the phone over to Don. His son Michael is staying over in Seattle (from DC) to be with him due to the complications. For readers who don't know Don -- he has lung cancer and has been taking chemo to eliminate secondary cancers and now had one lobe and part of another removed to get at the lung cancer itself. Don appreciates my calls and I'll try and catch up with him every couple of days.

Arlene is now in Mexico, having travelled there yesterday avec kids. She is expecting us on Wednesday. George is ready to meet us at the airport (to pick up the bike box).

That's all folks ...