Overbooked: Ann and Mike: 2005

Ann & Mike: 2005 Events and excursions . . .

Cruise

Ann's sister Carol & her husband Bill talked us into joining our folks and Bill’s mother Dorothy on a Panama Canal Cruise on the Holland American Zaandam. We sailed out of Fort Lauderdale on December 11^th and returned on the 21^st. We visited Half Moon Cay, Aruba, Curacao, Panama and Costa Rica. We had a blast on our snorkel excursions and were pleased we converted Carol to the joys of snorkeling. Mike was fascinated by the workings of the Gatun Lake locks and Carol, Bill, Mike and Ann cruised down the Tortuguero Canals in Costa Rica spotting caimans, crocodiles, sloths, long eared bats, howler monkeys and some beautiful birds. Mike and Bill became addicted to the Spa’s Thermal Relaxation suite. It was a wonderful family trip.

Mike’s Mom: Within days of our return from Chicago (Annual ALA conference) Mike got a call that authorities had been alerted by caregivers that his Mom wasn’t answering the phone or the door. The authorities gained entry to the house and found that his mother had broken her hip. Mike was the primary family contact and worked hard to ensure that she received the best care possible. His mom was transferred to Richmond died in mid September from complications related to her fall and to additional health problems. Mike was especially grateful for the support of his friends (most notably - Zandra & Lauren, Paula, Mike and Jo, Alan and Rena, The Phipps family), the Chambers family and from his sisters, Rory & Linda.

We enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast at the the Phipps’ house, along with Paula. The main course was pit-cooked turkey (dig a very large pit in the backyard, bury the bird and roast the turkey in the coals).

Our American Library Association conference trips were to:

Boston (winter)

Chicago (summer)

Ann was chair of the 2006 Alex Awards committee. The Alex Awards committee selects the ten best adult books for teens and the stellar group engaged in vast amounts of reading and enjoyed discussing titles online at at the summer meeting. The 2005 committee presented a program in Chicago including inspiring author presentations by Robert Kurzon, Lynn Cox and Kent Meyers. Mike collected books at the exhibits for some of our favorite kids and lugged vast quantities of books for Ann. Side trips to museums and some good eating experiences alievated the library related biz stuff.

Ann made her usual spring break pilgrimage to Atlanta to hang with Resa - a four day frenzy of T.J. Maxx and Marshall shopping, ethnic food binging, reading, relaxing, and dog walking.

In April we traveled with Ann's folks out to Arizona and met up with Carol and Bill. In Tucson we stayed at the funky Ghost Ranch just before it closed (it will be missed). We had a perfect day at the fantastic Desert Museum and especially enjoyed the raptor show. Back in Flagstaff we went on several expeditions including a bit of bouldering at one of Carol's research sites. Mike and Bill bonded and bounced around with Taz and Roy (Carol and Bill's dogs) during a long bumpy ride to the research site.

Beach

Our annual September trip to Oak Island, N. C. was not as relaxing as in the past, since Mike was still on call to manage his mother’s health issues. Resa and Paula were great beach week companions and helped make the week as enjoyable as possible. Cheese, beer, and Cosmos helped.

Busch Gardens

In October, Rory and her son Hilton came up to Williamsburg to take care of some business related to estate. Rory, Hilton, Ann and Mike had an action packed day trip to Busch Gardens. Well, Mike and Hilton had a substantially more action packed day that Rory and Ann. Mike and Hilton rode every roller coaster in the park at least once. Ann and Rory didn’t – but made an exception by riding the Big Bad Wolf. All of us stood in line for over an hour to enter Dark Kastle - a 3-D action ride. Ann managed to acquire a nasty skin reaction to sunscreen and was an itchy, irritated and blotchy mess until her dermatologist got her back to normal (more or less).

Christa

We both began seeing a touch therapist this fall. Christa is wonderful and we both benefit from her skill in massage therapy and alternate touch therapy.

Pushmepullyou

Critters

Nina and Alafair

The sisters are no longer kittens and have developed their own (strong) personalities. Neither sister is all that fond of suitcases, visitors or vet trips. While they do play and lay together, they also engage in combative grooming that escalates into all out war. Despite Alafair’s advantage in both size and weight, Nina can (and often does) wallop her sister.

Alafair is now also referred to as sweet potato pie and has aligned herself mostly with Mike. She adores wallowing in smelly clothes and is immovable when she wants to settle in on someone. When she is in a petting frenzy, she has been known to drool delicately. For amusement she drags stray business cards and credit cards around the house while yowling. A piece of rope gets the same treatment. Nina is also partial to this behavior. Alafair is still rather feral at heart and will try to take you out if you pick her up.

Nina is still quite tiny, less than 6 pounds. She is aligned firmly with Ann but thinks Mike is ok, especially when he pets her along the bed rail – this involves cat acrobatics. She burbles and enthusiastically jumps up and hurls herself at her loved ones. One of her odder rituals involves sitting patiently on the bathroom sink while Ann takes a shower. Once the water turns off, she loses patience and starts whapping at the curtain until Ann emerges and allows Nina to perch on her back while she (Ann) washes her face, etc. She loves to sit under the bed table/tray while Ann works on the computer on top of the table.

Burke

Still our bouncing boy though he is well on the way to cat conversion. The sisters adore Burke and hurl themselves at him, showing no respect for his desire to nap, his dog food bowl or his "don’t touch my paws" rule. They all nap out together in a congealed brindle pile. Burke’s infrequent frustration emerges when the sisters are in thunder kitty mode (requiring Burke to woof at them) or when they are pestering him in some other way, hanging off his neck, licking his ear, etc. (requiring Burke to bite the bedspread to vent his annoyance). Burke will still Frisbee until he drops or pees on his Frisbee – which ever comes first. He is a passionate requestor of his allotted number of dog biscuits and weaglizes and orts enthusiastically when we come home.

Zazu

No longer sumo Zu. She is still rather surly and not overly thrilled with other animals but she is more playful and shares space with all the other creatures somewhat graciously. She is still a determined lumper of people, especially Mike. Zu remains passionately fond of butter and whipped cream.

Theis Photos 2005:

Links:

http://www.hollandamerica.com/

http://www.desertmuseum.org/

http://www.ghostranchlodge.com/

http://www.depalm.com/depalmisl/index.cfm

http://www.curacao.com/