December already!

Can you believe it's December 1st in this beautiful area I call home? I'm in a t-shirt and sandals and I think it's going to be 75 degrees today. Survived the past week with birthday and Thanksgiving falling just two days apart and still did homework and housework and oh yeah that other work that I actually get paid for! As I'm sure some of you who followed my posting from the past know I was calling the previous birthday year my magical year, I was 56 and had obviously been born in 1956. Well, didn't really get to finish everything I had hoped for during that time so... Now the new birthday arrived and I turned 57. Guess what, that's going to be a magical year also! I add 5+7=12, 1+2=3, yeah baby 3 is my lucky number. LOL! I'll bet I can make every year from now on somehow be a magical year just by making up my own brand of numerology. Ok, so keep tuning in and I'll let you know how this will all be working. More later. "-)

Next weekend fall back...

Yes I know, I'm ahead of schedule. Well it's because I have to give myself an advanced warning due to the coming of the early evening darkness and the foggy dreary mornings of autumnal/winterish time coming. Not a good look for me, seasonal affected disorder here it comes. After already experiencing last Tuesday as one of those days that I'm literally paralyzed and can hardly force myself out of bed. Well at least I have a job and my health and a sound mind, in fact so sound that after seeing the latest grade from human relations class I did what I always hate to do but dropped out. As soon as that happened the anvil on my shoulders just seemed to float away. It made me cry a little because I hate being a quitter but after a huge hug from hubby and hearing him give me some really helpful and sweet words I got over it. Besides I will now have more time to try to get the formatting right on the chapbook that's supposed to be coming out in about 30 days! Anyway, Happy Halloween to you all and watch for another post soon.

Gann and company finally home...

We did make it home, back to beautiful Sonoma county after 6 long days of traveling through some places that really made me appreciate even more that where I live is Eden! The Gannimals traveled pretty well together and Juno my grand-dog was so good sometimes I forgot she was even in the back of the XTerra. Went all the way up highway 99 to the outskirts of Sac which was a little detour but we couldn't be that close and not visit Uncle Herschel. He had gotten a little pouty when he knew the girls saw his sis Aunt Loretta when we stopped for a sleepover in Arkansas. Got home right before my bedtime and boy was I excited to see my bed. Oh and the hubby too. It's been over 6 months since that trip and the Gannimals have moved on to paths of their own so don't see them much, they are really "girls of summer" with parties and the good friends they need to connect with. I will start to blog now about sailor kid who just left with the Truman aircraft carrier for a 9 month deployment. Keep watching for up and coming post!

Yes we do eventually get home...

We got rolling along Highway 40, the old route 66 without too much hassle from truckers. Road was icy and needless to say the idea of a detour to Grand Canyon didn't happen, road was closed and it was one degree temp there. Brr, too cold. We were able to see another hole in the ground though, visited the largest meteor crater near Winslow AZ. Kind of interesting, I brought hubby a t-shirt and we all stole rocks from the explosion site. Kind of a nice diversion from the highway hypnosis. Finally got to Barstow CA for our last sleepover on the trip. Really jonesing to get home so took a sleeping pill and dreamed of my own bed from the peacefulness of the local Motel 6. To be continued...

Highway hypnosis, Gann convoy still rolling

Well have you just been loving the suspense and also how I've managed to drag out a 6 day trip to almost 6 months worth of postings? Ok here you go... No sorry, what happens in New Mexico stays in New Mexico and you must know everything turned out in the long run. We finally got to Gallup New Mexico where I did hear from Chadd that even though it's his high school alma mater gave the opinion that it's the asshole of the state. It seemed pretty enough to me once daylight arrived and we ventured out to the frozen vehicles, the sun sparkling on the snowbanks. Even got a great photo of sockmonkey doing snow angels while I walked Juno to have her morning constitution before we once again hit the highway. We were going to make it all the way to California by that night with the Arizona scenery flashing by us, another long day on an icy Interstate 40. To be continued...

Continuing saga of January Gann convoy...

New Mexico, ahh begining to be more hopeful that we will actually make it home with out killing each other or someone gets left at an Interstate highway 40 truck stop. Hmm, well that's what I thought til Albuquerque. To be continued...

 

OK, I skipped Oklahoma...

When I was about to chat about the part of Texas we went through I looked at the map and realized I forgot about Oklahoma. Truthfully about all that there was during the miles through OK was that that show tune "Oklahoma" kept going through my head and I saw a casino about every 20 miles. Maybe that's an exageration but it sure seemed to be about 50 that I saw just while on highway 40. So now on to Texas. We left OK from a really dumpy motel 6 early in the day and headed for Texas. We arrived in Amarillo sometime mid day where it was snowing and my debit card at the truck stop was declined at the pump and then again inside due to possible fradulant activity. Stupid me hadn't told my bank that I would be having a really delightful splurge across America buying gas, fast food and helping get cheap motel rooms. On the plus side after having a meltdown with my bank I realized it was for my own good and about a half hour later I could get gas. We then took a side jaunt through downtown Amarillo and found a very cool shop with lots of Native American goods which mama Tina treated us all to a medicine pouch with a couple sacred stones in it. I was the happiest camper you ever wanted to see when we saw the sign that said Thanks for Visiting Texas! On to New Mexico and hopefully home in a couple more days. To be continued...

Highway hypnosis, did I mention Texas yet?

Highway hypnosis part 3

I think when I last posted we had been welcomed from the pouring rain after driving 14 hours, into the warm and lovely Memphis home of Debbie and Bill, Matt's parents. We awoke the next morning to the smell of fresh baked blueberry muffins. After a nice morning visit with them we went to McAllisters deli for lunch and sweet tea (well some of them had sweet tea, not me!) Got the vehicles all gassed and went to the Walmart parking lot for a tearful goodby to the sailors who would stick around Memphis for another day or two then head back to the base in Norfolk. Under dreary grey sky and drizzle rain the Gann convoy headed west, next stop Aunt Loretta and Uncle Greg in Searcy Arkansas. After the previous day of grueling road weariness it would be nice to take just a short hop across the river and head off onto some very boonie like roads to arrive at L and G's in just a few hours. Welcomed with open arms just before dinner time to the girl's Aunt Loretta and Uncle Greg, transplanted from California awhile back, it was family re-union time! We ate pizza til we couldn't get down another bite and then Uncle Greg and I watched t.v. in the other room while Aunt Loretta got her Gannimal fix. It was the sweetest sound while I drifted off to sleep to hear chatter and laughter from the kitchen well into the night with the girls catching their aunt up with all of their stories from the past few years. Out eyes opened the next day to a beautiful blue Arkansas sky. Had a wonderful treat of heading to the local Searcy IHOP for brunch, bought some snacks and things for the road and hit the highway. It was going to be a long day hoping to make it all the way across Oklahoma but I didn't care. Each mile was getting us closer to home. To be continued...

A writing submission

Here's my post for the week. Yes I know I am keeping you on pins and needles for the rest of my riveting travelog of helping be part of the Gann Girls Convoy helping Tiff move back from Virginia. Never fear, that is to come soon. But I realized I had a deadline for the submission to a local publication that I love. So here's my story of "When I Was a Child, I Read...

Library Time

Mona Mechling

 

When I was a child, I read everything I could find, the magazines at the laundromat while I waited for my mom to do our family washing for the week, the street signs while my sister and I would walk to and from school, the posters at the doctor’s office where I had to get a shot that would help me get over my chronic bronchitis. Well you get the picture.

 

Pretty soon though at around the ripe old age of ten I found a place to go that was amazing, my town library. The library that I remember best was in Santa Rosa where we lived right near downtown. It was tall and built of stone and was only a few blocks from our apartment complex.

 

When the weekends would come along my sister and I would beg our mom to let us go to the library by ourselves and unless it was raining she would usually say yes. It was the mid 1960’s and parents could let their kids run off for hours without a worry. And being the bookworm that I was, it would be easy to be lost in a fictional world at the library until closing time.

 

My favorite spot to spend time at the library was downstairs where there was a basement full of Charlie Brown and the gang comic books. Some might say that’s not really reading because it was more illustrations but I think I got a lot out of spending hours reading those comics over and over again. Sometimes I would even softly read them aloud to my little sister who wasn’t as good of a reader as I was. I really felt like I was getting away with something while I whisper read. There were signs all over saying “Quiet” and the librarian would have shushed me if she had heard.

 

Our family moved a few months after my discovery of the town library and although I would continue to search out and find libraries in all the towns we would move to, the old library where I could spend so many joyful hours is the one I always think of fondly. Without it I may never have had a chance to light that first spark of my love of reading and writing.  

 

 

 

What to pack...

I know, you're thinking right now that you are ready to read part 3 of Highway Hypnosis. Well I'll get to that in a few days, no worries. Have to share at this time about what I packed for my trip that helped bring Mrs. Sailor home to California. Once I had my flight ticket and knew this was really going to happen, I started to gather and purge from the closet. Sailor son had informed me that it had turned cold out in Chesapeake, also was checking daily as to the weather along the route. You will be impressed to know that with the helpful idea that I would wear layers and changing my mind of what to bring on a daily basis leading up to January 8th, I packed everything for a 5-6 day drive in a rolling backpack and a tote bag. The most important items were my new comfy tennis shoes and the faux leopard print rain boots. Oh and then there was also the multicolored scarf and the fingerless gloves that could turn into mittens. There you have it, a girl can see the U.S. and be bohemian fashionable as well. Maybe I could start a workshop on helping other women learn minimalist packing skills!

Highway hypnosis part 2

Got out the postcards from the trip across country and truly don't think I saw most of the scenery pictured on them. I do remember bits of the Great Smoky Mountains. It was later in the day and I was in heaven even with knowing what was ahead of me for the next several days. We had left Chesapeake around 9a.m. and for the first leg of the trip I got to ride in the uhaul truck with my boy. I hadn't seen him in over a year and even though his wife knew it would be a long separation she was so sweet to offer me the passenger seat with Dan while she rode with someone else in the Gann girl convoy. That day took us on some highway out of Virginia, I think through a part of N. Carolina and then into Tennessee. The weather wasn't bad until we were over the mountains and then it poured rain so bad that we saw at least one accident from someone who was probably going too fast and hydroplaned off the road. So as I said I got to spend hours talking and laughing and hearing all about Dan's Navy world and he and Tiff's future plans. Won't spoil with spilling that information, haha! We expected to arrive in Memphis at a decent hour since Matt kept our moral up by saying it was only another hour or so away, we finally arrived at Debbie and Bill's at 1 a.m. But then I got a taste of what it means when people talk about southern hospitality. Bill had to stand at his gate in the pouring rain helping get our 4 vehicles one being a huge uhaul, then 8 of us and Juno the dog trooped into their warm and welcoming home to have genuine Tennessee bbq sandwiches with all the fixins' and beds made up in rooms throughout the house. I finally fell asleep and don't even think I dreamed, road weariness got to me. We would say goodbye to the sailors the next day and be on our way to Arkansas for a visit with the girl's transplanted Aunt and Uncle. Off to tornado alley! To be continued...

Home is where the heart is...

For all of you waiting for part 2 of Highway Hypnosis, never fear it's coming. But for today I wanted to share something I wrote to honor my sailor since he's shipping out on Friday. I was going to tell it on the stage for Westside Stories but felt it's more of a personal essay than a story. The theme is "Home is Where the Heart Is".

Good evening, my name is Mona and I’ll begin by telling you a little bit about my homes. First there’s my old hometown of Ukiah and my heart was broken there on a few occasions but that was a long time ago. Then there’s our summer home, the cabin in the forest visited by the multi generations of our family who have had many heartfelt times living and laughing there for decades. And of course there’s my house in the burbs’ that I get to share with hubby Dave who every so often after 33 years still makes my heart pitter patter.

But when I really learned home is where the heart is was when I watched my only child graduate from boot camp and then be assigned to a base on the other side of the country. There’s a quote I heard once that goes something like this; when you have a child it’s like your heart has left your body and is out walking around in the world.

So that means soon my home will be the USS Truman, a huge aircraft carrier that I’ve never even seen except in photos. I say this because my heart, E4ABH Mechling will be working in the hanger deck on deployment for the next eight months thousands of miles away in an ocean I can only see on a map.

Yes home is where the heart is and for now that’s wherever my sailor might be.

Highway hypnosis, part 1

To all the Tyson Chicken truckers out there on interstate highway 40, also known in parts as Route 66, you suck big time!!! If there had been a phone number on the back of your rig asking to please call such and such number to report how you were driving I would have been on the phone in an Arkansas minute, however long that is since I found out southerners seem to move at a pace a little slower than those of us in the west. Well except for the truckers who drive like a bat out of hell! But let's go to the beginning of my adventure shall we. I began this trip flying out of SFO at 6:50 a.m. on Tuesday January 8th. It was going to be a long day since I had had exactly 4 hours sleep the night before and the flight although would only take 5 hours I was going to lose 3 hours due to my destination being Norfolk Virginia which is eastern time zone. Dinner time the west coast trio of me, DIL's mom Tina and little sis Brie arrived and had one of Sailor Dan's buddies Matt waiting with signs like a cute little tour guide to drive us to Gannimal House where the packing and loading of the Penske truck had begun. With the truck full to the gills by 2 a.m. the household tried to sleep and by 8 in the morning of Wednesday January 9th with tearful goodby to sweet neighbor Crystal the convoy hit the highway. Four vehicles, 8 people and grand-dog Juno said goodbye to Chesapeake, next stop Memphis. To be continued...