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Annual Barb & Gordon Data Dump – December 2024

GORDON: I’m writing this as the Thanksgiving holiday recedes and we start gearing up for Christmas. As the picture shows, we’re letting Amazon and Lands’ End do our wrapping for us. The season will be a little less hectic this year, since we won’t be singing in Christmas concerts. The church where we provided extra voices fired our friend Jim the choirmaster, and since it’s across town (and there are only a few voices that we enjoyed singing with), we’re not going back. But I’ll always be grateful that Jim realized what a musical genius Barb is, and was able to surround her on occasion with professional singers who echoed his respect for her talent. He also drove her crazy, attempting to lead the choir while playing the organ/piano (and occasionally dropping a note or two), and assuming that everybody got the music on first read. Now I’m the only one who gets to sing with her as we warble down the road harmonizing to the oldies on the radio. I’m just grateful she’s willing to sing with me.

One big change in our lives this year was Barb’s decision to buy new kitchen appliances. Our old ones were still working but getting a little creaky, and Barb wanted nice new stainless-steel appliances. She produces magic in the kitchen, and while I claim input on decisions regarding all the other rooms in the house, what Barb wants in the kitchen, Barb Gets. We’d had new sheet vinyl flooring installed prior to getting the appliances, so of course, the appliance installers managed to put a few dings in that, but we learned to live with them. What’s been harder to adapt to are the differences in how the appliances work. All of the recipes had to be revised to deal with a stove that automatically changes temperature when the convection option is turned on, and there were some delays in mealtimes as the stove took its time cooking. But the real killer was the refrigerator – I discovered it ran cold when my coffee creamer came out solid, so I dialed it back a bit. Apparently not enough, because the Thanksgiving turkey, which had been in the fridge for a week, came out on Thanksgiving day rock solid. Barb saved the day by baking a to-die-for apple pie, so our Turkey Day feast was two slices of apple pie and ice cream. We left the turkey in the sink overnight and ate it with all the fixings on Black Friday.

We went sailing again in May, but I’ll leave that for Barb to discuss. The only other semi-major excursion this year was a trip back to South Dakota. My high school class of 1970 missed its 50th reunion due to Covid, but luckily a group of alumni from several classes created a 60s-decade class reunion and invited us 70s kids to join in. Putting 11 classes’ worth of alumni together allowed for a pretty big wingding, and also allowed both Marty, my 7-years-older brother, and me to get to SoDak at the same time for the same party. When my oldest brother’s daughter found out about it, she decided it was time to bring his ashes to be buried in the ancestral graveyard, so we wound up having a mini family reunion. It turned out that oldest brother had not made arrangements for interment, so that had to be dealt with on site, and since Barb & I will probably wind up back there too, we splurged and bought our burial plot. We now own land in SoDak. As for the reunion, it was a major success, and there’s already talk of a future multi-class party. I’ll take a little bit of credit – I booked the band.

BARB: The calendar pages are flying past and our bodies are showing it. Gordon and I spend an unprecedented amount of time at doctors. I’ve been having MRIs, x-rays, and CT scans on my feet (all on different days but that’s another ugly story). After all that, they told me I have arthritis. I’m in my 70s, I could have told them that without all the testing. I got a shot and an offer of an ankle replacement. I passed. Not really enthused about being on crutches for months. Been there, done that. Gordon says he feels the same way about his knee. We’ll put replacements off until they’re the only option.
Our eyes are also going to hell. The doctor joked that if you put us side by side we’d have 20/20 vision. The same could be said for our lower extremities. I don’t know what our infirmities qualify us for. A three-legged race? Our height differences would make that interesting. And putting our eyes together? We’d look like a Picasso painting. Or a flounder. Boy, gittin’ old ain’t for sissies.

We decided we had better travel while we can still walk. And we’re doing it in style. We now fly Business class on the long hauls. My Midwestern soul is horrified at spending that much money to sit on my dead butt for 13 hours. But I’ve spent those same hours in Economy and I’m willing to pay the money. There’s no point in arriving at our vacation destination so exhausted that it takes a day to recover. Besides, we get to use the VIP lounges. They’re not any less crowded—it seems like everybody is a VIP and, boy, don’t they act like it—but the chairs are more comfortable and not only is the food better, it’s FREE!
Our last trip was an Adriatic cruise on Viking. We met our travel buddies, Billie and Dawn Williams, in Athens, Gordon and I played it safe and stayed at a Marriott but we Ubered to meet them at their boutique hotel in the Plaka (Athen’s Old Town), where we dined and shopped. We might have missed the Plaka if left on our own. I loved Athens. We saw the historic sites including and especially the Parthenon. I’d seen the replica in Nashville (the Greek tour guide didn’t look pleased when I brought this up) but this was the real deal—only three times bigger and falling apart. It’s now become a UNESCO site, and several countries are paying for the preservation. . We toured the site where the Olympic flame is kindled (it’s just a spot in the road). We toured Corfu, Montenegro, cities in Croatia (loved Diocletian’s palace in Split) and ended the cruise in Venice. We got lost in the dungeons of the Doge’s Palace, took a motorboat tour of the canals, and shopped the Rialto Bridge area. I always wanted to have an aperitif at St. Mark’s Square so that’s off my bucket list. Venice is amazing. You take boat taxis to go anywhere. I managed not fall in the lagoon between the taxi and pier but it was a close thing. It’s a beautiful place. Glad we saw it.

Re: traveling in style. I forgot to mention that we were upgraded to a suite when we got to the ship. This is how rich people travel. The suite included room service (which we never used) and free laundry (ditto). It’s going to be hard to travel like a normal, cheap person again.

Gordon talked about our South Dakota trip. Our fellow re-unies were impressed when we told them we bought South Dakota property. They were less impressed when we told them it was a burial plot. I’d rather buy a lake cabin. I’m tired of dealing with decrepitude and death. I think I’ll get back to work on another futile artistic endeavor. Have a Happy, and a Healthy, and a Ho ho ho.