​Weathering the Storm with the WP#157

A real countdown we have now and by this time next week, my status in the world will have been changed forever, and something, based on my history, never would have crossed my mind, but it is truly real. Rosa is here and we are together. We spent this past week together, but not here in New England, but in the Baltimore area and in Pittsburgh, a little business and a little personal time and just got back last night only to hear about a winter storm warning coming into the area. We leave tomorrow for the west coast, but the items we must do today require getting out and getting them done before we leave for the airport again. Wait, we were just there. Yes, but we had to come back, unload the dirty laundry and re-pack for the wedding, yes, the wedding next week and contend with this winter storm warning, but just like anything else, we are weathering the storm, but hopefully just a temporary one. ​

We really did enjoy our time in the Baltimore area. Rosa has a colleague that owns a travel agency that focuses on alumni groups from different universities, and it was nice to meet the team. We also went out to dinner at a local Indian restaurant and the food was good. I enjoy spicy food, but some of the items were over the top. In any case, it was a nice evening. We went to Ft. McHenry, drove around the city, went to the Baltimore Museum of Art and Charm City Cakes, started by Duff Goldman of Food Network fame. Not he was not there, but it was close to the museum, so dropping in was an interesting experience. We also took a day to go to Annapolis, and to a state park along Chesapeake Bay. These are places I had been before and it was wonderful, but it was even better to see things through Rosa’s eyes. ​

The other highlights of this most recent domestic adventure were connecting with family. As you know, in general, my familial relationships are not strong, so when Rosa’s wanted to go to Baltimore on this round of her travels to America, it was an opportunity to connect with some family that I had not seen in many decades. I have second cousins and first cousins in the area, and on two separate occasions, we enjoyed time together. Some of them said they had not seen me since I was a baby, and Rhoda shared several stories while we were together. It was a very nice evening together and the same with Brian and Marilu when Rosa and I got together with them on the last night we were in the area. I had not seen Brian in many decades as well, but we had stayed loosely in touch. In the end, the time in the area was fun and fulfilling and I was glad we did it. ​

The other part of this trek to the area was a whirlwind night in Pittsburgh. We flew there, a rather quick flight on Southwest, an airline I fly to connect the dots, if flying Delta does not make sense which in this case would not have. So, we took the public bus into town and the driver was extremely helpful, dropping us off very close to our hotel, which was not a stop, exactly, and then, when it was realized that I had left my “office” on the bus, her personally delivered it to the hotel after his shift. It was a scary moment, but everything was there, and we were able to enjoy our time. We went to the Hard Rock Café for dinner, really appetizers, and enjoyed (or I enjoyed the first half of the Super Bowl). Rosa does not understand American football, and that is understandable, so at half time we walked back to our hotel, and I watched the second half and overtime and she fell asleep. ​

The highlight and the real reason we went to Pittsburgh was that Rosa wanted to see the Andy Warhol Museum and we did that yesterday and spent a few hours. I know of his work, but as with other artists, I don’t necessarily understand it, but reading his history gave me more insight. Again, this stop in Pittsburgh was for Rosa and we enjoyed walking around a part of the city and the bridges over the rivers. Before we left Pittsburgh, we stopped for lunch at a local institution and since Rosa loves fried potatoes and Cole slaw, this was the perfect place to go, Primanti’s. The sandwiches were seriously big, but with all the walking we did, we enjoyed them, along with some monster kosher dill pickles. In the end, got back to the hotel, ordered the lift and headed back to the airport for our flight back to Boston in time for our quick turnaround for the west coast. ​

As always, I hope you have enjoyed my offerings each week and appreciate that you have read my blog posts and look forward to continuing with sharing. Still looking for suggestions for a new name for the blog title. So, I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas for a new name and more than happy to entertain them or in the end, it will stay the same; we shall see. As always, thank you so much for your support of Rosa’s and my little world as we get closer to merging our worlds together. Rosa and I truly appreciate it. Stay safe, healthy, and most importantly happy, and as always, your shared comments and thoughts are most welcome!!!