Spider

I posted a couple of weeks ago a set of random pictures, and in them was a picture of the spider who had taken up residence with us on the driver's door/mirror of the Jeep. (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2020/09/random-pictures.html) 

When I drove back to the campground a couple of days ago (in the daytime), he was out working on his web even as I drove the Jeep into the campground (I think he may have been taking down part of his web, maybe he had some food stored and was taking it back into his hidey hole in the mirror).

Navigating the web --

... on his way to the mirror...

It is really hard to see him...

... but he is there in the corner of the mirror...

If you are freaking out that we've been letting a spider live on the outside of our vehicle, I have to admit that we were about done with him too. I honestly did not expect him to live this long, and as time went on, I was a little concerned that he (or she) may lay eggs (ala Charlotte in "Charlotte's Web") and that the babies might not be content with staying on the outside of the Jeep... but... I wasn't able to kill him, so, after moving to Big Rock on Wednesday, when he came out in the evening, we re-located him to the nearby woods with the assistance of a piece of firewood. We're hoping that he didn't have a filament of thread back to the Jeep as a homing device! I'll report here in the blog if he reappears!

Two seasons?

I remember being told when I was traveling for business for IBM that many northern states had two seasons: winter and construction.

Driving around the Chicagoland area -- I'm not sure that Illinois considers itself a "northern" state, but...

 It sure fits the model of us being here during "construction" season!

Trying out a Boba drink

 Carl had never had a Boba drink (with Tapioca pearls in the drink), so the other day when we were out, we drove past a restaurant which had it and so we stopped and got some.

You can see the tapioca pearls (black) in the bottom of the drink, and you may be able to see that there are a few in his straw as well.

The tapioca pearls don't really add anything to the flavor, but they are chewy and "interesting" in the drink. They add quite a lot of starch and so make the drink very filling. You need to be a little careful as sucking the pearls up the oversized straw requires a bit of suction, and yet you don't want to draw it in to your mouth too quickly.

The first time I knew about them was years ago when I was teaching a class in Los Angeles and one of my students came in from lunch with a smoothie or tea with boba pearls. I was so distracted by watching these black round things go up her straw that I had to ask what they were!

They are often served in Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants in milk teas, but I prefer them in frozen fruit smoothies (which is what we got at the Chinese restaurant near where we are staying here in Elgin, IL).

More information can be found on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_tea

Simon's Cat deals with 2020

If you have dealt with cat behavior, many of "Simon's Cat" videos are pretty funny. This one looks at 2020:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIZrrrwBZvk 

Simon's cat does not seem to chase its tail, which is a common activity of Miss Kitty... especially early in the morning, on top of the bed... either that, or she is doing a Mexican Hat Dance... either way, it creates a lot of disruption in the bed!

Breakfast Visit with Dave and Jeannine

On Tuesday morning we met Dave and Jeannine (friends from Riverside Church) at Randall's Pancake House. 

We probably should have staged the picture without the windows behind us!

We had such a nice visit with Dave and Jeannine!

New brakes

I have been riding my bike a lot more since Carl and I started traveling in July. The brakes made a lot of noise - which was handy for Carl to know that I was still behind him, but rather annoying otherwise. So, he ordered new brake pads from Amazon which arrived recently...

Old brake pads...

New brake pads - you may be able to see that they are blue - which match the color of my bike!

They are quiet and work well too! Many thanks to my sweet husband!!!

Brunch and biking on Labor Day

 We joined with family on Labor Day for the annual Labor Day Williams family breakfast and bike ride.

Lots of great food for fueling before the bike ride

We started on the trail just south of I-90 on the Fox River

 https://exploreelginarea.com/guide/fox-river-bike-trail/

We went through East Dundee where we had previously stopped at Van's Frozen Custard for ice cream / custard on Saturday evening.

 

There was a building next door to Van's that had a tree growing through its roof!

We biked to Algonquin via the Fox River Trail

We saw a couple of these low bikes - it seems that you would feel really small with all the walkers and runners and bikers being taller than you would be.

We had a nice time with friends and family and survived a 16+ mile bike ride!

From Carl's exercise monitor on his phone:

I couldn't figure out how to get a picture that showed a map with the route on it... suffice it to say that we went about 8 miles out and about 8 miles back.

A year ago today, September 8, is the day that Carl took Sue to the emergency room, expecting her to be treated for pain management and dehydration. Instead, she was admitted to the hospital, ultimately to hospice care, and subsequently Sue met Jesus face-to-face last year on September 20. It is a challenging, difficult, yet necessary time as we are in the campground in the last place where Carl and Sue were together. 

We recognize the impossibility for anyone else to understand what our feelings are -- we cannot ourselves understand our feelings. We are so thankful that God brought us together, and yet we still sorrow for the losses of Sue and Dwayne. We recognize that our joy in having each other only has come about because we walked through the incredible pain of losing our spouses. We look back and wonder if there are things that we could have or should have done differently to allow our loved ones to live longer -- but in faith, we believe in God's sovereignty, we know that God holds our days in His hands, and ultimately any choices that we may have made wouldn't change His plan... 

We so appreciate friends and family who have cared for us, supported us, prayed for us, and loved us through this time.