Rain forevermore

Good thing my house is set up for indoor days right now and still kind of recovering. By the end of this storm I should be good to go again. I’m not missing anything, even skiing, by staying home this week. I just hope my friend’s baby isn’t born in this, Seattle has had more snow than ever and I don’t know if I can get up there in it? I was planning on driving, Portland looks flooded.

I’ve been making this “Like Water for Chocolate” quilt for the baby. All my womanly knowledge, including a ton of patience while I seam rip mistakes. Making these is the only old lady thing I really do, to me they’re like a big puzzle or math problem to figure out. It helps me concentrate, the second I make a mistake I stop. Not great for my back, I can only sit in a chair an hour a day at most.

One thing I need to do is get my body ready for a baby schedule. When I was pregnant, my body naturally adjusted to my boys eating & sleeping schedule. Right now my body schedule is leisurely waking up to rain. It’s kind of in hibernation mode 🙂 I don’t want to go up to Seattle to be a guest, I want to be Mary Poppins!! Haha.

In other artistry endeavors, I donated a panorama photo I did with my drone to Berkeley Yacht Club (BYC). It turned out really well on canvas, I figured it should go there because I got the whole marina. It was kind of an accident, I was showing someone else how to use their new drone and did a few things with mine. I stitched it together in Lightroom, down to the ripples.

There was someone at BYC saying I should sell them, at first I was flattered. I did the unfortunate mistake of saying how much the print cost me – it was a Xmas special for $30. The woman looked really excited for me and said I could sell them for $40!! I know she meant well, it’s just that if I sold 5 of them my profit would be around $10…maybe. Is that worth the price of poker?? Sadly, no.

I’m beginning to see more & more that there’s a reason it’s called a “starving artist.” You have to have a lot of time to get the shots, or sew, then there’s the matter of actually selling it. When my boys went off to college I was looking up seamstress salaries, starting & ending was $20k. I might make more with a tin can at the freeway exit? Tax free.

I did just post something about my drone company (GrandView Services) on LinkedIn and got some hits from someone who works at Facebook, 3DR, Ford. One of my big clients was Ford GoBike, it’s all swallowed into Cal Engineering & Geology now and really starting to catch on. For years I was doing it by myself, but to take it to the next level we hired someone. There’s some saying about innovators burning out, then the next person takes it & runs with it. That would be me, I started it from absolute scratch and now that it’s a press of a button and catching on, I’m out.

Maybe I’ll go back to it? I was just showing someone some stuff I did years ago, turns out he does commercials in this area and had outdated info on drones. The landslide job sites are hard for me…one, no bathrooms. Another is no cell coverage and since they’re my drones I’m not quick to fly it 10′ off the ground and have it crash or lose it. There’s a difference between flying your own drone and using the company drone. I read this saying about chartering that was pretty funny, “Fly it like you stole it.”

Not sure if I connected the dots on this blog post? That’s OK, that’s the way my fuzzy brain works.

Camera Ready

The problem with getting older and being a half-ass photographer is that to keep up you have to upgrade your equipment every few years. I upgraded a few months ago to a Sony a7ii with a 28-70mm lens. It was a package deal from Mike’s camera last November, it’s replacing a Sony Nex5 I’ve been using for the past 5 or so years. I bought both cameras from Mike’s, there are a lot of advantages to still buying from a camera store – one is the classes and ongoing support for the camera.

I bought a nice camera for my son once from Best Buy as a graduation present, the guy practically spit into the lens to clean it as we watched in horror.

Last night I went to a Sony seminar at Mike’s to learn a little more about the camera. I’m very familiar with cameras, not above going to find out what new features I might be missing and a few tips. One of them being that I’ve been cleaning the sensors wrong, I’ve been laying the camera down flat and blowing into it so the dust can just go right back in. It’s little tips like that I go for. I’ve taken many photography classes, it’s amazing how much I forget and how obsolete my college classes are.

1978

My first camera was a Pentax K-1000 my parents gave me for my 16th birthday in 1978 (photos above are from Manhattan Beach, 1978). Sadly, between my boys that camera has been lost 😦 I used that camera up until my youngest was crawling around in 1998, then I switched to my first digital camera that was about $1,000 with 500k of memory. You had to anticipate the shot, once you held down the shutter it was almost a minute before the camera actually took the picture. By that time my boys were on swim team, I switched the slide shows to all digital for swim team and Junior League those years. I still have pictures of every kid in Walnut Creek, now 25 year olds. I remember someone saying they thought digital would never catch on, there’s always a naysayer. I was all over it!

This only shows pics, the songs were copyrighted:

Then I got an ill-fated job with the Contra Costa Times as a contracted out photographer and bought a Minolta something or other. Honestly, I didn’t do much research on it, I took the advice from a guy at our office who is really into cameras. I had to cancel a job at 5am due to spending the night in the emergency room with my husband, who severed something in his knee the night before playing volleyball. It was a 3 day shoot, luckily I was not the main photographer, but I had a babysitter lined up all weekend for it. Not surprisingly, I never got a call back for work again. I also quit Junior League, he was down for months with surgery and couldn’t drive.

Quitting Junior League was interesting, not sure if they knew why I had to quit but not one person called to see if I needed help or if we were OK? I petitioned to become a sustainer, that was a no. When I bought my Sony Nex5 I was in that class at Mike’s camera coincidentally with a woman who was a big sustainer, she recognized my name. She thanked me that night on upgrading JL to all digital, gave me all the credit for making them cutting edge in technology at that time. That was nice, especially because the end seemed so, “Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.”

Then came the iPhone cameras which gave photography a whole new twist, making virtually everyone a photographer. Somewhere in that time we got a Cannon Rebel digital, replacing a film Cannon my husband had. When the cameras on the iPhones got decent, you have a camera with you at all times. I have no problem whipping out my iPhone for pictures, it’s so convenient. People who know nothing about photography starting getting awesome shots, those selfies look better than posed shots a lot of times. With FB and Instagram photography blew up (good & bad, kind of killed writing & photography for a living in general).

Below is Golden Gate with my iPhone, Hawaii sunset w/ Sony Nex5 & looking out from Manhattan Beach Pier Marine lab with the new Sony:

I still like to have a nice camera though, and a drone for fun. I was using the drones for work before we hired two 25 year olds to replace me. Now I use it for fun, it’s a whole new world in photography and technology that’s fun for me.

10980177_10205439768221107_7541428873786583819_o — 3D with images on the left to practice AutoDesk Recap 360, a few hundred images.

This one is with the drone, about 800 pictures I did years ago when drones still crashed & flew away. The drone technology has advanced to just pressing the button, instead of crossing your fingers as your pre-flight routine.

Not sure if I’m losing my “eye” as I age or if people are just so damn good at it now! On my Instagram (@hellereng) I’ve had several known photographers follow me and I’m super flattered.

Glad there are still some actual camera stores around, many are gone. Camera and book stores used to be my favorite places to go and browse around, I miss that. Amazon is bringing the books stores back, after they made a clean sweep to make sure there are no Barnes & Noble competition (Which is fine by me, B&N wiped out small books stores first). Time marches on, still trying to stay cutting edge if at all possible.

The Featured image is of Lou Silva & Rob Ryan from a volleyball tournament in Manhattan Beach when we were teens in 1978. They have both passed on, can’t believe I got this shot.

Stuck on a Train

It’s been pouring in LA all week, with no plans to get back to NorCal on my journey I figured the best thing to do is have an adventure and take the train back. I love trains, a friend of mine took 13 hours getting back over the Grapevine on I-5 – normally a 5 to 6 hour drive.

I scheduled an Uber driver last night to pick me up, giving me plenty of time for rain and traffic to Union Station in downtown LA. All went well, got to the station dry despite the rain.

My business class tix got me into the 1st class lounge where there were drinks and snacks before we got on…then the delay. NBD, an hour for a new engine. Now I’m sitting in Burbank while the new engine conked out, I would say for almost an hour now? Well, I wanted adventure!! We’ll see if that’s going to include a night in Burbank at a Motel 6 or something?

This is just a shame, I was really hoping it would be a rainy day train ride up the coast. Now I have no idea what’s going to happen?

While I was in Manhattan Beach, I went to the new marine lab at the end of the pier for donor day. My mom was involved with the original lab, it was nice they had a special day for the previous volunteers. Got a few good shots when I was down there at least before the rain.

An update, we’re back at Union Station in LA awaiting???? Ugh. Made a quick field trip to grab lunch & possibly a latte, the bathrooms at the station were full of homeless. I went back to the 1st class lounge at the train station to use those bathrooms, then tried to hit Starbucks but the line was too long. Grabbed a Wetzel Pretzel hot dog to come hang out on the train some more. It’s actually more comfortable on the train than in the station.

At least I grabbed some food, I had made a 2p dining car appointment that of course didn’t happen. If we ever get moving, I’ll keep writing. Right now I’m just a tad worried I’ll be on this train for 2 days before I get back. When the train took off the 1st time, I was like a little kid taking pictures. Now I’m just kinda blah and over it.

2 Days later: That turned out to be a 7 hour delay, we left at 5p instead of 10a – getting in at 5am to Martinez. The coastline was totally dark, pitch black actually, didn’t get to see a thing past Van Nuys when it got dark. I didn’t write the rest of the ride because I was like a zombie. The good news is, when I finally got home and re-woke up to call Amtrak gave me a trip voucher. When the train started rolling I grabbed dinner from the dining car then just vegged out the rest of the ride. I didn’t even read or watch a movie, just tried to enjoy the ride. I must have slept a little? I kept waking myself up snoring 🙂 Sorry to the rest of my car-mates.

Planes, trains & automobiles January. Drove to New Mexico, flew to LA then the train back – reverse order – also lengthy.

While in Manhattan Beach I got to spend the week with my mom for her birthday. Got a few pics I’ll post from that and some others of my LA time. It rained most of the time, I did get to have some much needed GF time.

I also had an interesting FB exchange (I gotta get off FB!!). While it rained I was checking out Zillow in Carlsbad and noticed what I thought were vacation trailers close to the water. I have a few FB friends in Carlsbad, did a shout out to see what those were? When I looked into it more I saw it was a over 55 retirement community (which I qualify for but not ready to go there just yet). The dirt rental was about $1,500 when I looked it up a little more.

In the meantime, a friend’s wife who just became a real estate agent started posting pictures of trailer homes on my FB page. When I said I wasn’t ready for a retirement community, she started posting pics of a trailer park in Hermosa Beach. So now my “friends” think I’m looking into trailer homes?? Haha, I’m sorry but I don’t see a $500k trailer in Hermosa Beach as a smart investment. I don’t see anything down there as a smart investment right now, it’s crazy expensive. She most likely thought I was trying to get my foot in the door down there, I can’t imagine inviting my childhood friends over to my trailer for dinner?

I’m leaving the post up though, for some reason I think it’s hysterical!! We played golf with some guy about 20 years ago who lived in the tree section and I said, “I grew up in the tree section!” He said, “It must be hard to not be able to afford to live where you grew up?” My husband & I laughed on the way home, we don’t live there because we’d have A-holes like him for neighbors. People spend so much time thinking others are jealous of them they don’t realize they’re coming off as pricks.

I had a good time down there with my mom and a few GF’s though, it was really nice. I can always go “home” and spend the time with my mom. I’m so glad Amtrak gave me a voucher, I really want to take that train trip during the day to see that coast route!! Thought I’d spend a rainy day, clinking glasses in the dining car watching the sunset in someplace other than Van Nuys.

These are finally leaving Union Station, where the train was on the coast and my view from there 😦

Finally leaving LA Union Station

Where the train was

My view from there 😦

& yeah, I’m still a little grouchy from my trip – I actually did have a great time despite the FB trailer park incident.

Stranger Danger

Usually I don’t talk to many people when I travel. I wouldn’t call this traveling right now, I’ve been here a bunch to see my son with a little bit of a routine going when I’m here… Walk the dog, grab whatever my son needs while I’m here, lunch, piano, then latte. The dog will keep anyone at bay, she looks like a huntress ready to pounce. I don’t worry about my son living alone with this dog around. He’s getting a roommate, which will help him not be so lonely out here.

I found this music store that has a practice room I can rent by the hour for the price of a parking spot in Walnut Creek. Last time I was here for an extended period I was able to go there every day. When I finished practicing, I found a coffee shop a few blocks away on my phone map. I kind of remembered the neighborhood wasn’t great, the coffee shop was cute though so I went there again yesterday.

After I got my latte I cracked open my Kindle to read the New Yorker and some guy asked me what book I was reading? I looked up and told him the New Yorker, then he started a conversation with me about where else besides Amazon can you download books? I told him Amazon owns Kindle and I just download from the store. I wasn’t being rude, I was being friendly too.

He was probably mid-20’s? I had noticed someone sitting outside with his dog when I walked in making sure to avoid him. After I got my drink and started reading I forgot about the guy I avoided outside. Inside he was friendly, thought he was a student. He was blonde, very skinny, from Wisconson originally. He wasn’t high, I didn’t feel threatened at all. Just seemed like a lonely traveler to me so I engaged. A few years ago my husband traveled through Europe alone and said the hardest part of the trip was he had no one to talk to. I thought about that when I was talking to this guy.

He wasn’t a student, he was kind of a nomad. We started talking about the meth problem in these states here when I told him about Ms. meth’s wild ride I had in Bisbee over the summer where I was REALLY scared because she was a wild card. We were on a night hike when we ran into this girl who had been dumped by her boyfriend to walk home. She used my cell (so they had my phone number), then proceeded to hold this hiking group hostage. We gave her a ride “home” after walking her back to the car, first I wanted us to be dropped off at the restaurant and she said, “No!” I said, “I’ve had enough of you, they’re dropping us off first.” My reasoning was more that I didn’t want us four good samaritans to drive into a meth house, the whole experience made me feel like we were being set up. I didn’t feel safe until she was gone, instead of sounding scared though, I came off as a bitch.

Then the guy at the coffee shop started telling me his experiences, how most people are good, how to talk down a meth head, when it clicked he was the guy outside I had slithered by because he had creeped me out. He was telling me about how when he hitch hikes people seem nice until they pull up into a gas station a few miles later then want him to pay for gas. He couch surfs a lot, told me there’s an actual website or app for it, when people get too high he’s able to talk them down without too much trouble.

As he was talking about his nomadic life, my mind started in on an exit plan wondering if I had given him any info on me? My name is unusual, easy to find. Nope, hadn’t exchanged names. I wasn’t too scared though, he really did seem like a friendly guy who was just passing through. Still, I don’t know how I look to others (like a target?). I had my camera backpack with a nice purse sporting my Nordstrom Trunk clothes. I dress just enough to have a cab driver in Bali charge $60 instead of $6. Plus, I was in a really bad part of town.

As I was wondering how I was going to get out of there without being followed the few blocks to my son’s car, I got a txt from my cousins that saved the day. He backed off when I said I was meeting cousins, then said goodbye and wandered off with his dog. I waited a little while before I took off myself.

He wasn’t who I had to worry about, I still had to walk through this neighborhood to get to my car. There were one room apartments, just a door with a room like a closet with bars on every window. Boy did I feel like an idiot for walking through there, no one was on the streets the first few times I did it. This time, people were out and looking at me. I chose my route wisely, not physically walking by anyone that saw me. A car slowed down when I quickly turned that corner to duck around, making him have to back up if he was slowing down for me. What goes on in my mind when I’m totally freaked?? I just thought of how stupid I was for carrying around this camera, looking totally out of place and that I’d be lucky if someone didn’t just mug me right there because I was screaming for it. I took the stuff out of the car with me so that the car wouldn’t be broken into. In the Bay Area, anything you leave in a car is going to have a broken window when you get back. Where I was walking, it would be much easier to just give me a good shove and take it then go through the trouble of breaking a window.

I made it back to the car in front of the music store. When I told my son about it, he confirmed I was in the worst part of town. Won’t be going to that coffee shop again!!

For the most part, I feel pretty safe everywhere I go…mostly because I don’t usually put myself in those types of situations. There have only been a few, “Oh shit!!” moments. I don’t think I was in danger at all talking to that guy – we had a guy follow us in Taipai my uncle was being friendly with, who I’m convinced was a nomad cannibal. Actually, most of those moments have been traveling with my friendly uncle where I have to be the bitch. This was the first time I was solo and scared, no one to blame but myself.

One more day here, then off to lala land.

Prepping for Fleet Week SF

This is a little touch & go usually, last year I went out both days. This year I was planning on going out on Saturday with the same crew from last year, my pilot friends with their family. Then I took some childhood friends out a few weeks ago who asked to go on Sunday, so my H proceeded to fill the boat up for Sunday as well. I just got a txt from the first couple canceling, now I’m chess piecing a crew together.

Here’s how I do it, if I asked people last year and they never got back to me I don’t ask them again. The pilot friends are guys who had a blast last year, they also have done me a ton of favors throughout the years and I feel like the least I could do is have them come along with me. It makes me feel good to finally be able to “pay back” in some way. Then I leave a day for whoever my H wants to invite. Last year he didn’t go, I invited a very funky political mix and in my briefing said, “No politics” before we shoved off.

I’m coming out of Emeryville, what they do is block off a runway rectangle on the water right in front of SF and I sail up to the city front by the ferry building for the first leg if there’s enough wind. That way we get some sailing in too, because for the rest of the time we’re going to be motoring. I slowly go around the “runway” with just enough speed for rudder to dodge the other boats. It ends over Alcatraz, by that time I’ve crawled over there and can just drop downwind back to Emeryville. It’s a fun day, a lot of work for me though if I don’t have someone else who can take the helm and dodge the boats so I can pee from time to time. When we get in I can’t even drive!

Last weekend I introduced another pilot friend of mine to sailing with his wife and 3 year old son. We had a blast, we sailed to Angel Island (my personal favorite, because usually there’s a hike/nap/latte involved). Their son got to play in the water at the beach for a little while, he loved it! It reminded me of when my oldest was that age playing at the beach there, how fast that all went by.

On the way back I asked their son if he liked sailing or flying more and he said, “Sailing!!” My friend said that’s saying a lot, he loves flying. When we docked he said, “You’re the captain!” I said, “You’re dad’s a captain flying” and he said, “Yeah, but this is your boat and you’re the captain!!” OK, I love this kid.

Drone Shots

Forgot how much I like flying the drone when it comes back and mission accomplished. They asked me to take some pictures of a regatta that was a few miles out, I haven’t practiced launching (or landing) from a boat so I had to do it on land. There are a ton of FAA restrictions that limit me from great footage, one is line of sight. I’ve never put my drone out that far, there’s just no way you can see it. The other thing was wind, there was a warning the entire time to bring it back that I ignored since it wasn’t losing altitude.

After 20 years of volunteering, I usually don’t volunteer work stuff. Suzie Ormon has a quote I love, “Free work leads to more free work.” It’s led me to pay people right away for services, it’s their time and equipment. If I lose a drone, it’s $1k right away. For work, there’s a rental fee included just for that purpose. I’ve lost 2 drones to trees, one was a freebie job in Costa Rica and suddenly everyone was a drone expert without ever flying one.

When I found out how far out the regatta was and the winds, I figured I might have to kiss the drone goodbye. The first battery my timing was way off on the downwind turn for the spinnakers to go up, I just wasn’t out there in time. I had a 20mph headwind making it slow going (maybe 10 minutes) to get out there about a mile then get oriented to where the boats were. The good news was that it had that 20mph tailwind when the battery warning came on or I would have been screwed. It landed right where I launched it.

The second race I was able to time a little better to get the drone out about 1.5 miles out for there downwind with spinnakers. My Mavic pro has about 20 min of battery using 10 min in that headwind just to get out there, 5 min of shots, then the remaining battery getting back. If I would have known how far out it was I might have declined doing it at all. Usually, the races are closer to the marina which would have made for some great shots and given me a lot more time shooting them. The worst that could have happened is the drone would drop in the water, no injuries, just the loss of my drone 😦

It all went well and I actually learned a lot without the huge expense of losing it. I have to decide how much volunteer work I want to do with the drone though while other people are getting paid. I don’t mind doing my own shots for fun and practice, the liability of volunteering for drone shots thinking it’s going to lead to paid work is too great. So far, none of my volunteer work has lead to $$.

One of the women last night who found out I droned it said that I should put the pictures on their art wall. They put art exhibits up from time to time for purchase. I have to admit, was totally flattered by that. This morning, as I do the math, it’s going to cost me about $500 to get some prints together for something like that.

My huge project this week has been actually quilting waves on a quilt I’ve been working on all month. I couldn’t get it finished before the housekeepers came, I told her to just leave it on the dining room table since I have it all lined up. Instead of saying how beautiful it was, she mentioned that I have free time. That bummed me out on a few levels, you mean I’m not an artist?? I just have free time I don’t know what to do with and delusions of grandeur?? (OK – that’s not what she meant, I’m just adding that for dramatic purposes). It definitely smacked me with reality, people look at me as a housewife with free time whose time and talents are not valuable.

That’s one of the reasons I always support my friends artistic endeavors (and pay them for it). I know how long things take to make and the expense involved.

One of my first photography jobs right out of college was still shots for a commercial starring Tommy Lasorda. I drove to the park in O.C. and got some great shots using a film camera. I had a little pouch on my keychain where I put my lunch money, probably $10 max (mid-80’s). I left it on a picnic table with my camera bag and someone stole the money…all day, no lunch. I gave the rolls to the productions company before I left for them to develop, they turned out great!! When I sent them an invoice, they said there must have been a miss-understanding? This was a trial or an intern shoot, not a paid shoot, that somehow included them keeping all the work and negatives. I couldn’t even put the shots in my portfolio. After that job, I had to get a “real” one and couldn’t afford to “work” anymore.

Just some things consider if you’re an artist or someone about to ask a favor of a friend.

Seattle

Got to be a tourist this past week while my husband had an engineering conference up there. I’ve been there a few times for work related things, have never really checked it out. It’s booming! That’s either good or bad, depending on the companies that are creating that boom with rising housing prices. Here in San Francisco, low income has been literally kicked to the curb. We have all the top tech with Monopoly money, no sense of reality of what anything actually costs. It looks like all that tech has gone to Seattle, after destroying San Francisco.

We stayed downtown at a very small condo AirB&B. It was a super modern place, really convenient and close to everything including the convention center. The first night of the conference they had a dinner at the Space Needle. I’d been in it before for dinner almost 20 years ago, it’s nothing like that now. The surrounding buildings are so tall, it almost dwarfs the Space Needle, including the roof of the place we were staying. It’s still cool to go on the rotating floor, plus construction started on my husband’s birthday and finished in my year, I’m the same age as the Space Needle – probably in need of renovation too??

The roof of our AirB&B

Other than that, I walked A TON!! Going on little tours, the Duck Boat was a fun one. I did one in Boston and loved it, this was a good way to see parts of the city I would never see otherwise and get a few laughs in. We spent a few lunches at Pike’s Market, if I could cook I would have bought some fish to fry up in the condo. We’re on the go so much this week that I couldn’t even send it home.

I brought my keyboard, the forecast was for rain the whole time so I thought I’d be stuck indoors. It didn’t rain at all, one of the things I got to do was go sailing for a little over an hour. That was really nice, always like to see a town from the water. The keyboard limited what I could bring home, another reason I didn’t pack a cooler from Pike’s.

From the “Let’s Go Sailing” boat pier 55

Just a heads up about our AirB&B, this seems to be a booming industry as well everywhere. On the upside, it really was an amazing location and a cool place WAY too small to live. Not to hip on the hospitality, it sucked. We paid high rates, got a 10 page instruction sheet on how we have to tip-toe through the concierge so as not to let anyone know it’s an AirB&B, no noise, no nothing. Our first morning we woke up to find the coffee left for us was decaf, poor form but not a major infraction. I have headphones for my keyboard, we didn’t make a peep.

All went well, until we asked for either a late check out or baggage storage. We weren’t supposed to be there, the concierge scowled at us every time we walked by, we knew from our instruction booklet not to bother them for anything. The answer from our “hosts” was “We cannot accommodate your request.” They suggested we leave our bags at Nordstrom?? Really?? You buy a place right next to a convention center and no clue on where we can leave our bags until the conference is over? I panicked, thinking I might have to lug my keyboard around all day.

It turns out there are Bag B&B’s, a separate entity start up requiring it’s own app…genius. My husband ended up putting our luggage behind the check in curtain at the conference, all but my 50 lb backpack. Off I went to the water to get on it.

I loved it there, it was clean and safe. If the Winter weather wasn’t miserable, it would be a place I could see myself. The times I’ve been there I’ve hit some decent weather. Seems the time to go is during the summer before that kicks in. Lots of building going on, lots of tech is already there.

I have to bring up an incident in the airport as just an aside. After carrying 50lbs around with hours before our flight, I splurged for a 15min neck and shoulders massage. This woman sat down in the area, very disoriented. At first I thought she was cutting in front of me in line waiting. The guy asked if she was waiting for a massage and she said “no.” He said it was the waiting area, that’s when I noticed she was completely out of it.

I sat next to her and then noticed a smell, she lost her bowels as well as looked totally lost. She started trying to pick up her backpack and I said, “Do you need some help? Are you here with someone?” She said “yes” she was there with someone (she wasn’t) and that she didn’t need help. She stood up, then collapsed hitting her head right out of my reach. People rushed over, a Dr. & nurse traveling (separately) were first on the scene. I saw a motorcycle in Santa Fe, thank God these professionals are first to pull over. I know CPR, that’s about it. The only input from me, besides saying what happened before the fall, was that she needs to go to the hospital.

The medics came, they figured out who she was by getting her cell & ID. An Alaska airlines rep was there for info on where she was traveling from…Palm Springs to San Jose?? How did she get re-routed through Seattle for a 9pm flight making an hour flight into an all day nightmare?? Even I might be disoriented and shit my pants after that!!

My mom is 81, I haven’t let her travel alone for years. I suck it up, get on her flight through L.A. and make sure she gets home OK. Sometimes I just stay at her house on either end of the flights so I’m with her the whole time. We were stuck in a 3 hour TSA line in Newark once, I’ve slept in airports and zig-zagged across the US to get home due to weather. Anything can happen when you travel, apparently winding up in a hospital in Seattle is on that list. I hope she’s OK 😦

I just write this as a warning to myself that there will be a time when I’m too old to travel, coming in at midnight with a keyboard and 50 lb backpack at 55 years old is no cake walk either. Speaking of, if I ever did move to Seattle you will find me at Royal Cupcake with my latte and fig/honey cupcake every afternoon.