I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

I am interested in whatever place is chosen for a meeting. Obviously, I do like the Niagara option. Casinos, wineries, and lots of hotel deals available.



We are still in Florida but our Christmas tree is up. Our wonderful new DIL convinced our two sons to put up the tree in our absence. They even picked up my mother and took her out to our place to let her in on the fun. Then they skyped us to show us what they had done. I love that girl. It is so nice having her female influence in a house full of testosterone! It has been 15 years since my daughter died and it is so wonderful that my DIL fits so beautifully in our family.

Blue -- thanks for posting the poem.  Along with those who have lost their jobs, their home and very often their self-respect, the many, many homeless folk on the street often have serious mental illnesses.  They've been diagnosed, but their illness prevents them from holding down a job, continuing their Rx, or maintaining caring relationships with family or friends.  Strong efforts are being made to get rid of the stigma attached to mental illness, but we have a long, long way to go.  They are, by and large, the great uncared-for in both our countries.

If its a winter get together, I can recommend Austin. Lady Bird Lake, 6th street music, mild winters. Or Galveston any other season. Galveston has recovered nicely from Hurricane Ike........Moody Gardens, great food, nice beach walk, history, new Pleasure Pier, rarely crowded.

So forgive my ignorance - how does one get to Niagara Falls - do you have to fly in, then rent a car, or can you take a taxi? What is the closest airport?

Athena,

The closest airport is Buffalo, NY.  It's right by the NY Niagara Falls.  Then we rented an SUV and Barbara, Ann and I traveled together.  We had plenty of cars as some of the gals drove to the get together. 

The three of us coordinated our flights arriving in Buffalo at pretty close to the same time.  Barbara flew in from Tampa, Ann from NYC and me from Greensboro.  Then we rented the SUV and drove to the hotel at the college in Canada where everyone was staying.  We met up with all the U.S. gals that day and with Blue and Ray.  From there we went wine tasting and then to the Canadian Niagara Falls.  The following day, we all went to the little town of Niagara on the Lake and did some sightseeing ... then on to Linda's house for a potluck lunch.  That night we all went out to dinner together and the following morning we headed back to Buffalo for our flights home.

Enjoyful and Layne traveled together from DC and also rented a car in Buffalo.  I rode around with Blue and Ray all weekend.

We jampacked a lot of stuff into a short weekend.  But it was so worth it!

hugs,

Bren

Niagara Falls on the Canadian side sounds good.  Lots of hotels there.  We could fly into Buffalo and rent a car or SUV to accommodate lots of people. I imagine it's like Vegas where you can get pretty good deals on rooms.  Once you're at Niagara Falls, everything is within walking distance.

But .. having said all that ... I'll go wherever everyone else wants to go.  I think the whole weekend cost about $500 coming from where I live.

Love you too Blue ... I had the best time ... and such fun memories of Virgil!

hugs,

Bren

It has been in the 30s and 40s here -W O N D E R F U L . I actually wore my winter coat for the first time on Saturday. And the autumn is just beautiful - I thought that horribly long summer would succeed in blotting it out, but I was wrong! Last year was so hot that we had no autumn to speak of. It feels so nice to love being outdoors again. Walking is a real pleasure with all the leaves on the ground.

So what is the best time to go, you veterans and Canadians?

Okay ... so August sucks.  The fall might be nice.  We went in August last time and it was pretty crowded.

Athena ... if you want leaves ... please come to my house.

hugs,

Bren

Ha ha...I just saw the news. I didn't know who Tom Ricks was until now. I like him now too!!!!

Grumpy grandpa found his glasses, finally.  He's finally seeing the handwriting on the wall.

Ditto on Ricks.

Blue, love the pic and the sponsor -- Love things of a dark nature!

Great news!!!!

So happy to read this!

Glad Tom Ricks has more fans.  Great, isn't it.  A 90 second interview.  Off to buy some of his books.

GOOD NEWS:http://blog.dana-farber.org/insight/2012/10/good-news-for-metastatic-breast-cancer-patients/