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Date: 8 June 2020. The Newest.

© janice142

The past few months have been difficult. A general malaise effected me more strongly than I at first realized. Now I did leave my Seaweed for a month. I have NEVER done that before, and seriously doubt I shall ever do it again. There was a very good reason however. And that is the subject of The Newest article.
 

Meet the Newest:

 

Baby invited me to the birth so I was soon jetting off for a visit. Actually Silver Airways has prop planes.
They shake!!! When the flaps go down the plane is either going to stop and crash, or slow down and descend.

 

Yes, I know air flights are perfectly safe.
 

I was nervous. Eons ago I did fly. Over the intervening years however I had forgotten that sudden drop in the pit of my stomach. The airline was fine (Silver Airways) and the cabin crew were super.
 

 

TSA is protecting the flying public.
I was pulled out of the security line.

 

You may wonder what a retired 5' nothing grandma can have with her that is dangerous. Please look right.
 

Those are vintage Reed & Barton birthday cake candle holders. When asked by a TSA agent what the small metal objects in my purse were I told her immediately. Then I removed the gift pouch I had prepared for my daughter.
 

I happily showed the agent the little critters with their small holes for the birthday cake candles. The TSA lady asked if she could show them to another agent at the x-ray machine.

 

Now I was just naive enough to believe Agent #1 was admiring them. Nope. In addition to the X-ray person yet another uniformed individual was called over via radio. The third person also examined the silver pieces.
 

Finally I was given permission to put the Reed & Barton candle stick holders back into my purse. It was a scary time for me. Apparently silver cake decorations that stick into frosting might be dangerous.

 


Honestly, you just cannot make up this stuff. Actually these candle holders are about 40 years old. When Son was small and Baby was first born I received the two sets from dear friends. These twelve with nautical motifs were on our family birthday cakes for many years. Now that Baby has her own children I was returning both sets to her.

Some of you may remember that I lost Son to an unexpected heart attack when he was just 21 years old. That's why Baby received both sets of candle holders.

 

In the meantime TSA has kept us all safe. I am thankful that I was allowed to keep the items with me. It would have broken my heart to have had to throw away something that was so dear to me. I could not imagine anyone would consider something that small dangerous.

 


 

Skipper rode at my feet in her little carrier. She managed to loosen threads along the top of the case.

I will have to sew that part back together and reinforce the area.
 

The visit to see Baby and her family was great. It did get Extremely cold. Frosty mornings are not my favorite.


The kids have five acres in the country. Their home is two stories with high ceilings. For the uninitiated, high ceilings means that there are more steps to the second floor than someone who has had three knee surgeries would prefer. Specifically, there are 19 steps to where I slept. Argh.

My knees may never recover.
 

Schools were still in session then. One day Baby and I went to an assembly where Grand's class sang.

Seven year olds are enthusiastic performers.
 

 
The Original is growing up so quickly...

The initial hug when I held my first grand:


Seven years later, ready for school

 


I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Pensacola.


I was however getting more concerned as the corona-virus pandemic news became more grim. Being so far from my Seaweed caused distress. Everything I own is aboard her. If a shutdown was to occur, I wanted to be home.
 

I was able to get a flight out of Pensacola on 14 March and returned to Tampa International airport.

 

When I left Pensacola there were no supply issues I could see. Publix had full shelves as did Target. I was hearing from St. Petersburg residents that shops were out of many items. Though I had seen empty grocery stores on the Verizon tablet, it didn't seem real to me. My experience in *P'cola was that there were no problems.

*P'cola is what the locals call their town, much like Apalachicola is called Apalach by long-term residents.
 

I am Truly blessed to have a Verizon tablet. It powers my online life. With it I was able to keep up to date on events of the world. I am grateful to have it. Frankly I never had imagined how important a portable device with a larger screen could be. If you don't have one, you're really missing out!


The visit to Pensacola was wonderful. Seeing my daughter, her husband, the original Grand, and Newest was superb.
 

This is my favorite family picture taken a few hours after Newest had arrived. Photo by Bami.
 

Bami is the other Grandma -- my son-in-law's mom. Her name is Janice too. She took the previous picture which captured the entire family. I love that each is reaching out to touch, sharing a special moment in time... What a wonderful picture too. Thanks Janice!


When I returned Seaweed was not as I had left her. You see, I had thought that when I got home she would be just the same. Alas, that was not to be.
 


In case you wondered, that miserable number above is registering the voltage for my 12-volt batteries.
 

I have often advocated living aboard your vessel versus leaving her alone at a marina someplace. That is because of the day to day maintenance we normally do as a part of boat life. Had I been on Seaweed I would have detected a battery problem long before it took out my two house banks. I wasn't here and it cost me all my batteries.


More on that, later.
 

Thanks for your patience while I played Grandma in Pensacola.

There is nothing quite like a newborn baby falling asleep in your arms. I'll treasure the memory.


It is wonderful to be home again. Thank you for reading.
 

I'd love to hear what you've been doing. I've missed y'all.
And, have you done anything fun of late?
 

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