October 12, 2018
Dear Everyone:
“Jeannie” and I are leaving for
New York
next Thursday. Consequently,
I’m already packing.
No, not really, of course.
This trip has been in the works since last May.
That’s when “Jeannie” and I decided that we should visit our
youngest sister, “Alice”.
And what better time than over the same weekend as the World Famous
(locally) “New York Sheep and Wolf Festival”?
So I bought airline tickets for the both of us.
Naturally, “Frankie” decided to drive up from
Charlotte to join us.
Then we all gave the boys the “Evil Eye” until they spontaneously
concluded that a weekend in Upstate New York in October was a wonderful
idea.
Note: The Festival is
actually called the “New York Sheep
and Wool Festival”. But
our youngest niece, upon hearing of it for the first time, thought “Wool
Festival” sounded a lot like “Wolf Festival” and spent some time
worrying about the wellbeing of the sheep until someone explained the
mistake. And let’s face it,
a Sheep and Wolf Festival sounds a lot livelier, doesn’t it?
Of course, the real reason for the trip is to visit “Alice” and now it’s
become a Family Reunion, without the necessity of either a wedding or a
funeral. Just a nice long
weekend together, with a visit to the county fairgrounds to see lots of
sheep and wool and many, many other things relating to “Fiber
Arts”.
And I am not so much “packing” yet as updating my “Trip List” for this
occasion. I’ve been using
Trip Lists for over twenty years.
One time, while driving north on the way to
Ashland, Oregon
for the (also world famous)
Shakespeare Festival, I suddenly realized that I had packed light
cotton summer dresses, but forgot to bring a slip.
Since about then, I’ve made a list of things to be sure and bring along
with me. When I got my first
computer,
it just made the whole thing easier.
In fact, I established a template for trips to Ashland as well as
for business trips.
Over the years, I made so many business trips that I kept a suitcase
stocked with most of the things I would need; so that I could just add
X-number of days’ worth of clothes and I would be ready to go.
Nevertheless, having a list to “check off” each item ensured that
I would be less likely to forget something imperative.
On the plus side, we’re not going to Outer Slobovia.
There will be plenty of cars if someone has to drive to the
nearest
Bed Bath and Beyond, or
Home Depot,
for something.
And yes, I really do have lists going back to 1995.
Why? Why not?
I found that making a copy of a previous list was a great way to
realize that I would never have thought of bringing something relatively
important on my own. One
time, I had to drop everything and pack for a quick trip.
I brought up the list from the previous trip, whatever that was,
and realized that I would have forgotten half the stuff I needed without
it. Saves time and effort.
And this latest laptop
computer still has over 840
gigabytes of room
on it for more lists.
Love, as always,
Pete
(Programming Note: No Letter
next week. I’ll be out of
town.)
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