The Dynamic Duo

Guess what time it is? Yeah, I don’t know either since this daylight savings time started and all the clocks in my house tell me something different. But I do know this: It’s time to get back to my riveting California vacation!
When we last saw our travelers, they were approaching San Luis Obispo in the eerie hours of twilight. We were, in fact, in the twilight zone….....but we soon drove out of it and arrived at The Peachtree Inn, a very charming motel where we had stayed before. We checked in, dragged our luggage into the rooms, and then we were off to Francie and Neil’s house where a much anticipated meal of Neil’s homemade stew and San Luis Obispo sourdough bread awaited us. The reality of the meal proved to equal the anticipation, and this, coupled with the pleasure of no longer being in the van made my joy complete.
Francie and Neil Johnson have a charming home. It is in a kind of trailor park, though this doesn’t seem like the right word for it. There are rather strict requirements to live there, and most of the residents own their own lots. On a tour of the grounds, we saw two swimming pools, an exercise room, and a large room for meetings or family gatherings, complete with a couple of pool tables. Francie and Neil’s house is large and roomy and filled with white wicker furniture, large scratching post-cat trees and unique accessories. The focal point of the living room is a hanging basket chair that Francie brought back from the Phillipines many years ago. They share their home with 4 cats, but mostly we saw Miss Kitty and Andre the Giant. Miss Kitty is a delicate little gray female with a lot of courage. She has been known to stand up to Andre, about double her size. Shadow, a large gray male, recently underwent surgery,but is recovering nicely. Calico, a shy little tri-colored female, spent all her time when we were there under the bed, but I peeked in on her a time or two. Andre is the most recent arrival. Francie and Neil got him from the animal shelter. I guess he has made an amazing transformation from a scraggly, half-starved stray. I know that today he is a large, beautiful and entirely regal feline who looks to be mostly Maine-Coon Cat, and who rules the roost. Andre is prone to chase the other cats and be a bit of a bully. When he does this, Francie admonishes him, “Andre! Don’t be a “getter!” Panther and I really liked this phrase and used it a lot, sometimes to Andre, and sometimes to others who were behaving in an unseemly manner.
Back at our motel, we firmed up the sleeping arrangements. Dave & Jane had their own room, but me, Panther, Michael, and Jim were sharing a room with two double beds. Panther and I had no problem sharing one of them, but the boys weren’t as thrilled. Jim ended up sleeping on the floor with a sleeping bag borrowed from Francie. Michael amused us in the days to follow with cute little imitations of my snoring and Panther’s sleep-moaning, but Michael was no slouch in the snoring department himself. Anyway, I always slept well.
Part of the charm of The Peach Tree was the large Eucalyptus Tree with the heavy wooden swing, wide enough to hold two or three people. Michael was giving his mom a ride, and she asked if I wanted to join her. I agreed, but asked that he swing us a bit more gently than he had been doing. WARNING: The following may contain descriptions of blatantly stupid acts. View at your own discretion.
I sat in the swing crosslegged and prepared to be swung. But Michael was going for the gusto. He gave us a mighty “underdog” (you know, running under the swing while pushing), and I screamed in unreasoned terror. As the swing neared the ground, totally without my permission, my legs shot out and tried to stop the swing. This was a very bad idea, and soon I was screaming in agony, which seemed totally justified, as I felt searing pain down the back of my calves. I think I scared everyone else too. “Gee, Mom, why did you do that? That was really stupid!” asked my son in concern.
Michael was afraid I had broken my ankle, but I think I just did a number on my calf muscles. In fact, they are still sore, and when I run my hand along the right one, I can feel a large knot. I tried to explain to everyone that it was my darn legs acting on their own volition, but I don’t think they believed me.
Another, and in my opinion, better charm of the Peach Tree was their continental breakfast. Several varieties of bread with spreads, cereal, fresh fruit, hard boiled eggs and muffins were available in the breakfast room, which also contained a lap top computer, and lots of reading material. If one so desired, she could take her breakfast out on the porch. Often the resident cat would be out there curled up in its basket. Some of the staff left peanuts out on the railing for the birds, and it was fun to watch them fly up and take them away.
Next time: Fun at the Beach.

UltraMom

Jim, on the infamous swing

Panther in the swinging basket chair, a safer place to take a ride

Andre the Giant