Sylvia's Journal

I am now friends with Julian on Facebook. Julian is the son of friends, a teenager who is still willing to accompany his parents to dinner. He came along because he thinks Axel is cool. Axel has that attraction of coolness among kids that age and we consider it the utmost compliment. Julian also likes our cluttered house, the fact that we make our own mustard and the tiny silver demitasse spoons that are perfect for eating whipped cream out of small cups, a delight I share with him. And best of all he likes that I have flight simulator. It wasn’t installed yet on my computer and that took about 30 minutes away from his flying time. He never quite finished his flight, but unlike mine, his ended in a perfect landing; maybe because flight instructor Rod took over. His parents now know what he wants for Christmas. He also wants to fly for real with me but that is a decision that requires some talking at home.

I was no help with dinner preparations for our guests because of too many deadlines and complicated tasks. I stayed glued to my computer all day, except for a short walk with Tessa and the puppy that was held on a short leash and trained to heel with the help of many treats. “It’s all about the treats,” our friend Joe claims, when discussing organizational change and we concluded that people are not all that different from puppies.

Axel was in charge of dinner and preparations started long before my workday was done with wonderful smells coming from the kitchen. It was our first fall/harvest meal: roast pork, roasted potatoes, applesauce and mashed squash with apple pie for desert. The apples came from our neighbor’s apple orchard; they don’t look as nice as the apples from the store but they taste so much better and there is an enormous supply left hanging in the trees.

Just before the guests arrived I planned my flight to Lebanon in New Hampshire. Nuha had wanted to come along but this morning I found a message from her, written during a sleepless night, that she may not be able to join us on our trip.

It is time to do the final planning for our trip and get weather and TFRs (temporary flight restrictions). Large dark clouds are passing by my window; luckily they are drifting towards the Atlantic. According to Martin Lockheed’s flight briefer all will be well along the route and it will be a nice but cool day for flying. Planes perform better on cool days.