Men of leisure.

 

Well, it had to happen.  

After 16 months of playing by the rules, and after frustrations - and the walls - were closing in Cookie and Husband.   

Something needed to be done.  

And that was...

TRAVEL!

We made a very brief trip to Ohio. 

How brief? 

An overnight in Cleveland to see Cookie's oldest friend, and a lunch with a sibling, then down to Columbus for a brief bounce around to attend two dinners, and a high school graduation party for the what used to be the child who grew up next to us.  

GOD!  Does Cookie miss O-H-I-O!  And so does the Husband, too. 

And we ate all of the best from the memories that we could.  No five-star dining, we. 

We dined at Cap City Diner with friends.  We ate at Hudson 29 with friends because it was next to the hotel.  We ate at Corky and Lenny's because Cookie needed his chopped liver.  We at Culver's for lunch and enjoyed coffee and pie at Bob Evans during a torrential downpour and electrical storm.   And Pizza - Pizza - Pizza!

Some of you may be shocked that we didn't eat at better places, but you know what - we do that here in Baltimore.  When we go home we want what we want, and what we can't get here.  

So when Cookie wants Romano-crusted chicken in red pepper cream sauce, the craving has to be observed. 

The other thing about being home is that cookie could breathe without having his rescue inhaler at the ready.  What a treat!

While we were back, we worked on a "Walking" of a cemetery.  A "Walking" is when you go to a cemetery and walk about, and record what you find.  

This was a rural cemetery that is disintegrating because of air pollution and the anhydrous ammonia in the air.  Anhydrous ammonia is used to soften dirt for no-till planting.  But it's applied in a spray form.  And once it's airborne, either during the spraying or in environmental water cycling, it attacks marble and dissolves it.  It's destroying rural cemeteries in this country.  

So we walk these cemeteries from time to time to keep an eye on the tombstones to see which ones survive and which ones have broken down, and which ones have disappeared.   And that important. 

There is an old saying that you are never truly dead until people stop saying your name.  So during these walks, with the camera and clipboard, Cookie says the names of all the stones that are encountered.  

No one lives with the expectations that their life and name will vanish at some point, but that is happening.  So this is Cookie's part to keep those names, alive. 

Other than that, we also relaxed, saw familiar places, and loved every minute of being men of leisure. 

On the way back to Baltimore, I looked at the husband and said "only six years until we retire and can move back home."

He squeezed my hand and said, "I am counting the days."