Well, that’s it.  I’m at the airport in Tampa, waiting to begin the journey to Bangkok.  Hope you’ll join me over at Brown in Bangkok:

www.rpbiii.wordpress.com

See ya!

The days on the porch dwindle down to a precious few.  I leave for Bangkok in less than a week.

In Michigan, mother has been discharged from Henry Ford Hospital, and will convalesce at Cindy’s in Port Huron for two to three weeks before flying back to North Carolina for the winter. 

Here in Florida, the movers are coming on Monday to put the furniture in storage, then a cleaning company will come on Tuesday to do a final cleaning of the house.  Cars are being taken to Lincoln Land to be consigned for sale.  I’m still holding at 10 vehicles, but hope to be down in the single digits soon. O Bistro has been notified that my final dinner with them will be this Sunday.  (No word on if they’ll be retiring my barstool. )

It will be wheels up on Wednesday, September 24 from Tampa on Northwest; in fact I’ll be taking all the same flights I took on the last trip in June: Tampa to Detroit, Detroit to Tokyo, and finally Tokyo to Bangkok.  Business class of course, and I’ll be upstairs on the 747 for the Detroit to Tokyo leg.  But of course, there’s a snag…I still don’t have my passport back from the Thai consulate with my visa.  Last minute passport related snags still seem to be a tradition with my trips.

In Bangkok, Gam has arranged for the evening off at Mojos and will travel to the airport to meet me.  And I strongly suspect we will be seeing some of the other Mojos staff before the night ends, for if the plane is on time we’ll make last call.

I’m warmin’ up my dancing shoes.

Mother has completed surgery and is in recovery.  The operation went well; 5 bypasses were performed.  She’ll be in the hospital about 5 days, then 4 weeks in Michigan before returning to North Carolina. 

And I’m still packing.

On my meandering return to Florida, following an extended trip to Michigan, a bright spot was stopping to visit son Reg IV in Athens, Georgia.  We had a nice visit, I met his new cat, and he grilled steaks for us.  A great meal and a relaxing evening.  And here’s a photo of the meal, taken with my new iPhone and then e-mailed to myself.

My whirlwind road tour of the East continues.  Tonight, I’ve returned to Brunswick Georgia, where in the morning I’ll pick up the last document I need for my retirement visa to Thailand.  Then it’s on to the Thai Consulate in Atlanta to hand deliver my passport and paperwork, then over to Athens, Georgia, where I’ll spend the night with son Reg IV at his new place.  By the way, my plane ticket is purchased, and it is wheels up on September 24 on Northwest Orient (ok, I know they’ve dropped the Orient, but I like that name better) on to my new home, Bangkok. 

Mother is “relaxing” at Henry Ford hospital, and her surgery is scheduled for late Wednesday or early Thursday.  It will be done by the same Doctor that did Dad’s bypass.  And we’ve yet to cooperate with her request we bring some wine with us when we visit.

Well, this is a first…blogging from mother’s hospital room.  The hospital has wi-fi.

MJB had her heart cath yesterday afternoon, and it appears she has multiple blockages.  Thus, it will not be possible to do a stent; bypass surgery is needed.  However, she was on a medication that she must be off for five days, and thus the surgery will likely take place Wednesday or Thursday of next week. 

On the plus side, it hasn’t started snowing here in the North yet.

I start with the most important one first…

Mother, sometimes referred to in my circles as “Mrs. B” has had a second opinion relative to her health issues.  She does have a blockage, albeit a single one, and will have a heart cath  next Thursday, after which it will be determined whether to do a stent or a bypass operation.  The doctor has pronounced her stable and has given her permission to drive. 

I suspect, even as I write this, that they’re on the way out to the cottage for cocktails.

I am still packing furiously, and am projecting departure for Bangkok late in the third week of September.  I’ll be heading to Brunswick, Georgia in the morning to haul a load to storage and to fetch back to Florida the big Mercury Colony Park station wagon, so that the next load to storage will be a larger one. 

And now, I’m off to O Bistro for dinner,  bringing along my own bottle of wine as I dispose of the wine supply at home.

Saying farewell to my much loved Florida is a post that is difficult for me to write.  And I’ve been putting off saying anything because there are some things still pending that could alter my final destination, but the bottom line is I will be out of my house here in Florida by September 30, exactly two years after I moved here.  And as of today, my destination is Bangkok, Thailand.

I retained a real estate agent in Bangkok prior to my leaving there last month, and I looked at some properties, so I am prepared.  I’ll be getting an apartment in the Sukhumvit Rd. expatriate area, not far from Embassy row on Wireless Rd.

Needless to say, I am pretty busy.  The house has to be packed up and furnishings stored, cars are being stored or sold.  I’ll need to make a road trip to a Thai consulate for my visa; after my recent experience I don’t think I’ll risk my passport to the mail again.  So now you know the reason I’ve been evading social invitations since my return, particularly ones for September and beyond.   

I leave Florida with mixed feelings.  I love Florida.  And it has been my dream to live here since I stepped off the plane in West Palm Beach as a child and discovered there are places that are warm in the winter. 

But I stepped off another plane as an adult, many years later, in Hong Kong.  It was the first of what would be many journeys to the Orient.  And the Orient has been singing her siren song to me ever since. 

More than a century ago, Somerset Maugham wrote: “It seemed to me that by a long journey to some far distant country I might renew myself…I journeyed to the Far East.  I went looking for adventure and romance and so I found them…but I found also something that I never expected.  I found a new self.”

And so it is for me.  I’ve known for a long time that on one of my trips across the Pacific to Asia that I would simply stay.  It’s time to pursue new dreams.

I returned to summer, in my beloved Georgia, after a weekend in much too cold and wet Michigan and Ontario.  I’ve visited Reg IV’s new apartment in Athens, and we had a nice tour of the campus of the University of Georgia at Athens (UGA), home of the Georgia Bulldogs.  Reg IV has completed his orientation week and begins his masters program here next week. (studying Public Policy)

The historic campus (UGA dates to 1785) is very scenic.  I’ve posted some photos here and on my Facebook page as well.

IV’s new apartment is only a few minutes away from the campus and is in a nice area, at the back of a gated subdivision of expensive homes in a hilly and wooded area.  Even better, it has two bedrooms, so there is room for Dad to stay when he comes to visit.

The photos above show the parking lot, with IV headed to the Volvo and one of my Lincolns just behind, and the building that his apartment is in.

Howie Ferns, having failed to respond to my traditional wedding advice, “run, run like the wind,” was married Saturday afternoon in a garden wedding at Grace Episcopal Church, in Port Huron.  The weather held off long enough, as storm clouds were gathering, for a very nice service. 

The skies opened up and the temperature plummeted by the time the outdoor reception began under a big tent at the home of the bride.  Alas, the Southern contingent were very cold and didn’t stay late, sprinting for the Lincoln soon after dinner and setting the thermostat on 80 to crank in some heat. 

Weddings are a story best told in pictures.  Here is a sample from the ceremony on Saturday: