Yesterday

The day before ——- Nola (daughter) and I travelled to Boston via a bus. We had a long wait at Fall Rivers. It was a cold, cold day. I will definitely remember never, ever travel while sick. I longed for a bed. Time stood still, and the hours moved slower than a snail.

Nola, and M1 (grand daughter) went out to see a play in the afternoon, while I snoozed. I simply refused to go anywhere. I felt marginally better in the evening. M1 had invited her friends to dinner.

Except for Tuna Kababs which were made by Nola, everything else was done by M1.

I excused myself early after dinner, but couldn’t go to sleep due to the disappearance of my iPhone’s charger. I was mystified. The last I had seen of it was when I stuffed it into my bag, an hour before dinner. It wasn’t there. I searched for it under the bed too —- thinking it might have fallen off. Nothing! It had completely disappeared from my life. I finally gave up the search. Before going to bed, I filled my glass with water, to drink it with my antibiotic. My eyes landed on my elusive charger. M1’s roommate had used it, and it was hanging in the kitchen. I was so relieved to have found it.

Yesterday I had a long wait at Logan airport, Boston. There was a strong possibility of our flight to Dallas being canceled due to snowing. Nola, and I were on different flights. Nola reached Dallas two hours later than me. She collected her car first, and then came after me. It was an exhausting wait.

If I remember this never ending day, I vow to myself never to travel while sick.

Terminal Changes

The picture Naming Things hangs at Boston Logan Airport.

The airline people did a complete turn around. At the last minute the terminal changed from 18 to 29. There I was ready to board the plane from La Guardia to Fort Worth when Son came back to tell me my terminal had changed. We rushed from one end to another. I would have missed my plane. Son took me to the correct one, and then took leave to catch his plane to New Orleans.

Brooklyn, New York. A view from above.

Flushing- Queensboro Hill, New York from above.

M1, and M2 (grand daughters) reached our place in New Bedford at midnight. They had started from Washington DC. M1 had enlisted M2’s help in getting her things from storage there. It was M2’s first visit to us here. M1 had come to collect her stuff which she had left with us. The freezer contained some of her frozen food too. Son, and I were going to leave at seven in the morning. It was quite a hectic beginning of the day. Son helped both the girls in loading the truck with M1’s belongings. We managed to leave on time to catch our bus to Logon Airport. Son, and I were traveling together for the first part of our journey, and from La Guardia in New York, we went in different directions.

Son will be visiting his children in Houston after New Orleans. After that he will Insha’Allah come to spend the morning of Eid with us at Dallas, and then leave for New Bedford before noon. The plan for me is to spend two weeks with Nola (daughter). Initially I wanted to leave with Son, but Nola didn’t like my plan at all for a short stay. Nothing will please her more, till I come to stay permanently with her. That can only happen if, and when Son marries. I hope it happens soon.

Thai Red Curry

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Son, and I got a surprise visit from M1 (grand daughter). She wanted to leave her car with us, till she gets back to studies this fall in Boston. The day she was coming IB (grandson) waited impatiently the whole day for his cousin, counting minutes till she arrived quite late in the evening. She was caught in a traffic jam in Boston, otherwise she would have been with us a lot earlier. IB doesn’t have sisters, so Nola’s (my daughter) daughters fill the void.

M1 likes to cook her own food. She is quite a genius with food, and keep finding new recipes. She had brought with her nearly all the ingredients needed. This was my first taste of Thai food. M1 strongly recommended that I must try Thai vegetarian restaurants. She finds the food amazing.

Her uncle wanted to buy something for her as a gift. IB, and M1 went with Son, and I went to bed catching up on my sleep. I was awakened by a call from M1 that they were going to be late, so I should cut the chicken into pieces, and cook the rice as the accompanying dish to her curry. Earlier she had told me not to worry about what to cook, as she would be cooking for us.

As they came back home, her uncle told her to show me his gift to her. I stared perplexedly at the sandals in the shoe box. They didn’t look new, and then I glanced at her feet seeing her new foot wear. We all laughed at their fooling me.

It was marvelous eating the Red Curry. M1 added chicken as that gives a new dimension to the fantastic food. Other ingredients she added were mushrooms, spring onions, carrots, and pineapple. She omitted the kale from the recipe. The recipe can be found at

https://cookieandkate.com/2015/thai-red-curry-recipe/

Visit

This photo of IB is of three years before.

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Yesterday was super exciting, because IB (grandson) was arriving from Houston for a month long visit. His flight got late, and it got to Boston at nine at night. Son had booked a ticket for IB a month earlier. Both of us would have liked it much better if IB could spend more than a month with us.

As we don’t live in Houston anymore, we are starved of IB’s company. When we lived there come every second weekend, IB would spend three days, and two nights with us. Living so far away from Houston has its disadvantages.

I wish Son’s ex was more accommodating in allowing IB to spend more than a month. It would have been simply wonderful.

IB as a baby.

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Warning

Snow storm outside

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We (Son and I) were looking forward to a visit from Nola (my daughter). Last we saw her was in Houston, about six months back. She came for a brief visit from Dallas. We were eyes deep in packing. Son had accepted a job offer in Cape Cod, and we were moving. Originally we thought we would make Fall River our home. Son searched for apartments, when he came back from Peshawar at the end of December. His joining time was 6th January. He didn’t find any suitable apartment, and decided to rent one in New Bedford.

Nola let us know that her stay was going to be brief, and she was staying for only two nights —March twenty first, and twenty second. Along came a warning for a blizzard. I was busy in the kitchen cooking her favorite foods, so missed her text about coming.

I kept glancing outside, and getting worried at the ensuing storm outside, and how she would drive from Boston in it. I wish I had seen her text earlier in which she said that she had postponed her coming. I was worrying myself needlessly. Anyway it was better to be safe than sorry. The storm was raging over Boston that day, and flights got cancelled.

Today I was thinking how quickly time has passed since last I saw my daughter!

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DAILY PROMPT

Warning

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/warning/

Carry

Going on a journey, specially air travel, and airports breaks me into a cold sweat. Days before I stop sleeping, fearing as if I am on a marathon. I dislike packing too. I never know what to carry with me. Take last year trips to Boston, Roanoke and Peshawar, I wasn’t equipped well for the weather’s vagaries.

I can never make up my mind. Should I take summer clothes only? Should I pack a sweater or two, or maybe a shawl? Another worrisome thought? Whatever I am carrying –will it suffice? Surely I won’t need anything at all. I try to give myself a mental shake, but it doesn’t help.

This year journeys are rushing towards me. My carry on, and duffel bag are out of the closet. They watch my antics at packing gleefully. They don’t gather how agonizing it’s for me to make decisions regarding what to take along. 

I envy those light travelers who only have a backpack, or a small carry on. Compared to them, I struggle with my carry on, a shoulder bag and suitcases. My hair become dis arrayed, and a harried expression permanently settles on my face. I question myself on my sanity. Why do I put myself through this misery of traveling when I don’t like it at all?

The answer is: sometimes it’s a necessity. At other times — the thought that my daughter will think of me as an uncaring mother, if I don’t go and see her.

On my last year journey to Peshawar, Pakistan, I carried too many clothes with me. I should have gone without them. My wardrobe and suitcases back home were full of them. My memory had dimmed about my clothes after two and a half years gap of being here.

The result was that while coming back I had to leave them behind because of my baggage allowance.

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DAILY PROMPT

Carry

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt. 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/carry/

Going Nowhere

  

Muscat. Photo thanks to son-in-law FJ
With my (late) husband out of the picture, my two children decide my fate —- where to go, and how?

My son S rarely goes anywhere with his work schedules. In the almost two years of my living with him (on May 11 it will be exactly two years), we have only been to Dallas, and Galveston. 

With my daughter Nola, life is a whirlwind. You never know where you are going to end up? She is another extreme. Last year it was Boston, and Raleigh, North Carolina. I only went to Boston. She wanted me to come to Raleigh. I didn’t go (I had been to North Carolina in 2006), so she came here to Houston to see me, and each day we were on a sight seeing trip. 

I am looking forward to her visit in July this year (Inshallah), and see where, and what I am seeing?

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/the-happy-wanderer/

The Happy Wanderer

What’s your travel style? Are you itinerary and schedule driven, needing to have every step mapped out in advance or are you content to arrive without a plan and let happenstance be your guide?

Life Without You

Daily Prompt: Pride and Joy
What’s your most prized possession? Go!

At the moment, it’s my drawing pen with which I draw. I don’t know, without it, how I would have drawn anything.

The last six days have been chaotic. I went to Boston to meet my daughter. I got back yesterday evening. Back to hometown Houston. After I emptied my bags, and put everything away, I looked at the daily prompt. By that time, it was already 6p.m. I wanted to draw a face for yesterday’s prompt, the pen was nowhere to be seen.

For a moment, I was going to have a heart attack. Don’t worry, it wasn’t real. I get panic attacks over every worry, which comes my way. I was relieved, when I finally found it. It lay hidden in the folds of my bag.

Oh! My sweetheart, what would I have done without you.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/pride-and-joy/
Life Without You

The Duck Boat Ride

Today we went on a duck boat ride. The route was picturesque. Here are a few photos. I have taken them through the windows of the bus-boat.

Once the duck boat was in water, the driver asked if anyone wanted to navigate. Two children wanted to take a turn. The driver, after asking their ages, which were seven and nine, jokingly declared them sixteen, the legal age to drive.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/teen-age-idol/
The Duck Boat Ride

Not A Wanderer

Daily Prompt: The Wanderer
Tell about the top five places you’ve always wanted to visit. Go!

What a coincidence! Today I am flying to Boston to meet my daughter, after a gap of almost a year. I am so looking forward to seeing her, and the new baby. Her flight from Paris will be reaching one and a half hour earlier than mine. Hopefully, she will be through custom and immigration, by the time I reach.

My daughter has lined up so many places in and around Boston for me to see. She and her husband are the real wanderers. They love to see new places, and keep on moving, from place to place.

When they are in one place, they are always planning on outings to different nearby locations. I call them nomads. At a whim, they sell everything, or give away their belongings, and move.

I would love to see Malayasia, Japan and Turkey. Someone has to be on my back to make me go anywhere. I am not a wanderer by nature. I have to get motivated by someone to visit new places.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/the-wanderer/
Not A Wanderer