Tuesday, December 15, 2009

What a Weekend!

Sorry for the silence – I had a whirlwind of a weekend in Chicago, then took the train to Detroit on Monday to see my grandmother and was promptly rerouted to the ER. Nine hours later she finally got a room and my aunt and I were able to get to sleep. As of right now she should be released back to her home on Wednesday so my nursemaid skills (ha) will still be put to use.

Now about this weekend. I flew in Friday night and had dinner with a friend, then breakfast with another friend, and Saturday afternoon the AW mayhem began. Fortunately I’d seen photos of everyone so I was able to spot AB from across the street, I picked Trish out in a crowded room, and fled when I saw the Monkey*. Angie was the sweetest zebra I’d ever met & Ray handled five woman quite well. I’d met Rachel before and we picked right up where we’d left off last September.**

I also squeezed in a visit with my cousin on Sunday evening before joining the AWers again at a dueling piano bar (where we completely took over the joint, naturally). I lost my voice each evening and caught a migraine somewhere between Ohio & Michigan Ave, all of which I blame on the monkey.

The train ride from Chicago to Detroit was nothing like I imagined. There was snow, but the train rocked A LOT and I somehow ended up seated next to the exhaust thingy. Let’s just say I bought breakfast on the train and the breakfast never left the train. Not fun. I haven’t started working on my new novel yet and I think I need a few more days rest before I get to it.

Now, what’d I miss?



* I don’t really have anything to note here, but those of you who know him should understand…
** And that’s all I can say about this weekend in public. ;) Actually, there’s a thread on AW with photos, if you’re so inclined.

9 comments:

JLC said...

Always blame the monkey. Always! ;D

Glad your time with the AW gang was fun. Sorry about your grandmother, I hope she is back to good health soon!

ab said...

Sorry about breakfast :(
Man - what a "hoo"t of a time :D
Miss you!!!!

Spy Scribbler said...

I'm so sorry about your grandmother. That sucks! I hope she is better soon and able to have a great holiday. :-)

Glenn took the train from Cleveland back to Arizona. He loves train travel, for whatever reason. Sounds pretty awful to me...

Nadine said...

Sorry about your grandma and the train ride that wasn't quite the romantic picturesque ride during which to write.

But I am so glad you had a great weekend!

Amy Mullis said...

Glad you're having a good time stateside! Well, except for the Rockabilly train ride.

Robin said...

Oh, dear. Sorry about your grandmother, but happy you had fun with writer friends. The train from Philly to Boston is really fast and smooth - I swear. I don't know what was going on. Old tracks? Mountainous terrain? I'm going to investigate this. I'll get back to you.

My HTML is "house". Are real words allowed?

erica m. chapman said...

Aw. Mel- sorry about your weekened. I hope your grandma gets released today. I am glad you got to see some of your AW friends, I'm sure that was a blast.

I hope everything is a lot smoother the rest of your trip :o)

Pam said...

I'm glad you're enjoying time with friends and family, and I hope the rest of your trip is great. Best wishes for your Grandmother's speedy recovery.

I sure do miss reading your posts every day. Everyone is entitled to a break now and then, but while eating lunch at my desk every day, I've actually resorted to reading the news. It's just not as much fun. ;)

Melanie Hooyenga said...

JLC, we're still waiting for her to get better. The weekend was SO much fun!

AB, yeah... that was all kinds of bad. Hoot!

Natasha, it seemed like such a pleasurable way to pass the time. Maybe if I wasn't literally in the very first seat...

Nadine, there was a very cute baby next to me, so that made it okay.

Amy, I wish there was someplace I could have requested a non-Rockabilly seat.

Robin, I can't believe you got a real word! Facebook does that, but not usually google. I was told after the trainride that the stretch between Chicago and Detroit is fairly old and therefoer NOT smooth. Would have been good to know ahead of time, but what are you gonna do?

Erica, I wish I could do this more often! It was SO fun!

Aww, Pam, that's so sweet! Thank you. :) I have another post coming tomorrow.