West Jefferson, Who Knew?

Today we woke up to a beautiful day here in the North Carolina Mountains. Since we had no agenda at all Jan and Rex suggested we go to see the town of West Jeffrerson. I have lived in North Carolina for 33 adult years. We won’t count my birth year in NC. In those 33 years I never really heard a thing about West Jefferson.

Having so little advance knowledge I did not expect much, maybe a cafe, or coffee shop, maybe a hardware store and grocery. I asked Jan and Rex about how many people lived in West Jefferson. Rex guessed about 1,400. That made me downgrade my expectations.

So when we pulled into this very cute town full of independent stores with clothing, home goods, mountaineering equipment, as well as multiple breweries, restaurants, a boutique hotel and the giant Ashe County Cheese company I was taken aback.

We spent hours strolling the downtown, shopping, which you know I usually hate, and eating lunch outdoors. Shay made many friends in West Jeff and the hostess at lunch when we inquired about a table said, “Shay could sit anywhere she wanted.” Shay did receive a bowl of ice water long before any asked us humans if we wanted a drink.

After we went back to Jan and Rex’s we hiked a trail to get to a meadow in their neighborhood that had the most glorious panoramic view of many mountains. No photo could ever do it justice. We sat in the Adirondack chairs in the meadow enjoying the view and each other. What a day.

Mountain Talk Time

I got a text from my friend Jan this morning, “I’m packing the car and running early.” I typed back, “Who are you and what have you done with Jan?”

Russ and I were invited for the weekend to Jan and Rex’s Mountain house in Todd. The plan was Jan would pick me up after 10:00 and we would head up early and Russ would pick Rex up after 3:00 and they would come later. But Jan walked in my house at 9:45 and our adventure started early. All good with me. I was packed and ready.

We made the drive in what felt like a minute since we talked non-stop when we are together. We had a lot to catch up on. The dogs where perfect passengers and never interrupted our conversation.

It took a while to unpack Jan’s big “Texas” suburban. I put the groceries away, I thought. Until we went to make lunch and discovered we still had a cooler of meat in the depths of the “texas” that had gone unnoticed.

The day was beautiful so after lunch we got the cushions out for all the chairs and we sat outside and talked more. Eventually we decided we should go for a walk with the dogs. Jan found a big stick that looked like a fishing pole with a fish on the line and played with it with her dog Crocket. Shay was just trying to not have nature get too close to her.

Russ and Rex were on their way so Jan and I did some meal prep for dinner tonight and dinner tomorrow. When they arrived we sat down for a Greek salad with chicken with some cheese quesadilla on the side. We watched some Tennessee college softball, then base ball and never stopped talking.

My guess, we will be talking all day tomorrow. You can bet money on it.

A Generous Friend

A couple of years ago I made a very good friend, Susanne, at mah Jongg class. She does not live anywhere near me, but she travels to come learn with me regularly and because of that has become a close friend.

Kind and generous would be two of the first words I would use to describe her, among many good words like fun, curious, friendly and outgoing. Susanne was with me at the Tides Inn last week and was not only a good student, but a great help to me. When beginners needed someone to play with them she was always willing to help.

One thing we noticed is the tables we played on there were made of big wood, which seemed to echo the sounds of the tiles being discarded. Because we had so many tables it could be quite noisy.

Susanne took it upon herself to provide me with a dozen game mats so when students are learning it can be quieter. “A more conducive learning environment.”

So today a big Amazon box of mats arrived at my house. So a sweet gift from such a kind friend. I will have to open them up and roll them so they fit in their carry cases that came with them. I have the perfect bag to carry them in. Another gift from Susanne, that she designed. The “what would Dana do” Mah Jongg giant tote.

I can’t wait for her to see all her creations at the next resort class she comes to. Of course those mats will get used at all my classes. All thanks to Susanne.

New and Old

Today I had two fun friend times. The first was a birthday lunch with my dear long time friend Sara. We don’t have the same hobbies. As she says, she is good at large muscle activities and I am good at small muscle, but we share so much else. We have dogs who are related to each other, we agree on major political issues and find the similar things funny and enraging.

We also are busy, but when she calls I am always so happy to make sure we see each other. So Lunch at the Nasher outside on the terrace was a great way to spend part of the day.

The other part was talking with a “New” friend. We had a shared connection, but did not know each other. Mah Jongg brought us together recently, but we should have known each other years ago and just did not.

Sometimes when you talk with a new person it feels like you have known each other for a long time and sometimes you can talk with someone for years and you still feel a disconnect. My new friend is the former.

It is a year since we lost Holley Broughton, who was a friend to every person she ever spoke to, no matter how in consequential the meeting. One thing she taught me is always keep making new friends while cherishing the old ones. It seemed fitting on this anniversary of losing Holley B. that I spent time with an old friend and made a new one.

Tell your friends how much they mean to you. We just don’t know how long we will get with them.

Mother’s Day Plus Two

Russ made Mother’s Day happen for me and my mother with a dinner out tonight. He gets all the credit for going to pickup my Mom and handle her digital correspondence before meeting me at the WaDu.

There is nothing my Mom likes better than Russ picking up the check. We had a lovely dinner discussing all things medical and investments, which my mother tells me is all you need to discuss once you are a senior citizen, which we both are.

She had missed my mother’s day call to her. Since she didn’t answer I left a voice mail. She never thought to look at her voice mail, but she worried that something bad had happened to me since she had not heard from me. I was a senior citizen after all and bad medical things can happen at the drop of a hat. So she worried.

Pre-worrying is what I call it. She was worrying about something that had not happened and she could have not worried if she had just looked at her phone and seen that I had called.

At least now she saw I was fine and she got a Mother’s Day dinner, just two days late. The good thing is the WaDu was back to their regular menu and not the graduation weekend menu which is greatly reduced in the number of choices.

All is good in the world now. My mother can worry about something else.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

I worked today in Wilmington. That meant I drove over two hours, held class and a luncheon at the class, drove home. Now I am exhausted, but officially done with new card classes for the year.

I am taking the rest of the week off! My first week off in months. I know it’s time to take a small rest because I had two mah Jongg nightmares last night. Probably because Russ and I watched the hallmark Mah Jongg movie.

It was my worst nightmare that someone who does not really know how to teach Mahjongg is holding classes and F’ing in all up. Please people. If you have only been playing for a year or two you don’t know enough to teach because you don’t know what you don’t know. And for goodness sake stop publishing stuff online you made with AI.

The number of things that students send to me asking, “Is this true?” Is overwhelming and most of it is wrong. But if you have not been playing that long and you ask AI to analyze it for you you don’t know enough to know when it is wrong.

As Miranda would say, “That is all.”

No Mother’s Day In Durham Today

I had a perfectly lovely Mother’s Day at home. We went to church and came home and stayed home. I did not go out with my mother, or go out anywhere.

This is not a just this year occurrence. You can’t celebrate Mother’s Day in Durham, or Chapel Hill on Mother’s Day. It’s not a law, or a rule. It is the fact that it is graduation day from both Duke and Chapel Hill today.

I have no idea why those two giant schools, nine miles apart do not get together and agree to have graduations on different days. I know they don’t care about the mother’s in the cities who have nothing to do with the schools, but what about the families of the students?

There are not enough hotel rooms or restaurants in the area to adsorb all these people.

So to all the local mother’s who stayed home today, happy no meals out Mother’s Day! Russ, knowing this problem, preempted Mother’s Day and planned a lunch out with Lynn and Logan yesterday in Saxapahaw. He figured it was far enough away from the graduation celebrations and he was right!

Happy Mother’s Day to my mother. We will celebrate in a couple of days.

Will It Creami?

Russ was so excited when I told him of an actual gift I wanted for my birthday. I had watched a bunch of influencers on instagram make ice cream, sorbet and frozen yoghurt with the Ninja Creami machine. They called it, “will it creami?” They tested things like red wine. Not want I wanted. But also just straight up mangos. Yes, please.

So Russ purchased the deluxe model. I mixed up a high protein fairlife and some javvy caramel protein coffee and put it in the freezer before I went way last week. And so today I ran it through the machine. Did it Creami? Yes, yes it did.

It made the best tasting coffee ice cream I have ever had, with quadruple the protein and no sugar. I have some pineapple to try next and a mango which needs to ripen.

Now I am wondering if it is OK to eat protein coffee ice cream for breakfast. It is exactly the same thing I make as a shake, but in ice cream form. Do you think my body will know not to treat it as ice cream? Some part of me thinks that anything that good tasting must be actually bad for me. My body is going to say, “No tricking us. This is not healthy.”

We shall see how my body does on the all fruit version. But if I can make all fruit taste like ice cream, well… that means ice cream at every meal.

Behind on Thank You Notes

I know I am behind on writing thank you notes for my birthday. It is no excuse that I worked on my Birthday, driving to Virginia for a week’s class. I was planning on getting them done today, but I had a last minute class come up. So tomorrow I will get on them.

I am still discovering kind messages on Facebook. I am not sure why I am only seeing messages that say they were written five days ago, but I am. Thank you for all the kind words and remembrances. One of the best was 65 memories from my sister Janet.

I am terrible at remembering people’s birthdays. I never send cards and rarely a gift. I do take people out to lunch if they are local with me. So Facebook saves me. It tells me when someone’s birthday is and gives me a portal to wish them the happiest day.

Sadly, today, two friends, Nestor and Jennifer, both have birthday’s today, but both passed away too young. Facebook still says it is their birthday because they must still have accounts. So today I paused and thought of them both. Interestingly I often saw them together as Jennifer worked out with me at the gym where Nestor worked.

Facebook may have it’s detractions, but I think for birthday’s it is tops. Thanks to all the friends who reached out in one fashion or another. It did not go unnoticed by me, even if you don’t know that…yet.

Beat The Teacher!

Last day of Mah Jongg camp at the Tides Inn was all about fun. We had a game playing session. Beyond beginners were so nice to play with beginners and help them. New friends played with new friends and a couple of students got to play with me.

The last game Emily got to play Siamese with me. That meant she had to get two mah Jongg before I got two mah Jongg. I got the first one and she said, “The pressure!” She went on to get two mah Jongg at once and BEAT ME! The room clapped for her and we took a picture!

It was a fun and successful week and we have already planned the next Mah Jongg camp at Tides for November. What I love is that people return so they can see the friends they made at the last camp. It is just like real camp where you make life long friends.

I wish I could have stuck around at Tides and done all the fun activities, but I needed to come home. Since I was going near Richmond I gave my friends Susanne and Tracey a ride to Richmond so they did not need to take an hour uber ride.

Riding with them for a third of my drive helped pass the time. It was a great week with them. I am already looking forward to being back at Tides with old friends and meeting new ones.

Helpful Students

I love helpful students. I think people learn so much from their fellow students. Listening to people help each other makes my heart happy. Hearing how people talk about what they would do in a situation and then explore other people’s points of view is the best way to learn.

There is almost always more than one way to get from point A to Point B. Why not learn multiple ways to do it?

At Tides this week I have had lots of helpers. Melissa helping hold my pointer was priceless. Susanne and Tracey writing up the privet hands was invaluable. Emily and Will tracking the “Danaisms.” Ashley carrying my heavy bag up the stairs. Or the nice student who brought me a cookie.

I appreciate the people who cheered for a table mates first winning hand. Or who explained why someone could not call for a pair, or let someone make a joker exchange, even though they discarded the tile by mistake first.

Learning a new skill means you are going to make mistakes, but offering grace to others makes it all feel friendlier. Not being judgemental makes you a welcome opponent.

The best students are good listeners, great question askers, and thoughtful commenters. They also do not feel the need to impress upon me their expertise.

I am here to help you learn, but not to give you a grade. There is no class ranking, except the one in my mind of all the helpful students. I appreciate all the help you give each other and me.

Tides Two

Mah Jongg Camp day two is twice as much fun as day one. By day two all the “campers” have made friends with each other. The laughter rings out across the resort. The beginners actually learned how to play and got three games in during class. I was quite happy with how well they played. I forgot to take their photos, but will tomorrow.

The beyond beginners are such a joy. We had great games and lots of laughs with the learning. Zoë is the youngest student of about ten years old. Thankfully I have been able to keep my language PG, but with great restraint. But she is smart and happy to participate. She, along with her mother and grandmother made the whole class Mah Jongg key chains from old tiles they were given. At the end of class today they let everyone chose one as their gifts and they gave me two of them.

Melissa and Ashley gave me a joker luggage tag they had made for class. I left class today with so many cute presents.

I had lunch today with Teresa and Scott, who first took mah Jongg from me four years ago in Raleigh and have travelled where ever they need to come to my classes. They married each other five years ago after each losing a spouse and it is so cute that they play mah Jongg together everywhere they go.

Tonight we had mah Jongg group dinner. I sat with Emily and William, Melissa and Ashley and Tara. This is all their return trip to mah Jongg camp. It is so much fun to get to know all their stories.

I love Tides Inn camp more than you can know.

Tides Time

The Tides Inn just re-opened after a renovation. It is even more beautiful than before. I was worried about mah Jongg camp registrations while Tides was closed. There was nothing to worry about.

Such a wonderful group of students from the October class returned for this camp and a whole lot of new people joined us. I have people from far and wide and I haven’t even had a chance to ask most of them where they came from. So far I have talked with people from Florida, Cincinnati, the outer banks, Nashville, Charlottesville, Washington DC and Richmond.

The weather could not be more perfect. It warmed up today and after all the classes we had a cocktail party on the beach. The only bad thing was my sun glasses were in my car and it was very sunny.

I was most happy that Emily and Will brought their frenchie Gigi back to the Tides to enjoy Mah Jongg camp.

I am doing an excellent job teaching people because tonight Tracey and Suzanne beat me at all the games we played. Great job ladies. I might have to start drinking martinis to try and beat you.

Happy Official Old Person

65 ain’t so bad. I got a few moments with Carter before Russ dropped her off at the airport. I packed at home and when Russ got back we went to vin rouge for breakfast. It was fast, but lovely.

I had a long drive to the Tides Inn in Irvington VA. Mah Jongg camp starts in the morning. While I waited for my room I read all the nice messages from so many friends and family. One of the best was a list of 65 memories from my baby sister Janet. It was a great list and only one of them I did not remember. Something about an answering machine message. I am 65 after all. I’m sure she will give me more details on it and then it will come flooding back.

While waiting for my room I saw fun students who I taught here in October who came back again. That makes me so happy to have people return and then we become friends.

Susanne and Tracey came from Florida and made it a birthday party for me. Susanne had the tides make me a mah Jongg birthday cake which was in my room. I brought it to dinner to share with everyone. When I arrived at the table Susanne also had another gift for me. A giant tote bag with “What would Dana Do?” And mah Jongg tiles painted on it! The girl knows I love a tote bag! This is definitely my mah Jongg tote bag birthday.

We shared cake with Melissa and Sarah and Will and Emily and some others. Then Susanne and Tracey and I went to play mah Jongg after dinner. Tracey beat me twice so that was a good present for her.

At my age I better try and go to sleep. I have a full days work early tomorrow. I may be old, but I am not retired. Thanks to all the friends who made it a great day.

Happy Everything Weekend

Today Russ Lange and I have been married 34 year. He woke me up with two sweet cards and I had none for him. In my defense I was going to buy cards yesterday and Carter was here for a surprise so I did not go out. I promise to write something loving and heartfelt to him. He knows he is my everything.

I wanted to get in as much time with Carter as I could so we did what we do best. We played mah Jongg. It was so much fun. Then I had to open a bunch of birthday presents since Carter is leaving early in the morning and I am leaving right after Russ and I go out for breakfast.

Carter made me a Needlepoint patch bag and she finished it herself. It is the most wonderful gift and I will cherish it always. She is getting to be such a great stitcher.

The next present was a poster Carter and Russ made by asking different friends one word to describe me. What a sweet gift not just from them, but all my friends who participated. I am happy there are only a few swear words. Thank you to all my friends who answered Russ’ request. Carter shared the spread sheet of who said what, so I know where the swear words came from. And I agree.

We had the most fun Kentucky Derby Party to go to at Michelle and Boris’. Boris baked a fabulous coconut cake for my birthday and they sang happy birthday which was so sweet. We were all very excited that the first female trainer won in Derby history. Carter had a great time catching up with Elena. We wish Benjamin was there.

More presents at home after the party and now I have a Ninja Cremi machine so come over for ice cream when I get home from the Tides Inn next week.

It has been a wonderful anniversary/Birthday weekend. I still have an actual birthday tomorrow. How lucky I feel to be surrounded by all this love.

Screaming Surprise

Apparently I was remiss in putting everything I am doing on my calendar. Today I had a birthday lunch with my friends Lynn, Shelayne and Stephanie. It was not on my calendar, but I knew Lynn was picking me up at 11:45.

We went to Thai Cafe to have our annual birthday lunch. It was loads of fun and Lynn Stephanie and I stayed a long, long time almost shutting the place down.

Lynn brought me home and we sat in her car laughing about inane things we always laugh about. We must have been in the driveway about 15 minutes and just as I was getting out of her car I screamed. Lynn said it was the loudest scream she had ever heard from me.

Carter, who I was not expecting, came walking out of the house! The best birthday surprise ever.

Russ apparently had stolen my phone and told Carter that I had nothing on my calendar today so I would be available when she flew in from Boston. Thank goodness Lynn picked me up for lunch so she brought me home. I had errands I was going to run this afternoon, which were also not on my calendar.

When Russ does not have an anniversary card tomorrow it will be because Carter came home to surprise me.

The best surprise that I was not suspecting!