Cascade Scenery Thunderbolts Tuesday With New Bike Parts

Good news sort of started yesterday when I first checked email. And then after that the day sort of went downhill.

Those early morning incoming emails told me replacement parts were being shipped to me to replace parts which broke on my bike, those being parts which should not have broken.

So, even though there was no warranty that I was aware of, a reasonable complaint to the manufacturer about the issue resulted in multiple emails from various sources, including UPS, telling me the parts are on their way.

So, Schwinn is well on its way to getting back its good reputation it had long ago, back in the previous century.

I shan't detail all of yesterday's woes.

But, around noon I went on a walk on the Circle Trail where I eventually found myself dodging lightning bolts and big rain drops delivered at high speed.

Prior to the thunderstorm I was walking and talking to my Arizona sister. Mom is not adjusting well to her new home.

After lunch, I took off for ALDI, feeling melancholy.

For years I used to call mom and dad whenever I got gas, to tell, usually mom, what the gas cost and what the current temperature was. In recent years I call, and when mom answers, I ask if mom wants to ride with me to ALDI, or Walmart, or the library, or some such thing.

At mom's new home her phone did not move with her. I got a text message on Sunday from my Tacoma sister, who was in Arizona, with mom, asking me to call either her phone or my Arizona sister's phone, so I could talk to mom.

When mom got on the phone I did not ask if she wanted to ride with me anywhere. That was no longer possible. I could not understand much of what mom was saying, til I sorta said goodbye, to which mom said something I could clearly understand, a question she usually always asked, as in "When are you coming for another visit?"
To which I replied, "As soon as I can get there." 

And then later in the afternoon Linda Lou called with some rather shocking news. Not my place to be detailed. Suffice to say, America's longest war needs to end and all the troops need to come home.

The news from Linda Lou caused me to email Maxine, something I had been intending to do for some time. So, I emailed Maxine the shocking news from Linda Lou, thinking Maxine likely had already heard, but in the oft chance she had not, I was emailing her with the shocking news.

Maxine quickly emailed back, she was as shocked as was I by the news. In my email to Maxine I also asked if she'd been doing any fun hiking.

So Maxine included two photos of her most recent hike, one of which is what you see at the top.

The Shannon Ridge Trail to the Mount Shuksan Summit.

Just last week, hiking photos from my favorite ex-sister-in-law, of a hike near Mount Shuksan, had me wondering if hiking to the summit of that craggy mountain was a doable thing.

Maxine's photos of the Cascade Mountains sort of activated that homesick feeling such photos have been causing me of late.

There are plans afoot to return to the Pacific Northwest. To visit? Or what? Time may tell...