Tractor Troubles

Bill on his riding mower ready to go into the garage for repair

Today I am so tempted to write about the Supreme Court imbroglio but I will spare you that screed.  Instead I will write about a mundane subject, our riding mower tractor is on the blink.

Yes, you heard that right, our tractor is kerplunk. 

Yesterday we had our tractor picked up to go into the shop for repair. 

Bill and I live on an acre of land here in the great state of Delaware in Sussex County.

All my life I wanted to live on my own land. In Pennsylvania we had 7.6875 acres of land, mostly wooded. Here in Delaware we live on a nice patch of typical suburban green grass that needs a lot of mowing.  Bill likes to mow grass.  Our grass and our neighbor's grass, don't go volunteering him to mow anyone else's grass.

Four years ago I depleted our savings account and bought Bill one of those John Deere zero degree lawn mowers.  Bill now possessed the fastest mower in our neighborhood. 

When I left for my annual vacation to Canada a few weeks ago, I was thinking that perhaps it was time to get our John Deere mower an overhaul maintenance. My thought were very prescient because two days after I arrived in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Bill sent me an e-mail that his mower wasn't working.  HELP!  Bill was in a near panic.  Where to get the mower fixed?  

Just when I was thinking everything was going smooth, another "crises."  Boy, wouldn't I like go a couple of weeks with no "crises" or doctors' appointments.  It's not to be.

When I got home our neighbor Bob M. had a number of a man who fixes riding mowers.  I called him.  He told me he was very "backed up" with repairs.  Of course he's backed up, we're in the midst of the mowing season.  But thank goodness he came yesterday and picked up our mower.  

Now as the grass is growing (it only stops growing in the winter), we await our tractor. 

Just another day at Casa Tipton-Kelly. And the Kavanaugh confirmation has been delayed a week.

Happy 90th Birthday Bill!

William "Bill" Daniel Kelly - 90 years old today!

Today is my husband Bill Kelly's 90th birthday!

Congratulations Bill!  

I was a young man of twenty-two years old when I met thirty-five year old Bill Kelly at the Westbury Bar in Philadelphia in 1964.  

Little did I know then that today, fifty-four years later I would still be with that man.  

I liked him then but never in a million years thought I would still be with him fifty-four years later.  We were different in so many ways. But here we are today.  Older and wiser and still in love.

Happy birthday Bill!  Now let's go for a hundred!

Bill "Buddy" Kelly - circa 1932

Home From Canada

Pat with my carry on luggage at the Buffalo airport yesterday

Early yesterday morning I left sunny Canada for the hour ride to the Buffalo airport.  Yes, my week long stay in Canada had come to an end.

Pat drove me to Buffalo for my flight to Philadelphia. 

The traffic was light.  That was good. 

We had no problem crossing the border. That was good too.

I went through the TSA pre check line again at the Buffalo airport. I am so glad I took the time last summer to go to Dover and complete my TSA security pre check information.

My flight out of Buffalo left on time, unlike my flight out of Philadelhia which was almost an hour late because of mechanical difficulties.

Small plane again.  This time I had a big guy in the seat next to me on the plane. He overflowed into my space.  I think he felt bad about it. Oh we'll, it was only a hour flight.

I arrived in Philadelphia under cloudy and misty rain.  My ride to pick me up was stuck in traffic on Route One.  I didn't mind waiting.  Ironically the last time he picked me up he was stuck in traffic. It all evens out though because he's picked me up in the past where my flights have been delayed. I didn't mind waiting.

I arrived home yesterday at about 3 o'clock. Bill was very glad to see me. I was exhausted. Flying is a chore.  

It was so nice to sleep in my own bed last night. 

I love my quarterly trips with Pat but I do like coming home. Then I get to look forward to another trip.  Our next get together will be in Philadelphia a week after Thanksgiving.  I won't have to take a flight on that trip.

Now to get back into my daily routine. Another successful trip which I will share via photos and videos in future blog postings.

Have a great day everyone!

Last Day In Canada

Me and Pat at a new restaurant discovery, Sagarmatha Curry Palace in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Today is my last day in Canada. 

This is always the bad part of my holidays with Pat, they end too quickly.

Tomorrow I will arise early for my two hour ride to Buffalo, New York for my 10:36 am flight to Philadelphia. 

As you can see from the paucity of my blog postings since I've been in Canada, I've been very busy. We have been very busy. 

Always something to do on our holidays together. 

We don't plan anything special, just let the days flow but they're always full.

I think yesterday (the days run together) we took the bus to Toronto and explored the massive underground shopping area.  I've never seen anything like that in my life. Sure does beat Philly's homeless sleeping, urine stink Concourse.  Philly has come a long way since I've worked there in the 80's but they have a long way to go. 

The weather has been perfect during my whole stay.  Yesterday was a near tornado but even that was fun. No one got hurt.

As we are wont to do, we discovered a few new vegan restaurants.  One we especially like is an Indian/Nepalese restaurant called Sagarmatha, which is understand is Nepalese for Mt. Everest.  Vegan food was very tasty, inexpensive and we had a cozy corner table. Sevice was a little slow but I'll give them a pass on that.

Well, I hear Pat rousing in the bedroom.  Soon we will be off on another day of adventure. 

Rest assured I will catch up on all the doings here this past week, photos and videos included.  And by the way, a good blogger friend of mine who also visited Canada this week posted that we wouldn't "bore" his readers with photos and videos of his trip.  Wow, that's not me folks. Be prepared to be bored. I don't consider a trip worthwhile unless I take a ton of photos and videos. And if anyone is bored, which I am sure there are a few who have short attention spans or have other interests, they don't have to stop by here for a visit. I for one like to create permanent memories. Can you imagine life without photos or videos to relieve old memories?  I can't but then that's old boring me.

Poster from Steel City bar and restaurant, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada - how did I ever miss this movie?

Have a great day everyone!

Arrived in Canada!

Day three of my week long stay in Canada visiting my friend Pat.

Pat picked me up at the Buffalo airport Sunday. My flight was delayed for almost an hour out of Philadelphia because of "mechanical problems."  Not a good sign.  But once we were in the air, there was no problem. A beautiful day for a flight.

I arrived in Hamilton with Pat to catch the tail end of the annual Crawl.  Pat said the streets weren't as jammed as they were earlier in the week but it was still pretty crowded.  A special treat was witnessing a live performance of "Some Kind of Wonderful" by the man who wrote that song, John Ellison.  I videotaped that performance and will post it in a future post. I hope I don't have copyright issues with You Tube.

I'm typing this blog post from my Macbook which isn't quite as flexible as when I type my blog from my iMac at home. I won't be able to post as many photos and videos from this source. Rest assured I will catch up when I get home.  You know me and my photos and videos.

Yesterday Pat took me on a tour of Hamilton. So many changes in this former steel town of five hundred thousand so so souls that is undergoing a renovation to a millennial destination. Pat moved here from overcrowded Toronto as many others have done. He loves Hamilton!

I brought along the first season of "Game of Thrones", which Pat can't get on his Canadian version of Netflix. We watched the first show last night. We're not binge watching yet but I think once I get Pat hooked, we probably will. I know I am enjoying watching the show again, now I understand a lot more that passed by me when I first watched this show.

Pat is at yoga now.  I'm catching up on my e-mail, blog posting and the latest news on the Kavanaugh nomination to the Supreme Court. You didn't think I would miss the news did you?  

The weather has been almost a perfect low 70's an sun since I've arrived in Canada. 

Life is good folks.

Have a great day!

Ready For Takeoff

Me ready to board the plane

This time tomorrow I'll be in line to board my flight from Philadelphia International airport to Buffalo, New York.  My Canadian Travel Buddy will be waiting for me in Buffalo to complete the final leg of my trip to his luxury condo in downtown Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.  This is fifth annual trip to Canada to visit Pat.  

Packing for my trips are always a challenge for me. I'm one of those people who packs for "all occasions" and I always end up not wearing most of the shirts I've packed. Every trip, looking at my packed to the gills carry-on luggage I vow to pack less. Usually I take way too many shirts and pullovers.

This is what I'm packing this trip:

• 5 sets of underwear (T-shirts, underwear)
• 5 sets of socks
• 1 pair of shorts
• 1 light windbreaker/rain jacket
• 3 pullovers/colored T-shirts
• 3 plastic see-thru plastic packets of toiletries  including prescriptions pills 
• chargers for my iPhone, Macbook and Bose speaker

This is what I'm packing in my overhead bin carryon luggage.

In my personal shoulder briefcase:

Macbook
DVD's (first season Game of Thrones)
Passport
TD Bank checkbook

There, I think I've covered everything. I'll take a last check before my neighbor picks me up tomorrow morning at 7:30 am for the two hour trip to Philly International for my hour flight to Buffalo.  

Oh, I forgot!  Plane tickets!  I'll download those later today from my computer.  I print the tickets and I also have the tickets on my iPhone. This is the first time I'm using my TSA pre-check app that I got last year.  Let's see if that works.  Sure would be nice to breeze through TSA security.  

I'll try to keep you all updated during mystery stay in Canada.  Won't have as many photos to post though, I can only do that from my iMac here.  

No matter how many trips I take, I always get nervous.  I got that from my Mother.  Not nervous because of being afraid of flying, I've never had that fear.  My nervousness comes from all the connections I have to make to finally arrive at my destination. Once I arrive in Canada, I actually feel at home.  How about that?  I feel the same way when we visit California and Philadelhia. I'm finally living the life I always looked forward to all those years I used to schlepp to work at my banking job in Philly.  Like another blogger friend of mine I often thought "Can't wait until I retire so I can do what I want to do."  I'm very lucky folks because I am retired now (my part-time job at the hotel funds these trips) and am doing what I want to do.  And how lucky I am to do it with such a great guy like Pat? 

Pat and me in Canada

Memories - The Night I Was Humbled in Philadelphia

Me (left) and Bobby Scott - Pennsuaken New Jersey 1965

These days, in my declining years, when I know I have less years to live than I have lived, I often think of scenes from my past. 

Last year I took the plunge and had all my VHS videos put in a digitized format. Several of these VHS videos were originally 8 mm films. The photos in this blog are from those old 8 mm films. That is the reason for the poor quality of the photos. But even with the poor quality you can still see and feel the youthful enthusiasm of me and others in this old photos that I have captured from those digitized VHS videos.

This images were taken of me forty-seven years ago, a few months after I moved in with Bill where he rented a two bedroom apartment at Penn Manor Apartments in Pennsauken, New Jersey. 

I shouldn't need to identify myself but I will, I am (of course) the tall guy on the left (I was 6'4" at that time). The other guy in this photo was my former co-worker Bobby Scott.  

We both worked at Lipsett Steel Products in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. I was living and working in Coatesville, Pennsylvania when I met Bill in a Philadelphia gay bar called the Westbury. 

Coatesville was fifty-four miles away from Pennsuaken, New Jersey. An hour and a half drive each way.  Bill used to pick me up every Friday and take me back to his apartment. On Sunday he would make the round trip to take me back to my Coatesville apartment. 

We did this routine almost every weekend for about six months until we decided that I would move in with Bill.  But first I had to get a job nearer to where Bill lived.

My friend Ron Hampton worked at Girard Bank in Philadelphia. He secured a job interview for me at Girard. I got the job. More about that turning point in my life in a future blog post.

Long story short, I moved in with Bill.  

A few months after I moved in with Bill, my former co-worker Bobby Scott drove from his home in West Chester, Pennsylvania to visit me and Bill.  This is us clowning around on that hot August day.  

Bobby was married with a young son. He knew I was gay (I had come out to everybody).  I think he was interested in a relationship but I wasn't interested in him that way. I liked him as a friend but not in a sexual way.  He asked me to take him to one of the gay bars I used to frequent in Philadelphia.  I took him to the 247 Bar in center city Philly.  This was Bobby's first ever visit to a gay bar.  He was bedazzled to say the least.  Then what happened next completely floored me. 

A guy named "Jim", who I had lusted after many a times that I had seen him in the 247 Bar and other bars, came over to us.  Jim was my type to the hilt but I could never get anywhere with him.  Every line I tried with him, nothing. But here he was, walking over to where Bobby and I were standing and posing.  He started to talk to Bobby!  He was interested in Bobby!  Talk about having my ego deflated, I left them.  A couple of weeks later I called Bobby and asked him what happened.  Yep, he went home with Jim.  Wow, Jim picked him up.  That humbled me folks.  I'll never forget it.  

I lost contact with Bobby after that.  I've always wondered what happened to him.  Did he continue in his marriage? Or did he live a double life?  Or did he go back to being straight?  Just another one of life's mysteries that I will probably never know the answer. But I will never forget that humbling experience.