July flys by....

July flys by without the time to do the simple things I like to do. Finish a book... for God's sake I am still on "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest"... the second week in a row. I finished the other two books in the series in less than a day. Blog. I have been remiss, not only with my own entries, but also commenting on others. Cook; I finally made some ribs last night..since I got back from vacation it has been almost all take out and salads. What is standing in the way, you say?

Well, work. It was pretty messed up there when I went on vacation on May 20; I had had two people out on leave for over a month, and stretched too thin, the three of us in Tampa were exhausted. I knew a secret, that when I got back, someone was leaving my team and going to another team, so we would continue to be somewhat stretched. Forget that. When I got back, it turned out that they were taking TWO people from my team, leaving me to service 3 buildings (all miles from each other) and 500+ people with three of us. So, since I've been back, it's been much the same. I'm OK with 12 hour days, with my workaholic genetic makeup, but it is difficult for me to watch me do the same thing to the 2 great people who still work for me in Tampa. There is a little light at the end of the tunnel -- starting this month, national recruiters should be recruiting for some of our positions, giving us a break. That was effective July 1. Unfortunately, on July 1, we still had 22 position requisitions and 40 actual employees to hire by ourselves. So, we have just gotten through one day at a time. And people at work get email from me at 9pm at night, and again the next day at 5 am.


I don't know how it will end. Don't know what I can say or do to change it. So, I do what I can, and take it one day at a time.


So, anyway, I never got to share my vacation, so I thought I'd start today. I hope you will look at Saturday's entry, which I just posted, as well, for some really fine poetry.


I started my vacation with Andrea and Christian in Louisville. They moved there
in February. I loved Louisville; its eclectic with a lot of new and old and I'm a big fan of Kindred Hospital. Andrea works there in their Shared Services IT center.


When I got to Louisville, I got to catch up with the only dog left in my life, my granddog Chico. He was happy to see me:

Once I had greeted him properly, I went out to see the most spectacular thing in Louisville.... real bluegrass! (If you've ever been to Florida, you know what passes for grass down here). I couldn't resist:


We went on a tour of the sites and also had some really fine meals. I found downtown Louisville to be a great mix of old and new. There are some historical streets (complete with cannon!) a minor league park with a museum/store for the Louisville Slugger......and some really beautiful contemporary buildings. I did not get a photo of the brand new Yum! (awful name) center that will house the U of Louisville basketball team and be the concert center (the Eagles will be there this fall) or the beautiful performing arts center. Here's what I did get:

Andrea's work space is downtown, and Kindred took over a building with great architecture. Below is a picture of the indoor atrium, Andrea at her desk, and the really great horse statue that Kindred put out front for a fundraiser that happened earlier in the year. Many employers and local buildings did the same, with a different artist designing each horse. You will note that I don't have pictures of Churchill Downs. The kids and I are saving that for my next trip:

In addition to a great river spot for fresh fish, a trip to our much beloved P F Changs, and a funky restaurant with Ethiopian and all kinds of exotic foods, we had breakfast at "Lynn's Paradise Cafe", the kookiest restaurant I've ever been in. Talk about kitsch! I'm pretty sure Marion has been there to see the artificial birch trees that decorate the dining room. They have kites and "stuff" hanging all over them. We were served a "wall of biscuits" and gravy. My plate had enough food for three. My picture of Lynn's didn't turn out, but I know you'll love the moose in her parking lot:

Before I left, Andrea and I got to do the favorite mother/daughter thing... yes, we went to the outlet shops in Indiana and had a day of buying. Christian got to stay home and rest...not the best picture of him, but I wanted to include him!



I left at the crack of dawn on Sunday for Minnesota. Stay tuned for: "Going up North", "A Day at the St. Croix" and "Baseball in Minnie"... the next vacation installments.