We were pleased to be invited.

Billie Farley’s mother, Thelma Freeman, passed away some time ago.  And (for a lot of reasons) her ashes hadn’t been interred.  Eventually the date was set (January 26) and Billie asked if we would like to participate.

We had developed a rather close relationship with Thelma over the years.  As her nephew George put it; “You didn’t want to get too close to Thelma or you’d become family.” So of course we quickly accepted the offer.

We packed up, vacuumed and cleaned, and hopped a plane to LAX.

The first leg from Boise to Portland was uneventful – as always.

Following a couple of hours layover at PDX (always a treat – we really like that airport) we boarded for our PDX-LAX leg.

The first thing we noticed was that our flight attendant (John) was a CRACK-UP!  He was chatty, funny, engaging – everything you’d hope for in a flight attendant.  His performance during the safety briefing actually received applause. (Who knew demonstrating the seat belt could be a comedy routine?)

The second thing we noticed was that John is equally adept at handling medical emergencies.  We don’t know what exactly happened, but about a half-hour into the flight the intercom asked for any medical professionals on board to lend assistance to a passenger.  During the next hour John managed the situation – working with the docs, comforting the patient’s wife, communicating with the cockpit.  All in all it lent some excitement to a rather mundane morning.

When we arrived at LAX we were met by the paramedics and since the patient walked off the plane under his own power I can also mention that we had the added advantage of arriving early and flying directly in  (not having to circle).

We hopped the bus to Union Station where we were met by Steve and Billie.  They loaded us into the car and drove us to Towhey’s restaurant for Ice Cream and pie.  Towhey’s is a long-established local tradition that has recently lost their lease and are scheduled to close in early February (On Saturday Billie announced that they have signed a lease in another location so it seems the tradition will continue.)

Thus fortified we moved on to our hotel, picked up a rental car, and joined the group at Thelma’s house.  Supper was at another local – the Canoe House.

Then it was back to the hotel to sleep, perchance to dream.

Nite all.