From the Convention

It's Thursday, so we are almost done the NARFE convention.  The only thing left now is the banquet tonight and the installation of officers.  Then I will sing "God Bless America" just before 9 p.m. when everybody leaves.  We will pack tomorrow morning and head back home in time to do our library shift in the afternoon at the ANRL

It's been a good convention but very sparsely attended.  There are only about 135 people total, which is far, far less than in the past.  Nobody is sure why that is happening.  I did ok on the national anthem Tuesday night.  Mark and other said I did okay on "Golden Dream" this morning, too.  I attended Mark's training session this afternoon on legislation and other things.  He also did a great job.  So now we are relaxing in the room until the banquet starts at 6.

When we arrived, we got an upgrade from the regular king bed room we requested to part of a VIP Suite.  We have the main room that includes a large kitchen, full living room and dining room, and bathroom.  There is a pull down Murphy bed in the dining room.  It's monstrously spacious and a lot of fun to enjoy these big amenities for the same price as a regular room!

Our plan to eat breakfast and lunch in the room and Denny's for dinner the last two days has worked very well.  We have saved money, been more relaxed, and kept the calories and carbs in check.  Hopefully, the banquet tonight won't ruin the diet.  It is a salmon dinner with a fruit cup for dessert, so I hope that will be fine.  Mark plans to buy us each one whiskey on the rocks at the cocktail hour, so we shouldn't be too bad off.

Evey and Eric arrived safely in Lima and then the next day flew to Cusco.  Unfortunately, their trip to tour the Sacred Valley today got cancelled.  They had a private tour guide lined up, but he couldn't come get them.  The streets were blocked all day with protesters.  They are protesting increased rail fares.  As Evey texted me this morning, "They take their rail fares very seriously here."  It seems like they have made do on Plan B, which seemed to be wandering around Cusco and sampling local food and shopping opportunities.  Not too shabby.

The brown wall to the right is actually the pull down bed.

The bed is visible in the background now that it's pulled down.

The incredibly delicious chocolates that I got for Mother's Day from Lowell and Emily.  I spread them out over three days, so the calories were okay.

Singing the national anthem from the dais.  Jane Lemley, the president of the Florida Federation of NARFE, is to my right.

Mark was great on Wednesday giving his talk on the Legislative Conference.