Bill and Cathy McArthur Spring/Summer/Fall 2005: 15

   We were welcomed home in early October by beautiful weather. We enjoyed walking on the beach and gave Godmother's Restaurant another chance, enjoying a very good meal. The high gas prices and uncertainty of the hurricane season caused us to cancel our plans for travel to the Keys in late October. Hopefully we will enjoy being at home instead. Bill decided to winterize our RV, since we won't be using it again until the Christmas holidays. We consolidated the three wedding photos of Alex, Bill, and Katie into a collage to hang upstairs. Cathy suggested and Bill researched a cruise for us to take in April: 21 day Panama Canal cruise on the Holland America ship Zaandam. Our drought was ended by several days of rain caused by a stalled front and the remnants of a tropical storm. Bill enjoyed a run in the warm rain on the wettest day. We walked on the Atlantic City Boardwalk and viewed the film "Proof" on a misty day. Bill decided to try to learn to draw and found a free instruction website to use. We took a quick Thursday trip to Doylestown to babysit for Katie while she kept an appointment accompanied by Cathy. Rachel gave Bill a quizzical look when he fed her a bottle. The week of gray skies, Northeast wind, and rain ended on October 15 with a heavy following West wind. Jack and Barb Williams, long standing (I won't say "old") friends of ours from our Shippensburg days, stopped by for a night on an East Coast swing from their home in Milwaukee. We had a great time catching up with each other and reliving some past (I won't say "old") memories. Unfortunately, the wind howled the whole time they were with us. We moved on to a stay in Doylestown to help Katie and Tom with some logistics. It was a treat to be able to spend some quality time with Rachel. On a very nice Halloween, we watched Rachel take part in the parade at her daycare and then Cathy, Katie, and Bill took a 6 mile walk along the Delaware Canal from New Hope north. Bill discovered that the city flower of New Hope is the parking meter whose rate is the same as Cape May, 25 cents for 20 minutes. We all fought through colds; Bill had a sinus infection and used Cipro to treat it.

   On Cathy's birthday, November 4, Alex and Phil escaped for a few days to a resort in the Dominican Republic. We did the first shift of babysitting before being relieved by Phil's mom on Saturday afternoon. We didn't sleep much because Erin had a very bad cough which needed attention during both nights that we stayed there. The weather was nice, so we got the opportunity to play outside with the kids on Friday and Saturday. Bill had to take Erin to her doctor's office on Friday morning, which was a mini-adventure for both. On Saturday night, Tom prepared an excellent chili meal which we ate as we watched Virginia Tech's hopes for a perfect football season go down in flames at the hands of a highly motivated Miami team. On Sunday, Cathy, Katie, and Bill drove to Hawk Mountain and hiked for 4 hours over some steep and rough terrain. It was a "light flight" day, but we saw a couple of Golden Eagles, a Red Tailed Hawk, and a Sharp Shinned Hawk.

        Bill and Cathy