We got back to our normal Shabbat morning routine with a quick walk, Torah Study, and Shir Shabbat.

After lunch, we talked to our son and made tentative plans for a visit to see him in Boston in a few months, and very tentative plans for him to join us in Hawaii in the fall (with a probable stop here).

And we are giving serious thought to a winter trip to Japan with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, replacing the trip we were supposed to be taking with them this summer to Sicily and Malta, which was a replacement for the trip we originally had planned to take with them to Japan and Korea last April.

We also set up our Seabourn accounts for the Antarctica trip later this year.

I think we’re getting interested in traveling again.

Our new washer and dryer were delivered today, bright and early. I had planned ahead and turned off the valves for the washer last night to make sure we could drain as much water as possible – that turned out to be a surprisingly good decision.

After the installer had put everything in its place and hooked it all up, he turned on the cold water valve and noticed it was damp – there was a teeny tiny leak. So he couldn’t officially install the washer – but since everything was connected, he left it in place and strongly suggested we get the valve replaced. When I called the plumber to make an appointment, they told me that I was lucky that the installer hadn’t discovered the problem earlier or he wouldn’t have connected the washer at all!

The new washer, like the old one, is a front-loader and wants High Efficiency detergent. The old washer’s manual suggested using HE detergent but said “if you can’t find it, use regular” – the new washer’s manual says “you MUST use HE detergent”. I thought I’d been buying HE detergent all along, but when we went to do our first load of laundry, I discovered that the last time I stocked up, I had bought regular – so we made an emergency run to CVS for HE. I’m sure we could get away with using the regular detergent but I didn’t want to start on the wrong foot.

After all of that, actually doing the laundry was blessedly uneventful.

Shabbat Shalom!

Our Sunday routine is, well, routine. We go to Downtown Los Gatos, park in the underground garage, and walk to the Farmers’ Market, do our shopping, and then take a longer walk. The route to the Farmers’ Market takes us by Travel Advisors of Los Gatos, and I usually glance at their windows as we zip by.

Two weeks ago, though, I saw something that made me stop:

Silver Mountain Vineyards was the first wine club we ever joined, and we’ve been faithful members for more than a decade. They’d offered a few previous cruises, but the time or the itinerary wasn’t right – but a cruise to Antarctica at the end of the year looked very promising.

We talked about it, talked to the agent, and I did a little web research. This afternoon, we went back to Downtown Los Gatos and gave our travel credit card the most exercise it’s had in at least 388 days. The payment is fully refundable until mid-August in case things change, but I am hopeful!

Last week, both of us had our annual Medicare wellness visits (you can’t call them “physicals” or Medicare won’t pay!) and the doctor ordered fasting blood tests for each of us. Diane also needed an ultrasound, which also required fasting, so we scheduled them all for this morning.

We got to the lab a few minutes early for our blood tests and they took us immediately; we drove home and I had breakfast, while Diane continued fasting. Then I drove her to yet another Stanford Medical facility for her ultrasound. It had been at least a year since we’d driven on that particular part of Winchester Boulevard, and there had been a lot of construction, including a brand new Dunkin’ Donuts just a block from the ultrasound place.

They said Diane’s exam would take about 45 minutes; I sat around and read for a while, but it was too nice a day to stay inside and I left for a short walk.

There were a lot of cars in the drive-thru line for the Dunkin’ Donuts – it wrapped almost all the way around the building. I thought about going in – but then my phone rang. It was Diane – she was finished and famished. I turned around to pick her up and take her home for lox and bagels – I’ll need some other excuse for donuts.