Recently, we had chances to catch up with good friends we haven't seen much in the past several years. Kathie's good friend Cheryl has recently moved back to Iowa from California. Since she had never been to our cabin, she came up for a few days with Kathie while I was in Kansas City with Anders. They spent one afternoon using our small boat to travel up into the river for some fishing and sight-seeing.
After I got back to the cabin, all three of us did some evening fishing, and Cheryl caught a walleye.
Two days ago, we agreed to meet George and Candace in Duluth at Grandma's for lunch. George is the man for whom I worked when I accepted the assignment at the National Science Foundation in Washington from 1998 to 2000. I have known George longer than that, though, as he was on the Computer Science faculty and involved with the IT department at Iowa State for many years. So our friendship dates back to the 1970s. He and Candace own a cabin on a lake in Minnesota. Duluth was approximately halfway between our properties, so meeting there worked out well. Eventually, we'll perhaps exchange visits to our respective cabins.
As a side note, after our lunch, Kathie and I drove to Ashland, WI so that she could be seen there by an ophthalmologist. She had noticed some problems with her right eye the prior evening, and given knowledge of similar problems her parents had, thought she should be examined. Turns out that she had a torn retina. The ophthalmologist was able to use laser surgery to repair the tear, so it was definitely a good thing that she had arranged for this before more serious damage could occur. She is doing well now.
