Monday, February 11, 2013

Catching Up

I thought I'd better post something here, lest you think I'd abandoned the blog altogether.  No way!  I'm still around, and in fact mourning the fact that I don't have much to say here although I'm dying to write something pithy and interesting.  So, lacking the pithy and interesting, I'll just mention a few things that have either happened recently or are upcoming.

I'll be going to Afton tomorrow for a while.  Robin has decided to fry some of the many pounds of fish she caught this summer and host a little "fish fry" right at the Station!  Should be fun and yummy!  I'll report on it when I get home.

A week from tomorrow I'll be giving a talk at a meeting of the Tulsa Retired Teachers Association.   The subject?  Route 66 of course.  Ron M. will go with me to fill in the blanks when I completely lose my train of thought and end up standing there wordlessly.  It happens, believe me!

The Chinese are coming!   The Chinese are coming!   Word has it that, due to their increasing affluence, citizens of China will be doing more and more touring in the U.S. in the next few years, figuring the numbers  to be over 100,000,000 annually by the end of the decade.   It got me thinking about how I might take advantage of this influx and make our Chinese visitors welcome at Afton Station.  If anyone has any creative ideas, let me know.  Since most will be coming on group tours, the first challenge will be to see that tour companies know about us, and that they are not inclined to jump on the interstate too often (or at all!) as happens with many foreign tour groups.  I guess my next task will be to find out the names of the tour companies and plant a bug in their ears.

Wait!   I DO have something pithy and interesting to say!  The new President of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association is my good friend Brad Nickson.  Congratulations, Brad!  You're the perfect person for that position.  Your commitment to the Mother Road as well as your brains and good sense will be appreciated by all of us.




3 comments:

Susan Yates said...

Retired teachers? Then you have nothing to worry about. First, they're retired teachers so almost surely they'll be interested in learning about new places to see on 66 or new ways to look at old places they know. Second, they're retired teachers and retired or not, once a teacher always a teacher, so give them half a chance and they'll take over the question and answer period (if not the lecture) and you can just share what you wish about the subject--if you can get a word in edge wise. As they say--You can always tell a teacher, you just can't tell them much! (And by "them" I mean me!)

Trevor Hilton said...

In Mandarine, "Hello" is "Nee How". "Thank You" is "Sheh Sheh". "I'm Sorry" is "Dway Boo Chee". "Yes" is "Way". "No" is "Boo".
I could also try to sweet-talk Lim into writing a "Welcome" sign in Chinese for you.

Laurel said...

I might just take you up on that, Trevor!