We had a grand 90th birthday celebration with my mother. It lasted for days, which made it extra special. The actual birthday was nice, our fancy breakfast (bagels + lox)(a LOT of lox) and a nice day together, with dinner in a good restaurant.
I got to RI on Weds., had an easy trip down. I dropped the dogs off at the kennel in the morning and went on from there. They like their kennel, are never unhappy to be left there, and aren't especially excited to see me when I pick them up.
Quiet Thursday and Friday, went to town both days with my mother. She likes to go to town pretty much every day when I'm there, hit the bank and pretty much the same stores each time. I like her town, Wakefield, it's got a lot of crazy drivers, a combination of very old and very young. It's not far from the Univ. of RI so there are a lot of college kids, but the population is aging so there are many, many "older" drivers.
Jenica and her family came on Friday and I cooked massive numbers of perch for dinner. They were ice fish and I bought way too many pounds but we all had enough with a lot left over. That was nice. We struggled to stay awake to greet Molly and her family late that night. Late is a relative term because our usual bedtime is around 8:00 and this was more like 10 or so. But we made it! Molly, Paolo and Anna arrived safely and happily. It was really nice to see them and be together. Anna and I slept on the front porch, which isn't insulated and is all windows so it was chilly some nights but I like sleeping there, it's like being outside, sort of. I got to spend a lot of time visiting with Anna, who is an absolute peach. She's getting her doctorate in botany at UBC in Vancouver and is a very special person.
Molly & Paolo stayed in their motel so they had lots of time to relax and rest. It was odd to be at Liza's house without the dogs but it was also very peaceful. VERY peaceful. We had 2-yr-old Gwyn to keep us entertained and awake. She's special, too--I have amazing nieces and a grand-niece. Jenica and I got to talk libraries a little bit (but never enough) and spent some good time together. The weather sort of sucked, rainy mostly so there were no beach walks. We did see the water, though, when we went to get the lobsters and clams for Sat. night's dinner. Delicious lobsters, good clams and mussels. Mark was a huge help to me cooking 8 lobsters, 8 pounds of clams and 4 pounds of lobsters. All went well, yay.
We did have some nice weather on Sunday so everyone spent time outside in the backyard. There's a big exercise ball in the yard, which Mark calls yard art. When Mark & I were sitting in the living room we saw the ball go flying and Mark said "THEY'RE PLAYING WITH THE YARD ART!" which made me laugh heartily. We laughed a lot during the week, pretty standard for family visits.
Monday Jenica and her family left (sad day) and we rested. Tuesday Molly and her family left (another sad day) and we rested some more. We had a quiet evening Tuesday, our usual dinner-then-Jeopardy time, the 3 of us.
I came home yesterday, left around 9 and had an easy trip. No traffic and easy driving. Do I prefer driving without the dogs in the car? Hard to say, but I could have the music loud without worrying about their delicate ears. I picked them up last night. Yes, they're happy to be home. Right now they're snoring, Treasure in the chair and Tess on the couch. I woke at 1:00, after sleeping for a few hours. Now I think I'll get back to bed for a few more hours.
I love being with my family. Boy was it nice to be together, I think the world of them all.
No comments:
Post a Comment