Woo Food

It took less than the 72 hours I spent in Worcester for Meredith and David to spoil me around food. David is an amazing cook - a gourmet cook of the finest kind who loves cooking and laying the food on the table in a beautiful presentation.

Salad. We had several of these to accompany delicious entrees. 

The entree' with one above was rack of lamb and roasted potatoes with rosemary.

Breakfast at his suggestion and my request was a scramble with veggies and bacon and cheese. This morning my bread was a poppy seed roll bought at their incredible store, Wegman's. Another morning bread was a toasted English muffin with David's homemade strawberry jam. Homemade jam is so different than any out of a jar from the store.

We also ate at the Wayside Inn (more about the Inn later).

Meredith's butternut squash ravioli.

My lobster caserole was preceded by a cup of the very best lobster bisque I have ever had. 

David's roast goose ~ and of course me, looking more and more like my cousin Evelyn.

Indian pudding with ice cream. Yum!!! Also the best of this kind I have ever had and because I love the name, I have tried it several times. Like rich gingerbread. Yummy!

The food we ate out which included ice cream, Dunkin' Donuts (my last morning at the airport), popcorn and hot dogs at the movie, was all good and fun and delicious. This morning though I knew it was really David who had spoiled me. I found myself standing in my kitchen opening cabinets and drawers and the fridge and thinking, "I am hungry. Where is David? He is supposed to be standing in here making lovely suggestions from which I may choose one and it will be laid before me in style in a few minutes. Where is David??" 

Woo

Woo-hoo, I'm in Woo. That's Worcester MA for the uninitiated. Yesterday was spent in recovery from the long, long day on Thursday. It did include the Peanuts movie, which is another review type blog. Let me say though, if you know and love the Peanuts gang, see this movie!!

Today we walked a lovely greenway that they use often. Three miles with a rushing creek on one side and a live railroad track on the other. It was 60 degrees by the time we returned to the house. Sixty in MA in December. Wow!

Meredith and David on the path.

Me on the path.

Lovely, velvety blossoms of some sort.

After lunch we went to Grafton and I took a picture of the first church on the square. There were two more that looked almost exactly like this one. 

Meredith and David in the gazebo in the park. We crossed the street to the country store where I bought another scarf and we had ice cream.

And as we were leaving, look who we saw walking his dog instead of his reindeer. He very graciously allowed me to take a picture. Delightful day. 

A Long, Long Day

There is nothing quite so empty as a large metropolitan airport (in this case Boston Logan) at one o'clock in the morning. And how do I know this?

Up at 6, left home at 7 in the pouring rain, arrived at the Reno airport at 8 for a 9:25 flight. All was well. Until we were on the plane and ready to go and the wind was gusting at 46 knots. FAA regulations will not let planes take off into gusts above 31 knots. Okay - we weren't going anywhere for a while. So we sat. And we taxied a little ways and we sat. Finally the wind knots dropped to 26 and we could take off ~ except a little plane trying to land at the Minden airport, overshot that airport and ended up in our air space. So we sat a little while longer and finally left Reno too late for me to make my connection in Phoenix.

Meredith knew all this by text and went to work talking to American Airlines to change my reservation. While she and the agent were talking, the automatic change system went to work too and by the time I was in the air and could go on line, I had another reservation on a later flight. Perfect. We would have separate dinners as I was to get in at 11, and that was ok.

Got a new boarding pass. Had a nice lunch. Arrived back at my gate to discover my 4:15 flight had been moved to 5:10 . . . and to 5:45 . . . and finally to 6:30. Meredith assured me not to worry. They would be waiting. And they were ~ on the other side of security in a very empty airport at one o'clock in the morning.

I'm glad we don't have anything planned for today. Take it easy, visit, be together. Maybe watch George C. Scott's A Christmas Carol ~ a family tradition that we haven't done together in a long time. It was a long day yesterday and thanks to California time, I arrived in Boston at 10 o'clock Tahoe time. At 10 the night before I was unloading the dishwasher so looked at that way, it was an ordinary day. Still, in Boston, it was a very empty airport and bed felt very good.

Advent 2: Breaking Tradition

Last week I wrote about making this crazy Advent journey with no idea of what lies ahead. I certainly didn’t. Years ago I started lighting tree lights at night until Christmas day when Christmas was actually here. Then they stayed on all day until the tree came down. What is tradition? Our tradition is something someone decided sounded like a good idea at the time and did it enough times that it became Tradition. This year I am lighting the tree every morning. Not much of a break there.

But think about Mary ~ and Joseph ~ and all the others wrapped up in this Advent/Christmas journey. Talk about breaking with tradition! Deciding to make the journey in spite of what the world says they “should” do. Tradition can be both good and bad. It is up to us to decide for ourselves what path, what road, what journey to take. Blessings to you as you make the decision for your Advent journey. 

One of Those Phone Calls

I normally wake and get up around six. Normally. This morning at the dark of six, I was sound asleep. The phone rings. Jerk awake. Adrenaline flows as eyes realize the phone is ringing in the dark.

Hello? (Said in that creaky, raspy, first-word-in-the-morning voice. Question mark indicating, what’s wrong? Who’s sick? Do I need to pack to come?)

Concierge? (Question mark indicating disbelief that someone sounding like that could possibly be a concierge.)

Uh, no - this is a private residence.

Oh, uh, hmmmm, (tapering off into incoherent mumbling and hanging up.)

Adrenaline had started to fade instantly of course. Muscles were still crying out for having been so rudely wrenched awake. Gratitude that all is well with the family. Aware I could get up and that it is Saturday morning and there is no reason in the world for me to get up at six. Yay for that. Deep sigh and back to sleep for a while. Phew. 

Decorating Day

Today Kyle and I decorated the tree and a couple of places in the house. I did something I don't usually do and turned the lights on in the middle of the day. You can't really tell and it is very dark outside, storm clouds being rushed in by the wind that has been blowing all day. There's a little snow whipping around but no great accumulation yet. Kyle was a great help and he and I shared Christmas stories. I told more because the ornaments he was helping hang were mostly mine. Ornament stories were fun to share. It was also fun to have a decorating partner who enjoyed himself and was even willing to run to the store when we needed more lights.

Please, note the placement of the nativity scene on the table clustered within a large low branch of the tree. That thought came to me in the middle of the night last night. These figures were bought in the mid-60s during the Civil Rights Movement when African Americans in the South demanded work for dignity and a decent wage. They set up an arts community and sold this nativity among other things. It has graced some platform at Christmas every year since except last. I'm glad to have it out again in a very special place. 

Gold Star Grandson

Our oldest grandson, Kyle, is living with us for a while. It seems to be working out just fine. One night early in his stay, he loaded the dishwasher ~ and wow! he loads it just like I do. One gold star! Because his car is 2-wheel drive, when the weather is really bad, he takes my car and is the only person besides me who can guide it into the garage perfectly (tiny garage, big car) so that I can back it straight out. Two gold stars. 

What begin jokingly has suddenly become more serious as I have discovered all sorts of ways in which this young man is a delight to have around the house. 

Clean snow with dog poop off the deck - third gold star.

Bring in the Christmas tree - fourth gold star. 

Offer to help decorate said tree - fifth gold star (assuming it happens). 

Bring heavy items up the stairs - sixth gold star. 

We laugh about it and at the same time I mean the thanks and gratitude. 

Having an extra person suddenly living with you can be stressful and so far this gold star grandson has been easy and fine to have around. Oh - and for some really neat conversations, seventh gold star!