Category: worries

This evening John and I go to hear Hookslide at the Backyard Coffee Co. in Redwood City.    The guys do a great job and sing two long sets.  The venue, however, is pretty grotty and I am hoping that this will be the only time they sing here.

 

On the Sunday after my birthday Jonathan, Nathan, and Sam come over for a little celebration.  In addition to having another coffee cake that Sarah has made, we play some fake tennis, and Sam marvels that I still have the pumpkin that he gave me for Halloween.

This year we have a smaller celebration than usual because George has torn his Achilles’ tendon and is still not terribly mobile even though he had the tear in August.

We meet for drinks at Karen and George’s house and have dinner at Piatti’s, a local favorite. Piatti’s has this olive oil, crushed pepper, and garlic dipping sauce that is so good.   Of course, after eating hours d’ouevres at their house and dipping quite a bit of bread, I am barely hungry for dinner. So I take at least half home.

Today is my birthday and I start off the day with flowers, cards, and a fabulous present from John, an Apple iPad Pro with a keyboard! No more schlepping around my heavy computer when we travel! The screen is large and all my pictures look great on it.  In addition Sarah makes me a wonderful coffee cake which is just like the one we used to get from the Dugan man when I was a kid growing up. The Dugan man came to the door with his expandable case full of bakery goodies a couple of times a week.  I always loved it when we would get the coffee cake with nuts and almond paste.

Thank you so much, John and Sarah!

John, Sarah, and I also went out to dinner with Phyllis & Gary plus Becca and our nephew, Mike, while we up in the Tampa area. Phyllis suggested a German place, Taste of Berlin, and it was great. Becca and Mike are fun to be with and we all enjoyed schnitzels and beer!

Yum, Thanksgiving! With all of us making a contribution, we are having a lavish feast! In addition to our dishes, creamed onions and Indian pudding, I have made myself and my sisters Thanksgiving aprons.  Peg and Phyllis seem happy with them. Dinner is definitely a case of too many cooks not spoiling the broth (dinner.) Our dinner consists of turkey, sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, creamed onions, green bean casserole, parsnips and carrots, rolls, and cranberry sauce. For dessert there is apple-cranberry pie and Indian pudding with ice cream. In addition Andy and Brittany have smoked a brisket.  No one is going hungry today.

I am sad, though, that this is the first Thanksgiving that I have not been with Jonathan since 1977, the year he was born. I know he will do a great job cooking dinner but I miss him as well as Ryan, Nathan, and Sam. But, yay!, this is the first time I have had Thanksgiving dinner with my sisters in a long, long time.

As long as we are already on the East Coast, we decide to make a trip down to Florida for Thanksgving at Phyllis and Gary’s near Tampa.  First order of business, though, is a little girl-time at a Victorian Tea Room. Peggy, Phyllis, Sarah, Brittany (nephew Andy’s wife), and I tuck into a spot of tea with some delicious sandwiches, soup, scones, and dessert.

 

Sarah, John and I travel to South Carolina to attend the wedding of Melissa Hansen Keefe to Rob Murren.  How can I miss this? It is a great chance to spend a little time with my dear friend Sophie.

The wedding and reception are full of happiness. Melissa has been through very hard times losing her first husband, Nick, at such a young age. We are thrilled that she has found this new love and that Tyler will have a new dad. The ceremony is very touching with Rob making vows also to Tyler promising to be a good dad to him.

Today we had the gang over and we went to the Pumpkin Patch at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. Afterwards we had dinner featuring Zayde burgers, brussels sprout slaw, and potato salad. For dessert we had what Sarah called brain cake but was actually an upside down cranberry cake.