Mer’s parents came in earlier in the week, which is a happy thing, but they came in to go with Aunt Mary to a funeral in Michigan, which is sad. Mer’s aunt, Aunt Jean, died the previous weekend from cancer, and Aunt Mary, Dale, and Carlene drove up to Michigan on Wednesday for the funeral. They stayed two nights, and came back on Friday. We were able to spend some good time with them over the weekend, which was unexpected, but a nice blessing out of a sad occasion.
On Saturday, we met the clan at Aunt Mary’s and proceeded to lunch at Taggart’s ice cream parlor. Mer and I are very fond of Taggart’s, which has been in business for over eighty years, and is in Mer’s old neighborhood. We had a very good lunch, but I skipped dessert, which may be the only time it has happened that the entire rest of the family got dessert, but I skipped it. I knew Mer and I were going to Londa Churchill’s birthday party that evening, and I knew I would not be temperate there.
After lunch, we drove over to the theater and got tickets to see The Help. I had not heard of the movie and knew nothing at all about it, and I was very pleasantly surprised. The film is about black maids in Mississippi in the 1960s, and it was excellent. It was well acted throughout, funny in places, and pretty riveting storytelling. I expect it will get a few Oscars in the spring.
After the movie, we had to head north so we could get to Londa’s party, so we swung by home to pick up some peanut butter bars I had made. Zach and Londa only live about three miles away, so it was no problem driving there. There were a ton of cars parked on the street. This was Londa’s thritieth birthday, so Zach had made sure it was a big event. There were a ton of people, most of whom I did not know. Mer ran into a former student and spent much of the evening chatting with her. I briefly saw a former colleague, Brittian, and got to speak briefly with him. As expected, there was a ton of good food, and I was not moderate.
One big surprise to me was Londa’s father – he is a professional masseur, and he had brought his portable massage chair. He was giving out free massages, and they were good ones, lasting about twenty minutes. I jumped at the chance, and enjoyed it very much. Londa’s father has the biggest hands I have ever seen, so he is very good at what he does. Mer was able to get a massage as well. It was a very nice touch to the party.
On Sunday, we went to Aunt Mary’s church, and after church we went to Grinders, which is a local chain specializing in “grinders” – baked subs. This is another restaurant of which Mer and I are very fond, and the branch in our area closed about two years ago, so we were very happy to go. We ate outside, and that worked out well thanks to the oversized umbrellas on the tables – it rained briefly, but we managed to stay dry. Again, throwing tradition to the wind, I skipped dessert, which was a shame. I actually wanted to get the excellent brownie sundae, but I needed to get home, and Mer and I had driven in separate cars for that reason, so I left everyone awaiting their desserts.
In the evening, Mer and I went over to Jason’s house. Jason is CVCA’s vice-president, and he is one of my running partners, and I enjoy his company very much. His wife, Lisa, is very gracious and, as an added bonus, is from Maine. Jason had just had a birthday, and Lisa was starting a new teaching job, so I wanted to celebrate with them, so I broke out my step-mom’s pie crust recipe, and I made my first-ever raspberry pie. It came out okay, although the crust on the edge was a bit thick – I need to work on that. Lisa’s parents were visiting from Maine, so Mer and I were treated to hearing the homeland accent again. We chatted and ate pie for about thirty minutes, and then we headed home.
Dale and Carlene were scheduled to head home on Tuesday, so we wanted to make sure to see them on Monday. Aunt Mary and they were kind enough to offer to come up to our house for supper so we would not have to drive so much on a work day. They all arrived before I was home from my afternoon run, so they took the opportunity, with Mer, to go check out a one-story house that is being built in our neighborhood. Mer and I are happy about that – we think it would be great to live near Mer’s parents.
For supper, we all headed up to Hudson to Yours Truly, another great local restaurant. We got to eat outside again, and the only slight surprise with that was that four or five fire trucks went by and honked their horns at the behest of several kids eating near us. They were quite loud, but I was pleased that the drivers would humor the kids like that. For some reason, the service at Yours Truly was really slow (we waited about forty-five minutes for our food, which was all pretty simple), so when the waitress did not ask if we wanted dessert, we did not press the issue. I’m not sure I have ever been out three times in a row and not gotten dessert.
Dale and Carlene did get off okay on Tuesday, and they got home to Maine just fine, but had the misfortune to be in the Washington, DC airport when the 5.5 earthquake hit the region. Carlene said it was pretty chaotic, and the terminals were evacuated for about twenty minutes as a precaution. Happily, no one was hurt, and the flights still took off after short delays.