What a weekend! My friend Maureen was in town with her sister to celebrate’s Mo’s birthday and they invited me along! I should’ve gone Friday night, but I wasn’t really sure they’d want me the whole weekend…what was I thinking!

That’s Mo on the right

The hotel had a very interesting mural along the walls:

Here’s a close up:

Mo had brought me Christmas gifts from her (toffee peanut butter, oatmeal mix and granola mix from Great Harvest Bread Company, and a gorgeous bracelet), and from Kim and Betsy (who I didn’t get to see on New Year’s Eve). Kim gave me a couple of LOTR lego sets, one of Frodo & Gandalf that I loved, and this one.

Yikes!!!

After that we headed to lunch at Rock Bottom Brewery

pulled pork, avocado, radish, cabbage and chipotle crema…so good! Oh, and a side of mac & cheese.

and then we saw a movie (Parker, a crime thriller, I hadn’t even HEARD of, but enjoyed)

Course I had to take a picture of this at the theater…my three favorite movie series!

back to the hotel to change and then walked to Newbury Street and beyond. yes it was chilly, but we stopped for a good long time at the Apple store so Mo’s sister could buy a new phone.

Then to the Prudential Center to walk in warmth at the mall to kill time before our dinner reservation at 730.

Dinner at Lucca Back Bay was wonderful! Salad course was “Insalata di Cesare”: Romaine lettuce, perfectly dressed with parmigiano dressing, white anchovy (lovely whole filet right on top), pickled shallots and deviled egg on the side (which was so good!). It also included diced toasted focaccia, but I’d had enough bread to start.

My delicous dinner was pappardelle tossed with bolognese sauce ground beef, veal and pork) with mascarpone and parmigiano reggiano. It was heavenly, but I could barely eat 1/3 of it.

For a drink, I had The Yarmouthport which is cranberry and sea salt infused Grey Goose vodkas, Campari and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. YUM!

We wandered over to the lounge afterward to join Mo’s sister’s friend and her boyfriend. I had quite an interesting conversation with him about the DAR, Rosicrucians, the Mayflower, etc. We had a shared history of sorts LOL!

Back to the hotel via cab, then basically straight to bed for me…I’m not used to staying up so late LOL! Mo went to work out in the hotel’s gym til 130! Crazy lady! The lobby of the hotel turns into a nightclub and boy, did we see some dressed up folks! They were like peacocks LOL! Men AND women!

The next morning, Mo’s sister went across the street to Panera to get us coffee and a few pastries, all of which were fantastic. We sat around chatting and relaxing before checking out.

Mo’s sister headed back to the Vineyard, where she lives (lucky gal!) and Mo and I headed to Wegmans to complete out weekend.

Dave encouraged me to spend the night with them and took great care of Wolf while I was gone. I’m a lucky gal to have him in my life, that’s for damn sure!

Wolf was happy to have me come home

Hope you all had a great weekend! Tell me about it!

The other day, I was walking down the hallway at work and looked out the window. There was a square cloud! I did a double take, took a closer look and I’ll be damned! It really was a square cloud! Have you ever seen such a thing? Go ahead, click on the picture and take a closer look. Amazing!

Got me thinking about things I was grateful for…things like the chance, and the eye to notice things like this. Grateful to be alive…that my friends and family are healthy and happy…that I found love so late in life…and so much of it!

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to you all. What are you thankful for this day?

Friday: The weekend started off with a lobster dinner…they were $3.99/pound at Market Basket and wth! Lobster cheaper than steak, we’ll take a few!

Saturday: Didn’t hear Dave get up at 6 to go to his daughter’s house to get Ralphy. He hung out there awhile so I could have some quiet before the storm (that is Ralphy lol).

I did two loads of laundry, walked and fed the dog, relaxed with a combo of FB, email & the book I’m reading (Two Coots in a Canoe) and fixed myself a breakfast of leftovers (cold corn off the cob, bbq chicken, cherry tomatoes, radishes with a bit of olive oil, balsamic vinegar & salt). Just as I sat down to eat it, Dave & Ralphy came home. Dave asked me to fix Ralphy something to eat (my turn now lol) but he said “he had food at home and didn’t want anything (this was a theme all day). I had boiled some eggs that morning and noticed one of them had not only cracked but the end of the shell had popped off. I showed it to Ralphy, he giggled and I had him touch it which made him giggle even more. Then he asked if he could taste it, sure! He liked it, so that was his breakfast (with ketchup on top, of course). Funny how those things work out!

Then Ralphy and I went to my boss’s house, she was having a yard sale (Dave went to practice with his brother and some other guys…turned out they had a great time and stayed for almost 5 hours, the brat LOL). Ralphy had the time of his life at her house…her grandson was there, whom Ralphy had met once before at a local park. They played with remote control cars, ran through a sprinkler, and shot baskets (both of them are obsessed with basketball).

While I was there, I got stung by a yellow jacket (there is a nest in the siding of my boss’s house, I am to remind her to CALL THE EXTERMINATOR on Monday). This ruined my string of only getting stung once in my life (I was 3 the first time, I loved grasshoppers and ooh look, there’s one on the stairs, let’s play with it…OUCH! Wrong bug…it was a wasp.) My screams of terror at this yellow jacket on my foot alarmed, then amused the kids. My boss, after apologizing all over the place, laughed and said she’d never seen me move so fast Anyway, we were there for about 4 hours and I was on my feet for a good portion of that time helping the kids shoot baskets.

Came home and fed the snapping turtles down by the slowly dwindling pond.

After that, we crashed for a bit in the AC watching a nature show.

Dave’s older grandson called, he’d just come home from bagging at the local grocery store and said he was bored (when he said that, I could hear my Nana’s voice in my head, telling me, when I once told her I was bored, if you’re bored, you’re boring, and I kept it in my head), so I picked him up and we hung out a bit more til Dave got home, then we descended upon my friend Michelle and went to dinner at a diner near her home and had a great time.

Poor Ralphy had the poops twice (post dinner pre-and during ice cream eating) (he didn’t have ice cream. I did. Ever try to wipe a kid’s butt holding a cone in one hand in a port-a-potty? YUCK!!!) (too much apple juice was the cause, Melissa said). After the second time he said that poop was REALLY loud and I laughed to myself

not poop, but a yummy coffee soft serve

When Dave dropped me off at home, then left to take the kids home, I hopped in bed, read for exactly a millisecond, then I was OUT til 630 the next morning.

Sunday: Same as Saturday, except I had two boiled eggs and watermelon for breakfast.

Dave brought Ralphy over, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a iced coffee and a couple munchkins for Ralphy, who was surprised to see there was jelly in the middle!

Then we headed to a nearby lake and did some kayaking, some paddle boating, some fishing (Dave) and more reading (me).

Both of us were tired after that, so we stopped at McDonald’s (don’t judge lol) on the way home and got takeout which we ate at a local water park/playground, so Ralphy could have some more fun. I gotta say, he was a good boy and ate his whole meal, watching the kids play in the water and giggling excitedly from time to time. Adorable! Saw a shiba at the park, too.

How was your weekend?

Last Monday, I had the pleasure of finally meeting Mrs. G., her lovely daughter Caitie and another long time blog friend, Erin! Also got to see Erika again and that was a pleasant surprise! I was happy to meet some new derfs folks, one of whom, Deb, lives less than 5 miles away from me and at whose lovely home we all met. She put on quite an amazing spread and her children (in their late teens or early 20s, I believe) helped her by doing most of the cooking, serving, and cleaning up! It was a magical night, truly. Lots of laughter, good food and drink and some new friendships made. Thank you, Deb, for opening up your home!

We started off with some drinks

and hors d’oeuvres (Deb said that peanut butter and horseradish on a ritz was a snack her grandfather enjoyed very much and let me tell you, it was VERY good!)

Derfs and food

more Derfs and food (notice who’s lurking in the corner)

Mrs. G., finally!

Here, Deb’s kids are serving us dinner…they were so amazing, seriously! Deb, at the head of the table, looks so proud of them, as well she should be!

Deb made this delicious pavlova, too! Wow, it was so light and airy, I loved it!

Whoopie pies, made by Deb, and quite delicious! She did well on the New England theme (whoopie pies are said to have been invented in Maine, although there is a debate about that … since some folks say they were invented in and around Lancaster, PA)

Mrs. G. and me, holding the goddesses Debbie made for us and sent all the way from Japan! Mrs. G.’s was for her trip, mine was sent a couple years ago when I was fighting cancer. Thanks, Debbie!!!

My friend Maureen and I drove to Jamestown, NY to visit our friends Kim and Kris (Dave stayed home and took care of Wolf) and luckily the trip coincided with my birthday hehehe. The first night we made the most delicious salad from Wegman’s salad bar.

we love Wegman’s!

Up early the next morning for a long walk with Mo (as is our habit when we visit Kim). Then off to Lilydale where I had a past life reading (my friend Claudia mentioned she’d like to hear about the reading and it’s kind of long, so that will be a separate post up soon), as did Maureen and then we wandered around Lilydale for a bit.

We joined Kim at her country club (she’s a dentist) and had a light lunch.

“Light lunch”

Later that evening we went to Forte, where the girls treated me to a lovely dinner. I had something called Corn Agnolotti; it’s described as “home-made stuffed pasta filled with corn, polenta & Marscapone cheese tossed with delicate crab, green peas & carrots in a corn milk cream sauce with a hint of truffle” and holy MOG was it GOOD! We shared a couple of appetizers, too: a devilled egg platter (the chip & dip one was amazing) and drunken mussels (described as “a traditional Belgian preparation: one pound of mussels sautéed with home-made crumbled chorizo sausage & onions in a mellow beer broth alongside french fries & a Pommery mustard aioli”). Also had two bottles of wine!

For dessert, chocolate stout cake and a ginger cupcake with green tea ice cream. I was stuffed at that point and only had a few bites!

But it was delish, especially the ginger cupcake with it’s yummy bit of candied ginger inside.

The next morning we took a trip to Amish country and stopped at so many amazing places.

My mother was from Lancaster, PA which has a large Amish community and we spent a few vacations in that area, so this kind of felt like home to me.

After that, we toured the Southern Tier Brewery and emjoyed the most amazing Creme Brulee Stout. I bought a bottle of that yummy stuff!

And after THAT we went to a party at Kris’s house and sang songs and had a great time.

After all that eating and drinking, I still lost a pound when I weighed in on Tuesday!

All in all, it was a fantastic time and I’m so glad we made the trip!