Day 2 - Marianne & Jim's visit

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VeraBlue

Executive Chef
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Messages
3,683
Location
northern NJ
First, let me thank each and every one of you who has posted previously that you are enjoying my parent's visit. That means so very much to me. They suffered a horrifying experience this past October and I could have lost them both in the blink of an eye. Seeing them for the first time since that event has made me appreciate their quirks all the more. No, they don't know they are the subject of these threads. My mom would start her helicopter routine and hover over me, wanting to read what I was writing. They also might start acting differently, which would cease to be entertaining.

We ended the evening last night in the 11ish vicinity. After a huge dinner and a fair amount of booze, plus their plane ride, Lou's multiple train rides, my daughter's subway/bus ride....11 was late enough. I was happy to see the automatic dishwasher fairy came in the night because everything in the machine was clean. The counters were a mess, but the dishes were clean.

And, my peeler wasn't in the wrong place, it was still on the counter, so it was safe, for the time being. Got everything cleaned and proceeded to make breakfast of fried potatoes, scrambled eggs with provolone and chopped tomato, bacon, english muffins with homemade grape jam and homemade danish. Other than different aromas, the kitchen is again as destroyed as it was last night. Jim insisted he wasn't hungry, and please don't make anything on his account...then he ate everything. He also mentioned swigging cod liver oil from the bottle and at that point I suggested that might be a bit of information he might want to keep to himself.
He told me a story about his recent hair cut. Dad doesn't have the head of wavy locks he used to. There are barely any locks left, to be precise. A television was on in the barber shop where he gets his hair cut. A baseball game was on. As he sat in the chair, a batter struck three and was out. By the time the next batter got the first pitch, the barber was done and was dusting him off. :ermm: No, not many locks left.

I hear people cleaning the kitchen now, and someone is reading the newspaper. Apparently, up north, we have a better quality of news and newspaper to print it on. I may let them take the paper home with them so they can remember how good our paper quality is. Lou and I want to get a bike ride in, even though it's just 30 degrees. My parents want to come along because the trails we ride on border the house I grew up in...the house with all the ill gotten bricks from Lodi. My parents lived in that house from 1961 till 1992. It went from a 4 room cape to a sprawling 10 room single level home - huge fireplace, sky lights that opened, wet bar, attached garage, formal dining room.....all built by my father's hands. It broke his heart to leave that house. I see it all the time because I ride there quite often. The people that live there now pulled up the tree that my grandfather planted, a beautiful flowering crab apple, most of the gardens my mother planted are gone, and worst of all, there is no way to get from the yard into the park the property borders on. I don't think they are going to like what they see. I'll suggest they bring a flask so they can numb the pain of seeing it so changed. If nothing else, it will numb them from the weather.

We're headed to the city later to see the tree in Rockefeller Center and then to Delta Grill for cajun food.

My mother just asked me why I wanted to know what year they sold the house. I laughed and told her I was writing a book. She said 'oh, you're so funny' and then rolled her eyes.

see you all later, I think she's trying to put stuff away and I have to safeguard the peeler. You know, it's occured to me that if I just stop peeling things I won't have to worry about it's potential misplacement any longer.
 
VB, I am enjoying the stories of your parents , and their visit with you. I know Lodi a little, lived there when I first married my ex, in 1964.
LC
 
All seems well so far. I do enjoy your writing very much. I also understand that when our folks get older they function in some fo the ways that they used to and some new ways, as well. they are still out parents and we have limited time with them. I was 23 when my dad died. Mom is not 87 and has Alzheimer. I can see her, but, I asls see her slipping. Enjoy them while you can.

AC
 
It sounds like you're having a wonderful visit so far. I hope they were okay with the changes to their old house. I went back to my childhood home a couple of months ago when I was visiting my sister and the changes kind of made me sad. All of the memories....

Rockefellar Center should be wonderful!
 
VeraBlue: Your tales about your parents visit remaind me about one of my aunts. She died long time ago, but we still enjoy talking about her and the things she did.
She was a wonderful person and we miss her a lot.
Have a wonderful time in Rockefeller Centre!!
 
I was just talking with some neighbors last night about going back to see an old house - not a good idea. My in-laws went back not long after selling the house they lived in for 30-some years and she was broken-hearted from seeing that the new owners had cut down the evergreen trees she had planted in the back yard when they first bought the house.

These are great stories, VB - keep up the good work :)
 
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