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No longer on the river and, again, an empty nester. Back to living on Fleming Island and making some more friends!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Hanging with the Family

On this rainy Saturday afternoon, the house is quiet except for the TV searching for a program to watch. It’s been raining all night and so far, all day, but it did not prevent us from heading to Cleveland for breakfast with Lisa and family. Gabe appeared to have grown 2” since they were at my house in August---wow!, is that a month ago? Not quite a month ago.
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Lisa at first wished to meet at Perkins as they were going to the zoo afterward but since it’s been raining, they chose a place closer to their home. We love this restaurant in the orchard, charming, with delicious food. I ordered a single pancake with ham and fried potatoes. When it came, I laughed because the pancake nearly covered the entire plate. I am SO glad I didn’t order two or more! Alayna, Grandma K, and Lynn were part of the group as well, all enjoying their meals. Tonight is Lisa’s class reunion so they’ll be heading this way later on to drop the boys at Lynn’s and then proceeding downtown to the gathering. I’m happy they are going and hope they have a wonderful time. I’m sure Lisa will look lovely and not aged at all in 15 years!
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All of us are sort of weary today, probably from the dreary, wet weather but I like to believe it’s from the late night some of us had, tearing it up at the scrapbook store ‘til all hours. After meeting Tommy and Linda at the Green Street, a group of six of us managed to get a table in a relatively short time due in part to my calling ahead in the afternoon. Even though the hostess said there are no reservations on Fridays, I asked her to please make a note that I was coming at 6:00 pm with six people. Sure enough, as Tommy walked into the bar, we were led to our table! He asked how we got a table so quickly and I just smiled and winked at him. Tommy said, “I should have known.” We were wedged into very tight quarters but managed to eat and enjoy, for many of us, the perch dinners. Most, most scrumptious and of course, humorous, since Tommy was with us!
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After dinner, Lynn, Linda, Alayna, and I went to the scrapbook store and were warmly greeted. The place was mobbed and Lynn had a hard time finding a place to park due to all the cars. This was her first scrapbook outing and didn’t really know what to expect. There had to be 20 or 30 tables, all occupied so the proprietors went into their kitchen and came out with a large, long conference table. Before we were fully set-up and such, a couple ladies were leaving and offered us their spot, which put us into the heart of the room rather than off on the side where they’d put us. By the time we left, the extra table and other ones were all taken and in use. Lynn got some stickers and an archivers’ pen to journal in the album I’d given her of Gabe’s photos and she busily made out a wish-list of supplies she needed. Linda has invited both Lynn and Alayna to do this more often and so it sounds as though a plan was made, and another person is captured in the web of scrapbooking!!!!!
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Alayna and I came back to a darkened Grandma’s house, finding her truly fast asleep already at 11:35. Alayna went in and out of her Grandma’s room a couple times and she never stirred so pulled the door closed so we wouldn’t disturb her sleep. I went right to bed but Lani was going to read for a bit before going to sleep. Only once did I wake in the wee hours to go wee! It’s my policy to never check the clock when I get up because it sets an artificial alarm clock in my head, which would not be good. (Guess I’m like Kramer who doesn’t use a watch either! He judges time by the sun, and is usually off only by an hour or two!) When it comes to waking up in the morning, I prefer to fly by the seat of my pants, except for those occasions when I am actually going to fly! Since we were meeting folks for breakfast this a.m., I did get up at a reasonably early time in order for us all to get in and out of the bathroom, loaded into the car, and on our way. We did arrive exactly on time, rare for me, which would be considered “late” by Mom’s standards!
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At this moment I am waiting to hear from Barb about when they are getting to Arno’s house to relieve Nancy. If I want to spend time with them at all, I must go out there this afternoon or evening, as they leave for vacation tomorrow after church. Harv had to work today and then they are heading to Manitowoc from Green Bay. I am going to head out there soon in order to connect to the Internet and launch this posting!