Life's a Beach -- Seriously!
There's nothing like waking up here at our beach house. It's just so special!
I'm so sorry Mitch never got to experience that -- that he couldn't have had the chance to just stay over night here one time, at least. I know I need to be grateful that he lived to visit our house -- and have the surprise Marilyn so very much wanted. He was so genuinely pleased for us, which is amazing. It takes a special and close friend to be invested in your happiness that way -- and that's what Mitch was. He was our best and dearest friend and he loved unconditionally and deeply. I admit it: I'm grieving very hard for him right now, even though I try not to talk about it all that much. But I think of him all the time. I don't want to be sad, because HE wouldn't want me to be sad -- I know that. But it's so hard right now...
Marilyn let me sleep in while she went off for quite a long walk! She went all the way in to the beach and even stopped at the store on her way home! She got the milk I didn't remember when we were shopping last night.
Colin and Henry were sleeping with me on and off all night. And this morning Colin climbed under the covers with me and we snoozed together until Marilyn got back. Lovely!
Before people arrived, Marilyn and I went back to the garage sale we'd attended yesterday (that I forgot to mention before!). We got a hall runner rug there on Saturday, and they had two of them, so we went back to get the second one. We put one in the hall downstairs and the second in the upstairs hall. Really nice! (And both cats love them! I got photos on my phone of Colin and Henry lying on the upstairs rug.)
Candy didn't come along, but sister Sue came down with Nicole and Ulises. Tomorrow is Ulises birthday -- he's turning 15. Sue invited us all to breakfast at the Pig 'N Pancake. Marilyn and I bought Ulises a card and gave it to him while we were there.
The two kids wanted blue berry pancakes with bacon and eggs, so I figured out how they could order that combo -- then ended up getting it myself! It was yummy good. After that we went and played a little bit of Fascination, then the kids went off on their own and the three of us came back to the house.
We'd seen a chair at the garage sale that was part of a set of four, on sale for $85. Marilyn wanted to get them so we could put two out on our deck in back, and two on the front porch. We left Sue at the house while we went back to get the chairs. The woman selling them -- Sharon -- took us over to her house to see the other three chairs. Her husband Larry was there and kindly offered to bring the chairs down to our house -- which both he and Sharon did! So nice of them. We got the four chairs for $80, so that was twenty bucks a chair. A good deal, and they look really nice.
Marilyn was pretty excited. She spent quite some time sitting out on the deck in one of the chairs, enjoying the sun. It's one of the things she's imagined doing since we moved in here last February...
We went back for Coverall (Fascination) at just past 2:00 p.m., but we didn't win. Then we found the kids and brought them back here with us for awhile. Sue ended up dropping the kids back in town so they could shop. At 5:00 she headed out to take them to dinner and head for home. The two of us had an evening nap, planning to maybe go to the show. We just blew that off and stayed home, which was fine!
Tonight I fried dill pickles. You can buy them with those long lengthwise slices, and they're perfect for frying. I used regular flour, Wondra and some seasoned bread crumbs to coat them (milk first), and fried them in oil mixed with a little bit of butter. They were WONDERFUL! If you can't go out for deep fried pickles, this is a nice replacement! And they're so simple to make...
We watched the season premiere of "Revenge" (great, as always!!!) and then "666 Park Avenue" (the jury is still out on that show).
The cats? Henry sat on my lap and Colin on Marilyn's lap -- both of them for hours!