Highlights of the trip so far
Landed at Newark at 12:30 AM Wednesday morning. Brother picked me up and we drove back to East Setauket, getting home around 2 AM. Good time for catching up, just the two of us.
Thursday, the weather was sunny, clear, and relatively warm for December--50 degrees! Bro took out the Victory and we took about an hour on the bike through the rolling hills of Port Jefferson running errands. Great to ride with my brother.
Thursday evening, Bro had to work, so my sister-in-law, my niece, and I attended the event he's helping to run, the Newsday Holiday Lights Festival, which featured a garden of light, an ice skating rink, vendors, and live music. Fun to see Bro doing his community relations thing for the paper. The music was very good, a local high school jazz choir that had a really fine sound.
Started today with my sister-in-law at her Jazzercise class, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I really needed the workout and was grateful for the chance to move. The rest of the day was auntie/niece day. My niece had a whole list of things she wanted to do with me. First and most important: for a couple of weeks now, my brother, sister-in-law, and niece have all been making a point of telling me to reserve Dec. 23 for a special outing, but keeping a secret what that special outing was to be. Today was the day: Tea at The Secret Garden Tea Cafe in Port Jefferson. Hats were de rigeur, so we selected from their collection of chapeaus and other adornments. Here we are, my sister-in-law, my niece, and me, arrayed in style.
Appropriately attired, we enjoyed food that was tasty and mostly healthy (except for the quarter scone and the half a chocolate chip cookie, but their hit was negligible); when I totaled up the PointsPlus Values, it was more than I usually have midday, but I figured that with the workout, I was in pretty good shape. I also enjoyed the Collins Chocolate, a tea that featured chocolate and hazelnut flavors, and almost--but not quite--tasted like coffee. Just lovely.
Then it was back to the house, where I was treated to a concert on recorder, where I helped my niece with three craft projects (sewing, paper crafts, and yarn crafts), where I looked at her scrapbooks, and in which I played four games of Apples to Apples with her and her mom. We lit Chanukah candles all together. Made me very happy. There was gift-giving (I received a copy of Rhythm of the Pridelands--music inspired by The Lion King--and Shadow of the Vampire on DVD, a movie I've wanted for a very long time). By the time my brother got back from work tonight (and he's finally off now), we were all a little punchdrunk and silly. Our time included an extended discussion about underwear and the Big Lies we tell kids about Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny (the last of which my brother evoked as an 8-foot-tall monster with terrifying front teeth who weaves baskets and lays eggs all year and then goes about the countryside terrifying children by offering them baskets of sweets).
It's been a good couple of days. Tomorrow the Christmas madness begins. I'll be cooking a roast leg of lamb and a sweet potato casserole, (another friend of Bro's is contributing another entree and side dish) and a pile of Bro's old friends will be coming over. Yeah, despite what it looks like, the craziness has barely begun.
Thursday, the weather was sunny, clear, and relatively warm for December--50 degrees! Bro took out the Victory and we took about an hour on the bike through the rolling hills of Port Jefferson running errands. Great to ride with my brother.
Thursday evening, Bro had to work, so my sister-in-law, my niece, and I attended the event he's helping to run, the Newsday Holiday Lights Festival, which featured a garden of light, an ice skating rink, vendors, and live music. Fun to see Bro doing his community relations thing for the paper. The music was very good, a local high school jazz choir that had a really fine sound.
Started today with my sister-in-law at her Jazzercise class, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I really needed the workout and was grateful for the chance to move. The rest of the day was auntie/niece day. My niece had a whole list of things she wanted to do with me. First and most important: for a couple of weeks now, my brother, sister-in-law, and niece have all been making a point of telling me to reserve Dec. 23 for a special outing, but keeping a secret what that special outing was to be. Today was the day: Tea at The Secret Garden Tea Cafe in Port Jefferson. Hats were de rigeur, so we selected from their collection of chapeaus and other adornments. Here we are, my sister-in-law, my niece, and me, arrayed in style.
Appropriately attired, we enjoyed food that was tasty and mostly healthy (except for the quarter scone and the half a chocolate chip cookie, but their hit was negligible); when I totaled up the PointsPlus Values, it was more than I usually have midday, but I figured that with the workout, I was in pretty good shape. I also enjoyed the Collins Chocolate, a tea that featured chocolate and hazelnut flavors, and almost--but not quite--tasted like coffee. Just lovely.
Then it was back to the house, where I was treated to a concert on recorder, where I helped my niece with three craft projects (sewing, paper crafts, and yarn crafts), where I looked at her scrapbooks, and in which I played four games of Apples to Apples with her and her mom. We lit Chanukah candles all together. Made me very happy. There was gift-giving (I received a copy of Rhythm of the Pridelands--music inspired by The Lion King--and Shadow of the Vampire on DVD, a movie I've wanted for a very long time). By the time my brother got back from work tonight (and he's finally off now), we were all a little punchdrunk and silly. Our time included an extended discussion about underwear and the Big Lies we tell kids about Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny (the last of which my brother evoked as an 8-foot-tall monster with terrifying front teeth who weaves baskets and lays eggs all year and then goes about the countryside terrifying children by offering them baskets of sweets).
It's been a good couple of days. Tomorrow the Christmas madness begins. I'll be cooking a roast leg of lamb and a sweet potato casserole, (another friend of Bro's is contributing another entree and side dish) and a pile of Bro's old friends will be coming over. Yeah, despite what it looks like, the craziness has barely begun.