A Busy Sunday in Darien

Evie and Marisa Walking Cody

I slept in a little, getting up at 6:45 and Rami was already up, working at his computer.  It makes you wonder what we did in the mornings before we had computers?  Sleep more? Watch TV?  Probably read the newspaper, which I now do on the computer.  Maybe talk more?  Probably.

Beth and Rami returned from a great day visiting Dartmouth and Amherst College on the way home yesterday.  Tyler likes Dartmouth quite a bit, thought Amherst might be too small but still has Princeton as his favorite, all very difficult schools to get accepted.  Beth and Rami are smart looking at colleges so early, making it easier for all next year. He can apply early decision to the school of his choice, about the only advantage there now seems to be in the college game.  Nothing seems certain anymore except that whether you get in or not seems to be a crap shoot.  So many bright kids, with straight A's and high scores apply to the Ivy's that I assume they don't even have a rubric for choosing other than subjective choice...this kid sounds interesting, fills this nitch (black, athlete, Asian, etc).  I don't envy Tyler.

We ate burgers last night for dinner from a local bar called Rory's, expensive but good, a half pound of meat, with fries.   We all felt  stuffed afterwards, perhaps because we are not used to that much burger or we had been eating sticky buns on and off all day.  Marisa had a friend over to make posters and Mitch spent the morning at his pottery class.  He made a couple of vases and a tray, at least he shaped them out of clay and will have to rework them next week before putting them in a kiln.

Marisa and her friend Magaret

Mitch's Pottery Class

Today, my good friend Hasan Teoman, a former Turkish student, now living in Budapest, comes over to the Albarran's for brunch.  I have not seen him since 2009 when he had us down to his villa/home on the Mediterrean in Gocek, Turkey, on the southern coast.  Finally, we get to return a modicum of hospitality for what he showed us then.  He's been here on business for about a week, in Miami, State College, now NYC, where he has businesses.  He's a great guy and we look forward to seeing him.

View from Hasan's villa in Gocek, Turkey, Mediterranean Coast

I also spent some time in my favorite other grocery store, Fairways, in Stamford, picking up some Kashkaval cheese(Turkish) and coffee.  It's an amazing store as you can see, with all varieties of foods.  It's easy to spend lots of money there.

Coffees at Fairways Market