A Weekend To Look Forward To--- With The Grandchildren

Cookies Decorated by Olivia and Marlena

Dad, Mom and Son 

It's 7:00, another clear morning, 36º outside, a frigid 18º at Chautauqua, with lots of snow still I assume. Weather here in KC has been great since we arrived and should stay that way through the rest of our stay.  It's always strange to wake up in someone else's house; everything is different, from the chair, to the view, to the coffee maker, to the wake up times for everyone and the morning routines, radio or TV or silence.  Right now it's silence until Marlena gets up, who is usually the first one up after me.

Black Friday was sunny and cool and because Nick was down with a cold and allergies, we mostly hung out at the house though we did take a short excursion to the Mall, to see how wild it was and Tom picked up a Christmas tree, artificial, in four parts with lights.  In five minutes, we had it set up with the lights turned on. Amazing invention. Where were these trees when I was driving off to the local farm or parking lot, to pick out the 'perfect tree', which was never perfect when you got it home. And then you had to struggle to put it in the stand, and fuss with it until it was straight enough to please the family, like something out of Chevy Chase's Christmas film.  Evie and Mary also ran in to Old Navy because they were having a 50% off sale on everything but the check out lines were the length of the store so we just went home. When we got home, we checked to see if the nine foot tree fit in the living room; it did so Mary and Marlena and her friend Olivia spent the next hour decorating the tree.

Decorating the Tree With The Girls

Late afternoon, because Mary was having trouble with a tooth, Tom took her to the dentist and she ended up getting a root canal, not exactly what she wanted on Thanksgiving weekend but all's well that end's well.  She no longer has any pain.  I took Bella out for a walk; we circled the neighborhood, both on trails and on sidewalks, crossed creeks, which I had to carry her over, and we were out for at least 45 minutes.  She returned out of breath and promptly took a nap.  While I was out, Evie and Marlena's best friend, Olivia, decorated more of the cookies Evie brought from Chautauqua, always fun for the girls.  And she taught them both how to play the card game Telefunky, which they both loved, so they had a fun afternoon. Nick mostly slept on the couch, occasionally changing the channel from one game to another.

Ten Foot Ice Sickle's Along Gorge Wall

For dinner, Tommy made a huge pot of turkey soup.  It was delicious, just what the doctor ordered for Nick as well as the rest of the family and with left over turkey, mashed potatoes, and brussel sprouts, we had a second Thanksgiving dinner, almost as good as the first. We were tired of watching sports so the entire family went down stairs to watch a movie both Evie and I love, ONCE, but the kids were reluctant as was Tom because they all know the kind of movies we like.  Tom wanted to know if it had subtitles.  Well, we insisted and I am still not sure how much they liked it though all stuck with it to the end.  It had no violence or sex, a few 'bad words,' and was 'very slow,' but the love story was moving even if unrequited and the music, the center of the film, written and song by Glen Hansard, was great. Evie and I have seen it at least five times now but I fear this may be the only time for the rest of the Davis family.

After the movie, Nick went to bed, the rest of us had peanut butter cheese cake and watched Kansas lose to Villanova in basketball, interrupted only by Tom and me getting another bowl of turkey soup for a late night snack.  We all went to bed around 11:00.  I am reading a cheesy novel called THE STAR OF ISTANBUL, supposedly a thriller but ridiculous at times.  But I have to stick with it because I realized both the second book I brought along and the Kindle book I downloaded I had already read.  What an idiot.

A Lee's Summit Morning at 7:00

No plans yet for today; we will wait to see how Nick feels.  Flash... I guess Tom and Mary's best friends, the Burlingames are coming over for a vodka and shrimp pasta dinner tonight.  Groovy.