Below Freezing In Bristow But Sunny

Dinner with the Bissell's and Bottiny's 

Awake at 5:00, as Drew is up early for his forty five minute drive to work to Fort Belvoir, just outside of Washington, DC.  Traffic around the city is terrible unless you leave early or return late. Fortunately, I was able to sleep in till about 6:30 and it looks like another cool but sunny day in Virginia.  When we arrived on Friday, it was in the high 70's.  This morning it's 29º, quite a change in three days.  It's 21º in Chautauqua, so winter is no doubt on its way, even here in Virginia.

A Happy Halle Bissell

Backyard Trees in Fall

Yesterday was another fun day, lots of sun, granddaughters, and warm enough to just wear a fleece, though we did not spend much time outside, other than a walk with Coco around the neighborhood. We lazed around the house much of the morning though I did go to Safeway to get things for last night's dinner.  There are two shopping areas less than ten minutes away, and one, Gateway Center has just about every store and fast food restaurant imaginable and just opened a new section with theaters, high end restaurants and condo's starting at 300,000.  This area is obviously blooming, as is the traffic.

The Barbecue Guys

Around 11:30, Jill, Evie, Halle and I went off to Merrifield Nursery, an amazing place, with acres of trees, plants, gardens, rocks, slate, patio stones, as well as an indoor area with Virginia wines, a cafe, and just about anything else that has to do with the outdoors, from gardening, to pots, to birds, to wind chimes and the like.  But best of all, they have free popcorn, to enjoy as you shop.  While we were browsing, Drew went off at 12:15 to BW-3, the wing restaurant, to get seats for the Kansas City Chiefs football game at 1:00.  After the nursery, Jill and I dropped Evie and Halle off at home, and we then we met Drew for a couple of beers and some wings.  Drew was sitting with a couple of buddies from his high school days, and got there early enough to save us seats.   Sundays at BW-3 is a almost religious happening, with hundreds of fans dressed in their teams football jerseys, with just about every team represented, but mostly Redskin and Baltimore fans.  We stayed for the first half, then went home, drowsy and full from our afternoon repast of wings and beer, the polar opposite of  the five hour energy drinks for sure.

Getting Religion  at BW-3's On A Sunday Afternoon

I went home and fell asleep on the couch watching football, the manly thing to do on a Sunday afternoon.  But I was energized afterwards, fortunately, as my sister Ellen and her husband Walt arrived around 4:00 for dinner.  They live in Herndon, about 30 minutes away from Bristow.  We had not seen them since our last visit to Bristow in late June.  We had fun catching up with the lives of their kids, of course, and we had a great dinner of teriyaki pork chops, rice, and Brussels sprouts. We did have a good laugh around 5:00,  as Drew took Halle over to his sister's house for a birthday party but called shortly after he arrived to say no one was at home.  Jill quickly checked the calendar, only to realize the party was next Sunday.  She will have a hard time living this down, as the Bissell family, for sure, will not let her forget it.  At least we got to have Halle with us for dinner and after.  Ellen also brought her photo book she had made of their trip to Maine, filled with amazing photographs she took of their trip in October.  They left around 8:00 and we put the kids to bed and watched the next episode of Homeland, still not as compelling as the past two years and confusing, as we are often not sure what's going on.  And where's Brody?  And thank goodness annoying Dana may be gone for good, as she just upped and told her Mom she could not live at home any longer.  Her mother acquiesced, gave her money, and off she went to who knows where.  I hope off the program.