More Rain In Darien (Mitchell Albarran Turns Sixteen Today)

Birthday Boy

Mitch 8/6/2005

12/31/2003

Albarran's Corner

Up early again, at 6:00, with strict instructions to turn on the oven, and put in Trader Joe's frozen croissants, so we could celebrate our grandson Mitchell's sixteenth birthday in style this morning before he heads off to school.  He opened a few presents, tee shirts and a skate boarding sweat shirt so he's happy.  We will celebrate on Sunday with a dinner in Norwalk.  It looks miserable outside, wet and gray, just like Chautauqua except 435 miles east.

Yesterday began with taking Ramiro to Stamford, to catch the train at 7:00.  Then coffee, with Beth, Evie, and Marisa until 8:00, when I walked Marisa up to the bus with Cody.  Beth had some errands to run, so she had to leave around 9:30, so I took Cody for a walk, then decided to go to the cool local coffee shop called NEAT, a very hip and crowded coffee bar in the center of town, quite a contrast to Ryder's Cup at home.  I ordered a latte, which they forgot to bring me, so they were apologetic when I asked where my coffee was and gave me a card for a free coffee next time.  I read, surfed the net, and just relaxed for an hour, watching the crowd, mostly women, some people working or smoozing, a meeting place in Darien.

For lunch we decided to go for sushi, in town, not far.  Beth had to drop her car off at the local mechanics, to get her headlight fixed, so we dropped it off, went for sushi, and picked it up after lunch. Sushi was great, two rolls, salad, and miso soup for nine bucks, a deal really.  It was a good choice, on a wet day here in Darien.

White Gate/Azaleas/Pines

Colors/Verticals/Shapes

Mid afternoon, Beth had to pick up Mitch, take him to physical therapy, then drop him off at practice, so I picked up Marisa at 3:00 and we helped her clean her room till 4:45 when she had to go off to soccer practice for an hour.  Beth took her, picked up a couple other players, and didn't get home till 5:30.  I took Cody for another walk and took some pictures of the colors on their street because I had been reading one of Ramiro's books on Landscape Photography and wanted to see if I learned anything.  It's a great street to walk on, lots of trees and landscaping to enjoy.  Notice the difference?

Bed of Tulips

We were in no hurry for dinner, so we enjoyed some wine in the Sun Room with Marisa until about 7:00.  I came across an interesting salad on a Blog, made with a Green Goddess dressing, with lots of cilantro and yogurt and jalapenos, so Evie put that together, and we added it to greens with black beans and corn.  Everyone liked it.  We had BLT's for dinner, easy and good, so along with the salad we had plenty.  Mitchell got home from a team dinner about 7:00 and went upstairs and spent the rest of the night doing his homework.  He's a busy boy between school and volleyball practices and games but seems to enjoy it.  We stayed up watching TV until 10:30 with Beth, then went to bed, with Mitchell still up working.