Warming Up In Virginia

Morning Calm at 7:45

Well, I was the first one up for once here in Bristow, as the family gets to sleep in because it's Saturday.   Drew was up shortly after me and at the moment, it's almost 8:00 and Hayden has just gotten up because she's off in a few minutes to a cross country meet.  Otherwise, all are still sleeping.

Yesterday Evie and I had much of the morning and afternoon to ourselves as the rest were either working or in school.  Around 8:15, however, Jill and I took the two dogs for a good hour walk around the neighborhood because she does need to get to work until 10:00, a civilized time to start the workday.  Around 10:30, after Evie had prepped some of the chicken for our dinner, we drove the backroads to a mall to do some shopping at Bed, Bath And Beyond.  They had some wine glasses Evie had liked online but when we got there, she realized they were much larger than she thought and difficult to handle.  So we ended up buying some cheap ones she liked, a bargain at $.83 cents apiece.  I did not complain.

Pavillion at Merrifield Nursery

We then headed back to Gainesville and stopped at the amazing Merrifield Nursery, about ten minutes from Jill's house.  Merrifield is much more than a nursery, with a bistro, wine store, knick-knack shop, lighting store with amazing chandeliers for sale and to top it off, they have a free popcorn and coffee.  We browsed inside while enjoying a bag of popcorn and then went outside to their vast nursery.  They have a worker sitting in a chair as you go outside who asked what we needed.  Evie wanted a fall clematis, so he showed us the way and called another worker on his walkie-talkie who met us and showed us where to find the clematis.  We intended on buying just a clematis but ended up with a cart full as you can see.  And they also had an amazing variety of mums so we picked up one plant for Jill's porch.

Clematis, Cone Flowers, Phlox

When we got home, Evie started getting our chicken dish ready to put in the oven since my sister Ellen and her husband Walt were coming for dinner at 6:00.  Everyone started arriving home around 3:00, Drew and the girls from school, and Jill around 4:00.  Drew and I had to pick up Halle from volleyball practice at 5:00, so we left around 4:00, picked up some brie and crackers for an appetizer and had a beer at Buffalo Wings since we were too early to pick up Halle. We always manage to find a way to have a beer.

Wine Time

My sister arrived at 6:00 after a long rush hour drive from Herndon.  It was great to see them and since they had spent two weeks in Paris this past September, we had fun talking about their travels, our travels in France back in the 1970's and Jill's families plan for a  trip to Europe next June.  We enjoyed a couple of bottles of Nobilo Sauvignon blanc with appetizers and dinner, one of our favorites.

Dinner's Ready

Dinner was scrumptious, Balsamic glazed chicken with red potatoes and fresh rosemary, a one-pot dinner.  Jill, as well as friends, have raved about it so Evie decided it would be a good dish to try.  We all loved it so we will make it again for sure.  We had Hayden and Halle's favorite dessert, nutty buddies, also Evie's favorite treat.  Ellen and Walt left around 9:00 for home, and the rest of us settled down in the living room with the dogs and relaxed, watched some junk TV, played on our devices until it was time to go up to bed, around 10:30 for Evie and me, later for the girls of course.

We Always Need A Selfie