A Week of Family

July 13- a week that has been filled with family.

 Brenda arrived from DC with Sharon and her family last Sunday.  As I mentioned in the last post, Sharon and her family borrowed Paul's van so that they could bring Brenda back with them.  Brenda's certainly had a busy summer!  She's been flying here, flying there.

We managed to Skype with Nancy, Evie and Vincent Thursday night.  Vincent even played the theme from "Star Wars." on the piano for me. It was kind of interesting - they both were vying for "time" to let me see them.  But, they couldn't be in the picture together.  (It was the hour, 7:15, and the age.)  I was thinking of the future when it'll be an effort for them to sit down and do this.  (Kids grow up.) Walter wasn't there.  He was in bed.  Nancy said he's going through a tantrum stage right now.  And it isn't easy.  As Brenda said - she has her hands full!  It was nice that Brenda could see them too. 

They're now in Michigan with Dan's family spending a week at the shore at the place Dan's parents have rented for (30?) years.  They look forward to this every year.

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 Brenda left this morning at 6 AM.  Sharon picked her up.  They're spending some quality time together before she flies back to California - they're in NYC at the moment seeing an off-Broadway show - Avenue Q.  Then they'll be spending tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night with their cousin, Sue, who lives in Middletown.  Then Brenda flies home to California on Tuesday.  Then she's off for a two week car trip up the California coast, into Washington with Eric.  She'll be happy when school starts to quiet down. 
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As mentioned . . . .  this has been a week of Family.  We had a Family Reunion of Paul and his siblings and children, grandchildren.

 Paul's oldest siblings, Bonnie and Bob will be 88 in October.  Edna is (well. . . she's younger than Bonnie and Bob. . . 85? ) and Howard is older than Paul by two years.  They all looked well, and it was a pleasure to have a celebration and have them all there!  As one of the children said, it's so important for them to get together and see one another.

  You should have seen the picture-taking!  Some are on Facebook or will be on Facebook, I hope.  I've put them on my Timeline.

So there's a method to the picture taking. The pictures start with the siblings, then their spouses, then their kids, then their grandkids in the front.     Luckily, there were a couple of "out-laws" there. . .Charles' girlfriend, and Lue.  Because as more people were added to the grouping, less were available for the picture taking!  I can remember doing that - since I wasn't related -  my first year at a family reunion - (early on).  I was a picture-taker at the end!

We had Bob stay with us.  He came in Friday night with his daughter and son in law, Kathy and Lloyd.  They stayed in a motel nearby.  Then Bonnie came in with her sons  Gary and Ray.  They stayed with us, but just over Friday night - and they left Saturday, yesterday, after the party,  so she could be at church. 

 Bonnie plays the piano during Sunday church or she said, there wouldn't be any music if she wasn't there.  I spoke to Bonnie and, while we were talking, she said she had taken only 10 piano lessons and then continued on teaching herself.

 Wow.  Most people  came from Eastern Pennsylvania - a three, four or five hour trip - depending on whom you asked.  Edna and Mike came from only two hours south of us in PA. 

Gracie did very well.  She barked when people arrived, but ended up on their laps as the day progressed.  We had two little kids.  She kept away from them pretty much, but when they were unavoidable, she tolerated them.  We made sure it was as few times as possible. 

Saturday morning, Brenda and I went to the Millport Mercantile Market - which has only gluten free products.  It was a planned trip.  She wanted to make a gluten free pie crust for a blue-berry/rhubarb pie.  Bless her.  I'm not eating wheat since I'm trying to deal with PMR. And she decided to try a wheat-free diet, too. 

When we got back, the front and side yard looked like a parking lot, because all of a sudden lots of people had arrived! 

Dorothy and Jeff (Paul's oldest son and his wife) were there from Ontario.  Their son, DJ, arrived a little later on.  Their daughter, Alaina, is in the Peace Corp in Uganda.  She called while they were there but reception wasn't that good on speaker phone, so they talked to her alone.  Dorothy, Jeff, and DJ stayed at our house Saturday night.
 
Before we ate, we made a circle outside for Grace, which Bonnie did,  and beforehand, we counted off. . . 41 total.  That's quite a bit more than the 30 we had expected.

I'm not going to say names of all who were there, but when you look at the picture on Facebook, if you come from Paul's side of the family, you'll recognize people. BUT unfortunately some people didn't make it into the biggest picture - they were out front - walking around.  We really tried to get everyone in it, and so as a mea culpa, we included them by themselves with the siblings.  You could tell they were hurt.  It was one of those unfortunate occurrences. 

  Incidentally, Gracie insisted on laying down on the grass in front of the siblings, and Paul picked her up after that and included her in the pictures. 

Chicken:  Paul cooked chicken breasts on the grill.  I cut them in half lengthwise, and marinated them overnight, in the fridge.   Now, I must say, I like my former family's chicken recipe very very much.  BUT - It never turns out right for me, since I never was the one BBQ-ing it.  but this recipe is very good for a large group and we love it.  It's quite delicious.  The chicken is very tender and cooks quickly since it is thinly sliced.

We also had hamburgers, hotdogs, millions of casseroles filling the kitchen table which was opened up as much as possible.  Also - the desserts filled both levels of the kitchen counter from one end to the other. So. Much. Food.

Poor Lue.

 She had planned on making boiled raisin cupcakes, and her oven exploded.  She said  flames were coming out the back, lots of smoke.  She said it was awful.  And then a "huge boom" and nothing.  That's not something she should have to deal with.  She called and asked if she could bring something else. What a lady.  She should know that her presence is our present.  Always. But - we were sorry to miss her cupcakes.  Lots of people were. 


I'm not cooking tonight.  Leftovers for us.  Although a lot of people took pity on us.  Especially Paul since I'm not eating wheat products.  Lots of food left the house with them.  Still. . .  we're quite satisfied with what's there.