a view from the car window along route 66 when greg and i drove to connecticut, saturday morning. this hot dog stop is new. i've never seen it before on our travels to and fro . .
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the view from my beach chair later that day . . at the lake . .
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the view of dinner preparations from the second floor:
my brother-in-law's style of grilling . . he's a little better now at not turning all the food into charcoal for me.
i'm sorry i missed filming his first foray out to the grill, as he was singing along with the recording of a new favorite song.
my sister sliced the zucchini in half and marinated it in paul newman's italian salad dressing and then placed it on the grill. combined with the chicken, it was delicious. i didn't have salad this evening, as i was too cold! after weeks of heat and humidity, the temperature dropped to the upper 60's and i had to borrow a sweatshirt. i also slept under a light down quilt with socks on!
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this morning:
toby . .
and this is toby too . .
my brother-in-law received an award from the national alliance on mental illness, farmington valley branch in early june.
he's done such wonderful work for the community and helped to keep the institute for living open when the hospital board tried to close it as it wasn't "making a profit." can you imagine!? doctors have come from as far away as australia to see how the institute works with schizophrenic patients on an outpatient basis. the institute managed to stay open with the help of NAMI. when families come together to form a national coalition, they can have a lot of clout in the community.
my sister said that both he, and the woman on his left, gave very moving speeches.
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at noon, greg and i had lunch with my mom . .
roast beef sandwiches and four different salads from a market in town: beet salad, black bean salad, potato salad and four bean salad. i finally had to put the last one away as after four helpings, i was worried that my mom would start complaining that she had eaten too much. she has been doing that with me lately!
plus, i wanted her to have room for dessert!
the after lunch excursion to the gazebo.
we were fortunate that the weather was so beautiful today.
and then we took her in again and said good-bye. we left her listening to frank sinatra in the activity room. she recognized his voice and asked to be pushed closer to the film of him singing. whenever i hear him now, i'm reminded of how a neighbor in dyker heights would blast his music in the backyard adjoining the apartment building we lived in (this was in 1987).
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we got home around 7 pm and found chanda there. her plane had gotten in at 1:30 and she had taken the A train home . . we watched the darkest hour on her computer while knitting (she's finally knitting again) and when the movie ended and the credits were rolling and gary oldman's name rolled by, i exclaimed, "what role did gary oldman play?" bwa ha ha!!!! (the movie was about winston churchill's first twenty days as prime minister, and he played churchill.) i really did not recognize him and wondered who was playing churchill throughout the entire movie. i guess his oscar was well deserved.
