Herkimer!

We had a lovely drive from Baltimore to Herkimer yesterday.  The weather was warm and sunny; the traffic was light.  Mark read lots of interesting articles from the USA Today and various magazines as I drove.  It was a perfect road trip!

We arrived safely at 6:30 p.m. and found both Barb and Ron at home.  I was surprised to see Barb come out of the house because I thought she was going to be at work until 7 p.m.  Turns out she got off early. We enjoyed getting a tour of the house.  It was built in 1899!  Wow!  Interesting, big old house. 

Today we are all going to take a 90 minute cruise through Lock 18 on the Erie Canal into the Mohawk River.  Then tonight Mark will go with Ron to shul in Utica.  It's going to be a lovely day.

There will definitely be pictures of everything eventually.

As for my food, it was very good yesterday.  I had my 200 calorie breakfast, Subway salad, a little snack in the car in the late afternoon, and a great salmon salad dinner with a 1/4 of a baked sweet potato that Barb made us for dinner.  In the middle of the night when I was hungry I had a handful of Mark's almonds.  There was no opportunity for exercise, but I'm sure the calories weren't too bad.  Oh, yeah, there was a shot of whiskey on the rocks in there, too.  Hm...well, at least I hope the calories were pretty good.

Ron lost a LOT of weight a few years ago, 75 pounds, and has maintained it for two years.  We talked a lot about that last night and learned more about the diet plan he followed.  It is called Diet Solutions.  There is no doubt that it has worked for him.  He has reversed his Type II diabetes and is off all medications for that.  I don't know enough about it to do it for myself, but it might be something to look into. 

Heading further north

This will be a quick blog because we are loading the car and reading out for Herkimer, NY in just a few minutes.  We have enjoyed our time here because there were just so many great activities and people!

I thought I was eating fairly well yesterday because all of our meals were at home.  I even walked around the Giant and a little bit around the neighborhood.  Well, I guess I was wrong.  I'm up almost two and a half pounds today since yesterday.  That just HAS to be water weight. I did eat a lot of salted nuts throughout the day.  I'm leaving the house this morning at 275.3, which is insane.  I can only hope the water weight will drop off today.  I ate less than 200 calories for breakfast (one cup of Dannon Light Greek Yogurt, 1/4 cup fresh blueberries, 1/3 cup of Kellog's corn flakes, all mixed together in one bowl with some ground Flaxseed for extra fiber).  Our lunch will be at a Subway and dinner will be at Barbara's house.  She will be preparing a low-calorie, low-carb dinner like she always does.  Tomorrow will also be all meals at Barb's house, so I think these two days will be spectacular.  We shall see.  I'm not taking the scale, so the next time I will weigh in is next Wednesday back here at Cindy's house before heading to the autotrain.

I am taking my computer with me, so I will be able to write some blogs and post some pictures. 

Five weeks has passed quickly!

Our long trip up north is almost over.  Today we are on our last full day at Cindy's house, and later today we will pack a suitcase for the road trip that will start tomorrow.  We are driving to Herkimer, NY tomorrow morning to stay two nights with our friends Ron and Barbara.  We haven't seen Ron since Evey's wedding.  We saw Barb in January of 2012 when she came to Florida.  It will be great to see them in their new house in Herkimer.  Saturday and Sunday we will be in Buffalo for Mark's cousin's daughter's wedding.  (Geez, that's a mouthful.)  Sunday afternoon we will visit our friend Ellen before heading to WV on Monday to visit my step-mother, Jackie.  Tuesday I'll have the chance to visit the graves of both of my parents before we return to Cindy's for one night before taking the auto train on Wednesday back to Florida.  The six week trip is down to its final week.  It's been absolutely amazing.

Yesterday Mark and I spent six and a half hours planning our next big trip.  We are leaving July 31 to fly to CA where we will visit Evey and Eric for a week, including spending my birthday with them.  Then we will take a train to Anaheim for the D23 Convention and two days at the Disneyland Resort.  Then the Arizona trip begins.  We planned each day of the trip, booked all of the hotels, the rental car in northern CA for the first week, and the flight out to San Francisco.  We still have to book the return flight and a second rental car out of Anaheim.  No rush on those two things.  One of the best things we did was splurge on a two night package in Williams, AZ. We will stay at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel and take the train up to the canyon with a motorcoach tour of the south rim.  It's going to be great!  It sounds just like a shore excursion from a cruise ship!  LOL!

Of course, I really would be naughty if I didn't talk about my weight today.  After all, this is a weight loss blog, supposedly.  I should have changed the name of it a long time ago to a weight GAIN blog since that's all that I seem to do anymore.  I've really lost all interest in exercise or curbing my food intake.  I gained 2 1/2 pounds this week, up to 273.  I didn't get on the scale all week, so I was actually surprised by that this morning.  I hadn't even realized I was doing that badly. I am obviously out of touch with my eating!  I went from 295 to 220, 75 pounds lost, from April of 2009 to November of 2009.  Now I've gained from 220 up to 273, 53 pounds gained, from November of 2010 to May of 2013.  Yes, it's taken longer to come back than to take off, but that's no excuse.  I've put back almost all that I lost.  Crazy.

I know I will eat well for the two nights at Barb's house because she and Ron have been on a strict diet for several years.  They have both lost a lot of weight, so there will be healthy dinners Thursday and Friday nights.  We will be eating lunch on the road tomorrow, but that's usually a Subway salad.  I don't think tomorrow will be a bad day either.  I am not packing the scale for this little road trip, so I will be surprised again when I get on the scale next Wednesday.  I hope it's a good surprise next week.

I had high hopes for this trip when I left on April 26.  I had convinced myself that I'd lose weight on the trip.  Haha!  NOT.  As of this morning, I have gained a smidge over five pounds since we left Florida.  Now I have to try to get back into some good habits and routines when we return home.  We will have 8 weeks at home before we fly to California.  Except for the five days with Lowell and Emily, there are no special times with other company or reasons to eat out or celebrate anything.  It could be 8 weeks of behaving myself and exercising.  I just hope and pray that I can find the strength to do it.  I know that a two pound loss per week is a good loss, so in 8 weeks, I can reasonably expect to lose 16 pounds.  I want to set that as a goal, lose 16 pounds before California.  Wouldn't that be nice!  And even if I do that, I will STILL be about 8 pounds heavier than when we went to California last summer.  Sad.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

I don't ever remember such a cold Memorial Day Weekend in Maryland, and it's not just Maryland. I've been seeing posts on Facebook all morning about how unseasonably cold it is all over the country.  So sad for those who planned to go to the pool or the beach. 

Evey and Eric are camping in a California redwood forest somewhere up near the Oregon line. I bet it's cold there, too.

Lowell and Emily are having a great day visiting their friends Dan and Mindy and others.  I bet they have a lovely cook-out.  It is going to be 75 and sunny today, but so far the wind is making it seem much chillier.

Mark and I are just doing errands today.  I want to get the car washed inside and out at my old favorite car wash in Laurel.  Mark wants to take advantage of the John Wayne's Birthday sale at Carol's Western Wear while we are in Laurel.  It is actually John Wayne's birthday today.  Then we are going to Arundel Mills Mall for walking and more shopping before picking up things for dinner at Seven Mile Market on the way home.  Tonight we are going to watch our weekly Disney movie, Summer Magic, and a John Wayne movie, McClintock.  That's a pretty good day in my book.

The last few days have been so busy that I never had a chance to write a blog.  It's been full of regular errands and shopping and many opportunities for dinners with friends.

Thursday night we met my former students (now friends), Jon and Jen N.  We went to Zen West for Mexican food and had a great time.  On Friday, Mark and I had lunch at the kosher Chinese restaurant in Pikesville and then we picked Lowell up for dinner at Saul and Phyllis' house.  Emily couldn't join us because she had to chaperone her high school's graduation that evening. Phyllis made us a wonderful vegetarian dinner that was just spectacular.  Lowell signed copies of his book for them.  We enjoyed visiting with their son Joel, too.  Saturday was super busy.  We went to shul and then I played Mah Jongg while Mark went home with Saul and Phyllis.  I won only one game, but it was great to play one more time with my Mahj friends up here.  Mark took a long walk around Brookside Gardens with the Oreskys and the Rosens.  Later we all had dinner together at Rabbi Cohen's house.  Another fantastic vegetarian meal was served, and we even went out around 9:10 p.m. for a long walk around the neighborhood before indulging in dessert.  We got home around midnight, tired but happy.

Our trip up here is almost at an end.  We head to NY on Thursday.  This has been a wonderful vacation, albeit cold most of the time!

Lowell has an MFA! Wow!

Yesterday was all about going to see Lowell graduate.  It was AWESOME.  I am still bursting with pride and have almost no words to describe the feeling.

The only hitch in the whole day was that I forgot to give the camera to anyone else, so there are no pictures of me, the proud Mama, standing with my son.  Sigh.  OH, well...that's not that bad.  I was there, and I was flying.

And yes, Bill Cosby was also there.  LOL!  He received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.  I'm sure he has several of those already in addition to the actual Ph.D. in Education that he earned himself from the University of Massachusetts.  He was GREAT!  But not as great as hearing Lowell's name announced and watching him walk across the stage.

It's also weigh-in Wednesday.  Last week I did not report. I can't remember why; I only know I didn't do it.  I did weigh this morning.  It's bad, 270.5.  That's a five pound gain in two weeks.  Yeah, that's bad.  Too much eating, no exercise.  Now it's a new day and a new opportunity. 

OK, here are some pictures of Lowell's graduation day. 

We found Emily in line outside the Lyric Theater.

Before we went in, her parents, Pat and Phil, joined us.

We saw Lowell file into the second row!

Bill Cosby was a great speaker.

Lowell's name was called and he walked across the stage!  Here he is having his stole placed around his neck.

The happy graduate and his fiancee.

Looking great!

Father and son!  What a great day.

Yesterday was the Graduation Dinner.

Yesterday morning, Mark and I had a fantastic few hours visiting my cousin Irene and her husband Gary.  I have not seen them in a year, and in that year Irene had many health issues and her daughter Elsie passed away.  Quite a year for that family.  Out of all my first cousins (around 40, I think), Irene and Gary are the only two that I see regularly.  I am glad they are currently doing well.

Then in the evening we had Lowell's graduation dinner at his favorite restaurant, The Melting Pot.  We had never been there before, so we actually needed help figuring out how to order.  There are cooktops on the table, and Emily was thoughtful enough to order two cooktops for our table.  That way Mark and I could do vegetarian without having to make the rest of them do it.  There were four courses: a cheese fondue, a salad, an entree fondue, and a chocolate fondue.  Crazy fun and delicious.

TODAY is GRADUATION DAY for the University of Baltimore.  Lowell will walk across the stage with all the other graduates at the Lyric Theater, right by the campus of UB, to receive his MFA, Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts.  Bill Cosby is the main speaker, so it's going to be a lovely afternoon.  Both Lowell and Emily took off work today.  This is a big day for Lowell.

Also Evey and Eric had a big day yesterday.  They signed a lease on a two bedroom house in San Jose.  It's a beautiful little place with a kitchen far bigger and nicer than everything she has ever had before.  It's has washer/dryer hookups, so they need to get those appliances, and it has no microwave.  At least those are cheap these days.  There is a very pretty, big, fenced yard with a patio and a one-car garage, too.  I think they are going to be very happy there.

Tropical Weather

It was cold, raw, and drizzly yesterday with some wind thrown in for good measure.  Not a particularly pleasant day.  The good thing about it was that I got to go to shul, talk with our friends there over kiddush, and then play Mah Jongg at Robin's house.  Debbie, Robin, and I played for a few hours, and then Wendy joined us for the last hour.  Everybody won!  Debbie won 4 games; I won 3; Robin won 2; and Wendy won 1.  Wendy won the last game of the day on a tough closed hand.  Good job!  One of my three wins was on a closed hand, too.  Everybody had a great time, and for some reason we all thought everything we did was hysterical.  I haven't laughed so much in a LONG time at anything, and especially  not at Mah Jongg!  Hey, Robin, if you're reading this, "ONE DOT!"  LOL!!!  I know you're laughing. I can hear you!

Today is gray and drizzly, too, but the temperature today is supposed to hit 79 and then climb into the mid and upper 80s through Friday.  The phone app (LOL!  Always my BEST authority on weather) has the thunderstorm icon on for every day from today through Friday.  That's how it looks almost all summer long in Florida, high temps with a thunderstorm icon.  Finally, some Florida weather is showing up in Baltimore!

Emily and Lowell went to the Eastern Shore to look at another wedding venue possibility but decided against it.  I'm sure they'll pick something pretty soon to lock in a date.

Evey and Eric are house-hunting, to rent.  Their apartment complex is forcing them to leave by July 26 in order to upgrade it.  They were offered a temporary place in the complex for a month during renovation and the right to move back to the same apartment at a $400 increase in rent, but they have declined that offer.  I agree with them.  It's a lovely one bedroom, one bath apartment, and they have loved it, but it's NOT worth $2300 a month plus utilities.  And if they have to pack up and move out , they only want to move once.

So they have decided to try to rent a house instead of an apartment.  A single family, or a townhouse, or a duplex would all be fine as long as the location is a reasonable commute for both of them, the neighborhood is safe, and there is a washer/dryer in it.  They looked at two places last weekend which they did not like at all.  Yesterday they looked at a single family house that was PERFECT for them, and perfect for the other FORTY couples who showed up to fill out applications.  They literally  had to line up and wait a turn to explain to the owners why they would be the best tenants.  Ridiculous.  Today they are going out to look at a duplex.  It's a feeding frenzy for housing in that area (south bay SF, Silicon Valley) because there are more people than houses.  Insane.  I just wish them all the best in this hunt.  They have a few more months.  

Today Mark and I are meeting Emily and Lowell at the AMC Theaters to see the new Star Trek movie.  It's getting great reviews and we are all ST fans.  Should be fun. 

I have only today and the next two days left to see Emily and Lowell on this trip.  Tomorrow is dinner at the Melting Pot with the Stackhouses to celebrate Lowell's graduation, and then Tuesday afternoon is the actual graduation.  Bill Cosby is the speaker!  After that, I have nothing on the calendar with them.  Boo Hoo!  I might try to coerce them into one more get-together, but on the other hand, they are coming to Florida for the last week in June.  I will see them again in a month.  I have really, REALLY enjoyed spending all this time with them. 

Excellent Friday

Yesterday Mark and I were busy, busy, busy all day, getting ready for our dinner party.   We had six stops to make at stores, plus getting gas and going to Jiffy Lube for a new headlight.  By 3:40 I had made the salad for dinner and headed out to pick up Emily.  Then the traffic hit.  It's always bad on the Baltimore Beltway at rush hour, but there was more than that yesterday.  There was Friday rush hour; Obama was in Baltimore; the Preakness is today but there was a concert at Pimlico last night; and there was an Orioles' game.  Yeah, that made my 40 minute drive to Emily's house take 80.  And then back.  I picked her up because Lowell works so close to Cindy's house that it makes no sense for him to go home first and get her.

Emily had a great day because she got to go wedding dress shopping with her mom.  They went to Columbia Bridal, the same store that I went to with Evey.   What fun!  I can only imagine how excited and proud Pat must have been to see her daughter try on gowns.  She tried on 12 gowns, but she only took pictures of her favorite three.  I loved looking at the pictures and sharing her excitement.

Once Kip, Denise, and Logan arrived, we had a fabulous dinner.  Mark made a white chili with chicken and turkey that we got off the internet.  It turned out great.  There was challah and wine because it was Friday night, and I made a salad.  Dessert was an assortment of cookies and coffee while we played Farkle dice.  Emily won!  So much fun to spend a Shabbat with family.  That almost NEVER happens for us anymore.

Today we are going to shul and then I'm playing Mah Jongg at Robin's house.  It should be another great day.

Logan, Shavuot, and Family Dinner

Tuesday evening we had the wonderful opportunity to see the senior art show at Carver Center for the Arts and Technology.  My nephew, Logan Wyatt, had many of his pieces on display. He is an AMAZING artist and will attend MICA, Maryland Institute College of Art, in the fall.  Mark and I were especially happy that we happened to be up here for this event.  So many friends and relatives came to it that Logan was overwhelmed with the turn out.  He also SOLD many of his pieces.  Pretty impressive.

After attending Logan's show, we went back to the house for dinner because Tuesday night began the holiday of Shavuot.  We had a lovely, traditional dairy dinner of blintzes and cheesecake, all of which wreaked havoc on Mark's sugar levels!  Then we went to shul to stay up all night for services and study sessions.  This is the first year in possibly decades that I have actually made it awake all night. I think it was partly because this year's study sessions were among the finest ever.  They really kept me awake.  I was even so awake that I had no problem driving all the way back to Cindy's house without feeling too sleepy or sick.  We had breakfast with Cindy and then slept from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Not bad.

The holiday continued through Thursday night, so that's why there have been no blogs since Monday!

Tonight Lowell, Emily, Logan, Denise, and Kip will be coming over for Shabbat dinner. I'm pretty excited about that!  Mark is making a huge pot of White Chili with Chicken and Turkey.  I'm making a salad, and we'll get a fresh challah today from Seven Mile Market.  It should be a lovely evening.  I will also get to hear all about Emily's first outing to shop for a wedding dress with her mom.  I'm very excited for them. It's such a quintessential mother-daughter experience.  I loved doing it with Evey, and I'm very happy that Pat and Emily are having this experience today.  I will be happy to hear all about it tonight!

Logan at his gallery showing.

One of Logan's large charcoal drawings.  This one sold.

One of his sculptures.

Three generations of Wyatt men: Jim, Kip, Logan

Cindy and our niece Emily, Logan's sister

Hope all had a great day.

Mother's Day was a lot of fun yesterday.  The restaurant was very gourmet and delicious.  The one funny thing was Mark's water glass.  We all picked up a glass of something for a toast to mothers, and the bottom of Mark's glass literally dropped out! 20 ounces of ice cubes and water rushed all over the table, wetting three copies of Lowell's book along with my purse, our clothes, our napkins, the floor, EVERYTHING!  For our trouble the manager comped us all a delicious dessert we didn't need to eat but enjoyed nonetheless. 

We lingered in the restaurant for nearly three hours at the restaurant, enjoying Emily and her parents, talking about wedding venues and plans, and finding out that Mark and Phil have a lot in common. We hugged goodbye and headed home to watch the Orioles win.  Mark made low-carb pizzas and salad for dinner.  It was a lovely day.

I have now completed two of the books by some of Lowell's colleagues in the UB MFA program.  They are both great, but I like Lowell's better. Haha!  Who would have guessed THAT!  LOL!

I also put his reading up on YouTube.  You can hear him read his final story from the book, "Bathwater," at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2uOl_yIzkQ.  Just copy and paste this url into your browser and it should come up.  The reading is about three and a half minutes long.

When Cindy came home last night, she said exactly what Mark and I had discussed all weekend.  Lowell's presentation, the second one in the second act, changed the whole tone of the night and made it much, much better.  Each reader introduced the next one.  In the first act, each student performed that duty adequately, but perfunctorily, by saying "and the next reader is..."  The first reader on the second act did that, also, and you can hear her say it on the YouTube video.  But then Lowell gave a very wonderful and personal introduction to the next reader and even shook her hand and smiled at her as she came up. (Unfortunately, I didn't know that was coming, so I didn't film it.)  After that she did the same to the next reader and the next and the next to the end of the evening.  It was a huge boost to the overall tone of the evening.  WAY TO GO, LOWELL!!  You made everything better. 

BTW, all these pictures were taken with my NEW camera!  Thanks, Mark!

Happy Mother's Day!

It is Mother's Day today, so I will start the blog by wishing all the mothers who may read this a very happy day.  I'm certainly happy because it's the first time in several years that I will be spending it with one of my children.  In 2011 and 2012, we were in Florida without either Evey or Lowell.  I know a lot of mothers in the world have to spend the holiday without their children, but it doesn't mean we like it.  Today will be a special treat to spend it with Lowell and with my soon-to-be daughter-in-law, Emily.  I have gone from two kids to four kids!  That's a good thing.

Emily and Lowell have arranged for us to go to brunch at a restaurant near their home in Columbia, MD, along with her parents, Pat and Phil.  I'll be leaving in just a few hours for that, so tomorrow I will post pictures of us.

This morning I gave myself a little Mother's Day gift when I downloaded the Kindle edition of Lowell's book, Draw a Circle. I also wrote a review on Amazon of it.  I meant to disguise myself by changing my public name to Reby S, but I did that AFTER I submitted the review. Oops.  So the review is by Rebecca Silverstein.  Do you think anyone will notice the same last name?  LOL!  It's available to buy from him still if you are in the area and will see him, but it's also now available in print or as an ebook on Amazon.  Just go to Amazon and put in his name and it will be there.  AWESOME!  My son IS a published author. 

I have a card from Evey that I have opened.  Very cute!  The card suggests I should have a margarita.  I think I will later today!  She sent me a gift back in March by including money on a Disney Gift Card for Mark's birthday that is for the two of us to take the backstage tour of the Magic Kingdom some day.  How cool is that??!! Thanks, Evey!

Mark gave me what I really needed, a new camera!  I have dropped my old camera so many times that the lens cover no longer closes.  Sometimes it doesn't open all the way either, so I've ruined a lot of shots by not noticing the lens cover is obscuring some of the shot.  This new Canon looks like it will function very much like the old one, same type battery and memory card, but in half the size and weight.  It will easily slip into my pocket now.  I'm charging up the battery and hope to use it to take pictures at the Mother's Day brunch in a few hours!  Thanks, Mark!

Yesterday we went to shul, and then I played Mah Jongg at Annie's house.  She also made us a scrumptious lunch.  There were five of us playing: Annie, Arlene, Sue, Debbie, and me.  Mark enjoyed the lunch as well, and had some time to read and talk to Annie's husband, Marc.  I won three games, so it was a lovely afternoon.

NOW it's time to talk about Friday night!  I've saved it for last.  I should have written about it yesterday, but I was gone most of the day, and then I wanted to upload all the photos from the reading before writing about it. I had taken three videos, and they just take hours to upload.

The short version is that it was WONDERFUL!  Those blog readers who are also my Facebook friends have already heard a lot about it and seen some of the pictures.  Some of you have also received the photo album, which included the videos.  If you are reading this and would like to have the photo album, just email me.  It will be on its way to your inbox as soon as possible.

Lowell was brilliant!  He looked great; he sounded great.  His stage presence was amazing.  He read beautifully.  Not all of the 27 students were great readers.  Sometimes I had to try hard to separate the writing from the reading.  I did enjoy the entire evening immensely. I bought 11 books from his classmates, including Marie's book of poetry.  Marie T. is one of the teachers that I worked with at Catonsville High in the English department.  Small world because she became one of Lowell's classmates in the UB MFA program and she was Cindy's college roommate for a year.  She grew up in Laurel and went to elementary school with Cindy and Kip.  Crazy world.  Marie also did an outstanding job of reading!

Rudy, Georganne, Emily, Phil, and Pat attended along with Mark and me, so Lowell had a good representation in the audience. I hope he sold lots of books. I think Mark and I did our share.  Between the two of us, we bought 23 copies. I'll be giving many of them away as gifts. 

He has a website, www.lowellsilverstein.com, with links to purchase the book.  The entire story that he read aloud, "Bathwater,"  is on the website as a sample of the book.  And as I already said, it's now available from him AND from Amazon. 

The University of Baltimore did an excellent job of preparing these students.  The evening was lovely and well run.  There were two "acts," each with half the students presenting.  In case you only came for one half, the professor serving as emcee ran the same intro video, gave the same speech, and introduced the faculty each time.  NO problem.  Even though Lowell was in the second half, I had no problem sitting through those opening ceremonies twice.  I also enjoyed hearing all of the students read. That way I could decide which of the other books appealed to me in order to buy them.  The students were manning tables with copies of their books before the reading, during the intermission between the two halves, and at the end.  There was also one central table with all the books on them to make it easy to buy from several authors in one spot.  Complimentary wine, cheese, and fruit was provided to everyone, along with a beautiful cake, although I never saw the cake cut.  It was a great night.

Mark and I were very glad we brought a big bag to carry out all the books.  It weighed a LOT!  We were also glad we thought to bring umbrellas because it was POURING when we left.  I covered the bag up with my sweater because we didn't want any of the books to get wet! 

I know this is a long blog. That's what happens when I wait a few days to write and there are so many things happening.  Enjoy a few pictures from the reading, Mah Jongg, and Mother's Day.  There will be more Mother's Day pictures tomorrow, taken from my NEW camera!

Some of his books on his table.

Mark and Lowell, both in black by coincidence not design.

Lowell and me, BEAMING!

Lowell and Marie

On stage!

At the podium

Pat, Emily, and Phil

Mark and Phil with Emily

The engaged couple with the parent's of the groom

Lowell and Emily at his table

Signing an autograph in his book!  Now that is really cool!

Lunch at Annie's

Annie, Debbie, Arlene, and Sue.  Fun times!

My new camera.  Thanks, Mark.

Lowell's book is the newest one on my Kindle!

Lowell's Big Day

Today is the READING!  This is one of the main events that brought us north for six weeks, and it's the one Lowell wanted us to attend the most, even more than the actual graduation on May 21.

Tonight between 6 and 9 p.m. at the University of Baltimore, the entire class receiving MFAs in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts from UB are reading something aloud from their newly published works.  Each graduate is given four minutes to read, so some students will read excerpts and some will read entire pieces.  Lowell is reading the last of the nine short stories in his book. The story, "Bathwater" is really cute.  It's only three pages long, but it has a LOT going on in those three pages.  Originally I had wanted to wait and hear it from him tonight for the first time, but I couldn't wait.  I've now read all nine stories twice through.  They were even better the second time!

I bought a new memory card for my camera just for tonight. I will be recording his entire reading and taking lots of other pictures, too.  I'm going to the bank this afternoon to take out a wad of cash to buy lots of books!  It's just going to be wonderful.

He will have six people in the audience tonight: me, Mark, Cindy, Emily, and Emily's parents Pat and Phil.  We have four others who might come: Rudy, Georganne, Saul, and Phyllis.  If they can't make it after all, it will still be fine.   The place will probably be packed.

Meanwhile we had a great time Wednesday night at Farlee and Glen's house.  Farlee's a great cook, and we enjoyed hamburgers and corn on the cob grilled outdoors.  Even the weather cooperated that night.  Mark and I provided some pareve desserts from Seven Mile Market, as well.  I've included two pictures from that night.

Yesterday was shopping day.  We also had lunch at the new kosher barbecue restaurant in Pikesville called Dougie's Barbecue.  We got a lunch special: hot wings, long dog, and Cajun fries with a soda.  We also ordered a side of chili.  It was way too much food, so we brought some wings and fries home.  It's KOSHER!  We could have brought it home in Florida, but unfortunately, there's nothing like this down there.  The food portions were huge and the taste was scrumptious. Mark and I have decided to go back for a dinner some night before we head home.

One more time, I just have to say GO LOWELL!!  We are so proud of you.  Dear Readers, you WILL be seeing pictures from the reading on my next blog!

Their kitty, Lucy, is very cuddly and has the loudest purr of any cat in the world.

Farlee and I are enjoying reading a children's book, The Real Story of the Three Little Pigs.

Thoughts on Being Here

Today it is sunny and warm. It's so warm that we took a little walk without wearing sweaters or hoodies for the first time since we arrived.  It feels like spring.

I have enjoyed sitting on the front porch swing, reading a book that Cindy gave me.  It's warm and light on the porch, even though it's still cold and dark in the house.  While I was reading today, I noticed how noisy the neighborhood is.  There are lawn mowers and cars, dogs and children, and birds, LOTS of birds.  This old house is not insulated very well, so all of the noises carry inside easily.

In our Florida neighborhood, it's very quiet.  Once a week the Proscape crew cuts and trims our yard, but it goes very quickly.  Twice a week the sprinklers go off, but they run only a few minutes.  Our house is so sound proof that we barely hear cars going down the road.  There are no children and few dogs that bark.  There are no chirping birds.

I had forgotten how noisy birds can be in the spring.  They are chirping nonstop, all day.  I actually like it.  It's something I miss.  We have birds.  They honk and hoot occasionally, but we don't seem to have trees full of little chirping birds.  We have no robins.  I never realized we wouldn't have robins in Florida.  I am enjoying watching them, with their big bright red breasts, hopping around the yard looking for worms and insects.  We also have no rabbits in our yard.  There are rabbits and squirrels in Florida, but not in our immediate neighborhood.  Here, I'm watching the huge rabbits munch on the clover and grass in Cindy's yard.  There are three or four at a time out there.  The squirrels are busily running around and leaping from branch to branch in the trees.  They are so cute to watch.  At home, I don't see these things anymore.  We also have no lightening bugs in Florida.  It's not the time for them here yet, either, so I'm not watching them, but I'm thinking about them.

Soon there will be cicadas.  That should be fun.

Up here they have no love bugs, but no one misses those.  They have no lizards or alligators, and I do miss those.  I really enjoy watching the little lizards skitter around. I guess they serve the same purpose as a robin, eating insects and worms. 

I miss my family and kids when I'm in Florida.  I love them all so much, so it's something I truly miss.  While we are here, I am trying to make as many opportunities as possible to get together with them.  When we actually lived here, we did not get together as often.  Work and other obligations always got in the way.  It's funny how different it is when you are retired and visiting.  There are actually more chances to get together and hang out.  These opportunities have to last for months and months until the next visit, so I store them up inside of myself.

Yesterday was one of those chances.  We had wanted to see the Orioles play in Camden Yards, so Cindy got tickets for herself, Ken, and Mark and me.  Then it rained all day.  It rained on and off, so the game never got called.  In fact, the Orioles won, but it was seriously POURING about the time we needed to make the decision to head downtown.  We all decided it wasn't worth it, so we met up with Denise and Kip at a nearby Mexican restaurant called Zen West.  We had never been there before, but it may now be my favorite restaurant in this area.  Wow!  We had a blast.  Here are some pictures from  last night.

We dressed for the Orioles' game, but we went to Zen West instead.

The Western atmosphere was fantastic.

We don't usually drink tequila, but here's Mark with his shot on the rocks and me with a "mamacita," a special margarita concoction.  Delicious!

Denise and I both had two mamacitas.

Denise and Cindy

Cindy and Kip

Kip and Mark laughing at something.

I have no idea what what they were studying so intently.