Just to be clear to anyone reading who doesn't already know EVERYTHING about my past, Cindy, Kip, and Mark are my step-siblings, but I NEVER refer to them that way. In my heart they are every bit as much my sister and brothers as my biological sister Flyn. I have known them their entire lives. I remember when each was born, many dinners in our house as I was growing up, and babysitting them occasionally. When my dad married their mother, they ranged in age from around 10 to 16, I think. I could not love them more.
We have a little challenge with Mark because he's completely blind. He began losing his vision at age 12 when he was first diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosis. It took him decades to lose all of his sight, so he was able to get his bachelor's and master's degrees in Psychology before that happened. Now he lives a wonderful life of leisure in Myrtle Beach, a block from the beach, where he can go out and swim whenever he likes. Carol, his third wife, is, in my opinion, the BEST WIFE!! The whole family loves her, and I'm thankful that she is shepherding him onto the Amtrak train at 3 a.m. this morning to bring him to our house for this five day visit.
We are going to take them on the Air Boat ride (pictures of him holding Fluffy, the alligator, will be here tomorrow! LOL) and to Jelly Rolls at the Boardwalk to hear the dueling pianos show. We are also hoping it's going to be warm enough on Friday or Saturday to hang out at the pool. Still, I never realized how much what we do at WDW and other places relies on sight to enjoy.
Friday night is Tu B'Shevat and we are hosting a seder for Mark and Carol, who aren't Jewish but should enjoy it anyway. We are also having our friends Jonathan and Susan come over. Jonathan is Jewish and Susan is considering conversion. They have not been to a Tu B'Shevat seder before and Jonathan is also losing his vision. He has very little sight left, so I thought he and Mark might swap stories. We'll see.
There is a lot of fun and love coming up for the next five days. I hope to keep writing blogs, but with company, trips, Jewish holidays, and lots of hanging out talking, I don't know how often I will sit down at the computer. If it takes until next Monday for me to get back to the blog, please accept my apologies!
Meanwhile, yes, I haven't forgotten that it's weigh-in Wednesday. It's 266.4, the same as two Wednesdays ago and still up two pounds from when we went to go on the cruise. I have lost one pound since we got home on Friday. Well, I have no one to blame... Yesterday we had a wonderful lunch at the new Cohen's Deli. I had corn chowder soup and a hot corned beef sandwich on rye. Fantastic, but probably loaded with sodium. I guess I should be happy I am not higher.
I have to make a correction on something I said yesterday. I thought the whole hotel was kosher because it leads you to that opinion on the website. I also thought there was a butcher shop like in the old store because their logo still says Cohen's Butcher and Deli. Both are wrong assumptions. There is no shop. They said we can phone in an order 24 hours in advance and then come pick it up. OK, but not helpful for yesterday. Also they said they plan to open a store eventually. Second, there is a Starbucks and an Uno Pizzeria in the lobby. The pizza place had pepperoni and sausage pizzas on the menu, and I suspect they meant meat, not pareve. So....I guess the WHOLE hotel is not kosher. LOL!
Still, the restaurant was great and quite a few people were there. They have three kitchens: meat, dairy, and pareve. When we went in to be seated, they asked if we wanted meat or dairy. We wanted meat, but we also saw some people having pizza on the other side of the room in the dairy section. It was really quite reasonably priced and delicious. There were three ladies at the table next to us who did not seem to be having fun. I knew them from Solivita because one of the ladies sings tenor in the Guys and Dolls and Starliters groups. She was the only Jewish woman of the three. I could overhear some of their conversations, and it didn't seem like their orders were done properly. They sent things backed and complained about a lot of what they had. I guess they won't be back. In the restaurant's defense, our waitress did say it was only her second day working there. The chef, who I assumed was working there a lot longer than two days, actually sent out a whole sandwich to me when I ordered the soup and half sandwich special, but they said just keep it at no cost. That's the way to build a customer base, I think. I happily ate the whole sandwich, and I thought it was GREAT!
When we left the house yesterday at 10 a.m., we had an ambitious agenda of ELEVEN errands. We got home at 4:30, drove 75 miles, and accomplished 8 of the 11 stops. We just ran out of time and energy to do any more. We are now going out shopping this morning for some things for Mark and Carol because that was one of the three errands we didn't do yesterday. The other two stops, Publix near WDW and Whole Foods for meat we didn't get at Cohen's, can wait until next week. We got enough at the Super Target by the Millenia Mall to hold us through Mark and Carol's visit.
To end today's blog, I have posted pictures of Mark, Carol, my Mark, and me in Florence, SC last summer. We were met for dinner as Mark and I were driving up north.
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| Meeting for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays in Florence, SC. |
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| Clowning around at the Penney's hat department! |
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| Mark and Mark. Or I could say M and Ms. |
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| I think the guys look better in their hats than Carol and I do! |
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