Because first and foremost this is a travel blog, my focus remains on places we go, but most of our lives come down to routines at a home base.
By the time I finished writing a summary about A Summerful of Photos, we were off to Egypt, a fascinating destination that's high on many bucket lists including my own.
Our tour of Egypt naturally filled my blogging time, though I did take a break from ancient history to write one quick post about our Day Trip to the Poconos.
We've had other notable events. Gina invited me to join her to hear Jane Fonda as part of the Philadelphia Speakers Series in Center City on my birthday. As a movie fan, I admit I was disappointed when Fonda was postponed and replaced by CNN's Van Jones.
As it turned out, the liberal pundit was fascinating, with an excellent presentation about his life story, work history --- including kind words about his surprising mentor Newt Gingrich --- and generally traditional liberal viewpoints. Our seats behind the stage were well-located to enjoy the event.
On the way, Gina treated me to a fantastic Philly Cheesesteak sandwich, so it was a wonderful birthday.
A few weeks later, Gina hosted Julie, taking her to see the musical play Wicked --- a family favorite --- at the same venue, the beautiful Kimmel Center.
Gina also brought Amy to another great musical play, Company, at a different theater in the same general area. Having picked up Julie and Gina after their play, I used the experience to make the second pickup a piece of cake.
Both plays were reviewed by the attendees as excellent.
Laszlo picked up public library passes to visit Tyler Arboretum, inviting Julie and me for a day trip. This former estate for the Tyler Family features lovely flowers and trees, as you would expect, supplemented by several whimsical treehouses.
He also joined us for a few other hikes. Sometimes Gina and Emma went along with us on these close-to-home adventures.
Still, routines tend to set the structure. Most days, I wake up early, do my morning exercises that were advised by Heidi of Lone Peak Physical Therapy, make coffee, check emails and do my crossword puzzle while drinking my first cup. Julie and I walked or hiked at least two miles a day, and usually quite a bit more.
Breakfast between 8 and 8:30 --- eggs scrambled with ham and cheese and a side of toast and orange juice one day, alternating with oatmeal plus walnuts and syrup the next --- followed by a morning walk around the neighborhood or hike through nature on a nearby trail.
On Sundays, we strolled to the lovely St. George's Episcopal Church to attend a service thanking God for our many blessings. The choir is particularly outstanding.
A few days a week we took granddaughter Emma to ice skating lessons and practice.
That led to some fun events where her Synchro team performed.
The first skating show was a road trip to Orange, New Jersey.
Amy met Julie and me for a delicious brunch at Sweet Basil's Cafe. We arrived before the restaurant opened, but a friendly gentleman who saw us wandering around the parking lot came outside and invited us to take seats at a table to chat before we placed our orders. I followed our friendly host's recommendation of the New Orleans Style Eggs Benedict, and it was terrific. Julie and Amy both loved their meals, too.
Emma's review of her show was that it was a terrible performance, but we in the peanut gallery all enjoyed both Emma's group and the competitors. We were impressed by the wide variety of music and themes while still including required skating elements.
Emma's friend from summer camp, Maple, who we had met on a prior visit to New Jersey, drove over for the show. Emma was particularly happy to have both Maple and Amy there.
We attended the festive Winter Show at her home rink, which was a much better performance. Gina and Laszlo arrived early and held seats for Julie and me.
That turned out to be quite fortunate, because by the time we arrived a good 30 minutes early, the parking lot was full and the seating jam-packed with family and friends of skaters.
Cheerful Christmas and Hanukkah music replaced the usual backing songs, and Emma's group had illuminated lights on their black uniforms for a performance in the darkened arena. A few more weeks of practice had made them much improved. At the end, all performers took the ice to take bows and have some fun skating around.
Before this skating Christmas show, we had enjoyed a great Thanksgiving with all our kids and grandkids. This year, we took a trip to New Lebanon, New York, where Amy's husband Lukas grew up and where they were married a little over a year ago.
Lukas's mother Silke called Julie in Big Sky to invite our family to upstate New York for the holiday. Julie accepted.
Jay, Sasha and Owen happened to be visiting us at the time, and Sasha immediately said she would love to go to upstate New York, because she dearly loves that part of the country.
I was reluctant, mainly because I love where we live in Ardmore and also love hosting our family there any time we have the opportunity.
Amy and Lukas were definitely onboard with going to New Lebanon, where they travel at least a couple of weekends every month to visit not only the parents but their many friends. Gina, Laszlo and Emma said they were in.
So, Sasha and Julie zeroed in on an Airbnb house to rent for our family to share. It was about ten minutes from Lukas's childhood home, which would be the site for our feast.
Amy and Lukas headed up a few days early, so that they could help make preparations.
Laszlo and Emma drove up from Philly on Thanksgiving morning, leaving the day before so that they could stop at his parents' house for a visit before completing the drive the next day. They arrived just in time for the Feast.
Of course, Jay, Sasha, Owen and their pup Jojo had the most difficult arrangements. As you may guess, new baby Owen attracted most of the attention, and I realized later that photos of Jay and Sasha inevitably included the beautiful baby boy. I've promised to not share his photo on social media, but take my word that he is super sweet. In photos used herein, I blurred Owen out entirely or obscured his face with filtering.
Jay's little family flew in from Los Angeles to New York City, rented their BMW SUV --- which turned out to be a sedan with all-wheel drive, very nice but smaller than ideal for a family traveling with lots of baby paraphernalia --- and still drove all the way to New Lebanon on what turned out to be a snowy day with icy streets. They stopped for one hotel night en route, having flown in two days early.
Arriving in New Lebanon a day early, they were welcomed by Silke and Winfried to stay in their house that night. An unconcealed truth was that the motivation for our family all going upstate was that Silke particularly wanted the chance to spend time with baby Owen. We all enjoyed spending time with the little guy during the gathering.
Julie, Gina and I took the train, hoping to avoid the stress of the long drive. While views can can be lovely along the road, on the prior trip, unexpected traffic turned it into an 8-hour trek. Even though it can be 4 1/2 hours under good conditions, we just didn't want to face the drive at a time of year when we could expect snow and ice.
Jay picked us up at the train station in Hudson, and after a light lunch at A & W Root Beer, we headed to New Lebanon. We took a long walk through the community and then settled in for light conversation and taking turns holding Owen or petting Jojo as the meal was completed.
All of the dishes were gluten-free and vegan, except the organic turkey and turkey gravy for the meat-eaters. Make no mistake, it was delicious, as lovingly-prepared food tends to be. Who doesn't savor a Thanksgiving Feast with family?
After we settled into the right rental house that evening --- it was one of several on a lot with a few poorly marked addresses --- we thought we would be happy there...until the plumbing failed the next morning before most of us took showers.
Silke and Winfried generously let some family members shower at their house.
Lukas's parents ended up hosting us for all of our meals. Having traveled so far, we didn't contribute much more than a half dozen bottles of wine and a bag of bagels and croissants purchased locally. Like the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes (sans fishes), there was always plenty of delicious food to share.
On Friday afternoon, we took a long hike through the Abode, a Sufi community farm, retreat and campground that stretches from New Lebanon across the state border into Massachusetts. What we thought would be about an hour turned out to take well over two hours.
After dark on "Black Friday," we went to NightWood at the Mount. Author Edith Wharton --- best known for penning the novel Ethan Frome --- lived at the beautiful mansion at the heart of the Mount for about ten years.
A ticket to NightWood allowed us to walk around the grounds on a chilly night to appreciate gardens and trees illuminated by various forms of lighting. Quite lovely.
With continuing insufficient water pressure at our rental, we spent the rest of the evening playing games at Silke and Winfried's house.
On Saturday morning, Gina, Laszlo and I watched the Will Smith/Tommy Lee Jones classic, Men in Black on TV at the rental house before they took off for home with Emma. Amy picked up Julie and me to take us back to the other house where we spent our waking hours.
Another great brunch, and then Jay and Sasha's family left to visit Sasha's sister's in-laws on Long Island.
Lukas went with his friend to an afternoon party while Amy took Julie and me for a nice hike around a lake where we enjoyed a nice talk.
Back to Hudson, we found a coffee house for cappuccinos before she took us down the road to the train station with a few minutes to spare, and then she headed to join Lukas at the party.
One other event that can never be ignored is the annual fruit cake making event.
This time, we used our kitchen, so Amy came down from Jersey City for the event. Gina had delegated supervision of fruit cake creation to Amy this year, but she and Laszlo came over for the fun team effort. We always love making fruitcake and wrapping it for presents. This year, Amy ceded vegan, but they were still gluten-free. As Julie says, high in marshmallows and grass-fed butter. Tasty!
Emma's friend Lyla came over to our house to work on homework while the adults played making fruit cake bars (somehow, when we froze them, they came out looking like bars more than cakes).
The tweens joined us for a couple of games of Yahtzee before they headed home.
We watched Love Actually, which I think along with the fruit cake project has been a tradition for Amy and Gina since Amy moved east to attend UConn. This was an edited for TV version, which I liked better than the uncut original, because I have a rather PG-13 rated sensibility about life. It proved to be another great weekend.
Since I often mention movies, I will add that Julie and I devoted over four hours this week to watch 1963's Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in their prime. Great flick! It rounded out the trip to Egypt nicely.
That's probably more than anyone outside the family cares to know, and in fact probably more than people inside the family, who guard their privacy, probably want revealed or would prefer that I share, but in too many words that don't describe it all, I think it is obvious that we have enjoyed fall in Philly.
As Autumn now comes to an end, I find myself a bit overwhelmed once again by all of the joy that has been our life.
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| Organ Concert at a Nearby Church |
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