Entertaining Angels

My sister Sharon and her family (Randy and children: Elizabeth, Jon, Anna, and David) stopped by yesterday on their way to Boston.  They stopped at Lynn's apartment last night and she graciously invited them to spend the night (see picture above).

They started the day in Philadelphia and experienced a New York style traffic jam at the George Washington Bridge. When they arrived, we picked up 2 big pizzas from one of favorite places, Angelina's, and enjoyed each other's company. I understand that Richard and Jon and David were up late watching TV and talking.

They got an early start this morning to continue on to Boston where they are going to attend the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association National Championship at Gordon College in Wenhem, MA. Elizabeth is in two events. Good Luck!

Richard Wins Again!

The Winner and Champion!

In a previous post, I mentioned Richard's fondness for the game, Monopoly. Yesterday, the weather was ideal for playing: rainy. And so I accepted Richard's challenge. Unfortunately for me, my strategy of trying to prevent Richard from acquiring all the properties of a single color did not work. He quickly acquired 3 of the 4 railroads. I lost track of the number of times I had to pay him $100 rent when I landed on a railroad property. Ironically, a train was my playing piece.

But the deciding factor was Richard's ability to acquire both Boardwalk and Park Place and erect a hotel on each. Somehow, I survived my first "visit" to Boardwalk ($2,000 "rent" - see the picture above). I was ready to concede at that point but Richard urged me on. So we continued for a while longer until the inevitable happened: I landed on Boardwalk again. The End!

Celebrate The Day

We call this event "West Hartford Days" (but it's official name is "Celebrate! West Hartford"). It is held on Saturday and Sunday in June but since Lynn and Richard moved to West Hartford, we have attended on Saturday. It is a combination of arts & crafts, community service booths, local food & entertainment, carnival rides, and the library book sale.

This year the weather was threatening: it rained in the morning and was cold. But things settled down, the rain stopped, and it warmed up for the afternoon.

Our day started with the usual roller hockey game. Unfortunately, Richard's team lost 9-2.  Perhaps the rain got the team into a funk.

But by the time we went to the bank, and Richard showered and changed clothes, the sky was no longering leaking. So onward to West Hartford Days.

Always interesting food at these kind of events. Richard's favorite is Thai (garlic) chicken on a stick (with a side of rice and veggies) from a New Haven-based restaurant. The line for this was always long. He also enjoyed a bottle of Stewart Key Lime soda and a fancy cup cake. I tried an order of Greek stuffed grape leaves. Lynn and I sampled some free yogurt (coincidentally, I had Greek-style).

Friends of the Library BIG BOOK SALE (Sat. 10 - 4)

A favorite event for us is the annual book sale. Richard didn't have much interest but Lynn and I found a few things. Just as I was getting ready to pay, they announced the $5/bag deal. That worked out good for us. Lynn and I were able to stuff a few more books into a bag and got a good deal. She got several mysteries novels and a hockey book for Richard. I found a few Bible-related books including The Dartmouth Bible (2nd Edition) and the Reader's Digest Bible, Illustrated Edition. I also tossed in a decent copy of Treasure Island.

After the book sale we took another walk around the booths and rides. We ran into a long-time colleague of mine, GaryP and his wife. I used to work with Gary at HSB in Clevo and Hartford; and ran into him a few years ago when we both worked in NYC.  Lynn was kind of amused that although she has lived in West Hartford for 4 years that we run into a friend of mine.

Earlier, Richard had run into a school chum who was passing out helium balloons. Keep Richard in your prayers because he has final exams this coming week.

When we got back from West Hartford Days, we watched the Clevo Indians on the tube. They lost to the NY Yankees. Thankfully, we did not spring the big bucks to travel to NYC to Yankee Stadium. It takes a small fortune in order to attend a major league event.

Finally, June 11th is my brother Kurt's birthday (Happy Birthday Kurt!). He celebrated by running a 5K race with his daughter, Ellie, and my brother David and my sister Tina. Ellie finished ahead of them (41:21); then came Tina (43:15); and Kurt and David were only a whisker behind (43:17).

The joy of victory!

After the race (L to R): Tina, Ellie, David, Kurt.