First morning back in Michigan

First morning of being back home in Michigan after two weeks away. Started out with going over to the Apple Store to replace Gil's lost-on-the-flight iPhone.

Then opening lots of mail and emptying suitcases and filling up the laundry basket.

Whenever I get home from a trip, I always like to empty my suitcase and make a pile of things I never wore or things I never used from my makeup bag or jewelry I took but never wore.

It inspires me to pack less next time!

I have a pile of mail to go through, a garden of weeds to rid, a plant full of ripe cherry tomatoes, taking care of my birds and their bird bath water, a lot of thank you notes to write (for kindnesses extended to me during our trip) and restaurants to review.

Yes. I'm one of those type who reviews the restaurant each time I visit so that when you go to Yelp! or Tripadviser you'll get my best review -- complete with photos of the dishes I ordered!

Monday morning offers a chance to get back to my routine. I think I'll do some yoga!

Wellfleet Oysters at C-shore Restaurant

Adam and Gil shared a dozen oysters on our final night of vacation in Cape Cod. I had my first lobster by ordering lobster risotto, Gil had the c-shore bake and Adam had the ahi tuna salad. Asher, of course, had the Mac 'n Cheese, as usual! 

After dinner we went to Arnold's for ice cream and I rediscovered how much I love vanilla malted milkshakes. Adam remembered that I used to make them for all three kids at the Albuquerque house using Ovaltine malted powder. Oh my! It all tasted heavenly! We had it two nights in a row.

The other nights we went to Nauset Ice Cream and indulged.

Gil and I drove Laura's car back to Boston on Saturday, stopping for lunch at Legal Seafood. I went to Drybar to wash the salt, sand, starfish, clams and seashells out of my hair and have it styled before we ended at Adam's house to return Laura's car.

Called an Uber from their house and we were off to the airport. Another quick bite at Legal Test Kitchen in the Delta terminal and we boarded our one hour and 20 minute flight back to Michigan.

This story might have had a happy ending except that Gil left his phone on the plane and when he went back to retrieve it, it had vanished. We still don't know where it is.

He needs it for work tomorrow morning because his pages go through his phone, so off we went to the Apple Store this morning when they opened to purchase him a new iPhone.

He's spent the afternoon transferring all his data onto the phone and going to our local swimming pool to swim laps. I've gone to the grocery to restock the kitchen. I've been away from the house for two weeks. It's the longest I've been away from my home since I lived with Gil at Karmanos many years ago.

Nice to be home. Missed our puppies. Loving our home, yard and garden.

The House at 35 Wilson in Eastham

This is the cottage that Adam and Laura rented from AirBnB last year and they liked it so much they rented it again this year. Their first week was spent with us as their guests and this next week they will be alone as a family along with Bodhi, their 11-year old Labrador.

We really loved the space (900 square feet) and tried imagining it as a retirement space that we could envision downsizing into some day. I think both Gi and I agreed we could manage it as long as there were outside spaces to roam to and patios to sit on.

35 Wilson Avenue in Eastham, Massachusetts.

I've been with Asher for two weeks. I know his schedule (a nap after lunch when available), I know what he likes for breakfast (bagel with cream cheese), and I know what he likes for dinner (mac 'n cheese). Bedtime is sometimes a struggle but most often a warm and affectionate end to an active day.

I love some of his favorite phrases: "Me thinking (deliberate and thoughtful pause) I want to play with my farm." "What about (deliberate and thoughtful pause) we 

I think we will try to make it back there next year and spend time with them and, hopefully, some of our other kids.

Provincetown did not disappoint!

Here we are in Provincetown sitting a bit askew on this bench since we discovered only after we sat down for this photo that it was wet from last night's rain! We spent the morning walking through P-town with fresh pour-over coffees from The Spindler and The Wired Puppy in hand smelling the salty air -- admiring the weathered cedar-shake covered shops and homes while pushing Asher in his stroller through the crowds.

Lunch was at The Canteen -- pork BBQ, oyster sandwich, tofu banh mi and white wine sangria in a pitcher! 

Later in the day we flew a newly purchased dragonfly kite back near home at First Encounter Beach on the bay side of the peninsula. And then mussels and clams and a lobster roll at Mac's Kitchen and Market here in Eastham for dinner.

Adam and Laura are out to see a drive-in movie (Super Woman) while we babysit tonight. They deserve a fun getaway! Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny (we've had two overcast days so far) and we'll head to one of the National Seashore beaches on the ocean side.

Rainy Day in Snow Library

We woke up to a rainy day in Eastham so we were off to the Snow Library where  David Snow in 1796 donated $5,000 to start the public library in this community stipulating that it be called Snow Library. The library was filled with young kids! What else can you do in a beach town on a rainy day??

Gil and I drove along the coast looking at various beaches deciding where we want to show up on the next sunny day. As we all know, Gil loves swimming in open water so he's eager to get out there! Me? Well, I'm not a beach lover but I go along to help carry all the stuff!

Haiku:

When it's raining out

And the kids are getting fussy

time to read a book.

Heritage Museum and Gardens

We drove Laura's standard transmission car from Roslindale to the Cape today. Neither of us had driven a standard transmission in ages. We needed to practice in a parking lot with Adam coaching us from the front passenger seat and reminding us where the gears were. "This is a real role-reversal," he said. "It wasn't that many years ago when YOU were teaching ME how to drive one of these!"

On the way to Eastham along the cape, we stopped in Sandwich, MA for a fresh seafood lunch. Then we made our way through Sandwich to the Heritage Museum and Gardens where we came across this delightful and whimsical sculpture by Alfie Glover (above) surrounding one of the gardens.

 We're here in Eastham now and made our grocery run to get coffee and staples. We went to Wiley Park and looked onto the pond which is a Kettle Pond -- a commonly-formed body of water scooped out of the rock landscape by glaciers moving through the area many years ago.

Can't wait to take Asher to the beaches all along the coastal area this week. Ate dinner at The Friendly Fisherman tonight followed by ice cream at Nauset Ice Cream. Laura got blackberry, Asher chose strawberry and Adam got peanut butter over a Reese's cup.

Haiku:

Ice cream in July

melting all over your hands

feels good to lick off.

Boston Duck Boat Tour

Boston's Duck Boat tour filled up my afternoon today. Asher and his other grandma (Asher refers to her as Nana) and I went to the Science Museum for a few hours until our 3:45 pm tour time on Duck #1 arrived.

Poor Asher was so tired by the time the tour of the city was over that he fell asleep before we even got to the part of the tour where the Duck Boat heads down a ramp and into the Charles River.

Nana and I had to decide whether or not to wake him up! (We did!)

It was long day. But a fun day! I loved spending time with Nana.

I'm at a favorite Air BnB tonight (The Taylor House in Jamaica Plain) since Laura came home from her company's meeting in Vancouver. I wanted the kids to have some private time tonight  and I wanted to have some downtime for myself. I've been getting up every morning around 6:30 am and not going to bed until 11 pm.

Last night I put together the "4momsmommaroo infant rocker" for their new coming baby. I had a wonderful week with Asher and Adam.

Ahhhh. Good night.

I'm going to sleep

knowing Asher's mom is home

and happy to be.

Second to Last Day

Today is my second to last day taking care of my darling little grandson here in Boston. His mom comes home tomorrow from her week-long trip and my current duties will be over. I will return to simply being his doting Grandma -- not his primary loving caretaker.

When his mom is gone, I take him to his usual daycare and pick him up in the late afternoon. We want to maintain his routine as much as possible.

His dad (my son) goes to work in the morning and comes home in the evening so I get to be with m grandson a few hours in the morning and in the late afternoon by myself. While he was at daycare today, I took care of two beauty issues.

I stopped by the Drybar in Chestnut Hills for the pleasure of getting my hair professionally shampooed and blown dry. Then I headed to a nail salon to repair a chipped nail -- probably due to extra duties of walking the dog four times a day, grooming the dog so he doesn't keep shedding all over my vacuumed floors, keeping up with a busy little toddler, doing housekeeping and laundry, shopping for groceries and preparing the meals.

Today we made Coconut Almond Macaroons. So easy and really delicious. This is the Martha Stewart recipe in my own words:

1 cup sugar

3 large egg whites

3/4 cup slivered raw almonds 

3 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Blend egg whites and sugar. Mix in the remaining ingredients.

Place 2 teaspoons of the mixture at a time into mounds on a parchment sheet-lined cookie pan. With wet hands, mold the mounds into pyramid shapes. Cook 20 minutes or until underside of cookie is browned and tops of cookies are slightly browned.

Enjoy! (As we did!)

The Bike Hitch

Today I helped get a hitch for a bike rack installed on Adam's new car. The shop's location was in a less-than-desireable part of town. 

When my GPS announced "You have arrived at your destination," I looked around and didn't see the shop.

I drove around the block twice. Finally I pulled over in front of a church (the safest place to pull over and stop in this area, I figured) and called the shop owner, Ike.

"I've driven down the street twice and I can't find your place," I told him.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"I'm in front of the church on Anselm."

"Oh, you just passed us. We're about 100 yards behind you."

"Is your shop the one with the 12 foot high chain link fence topped with concertina wire, and old tires hanging on the fence and a sign that says, "We straighten bent wheels?"

"Yep. That's it," he said.

He actually turned out to be a great guy. It was a 95 degree day with 92% humidity in Boston today. His waiting room (pictured above) was pleasantly air-conditioned but it appeared his shop area in the back was not.

He kept coming out from the shop area to give me updates. He was mopping sweat from his head and neck with a rag every time he appeared.

In one update, he told me he had four guys (and these are big, burly auto mechanic-types) holding the detached muffler up while some necessary part was being installed onto the car frame.

Twenty minutes and $120 later, the Mazda had a hitch! 

After it was done, I thanked him and gave him money to buy pizzas and cold drinks for everyone for lunch. 

And to think that Adam had actually considered putting the hitch on himself! The instructions said anyone could do it in an hour and a professional could do it in 30 minutes.

Directions can be so misleading!

Happy 86th Birthday!

My oh my! I see I stopped posting to this blog site in 2012. So much has happened since then. We'll catch up as we go along but today is ... well ... just about today.

To start with, it's my mom's 86th birthday today. Hence the photo! Happy Birthday, Mom!

And secondly, I'm in Boston this week helping Adam take care of 2-1/2 year old Asher while Laura (7-month pregnant with Baby Girl Raff) is in Vancouver at her company retreat. So far, so good.

Except that I let Asher watch a video of Winnie the Pooh on my iPhone yesterday, trying to buy some time entertaining him while I prepared dinner, and when it was time to eat, Asher wasn't having any of it!

"No, Grandma," he told me with determined eyebrow-scrunching, "I am NOT going to eat dinner now. I'm watching a video." (Cue up: pouting, crying, stomping of feet, scowling face)

So I have learned my lesson. No more iPhone videos for this guy for the near future.

Yesterday I bought a "4momsmamaroo" infant swing at Buy Buy Baby that the Babocush will attach to and will "provide hours and hours of tummy-down time to help with baby gas and flat head syndrome." (At least that's the marketing gimmick they're going with.)

The infant swing connects to Bluetooth to play any music you like to come out of the embedded speakers, and its programmable motion features allow it to rock back and forth, swing side to side, or mimic the natural rhythm of a mother swaying and shifting her weight from side-to-side walking or standing in place that seems to soothe all babies.

Closing with my usual Haiku ...

A trip to Boston

comes with a special delight 

more time with Asher.