Summer

Whoa! Summer is flying by. I have been busy from start to finish. We started with two weeks in Mexico. I had not been there for four years. I really missed it. It was a whirlwind of visiting family, seeing friends, quick trip to Acapulco, and eating all the things I love from Mexico, namely chicken in Acapulco, coconut ice cream, drink Yoli, and eat Girabaldi sweet rolls(the bakeries in Mexico are thanks in part from when France occcupied Mexico for a few years. The one benefit was they learned to make pastries. The Girabaldi is a cupcake looking thing with a lemony glaze over top and then covered with those little non-pareil white dot things - delicious.) In the evening, mainly because it is not safe to go out after dark, we played with the small pool table we took down. We had so much fun. Everyone was amazed at how well Ana was at it. Now Ana and Jaime have nightly competitions. During the visit, I learned that my Uncle John passed away. I was very saddened by the news because he was a wonderful person. I had hoped to make at least the burial ceremony in Clarion. The funeral was in New York and then he was buried in Clarion. Unfornately, United decided that otherwise when we didn't arrive home until 5:00 in the morning when we should have been home at 11:00 the night before. Delay upon delay- oh the joys of flight travel. Needless to say at that point I was almost incoherent. I heard words coming out of my mouth but they didn't make any sense to what I thought I was going to say. So we went straight to bed and didn't wake up until sometime in the afternoon. We had a nice fourth of July or should I say fifth because that is when we celebrated with my parents, grandma, and Uncle Paul. Four days later we were off again for our trip to Montreal, Vermont, and New Jersey/New York City. We spent a three days in each place. We had a grand time with Luis and Claudia. We went to a museum, Old Montreal and sat around drink coffee and chatting up a storm. Then from there we went to Vermont. Jimmy and I both love Vermont. The people are so friendly. It seems as if no one is any rush and even if they are working they don't think twice about having a ten to fifteen minute conversation with a perfect stranger. You leave feeling like you just made a friend. Unlike here where they won't be able to pick you out of a line up five minutes later. Anyway, we picked up all kinds of pamplets and brochures deciding what to do. I saw a Tea place and was intrigued. So Saturday we hopped in the car and drove the back ways to Waterbury. We found the place. The man that owned the store couldn't have been nicer. We chatted about Pittsburgh( he had been there on business before he opened the Tea store) He knew Shadyside, Squirrel Hill and Homestead. He had grown up in Gary, IN and told us the horror of when the steel mills had shut down there. We asked him if there was anything he would could recommend seeing. So he mapped out a beautiful drive that had covered bridges, waterfalls, streams, stops for walking in the woods, Wildfloor gardens, and had we timed it a little better we could have gone to American Flatbread's original location. Everyone we talked to recommended American Flatbread. Sunday, we took another drive, not quite as impressive but very lovely. We capped off the day with dinner at a French bistro. It was wonderful and I can proudly say I have eated snails. After Vermont, we went to New Jersey to visit my sister and her family. The other reason was to celebrate my sister and I's fifth anniversary of the transplant. The transplant is one of those things that you can never show enough gratitude for such a selfless gift. I am happy to be doing so well but also try to eat well to take care of this priceless gift I was given. We went into New York City to the MOMA(incredible -loved seeing so many famous paintings and tasting the vanilla gelato that my niece got -highly recommend it.) We had dinner at a Belgian restaurant as our celebration. Mussels is the special dish. Although I like mussels I wasn't interested in the all you can eat so I got Hangar steak instead. It was delicious. I have more to say about my summer but I think that you will have to wait for the next installment because I have go do some errands.