Mike and Susan arrive from Illinois

June 18, 2010
Broad Brook, CT

Catching up from where we left off: yes, it did rain on Wednesday, but not as much, as hard, or as long as expected. So much for forecasts. We chopped up the last of the mushrooms we brought from Pennsylvania and Pat made a nice hearty Mushroom Soup for dinner, which was excellent.

Thursday was a slow day, as Geri and I weren't moving too quickly in the morning. We did some shopping in the afternoon, and Geri, Pat and Melisa all went off to some sort of "jewelry party" in the evening. Kinda like the old "Tupperware parties", just different "stuff", I suppose. Al mowed the lawn and I put together some meatball grinders, finishing up the ones Geri made and froze before we left AZ. With an OK sauce and some decent provolone, one-and-a-half each and we were stuffed. We headed around the corner to the German Club for a brew and called it an early night.

Today was a quiet day for the most part. Al and I made a Costco run to pick up littleneck clams and mussels for dinner, and Geri's oldest son, Mike, and his wife, Susan arrived late in the afternoon. They live in southwestern Illinois and have been doing their own "family tour", visiting South Carolina and Virginia before getting here.

It's become a tradition to have seafood when Mike visits, since his options are limited where he lives. We possibly overdid things, though, with 15 pounds of clams and about 18 pounds of mussels. Al and I fired up our outdoor stove and we cooked (except for the clams that were confiscated to be served raw) and dined al fresco. Pat also made some beef tips that went over well. Melisa, Paul & Jesse came over, Geri's son, Paul, was there, and Mike & Lynne stopped by, and Al's friends John & Ted made an appearance so we had a full deck. And a good time...