Update on CT visit

My trip to CT was such fun! Thursday I drove to Liz and Mike's house to meet the new puppy, Sage. Oh my! She's such a wonderful dog! Absolutely adorable!!! Well behaved, quiet, calm and lovable!!! Thank God! I was so worried. But it's all good at that Sweeney household!!!

Then, I drove to Susan and George's house, that beautiful bungalo near the beach! It's always great to visit with them. Susan and I have over 20 years of friendship behind us, and hopefully another 20. That should be interesting. That would put me in my 80's and Susan in her 70's. I'll bet we won't be any different than we are now......except SHE probably won't be able to quilt because of the arthritis in her hands, and I won't be able to run marathons anymore. hehehehehe

Friday morning, Smooze and I drove over to Mary's mother's house and made the flower arrangements for the party. We had an absolute blast....joking around and teasing each other just like we used to when we were all florists in Fairfield, and 20 years younger!!! I told Mary "I remember you when you were in your 20's and young!!!" and she said, "Yeah, and I remember you when you were "middle aged"!!!" OUCH! hehehehehe. Brat! Anyway, we had a lot of fun, and the project went very quickly. The arrangements looked great! (I have pictures somewhere on this computer.....I just can't find them! 750 of them, mind you! How can anyone loose 750 pictures!!!!!)

Friday night was the party. What a great job Donna and Stephen did planning it! Mary got there early and set up the table decorations. Susan had bought some "body parts" candy in individual wrappers, but the catering staff said it wasn't allowed in the room that we had rented, because they end up on the floor......ets......bla, bla, bla. Anyway, the flowers looked great, and Susan had cut up some of her nice, orange Halloween fabric and put squares of that under the arrangements, which were in black containers, on black tablecloths.

Donna and Stephen met us at the door, dressed as the couple in the movie Beetlejuice. OMG, they looked insanely awesome! Stephen had the stripes on his suit, and the white and black face paint.......Donna looked down right creepy! I kept staring at her, because I was amazed at the perfection of her makeup. I can't wait for you all to see the pictures.....it was nuts!!!!

Pretty much everyone came in costume, and there were some good ones!!! (The day after the party, when I talked to Donna, she told me there were so many people in the medical profession there it was funny. Also, EMT's, Firemen, Police.....who knew!!!) Great, and here I am at the mortgage burning ceremony, under the trees......whispering......QUICK! HERE COME THE FUZZ!!! Oh Lord. There were probably cops and firemen standing right around me! Duh.............heheheheheh.

So, the band was and Irish band. They were just amazing!!! They played a few Irish songs, and the rest of the night they just rocked bad-assed......as Mary said. hehehehe....they were awesome, and I danced like a drunken wench!!!! See? And all these years Mary and I blamed our silly shennagins on the booze, when in fact it was JUST US! Mary has been sober for years also, and she's still just as crazy as ever!!!

The food was perfect. Apparently that's the same catering company that Donna and Stephen used for their wedding, which was in that same room, 15 years ago, on the exact same date! Shows you how the Universe works, huh?

We got back home, to Susan and George's house at 1a.m. You all know, I don't stay up late, so Saturday morning I slept until 10a.m.!!!!! In the afternoon, Susan took me out to a place called Yoshida. I ordered the box with fried scallops, Shumai, and Kappa Maki........OMG.....it was fantastic! I loved every bite! At first, it didn't look like a ton of food, but I actually could not finish all of it, so I brought some back to the house for George, who had to work part of the day. I'm sure it wasn't as good leftover, but wow.....I do plan on going back there when I move to CT. It might just become one of my favorite restaurants!!! It's on the post road in Milford, so not far from Suzzie's??

Let's see. I have awesome pictures from the party, and also pictures of some of Susan's quilts. She's really a master quilter, even if she won't admit it!!! I thought she had been quilting her whole life, but she's only been quilting for about four years.......so there's hope that I can become almost as good, if I focus on that goal. Upstairs, in her guest room, she has a quilt rack, to hang the extra quilts on. She must have ten spectacular quilts on there......at least. Then there are a couple on the bed, some on their bed, the big "wedding ring quilt" hanging in the dining room.......two or three hanging in the living room......some on the couch, on the chairs......it's like quilt heaven! Ah....delightful.....and oh so restful.....

Saturday, I headed to West Redding, to visit with the Francoletti clan! It was great to see them all. The kids have grown so much, I kind of have to look at them with a tilted head, thinking...."but....but.....where did all the little people go????" They boys are seven already, and Abigail is five!!! Yikes. (She' s five going on 30, by the way!!! She's so friggin' cute!!!)

Saturday afternoon, we all got dressed up and went to a Halloween Trick or Treet Street at their school. The inside of the building was dark, and different classes and teachers had set up scenes........that the kids got candy at. I tried to take pictures, but of course, the minute a flash goes off......it screws up the mood lighting, so the pictures didn't come out that great. But, I'll have them printed, and send them to the kids. I think they'll enjoy seeing them.

We watched The Three Amigos on Saturday night, with mixed reviews. Abigail watched the whole thing, but frequently said, "Mommy, this isn't funny." Joe quit really early and went downstairs to watch sports with Daddy. Nick really got into it, but when people started getting shot, he would leave the room......he didn't like that at all. He seemed very sensitive to the plight of the good guys, and he was worried about them!

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we went to a farm close to their house. It's beautiful! (However, the kids are still puzzled at why the house, barn and other buildings are painted yellow! It's a beautiful pale yellow, too, but I guess in their minds the barn should be red! Think about it.....in books...the barn is always red!!! What's up with that?????Well, actually, I do know the answer to that question, but I'll let you all figure it out. ) Anyway, the first thing I did when we got out of the car, was head right over to a couple of teen aged cows standing near the fence! They were beautiful, and it was great to be able to just pat her, and scratch her neck, which I must say, she really enjoyed!!!

The kids had fun throwing rocks in the brook, which meandered around the edge of the cut grass. Apparently some movie star owned the farm, which is on 22 acres of land. She left it to the town in her will, with the stipulation that it be set up as a non-profit educational resource for the town! And so it is! They have all sorts of events......concerts in the summer......festivals....classes......etc. Wow! I would be a member, that's for sure! Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera, as I wasn't expecting it to be THAT beautiful! Shame on me!!! I will next time, though, that's for sure! I suspect it's even stunning in winter, covered with snow!

I left the Francoletti's around 9a.m. yesterday morning, and meandered home. The trip that should take about two hours and 20 minutes, took me seven......so you can see how much exploring I did!!! Hehehe......

Now, I'm here, and it seems really, really quiet! Yikes! Too quiet!!!