Today is Sunday, March 24, 2024. Elliot and I are back from our weekend excursion to “Jill” and “Nathan”‘s house in Weston, Massachusetts, and spending time with their nine-year-old daughter “Sadie,” Elliot’s granddaughter. Except for a horrible spate of drenching rain on Saturday, leading to flooding everywhere, we had a rather enjoyable time with all three of Elliot’s immediate family.

This was the first time we entrusted the care of Atticus with someone else and that person was our adopted “niece,” “Esther.” So I was a little worried about how that arrangement was going and my fears were allayed when I texted Esther on Friday evening and she texted me back that everything was fine with our little imp. She said he got his wet food, treats, fresh water, and that they were “having a snuggle party.” She sent me several pics of Atticus around the apartment. Esther also informed me that Atticus was meowing for his wet food. Today she revealed that he really likes being held which surprised her. Then she admitted “he would just snuggle into my arms and purr like crazy.” So it seemed that Atticus was enjoying being with Esther a whole lot and we had nothing to worry about. Whoo! We hope to use Esther again over another weekend when we intend to drive down to Silver Spring, Maryland, to visit Elliot’s younger daughter, “Emily.” Let’s hope she’ll be available then – we won’t know until we ask her. It appears that they make a very good pair, so why not continue with the same arrangement? Of course, we have other options in case Esther is unavailable.

Our drive to Massachusetts on Friday went quite well in that there were very little snags in getting to our destination within the time we were expected at Jill and Nathan’s house, which was 5:30. We stopped for breakfast in Larchmont at the Harbour House Coffee Shop where we stopped for a little over an hour. Then we got back on the highway headed for The Bay State.

We were able to check into our hotel, the Fairfield Inn, at Waltham, Massachusetts before driving to Jill and Nathan. After spending some time with everyone in the living room, snacking on cheese and crackers, we all got into the family Subaru and drove to a hibachi restaurant nearby. That was a lot of fun, as the performing chef popped food into our mouths at certain intervals of his preparation of the food. This marked our second time eating at such a restaurant. The first time was in Florida.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel since we were both tired from the drive up. We were fine with staying inside our room and finding content on Netflix that I was able to access.

The next day we arrived at Jill and Nathan’s house around 11:30 after having the hotel breakfast which was just so-so. This day we had so much rain that it wasn’t even funny. It basically rained all day, I believe. After arriving at Jill and Nathan’s, it was Sadie who wanted to go to an H Mart in Burlington. Our other option was being taken on a tour of Jill and Nathan’s new house that they purchased in Arlington.

Our first exposure to H Mart was quite the thing, since we were both in awe of this huge market that sported a food court. So we had lunch at one of the many stands offering Asian cuisine. It was so crowded that we had to wait for a table to be available. So we were quite impressed by the inventory presented in this H Mart: so many Asian products to be used in the kitchen. One aisle just boasted myriad varieties of hot sauce. There were huge meat and kimchi sections. An immense frozen foods aisle. There was even a great selection of home appliances and goods, too, like rice cookers, pots, pans, chopsticks, utensils, etc. The market even had a lovely looking bakery next to the food court, of which I avoided getting anything sweet from it. We brought hamantaschen from Andre’s Bakery to Weston with us.

Googling the store, I found that the H in H Mart stands for “han ah reum,” a Korean phrase that roughly translates to “one arm full of groceries.” When Jill mentioned we were going to such a store, I recalled reading a little of Michelle Zauner’s book, Crying in H Mart, which is a memoir of her memories of visiting H Marts during her formative years and of her late mother. She is also a Grammy-nominated artist, by the way.

After our circuit of this H Mart, we drove to Arlington and toured Jill and Nathan’s new unoccupied house. We were shown through the colonial-style house from the basement to the second floor where a new bathroom was being installed by contractors. The rooms weren’t large but just right, we thought. The floors were parquet and quite good looking. All in all, the house was quite charming, and we said so.

When we drove back to Weston, we took our car and drove the ten minutes to the Fairfield Inn. We spent some time resting in our room to drive back to the kids’ house at 6:30 where this time we were treated to Jill’s culinary skills as she prepared a dinner consisting of salad, spaghetti, and meatballs. For dessert, we had the hamantaschen that we brought for them to enjoy for Purim.

Before we left, we were treated to an amazing slide presentation that Sadie presented to her third-grade class for review. We were amazed over how well she could write and do a visual presentation at her age: she’s only 9.

Then it was time to say goodbye and prepare for our trip back on Sunday, Palm Sunday. When we got back to our hotel, we watched another episode of Homicide on Netflix. This is the series we started watching on Friday. The new show chronicles some of the more puzzling and sensational murders committed in New York and their aftermath, as former detectives from both detective bureaus in Manhattan are interviewed as well as other personnel assigned to the cases. It’s quite fascinating.

The next day, we woke at 9:15 to have breakfast downstairs and then checked out around 10:30. We met “Michelle” and “Richard” in West Hartford at a Mediterranean restaurant called Zaytoon’s Bistro, on Park Road. We were supposed to meet at 1:30, but we got to West Hartford a good 45 minutes early, so we went for coffee at a Roasters on the main commercial road. I also discovered there was a bookstore nearby. We met our friends at the appointed time and we had a filling lunch having typical Middle Eastern food. As an appetizer, we shared kebbeh, which is a traditional Lebanese appetizer consisting of minced ground lamb with mixed spices, onions, and stuffed meat and onions. Richard and I both had the lamb shish kabob. I could not finish the meal since there was so much on my plate.

Then we visited the River Bend Bookshop right next door to the restaurant. It was nicely stacked with the most current best sellers.

We said goodbye to Michelle and Richard and then drove another 2 hours or so back to Queens.

Have a good week.

Stay safe and be well.