Today is Sunday, December 15, 2024. As you know, Elliot and I have been away visiting with his daughter and her family in Arlington, Massachusetts. We drove there on Friday, December 13, in our new car and it was a great way to break in our Subaru Forester and it looks as if it has lived up to its expectations. However, there was so much traffic going up that we arrived at “Jill’s” house close to 7:30; we were expected around 7. And we stopped only once – for breakfast in Larchmont at the Harbour House Coffee Shop. I drove there myself. I would dare say that the drive took around 4 hours to get to Massachusetts. And that was after getting to Larchmont which was about an hour or so from New York. We took the Merritt Parkway which is a two-lane roadway and it was clogged with traffic somewhere in Connecticut.

So when we finally arrived, we just had pizza for dinner and conversed in the dining room with both Jill and “Nathan.” Elliot’s granddaughter was also there and we greeted her with a big hug and chatted with her too. She is only 9 but seems to be going on 28.

The next day, we had a very busy Saturday. From having bagels for breakfast to driving to Dorchester after 1 to pick up “Sally” at a friend’s house, we ended up at a local theater in Dorchester called the Strand where Jill and Nathan bought us tickets to see Tchaikovsky’s immortal Nutcracker ballet. This was totally unexpected; we had not known what we were going to do with Jill and Nathan on Saturday. I never asked Elliot what was scheduled for us to do with them and it was quite a pleasant surprise. The last time we saw a production of this classic ballet was years ago at Lincoln Center. This production was not as elaborate as Lincoln Center’s was, but it was quite good nevertheless. However, it was difficult to rein in the many children who were in the audience from crying out. Maybe that was part of the charm of seeing such a traditional ballet done for the entire family. Sally had no trouble sitting for the entire two-hour performance. I don’t think I would have been able to sit through such a show at her age, but she was so poised and patient.

After the show, Nathan drove us to a local restaurant called 224, I believe, where we had a great dinner consisting primarily of good comfort food like hamburgers, and in my case, baked meatloaf. As an appetizer, I had the restaurant’s meatballs that were heavenly. The sauce was quite delicious. We had dessert at home where Nathan served us apple crisp with vanilla ice cream. Jill went to bed early since she wasn’t feeling quite herself yet.

On Sunday, we left very early – right after breakfast, around 10:30, since Jill was still not feeling well. She explained to us when we arrived on Friday that she was feeling the lingering effects of a bout of bronchitis. So we didn’t want to overstay our welcome. We also wanted to make a lunch stop at Rein’s Deli, in Vernon, Connecticut. It is a New York-style Jewish deli located in Connecticut. Elliot has very fond memories of going to this place for as long as he can remember. He wanted one thing and that was Rein’s stuffed cabbage. I ordered a potato knish and an overstuffed sandwich of corned beef, pastrami, and salami on rye bread, what else? I know it’s not good for you in the long run, but having it once in a while can’t be all that bad, can’t it?

Driving home was less stressful than going up to Massachusetts. We went a different way – I-84 E and I-90 E – and there was much less traffic. We made no other stops after Rein’s and we got home close to 3:30, I believe. Atticus was waiting for us on the computer desk. I wonder if he smells Jill and Nathan’s dog, Barry, on us, though! Our cat sitter sent us photos all throughout the weekend and she kept on saying he was very active, and boy, is she right! It’s close to 11 here and he’s prowling around right now.

It’s another week before Drumpf is inaugurated. Enjoy it.

And so it went!

This is one of the pictures sent me from my cat sitter over the weekend.

Here’s a black-and-white photo of the scamp sitting in a toy that our sitter gave us.