September 1 - Family Visits - Day 5

Have I mentioned that Sandy and Terry live in a lovely house in Broad Run, Virginia about 35 miles or so West of Washington, DC?   You are approaching the Blue Ridge Mountains out this way and it's very peaceful, beautiful and out-of-the-way.  They have lived here about 12-13 years (?) and have gradually remodeled and added on to the original house which sits on about 5 acres.  Sandy's office (the kitchen) is fabulous!  Spacious and well equipped - a cooks dream.....I'm making dinner tonight for the three of us plus our cousin Susan is coming 'round after work too.  The menu starts with a capresse appetizer with organic cucumber martinis; the entree is Zucchini and Chicken Gratinate with crusty whole wheat bread and we are having lemon pound cake for dessert.  I'm sure Terry and Sandy will pick out excellent wines to go with.

I went in early today to see Dad and hung some more artwork for him and we worked on the computer again.  The mouse is working great and except for the fact that he has to use his left hand, I think he's getting the hang of using a computer again.  Being out-of-the-loop on a computer has set him back a little.  Look for him on Facebook though.  He has bookmarked his favorites:  Washington Times and Post; Washington Nationals; Washington Redskins; Island Bound;   A California Girl in New York; Nat's Doodles; and my blog.  He's going to keep busy if he reads everything he likes!

Anyway, after a couple of hours I headed to the ABC Store; you can't buy hard liquor in the grocery store here!  What's up with that?  Weird.  And then to the grocery for tonight's dinner.

So since our cousin Susan will be here, let me tell you a little about her.

Susan's parents, Dot and Bill, are both deceased.  Dot, or Dorothy, was my mother's sister and, except for the fact that Dot lived in Pennsylvania and Mom lived in Virginia, they were close.  Dot and Bill had four children;  Cheryl,  Susan,  Billy and Lynn.  Lynn was closest to Sandy and I in age.  Cheryl was "much" older than me and Susan was the "sophisticate" that I secretly looked up to!  Billy was this mysterious quasi-older brother to us.

Our families used to share vacations together.  They would come to Barton Street for a long weekend and we would go to Willliamsport, Pennsylvania to visit.  I loved going there because us girls would all sleep out in the screen-in porch watching the stars and fireflies and whispering and giggling until we fell to sleep.  During the day we could go down to the creek (pronounced crick) and swim or hunt craw-dads and fish or jump off the rope swing.  It was very exciting being there as I liked the outdoorsy freedom that we didn't have at Barton Street.

We would also spend our summer vacations together at Ocean City, Maryland in a large rented flat a half block or so off the beach.  I don't know how we all fit in but we did.  Us girls loved to ride our rubber rafts in the surf or our parents would somehow find a huge airplane tire and have it inflated and we would all sit round the tire gliding over the swells.  We would also try our hardest to look "cool" carrying our brother Paul's surfboard down to the ocean as if we were the ones actually going surfing!  Ha!

One day Lynn and Sandy and I were on our balcony overlooking the busy sidewalk and this hippy looking dude went by wearing a large, fake, pineapple around his neck.  The older girls dared me to say something to him so, naturally, I called out, "hey dude, Is your pineapple ripe yet!"  He looked up and started up the stairs toward our flat and Sandy, Lynn and I went screaming into the house through the kitchen where Mom and Dot were working and out the back door, looking over our shoulders only long enough to tell them NOT to answer the door!

Dot was a particularly sweet and kind woman.  I very clearly remember her coming up to the bedroom I shared with Shirley and Sandy, and, while Dot and Bill were in town, Lynn stayed there as well, to tuck us in at night.....something our mother didn't do.  She paused at my bed and kissed me goodnight and told me how pretty I looked laying there with ribbons in my hair.  I remember absolutely beaming and going to sleep with a smile on my face.  That was an incredibly kind thing to say to me and I will never forget it.  She was an angel on earth our Dot, with a very gentle spirit.

Anyway, Susan to me was always this uber-trendy, sophisticated young woman who was living a very exciting lifestyle like some film star or something.  She moved to the DC area in '66-67 when I was 11-12.  She would have been 18 years old.  Susan made a lot of her own clothing and the patterns were modern and her fabric choices were very stylish.  She always had the most trendy hairdo, purses and shoes.  Some things never change.

When Susan walked in here tonight she looked like a model dressed all in black with her hair slicked back; beautiful jewelry and Louboutin heels!  She was also sporting her very stylish dogs, Pearl and Sullivan freshly coiffed with bows in their hair.

We had a delicious and relaxing dinner outside and re-hashed historical events and spoke of upcoming events.  Susan's daughter, Morayma, is having twin girls the end of this year with her husband Matthew.

It's always nice to come home and catch-up with family and extended family.  There is so much history that exists between our families and yet we rarely get to see each other.  I wish Dot could have been there to sit and share with us tonight and yet, somehow I think she was.