Pizza John's:
Our whole family was able to get together for a few days, last week. As we had done in 2019, we gathered at John's Pizza, our favorite local casual eating place. The only downside was that it had been but a couple of weeks since the female half of the founding couple had died. Our server was one of her granddaughters. We had a wonderful time there, then adjourned to our home - at which venue no one thought to take photos.
From one end of the table, the first two photos feature Bogie (light grey tee) and clockwise around the table, Elder Brother (EB), WichiDude, Rachie, Dudette, Wonderful Granddaughter (WGD), Next Generation 1 (NG1), my empty chair, and Hunky Husband (HH).
The next photo, from the other end of the table, features Dudette (grey sweater), WGD, NG1, HH, Bogie, EB, WichiDude, and Rachie.
The third photo features WGD, NG1's empty chair, my empty chair, HH, Bogie, Next Generation 2 (NG2), EB, WichiDude, Rachie, and Dudette.
The next photo features NG1 (white tee), my empty chair, HH, Bogie, NG2, EB, & the shoulder of WGD.
P.S. While she was here, Bogie bought a couple of patchouli plants, asking that I mail them to her. The day after she left Kansas, I mailed the plants. The plants took less time to reach her home than it took Bogie - 26 hours vs 30 hours. The plants "looked pretty good" upon arrival.
P.P.S. Thank you, Liz, for giving me perspective. Had it not been for your posting of prices to send boxes to your family in Italy, I might have balked at spending 70 USD to send Bogie her patchouli plants that, as I recall, cost her less than 8 USD. (I'm taking it out of her inheritance. *laughing*)
Addition of 5/28/2022: More family photos supplied by Bogie (captioning by CC)
At home:
The next evening, after HH went to bed, Elder Brother (EB) and I sat up talking in my den. I took the opportunity to snap a few candid photos of him. Those are EB's favorite birding binoculars in his hands. From here, he drove to a couple of favorite birding places in Kansas from whence he proceeded to a couple more favorite birding places in Texas before heading home to Colorado. For a guy who suffered cardiac arrest in 2015 (he had a defibrillator implanted) and who is age 86 he tolerates long drives exceedingly well.
The three younger generations went out of their way to assure that EB, HH, and I did not over-extend ourselves. Bogie went so far as to pick up eight bags of mulch for me and prepare the area (pull weeds and fluff old mulch) before doing the mulch spreading.
Did EB ever finish reading that Roger Penrose physics textbook I recommended to you?
If so, what was his opinion thereof?
Posted by: Ole Phat Stu | May 25, 2022 at 02:50 AM
What a wonderful occasion! Lovely to put faces to names. Thanks for the name check. Scary and ridiculous prices.
Posted by: Liz Hinds | May 26, 2022 at 08:32 AM
Stu--I did not ask EB about the book. Sorry. Mostly we talked about birds and things in our past - going through our old college year books and such.
In particular, we were trying to come up with the name of a guy from Kansas City, with whom I had attended Greek Week at the college (while still in high school) and who had died three years later, just a few days after marrying. We could neither identify the guy in photos (he had become a member of my brother's social fraternity) nor come up with his name.
Liz--You are welcome. There was definitely a shocked moment on my part when the clerk told me the price; but, thinking about it, I was asking an awful lot - that the box be transported in an upright position at all times and that it be delivered the next day - so I wasn't too upset. I can't speak for the prices of delivery from Wales to Italy. That's a whole different thing.
Posted by: Cop Car | May 26, 2022 at 04:22 PM
OMG - Really, I would not have begrudged losing the $8 in plants for shipping costs that high (and now my inheritance is probably down to like $5 - LOL).
You will have to add the picture I sent this morning - that shows your chair NOT empty.
Posted by: bogie | May 28, 2022 at 05:05 AM
Bogie--I knew that about your plants but decided that USPS needed the business - lol. I had thought about posting your photos: Thanks for the permission. (Your photos demonstrate the superiority of the camera in your phone to my own stand-alone camera.)
Posted by: Cop Car | May 28, 2022 at 09:16 AM