Brunch in Grove City

In a fashion much like my last Ohio stopover, K. and I went over to her parents' house for brunch on Sunday morning. M. and his kids were once again up from Cincinnati, and so you'll see I took way too many pictures of their kids, though the littlest certainly got the most camera time.

Last time she had no hair and couldn't stand. Now she has hair and teeth and can. It doesn't feel like enough time has gone by for such a transformation. Just goes to show you, little people grow faster than big people. What?

Brunch consisted of fresh fruit and breakfast burritos.

I took a ton of photographs of I. by the sliding door, and liked them all, so I am sharing them all.



I asked L. to take a photograph of K. and myself, and A. wanted in on the action.
This was a series of three, I encouraged everyone to use their surfer hands and this is the best of the bunch...except M. looked better in the other two, as his eyes were open. If I was a better photoshopper I could take him from one of the other shots and superimpose his image to this...but I have no idea how to do that.
After this I got back on the road and drove on down to Nashville.

Yoga, Dinner and Cousins (Not My Cousins)

On Saturday evening J.'s mother made a lovely salad of tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, chick peas and maybe something else?


While the other elements of dinner came together J. and J. did a little yoga and yoga assisting. There is no way I could do what she-J. is doing in this photograph. I mean,there is a way, but at this current time I could not do it. Nope. Un-doable. S. treated his mother's leg as a London bridge.

Dinner also involved fresh corn.

The grown ups (of which I don't think I'm really one) decided that the kids would eat dinner first, and then be put in front of the t.v. while the grown ups ate. Wise move, grown ups, wise move. N. and G. wore G.'s father's tee shirts, which was quite funny because he's a pretty big guy and they are pretty little people.
J.'s dad grilled tuna, which put me on my recent tuna fix. You don't know I've been on a tuna fix, but you will. Can you be on a fix?
Then S. led N. and G. in a few spirited rounds of Ring Around the Rosey. Rosy?


And then I tried grappa for what I think is the first time. I'm glad I went with a relatively 'smooth' version.
Then we proceeded to try every homemade liqueur kind of thing that J.'s parents had brought back with them after their last trip to Italy. I should have written it all down. One was supposedly absinthe, but I don't buy it...nor did I like it.
A wonderful dinner, lovely company and a lot of fun. Thanks all for letting me join you!

Memorial Day Sunday w/ J. and J. and S. and N. and F. and T.

On Sunday I drove back to Philadelphia, regrouped briefly then went on over to J. and J.'s for some hang time and foooooood. Within moments of my arrival there was an impromptu and improvisational round of yoga done.



F. and T. were coming over too, but we started chomping on the great charcuterie/cheese plate that he-J. concocted before they arrived (and made a good dent). Watermelon was also consumed, with forks at S.'s request.
Delicious.
He-J. found a suburban Whole Foods that sells beer, a rarity in Pennsylvania.

I was wearing a pair of my fake glasses, which turned out to be a pretty big hit with the under four foot crowd. I also brought the kids flashlights as a birthday gift to S. and a don't-fight-over-the-flashlight gift for N. The idea seemed solid, unfortunately the flashlights were poorly constructed and, I would imagine, have already been entirely destroyed. But for the person looking to buy a little boy a present (girls too maybe): get a mini-flashlight for the tyke, it will be used and appreciated for at least four hours.
He-J's apocalypse garden experiment seemed to be thriving.
And their strawberry patch was also producing.
Some sort-of baseball was played.
He-J. made quite a nice spread of food for dinner. Pasta salad, brisket, baked beans, cherries and more.
That was some really tasty brisket, with a great accompanying barbeque sauce. I assume he actually made the sauce, but if it was store bought I want to get in on that action.
There was just a little beer left in this jug, so I drank it.
Drinking the beer made my face go all a'twirl.
F. and T. brought a bottle of limoncello, which we tasted alongside He-J's homemade stuff. I forget what we decided (they actually said we didn't have to decide anything...but I wanted a decision). I think I liked his better, though it had the advantage of already being cold. Maybe it was a little less sweet too? Or sweet in a more organic way? If that makes any sense.
T. also had a pair of glasses. Her poor glasses were licked at one point. Mine just got cake all over them. Oh yes, F. and T. also brought the most ridiculously rich chocolate cake you could imagine. Insanity. I couldn't even finish one slice. The littler ones had less of a problem with cleaning their plates.
N. as a young and outspoken academic.
F. and N. in serious debate about the ramifications of eating chocolate cake after 8 pm...that or the likelihood of peace in the Middle East.
F. took a few photographs of J. and me and T., but this is the only one in which I don't look like a complete mess. And you know it's all about me. I actually photoshopped a piece of chocolate off my mouth in this one. Such vanity. Whatever. I am so cool.
My late nights in NYC forced me to leave the house before games were played or another bottle of wine was consumed, which was a disappointment but couldn't be avoided. A great heaping thank you goes to both the J.'s for the good time, wonderful food and lively company, as always.

Kiddy Cousins and Breakfast in Grove City

On Sunday morning, K. and I drove over to her parents' house. K.'s brother, wife and kids were also at the house, having driven up from Kentucky the day before. They have three kids, the youngest of which I had never met. K., the boy child, was just a baby the first and only time I met him before and, actually, I think it was the first and only time I met his older sister A. as well. It was nice to spend a few hours with these kiddies.
Note my new glasses. I do not need glasses, but K. had two sets of glasses on her dresser and I put them on to play around, and it turns out they're fake glasses. K. got them on a whim, but they hurt her eyes, so she gave them to me like the generous cousin that she is. The other pair are red. One of these days you'll see them too. I feel a little funny about wearing fake glasses, and have really only been wearing them in front of my parents as a gag...except that I think they make me look smart or different. I am smart and different, so it doesn't come as a surprise that the glasses boost these qualities. But, I'm not sure I'd want anyone I didn't know to meet me with the glasses, because I would be unable to keep myself from telling them they weren't real, and then they would think to themselves 'think of all the poor glasses-wearing people who have no choice, and here she is...' I know. I've over thought it.
Baby I. had quite a dexterous tongue. Can a tongue be dexterous? I swear it was like a little anteater tongue, she could hold a pencil with it.

Much bicycling was done in the court. I held baby I. for quite a while, she's a very laid back baby not at all flummoxed by total strangers hefting her around. A good quality, I think. I kept on lifting her over my head and making her smile, which was great fun, though I must admit that my shoulder and arm muscles ached something fierce the next day...I thought I was coming down with the flu until I remembered that I had been using parts of my body that are usually untaxed. Owning my flaws.




My aunt L. and cousin M. made breakfast for us all. The spread included fresh strawberries, pineapples and blueberries, as well as potatoes, fried eggs, homemade sausage gravy, biscuits and bacon. Oh, it was marvelous.
M.'s sausage gravy was a completely different beast than most diner varieties. I realized that with more sausage and far less flour, sausage gravy can appeal to me in a way that it hardly ever does when I've seen or eaten it in the outside world. Kudos. The eggs, also, were cooked nicely. Mmmmm.
Then K. and A. put on a show. K. would 'play' the piano while A. would dance, and then they would change positions. It made me think of my own performative years when I would insist that neighbor children, or playdate playmates would sing or act out scenes of my choosing. I want to be six again. Or twenty two.
I had troubles taking photographs inside without having the kids be entirely blurry, thus the poor grainy quality of these pictures. I like that it looks like K. is doing the mashed potato in the below image.



It was a nice few hours with the extended family. Thanks to all for the meals, company and entertainment!