Category Archives: Holidays

Driving in the Dark

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The trip home was uneventful, thank goodness. We deliberately left Mother’s summer house late so that the traffic would not be so bad. When we drive in the dark the kids usually fall asleep quickly and the drive is nice and quiet. Even the wife fell asleep, so I just drove along listening to my new Eagles CD and enjoyed the peaceful drive.

“Long Road Out of Eden” is a classic, mature, and long overdue collection of the Eagles with new songs and some of the best of the older ones. Each one of the guys has his moment to shine and when they sing together their harmony is awesome.

One of my favorite new cuts is “Waiting in the Weeds.” It sounds like it could have been written 10 years ago or 10 days ago – a classic Eagles song. Another one that I really like is “You Are Not Alone.” That one is very soothing and brings up all those deep thoughts that we should examine every once in a while.

Maybe Dallas

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Last night after dinner and before everyone packed up to head home we had some quiet moments on the deck, watching the kids down on the dock and just chatting. That’s when my brother dropped the news that he’s been offered a promotion at work. The only problem with that is he will have to move to the corporate headquarters, which is in Dallas. Needless to say, that really upset Mother, and I can’t believe he would have waited to share that info with us until the last minute. But then, he said he figured Mother would be upset and he didn’t want the news to cast a shadow on the whole weekend.

I think the move to Dallas would be great for him and the family – Dallas is a wonderful city with all kinds of opportunities for an active family. Mother could easily fly out there for several visits throughout the year, and he would be coming back here for visits, too.

Crab Feast

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The kids came back up from the dock full of excitement and chatter. They had checked the crab pots we put out over the weekend and counted up the crabs. Between the six crab pots (one for each kid!) and what they caught last night we actually have enough caught to make it worthwhile steaming a batch for lunch.

Last night was really magical. We set all the kids up with a string and a net and taught them how to crab from the dock like we used to do. Each kid tied a small piece of raw chicken to their string and dropped the string into the water just a few inches below the surface, holding one end of the string in one hand and the net in their other hand. Laying flat on their bellies on the edge of the dock planks, they peered down into the river water and watched for a crab to swim up to their baited string, then swooped him up with the net. Even the 5 year old caught three crabs and he was so excited he was practically jumping out of skin!

That was really great – sharing the experience of my own childhood with the next generation and making memories that the whole family will share with each other for all the years to come.

So now I’m off to find a big can of Old Bay seasoning and the crab pot, because we have crabs to steam.

Time to Wake Up

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How do twelve people sleeping under the same roof for the holiday weekend wake up? Well, at Mother’s summer house we all were roused from slumber by the beautiful chimes of her grandfather clock at 7:15 this morning.

Mother and my wife were already in the kitchen frying up 6 pounds of bacon, scrambling 3 dozen eggs, and setting up a huge self serve waffle bar. At 7:30 it is already 76 degrees, so we menfolks are heading out to the deck for a seat to sip coffee and let the kids get their plates fixed up.

My brother actually asked why the grandfather clock only woke him up at 7:00 and not through the night. Mother has placed the grandfather clock in her foyer, on the narrow wall fronting the hallway to the first floor guest bedroom and her master bedroom. Those two rooms hear it the loudest.

Full House

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Well, Mother’s summer house is chock full of people this weekend. My brother arrived with his family early this morning and combined with my offspring there are 6 kids running through the house having a blast and 6 adults trying to talk amongst themselves and keep some semblance of order.

After a big breakfast we all put on bathing suits and grabbed our beach stuff and it took four boatloads full of people to get everyone over to the island. The weather was perfect all day – warm and a slight breeze. We spend hours combing the sand for sharks teeth and sea shells, and Mother had packed two coolers with sandwiches, chips, cookies and soft drinks, so we had a feast on the blankets while we waved at all the other boats zipping by.

When everyone had enough sun we started sending boatloads back to the house. Now we’re in the middle of fixing hot dogs and burgers on the grill while the kids are down on the dock trying to net a few crabs and sharing stories. It’s been a really nice day for all of us and its great to have the families together.