When you need mom

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moms, postaday2016, visit

I’m back in New York visiting with my mother, I wanted to spend time with her before my surgery, hedging my bets if you will. There are times when you need your mom and this is one of those times. I’m glad my husband and I made the trip, she is too.

New York by night

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aunt, postaday2016, visit

Tonight my husband and I are staying in the city because my aunt is visiting from France, I’m so happy she’s here, I’ve missed her. 

My mother and I went to pick her up at JFK, we came back to my mother’s and spent the afternoon talking. My husband’s chili made an appearance for dinner, which was perfect, because for one, there was no cooking and second, my aunt had never tasted chili, so it was a brand new experience and she found it to be excellent. 

Tomorrow my mother, my aunt and I are going to visit around the city, I’m looking forward to it.

Newburyport, MA

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Newburyport, postaday2015, visit

     

Business took my husband and I to Newburyport, MA, a place that we haven’t been back to since the late 1990’s. It has changed, but just a little bit, it got busier, otherwise it is still the quaint small town near the water with charming storefronts and lovely little restaurants featuring seafood and other New England fare.

We stayed at the Clark Currier Inn, if you ever find yourself in Newburyport, do stop in and stay the night. The Innn is the quintessential New England Inn, full of hospitality and kindness. When I walked inside I was made welcome as soon as the proprietor saw me and he showed me the entire first floor where we had our room, the Clark Room, and the open drawing room, the dining room and the breakfast room. I fell in love with the place.

   

  

  I found the entire house to be a treasure and I will be sure to go to TripAdvisor and write a great review for them.  We also found a great local restaurant called the Park Lunch on Merrimac Street  and I had the best fried shrimp that I have ever had in my life. They were lightly battered, but that wasn’t the  winning point, the shrimp themselves made it so memorable, they were fried to perfection, not overdone in the least, they still had that firm bite which is always indicative of a perfectly sauteed shrimp, I had never experienced that with fried shrip before and having done so last night, has spoiled me forever with fried shrimp.

This little overnight trip to a lovely small town in MA was just what I needed to lift the grey feeling from deep within, I feel so much better now.

A fantastic visit long in the making

Tags

arguments, friends, politics, postaday2014, visit

Today I made the point of driving out to Chicopee to see my best friend Debbie and her husband Jim, who is also one of my best friends, but our dynamic is so very different. While Debbie and I are like sisters; Jim and I are like two toddlers constantly fighting over the same thing every time we see each. We never fight mean spiritedly, we hug it out every time, but boy does it get heated. Today I left Jim in a lather LOL.

Debbie and I were talking about everything under the sun as we always do while Jim was supposedly sleeping; I said one negative thing about Walmart and how they exploit their workers and Jim started arguing with me from where he was slouched over on the couch and we picked up right where we left off since the last time we argued over politics when they lived next door to me, several years ago. It is how I said, we are like two toddlers arguing over the same thing time and time again, today wasn’t different. He is a die hard republican and I am an impassioned progressive so we are like oil and water, but it never gets to the point of getting nasty or name calling, it just gets loud, poor Debbie.

We end each visit with I love you kiddo and I reply I love you too Jim. Debbie and I just laugh at Jim like Lucy and Ethel used to laugh at Ricky and Fred. That is what friendship is all about, knowing how to agree to disagree and remembering that there is more to someone than just their politics, there are shared experiences and memories that make a foundation and that is what counts in the end.