Sylvia's Journal

The weeks are racing by, hurtling us towards the fall, but we don’t mind because September means Italy, now on the horizon. Everyday something wonderful happens and if nothing wonderful happens then I go to the garden to see the wonders there:  tomatoes in all colors, chard, Portuguese kale, Brussels sprouts, midget cucumbers, purple and green beans,and the giant blackberries that taste like vitamin C. We should wait for them to taste like sugar but the critters already do that. So we scrunch our faces and pick the seeds out of our teeth.

Midway through the week Tessa and Steve came over for dinner. They have just one week more before their lease ends at which point they and our grand dogs will move back in. We are making space, giving stuff away, moving stuff around, temporarily parking things here and there. It is not clear when and where their new lodging will be – so for now it’s mom and dad’s.

On Thursday we packed a picnic and joined the crowd converging on Castle Hill for the before last Thursday evening concert. Tessa is usually there with lots of friends but now that she has her own business she has deadlines to meet to secure her reputation and get the word-of-mouth that is so important for her start up. Instead we met up with a, for me, unknown cast of characters. At our age we are pretty settled in our circle of friends so adding a bunch is neat. We shared a potluck picnic and met more friends of new friends, while listening to Entrain (sp?) at a distance that was comfortable to the ears and allowed for conversation.

One of our new friends, a Spaniard who makes walls in Chile, drove to our house the next day to bring us the best European defense against mosquitoes. He swears by it (and Europeans need it badly here in Essex County – so they are good judges).  Until recently it was not approved for sale in the US so we don’t really want to know what is in it.  We are moved by his generosity and will treasure the gift simply because of how it came into our possession.

On Friday we decided it was time for a Faro fix. We had only seen our grandson on Skype for the last three weeks so it was time to see him and hold him. We took a piece of furniture from Tessa and Steve along that needs a parking spot for the next months, to serve as an extra excuse for making the long track west and back.  Since Axels’ asthma has kicked up again we booked a hotel for the night as we feared that a night in a house full of cat hairs and dander would make things worse.

I got to spend much quality time with our fast growing grandson who was exhausted from eating and growing by the time our dinner was served – a tasty combination of colorful foods that did not include any animal products.  Our doctor, asked about the China Study during a visit, agreed with the basic tenets of the book, though not with every detail. He told Axel that in his long career as a family practitioner, he has seen that vegetarians tend to live quite a bit longer than the meat/animal product eaters. We have strayed a bit from that path but Sita has not. Long live Faro!

After the dishes and grandson were put away we played Monopoly, supposedly the fast version, but after two hours we yawned so much that we interrupted the game. At that point Axel had much cash but few streets, Jim had little cash and few streets, I had a little more of each and Sita was accumulating money from rents at a disgusting rate.

We drove over the mountain to our hotel in Holyoke. We have stayed there before. We call it a Patel Motel because it is owned, as so many others of its kind strewn along the Mass Pike and its extension through Northern New York State, by Indians, many of whom are named Patel, who seem to have a knack for the hospitality industry.