On November 15th, we got to spend the bulk of the day with Molly and Mark alone while the children were in daycare. It was a treat for the four of us. Molly had taken most of the week off and Mark took Wednesday off.
We started out with Molly and me going to Delmar; Molly to get her hair cut and styled and me to get a manicure (mostly to repair a split in one nail--I got tired of wearing the Batman Bandaid!). Don and Mark went bowling. It was a nice way to start off.
Our original plan for the day had focused on returning to Cafe Italiano, where we had tried to have an evening meal 3 years ago, when Iris was almost a year old. On that occasion, we walked in, sat down, ordered, and then Iris got first cranky and then worse. We knew it wasn't going to be a fun dining experience for any of us much less for the other patrons and the staff. We changed our order to a take-out and shoved crackers into Iris until the food parcels came out. It was excellent food but would have been so much better fresh from the kitchen. So the plan was to return there for lunch without the children. Alas when Molly phoned to book our table, she learned the restaurant isn't open for lunch. Instead, we went to a restaurant recommended by an Italian-American foodie colleague of Molly's. The woman didn't steer us wrong. This was one of the best Italian meals we've had anywhere, Italian food satisfying our yen for New York State Food Group No. 6.
We picked the children up early from daycare so we could take them to Washington Park to visit the playground. Iris enjoyed sampling swings, slides, swings, and slides. Cameron was content to be plopped into one swing and to have Mark push him. Afterward we strolled through the park to see the holiday light displays that are being erected. As a charitable fundraising project, various businesses around Albany sponsor lighting displays throughout the park along the winding roads. After Thanksgiving, people pay $10 per adult to drive through the park. Holiday music is played which can be picked up on the car radio by tuning to a certain spot on the dial. There also is a Santa village where children can have treats and get to see Santa and his elves. It should be great fun and a good way to raise funds.
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Don is playing 18 holes with the St. Fillans seniors. I walked into the village for milk and eggs so I can make a Victoria sponge with the last of our Victoria plums. This was not planned. When we got home from the airport on Monday, Don took what he thought was various wrapped pieces of chicken out of the freezer so it could thaw. Imagine his surprise when he ended up with one piece of chicken and a bag full of strange looking mush. Fortunately, I identified the mush as the Victoria plums before they got put down the disposal. (We had bacon and eggs that night.)
Don will ride to the concert tonight with David and Juliet Sutcliffe who will bring us both home. (I must go at 5:30 with 3 other chorus members.) The Sutcliffes will come in for a cup of coffee and dessert. Other than making the sponge, I plan to take it easy today as I'll be on my feet a lot tonight. The weather has gone from blue skies to cloudy. We could get rain. It might be the perfect afternoon to catch up on my reading.
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