A Weekend Visit

We went home to New Jersey for a quick weekend visit with our families; getting there in the very early hours of Saturday morning and leaving to come back to SC yesterday morning. It was a good trip, if as ever, too short.

We spent time in the Pennsylvania woods with some of our closest friends, who we haven't seen in far too long. There was fire, delicious home brewed beer and the sounds of dueling banjos played late in to the night.

There was a visit to one of my favorite cemeteries; built on the side of a steep hill, mossy and shaded by large old trees. Old hand carved tombstones mingle with new laser etched ones. It's a peaceful place for an early morning hike in the cold mountain air.

We hit up garage sales with my mom and niece and got SO many treasures for a measly $20! 2 warm flannel shirts, 4 ties and a folding wooden ruler for Joe. A Polaroid camera, 14 Halloween witches and scarecrow figures, 2 sets of earrings, two hand carved wooden trivets for me and 3 things for Luna.

There was chatter and laughter with Joe's family, sitting in their living room on a Sunday afternoon. Reminiscing about older times, talking of fresh local honey and digging through my ancestry with the help of my father-in-law, the Geneology buff. Joe helped his little sister release a newt back in to the creek behind the house, before playing with the new "toys" (power tools) his dad purchased to help make heating the house by the wood stove easier this winter, while his mom and I talked about our homesteading dreams.

We ate at our favorite little place, an El Salvadorian restaurant and had dinner with Joe's brothers, where we had the worst waitress I have ever had in my life. But, the company made up for the annoyance of poor service.

I colored with Khloe and taught her new, inventive ways to annoy my kid sister, her mother.

I was able to visit with my favorite aunt and my last remaining grandmother. We caught up over donuts and ice cream from the ice cream man. Poor guy, having to deal with two grown ass women waiting for order 10 fudgsicles from him.

And before we went to bed on our last night, we sent firey wishes in to the sky.

Today, my first one back in SC, will be spent unpacking, doing laundry and processing the 30+ pounds of tomatoes my mom and step-dad gifted to us from their gardens. They grow some of the tastiest tomatoes I've ever eaten and sent us back with bags full of the suckers as well as some quarts of homemade sauce. I plan to stew and can these babies to turn in to sauce and use in chili over the Winter.