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greetings from Ithaca!
Nov. 24th, 2018 06:10 pmI made it safely back home. :)
Anyway, holiday writeup? I think yes.
So I drove down Tuesday afternoon, Vicky arrived Tuesday evening, and Aunt Cara arrived so late on Tuesday it was almost Wednesday.
On Wednesday, we hit the road around 11ish and drove west to visit three wineries: two in NJ and one just across the Delaware in Pennsylvania. That was nice. Wednesday evening we went to Shanghai Jazz for dinner and music. The music was an impromptu quartet of saxophone, upright bass, piano, and drums. As for food, I wound up with enough leftovers that I had half of mine for Friday lunch and will have the other half for dinner tonight... and then Vicky's leftovers for lunch tomorrow, probably. *wry*
On Thursday, my Uncle Charles and my cousins Michael and Ben drove up from Virginia and arrived just before noon. We had hors d'oeuvres and champagne and socialized while the turkey finished -- it is, I believe, a general Rule that the turkey is never cooked on time -- and then sat down for dinner around 3 or 4pm. Then we socialized some more (and cleaned up and packaged leftovers) until we collectively felt up to facing dessert. The Virginia contingent left around 6pm, heading back south.
Side note: the reason my Aunt Ji-lan didn't come with Charles and her sons is that her father died unexpectedly last week, so she was in China handling the funeral and her mother's living and financial arrangements. :(
Friday was a slow day. Cara left hideously early in the morning, and the rest of us did general chores and reading and socializing and stuff. We did Thanksgiving 2: the Turkening for dinner, after which I headed over to Susan's for conversation and pie; Cat joined us about half an hour later, once she and her mother returned from a day trip into the city. (Uh. By which I mean NYC. I tend to forget that's not necessarily obvious to people in other regions.) So that was nice.
This morning Vicky left hideously early (plane schedules are unforgiving masters *sigh*), and I hit the road around 11am. The drive back was pretty smooth, despite significant fog in Pennsylvania and significant rain in New York. And now I am unpacked, my bed is made, and it's time for me to have dinner and start doing comparative evaluations of health insurance plans for 2019. I did the income eligibility assessment yesterday, the result of which is that my estimate pretty much agreed with New York's estimate and I have been kicked up to a tax credit rather than the state-subsidized Essential Plan. So now I just have to choose a plan (ugh) and officially enroll in it.
Oh well, there are worse ways to spend an evening. *wry*
Anyway, holiday writeup? I think yes.
So I drove down Tuesday afternoon, Vicky arrived Tuesday evening, and Aunt Cara arrived so late on Tuesday it was almost Wednesday.
On Wednesday, we hit the road around 11ish and drove west to visit three wineries: two in NJ and one just across the Delaware in Pennsylvania. That was nice. Wednesday evening we went to Shanghai Jazz for dinner and music. The music was an impromptu quartet of saxophone, upright bass, piano, and drums. As for food, I wound up with enough leftovers that I had half of mine for Friday lunch and will have the other half for dinner tonight... and then Vicky's leftovers for lunch tomorrow, probably. *wry*
On Thursday, my Uncle Charles and my cousins Michael and Ben drove up from Virginia and arrived just before noon. We had hors d'oeuvres and champagne and socialized while the turkey finished -- it is, I believe, a general Rule that the turkey is never cooked on time -- and then sat down for dinner around 3 or 4pm. Then we socialized some more (and cleaned up and packaged leftovers) until we collectively felt up to facing dessert. The Virginia contingent left around 6pm, heading back south.
Side note: the reason my Aunt Ji-lan didn't come with Charles and her sons is that her father died unexpectedly last week, so she was in China handling the funeral and her mother's living and financial arrangements. :(
Friday was a slow day. Cara left hideously early in the morning, and the rest of us did general chores and reading and socializing and stuff. We did Thanksgiving 2: the Turkening for dinner, after which I headed over to Susan's for conversation and pie; Cat joined us about half an hour later, once she and her mother returned from a day trip into the city. (Uh. By which I mean NYC. I tend to forget that's not necessarily obvious to people in other regions.) So that was nice.
This morning Vicky left hideously early (plane schedules are unforgiving masters *sigh*), and I hit the road around 11am. The drive back was pretty smooth, despite significant fog in Pennsylvania and significant rain in New York. And now I am unpacked, my bed is made, and it's time for me to have dinner and start doing comparative evaluations of health insurance plans for 2019. I did the income eligibility assessment yesterday, the result of which is that my estimate pretty much agreed with New York's estimate and I have been kicked up to a tax credit rather than the state-subsidized Essential Plan. So now I just have to choose a plan (ugh) and officially enroll in it.
Oh well, there are worse ways to spend an evening. *wry*
