Honoring A Great Lady

We had a weekend adventure for sure. Saturday was Yankee Candle Village, and then, on Sunday, Kranthony hosted a "get together" to honor Nana Courtney's memory--the afternoon was perfect--from nostalgically reminiscing about Nana, to planning future get-togethers (I think the war department has one planned each month until April now), to enjoying the biggest food spread I have seen in a long time. Basically, to honor Nana, everyone brought something that she either used to cook, or used to love. I made my "Kemish Beans" which are always a huge hit. Twon made a delicious ham. Lauren concocted this amazing crab dip. Kristin succeeded in replicating Nana's famous sweet and sour meatballs. Dad made brownies, which, luckily for us, were NOT Nana's recipe. I loved my grandmother . . . .but she was not- not a bad brownie baker. See if you can figure that one out.

We had regular Italian meatballs, Aunt Patty's corn chowder, Jo-Jo's some-type-of-Italian calzone thingy (she makes wonderful authentic Italian food---she is Twon's mother). Ortiz even brought a couple of bottles of Moxie, and we toasted to the memory of Nana. Nana, me, and my friend Fuzzy make up the 92% of the people in the world who like Moxie. My grandmother used to keep it on hand the way some people keep milk and eggs. I took a video of the toast; I'll try to post it.

Amanda and I remarked on the ride home last night (we left CT around 9 or so) just how great a day it actually was. On a personal note, I loved seeing my cousins Lauren and Brian (Alley Kat was sick) because I never get to see them anymore. Its just one more of the hazards of Sally and I's decision to live in Maine. Lauren, Brian, Alley, Kris, and I used to share the best summers together down in Plymouth, where they live. We'd ride bikes, go exploring their nuclear waste pond, hang out at Al's Pizza, and tease a corpulent little kid named Lumpy Din. Memories. I am so glad that the war department has made such a concerned effort to meet more often, bridge those gaps in geography, and celebrate life while we have it--one of the greatest ironies of death is how it affirms the shortness and beauties of life. I think the pictures can't do justice how beautiful my mom and her sisters are all together. Mostly though, I'm just jealous that Mom's hair is growing back so thick and curly after chemo, and mine grew back thinner than Giselle Bundchen on Jenny Craig.

While the ladies laughed and reminisced, the guys, as expected, watched sports in HD!! Twon used the money he got from dancing at Scores in NY to buy this hot flat screen LCD, and we enjoyed it yesterday--a fantastic day for Boston sports. The Sox finished their sweep of the Angels, and the QB on the Browns fell down a lot. And we got watch every minute--sometimes both at once.

Now, this morning, Sally and I are back at home, getting ready for the week, and thinking of heading over to the Pelottes to see everyone. It was so cold and raw this morning that we even had a small fire to take of the chill . The colder weather is coming . . . . .