A LONG WEEK-END IN HINSDALE, RELAXATION AND PARTY

Stars that we could see, a warm recliner and fireplace, meals, the cat, and hostessing a fun, big open-house party for our friends. Plenty of resting up. And Nadine feeling nice -- after all, it was about 3 weeks post-chemo, generally a nice-feeling time for her.

We arrived after the music competition, and there was a wonderful fire on the wood stove. I collapsed into the recliner and had an ecstatic feeling of not wanting to move, and almost feel asleep there. A simple, wonderful meal; later on, prepared by Barry; later it would be my turn to cook. Barry and Nadine set up for the night, each of them on one wing of the couch. Felicity the cat, no longer skinny, sat with Nadine. Later, Nadine was thrilled to play with her by dragging and long piece of blue fabric down the floor, and watch her act like a kitten. Nadine went through some of her things in her room.

Thursday was a peaceful day at home for the day. I knew I needed lots of rest, and I finally got it. I enjoyed practicing on my own piano, exploring the deep escapement of the keys and all the nuances that came with it. The heat from the wood stove was comforting.

Nadine wanted to cook a nice big squash soup -- Nadine loved Sue Klassen's recipe so we asked Sue to email it to us. I cut the squash while Nadine did other work on the soup, and it came out creamy and nice. At night, we took a wonderful walk outside in the night -- it was nice to bundle up and walk a distance. Nadine wanted hash brown potatoes, but grated them a bit fine -- they turned into mush, so I added flour and made them into potato pancakes.

On Friday Nadine drove herself the approximately 2 miles to Hinsdale school band practice. I went into town and had my hair cut short (yay!).

HOUSE PARTY FUN AND FRIENDS
I had proposed an "open house" house party so we could see our friends, and also because I LOVE having people over. I want to try to do this in Rochester too. I was on my hands and knees cleaning when the first guests arrived early (there might have been confusion about the time), including a woman, Jan, who I didn't know, and whom I really liked . So I had company while I cleaned. I'd planned on a pre-party walk, and we went together, k a nice walk down MacDuffie Drive, and then up the hill, with interesting conversations. I had plenty of food out, and as it was a potluck, more and more food arrived. Corinne and Sadie Jay and Sadie's daughter Willa came, and Steph and 2-year-old Sylvan -- the two kids raced around and played. NAdine played with Willa under the piano. Barry introduced me to his friend Stan, who plays the fiddle and also likes to talk politics, and Barney and Kathy and Angela were there, and Rick and Brenda Snyder -- Rick was Nadine's beloved flute teacher; Brenda is also a friend. Linda and her daughter Kaitlyn, another homeschooling and farming family. Bob Brachmann the "Honey Man" (he keeps bees). I missed the Pryntz-Nadwornies, who used to come when they lived down here, and also missed Lois and her daughters April and Holy-- Nadine missed the two girls. I'm sure I left someone out.

Stan pulled out the fiddle and we did a bunch of swing tunes -- it had been so long since I'd done those -- "All of Me" and "Don't Get Around Much" and that stuff. It was a blast. Nadine and I did a few tunes as well. There were lots of pictures taken.

One nice party -- the last people left around 9PM -- the party ended typical-Southern-Tier, with one or two cars getting stuck in the driveway and having to be yanked out by the Suburban.

SUNDAY

In the morning we got ready to go, and go we did. Although I'd been having a nice time, I still was having trouble resting up enough. My body just does that. I was feeling sick again, after having rested some and feeling better over the week-end. Or the "sick" might have been exhaustion again this time.

i stayed in bed until about 9:30 AM, then we packed up and went out, as Nadine had the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra rehearsal at 2, and it was time to go. We'd brought up lots of stuff -- we had to bring our bedding, among other things.

The end of a nice week-end, and back up to another nice place up here.