Lest it sound like a complete debacle...

[sarahmichigan]

Getting in and out of Mom's property was a chore, but I actually had a lot of fun while I was there.

I enjoyed walking around the property slowly with her and faster by myself (or, I guess me and the dog) on Friday and again on Saturday. Her dog, a female half-shepherd about 5 years old, is a total sweetheart.

Mom and I spent most of Friday yakking with each other about recipes and books and making food. We watched the TV serial of "Empire Falls" together. She'd seen it, but I hadn't. We'd both read the book. I still like the book better, but the TV adaptation was good. Paul Newman totally disappears into the role of the reprobate old father.

My brother finally made it in on Saturday afternoon, only to have to wade out through the flood again to pick up his friend R. from the airport. He'd recently re-connected with this old high school friend (they're both in their mid-40s), and she was out of work for a few weeks because she'd recently had eye surgery. He flew her up to have a little mini-vacay with our family. Her flight got delayed, then sent back and forth three times because fog precluded a landing, and she got in about 17 hours later than originally scheduled.

At first, I was a little miffed at having an "outsider" in the middle of our family get-together, but I really like her. R. is a bit of a redneck, as you'd expect from someone born and raised in the Upper Peninsula who went on to become a long-distance trucker. However, she's funny and down-to-earth and pretty easy to get along with. The both of them were pretty slap-happy by dinner time on Saturday, since they'd each had something on the order of 3 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours. After dinner, my brother, R. and I played a couple rounds of Gin Rummy while Mom collapsed on the couch for a bit, and then we all fell into bed around 10 p.m. Saturday night.

I didn't get to see my brother very long, and I didn't get to sample his famous Pad Thai I'd been hearing about, but it was all good. He has this entire week to hang out with R. and Mom and I hope they get off the property today or tomorrow to take Mom out for a birthday dinner.