Abigail, me, Charlotte Claire, Sonja K., and Camille, and Miss Evelyn, selfie-taker supreme.
We drove down the side of Cayuga Lake to Taconnack Falls. The trail to the falls was closed for maintenance, so we had to drive to the overlook instead. We did go on a little walk on a little trail, while we ate our ice cream...
Miss Char is so pretty, and what a fun birthday! Camille looks like such a cuddly baby bear in her fuzzy jacket.
Okay, so you know all the times I mention yummy stuff, and say, "But I didn't have any.."? Well, this time I DID have any. I decided that since this was a very special occasion, and the ice cream is homemade in small batches, and what the heck, I love it...well, I ate that entire teeny tiny cone...and for the record, that is their ONE SCOOP. Can you even imagine if you got two, or three scoops? I chose the peanut butter, made with streaks of delicious chocolate and little swirls of Reese's peanut butter. It was so creamy. I gained like three pounds. Seriously.
And every adventure needs a bit more adventure, as soon as we left the park, this happened:
Being the strong capable women that we are, we immediately...called Paul. He basically said that there's nothing he can do about it, "tie it up." So...hmm, with what? Darling birthday girl Char offered the pink shoe lace she was using as a belt (I guess it's a "thing". You know, in vogue. In style.) So Sonja K. gets right down on the ground and ties the muffler up with the shoelace, and we decide it's not good enough. We found a rachet strap, she was having trouble getting it tight enough, when a nice middle aged man in a Subaru stopped and asked if we needed any help. Yes, I said, even just an opinion on this...well, he hopped right out, got right down on the ground, and threaded that strap through this and that, and got the muffler nice and jimmied up, so that it wasn't dragging anymore. He hopped up, brushed off his trousers, and said, "I was heading down to Ithaca, and I saw you guys, knew you needed help, so I turned around. It's no problem, and you have a really nice day."
It was such a nice thing for him to do, and it seemed so NORMAL in this strange, almost alternate-reality time we are living in. We were outside, and didn't have masks on, he didn't have one on, (we didn't get close to him at all anyway, so it was fine). But it just felt NORMAL.
Miss Evelyn drove home so carefully, and we skipped out on fun stops, because you know that feeling when your vehicle is acting up, and all you want is to get home...? Paul texted and said be careful, the strap might get hot...blah.
It was such a chilly, overcast day, but it's still lovely to drive along the lake.
We got home and made macaroni and cheese, and a pan of cauliflower and cheese, and ordered chicken wings from town, as per Miss Char's special birthday dinner request. We didn't have any cake or ice cream, since we had had it already for lunch.
She got some nice gifts, even though they were in brown paper and Christmas wrap.
Quarantine birthdays, they're different.
Yesterday morning, Evelyn and I did a bit of grocery shopping. We went to Price Chopper first, because I knew they had steak on sale for $3.79 a pound, and maybe they actually had some. Well, there was none in the case, so I asked, and the guy said he'd cut some. I said, "You know, we have 8 people in our house, can you give me a bigger package, since it's limit one?" He asked how many I wanted, so I said four. I felt spoiled and entitled, but he gave me four large steaks in one package. Also, they had fresh sliced bacon for...$1.79 a pound, in two and a half pound packages. I got three, but stopped at Joseph's house in town and gave him a package. It's his birthday this week too, #4 of of birthdays in our family in a two week-ish span. I also got him some cheese, and coffee, and dark chocolate.
We went to one more store, looking for the elusive chicken breast, but nah. We got some bone-in thighs instead. We'll just have to adapt.
I worked out with Evelyn out on the deck, then she went on a bike ride with Sonja. The little girls did schoolwork, then helped Evelyn make some bread. I made meatballs, and spaghetti squash, and pasta.
(on a normal day, I only eat dinner, so we tend to have really yummy dinners!). (Yesterday I did have some bacon and eggs too, because, well, we had that bacon!)
Today the sun is out, and it will hit 54 degrees. We're staying home, but will get out there for some vitamin D. Spring is slow in coming this year, it was snowing out like crazy yesterday!
Emily is doing all right in her "crisis" hospital. She said one of the reasons they needed help was because a lot of their nurses got sick. Very reassuring. She works in ICU so the patients there are of course very very sick. She does have a very cute airbnb...
I can't remember if I wrote about this or not, but for Mother's Day, our kids pitched in and gave me some money to do "a project". I get to choose what to do! I am thinking a deck on the pool...so that when things get back to normal, and they all come over to swim...or maybe a few new windows...or new gutters, so NOT exciting.
Ah well...the days are seeming a lot like the day before, but this is a different time, it won't last forever. Let's make good use of it, because time is life.
