Just Once Before You Die

I know, that's pretty ominous. But everyone should try to have a weekend or month or year that includes such joy as I experienced this weekend. Since my happiness meter tends to move more toward joy than dispair, I often get close. But let me tell you about this last weekend.



Thursday: Adrian and I drove up north, picking up bags of stone fruit and staying with the Fremont Campbells. I like to listen to books while driving. Having a picky listener in the car with me meant that I had to select very carefully. Like picking a wine. Red or white? Fiction or non-fiction? Non-fiction. Adrian likes fantasy as well, but I didn't have that. Born on a Blue Day written by an autistic man? or Goodbye Darkness written by William Manchaster about WWII in the Pacific? So we picked the Merlot, Manchester and the war on Guadacanal. Relax, no drinking occurred on the road.



The stop at Andy's Orchards wasn't as wonderous as I thought it would be. There was a lot of variety, but the fruit seemed a little hard. I got a lot, but not as much as I would have if... If I had known that these varieties would ripen by the time we drove the 30 miles to Fremont; if we had known that they would drip down your arm and neck with the sweetest juices. OMG. We couldn't stop eating.



I had brought shirts that Laura sent me. Most were too small for me, so I took them north to share. Natalie is wearing one. One was too funny. It had a huge dangling bobble on the neckline. Natalie was correct in thinking that it would look best on a four year old. Maggie wore that and her tiara. What a princess.



Natalie cooked a wonderful dinner of grilled vegetables and Hawaiian marinated beef. The focal point was the lemon pudding cake. Natalie once asked us all what our favorites were. The only one we remember is - what is your favorite dessert. Mine is lemon pudding cake. It wasn't on the menu for the dinner at Ramekins, but Natalie decided we had to have it for my birthday. It was beautiful and tasted great.