I’m freshly returned from my trip to the States. It was a fairly long trip with lots of activities, so I’ll get right to it. Unlike Will, I have terrible luck with SNCF and my outbound journey was no exception. A track fire caused us to be 2 1/4 hours late so I had a very late dinner at the hotel before turning in. I flew Iceland Air, and it was much better than I had feared. Dad picked me up from the airport, and Mom made a lovely welcome dinner of halibut and various salads, including her excellent potato salad. I was too tired to drive, so Mike came and collected me, and I spent a few hours at their place before he took me back home.
We celebrated Dad’s 85th birthday the next day. We rented some space in a nearby park and served Famous Dave’s bbq. There were around 40 people in attendance, mainly friends and relatives of Dad’s. I hadn’t seen many of them since the last birthday party 5 years ago, and it was nice to get caught up. I went over to Mike and Kelly’s in the afternoon, and we went to El Loro for Mexican food that night. I had fajitas and a couple of margaritas, and both were excellent, as usual.
I woke up around 7 most days, although I managed to sleep until 8:30 once or twice. On Monday, I took advantage of being up early and went to the shoe store right when they opened. I got a pair of sandals to replace the pair I got in Thailand over 10 years ago, plus a new pair of trainers. I did the rest of my shopping that afternoon, including Target, and the music store for guitar-related items. Dinner that night was at a Thai place with Dad and Marilyn, plus cousins Mike and Bernice, and Sara who was in town for Dad’s birthday celebration. She lives on Vancouver Island with her partner, so we were comparing notes about remote living.
I had breakfast on Tuesday morning with Eliot, Mom’s next-door neighbour. We went to the nearby Perkins, where he is a regular. I had one of their “all-inclusive” breakfasts, including eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns and pancakes, and nearly finished the lot! Suzy and the girls came by afterwards, and I joined them while they ate lunch. We then played mini-golf and had ice cream since it was a hot and humid day. That night, Grammy treated Mom and I to dinner and a show, The Music Man. Long ago, I was in the chorus when my youth group performed it, and I remembered most of the songs and lyrics. Dinner was at a fish restaurant at the theatre where I had a martini, followed by tuna carpaccio and shrimp cocktail. We all really enjoyed the show, even Grammy who prefers seeing matinees.
Mom goes skating a few times a week, and I accompanied her to the rink a few days and got to meet some of her skating pals. We did this Wednesday, and afterwards, went out for sushi at a place called Origami. In addition to the sushi platter, I got some sockeye salmon sashimi, a double treat since we can’t get any Pacific salmon over here. That afternoon, I went to visit Dad to get him a new router. His was a number of years old, and needed upgrading to a version with wifi so that he could use the iPad we all got him for his birthday. It was a fairly easy problem to solve and within an hour or two, he was up and running. We also talked about his driving, which he still does regularly. Although he’s still capable, it’s getting more difficult and now that Marilyn has stopped, he’s driving even more. There are places that do driving assessments, and I encouraged him to get one done, just to be sure he’s still safe to drive.
I had dinner with Grammy that night at the Crossroads Deli, and satisfied my craving for a Reuben sandwich. She’s still doing great at 98, certainly from a mental standpoint. She now uses a walker to get around, but apart from that, she’s in good physical shape too. I hung out with Mike that night since Kelly had left the previous day to visit her parents at their lake place, a few hours away. Mike went up the next day, so I didn’t see him again until Sunday.
On Thursday, Suzi Hagen came over for coffee with mom and I. Mom was on driving duty for Miles and Bradley that day, so Suzi and I went out for breakfast at the Good Day Cafe. I had crab cake Benedict, and the poached eggs were just perfect. We did a bit of shopping afterwards at Costco, which is a wholesaler but open to the public with a membership. The store is basically a warehouse, and everything they sell is in bulk. I tried to take a photo, but it doesn’t do justice to the size of the store and its bounty, which are both quintessentially American. I went to Mike’s that afternoon, and then Suzy and the girls picked me up around dinner time. We were supposed to see the Israeli Scouts perform that night at Lake Harriet, but it rained a lot of the day, so we decided against it. Instead, we met Mom for dinner at the Convention Grill, where we had burgers and milkshakes.
I spent the night at Suzy and Steve’s. We played some games when we got home, starting with some board games before moving downstairs to play Wii. The girls are into a game where you have to imitate the dance moves on-screen, and we did that before moving onto a karaoke game that requires singing along to songs. After the girls went to bed, the adults stayed up chatting for a few hours before doing the same. The next day, Suzy, the girls and I went to a local water park. It has a number of water slides, a diving board, and a “river” you can float down on an inner tube. It was a hot day, and the park was crowded, but we managed to do everything we wanted before having a bit of lunch, then going home.
The Bar Mitzvah festivities kicked-off that evening, starting with services and dinner at the synagogue. Friday night services are short by Jewish standards, and generally last an hour. Once a month, they have a “spirit” version of the service, which involves musicians playing along to some of the songs and prayers, including the rabbi on 12-string guitar. That made it more tolerable than a normal religious service, and it was followed by dinner for the family, around 20 of us in all.
The actual Bar Mitzvah was the next day, starting at 10. In fact, it was a double ceremony, which Miles shared with a girl called Sara. They both did a great job of reading Torah, and giving a brief speech about what they read, and how it related to them. Suzy and I shared an honour called an Aliyah in which you sing a prayer in Hebrew. Despite not being to a Saturday service in over 25 years, I actually remembered the words to that, plus many of the other prayers. The service was followed by a lunch buffet, and it gave me a chance to get caught up some more relatives and family friends. In fact, I was the last person to finish eating since nearly every mouthful was interrupted by someone coming over to chat.
Lunch was followed by a party for the kids at an upscale bowling alley. They had a “photo booth” where you can dress up in funny costumes and take group photos. They also had Bocci, and more importantly, a bar. We played a bit of Bocci, and tried to bowl but the kids were hogging the lanes, so we hung out at the bar instead. That evening, I had dinner with Mom, Mimi and Grammy at a Greek restaurant. I got caught up with Mimi who has been busy at work. Later, I met my old school friend David at a bar in St. Paul, one of the few people I’m still in touch with. We got chatted for a bit, then met up with Suzy and Steve who were enjoying a night out a nearby bar. I didn’t get home until 1am, which was probably the latest I stayed up the whole trip.
On Sunday, I met Carolyn and family at their country club, where we had lunch and a long chat. They were out of town for the week, so this was the first chance I had to see them. Later, I went over to Mike’s, and then he and I met up with his parents for dinner. Also there was his eldest sister, her daughter, and another of Mike’s nephews. We ate outdoors, and I got to have my second portion of sockeye salmon, this time served grilled. Mike’s niece just graduated college, and is soon starting an IT job at a bank in San Francisco, so we had a good chat. I mostly talked with his mom, although it would be better to say she talked with me. She’s nearly 80 but still enjoys travelling so is shortly leaving for Europe, which is tame by her usual standards.
Monday was my last day, so I got packed and ready in the morning. I dropped off Mom at a friend’s place where they were having lunch before heading to Mike’s. He and I went out to a gastro pub, where I had a delicious bacon cheeseburger and fries. I then collected Mom, and we had a brief walk around Lake Harriet before heading home for my stuff, and a drive to the airport in rush hour. We made good time, leaving me with a couple of hours at the airport, which I spent at the bar. The flight back was fine, and I slept a bit on both legs. I only had an hour between landing and my train, so had been worrying that I wouldn’t make it. Despite landing slightly late, I got my bags and was at the train station with 30 minutes to spare. Happily, my train was mostly on time, and Will collected me from Angouleme.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip. It’s a good thing too, since I’m doing it all over again in October when I will return for Maddie’s Bat Mitzvah.