Hello on Thursday Morning from the Berkshires

Dear Friends,

It was such "Sweet Sorrow" as we departed Kansas on Wednesday. Our 8 day visit seemed to go by so fast.
If there is such a thing as the "perfect grandchild", Linda and I know that we have one. Of course, the credit goes to the parents, Mike & Danielle, who work very hard to make it happen.
We will miss the daily routine which we had during the visit. Do you think that a 14 month old child will wonder where we are this morning when she gets up from her normal 12 hour night time sleeping period.
Our house is so quiet right now that I will bet that Linda will sleep a long time until I open the garage door.
We mentally have not set a time frame of when will we return for another visit.

Speaking of parents, I am going off to the hospital in a little while to be with Mom for breakfast. I will give you an update about Mom's condition in another e-mail.
I did chat with my sister yesterday. She sounded sicker than my Mom.
Marie has a wicked cold (chest & nasal stuff along with a cough) that she has had it for over a month. She might be the classic case of the care worker getting as sick as the person whom she is dealing with.

Our normal busy routine starts after my visit with Mom. We are booked in with an event every day for next couple of weeks
My Friday morning senior golf group will be teeing off at 8:30 AM. They already started playing last week when we were in Kansas. I will have to dust off the golf clubs at some point today.
Of course, I will have to squeeze in a visit with Mom before Linda and I go off to a Sister City Event which is being held at our ITAM Lodge.

We had a plane delay in Detroit on our second leg of the journey home on Wednesday so we didn't have a chance to visit Mom. We decided to stop at the East Side Cafe on Wednesday night. It is home made pasta night on Wednesday's until June. While there, I ran into some of my Italian friends, one of whom is one of our Friday seniors golf group. He filled me in on all the stuff which we missed while we were gone.
This guy and his wife were just finishing up when we arrived. He is just like me when it comes to sports. He watches every Boston sporting event. He can give you facts and figures for every player and the game itself. He like me can't get enough of the sports stuff.

Every time I talk to somebody it leads into another social event which we have to mark on our calendar. I found out that the annual Steak & Dandelion Dinner at the Italian American Club is coming up soon.
We sat with total strangers the last time because none of our friends were interested in attending the event. I don't have the date, but the last time it was on the same night as our Irish Sister City Meeting night. We showed up late, and lost our seat, and ended up sitting with people who we never met before. Yes, we can adjust to any situation.

Speaking of sports, I went to bed a happy man last evening since the Red Sox won both ends of a day / night double header, and the Boston Bruins won their first round series by a 4 to 0 sweep of the Montreal Canadians. It was so nice to be back in Pittsfield, and to be able to watch both games instead of watching highlights on ESPN, which I had to do while we were in Kansas.

Weather -- I thought that I would come home to a lawn so high that I would need to cut it twice. Not! I forgot that the weather in the Berkshires in April is cool. The daffodils and tulips are the only things that grew pretty well when we were gone. Today, we might hit 50 degrees with a possibly of snow in the hill towns which are at higher elevations. Good thing that I didn't put away my turtle necks and sweaters.
The good news is that we are going to get some 70 degree and above weather this weekend starting with Friday which is supposed to hit 70 degrees.

Politics -- I will get back into my political comments in a day or so. I am still adjusting to being back in the Berkshires.

Well, I have to finish my brief morning routine, and go off to the hospital.
Have a great day.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad