We had a marvelous day with former neighbors Connie and Marla. We headed for a favorite restaurant, only to find it closed for spring break. The second choice did not disappoint us. We came back to my house to watch the height of the eclipse and remained on the porch to chat. It’s always such a pleasure to spend time with them.

Son John $ flew in from Washington to spend a week with daughter Lise and me. We hadn’t expected to spend a day at home getting two heat pumps replaced. One unit stopped working before we got the first quote. Thankfully, the business we chose was able to install both in one long day. It was a day with high winds and cool temperatures, with a promise of rising temps over the next few days. We were happy to have both heat and air conditioning in a short space of time.

Lise had been longing for beef, since the canteen in her office has dropped it. A steak house was the answer that day, and it was a good answer.

We’ve taken care of most of the house-related chores that Lise wanted to accomplish during this visit. A tedious job was pulling out all the tablecloths and putting them together by length, which Lise did all by herself. Years ago we inherited a round table with four leaves from John’s godfather. That was the table where Uncle Walter and John’s dad did their homework a hundred years ago. Through the years, John and I bought tablecloths to fit the five possible lengths of the table. At first I knew which was right for each size, but I lost track. We kept a couple for each size, which Lise measured and labeled. They should go with the table when my possessions are given away.

No matter what we were doing, there was talk – lots of talk! You’d think we might run out of things to say, but we haven’t yet.