1 July 2012, Lancaster, PA

Good Morning, Let me start with where I think I left off in Mashpee. As I was typing..we finished up the painting with TEAMWORK as our grand girls would say. The team was Linda, Maryann, Pete and Tom. One day we walked up to their community pool and spent time in the water. Maryann was so excited to find that it was a heated pool..so she did not need her pool jacket! When we were in Florida with Bill and Charlotte, we would watch the birds and squirrels each day in their back yard. Pete and Linda's neighbor also feeds the birds so we were entertained by squirrels, chipmunks, cardinals, blue jays etc. as we looked out their patio door. We took day trips to various small towns around the Cape and near Plymouth and Boston checking out consignment shops for items Pete and Linda need to furnish their home in Mashpee. We even stopped in one small town and had lunch at a bakery/cafe of a friend of a friend of Pete's from Tucson. Fun being far from home and meeting the owner. It was just fun being together and checking out the stores for treaures. Pete and Linda took us to thier beautiful Catholic Church for mass. Also walked about Mashpee Commons and found a few items that needed to be purchased! We met Linda's cousins Kenny, Ellen, Mailyn and Mark and their grandson, David for dinner at Eastwinds resturant on the water at Buzzard's Bay. It was never difficult to eat fresh seafood! Then we all went back to Marilyn and Mark's campsite ( they come to Mass. each summer and camp from Ft. Myer, Florida) on the Cape Cod Canal and walked a bit and then sat around the camp fire visiting into the evening. Their cat, CC and dog, Dixie, also joined us. Of course we had to walk down to the little store in the campground and get ice cream!! We met Kenny and Ellen , Linda's cousins,one day and traveled to Otis Air Force Station and looked around and stopped by the BX and they found a few items that again needed to be purchased! We all went to Bobby Burn's Cafe in Mashpee Commons and had a nice lunch. Talking about food...one day we went to Brockton, Mass. where Pete grew up and went to Christo's Greek Resturant and had a great Greek lunch. Pete and Linda used to go to this resturant when they were teens. YEP, it has been in business for a LONG time and they said the decor has stayed the same and the food was certainly very good. We also tried the Grapenuts and Rasin pudding which is a tradition in that area. It was really good. Linda had strawberry shortcake BUT this time she shared with Pete!!! On the way home, Pete stopped at the Italian Kitchen, where he used to go as a boy and bought meatballs for our next dinner. WOW, the best meatballs we have had! Do you see the theme again from our time on Cape Cod ...food. As Pete said last year...SO MUCH FOOD...SO LITTLE TIME!!! Of course we played games and dice. Tom and Pete won more SKIPPO games than Maryann and Linda. Maryann and Linda thought the new table and chairs may have been rigged and also came up with other excuses of why they lost! But had lots of fun and laughs. Tom and I cooked for Pete and Linda a couple nights. They are so generous to share thier home with us and let us visit as they are just getting settled that we wanted to help give them a break. Linda and Maryann went out with Marilyn to a neat old home that is a gift shop and resturant for lunch and Marily took us through some neat back road areas. We had been to the resturant last year and it was so nice to go back to this neat local place. Tom, Pete and Mark spent the morning fishing in the Cape Cod canal. They did not catch fish but like Tom always said " it is called fishing and not catching". It was just fun to be on the canal and see a tall ship and other ships pass by. We all sat at their camp site for a few hours visiting together before we headed back to Mashpee. Oh, did I forget to mention that we had ice cream again? We celebrated Pete and Linda's 43 wedding anniversary with them. Our friends, Larry and Peggy also celebrate their anniversary on the same day and it was their 43rd too. How blessed we are to have these friends we call family in our lives. How blessed they are to have such a committment to each other and what role models for us and all! We gave farewell hugs to Pete and Linda on Friday the 29 June. How fast the week went...next year we have already planned for 2 weeks in Mashpee!! They are truly family to have taken time from settling into their new summer home to share these memories with us. We are blessed. We arrived in Lancaster,PA. at Peggy and Larry's about 5:30 P.M.Friday evening to be greeted by a wonderful hug from Peggy. Larry was still at work. Larry arrived home and we had a nice dinner. We remembered Larry's mom who passed away last year as Peggy had taken out the last of his Mom's vegetable soup from the freezer that she had made before moving to assisted living and we shared for dinner. It was the best and we know she was watching. It is go good to have her as part of our fond memories when we visit Lancaster. Yesterday we visited Larry's Dad, who still lives at the assisted living home. It is always so good to see him as he always welcomes us with a smile and it is so good to give him a hug. He has such a fun sense of humor...at times at Larry's expense...but that is also fun! We did some grocery shopping and stopped for corn (just brought in from the fields) for dinner on our way home. Oh yes, I must not forget to mention we stopped for Ice Cream on the way home too!!!! We stopped and visited with Keith, Lisa, Parker, Elisabeth and Brendan too ( Peggy and Larry's son and family). We were welcomed with hugs and smiles once again and look forward to spending more time with them. It was fun hearing about Keith and Lisa's plan to purchase a historical building to renovate here in Lancaster. We look forward to following thier progress, they both have such good ideas and seem to follow through! Tom and I attended a different Catholic Church then we usually go to when here. It was really nice too. I was thinking ss I sat in Church today of all our blessings and how God has give us so many family and friends who are responsible for the special life that we have for just knowing each of you and what treasures each one of you bring to our life. My quote for today is a Danish Proverb-- "The road to a friend's house is never long". We thank each of you and have found the proverb to be so true...that no journey is too long to see a friend or family, whether it be for minutes, hours or days...as we are always welcomed with such joy. God Bless and keep us in your prayers as we travel. We are keeping each of you and your families in our daily prayer. Love and Hugs, Tom and Maryann