Thursday in the City

I had a lovely yesterday. Mama and I had been planning for a while to make a day trip and drive to the cities to visit a friend of ours who lives in the neighborhood that we lived in for seven years. (In fact before she and her husband bought their house, it was my family's for two and a half years!) We were finally able to set a date that worked. :) I drove to the farm first thing in the morning (after using buckets of hot water to melt the ice under my car's tires in order to get unstuck...and braving the icy roads...yucky), and from there we all rode in Mama and Papa's van. The "we" being Mama, my sister O, my younger brother B, friend M (who is living at my parents' house right now), and me! It was a sunny day, the first in several day, which made the day so pleasant. I always love being able to drive through Minneapolis again and seeing all of the old places we used to go to, houses we've lived in, and seeing the people we know who still live there. It was so good to spend the day with our friend, Mrs.B. She and her husband have nine children now, the youngest of which is maybe two weeks (?) old. Her home feels like my native planet. We all had a very nice time tackling some spring-cleaning type jobs together. Pulling out the furniture in the kitchen and cleaning behind; windows, woodwork, walls and floors. It was a delight to do it together. Mrs. B.'s house is so beautiful. We talked about all of life, listened to classical music on the CD player, and enjoyed sun shining in the windows and the noise of the kids playing happily together. We were only there for 6-ish hours, but we managed to get a few sections of the house sparkly! :) We even had time for a nice little birthday party for one of the girls. My brother B and L (the birthday girl) got to frost and decorate the cake together (with help and input from the other siblings!), and then the youngests were woken up from their naps and we all had some cake together. It was nourishing to be around the babies--the girls sat on our laps and let us cuddle them and bury our noses in their soft, brown braids (the beads at the ends making a soft rustling sound when they move their heads...the "chocolate chicks" we call them!). We all enjoyed the few minutes that we got to hold the tiny and soooo soft youngest baby boy. He is so beautiful! It was a very good day and I am so thankful to have been able to go. We drove home through rush hour traffic, deciding to go through the downtown area to see the new library. :) Driving into the setting sun, visors down and sunglasses on, we sang along to songs from our ipods. We got back to the farm at around 8pm, and then I drove another 40 minutes south to my own home, where my dear man was waiting for me (it was good to see him, I get so used to seeing him for dinner that I miss him when I don't! Silly me...). A lovely day. A good gift from God.

(pics: birthday girl with her baby brother; misc. pictures of Mrs. B's home; a very sparkly little chocolate chick; our lovely birthday cake)