How could I forget the Turkey shoot???

Today is Sunday November 20th. It is cold, Buffalo is still getting snow, like I said in the other post, I just posted, I like continuity and I love words like pedantic. A week ago, yesterday, it's oh, I don't know, maybe 11:13 at night, I'm not ready for bed. It is after all the weekend. Teri has gone up and I'm flipping through Netflix. I see a comedy special for Gabriel Iglesias, aka

'Fluffy'. Now I haven't followed comedians since Robin Williams and I didn't even notice it until the other night about two weeks ago, when I decided to turn on another comedian, Iliza Shlesinger. Teri is sleeping on the couch and doesn't care. She starts out slow, I'm figuring, ah, it's a generational thing. But, she's just getting going. By the end of it, I'm in love with her. So on this particular Saturday night I'm thinking, auh, how funny could he be. I've got nothing culturally in common with him. What I did not know was he does voices, which

I love. He did 'Speedy Gonzalez' voice in the remake, which I didn't watch for 'Space Jam" the remake and stopped the woke crowd from cancelling Speedy Gonzalez like they did Apu on 'The Simpson's'. So I don't know any of this before I start the Netflix one hour special. Remember it's 11:13 and this piece is post is titled, 'How could I forget the Turkey Shoot?'. I start the show. This guy is amazing. I'm loving his show. He's doing all these differet

voices. Pointing out the oddities of daily life. He's not an angry comedian. He points this out in the show. He wants to bring people together, which we very much need today. I planned to stop watching around 11:30. I have to get up for that turkey shoot around 7. At 11:45 I think, well, just a little longer. Sometime after midnight, I've run out of water in my glass and I'm laughing so much, my throat hurts. I do pause it around 12:15 because I just have to get water. About an hour and a half into the show he picks up a clock on the stage that was pointing toward him letting him know how much time he's been on the stage for his one hour special and it is at an hour and thirty-four minutes. He points this out and says he is going to do one more story. About half an hour later the show is over. It's almost one and I haven't showered.

I get to bed around 1:30. I wake up the next morning, a little tired, but hey, I'm 64, I know the cost of not getting a good nights sleep.

A few days earlier, I brought two of my guns into thea house I share with my wife. I have known her for thirty years this month and I know how she feels about guns. I have respected that. Sean is big into guns and Elena has wanted to shoot guns and Nastia is dating him and want to shoot guns. So here we are, we're going to a turkey shoot. It is mid-November. It is cold even for December and it's raining. It's supposed to clear. I figure I'll be warm in a jacket and sweater. The rain eventually does clear.

I ask Elena if she wants to drive. After the disaster when we went to the movies I think I will just grim and bare it. She askes me to drive and at the last moment changes her mind and says she will drive. She does fine. The Turkey shoot is in Pomona near Boulder stadium where the Rockland Boulders play. We arrive before eight and are told the starting time has been pushed to nine. I'm surprised at the number of people who attend the turkey shoot in this very much Democrastic strong hold of New York. I'm uncomfortable with how comfortable these people feel around guns. I take the shot gun out of the car. I take it out of it's case, open it up and look down the barrel to make sure it's empty. I know it is, it hasn't been used in many years, but I check to make a point to the girls. I hand the gun to Elena and tell her to check too even though I just did. If there is an accident, it's your fault. I sure Alex Baldwin wishes he'd checked the prop gun before he pulled the triger and killed that women on the set of the movie Rust.

Later I will talk with Sean's father and we'll both agree a person who doesn't know how to handel guns or is afraid of guns is the most dangerous person to have a gun. So if I teach the girls how to handle guns and to respect them they should be safe. I never think to bring money when I go anywhere any more. So we get on line to buy shots. I quickly check my wallet and I have $11.00. Enough money for Nastia, Elena and myself to get one shot each. I anopunce this to the two of them and they so don't worry, they'll buy their own shots. Which was fine with me. I buy two rounds. One is a money round for $5.00, the other is a turkey round for $3.00. In both rounds I do ok, but not well enough to win. On the first round Elena has target number 11. Ol' blood and guts, ol' rough and ready stands up with the gun in her arms. Her stance is good. She's as careful as a newbe can be, she takes aim and gets a direct hit on the number eleven. Problem is no one told her to aim for the target above it. beginners mistake. Nastia is using Sean's dad's gun. It's smaller and lighter then my gun. In her arms it still looks too big for her. She tucks it into her shoulder. Looks down the bsrrel and it almost knocked off her feet when she pulls the trigger. Neither hit the target.

On the second round Elena hits the target, looking good as she does. Nastia also hits the target, looking good as she does it. I've forgotten alot about guns so I listened to what everyone said about stance and arm angle and leaning into the shot. So on Nastia's second shot her and I talk about all of that and she looks alot better on the shot. She is hardly rocked by the kick back from the gun. She does well. Both pay for a third round. I wait for Elena to finish her third round. It's now almost two in the afternoon. I'm cold and tired and want to go home. THe rounds go at a sluggish pace and I can't wait for Nastia to finish her third round three rounds after Elena's last round. I ask Elena if we can go home. It was loads of fun. No one got hurt and maybe we'll all do it again on a warmer day. /

When your twenty-three year old daughter asks if her boyfriend can sleep over...

Yeah, tell me about it... There were other things that have happened this passed week or so, but this one tops the list. It all started in a kingdom far far away from here. In a land ruled by women, yeah, I know. they do rule, but not in the way you'd think or were taught or not in school. Anyway...(love those three dots today don't I) The weather in Buffalo, yes Buffalo, which is a couple hundred miles from us as the crow flys was experencing a very bad, even for Buffalo snow storm.They were talking at least three feet of snow. (As of today they are at about six and a half feet) There was a thought we'd get some of that snow. Granted the snow was all lake effect. For all of you non-meteorologist types 'Lake Effect Snow' is when cold dry air from the north comes across the still warm waters of one of the Great Lakes, in this instance, Lake Ontario and like a dry sponge, it sucks up the warm moisture from the lake. When it encounters the still cold land it can not hold all that moisture because cold air canot hold moisture that is why we all have dry skin in the winter and the result is the air drops that moisture causing, lets say it all together, 'a Buffalo Winter' God, those poor people. Now on this night, a Friday, Teri decides to make empanadas. She buys the dough, to make life simple. Me, I'd have tried to make the dough and make it a complex late running adventure. Nastia and Sean go out to dinner. Elena and Jessica are eating with us.

The empanadas are easy with store bought dough and once we get into a rythm, me doing what Teri wants me to do, it goes quickly. I end up frying the empanadas in a cast iron pan (I'd wanted to use the cast iron dutch oven my mom gave me but Teri wanted to use the cast iron frying pan, but not fry them because that would make them hard. She relented and after I turned my full attention to frying them I was able to get some of them to a light golden brown, almost soft texture. The four of us sit down to dinner and I have to text Nastia what we are having for dinner. I would have liked them to stay for dinner. So I text her a picture. After dinner Sean and Nastia come home and are going to play 'RageAgainst the Machine' a card game or something like that.Originally they were going to play at teh dinning room table but they changed their minds. So the girls,Sean and Jessica all go upstairs to play games.

I think it is funny when we get our first snow of the year to send a picture with the text..."Better let Sean know it's getting deep outside." I thought it was funny, Nastia's reply is, "ok". I was disappointed, but remember she was playing games and her boyfriend was there, or more specifically, HER BOYFRIEND WAS THERE.She's in that stage where and I'm sure we all remember and wish we could experence it again, she's in that 'New Relationship phase of her relationship where you can't get enough of the other person, but you're still hiding most of your affection, for him, from at least your father. That was about 9:30. At 10:25 I'm part of a group text asking if Sean can sleep over. It starts with 'Hey guys', when did I become part of hey guys? Does she use this all the time or is it only for these 'special favors' she wants? Yes, I've noticed her use 'hey guys' before but this is different, she wants a guy to sleep in the same house as her and I and it is different. Teri tells me to text, "If Elena can clean off the bed and someone get him blankets and a pillow and fix the bed right.And a tooth brush" Nastia asks and in retrospect, I understand, "Which bed are u talking about?" Boy her kids are gonna love or be banned from reading these when there teenagers. I reply without a thought of any other bed, "The office bed." Nastia's simple reply, "Ok" Teri, "Where were you thinking?" This is where it gets fun Nastia, "The extra bed in my room." Now, this is not a, ah... what's a good word, ah... bad or maybe... convenient as it might look, because I've left out the fact that for the last week Jessica, Elena's and Nastia's friend has been staying with us after her and her mother got into an arguement and Jessica was asked to leave in a loud voice (yes, I'm being a wise-ass. They had a fight and she threw Jessica out and in her anger, this is all second hand and biased, threw Jessica's phone toward or maybe near the (I can't think of a good word here. it's a re word I want to use and regressing or retreating don't fit. Especially retreating, it sounds like going back to the same house on Halloween because they have good candy. Let's just go with car, it's boring and I'm being pedantic- someone who is very concerned with the detais of a subject and tends to overly show off their knowledge, so car it is.) car. (Maybe she was not very good at sports growing up.... no lets not go down that road) We have veered way off subject here. We're so far in the bushes we can't even see where the road is supposed to be. So Jessica is staying here and sleeping in Nastia's bed. Nastia has a queen size bed and maybe she likes having someone in bed with her. When she sleeps over at Jessie's (she's the one with the child) she sleeps in the same bed as her. So, a recap to where we were...(those dots are a pandemic today) Nastia has asked for Sean to sleep over and has asked he sleep in the same room as her and Jessica in a bed next to her's. We can go back into the weeds and talk about sex and how you can't stop it even if you tried, but there are limits that neither Teri or I feel are right even in this day and age. After Nastia says 'The extra bed in my room' she quickly adds, 'But ya, I'll get everything for him.' Teri's reply to the first part, "Think again, buttercup." That's a cute way of saying, No f'n way is that going to happen. Defensively Nastia replys, now knowing she has pushed things too far, "LOL, Mom, relax". I have nothing to do with getting him set up in 'ol' squeeky', I go downstairs to shower. The bed he sleeps in, would be a newlyweds nightmare. Everytime you move in it, everyone on that floor who's not a deep sleeper (Me) knows. That entire night I get a good nights sleep. I wake up at six and Bandi has left a little gift in the hallway. As I start to clean it up, I take a quick glance into the partly open door(we have clips on the doors up there so the cats can go through and the dogs can't follow.) and I don't see him. I finish what I'm doing and lead Misha and Bandi outside so Athena can go down the stairs without Misha attacking her.It's Saturday, Sean and Elena have to go to work, but I can go back to bed. I don't hear Sean get up or leave. I might have heard him thank Teri for letting him sleep over. Elena says good bye and it is over. The boyfriend has slept over. The world is still turning and doom has not cracked. The end of days might still be coming, but it was not last night. Growing up I slept with my girlfriend when we went away somewhere, but I never slept in the same house with her as her parents.Nastia has slept in the same room as her boyfriend, at teh time when they went away. Sean and Nastia are talking about going up to Monticello Race track to gamble and stay ove. I think it is too early in their relationship. How long was she going out with the last guy before we let her stay with him over night in a motel? I guess it's an open question. She did tell me if they go to Monticello on her birthday, which I don't like, they will be dating two months by then. It's still seems a little too quick. I'd like to end this on ahigh note, but the Yankees haven't signed Aaron Judge to a long term contract and it won't hsppen until at least January. Buffalo is still shoveling out of almost six feet of snow and the snow blower I asked my brother to look over in October and then asked Bruce to look at around Halloween is sitting without a tarp, my fault at my mother's. What is a good high note to end on? I guess the best one is atleast we're not in Buffalo with my snow blower. /

It's Saturday morning and ...well ... Sorry, no great title came to mind.

It's is a Saturday morning in November a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. Elena went to work today, Nastia has gone to work at Stop and Shop- we're trying to convince her to go somewhere else. She wants to go to Dave and Buster's we're thinking that is not a great idea. And for the last couple of nights Jessica has been staying over.

The three of them went to Dave and Buster's on Thursday. Jessica works there and the three of them have dinner and play some games. When they went to drop Jessica off, something happened between her and her mother. I only heard bits and pieces of what happened, so if it is wrong, I'm sorry. It goes something like Jessica didn't clean her room before going out and her mother got mad. Maybe something else happened because her mother supposedly threw her phone at the car before or after throwing Jessica out. Maybe there is more to the story, I don't want to voice any opinions. Boy, that can be tough. So Jessica (not JJ or Jessie from New City who has a child) is staying with us. Jessica is making herself so invisable I saw her for the first time this morning. Nastia is staying over Jessie's (New City, child, JJ) tonight like she normally does. I hope Jessie's (JJ, child, New City) parents are not getting tired of Nastia staying over. Nastia has work today from 9AM to 5PM. There has been no 6AM to 2PM lately. I think she changed her hours of availability. Back when I worked a grocery store part time workers were a dime a dozen and if you desired you could have a career at a supermarket. Back then they told you when you were going to work and how late you were going to work. There was no choice back then. If you were not available, they'd get someone else. Also, another blast from the past. I made $2.25 an hour when I started. A friend who started a while before me started at $1.90 an hour. I felt rich when I got my check every friday back then. Nastia makes mininium wage (about $13.00 an hour) at Stop and Shop. They took everything away from her after she got the job with the YMCA and left and then returned. Friday night, yesterday Sean was going to take Nastia up to visit with his mother. Nastia spent time with her last weekend, so this was the second visit. Only thing is the remains of a rare November hurricane was heading our way. In the past, before global warming made storms so much more intense it would have been okay to let her go. I text Nastia telling her to let me know when she gets there and when she is leaving and when she's expecting to be home. A little while later I talk to Teri and she says she really doesn't want Nastia to go. I say I'll call her and I do. I tell her the weather is going to be bad (and it had started coming down ral hard off and on since around three in the afternoon) and I'd rather you didn't go. She said she was alreay on her way. I then did a sort of bad thing, I told Nastia to talk it over with Sean and call me back. It was bad because I was banking on Sean still wanting to make a good impression that he'd turn around. They did turn around and of course the storm was mostly over. Nastia was not to happy about not going, but she got over it pretty quickly. I was happy she was safe. Nastia has this habit of always being with her boyfriend as often as possible. And with modern technology she talks to him on her phone. She'll come in from work and will talk to you. Your saying stuff that maybe you don't want someone who is not in the family yet to hear and suddenly she'll lean in a direction and you'll see his face or she say,"Could you wait a second, Sean?" and then you realize you have been talking to two people. Nastia is the type of person who can make you feel very important. She did it with Dylan and Kevin. Both suffered from being under the delusion, no that is too strong of a word. They suffered from being guys who want to date a girl who wants to be just a friend.She said she told them she just wanted to be friends, but she hung around with them all of the time. I'm sure some girls would call that delusional. I'd call it a guy just being a guy. So many women out there claim there are no great guys. They're just not looking. Dylan and Kevin were great guys. My daughter, Nastia was just not interested in them. In cases like this and I know he is not politically correct these days, but some of his ideas on relationships still hit home. I always remember what Woody Allen said at the beginning of Annie Hall. "I'd never want to be a member of a club that would have me as a member" I feel alot of people act that way. Elena and her now on and previously off again relationship with Matt. Elena has gotten to be ...ah,... let's say more colorful in her language. I think she feels using curse words, as often as she does and yes Nastia is just as bad gives her an aura of power and a 'don't mess with me cause you could get hurt' personality. It goes along with the tatoos and the short haircuts. She has her defenses up so she won't get hurt. When she is angry with him, she'll call him a 'little pussy'. He's a nice guy and he is laidback. He wants to be a NYC cop. Right now the Police in NYC are losing the battle because of politicians. I think it could eat him up if he becomes an NYC Cop and things don't change. Elena on the other hand is working still in New City with Sean and his family. His father and uncle own the shop. Elena doesn't make much, but she has few needs and desires, so her salary goes far. When it is time to pay insurance, she is the only one ready to pay. She got her 'sleeve finished this past Tuesday and since I have to act like it doesn't exist because I don't approve, I don't have pictures. One day I will and I'll post them. It's not ugly, it just not what someone should want on their arm for the rest of there life. Styles and customes change AND SKIN DOES SAG AS YOU GET OLDER. What is done is done. /

Halloween Parties , the parade in Nyack et al.

Alot has gone on lately and I've been remiss in writting about it.

Before Halloween Nastia gets her Halloween costume in the mail. It is a patient leather shiny black short dress that she is going to wear and be a cat for Halloween. She trys it on for my opinion. I tell her it is too short to wear without shorts on. She says she will wear shorts and she asks me what stocking she should wear? (Should I have voiced my opinion? well, I did)I never see the complete costume on her and as far as I know no photos exist of it. I will ask her if she has any. When she got to the party and put her costume on it was too uncomfortable and she changed out of it. We get a text somewhere south of midnight...I just checked for the text where she said she was at CJ's where she was going to spend the night and maybe I imagined it, I can't find it. I thought she left the party early. She is at the age where she can do things that no one will find out about unless she tells them. I know a few of those stories, but I'm sure some of the more, well we all know the stories we don't tell our parents. If she left the party earlier or it was early in the morning it doesn't matter because she lived through it.

On the same night as Nastia goes to her Halloween party Nyack has their parade. Over the years Nyack has had some really good and some really bad parades. The best ones were when we lived in Nyack and the parade went right by the house. We had a party and the parade was almost an after thought. This year I put the two usual chairs in the car. We're a little late getting down there so we park on Catherine street and walk. I take my chair and offer to take Teri's. She says to leave it in the car. We find a good spot behind a barricade in front of the bank that is just off the corner of South Franklin Avenue. We spread out and I

sit. No one else wanted a chair and as we wait people start crowding in on our spot.In the past the barricade didn't exist all the way up the street. I'd sit down with a front row view and when the parade started I'd be six rows back. With the barricade I keep my front row view. It is great and the parade is pretty good this year. After the parade we go out to eat. I think we go to the Hard Wok. It is weird, it's just Teri, Nancy and I, no kids.I miss them.

Several weeks before Halloween I am cleaning in the attic and find all or at least most of the Halloween stuff. We hadn't put anything up in years. Elena sees it and puts it all up. She even buys a blow up cat and and blow up T-Rex costume. While we're at the Halloween Parade she sends us a video of her in the costume. Later she tells us the music is from Jurassic Park

On Halloween eve, called gate night when I grew up, kids would go out in packs and get into 'mischief' The next day you'd see toilet paper hanging from trees, peoples windows soaped up. In later years it got to be a little more destructive and pumpkins would get smashed. As I got older we'd make sure the cars were not in a place to get hit. This year as in most of the last twenty or so 'Gate Night' is not what it was, if anyone even remembers it. In this hyper partisan world I guess that's not a bad thing.

At dinner one night before Halloween Nastia anounces she has to wear a costume to her job at West Nyack Elementry. She rules out the cat costume, too short and sexy. She thinks she has an old costume. I tell her I have the lion costumes from when they were fist here in America. Nastia always game for something really silly agrees to try them on. She tries on the first one I pull out, her old costume, not even close. I pull out her sister costume and I'd say not quite big enough.

Now Halloween, it self like 'Gate Night' has also suffered. Razor blades in candy and all of those other things ruined it. Covid put the last few nails in it's coffin, except in Nyack, on North Broadway. I haven't been down there in the last several years, but Halloween in Congers, on South Harrison Avenue has never been that exciting. We had our decorations up I got out of work and I'm driving down South Harrison Avenue towards the house and I see a group of kid and parents. A quick count would have come up with a total of about twelve. I think, well maybe Covid hangover is going to bring everybody out. They'd passed the house by the time I'd gotten there, but Elena's car is parked in the driveway so she must have given them candy. I enter the house and she is in the shower, she's going out with Matt. and the candy is still in the bags. I set everything up and then wait... Sometime about two hours late we get our first kids. Then sometime around eight I answer the door and two little kids are at the door. We have so much candy left. I give both of them some. Mom is down at the bottom of the stairs watching. The older girl gets her's first. The boy of about four, I guess gets his. Just before he leaves I say, "Give your mom this and hand him a candy. I have to laugh when he grabs the candy and says, "No, that's mine." So I try again and hand him a second candy saying give this one to mom and this time he says, "No, that's mine." Twice is funny, I give up and let him go. It's the highlight of the night. Oh, about two weeks or so ago Nastia began hanging out with Elena and Sean from work. I thought little about it. Not to insult anybody, but he is not the type of guy she would be interested in. I thought she was hanging out with Elena when she happened to be with Sean.

One night, this past Tuesday, she asks if she can invite Sean to dinner. She's done this before with Dylan and before that Kevin. During dinner everyone is talking about going on vacation to different places. Nastia keeps saying something like when are you going to take me there? She has this habit of flirting with guys she is not going to date. And again Sean is not her type. He is tall, a little heavy and he's white. Nastia tends toward skinny black guys. Call me a racist if you want, but a fact is a fact. We all wish we just saw a person, but we don't. Anyway...Nastia goes into the kitchen with some plates and I follow. Quietly I say to her she needs to quit flirting with someone she is not going to date. I tell her, "You have broken enough hearts and one day someone will not take it so well." I think her reply is something along the lines of," Well, you might be seeing him here more often, I think I'd like to date him." Again it's something like that. Her message is we're not dating yet, negotiations are under way, nah, that's not either. Well, they weren't dating yet, but they hope to be soon. To say the least I was surprised. We talked briefly about Jonathan and how he is leaving for three years, he's in the service. Teri sushes us every so often. The bottom line is they are dating, I think now. Speaking of dating, guess who are back together...(It's hard to write that with out laughing) Matt and Elena. He came over for dinner too. Nastia came to me one night and said, "Guess who are back together? Matt and my sister." I think I laughed and said they never broke up. It's like a sunny day. It may not be here right now, but it's going to be back and that, like Matt is a good thing. I think they make each other happy. Now if they could just solve whatever it is that makes them need space from each other. I'll see if I can look in the book of Elena and see why they need space from one and other every so often. Damn, it's locked like it usually is. That dinner was on a Tuesday.

Sean came over again for dinner on Thursday for enchiladas, Tuesday's orginial dinner. Well she did say we'd be seeing him around more often then the last one. /

Inside the book of Elena again, a little, with pictures.

Elena has always been the private one of the two. Nastia if she has a secret, wait and she'll maybe tell you. Elena, before she tells a secret, you'll have to go through a few birthdays and then she'll tell you she forgot what the secret is, but I'm sure she now has another secret to keep, like the fact she really didn't forget the first secret. Teri won't agree with me that Elena is a big mystery. She will agree that she is private and loyal and puts up a big tough front that will sometime crumble and she'll start crying disolving into your arms and suddenly her vulnerability is breaking your heart. Is she this really tough person who has a wall of paper mache (for all you neophytes (a person who is new to a subject, skill, or belief.) Paper mache is glue and water with shredded newpaper or use flour and water with newpaper) protecting herself. Sometimes it doesn't feel that way.

There have been times where her and I will get into an arguement and it will escalate to a dangerous point. Once and I talked about it, oh about a year and change ago I came home and didn't realize I was in a bad mood. I went up to talk to the girls about dinner and I find out they are going for a walk. I tell them, the fuck you are. Elena rips into me and she keeps verbally coming at me. I guess I was at her too, I'm not sure anymore. What I am sure of is I almost put her through a wall that night.Looking back at it if I had, I don't think my relationship with Elena and Teri would have ever recovered. They would have changed toward me for the worse and who know how much worse. After that night I promised myself I'd never lose my temper like that again with her. Whenever I feel that anger raising I disengage. I stop talking to her. If she continues on I don't reply. I never want to get that angry at her ever again. Nastia has noticed the difference in how we treat the two of them and I admitted to her that because herr sister never backs down, she gets away with things that Nastia would not. I asked her to not tell her sister that. And since Elena doesn't read this blog either she may never find out.

Elena is a contradiction to me. She has Anami charactors on her car hood and doors. She has T-Rex seat covers. If she gets married she wants a dinosaur wedding (yes, just what it sounds like) and she has a Stitch steering wheel cover. She wears mens underwear and only occationally womens. She is independant, sometimes forgets she is part of a family, she has strong feeling towards Matt. I think she loves him, sometimes she might even like him. When he comes around the house that is when she likes him and he has been around the house lately. Which also means hickies are again appearing on her neck. Such is Elena. She works in a tire place in New City. She normally has few wants. She took a pay cut to move to the tire place, but works more hours. She has more money in the bank then any of us. She has tattoos, she hasn't gotten her complete sleeve yet. All that she has is vines going up her arm.She wants sculls, her mother is trying to convince her out of it. Me, I think tattoos make a persons skin look like it needs a good washing, so I keep my mouth shut. Elena is private. Nastia will say she has her peroid. Only way you know Elena has her's is after she has been unusually nasty in an arguement Teri will say, she is getting her peroid.

Life in a house of women is fun and maddening. I guess women in a house of men/boys have another version of it. I try to be as close to each of them as they will let me. Sometimes I feel real close to Elena. Maybe after I've shown her how to fix something that I learned how to do on my own I will feel there is no barriers between us. Then there will be that time, maybe around dinner time after she has showered and her hands are still a little black from work, her mother will comment about them. "Oh, Elena your hands are still so dirty!". Of course Elena will reply, "I like em like that!" Elena will get testy, all right, nasty and say things that should not be said and if they are said should not be left unanswered. But going down that road leads to damaged walls and broke relationships. A route I never want to travel.So mostly I've learned to sit quietly and let the waves of anger from her wash over and past me. If I ever feel the desire to answer one of her statements and I can't resist or maybe I've forgotten I need to sit this one out. Teri will alway tell me to leave it alone and mostly after the first leave it alone I do, thank God.

Don't get me wrong life with Elena is lots of fun. Someone told Teri that Elena was going to be the one who breaks your heart. I've alway assumed that is in a good way, you know when she does something that is unexpected and just totally out of left field. You'll sit back and go, " My God,what possessed her to do that. I have been so touched by her generosity of spirit sometime that I have no words for it. She is always the one who goes all in for the holidays. I found some Halloween decorations from years past. She saw them and up they went. Now when it comes to taking them down...yeah, well no one is perfect. /

HERITAGE OF WEST NYACK FALL FESTIVAL

HERITAGE OF WEST NYACK FALL FESTIVAL - Rockland Newshttps://rocklandnews.com › heritage-of-west-nyack-fall-... HERITAGE OF WEST NYACK FALL FESTIVAL. October 4, 2022. Date: Sunday, October 16, 2022. Time: 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM. Learn More

A week ago on a bright warm fall day the HERITAGE OF WEST NYACK FALL FESTIVAL had its festival over at the Traphagen property in Blauvelt or maybe West Nyack. Poor West Nyack, about 100 hundred years ago between the Clarksville corners and the railroad tracks it had a thriving downtown. Where the Plastic Craft is used to be a hotel, across the street near the tracks was another hotel. Corner of Benson and West Nyack Rd (Rt 59 in those days) there was a guy who delivered milk. used to get my Uncle Ken up real early in the morning to help him out. Just east of the Clarksville Inn was a candy store owns by the Jones', I've been told or maybe it was across West Nyack Road where that house is. There was a black smith shop real early on a spur of the Railroad where there building the park now that a tender and maybe another rail car sunk in the mud. Shops along the northern side of the road heading toward the railroad tracks. It's all gone. I've heard it was a fire. I read somewhere they closed of the crossing at the tracks because a school bus got hit by a train. I'm not confusing it with the one in Valley Cottage in the 70's. We hadn't gone to the fall festival in the last few years. Covid, I think cancelled it for two years and we'd missed the year before Covid and last year we hadn't gotten there. So this year seemed like a good time to go. Nastia was around that day, (yes Nastia that is a little dig at you never being home, but since you don't read this and may never,I have little to fear. I don't use LOL, so, I'll teehee...that is a sinister laugh) Well, Nastia joined Teri, Nancy and I for a warm couple of hours at the Traphagen property.We parked at the Germond's pool and walked the side walk over to the big house.

Off to the left where tractor hay rides sorta (there was no hay people sat in a trailor and were driven around a field.) There were pumpkins strew around that people could pick and buy. It was very popular and they did run out.There were musicians playing in the barn or garage foundation remains. Another house on an the adjacent property was open for the first time, for me. I went inside and it made me feel like I was upstate. It was old and quiet and had that smell of old exposed wood warmed by the sun and cooled by the nights for many years. I walked out the back door and the fields had been cut with a sickle blade mower. There were clumps of grass Nastia and I walked through

reminding me of when Mr. Dibble would come over and cut the grass around the house upstate and occasionally he'd leave those same clumps. Near the top of the hill I turned around and everything thing feels so open, I felt the vast space I was standing in. Someone from 100 years ago would laugh at what I thought of as vast space, it still reminded of Rockland when I was a kid. You don't realize how crowded life has become in Rockland until a time like that. Teri calls for us to return and I am back in the present heading toward the throng of people who have gathered for the HERITAGE OF WEST NYACK FALL FESTIVAL. I walk by a tree and the ground is covered with fallen nuts. I check my handy dandy 'Picture This' app and I am told they are black walnuts on the ground.So, yes I have to pick up a bunch to try and grow black walnut trees next spring. When I get come, I put them somewhere safe and don'tremember where that is. Sometimes I'm so like my mom.

We walk around a little more talk to Karl and Madeline some. Nastia of course is hungry so she has a hot dog, then she wants fries, but the line is too long,so we go. Walking back to the car along the edge of the road I notice the remains of a fence post and rail. To me this is one of the treasures that no one else will notice or value. A simple post that might only be sixty years old, but it might have been used to keep the horses or cow on the property. I

could be romanticizing something that was placed there by one of the last people to live in the house and it is just something that a suburbanite might have stuck on the corner of their property thinking it was cool. You know someone like me did it. I think I am going to go with my fantasy that it is over a hundred years old and Cow or horses were kept on the property and off of the dirt road and out of traffic.

/

Electrical work and Tattoo you.*

*Yes, for all you sharp eyed friends'Tattoo You is the title of the 16th in England and the 18th in America album. My first thought is England is owned a couple of albums. My second, I remember when the album came out. MTV is still new and plays music videos. Mick and Keith do a video for waiting on a friend. I enjoyed the song, when I heard it, In the video, Mick is waiting for Keith. When Keith shows up at the end of the video, they kiss. My first impression is here are two old rockers (little did I know how much older they would get) trying to stir up a little controversy and be cool and relivent. The buzz it caused is like a small stone thrown in large placid pool of water. The ripple is barely noticed. Now my daughter's newest tatoo,(nice segue, not Segway, that two wheel contraption they discontinued in 2020. Sounds the same, but are different.) I tried to be that large pool of water and her tattoo is the small stone that drops into it. Over the last few months Elena has talked about getting a sleeve. For all you people not in the know that is a tattoo that runs from wrist to shoulder, I think. Over the month of September she'd say she was getting it in October. I took solace in the fact that it was still September and October was the future and maybe she'd forget about it or the world would come to an end, you know, something good would happen. (yes, that's a joke, I'm not that dark.) Well, since I'm writting this she neither forgot nor the world came to an end.

Every so often I'd trip over the fact she is getting close to getting her tattoo. I went on th ebank account and her checking had $1500.00 in it. For a moment I almost texted her to ask her why she had so much money in her account, then I remembered it is October. My biggest fear when she went to get her sleeve was she would get something that ten, twenty years from now she would look at and say, "why did I ever get that." I even asked Teri to go along with her to make sure that she didn't do something like that. Elena's appointment is for a Tuesday afternoon, Teri can't go. A cautionary tail I thought of, around this time Sylvester Stallone seperates from his current wife. In a fit of passion years ago he got her face tatooed on his arm, back, chest wherever. They seperated, so he has her face covered up with a dog he had back when he filmed the original Rocky, because it was the only thing that would cover her face. Then they get back together. I can't help but laugh.

Mid-day on that Tuesday, I receive a group text with my daughter's arm decorated in blue marker, or whatever they use as their template. I look and go back to work. Later I will receive a grainy video of the completed tattoo. It is pretty, but I know it will not end there and that is where the next problem arises. What's next? Elena and I did spend a happy time together earlier in the week when I showed her how to change out a light switch. It is something everyone should know how to do and save some money. Life,(big sigh)....

I did get a little laugh. In the background of the video I think I hear Nastia saying that she wants to get the same thing except the roses in black. If you'd ever seen the video of her getting the rose on her back, well, you'd be laughing as much as I am right now. ??

Summer's almost gone, almost gone, where will we be...*

In the flash of a quiet wink, summer left us the other day. It did turn around and blow us a kiss as it left. It just left like a spoiled child running away when no one is looking. I thought it might stay around a littler longer, but it's cool nights of August left no illusion. It is done with us and is headed south of the equator.

What makes it worse is after three weeks of no one swimming in the pool, it was covered today. To me that is the offical end of summer. The water is long past warm enough to swim in and I ran out the chlorine, so it turned a lovely shade of green a while ago. I dumped some liquid chlorine in it last week hoping to get the time (ambition) to cover the pool. Two weeks ago the pool is closer to swimable then it is today when it was covered.

Usually I uncover the pool in the spring by myself and recover it in the fall by myself. It is a peaciful and almost theraputic excercise. I'm left alone, because no one wants summer to end and I have a way of putting the top on the pool using rocks that works. In past seasons Teri has warned me that the rocks will fall in and damage the liner. Occationally the rocks have fallen in and I say nothing and come spring I recover them.

Today, Sunday September 25, 2022 Teri must have felt guilty and decides to help me. She comes out and asks what she can do. And the thing of it is she will do what is asked of her, but usually I'll have nothing in mind for her to do, because I do everything by myself. I'm not sure if I plan it that way or it just happens. One time years ago when all my friends were dating girls and I was single I got comfortable being with myself, maybe I'm too comfortable. Sometimes it feels that way. Teri wants to help and I think why not, what's the worst that can happen. Well then she brings out a very relucent Elena. When Elena doesn't want to do something and your force her, well you pay the price. A long time ago, or maybe not too long ago I had to restrain myself from putting her through a wall and yes, I've told the story, maybe a few times too many, but I try to always remember that night and when it come to Elena, I try to remember the lesson learned that night. Don't get into it with her. So she comes out and is cranky, I make the old cranky pants joke. When she was younger, I called her cranky pants and her reply was, "I no cranky pants, you cranky pants" So I said the line and she didn't remember having ever said it. I'm sure she also doesn't remember her song Pachestyzuby and chocolate milk. Which means brush your teeth and chocolate milk, right I know an instant classic. Elena mostly supervises, occationally she is asked to hold the end of the cover and she does it with all the enthusiasm you'd expect. Teri and Elena take a break to look at a strange shaped mushroom. The cover goes on pretty well and we are done in a short while. So now Summer is offically over. Christmas seems like it will be next week. I'm already trying to thinking about gifts for people.

* Yes another Doors song Summer's almost gone Summer's almost gone Almost gone Yeah, it's almost gone Where will we be When the summer's gone? Morning found us calmly unaware Noon burn gold into our hair At night, we swim the laughin' sea When summer's gone Where will we be? Where will we be? Where will we be? Morning found us calmly unaware Noon burn gold into our hair At night, we swim the laughin' sea When summer's gone Where will we be? Summer's almost gone Summer's almost gone We had some good times But they're gone The winter's comin' on Summer's almost gone

Sushiiiii!!

Some how Thursday I pissed my wife off without saying a word. I was in the kitchen not listening to what Teri and Nastia were saying. When I look up from my phone. I hear Teri say something like, "I just cleaned that." and then Nastia says something disrespectful. So I put my head down and return to my phone thinking 'I'm not getting into this.' So when I'm apologizing (yeah, I'm laughing too) later and she is telling me what I did wrong (don't laugh that much!) I'm thinking, 'hum, tomorrow is Friday.' "yes, but I wasn't listening to what the two of you were saying before that." 'It's causal Friday' (really, how else do you get through apologizing for not being involved and not saying anything)* Yes, I'm sorry, next time she is disrespectful like that I will say something (do I really have too?!) and make you feel more supported.

Sooooo, Friday does come, we have a little extra money in the bank and earlier in the week Teri wanted to go out to have sushi. Her and Elena love sushi. I don't, but it is an all you can eat place. So mid-afternoon while I'm counting the minutes until five o'clock rolls around, I do a family group text asking who will be home for dinner. Nasita has plans with Arrianna, which is fine. She is at that age where she wants as much freedom as possible. The only problem is she has a job that doesn't pay her enough to give her that freedom. So I ask the remaining two, the sushi lovers, "What's the price of Sushi tonight?" During the week it's cheaper, I'm hoping that includes Friday. (It doesn't.) Elena had stayed out of the conversation until I said Sushi. She chimes in with an enthusiastic 'Suuuushiiiiii' so I know she is in Teri says she believes it's $25.00 per person (Remember future people house only cost 1/2 a million dollars+ in 2022, so that is not cheap). Teri asks if we could refrain from alcohol can we do it?" Elena says she is OK with soda, it's my idea, so I can deal with it and it is settled. I can make last night up to my wife (I think I know what I did wrong. I didn't get involved in a conversation I wasn't listening to in the first place.).

Teri calls and say to meet her in Nanuet. she has a six PM appointment in Nyack with someone (she won't say who, hint, hint it has to do with the Nyack house and getting rid of it) So after that is over she wants to meet in Nanuet. Around 7:30 we meet at #1 Sushi. It's near five guys, the Auto Parts store and for all you people my age, it's in the old Korvettes Shopping Center.

After a short wait we are seated. They had us two sheets of paper that we are to mark what food we want. Teri and Elena are looking at the Sushi, I'm reading the other and I don't really know what most of this stuff is, so I begin looking it up on my phone.Takoyaki turns out to be; a ball shaped Japanese snack filled with octopus, tampura scraps pickled ginger and green onion. I think, nah and move on. Okonomiyaki; is a savory japaneses pancake consisting of wheat flour. It can include, cabbage, meat, and sea food, ah, maybe. After a few more look ups (thank god for the internet) I ordered a few appetizers, a couple of meat dishes and some rice. Teri says I have to try the Crab tampora. So that is added to the order. When you order a dish, you get a very little bit, but this is an all you can eat place, so if you want to sample everything on the menu and you eat it, no one will stop you. I had about six or so different items from the menu. I didn't over eat. Teri and Elena ordered a platter of sushi. After a few apetizers, the sushi arrives and it disappears pretty quickly. Teri then lets Elena order some more. I'm not paying attention to what they are talking about (have I learned nothing!!)and they order a second tray. When it arrives it is almost as full as the first one. I think there is no way they will ever finish this. About half way through it Elena begins to complain she is full. Teri soon follows. There are twenty-six pieces left. They soldier on. If they don't finish it, we get charged for the food. After a while the twenty-six is down to seventeen. I'm debating if I should get involved because I didn't over eat and they are well past over eating. I ask them, "Which is the least icky one?" Yes I don't like sushi. I've had it once at The Hard Wok and didn't like it. I tried pickled ginger tonight and it was weirdly hot and sweet at the same time, so I think, what the hell. Teri points to a roll that has avocado. I don't like avocado, but I pop it into my mouth any way, and yeah, I don't like it. At work every Friday several women in the office have sushi. One of the women, Dawn says sushi is an acquired taste. I haven't acquired it. Teri next points to the tuna sushi roll and says, "you'll like it." I still haven't acquired the taste for sushi yet, even after that one.

Teri and Elena manage to whittle the tray down to four rolls before they both quit. During most of the time they are eating the second tray Teri is telling Elena, "Ya had to order two's of everything didn't ya?" She says it with a smile and a laugh.(I'm listening to this conversation waiting to jump in at the least sign of disrespect in Elena's voice. This is a joke, you can laugh)

They take the foure lonely rolls away, ask if we would like something else. I'm thinking about fried oreos and a little ice cream, but after watching those two I doubt I will ever eat again. We pass on dessert. We pay the bill and a quick trip home. Elena says she is going up stairs to pass out. Teri later needs a little ice cream to settle her stomach. Me, I still didn't over eat and I still haven't acquired a taste for sushi. Oh, almost forgot, later that night Nastia comes home with clothes and slutty underwear that didn't fit her friend Arrianna. She takes a few minutes before she goes to bed to show it to us. She shows a picture of her in it to her mother and a quick flash of it at me. I look up from my phone as Teri goes, "Don't show that to your father." *In reality only most of that happened. I'll let you decide what.

The Book of Elena chapter 22 verse 2 line 3 through ...

Sunday the last unoffical day of Summer started as a very boring day. The sun is out, the temperature started out comfortable, but would raise to the point Teri would need the air conditioning. I had several tasks that were in need of doing according to my wife. One she'd been on me to do is switch the water faucet in the tub. I bought her an antique styled faucet for Christmas with the understanding it would slip right into place of the previous one. Last week I looked it over and thought it wouldn't. This week upon closer inspection I found it would fit like it is supposed to.

On my way to switching out the faucet, Elena asks me if we could do her screens in her room. "Bugs are getting in and making me crazy." she said. I do a 90 degree turn and get the screening material in the basement and show her how it is done. The first one I mostly do. The second one she does on her own. It is simple to do once you know how to do it. I learned on my own after a local hardware store charged more then what a roll of the material cost.

On a roll I go to the tub and double check how the faucet would fit. It would really suck if half way through on a Sunday late afernoon just before labor day with a movie scheduled for Sunday night to find out this isn't going to work and everyone has to take a bath or use the shower in the basement. The basement shower is my territory, while upstairs is the girls bathroom. It goes smooth and I even have time to relax before the movie. THe movie, Thor, love and Thunder is scheduled for 6:30. It is going to be Nastia, Elena and myself. Teri is not a real big fan of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) I'm feeling lazy and ask who wants to drive. I know Elena will drive. Nastia doesn't drive after dark because of her eyes. We pile into her car. THe rain has just stopped recently. The rain is only the second one we've had since June.

Elena steps on the gas and everyone is pressed slightly against their seats. She makes a right onto Waldberg Ave. I'm in the back seat behind Nastia and if it wasn't for the seat belt I'd be sitting behind Elena. I say nothing. A left to King's Highway, she slows slightly in front of St Paul's School checking for Police. When none are spotted she hits the gas again, again we are slightly pressed into our seats. At the corner of Old Mill Rd. She cuts a hard right. I feel the tires begin to slide before they catch and a

spin out is avoided. Which is a good thing, because a car is coming up Old Mill to the corner of King's Highway. I lose it. I am trying to let it go, but the corner where the car started to slide pushes me over the edge. I didn't know I was going to start yelling like that. Somewhere inside me something broke, or a spark lit something, I don't know. The next moment I'm telling Elena, "to slow the fuck down." The rational me knows that is not the way to talk to her. She'll get defensive and she will not back down. It can get very dangerous. She replies to me, " What's wrong with that it was just a nice tight turn." I'm still not calm and I tell her, "pull the car over I'm getting out." I say it a half dozen times until she finally does. She throws a little more gas on the fire, "Fine, walk home." I take out my matches and tell her, "Well, no ones going to the movies I've got all of the tickets." Somewhere, somehow I don't get out of the car. We are pulled over on Babbling Brook Rd or some other side road near there. I think I realize I have just ruined the evening and I say Elena's name, I say it several times, but she is not replying. Nastia says, "she hears you" I tell her, "I'm sorry,I shouldn't have yelled like that. I don't want to ruin the evening." To me it looks like she is ignoring everything I say. She doesn't reply. I think she asks are we still going to the movies? I say yes. I think I apologize and second time and maybe a third time. I know when we pull into the parking spot I apologize. I don't see anything back from her and I get frustrated. I think well hell I'm going to the food court and I don't care what happens. I've long legs and I don't hesitate to use them. And use them I do. Somewhere about half way across the parking garage Nastia at a run catches up to me. At the food court, Nastia says Elena is asking where we are? I say, "at the food court". I check the time and tell her we will meet her at the theatre, there isn't enough time to eat. On the way to the theatre I call Teri asking her to call Elena and talk to her. I really wanted to try to repair what had happened. Teri later texts back that she tried, but couldn't connect to her. At the theatre the three of us are trying to act like nothing is wrong, but Elena is wearing a mask and it strikes me as odd. It is her defense, her way of hiding. I didn't realize it at the time. I haven't seen her wear a mask in a long while. I get on line for popcorn. I ask Nastia and Elena what they want. Nastia wants candy and a drink. Elena wants nothing. I get on line, I look over towards Elena from the line. She is leaning against the pole. For some reason she seems so alone to me. I go over to her hoping she'll let me hug her. She does and to my surprise she starts to cry. Later when I text Teri she will text back, "you made my baby cry???" She doesn't like to show weakness or unnecessary compassion so I am heart broken by what I've done. She crys for about half a minute. I loosen my hug and ask her if she wants something at the snack bar, she shakes her head no, I ask if she wants an icy, she shakes he head yes. I go get on line and while I'm ordering she drops some candy down. I now know things are better and maybe we can enjoy the movie. Well, the movie, like the reviews say was only OK. The humor is great, the story is thin and a better villian is needed, and he needed to be shown more often. Walking out Elena tosses me her keys without comment. I try to not read into it. I drive home at a reasonable pace, for me. I yell at an idiot and realize maybe I'm more like Elena then I realize. The person was a real idiot though. /

Dutchess County Fair

We've miss the Dutchess County Fair for at least the last two years. Last year we ran out of weekends to go and the year before it was called off for Covid. It's funny how Covid now seems like a distant nightmare that happened a long time ago and the fact it lasted over two years and everything was shut down during a good portion of that time seems so unreal. Teri and I had plans to get a 2nd booster some time in June that has passed. We made that plan just after getting our first booster. Rarely is Covid talked about now, except when they say this program or that program has been scaled back.

Nastia wanted to go to the Dutchess County Fair the most. I wanted to go, but I was not going to push Teri and if she didn't want to go, I wasn't going to go. One evening about mid-week Nastia asks about the fair. I look at Teri and she says she doesn't want to go. I tell the girls that it looks like the three of us only. Teri asks if I'm going to ask Nancy. I say, no. She usually doesn't go along without Teri.

A while later Teri says if she goes can Nancy go too. I tell her, she sure can. In passing Teri says she doesn't want to spend the whole day there. I tell her we leave at nine (9:30, Muller time) and we'll go at 4 (4:40 Hilby time, I'll explain later) Teri seems to like the idea. Nastia spends the night over her friends Jessie's house, before that she has Keshon, I think that is his name. He colors her hair black. She spends a little time with him after the hair coloring (W,W,N,N*) and she sends me a

picture that evening of it. I thought it would look bad, but she looks pretty good and Keshon did a good job coloring it. She also texts she'll be at the house at 6 AM the next morning. When she is late, the next morning, yes, I will tease her about it. The next morning we are in the car and rolling down the driveway at 9:22. We'll pick Nancy up at about 9:40 and are on the road. In previous years we tried all kinds of different routes to the fair. This year I remembered all the draw backs of those other routes and tell Teri the best route is stright up the thruway over the Rhinecliff bridge. We talk about it and I reminder her about all of the stop lights and traffic on route 9 and we head up the thruway. Traffic is heavy, but moving. It's mid-morning on a Sunday, I'd think it should be heavy south, but later in the day. The shy is bright blue and the weather says it will be in the low 90's today. It's weather I'll love, but not so much Teri. On the way up Teri tells me she will need gas. I tell her to wait, let's get it up there. I'm thinking it will be cheaper. She doesn't like to drive with less then a 1/4 tank of gas so as we get closer to the fair she starts getting nervous. I, on the other hand will wait to get gas until the little light on the gas gauge comes on and then I'll go get gas. Teri says she is waiting for the day I run out. Up the Thruway she goes on her quarter tank of gas. At the Rheincliff bridge exit, I start to look for gas stations we pass one and then another sneaks past us. We pull into the fair with about an eighth of a tank. THe car predicts we can go another eighty miles. Teri is not happy. We walk from the car taking note that we are in lot D to the right (to the left if your walking toward the fair) of a tall group of trees. We find bathrooms (always after a long trip) Teri commenting that when we parked on the

other side even though we had to pay, we were right next to the bathrooms. Our next event is to walk through the buildings that have all the stuff you can buy and things like the 4H. It's mostly booths selling things, jewelry, pickles, dip mixes. There is no buying right now. No one wants to carry it around with them all day long. Everyone is hungry, except for me.The bagel I had in the morning is still with me. Nastia has rice and beans for $14.00 (I'll resist complaining about how expensive the food at the fair is). Elena will eat the same thing except with a few more items mixed in it later in the day.I don't think Teri buys anything, she just samples everyone else's food. Nancy, I think gets a sandwich. Later the girls will have corn on the cob. Elena's is dipped in butter. Nastia doesn't want her's in butter. While eating it she'll say it doesn't taste cooked. I try it and it seems fine. It is noted in passing, I do believe the danger girls have passed into history. Granted the selection of rides were very poor this year, but it is distressing to hear the two of them say that they are getting too old for that stuff. I told them the heck they are. Never say that your too old to do something. Why put limits on what you can do. I guess Halloween will still be dead this year for them. Either way the memory of the danger girls will live on. The sky is blue, the heat is up, so where else should we go, but the cow barns. When we get there, every once in a while Teri will go, "Joe come here, I've found

MOOOsha." or she'll say, "I will buy you and name you SPOT-A-kiss!!"

About four we start to head towards the exit. The girls say they want to see that german juggler we see every year. I look at his scheadule and like the last time we were at the fair, he is where we exit and he was going on in

ten minutes. We stop, Teri, Nancy and I sit on a stone wall. The girls get up close and personal. His show is basicly the same with a few new bits and a few old bits were dropped. The girls love his show. Near the end, Teri is hot and tired. She asks if she can go to the car. Now she asks in the way that it really wasn't an ask, so to provent any drama and why shouldn't she go if she wants to I tell her I'll meet her in the car with the girls. Nancy follows Teri a little while later. About quarter to five the show is over and the girls and I head to the car. A stop at one of the gas stations we passed in the morning and we are on our way home. We're home before seven, everyone showers and at least Teri and I settle in front of the TV. The girls, well they are still in their twenties and god I wish I was that young again.... /