September 21, 2009.

Schweew. Thought they’d never leave. I’m kidding, I’m kidding. On Saturday I finished up some projects while Christy acted like a mad scientist in the galley.

On Saturday evening our guests arrived, the oldest girlchild and her boyfriend. They’ve been dating for about a year but due to all of us being scattered about the globe we’ve never had the chance to meet. So this was to be the time and place……

I was expecting it to go pretty well and was relieved when I saw that it would. He seemed like a real nice guy, intelligent, attentive to the girlchild and personable. Yeah, I know, a lot like me. ;)

After staying up way too late eating an “impromptu” 6 plate meal of appetizers we finally turned in for the night. On Sunday morning Christy again wowed us with a great breakfast in the cockpit while the weather cooperated and treated us to a glorious day.

We walked off the meal by heading into town on foot. We were fortunate to walk straight into a street festival. There were craft vendors, antiques, food and novelty dealers. There was a
banner which proclaimed it to be, “The Halfway to Saint Patrick’s Day Festival”. Like the Irish need an excuse to throw a party. We were able to walk away without dawdling for a beer, but during our walk through town the subject of alcohol did come up.

The kids seem to be fairly well versed in the appreciation of the liquid arts. But to our surprise neither one had experienced that glass full of fun, the Painkiller. So we tacked off to starboard and headed for Pusser’s. Since it was only noonish we walked in, sat down and each enjoyed a single Painkiller. While we were sitting at the table I saw that the boyfriend was catching quick glances at the football games being played on the TV’s across the bar. Yessss, even more common ground. We both care about the girlchild and he likes football, thank you Jesus, somebody I can talk football with.

After the cocktail we walked back to the boat just in time to rendezvous with the youngest girlchild. We spent the afternoon chatting in the cockpit and then Christy served up a fabulous brown sugar and bourbon glazed salmon dinner complete with lobster risotto (our last Bahamanian tail from the freezer)(Di’s recipe, thanks Di!), caramelized onions prepared on the grill and steamed fresh broccoli. Oh, and some kind of wonderful hot dinner rolls. We all ate and ate and finally sat back completely stuffed. After the table was cleared Christy brought out the dessert she had prepared. It looked like a brownie but once broken apart, resembled and tasted like the biggest mounds bar you’ve ever seen.

After dinner the youngest girlchild was back in the car and on her way home to D.C. to attend class in the morning. The rest of us sat around adjusting our waistbands, enjoying good conversation.

In the morning I was off to work and Christy and the kids hung out, had some breakfast and then decide to head out. The kids thought it would be fun to take the dinghy for a ride so Christy lowered the dingy and off they went to town. The weather has been perfect here, nice crisp & sunny so they had a great day walking around Naptown. I was pleasantly surprised that they were still here when I got back from work. So I got to talk a little more football, including the humiliation of the Cowboys at the hands of the Giants. Go Blue!

Soon the boyfriend and the girlchild were back in the car and headed back to NYC. So the weekend was pretty good here on the Veranda. Finished up a butt load of chores, visited with both the girls, met the boyfriend, enjoyed everyone’s company and ate like a king.