Virginia, Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania

Back in February, we began planning our first trip after our vaccinations.  While a family visit trip actually came first--you can read about that trip here--we wanted to get south, just a bit, in order to experience spring just a bit earlier.  If you have followed our blogs over the years, you know that we love to visit gardens of all types.  Two years ago on our way back from Aidan's high school graduation in Charlotte, we spent three days in the Wilmington DE area visiting three of the many public gardens in that region.  We decided to return and stay a week to try to catch some of the early spring flowerings, especially in the woodland gardens.  The last week in April seemed a good choice but, of course, the weather would determine what was in bloom.

However before we began that week, we drove to Centreville VA to spent the weekend with Tom and Sarah Pickett, Bill's youngest brother and his wife.  We hadn't seen them for over 14 months--Zoom notwithstanding.  It was wonderful to be with them and their dog, Rocky, a rescue standard poodle.

Sarah is an exceptional cook.  In fact, she used to operate her own catering business.  This time we had a delicious dinner featuring salmon cakes, sugar snap peas, and special Spanish salad, Pipirrana.  She made flan for dessert in dishes which had been in her family for four generations!  Before dinner we enjoyed cocktails and conversation around a fire pit on the deck.

As luck would have it, the Royals began a series at Detroit that night with a reasonable starting time since they were finally in the eastern time zone.  The boys in blue handled the Tigers 6-2 and followed up with 2-1 victory the next day.  While Marilyn is a good sport about baseball, it is not really her thing.  It was great to watch two games with my brother.  The fact that they won made it even better.

The next day Marilyn and Sarah did some yoga at home, took Rocky on a long walk through the neighborhood and then spent the rest of the day at a fabric warehouse which had an extensive selection of silks.  Together they picked out several pieces that will form the basis for Marilyn's next quilt.  Sarah had suggested a trip to this place which otherwise I don't think Marilyn would have found.

That night we went to dinner at Ciao Osteria, a locally owned Italian bistro in Centreville.  We shared a delicious veal chop.  The four of us whetted our appetites--as if they needed it--with another delicious burrata salad.  Somehow we found room for the remaining flan when we returned to Tom's and Sarah's.  We ended the evening telling stories of growing up and raising our own families.  Lots of laughs and love.


The next morning Marilyn and I went for a walk in a Cub Run Stream Valley Park that abuts their

neighborhood.  It had rained all night but was clearing off for what would be a spectacular spring day.  We followed a trail made possible, I think, by a sewer line through the wetlands around Cub Run.  With the rain still on the trees and other vegetation, the colors were deep and rich.  We were treated to several nice views one of which featured a male cardinal.  You can click here to view some more photos of our walk.

While we were out walking, Tom was preparing a breakfast of eggs, Canadian bacon, grapefruit and oatmeal pancakes with blueberries...topped with maple syrup.  

Soon after, we packed up and said our goodbyes but only for about six weeks when we will all be in Kansas City along with the rest of Bill's siblings:  Terry and Johnny, Mary, Anola and Peter.  It will be the first we have all been together in person since the funeral of our baby sister Louisa in January 2020.



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