October 27 and 28, 2019

So what started out as a rainy, windy, miserable Sunday turned out just fine.  It started clearing up around 4:00.  Dorean, my BAFE, made reservations at The Ivy Inn in Hasbrouck Heights for 5:00 and she came for me at 4:45 in her new SUV.  Very nice ride - Buick Encore.  When Jay and I were here in 2016, Dorean came to our hotel and got to meet Jay.  I was very thankful he got to meet her and she said, more than once, that she was very happy to have met him.

Anyway, The Ivy Inn is a lovely, lovely little place that has great food and very good and generous cocktails.  We sipped our cocktails, chatted, chatted and chatted some more. We ordered our meals, chatted, ate and chatted. Believe it or not, we chatted of creme brûlée and then chatted some more.  I think we stayed there until nearly nine o'clock!  And here we are:

I always have a great time with Dorean and wish I could see her again before returning home, but she leaves for Northern California on Saturday to see her Fella! Of course, they're waiting to see as the Kincaid Fire might postpone her plans.  I'm sure hoping she gets to go.  And we decided that on one of the future trips to California, she might just have to lay over in Dallas for a few days to visit me! Fingers crossed.

On Monday, October 28, Vicki and I did some more running around.  We had to go pick up kielbasa to take to Vermont so we went to a Polish Market, Piast, in Garfield.  Vicki has been going there for several years but I'd never been in the store.  I wandered around and found so many yummy looking stuff imported from Poland or made right there.  We got the kielbasa and somehow some Polish pastries made it home with us.  And let me tell you, these pickles looked mighty good:

Since we got a kielbasa and a pastry for Lorraine, we went to her house and visited for an hour or so. We love her like a big sister and just love spending time with her.  When we moved to Wood-Ridge in 1959, our houses were right next door to each other.  She's the only person outside of family that I've known for so long.  Here's the house we used to live in and where Mom lived until she passed in 2007:

The Halloween decorations were brought in by the new owners a few years ago.  They have two little boys that Lorraine loves and they love her!

Vicki and I left Lorraine's and stopped to get subs for dinner.  We want to leave for Vermont by 7:30 on Tuesday so it's going to be early to bed tonight!  Steve got to my brother's in Waterbury Center yesterday and got all set up to work Monday and Tuesday in the Winnebago. Then the festivities can begin!

More to come, of course!