Kathy’s folks and [Martha->] left for home this morning after a week-long, too-short stay at our home. They had driven down from Grand Island, New York, a neat community that sits on an island 26 miles in circumference (which Kathy has circumnavigated on a Jet Ski). Their house looks out over the Niagara river, upstream a few miles from the falls. They were surprised at how hot it was down here already, though I’m sure part of that was due to the fact that Kathy’s dad, an electrical contractor and handyman extraordinaire, spend the majority of his time down here helping to finish out our garage, which we’re turning into a guest room and mother-in-law suite. It looks fantastic, so I’d definitely recommend Russell Kuusisto and American Electric if you need any electrical work done in or around Buffalo, New York.

The highlights of the trip included a trip to Lookout Mountain, where we enjoyed Joe Day’s eco-tour of their plot of the hill country and Barbara’s delicious cuisine in the company of hummingbirds, goldfinches, and white-tailed deer. We also went down to the Riverwalk for dinner one night, dining at a nice Italian place just across the river from Jim Collum’s Landing, a great Jazz club in the bottom of the Hyatt from which occasional blue note escaped to float across to us. When our waitress brought us our meal, she had to set the serving tray into the flow of pedestrian traffic momentarily. A blonde haired college student who looked like he might have had a few too many ambled up to the serving tray and was completely stymied, coming to a halt with his cigarette hanging over our meal. After he stood there for 10 seconds, showing no intention of moving, Kathy got up, grabbed our plates, and said “Would you mind not smoking over our food?” Continuing to display remarkable mental agility, our friend said “I didn’t know it was your food!” before shuffling off down the river.