The Corey and Karras Chronicles

This was a big weekend around here! Corey came home on Thursday night and John and Ann arrived on Friday. Plus we had a delightful Grand Opening of the re-furbished porch. Many hours were spent relaxing and conversing on the porch, so here is a photo, after Corey rearranged it so the feng shui was just right!
There is another chair right in front of where I am standing to take the photo. It matches the one on the left of the photo. Notice the blanket that Tucker sent us on the back of the sofa~doesn't it look nice!

After having cocktails on the porch with John and Ann, we adjourned to the dining room for dinner on Friday night, spending the evening catching up with these wonderful friends. We met John and Ann over 25 years ago on a Grand Canyon River trip and we have cherished how the relationship has grown.

It was a nice treat to have Corey in town for the weekend, especially since he will spend most of his summer in Syracuse because of his internship with a production company. 

Saturday was our day to show John and Ann around the town. Most of the time when they visit us, they arrive one day and leave the next morning. But this time we had a full day with them. So in the morning, Jim and Corey took them to the Lilac Festival, a fine way to showcase one of the wonderful things that Rochester has to offer. 

The rain that fell came just as Corey bought a Garbage Plate for a mid-morning snack, so they all ducked into the Food Tent while a brief, but intense rain shower blew through.

After lunch and power naps for some, we were off to the George Eastman House. We walked the gardens,
and they posed for the classic George Eastman House photo-in front of the elephant head in the large sun room of the Eastman House.

Upon our return home, there were more power naps (or not!), before dinner preparations began. Ann cut up the green beans, John made a salad, Corey grilled the steaks, and opened 2 cans of baked beans. Jim was in charge of clean-up.

Bob and Sally joined us for dessert because we needed to celebrate some birthdays. Sally's birthday is on May 23rd, Corey turns 20 on the 26th, and Ann turns 80 on the 27th. We had pie and carrot cake with candles for all three of them to blow out. It was a fun evening.
Corey made the carrot cake and he does a great job with that Kodak carrot cake recipe. Since I had used up all my grape pie fillings, and Corey was mildly distressed by the fact that I gave away grape pies to strangers, but saved none for his birthday, I drove to Naples, NY and bought one from one of the stores that sells them all year. In my very biased, but humbled opinion, that pie was not as good as the ones I make! But it was the thought that counted and I think Corey appreciated the effort. 

John and Ann were on the road early this morning to Massachusetts to see their son and his family. We wish them well in their travels and hope they know that they are always welcome to visit us!

Corey left after lunch to go back to Syracuse, where the action is! He will be home again around his birthday because he and Jim are leaving for Utah on May 28th for a visit with Tucker.

I mentioned Bob and Sally earlier in this post. Bob begins his cross-country bike ride next weekend in Yorktown, Virginia. Sally will be supporting Bob's ride by following along in their truck. Bob is doing this ride as a way of bringing awareness to volunteer projects to help people in developing countries. This idea grew from Bob's two trips to Africa. If you want to follow Bob's progress across the country you can subscribe to his blog at the following address: Journey of Solutions

This is a fundraising effort for Bob, so if you feel like donating, his website will direct you to a site where you can make an on-line donation.  Good Luck Bob and Sally! 

That's all for now. Got to have Jim bring in the hanging basket as there is a frost warning out for tonight.

Hope all is well.