Day 420: Family Time

Quiet family time.  Walking, visiting, exploring, eating together.  It doesn't matter what we do.  I so miss meal times from the past.  All the years of lively dinner discussions, excited reports on the day's activities, questions, laughter.  That's the way it is now when we get together.  Four conversations going on all at the same time,  lots of stuff that Steve and I don't understand, each of them laughing and joking.  Delightful!

We had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant called An Choi on Orchard St., about a ten minute walk from Colin's work neighborhood.  He and April and Justin all said it was the best Vietnamese food in the city and it was!  I love how they are willing and eager to try new things and then share their recommendations.  I had a lemongrass chicken sandwich on a baguette with chicken noodle soup, but it was not like Campbell's soup.  It came with a platter of crunchy bean sprouts, cilantro and jalapeno peppers to add to the sandwich or the soup.

One of Fredonia's many success stories is our friend Kiel Mead, designer and entrepreneur.  To reach South Street, we walked in the pouring rain till our shoes were soaked and rain ran down our faces. Then finally we stopped to buy a couple more umbrellas. We visited him at a show where designers had put their fashions, jewelry, shoes and accessories on display for buyers.  Hundreds of vendors set up shop and their reps were dressed in the coolest, sleekest fashions.  Kiel looked very hip, but also down to earth.

We spent a couple hours visiting with Justin in his favorite neighborhood establishment.  It was very satisfying to have time to catch up with each of the kids.  Tomorrow morning, we are off to NJ to visit with more relatives and then catch up with Colin and April for one more dinner.