Although a Work-Filled Summer, I Am Still Looking Forward to Beach Days and Seagulls.

The trip to Syracuse was too short, but very much a memorable and sweet weekend. It was absolutely beautiful to see my parents surprised (well, semi-surprised) by the party we pulled off and although I feel guilty hiding out for a couple of days before the event occurred, I still think every mile of travel was worth it. It was, hands down, a tremendous success.

I am returning to Connecticut with Casey's first-ever painting, a gift for Chitunga and his room that Jacob so kindly held up for a pose. Jacob wanted to give Chitunga one of his stuffed animals to sleep with, but forgot it at home. He drew a picture on the IPad, but it wasn't a Beanie Baby or some other cuddly creature.

The painting, however, will be a tremendous success and I am sure Chitunga will hang it in his room with pride. Who wouldn't want a sunset, palm trees and seagulls hanging in their house? I can't believe Casey was willing to give it away.

And so we made it home in record time, stopping off to see Patrick, Pam's son, at his shop and then came home to watch the 5th NBA championship game. The house has been rearranged for sleeping and I think it will be an arrangement that will work well. Tomorrow, I'll tackle the food situation. It will be Ramadan this week and there will be no eating during day light for four weeks. I'm debating whether or not I can try to experience the holiday and fasting with Abu and Lossine. We shall see. In the meantime, it's time to get my focus on for summer (and to really hit the check lists that I wrote about last week as an alibi to surprise the folks...they were real, but I put them off for the weekend).