Nancy and Ken sent us an anniversary card that read, “It seems like only yesterday you two were a couple of crazy kids in love… And look at you now – still crazy, still in love.” Thanks Nancy and Ken - and Hallmark.
So these two crazy kids went off to Chadds Ford, PA, for a weekend romantic interlude. We went to Longwood Gardens, a place we sometimes visit for our anniversary. It is romantic and soul-soothing. We seldom visit more than once in a year and we had just been there the week before Jeff’s BMT hospitalization in May. However, Jeff wanted to see their garden railway (he keeps talking about putting one in our garden) so we started our tour there. No matter how hard we tried to remember the Thomas the Tank Engine stories from when the kids were little, we could not name the green or red trains without the help of some 4-year-old boys who were quite happy to share their knowledge on the subject. We also spent time in the conservatory and saw an amazing mum plant that had been trained into a metal frame, a perfect half-sphere of 718 blooms from one stem! See the YouTube video about the mum plant, if you like: http://www.youtube.com/longwoodgardensinc#p/a/u/2/lXjqTFi5JVU. We heard the huge pipe organ in the conservatory, the chimes from the chime tower, had lunch in the Terrace Restaurant and walked the forest and meadow trails. Before we left, we circled back to have one last drool over the garden railway. Jeff had begun to drag his feet with exhaustion. It was time to leave.
We checked into the Brandywine Hotel and had a nap before dinner. Years before – for our 8th anniversary, maybe – we stayed at the same hotel and had an anniversary dinner at the Brandywine Inn which shared a parking lot with the Brandywine Hotel. That meal, lo those many years ago, was somewhat disastrous. When I took a sip of my daiquiri, I felt something hard in my mouth. I pushed the tiny object onto my finger with my tongue and it cut my finger; it was a piece of broken glass! Then the waiter started a fire without opening the flue and the huge kitchen fan drew the smoke into the dining room, choking us out. We no sooner had been moved to another dining room when the waiter dropped a tray of food. We laughed about it because it reminded us of our Hawaiian honeymoon and the many things that went awry on that trip; but maybe that is a story for another day.
In the years since that memorable visit, the inn had been expanded, remodeled and renamed Brandywine Prime. In its present transformation it no longer feels like an historic inn and there is no evidence of that fireplace. Now it is a hip night spot with cool music playing over the sound system and a menu of beef specialties. Jeff ordered a cowboy steak and very little else because he was determined to eat the whole 16 oz. steak. I had filet mignon and french onion soup. The food was outstanding. We indulged in conversation about the future including delightful speculation about the heights of our not-yet-conceived grandchildren.
Sunday we visited the Brandywine River Museum and the Kuerner Farm where Andrew Wyeth spent a lot of time painting. Jeff snapped pictures from the vantage points Andrew Wyeth painted the farm. I was very happy to see that Jamie Wyeth’s pig was in town – that is, his portrait of a pig - and not in Paris as it seems to be whenever we visit.
After a little antiquing, we headed home by way of Philadelphia for dinner with Kim. We spent a little time with our grand-kitty, Mr. Maia, and then went to Twisted Tail, a pork joint. Our waiter was an adorable young man who returned to our table twice to tell Kim that they were out of whatever Kim ordered. Finally, he recommended the armpit sandwich which she tried and seemed to enjoy. Jeff ordered ribs and never thought about how he would actually eat them with BandAids on four fingers. We asked for rubber gloves which Adorable-Waiter fetched from the kitchen and delivered with a smile.
Today Jeff rested from our weekend trip and, he tells me, when he got tired of that he rested some more. He did manage to make some appointments: one for the two of us to attend a Gilda’s Club meeting – a blood cancer networking group, PT for tomorrow and a massage on Thursday.
This evening we spent a little time reading parts of my blog entries from around Day 25 when Jeff was discharged from the hospital. He said, “If you think a month in the hospital is a long time, how about being married for 32 years?” I like to think our 32 years of marriage were mostly better than a bone marrow transplant.
No comments:
Post a Comment