Sister Diary 2015

Okay, here I go.  This may be my longest post ever, but I want the pictures and details of this weekend to be all in one place for future reference.  My old sister diaries used to be done on a typewriter.  Thank God I don't have to do that!  Some of the pictures on this post are mine, many are Nancy's.  She has a fantastic camera and is a passionate photographer.  It was wonderful for me to be able to host without feeling the pressure to take pictures of everything.

On Thursday I started a group Facebook Messenger conversation with my sisters that continued all day Friday.  They kept me updated on their progress toward my house.   Barb had flown to Lancaster County from Idaho on Thursday.  She and Doris drove to my house Friday afternoon and got here first.  Betty was driving from New Hampshire and arrived next.   Rose was flying from Georgia and being picked up at the Harrisburg airport by Mary Ellen and Nancy.  They arrived last.

I was making Southwest Quesadillas and Lime Cilantro Chicken and fed them as they arrived.

After everyone was here we all crowded around the little kitchen table, talking and laughing.  Eventually we migrated to the living room where everyone had to first of all get my wifi password so they could log into it on their devices.  We were amused by FB posts that our brother Dick (Nancy's husband) was making on FB, definite attempts to get comments from us.  I said, "Awwww, he wants to be here with us!"  We decided we need to include him at least part of the time after this.  Poor guy has all the same childhood memories we do, but no brothers to laugh over them with!

Next I persuaded everyone to come out to my tiny porch where we sat in the candle light and had the best time talking and laughing some more.  I hope my neighbors had their windows closed and ACs running, because it was 11:45 when we finally came inside.  (Sorry, no pictures of us out there - you'll just have to imagine us on those chairs.)

Once inside, we gathered in the living room again for some reminiscing and belly laughter as I read some of my sister diaries to them.  Janet played such a huge part in the funny things that happened in those long-ago sister weekends.  We realized how intensely we still miss her - almost 11 years since she left this life so suddenly. Here's a picture of the last time we all were together in 2004.  Janet is on the far left.

I think it was somewhere between 1 and 2 AM when we finally all bedded down - Betty and I in my bed, Rose and Mary Ellen in the guest bed, Doris on the sofa, Barb on a cot in the den, and Nancy on the living room floor - her choice.  (-:

We had a blessedly unhurried Saturday morning.  We are all such BUSY women, and it was such a luxury to have no hard and fast schedule to meet.  I made sausage and pancakes with blueberry sauce for breakfast, which we ate at the dining room table.

Around noon we were finally all cleaned up and presentable.  We took a tour around my house to take a look at the flowers.

And then we piled into Betty's van and took this selfie!  Alllll Aboard!!  All seven of us.

Our first destination was the arboretum.  It was as lovely as ever, but by far hotter and more humid than any other time I've been there.

The fountain was more appreciated than ever!  The spray and the breeze from it felt AMAZING!

All seven of us:  Nancy, Betty, Barb, me, Rose, Doris, Mary Ellen.  


Was I praising the Lord here?  Directing a choir?  Nope, just airing out my sweaty armpits in the glorious breeze I was feeling at the moment, hahaha!  Notice the setup for a wedding behind me.  We were feeling sorry for the guests who would be sitting in that heat.

From there I took them on a drive around the Penn State campus, then we went to Rey Azteca, a really nice Mexican restaurant for our second meal of the day.  It was not crowded in the middle of the afternoon, so we were able to sit and talk as long as we wanted.

We were near the mall, and since there's no Macy's in Lancaster, some of the sisters wanted to do their annual Macy's shopping trip.  So to the mall we went.  It was gloriously cool inside.  Some went to Macy's, some went to Christopher Banks, some of us just sat and talked, and we all went to the bathroom at one time or another.

When we were all done with all those things, we piled into the van again and made our trip to Anthony and Lori's.  That's where Dick was staying for the weekend.  Anthony and Lori were home when we got there, but eventually left to take Austin bowling.  I took the sisters on a tour of the house, and then we settled for some R&R on their lovely porch.  Just what we needed with the heat and our full bellies.

Around 8 PM we decided to head back to my place, but first we stopped at the pond, where Nancy took these beautiful pictures, and Dick gave them a tour of the barn.

After we left we decided we were ready for some ice cream, so Berkley Creamery was our next stop. As usual, there was a long line, but at least it was not out the door and up the sidewalk like sometimes.  The weather was PERFECT for eating ice cream outside.  We had the best, best time sitting out there for at least an hour or more.  I don't know if anyone took any pictures, so I got these off the creamery's FB page.  Just imagine us sitting under one of those umbrellas.

When we came back to my place we pulled out some of the veggies Nancy had brought, the dips I had gotten at Trader Joes, the Farmer's Cheese Mary Ellen had brought, Tom Sturgis pretzels, the wine Doris and Barb brought, Mary Ellen's chocolate chip zucchini cake, my peanut butter rice chex treats, Barb's cantaloupe, Nancy's chocolate chip cookies (does that sound like enough?),and we watched the movie As Good As It Gets.  We actually stayed awake for the whole thing - after 1:00 AM!!  Not bad for older ladies like us!

We had decided ahead of time that we would not go to church Sunday morning, but rather savor every moment together.  I would have loved to introduce all my sisters to both of my churches, we could have sung beautifully for them, but our time together was too precious to share.  

So we just enjoyed a very laid back morning together.  We had yogurt, bagels, Mary Ellen's granola, fruit, and of course, coffee for breakfast.  Jeremy had sent his big Keurig on the bus with Destiny last week for me, and it was perfect timing - came in so handy for each person to make their own cup of coffee instead of waiting on a pot to brew.  

Rose, a kindergarten teacher near Atlanta, and Betty, Preschool and Kindergarten director at the Merrimack, NH YMCA, talked "shop" for quite a while over their breakfast.  

Eventually we all gathered here in the den and sang around the piano.  Folks, we sound amazing.  After one song Barb exclaimed, "We need to go on the ROAD!"  Hahaha!  Maybe we should put an act together for America's Got Talent.  We could call ourselves Sister Act III.  But in all seriousness, singing together was, as always,  a really precious experience.  There was NOTHING our dad loved more than singing together as a family.  

We put out the makings for sandwiches for lunch, along with chips, and all the leftover sweets, veggies, dips, and fruits.  As we ate, Mary Ellen pulled out some letters that our mom had written to her years ago.  Mary Ellen had moved to Mobile, Alabama and then to Harrisonburg, VA as a young adult, and she said Mom wrote her a letter every week!   She had brought two of them along, which some of the sisters read aloud to us.  Oh, the LAUGHTER over those letters as Mom gave Mary Ellen news that included many of us.  We decided these letters are indeed PRICELESS, and that Mary Ellen has to bring more of them along the next time we're together.  I think they were a big highlight of our weekend!

Nancy set up her tripod and camera for one last group shot.  We weren't feeling extremely smiley as the end of our weekend was imminent, but then someone said something hilarious, and that's all it took to get just the right shot.

We stood in a circle in my living room after this picture and prayed together and had a group hug.  Mary Ellen and Rose left first, around 2:30, so that Rose could catch her flight out of the Harrisburg airport.  Nancy and Betty left together in Betty's van.  Betty wanted to spend some time with Grandma Mary before heading back to New Hampshire, so she was spending the night in Lancaster County.  Doris and Barb left together.  Barb would be spending time with Grandma Mary too.

We kept the FB Messenger Group conversation active.  Rose let us know when she was on her plane and when she was later driving home from the Atlanta airport.  On Monday Betty let us know that she'd had a pleasant trip and was back home in NH by dinner time.  Last evening Barb let us know that she, along with her elderly in-laws, had made it to a hotel in Idaho and would be driving home this morning.   Her in-laws (who live in Lancaster County) will be visiting them for a little while.  

We will forever cherish this time we had together.  So many conversations, sharing from our hearts, memories, tears, much laughter.  In our case, there are truly no friends as dear as sisters.   This rose that Nancy captured outside my house is a perfect picture of our love for each other.