My father’s sister Betty drove up from North Palm Beach Saturday morning. She left after lunch yesterday. Her visit was a real treat for me and Mother in many ways:
Shortly after Betty arrived, we picked up Mother’s friend Martha and headed downtown to visit the Farmers Market and have lunch. The Farmers Market runs year-round here. It’s small, but surprisingly well rounded. I bought the last loaf of bread from the bakery stall and we picked up fresh crab dip and red snapper from the fish vendor.
Then we had lunch at Turners, probably my favorite restaurant in Leesburg (we have two more lunches planned there this week). The food is delicious… and the conversation was delightful. and funny. Martha and Betty are both from Alabama; they share a certain sense of humor that really cracks us up.
Maybe one of those next times I’ll even remember to take photos of the food. For now, you’ll just have to imagine fried green tomato caprese salad and sweet potato cheesecake.
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| Mother, Martha, Betty and me |
Betty brought an old scrapbook that my grandmother had compiled. It started in 1966 and was filled with letters and drawings from her grandchildren and a few newspaper clippings. We had a great time reading those letters. and the clippings. oh my. the hometown paper’s descriptions of the weddings are simply priceless.
I also enjoyed seeing photos of everything – afghans, sweaters, toys, hats – that Betty has knitted for her children and grandchildren. She has seven grandchildren ranging in age from 14 months to almost 13. That’s a lot of knitting!
Saturday night’s dinner was fresh stone crabs. When Betty texted us about coming, she promised she’d bring them and Mother told me I was in for a treat. This was my first time eating them and wow!
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| Betty cracking the claws – it’s a real art to break the shells without shredding the meat inside |
We played two games of Five Crowns. Mother won both times, in spite of Betty’s and my best efforts (and on my part anyway a few not-so-best efforts).
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| not one of my better efforts! |
Yesterday morning she and I visited the local church; she’d been with Daddy just three weeks earlier (his last Sunday there). The sermon was on Esther and celebrating life. ♥
She’s invited us to visit anytime. It’s only three hours away, so really do-able for a quick visit. Maybe in June. She’s promised to teach us how to play Mahjongg. I can’t wait to learn. Do any of y’all play? It sounds like a lot of fun.
Hope you had a treat-filled weekend!
mere-et-filles 
So glad you enjoyed a wonderfully treat-filled weekend! It's always great to visit and laugh with, and hear stories from friends and family that you don't get to see often, and it's just about perfect if they also bring stone crabs! Mahjongg is really fun; it's an enjoyable game online, but feeling the tiles and hearing the click of them is even better in real life.
I had stone crabs once years ago at Joe's Stone Crab in Miami. I liked them but as a New England who prefers her shellfish hot and dipped in butter they definitely weren't what I expected. We have a very active Mahjongg group here at the library but I've never played.
The weekend was just great! Gil always dipped his stone crabs in hot melted butter — but they don't need it!
What a wonderful weekend for all of you! I have always wanted to learn to play Mahjongg. I think it looks fascinating!
How wonderful for you all to have a time with your father's sister. We loved the stone crab claws and whenever we made a trip to Miami we made a pilgrimage to Joe's. Delicious! I've been interested in Mahjongg, but never played.
I think it is wonderful that you had such a nice weekend with family; it is time you will always cherish. I've never heard of stone crabs, but I love all kinds of seafood and I imagine they were good.
Looks like lots of fun-I was too lazy to blog about my fun weekend of hotel lobby quilting and the awesome crab cakes at Hook Line and Schooner-I need to take you there.
Oh, what a nice visit!! I've never heard of Five Crowns, and play Mahjongg only on the computer. A friend in CA plays and I've seen her gorgeous set of tiles… but have never played the real thing.