7 October 2013: Monday, Randy, my neighbor; Jessie, Lab Tech veteran; Lynn, Mary's KK server ... slight rain, overcast, chance of tornado

Photo take by Goose on Sunday, 6 October 2013, prior to our departure for lunch at Crossroads
and Steamin' Days at the Marshall Museum and Stanley Steamer mecca in Yorklyn, Delaware, just outside of Hockessin.

Nick and I had breakfast at Mary's Kountry Kitchen. He had the mushroom and I had the veggie omelette. I ordered, later, a Western for mom, which we brought back to her. We had a good talk about his interest in moving to Philly and wanting to check out the digs with a friend, who is from there and moved back from Augusta to her hometown. He also wants to get up with John, who is working in Hatboro, outside Philly. He borrowed my car to meet Granny at her old home, now the home of John & Diane, at 704 N. Country Club Drive, and then caravan to Oxford to see his Aunt Jan, who he confided in me, always made him uncomfortable (still does), and Uncle Bob. He was honest and said he didn't think he'd be long and might make it back to the grands on Pickwick this afternoon when Goose might be by. (I would like him to meet my college frat brother and rooming buddy before he has to head back to Marshfield, MA ... he's planning to head up and stay with Jack Croft outside Philly tonight and then head back home the next day, early). Our waitress was an amiable Lynn with the sinewy arms of a man, muscled and ripped, and had the opportunity to let Shelly know of dad's current state and why he had not be in. She empathized and commiserated with her expression.

At home, dad said, vigorously, that he needed a ride to the hospital to get some lab work done. It had been close to 3 years but the path was familiar and I parked, a long way from the entrance as there is always a pack of people getting tests and seeing doctors at this facility adjoining the Christiana Hospital.Inside, a familiar face from 2010 -- Jessie, which she prefers, who my dad patiently waited to take his information. She is attractive, dark haired and young (late 20s maybe?) in her scrubs and looked pregnant (I was too chicken to ask), but she knew dad as "Dr. Nyhoff" and worked skillfully and focusingly on getting his chart in order. She did it quickly. She has worked there since 2001.

I see Randy in his yard, diagonal across the intersection of Nicholby and Pickwick, he's smoking a cigarette, outside, and he's off work due to the rain and possible stormy conditions predicted (there is a tornado forecast). We talk and he tells me of his sister, 10 years his senior, 53, who called and said she had troubling news. "No", her brother said. She lives in Seattle and she has lung cancer in the right lung and its serious. He would love to get out there but there's the house payment and he just doesn't know what to do. She raised him, literally, as their mother was not fit to handle the responsibility. His brother, who lives in Bear, had a falling out with his sister, so he's it to go out there and lend moral and perhaps physical support to her.

Nick spent the afternoon taking my car to Granny, who was at John and Diane's home at 704 N. Country Club Drive, and then caravaned to Oxford home of Jan and Bob. She did ask about me and thanked me through Nick for the card I'd sent. It was on display, he said. He got back in time to meet Goose, who arrived, unannounced (he said he might call) after his lunch with his sister as the winds whipped up and the rain swirled. His visit, again, was a true gift of the spirit to my parents, who adore him, think the world of him. He stayed to about 4 p.m. and then went off to sister's and then onto Philly where Jack Croft lives to see him and stay the night and be that much closer to home when he leaves, today, 10/8/13, early. 

Nick and I had dinner, too, together at McGlynn's Pub. He had the London Broil, I had the Mahi-Mahi, which he told me tends to shrink, a lot, when cooked. Good meal for about $50 and he supplied the $10 tip. We each had a Yuengling draft. The amazing thing we did afterward was, first, to transport the hamburger with raw onions to dad, who ate, I found out later, barely any of it (it's still in frig, covered), but then, onto Best Buy for a WIFI router, which, effortlessly, he set up when we got home. It is a Belkin N150 and it cost $30.00 and now under the name Dutchman with the novel password booboo186, we have wireless Internet on my iPhone, which won't use the data plan of Verizon and will give me much quicker speed. I also backed up my files that evening. It is FANTASTIC! Thank you Nick ... you're a genius, a millennial magician.


Even later, he got a call from Wayne and drove into Newark to see him and maybe Bob & Jan. I stayed home, went to bed and did not hear him return although he did, interestingly, lock the deadbolt and not the handle lock on the door. I had a heck of time turning it. That boy has some hand strength.