Friday And Saturday

We had a neat time!
Nephew Jim and brother Frank came to my place Friday. After driving the 4+ hours down from Salinas, they had stopped overnight in L.A., where they had dinner with some nun friends. They blew in here about 10 am and we enjoyed some good talk. I had intended to ring Suzanne's door to introduce Jim, but she beat me to it. I thought it was funny that last week, she had brought to meet me her brother, Glenn, who's an M.D. in San Diego and now I had her here for Jim, who's an M.D. (high-risk obstetrician) in Sarasota.  Suzanne knows, or knows of, some of the Sisters Jim and Frank does, so that was a nice visit.
After Suzanne left, I got out some old family pictures for Frank and Jim to enjoy; they were wowed. Jim chose some that he asked to borrow and especially liked the two large ones on my wall, of my father at Villanova. One is of his track team, the other of his debating team. I told Jim I had had a disc made and would try to find it to send him, so he could duplicate them.
After that, we went to Poinsettia School, right down the street from me, where Jim went to kindergarten and first grade. He took pictures and even chatted with the present teachers. From there, we went to Bryn Mawr Avenue, where the family had lived fifty years ago. Frank knocked at the house next door and darned if the same neighbors they had known them weren't still there!
The Maynards, Harry who's now 90 and Carolyn, 87, invited us in, then called their daughter, who lives down the street. We had a nice visit for about an hour, then left to have lunch.
I took the guys to the Aloha. It's right on the water and I like it a lot. So did they and we had great fun and more good talk, along with the food. From there, we took off for Santa Barbara.
(Carolyn had called me on Thursday to ask if I could come along with Jim and Frank and stay overnight. I had nothing scheduled, so agreed, threw some things in an overnight bag, and off we went.)
 Got there at about 6:00, greeted Carolyn, Betty, and the kids and we sat and chatted until Dana came home. At that point, C., D., and Jim went out for Mediterranean food, brought it back, and we feasted around the table with lots of laughs.
Jim and Frank didn't leave until about 9:30 and we didn't get to bed until after that, but I slept like a log. Yesterday morning, we went over to the Hilton about 7:30 where the guys were staying and had breakfast with them. Said goodbye reluctantly about 10 am.
I went back to Carolyn's for a bit, but wanted to get home, so took the 11:40 train--which was actually a bus and I was the only one on it all the way to Ventura--and got in about 12:15. Walked the three blocks to Main Street, caught a city bus,* and was home in time for lunch.
*This was the first time I've been on a bus in years and I was incredulous to learn the city bus was free for those over a certain age. Hey, I'm definitely going to take it more often, especially to go to Happy Hour.