Busy weekend

It has been a very busy and fun weekend. Last night we went to a 60th surpise birthday party for a dear friend and we had a wonderful time.

Today, our friends from high school planned a get together at Sharpe Hill winery about an hour or so away from us. I passed on the wine tasting, but it was fun to hang out with everyone for awhile and enjoy their company until it was dinner time.

The food was fantastic! I had a wood grilled herb chicken breast and I have to say it was the most tender piece of chicken that I have ever eaten. They grilled all of the food outside. I always pass on desert, but since everyone else was ordering I decided to go for it. I ordered the peach tart and when they served it, I thought it deserved to be photographed. I had never had anything like that before and it was absolutely delicious. Although the flower was edible, I didn't eat it.

I am glad to be home now, all settled in and ready for bed in a little while. There are severe thunderstorms predicted for this evening, but we are right on the border of where they are supposed to be coming through. I am hoping they pass us by.

Meet the parents

On Sunday my husband and I were invited to attend a tasting of the wedding menu at the facility where we are having my son's wedding in October. I have been looking forward to this for awhile especially because we were going to meet his future in-laws. He has always said wonderful things about his fiance's parents, so I knew we would like them, and I was exactly right! I felt so comfortable with them and we had a great time! It is a good feeling to know that your child is being accepted into a warm and loving family, and that they consider him a part of that family already. We also feel the same about his fiance. How lucky for our both families.

The hotel hosted 150 people for the tasting set up like a mock wedding, complete with photographers and a DJ. We all enjoyed sampling everything from appetizers, soups, salads, entrees to 7 different wedding cakes! It was a bit much, but it was sure fun to taste test and talk about what we are going to pick out for the big day.

When wedding plans started my son and his girl talked about a small, simple wedding, but now the plans have grown. I am happy about that. It is hard to have a small wedding with a big Italian family! We aren't going crazy though, especially in these tough financial times.

At the tasting, we sat at the table with another couple who happened to be lesbians. Our state passed a law this summer recognizing gay marriages and many folks from out of state are coming here to get married. They were a lovely couple and we had such a great time with them! It was interesting as the gay women traded their proposal stories with my son. Seems the women both proposed to one another with rings at different times. It was very sweet.

It is good to live in a state that recognizes the rights of gay people to get married. I hope many more states follow suit and soon!

Since I started on Face book, I have been neglecting my blog. I was trying to remember what life was like before the Internet and especially before blogging and Face book and I can barely remember.

Life has been hectic. Another middle of the night call because of an in law that needed to go to the hospital. Fortunately the stay was short and she is home recovering.

I have been feeling lost for words lately, feeling lazy when it comes to blogging and a host of other issues. I am hoping for some spring like weather to perk me up.

Rags to riches to rags

I was reading an article today about the children from the slums of India who were in the movie Slumdog Millionaire. If you can believe what is reported, they are saying that the children are having a very difficult time re-adjusting to the slums after going to the Oscar ceremony then on to a trip to Disney World. That was not a surprise to me.

The little girl was quoted as saying that now that she has seen what is outside of her world, she wants a better life. She would at least like to have a bed to sleep in and live in a place where the air did not smell like poo. The children are still wearing the clothes they wore on Oscar night.

The little boy is reported to have been slapped around by his dad the other day because he refused to come out of his shack to be paraded about. Dad apologized saying he didn't know what had gotten into him and that he loves his son. He is frustrated because he feels his son should receive more money now and not have to wait until he is 18. Although the movie is paying for their education, the rest of the money is in a trust until they are 18 years old.

The whole story gave me a feeling of despair. Those poor kids. To be uprooted and taken for a fantasy trip beyond their imaginations must have been just more than they could process. And then after living the high life for a few days, they are sent back to the slums. At least before they didn't realize what they are missing to the extent that they do now. I am thinking that it would have been better to leave them to their life and not to have taken them to the Oscars. The let
down of going back to the slums maybe more than they can re- adjust to.

But maybe I am wrong, maybe they deserved the opportunity to celebrate with the rest of the cast since they were critical players in the whole movie process. Could be that since they have experienced life outside of the slums, it will motivate them to work hard and to achieve their goals.

Either way, it will only be in hindsight before they will know what would have been best for them.