James's mother, Teleha (aka Maw Maw), just flew home after a lovely trip full of food, friends, and, um, fun (I needed another F word).
Teleha flew in on Thursday, and because our airlines are dying out she was stuck in Houston for 8 HOURS! So she didn't arrive in Grand Rapids until 1:30am, but there was fried chicken and mashed potatoes and green beans waiting for her, thanks to Matt. As a chef, he wanted to use this trip to learn some down-home Southern recipes, and he decided to treat her the first night. Matt's dad, Dave, and our friend Chris came over to help eat the food, a recurring theme for the weekend.
On Friday, she was reunited with the rest of her luggage, and for supper we had chicken & sausage file (pronounced fee-lay) gumbo, fresh-baked bread, and potato salad, with sweet potato pie for dessert. I had made the bread (Portuguese sweet bread) but Teleha made everything else, with Matt's help.
On Saturday, we just ate leftovers, but the guys still came over, to play Dungeons & Dragons. James made a character sheet for his mom, and she played the part of Old Mother Grubb, one of the city of Greyhawk's more colorful citizens! She did a great job of bringing the character to life, but I think she was pretty disappointed that she didn't get to maim any of our party before we killed her. ;)
Sunday was the most action-packed day. Chris had invited us all to spend the day at his family's cottage on Lake Shelby. We also had Gabe (who games with us and kept Max while we were at GenCon) and Matt's sister, Alison, join us.
I hadn't packed swimsuits because I expected the water to be too cold, but Christopher really wanted to swim, so he went out in just underwear and a life vest. After he was dry and dressed, he was bored, so I took him out with me in a kayak. He loved being so close to the water, and being able to dip his hand in the lake. It was much better than the party barge, which was so high off the water! Everyone but Teleha, Dave, and Alison went back out on the party barge, and took a leisurely circuit of the lake so we could be nosy and look at all the other lake houses.
We started supper around 4:00, which was the regular fare of hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and potato salad, plus a fantastic dessert: a Jell-o salad, made of orange Jell-o, Cool Whip, and Mandarin oranges all mixed together. The Orange Blob, I think it was named...
We all drove home after supper, because Gabe needed to go to work at 10pm, and Dave needed to get to bed because he gets up for work at 5am. Matt brought his friend Nick over, and we all played Kill Dr. Lucky, a board game similar to Clue, except that everyone's out to kill the old man, and everyone else is trying to foil their murder attempts.
Monday was Teleha's last full day with Christopher, and my last chance to read the book she'd written. It's a fictional story based on her 14 years providing therapeutic foster care to children of abusive families. It's a terrific book, and I hope she'll be able to get it published!
For supper we had potato stew and homemade biscuits, and I made a pineapple upsidedown cake for dessert. Dave & Alison came over again (but not Chris, for once), and we all talked about family recipes. At the end of the meal, we made plans to have Thanksgiving together. Matt's family are all cooks, and we have a big dining room where everyone can sit together.
In all, it was a wonderful weekend, and I came to realize that we've found some pretty great friends here in Grand Rapids. Especially since our own families are so far away, James and I have tried to make our home a gathering place for all of our friends, and it seems, especially recently, that we've succeeded.