Johnathan

Johnathan stayed with us during the week as R&N took a Valentine's trip to Tokyo.  I'm assuming that they will soon have a report with pix on their blog here.  What a sweetie JonTon is!  And very bossy (but in a sweet way).  Rob's days off for trips like this are now TWTh, which is right when John and I work the most hours, so all of us, including Amy and Grandma Gene, took turns watching him.

We spent a lot of time riding bikes (Johnathan) and sitting in a chair in the sun (me) on Wednesday.

 

Claudio also sat in the sun.  He is a sociable being:

Ethan and Alice

Alice is a very affectionate cat. When I first met her, I was sitting on Betsy's couch and she came leaping down the stairs, jumped up on my lap, to my shoulder, and gave me a hug around the neck.

Ethan's affectionate too.

Cats

Here's Claudio. He's shy. And here's Hero "What? Me? Of course I'm totally not nibbling on your potted ornamental grass!"

Brett's Birthday Party

We had a party at our house and played outside after dinner:
John and Brett talk
while the babes play soccer
and Ethan and Betsy sit in the swing.
Hey Mom, where'd you go?
Hero sits on her perch by the grape arbor:
Happy Birthday Brett!

Snow Day

Chris and I had drinks on the deck just a day or two ago--but we're not up for a picnic now.


The pruning is postponed in the garden.


Hero objects to the snow.


Indoors with windows--the best of both worlds.

There was no power this morning at THS, so we had an explosion of teenagers at our house at 7:45 a.m. But they were open for the second class of the day (thank goodness, as I have work to do at home). (That's why I'm blogging, of course).

We Went to Philadelphia.

We visited Dave and Devon (and Roxanne, on the table, above).

We also visited Piedrich*, the evil basement cat of the house, who is dominant to everyone but (apparently) John. *New name for Pierre, the One Cat to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them

We went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and did not take a photo of the Rocky statue. Devon did allow this one photo from safely behind Dave.

We had lunch--John and I had Philly cheesesteaks--at the Reading Terminal Market. And cookies.

We visited the campuses of Penn and Drexel. Above is the Drexel mascot, Morton or Merwin or something.

We visited Dave's office on Arch Street downtown.

Doesn't he look professional?

We went downtown again to a chamber orchestra concert at Kimmel Hall.


On Monday when D&D had to go to work, John and I visited the historic district.

Here is where the Declaration was signed, and where the Constitution was hammered out. John and I both had a renewal of patriotic fervor, remembering the American ideals of 8th grade civics class--honorable even when not attained.

We had a great time. Devon made cornmeal muffins and quiche to die for. We ate lots of good Asian food. Thanks D&D! And thanks to Rob too, for providing the partner airline passes so the cost was minimal.

Harvest

First frost the other night (after 90 degree weather on Monday), so John decided it was time to bring in the grapes.
Hero liked being outdoors.
...but the guys were sort of grumpy about it (don't be fooled by John's "smile." He was grumpy).
Chris has a turkey feather in his hair. Our neighborhood turkey seems to be solitary now. It is rather sad. Last year there were two picking up the fallen crab apples and using the vegetable scrap-bucket as a buffet bar on the back deck.