“In all things of nature
There is something of the marvelous.”
By Aristotle

Joan, a friend from church, told us that she had been to the Arnold Arboretum last Friday. She said the place was beautiful. Although Liilac Sunday is this Sunday, Mother’s Day, she mentioned that the lilacs are about two weeks ahead of schedule. The Arboretum is still a lovely place for a walk.

The weather forecast for the weekend of Apr. 16, 17, and 18 sounded bleak. There would be heavy rain for most to the time. We didn’t mind because we were going to be at the Red Jacket on the Cape. It was their opening weekend, which is always fun. We were sorry, however, that our friends Elaine and Joan would not be in the adjourning room. Elaine had a bad cold and didn’t want to infect us. They changed their reservations to sometime in May. Daughter Jeanne, son-in-law David, and the World’s Greatest Grandchildren, Brendan and Erin, would be down on Saturday for one night at the hotel. Jeanne and Erin were doing a charity walk on Saturday morning. That is why they had to delay coming down. Daughter Sue was going to drive down on Saturday morning and spend the day with us.

Hubby and I were fortunate to be able to leave Boston just after 1 p.m. on Friday. Luck was with us that weekend. Work on the Sagamore Bridge was suspended for the holiday weekend (Patriots’ Day) so all four lanes of the bridge were opened. There was no delay going over the bridge. We decided to get off at Exit One and do a little shopping at the Mall near the bridge. I needed a couple of Corelle mugs so we would go to the Corning Store. When we went into the mall, we were shocked that the Corning Store had closed. So did quite a few of the other stores. Even our coffee stand was gone. There seemed to be more stores open in the other “wing” of the mall but we didn’t need anything other than the mugs.

We got off in Hyannis and immediately went to the Christmas Tree Shop. What amazing prices we saw at that store. We bought an outdoor pinwheel, with an LED light in the center, to put in one of our whiskey barrels. I chose the green one because it looked like a shamrock. I even bought one for daughter Jeanne’s home because she has a whiskey barrel near her little brook. Each cost $2.99. After I got home, I saw the exact same thing in a catalog for $15.
Down at the circle, near the airport, we went into the Job Lot Store. That is always a good place to buy greeting cards. We decided to forego Kmart since it was getting close to 5 p.m. We then went to the Country Buffet. We were amazed at how few people were in there and also in the stores that we had visited earlier in the afternoon. Maybe the weekend of rain had frightened people away. Hubby went for the soup of the day and the fried chicken. I went to the wonderful salad bar. Daughter Sue had given us a terrific hint. Get your tomatoes and lettuce at the taco bar. They are cut up into smaller pieces and are much easier to eat that the larger salad ingredients at the regular salad bar. The buffet always has a large assortment of veggies, which is terrific. Hubby finished his dinner off with his usual treat, a vanilla and chocolate swirled ice cream in a cone. The buffet had a sugar-free pudding, which I enjoyed.

We drove down Route 28 toward the Red Jacket. There was very little traffic. Once we got to the parking lot, we saw more cars than we usually see on opening weekend. Then we realized that it was the start of school-vacation week so there were families with lots of kids. We were greeted by the gals at the front desk. One of them knows us since she has been at the hotel for a few years. She was happy to see us once again. She knew that we could find our way to our room without help. There were a few changes in the room since last fall. We were pretty sure that the rug was new and very pretty. The sliding door to the outside was also new, with sturdy new locks. I plopped down on the bed. Hubby put some of our things in the fridge. It was only a short vacation so we didn’t have too many clothes to hang up. We watched a program at 8 o’clock on Ch. 7, “Who Do You Think You Are?” Cousins Margie and Janet had urged us to watch it. (The program we had seen a few weeks earlier on Brooke Shields’ family was very interesting.) After that, without even going to the pool, we decided that bed looked very inviting. (We had been up since 4 a.m.)

I had set the alarm for 8 a.m. but I was up much before then. I love to go out into the lobby and get coffee at the refreshment table set up there. I brought the coffee back to the room. Hubby, by this time, was stirring. Daughter Sue was to join us at 9 a.m. for breakfast so he took his time getting dressed. I had brought down the food-store ads so I looked them over while drinking coffee. I also loved looking out at the peaceful river, just outside out room. It was raining quite heavily but the raindrops made pretty circles on the river water.

About 8:45, Hubby and I went out to the lobby and sat on the pretty new sofa. We could see girls in uniforms, ready to play basketball some place locally. Some gals were even from Connecticut. We saw Tom, the hotel’s manager, come in. He welcomed us when he spotted us among the crowd. Just at 9 a.m., daughter Sue drove into the parking lot. She said the driving down was O.K., even with the heavy rain. Into the dining room we went and were seated promptly. Sue had stopped at Li’l Peach for the Boston newspapers so Hubby was happy. There will be a little more about our Cape weekend next week.

Some things this past week have us shaking our heads in disbelief. The other day, we stopped at the CVS on Morrissey Blvd. Hubby went inside to pick up a prescription. A female in a large SUV pulled in on the driver’s side of our car. She was so close to his door that it would be very difficult for him to get in the car, especially since he is quite tall. When he came out, he looked at the gal and put up his hands. “What do I do now?” She responded by getting out of her SUV, slamming the door, and proceeding inside the store. We shook our heads. How inconsiderate! After performing a few contortions, Hubby was finally able to fold himself into the driver’s seat. It didn’t bother her at all.

The second thing that bothered us took place last Saturday morning. Hubby and I went out early to shop. About 8 a.m., we were in Weymouth when a light on the dashboard of our car went on, indicating that one of our tires was low. We pulled into a gas station and tried to fill the tire. The manager heard a hiss. He jacked up the wheel, took it off, examined it, and then said, “I cannot fix this tire. Did you pinch the tire going around a corner? Did you hit a pothole?” Hubby answered, “No.” We ended up by buying a used tire that fit our car. Then we finished our shopping.
When we arrived back home, our neighbor Jim came out of his yard and told us that his wife Maureen had one tire punctured on her car. Then he told us his son Jimmie had two tires punctured on his car. Then we told him about the trouble we had with our car. We then realized that we were the third victim of a tire-slasher. Jimmie called District C-11 early Sat. morning when he discovered the holes in the sides of his tires. The police came. Detectives thought it might have been someone who had a grudge against the family. Jimmie urged Hubby to go to District C-11 and file a report, so that the detectives would know that these acts were random and not a grudge against the family. Jimmie had seen three young people, two young men and one young woman, looking into cars on Houghton St. late Fri. evening, about 11:15 p.m. He is almost positive that these three were the ones who punctured the tires. Hubby, Sunday morning, did go to District C-11 to report our problem. The police officer at the front desk pulled up Jimmie’s report and added ours to it. Please keep your eyes open, especially in the evening, for kids hanging around cars. It may save you from a punctured tire.

Thanks to the Carriage News, I discovered that there will be several ships in port, in addition to the Norwegian Spirit, which comes in each Friday in May and then leaves later in the day for a week’s trip to Bermuda. The Costa Atlantica will be in Boston on Sunday, May 9. The Seven Seas Voyager will here on Mon., May 17, and the Celebrity Summit will be here on Tues., May 18. The Hanseatic will dock on Wed., May 26.

I wish all Moms a very Happy Mother’s Day!