Amanda said she couldn't wait to see how I summed up last weekend in my blog, and I aim to please.  I think she's amused by the errors and omissions from the account.  She also likes finding misspellings in the headers as they can't be spell checked, and the incorrect use of a properly spelled word in the bodies as spell checker doesn't find those (sometimes spell checker suggests the wrong form of a misspelled word as well).

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Amanda visited with my parents on Saturday.  My mother recently broke her leg in a white-water rafting accident (this is a woman afraid of the water because she can't swim).  Anyway, the break is an odd one running vertically in the bone just below the knee.

Mom had Amanda review the x-ray and explain the injury and the possible treatment options in ENGLISH.  Her doctor had glossed over the explanation in medical jargon.  It was all really amusing to me because my mother was being herself (which is a bit forward), and Amanda was also being herself.  It was as if they'd known each other for years.  I've been getting medical advice from veterinarians for years and now mom is too.

Anyway I think Amanda and my parents joined the Mutual Admiration Society.

We then took the 90 minute ride to her family compound in (undisclosed location), Connecticut.  They have 18 acres of managed forest bordered on seemingly all sides by a pond.  The majority of the frontage on the pond is either extended family or a state park with no camping.  The area boasts an impressive road system, cottages, a couple of campers, and some structures for fun like seating areas, docks and a slide and rope swing. 

I was a bit concerned going into this situation that I could be spending the weekend in some stuffy "Camelot" kind of deal.  (Mum, may we remove our ascots for an organized game of touch football?  No.  Sailing is on the itinerary promptly at 3:15.)  Not greatly concerned, but when imagining from the description given, that was one extreme end of the possibilities.  Amanda calls her mom and dad - Lady and Smud.  (Hippy commune was the other extreme.)

Actually, when I saw the "Asbestos Warning" sign pegged to a tree, I was assured that my best understanding of what Amanda described was actually what I'd be encountering.  The compound is managed for fun, then tree growth.  Smud enjoys gathering ordinary items and placing them for comic effect.  Warning signs, a satellite TV dish, etc.

The "center" of the whole place is a fire-pit; my favorite spot regardless of which zip code I'm in.

I'm going to cut this short here for time's sake and pick up later.  Let's just say that Lady and Smud are warm and wonderful people and the weekend went very well.  How many new boyfriends get to shoot guns with her father in the morning, followed by her mother serving pancakes?