MEMORIAL DAY COOKOUT AND BIRTHDAY PARTY

Hello, friends!  I hope you are having a wonderful day today.  I have had a lovely day.  I'll be telling you about that later, but first I want to post about last Saturday when Joe, Carole, Walt and I made our way to northern New Jersey to my sister's house for her annual Memorial Day cookout.  I would have posted this earlier but I was having computer problems.  All solved now -- at least for the moment.  So let me tell you about this day and be prepared for picture overload.

Carole drove up and back.  This gave me the chance to take some photos along the way.  I never get to do that.  I think driving along Route 31 is so pretty.

We made really good time and so had the opportunity to stop and see the Hindu temple on Route 206.  We just drove in, I took some pictures from the car, and we drove out.  It is a beautiful building.  And even larger than the last time I was there.

This was the main temple.  It is ornately carved.  But now there is a gate and a beautiful fountain out front.

Off to the side was another smaller building.  A conference center?  Meeting rooms?

We saw this sign as we were leaving.

Back on the road, we had another hour to go.  I always know we are getting there when I see the beautiful mountains in the distance.

After two hours we finally arrived at Elaine's house.

It was a beautiful day.  But much cooler than I expected.  I was glad I had brought my sweater.  But even with that I was freezing.  I even went inside for awhile to warm up.  Despite that we all had such a good time.  There was so much food and we were all talking to each other.

I loved the barbecue chicken wings.  Elaine was the chef of the hour on the grill.

 Ace greeting his humans:  Walt, Carole, me, Frank, Rich, Joe and Marion.

Burgers and hot dogs.  Everything was good.

Joe with our friends Rich and Marion.

Our friend, Frank, took his turn at the grill.

We don't see each other all that often so there is always a lot to catch up on.

Ace tried to get food from us.  Tried.  Elaine had brought out some peanut butter treats for him so he wasn't left out.

The guys... Frank, Rich and Joe.

After awhile we went inside to have birthday cake.  Marion, Joe and Frank all have birthdays around this time.

Marion led the singing.

The birthday crew.

And here's one Elaine took with Rich and Walt in it.

Walt and Carole

We took the cake in the living room to eat and Elaine gave each of the birthday people a gift.

All too soon it was time to head home.  We wanted to get back before it got dark.

There was more beautiful scenery going home.

The clouds were awesome.  You could see higher thick clouds through lower wispy clouds.  I've never seen anything like it.

We got home around 8:30 and I was so tired even though I wasn't the one driving.  It was worth it, though, because it was such a great day.

I have so much more to tell you, so be sure to stop by later.

Kathy