Omigawd...it's Contagious!

Tom called late morning today, saying he thought he would pass through Davis on his way to Terra Linda, where they are spending the night tonight, and maybe we could have a picnic with Grandma.  I had just gotten home, after being at my mother's all morning, and went back to her house to drop off a cord for her cell phone.   I told her not to go to lunch, but that Tom and the family would be here for a picnic.  I said I would call her when we were leaving the house and she could come out to meet us in front of Covell Gardens. It was kind of a test to see if she could find her way out of the place.

I quickly whipped up a bunch of stuffed eggs to take to our picnic.

A bit later, Tom called again and said they were stopped dead in holiday traffic and that it was raining and that maybe we should give up on the picnic idea and instead meet at a restaurant.  He told me where to meet them, we guesstimated what time he would get there.

At the appointed time, we got my mother (more on that in a bit) and headed over to Steve's Pizza.  Tom and the family weren't there yet.  I tried calling his cell phone, but he wasn't answering.  We decided to wait to order until he got there.

Pretty soon the phone rang and it was Tom.  "We're here," he said.  "Where?" I asked.  "The Grad," he said. I was at the wrong restaurant.  He had said "The Grad" and somehow I heard "Steve's Pizza" ('cause the two sound so much alike, dontchaknow).   That's when I realized I had been spending too much time with my mother and it was time for a break!

I stopped to pick up a newspaper this morning and went to my mother's at 7:30.  I was so early the front doors were still locked, but I had my key.  I knocked softly on her door, but there was no answer, so I let myself in.  She was still asleep.

I went out to the patio and sat there reading until she got up.   She had done an amazing job on the apartment yesterday afternoon and almost all the boxes had been emptied.  It looked like her home.

I asked her how her "date" with Ron, the ambassador had gone and she looked at me blankly.  She had completely forgotten, but had gone to the dining room by herself and sat with a couple of nice ladies, whose name she did not remember, but remembered enjoying their company.

We went off the breakfast and Ron was there, so I joked about her "standing him up" and they made another date for tonight.  We was with a delightful woman and someone else (or we would have joined their table).  My mother seemed happy and relaxed making conversation with new people (unlike me!)

We found a table and sat down and were later joined by David, a retired Presbyterian minister from Texas, who moved to Davis because his son lives here.   Ron had told us that the questions you will get asked the most often (and ask the most often) are "where are you from?" and "what brings you to Davis?" Already we are finding this to be true.

Breakfast was very nice and afterwards, we sauntered down to the puzzle table where we worked on the current puzzle for awhile.  "I can see I'll be spending a lot of time here," she said.  Good!  That was what I'd hoped.

I left her to get a cord for her cell phone, since the battery was low and said I'd be back later in the afternoon to take her shopping.  Then, of course, came all the business with Tom.  The plan was that I would call her on her newly charged cell phone and she would meet us out in front.  I called but there was no answer, so we drove over and she was sitting in her chair insisting that the phone had not rung, though I later did a test and the phone rings and the phone showed that I had called her.  Later, when Jeri called, she heard the ring but ignored it until I pointed out that it was ringing.

I told her that we needed to go meet Tom and the family.   "Nobody said a word to me about TOM," she insisted angrily, though was happy to know she would see him.  As we were nearing downtown, she asked about Tom.  "When did you see him last?" she asked, adding that she had not seen him in a long time (forgetting he had been there the day before). "When will you see him again?" she asked, "In about 10 minutes," I told her.

Lunch was fun, sitting at the sports bar watching the Giants-A's game.

Of course, my favorite was this look that Laurel was giving to Lacie.  

Lacie impressed us all by showing us where her nose is.

After lunch we stopped by our house to load a chair into Tom's SUV to drive over to my mother's apartment.  Bri, age 5+, has now been in my driveway, if never inside my house. At least she knows Walt and I do live somewhere!

We dropped the chair off at my mother's ("Gaga" to the girls) and Bri made friends with Maxie, the daschund.

Walt broke down all the boxes and carted them off to the dumpster.   I think she has only three boxes left to unload and except for those, in her bedroom, you'd never know that she just moved in.  Everything is neat and orderly, looks like "her apartment" and there is no "crap" to worry about.

My mother was having her re-do "date" with Ron tonight and I left a big sign on her door saying "Ron here 5:45" so she wouldn't decide at 5:30 that she was hungry and go on to the dining room without him.  Also so she would remember his name when he showed up.

I came home and took a long nap.  For dinner we had leftover lunch...and stuffed eggs!