Philadelphia

Our whole family gathered to spend time with cousins Barbara and Bob.  The missing members are taking the photo.

We started with a brief catch-up conversation before Barbara had a meeting.  Bob took us to Flying Fish where he and Jerry enjoyed crayfish left from Barbara’s ??? birthday celebration.  The owner is not only a great chef but a charming individual.

Our “campground” was a parking lot for UPenn Medical Center employees and those who are in motorhomes while visiting or getting treatment at the hospital.  Location, location, location...power, water and much easier to get around the city, except during the awful rush hour.

We enjoyed more delicious dining at Zorba's where each of us decided we ordered the best dish.

Jerry and Bob went to work on a community concert stage, while Jeff, Cheryl and Anna Lee went to the farmers’ market.

Pat’s and Gino’s are famous Philly Cheesesteak rivals.  We ate at Pat’s before going to the Chinese Lantern Festival. 

 The festival filled a park with flowers

dragons

penguins,

pandas,

pagodas,

other delights,

 and most delightful to Bennett, a carrousel.

Sunday morning we savored Bob’s waffles followed by a birthday cake for Anna Lee’s ??? birthday.  Celebrating with family was the best present she could get.

There was a great art and craft festival around the corner from Bob and Barbara’s home.  They live in a wonderful old neighborhood where almost everything is within walking distance and people really do walk about.

A couple of years ago, we misread theater tickets for a matinee in Ashland, OR and were a half hour late for the performance.  We got to repeat that again for Jeff, this time for a delightful one-woman show called “I Will Not Go Quietly.”  The half we saw was great.  Then we tried to find a way to see the wonderful murals, didn’t work.  Dinner was okay but the wait was far too long, fortunately, the five of us enjoyed good conversation.  In fact the weekend was filled with conversation; we never ran out of things to discuss. 

The evening ended in a most peaceful and colorful manner.  The Quaker Meetinghouse has a James Turrell Skyspace, an opening in the ceiling to view the sky while lights around the room change shades.  Turrell followed his grandmother’s advice on the way to a Quaker meeting “to go inside and greet the light!”  The fifty-minute program is visually calming, silent and meditative, a most unique experience.  To get an idea of what this is like, check www.turrell.utexas.edu