Respite with Family

I have spent the last few days with one of my brothers, my sister-in-law, and their three dogs.

Here are the dogs. The first picture is all three; Ellie a little apart, and then Odie and Bert (both chocolate labs) sitting together. The next has Odie & Ellie, then Odie by himself and then Ellie by herself. Bert was camera-shy today and I couldn't get a good picture of him by himself.

This visit, and the one to my niece and her family before it, have been a really nice respite from the weeks since I left home. Just kind of hanging out with people (and animals) I love. Lots of conversation ... well, because it's who we all are.

My brother & I did walk around parts of their lot (they have about 20 acres or so) and we also hit a few golf balls from a spot near the house set up for that. I probably hadn't picked up a golf club since being back in NH (that's more than 15 years), so I was - as expected - very bad. I can swing much better when there isn't a ball in front of me! That small spherical white ball is extremely intimidating.

I baked some chocolate chip cookies and some chocolate brownies with chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and dried cherries in them. My brother has something of a sweet tooth, and I knew he would enjoy that. It's his birthday on Monday, so it's the least I could do. Other than a trip to the grocery store for them, and one lunch out in a restaurant with my brother, I haven't left the grounds since I arrived.

Some pictures of my brother's house and grounds, with a distant picture of Mount Shasta right in the middle. I can't believe how little snow there is!

We're having an early beef stroganoff birthday dinner (of a sort) before I leave. I will be arriving at the 2022 American Mensa AG (annual gathering) hotel - The Nugget in Sparks, NV) tomorrow afternoon (July 4th), Then it will be Mensa Foundation and Mensa stuff for a week. You may not see a lot of posts from there, but I will be back on the road again on July 10th. Stay tuned!