~Saturday~ I got up at about 10:00, and Pam had made a delicious omelet of eggs, tomatoes, and cheese, which I totally enjoyed with an English muffin and a banana. And cawfee, of course.
At a little after noon, Pam, Tara, and I packed up and headed to the beach, which was perhaps five miles or so from the resort. It was nice that they had a pass to park at a sister resort on the beach.
We walked with the ocean to our right and with Tara in the middle, so I spoke with her most of the walk in that direction. We are both into writing and editing in our careers, so conversation is easy with her, not to mention she’s a young, vibrant kid working for one of the most impressive financial companies, and in New York Fucking City, no less.
We turned around at the Marriott on the beach, but not before walking up to it and checking out the outdoor pool area, which was very nice, consisting of two pools, a little waterfall between them, a poolside bar, and an area selling grilled food, such as hamburgers and hot dogs.
On the walk back, Tara took the ocean side and with Pam in the middle, I spoke with her most of the way back. Pam is the type who can talk to anyone about anything, and so conversation flowed easily with her, too. The fact that they are both so easy to talk to is one of the things that made the weekend so “easy” and relaxing.
We had a most delicious lunch at Ruby Tuesday, where all three of us had the Mini-burgers and Salad Bar lunch item. Thanks again for the treat, Pam!
Back at the house, we grabbed some towels, some bottled water, and the radio and headed to the pool, where I had the most relaxing time that I’ve had in a long, long time.
While there, our cousin Lisa returned our call from a message we had left her earlier in the day, and I dozed off for a little bit while Pam talked to her and Tara listened to tunes.
We had a late dinner at Carrabbas, where the three of us split two appetizers:
| Calamari Served with marinara sauce or our spicy Italian pepper and lemon butter sauce |
| Cozze in Bianco Prince Edward Island mussels steamed in white wine, basil and lemon butter |
For our entrees, Tara had the:
| Build Your Own Pizza Choose up to 3 toppings: Italian sausage, pepperoni, meatballs, kalamata olives, mushrooms, sweet peppers, onions, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes |
first choosing mushrooms and meatballs, and then Pam and I talked her into adding the kalamata olives. 🙂
Pam had the:
| Lasagne A favorite, just like mama used to make |
I had a special, which consisted of linguine pasta, lobster, mushroom, spinach, and red pepper in a lemon butter sauce, which was outstanding.
It was a ton of food, and we took home a lot of leftovers.
Since we’d started dinner so late, it was nearly 11:00 when we’d finished, and we had the funniest ride home, as the car windows kept fogging up, no matter what Pam tried to do to preclude them from doing so.
Once home, Pam remembered that she needed some cash to leave for the cleaning lady the next day, so we drove back to an ATM machine for a withdrawal. The fogging windows continued to be problematic, and at one point it seemed like there was ice on the windows, even though it was hot as all get out outside.
At times, we had to lower the side windows to clear them, and on the way back from the ATM visit, Pam raised the driver window just in time before passing a lawn jet sprinkler that shot a boatload of water at our car, and which, had the window still been open, would have most likely slapped both of us across the face.
That reminded Pam of a family story that got her cackling, which of course, got me laughing. One time when Tara was little and riding in the back seat of their car, Pam had gone through a car wash and had unknowingly—accidentally of course—lowered the back window. Well, when the washer came around the car, it sent water and soap streaming into the car, and when she turned around Tara’s face was covered in suds.
This was a funny story, although Tara—as the “wounded party”—found it slightly less funny than Pam. It was so cute listening to both of them relating the incident. We’d been talking earlier about the luxury of having a therapist to listen to you, as an unbiased listener, and we joked about this “traumatic childhood incident” being potential fodder for a session “on the couch.”
Back at the house, I was treated to some fun stories of Tara and Ryan growing up—antics between them, which at times made me think of how my sister and I used to play together.
All in all, another great day with my cousins, for which I was grateful.