Settling In

Tuesday | 15 September 2020 | Barcelona, Spain La Quinta, California: We are not on a cruise ship in the Med... and did not visit the island of Corsica Monday, nor stop for a day in Mallorca, Spain... or visit Barcelona today. Now I will never know if our table mates at dinner would notice (or care) I was wearing the same dress every night in the dining room.

We are settling-in to a good schedule. Kids have school beginning at 9a, with a few short breaks. They both break at noon for lunch... then Lucy (Grade 1) is finished for the day. Leo (Grade 3) has another hour or so, and then he has a lot of homework.

The Cafeteria Lady prepares lunch M-F and it is ready promptly at noon. For the menu decision, Leo chooses the menu on even days (he was born on an even day) and Lucy chooses on odd days (she was born on an odd day). I thought this would be a fun thing, but Leo asked for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for tomorrow, which he knows Lucy does not care for. (Lucy claims her dad made her so many peanut and butter sandwiches in her school lunch box last year - she is over it.) They crack me up, especially since they truly love each other, get along so well, and play so well together. So far, I have prepared macaroni & cheese, (homemade stock!) ramen, and butterfly pasta with green beans.

Dave and Lenny have gone out twice in the afternoon to play a little golf. Lucy rode with them for a few holes, "playing golf" (looked more like croquet) and she found a few stray golf balls, which Lucy claims are lucky.

But as soon as school and homework are completed, it's pool time. Here is a video of the kids in the pool over the weekend:

We had a visitor this afternoon. A crasher in our hot tub:

According to our bird identification book, it is a juvenile Broad Winged Hawk. S/he was taking a little dip in the water flowing from the hot tub.

And, finally, Dear Reader, after cooking every dang night for EXACTLY six months, we had a take-out dinner! The Cafeteria Lady has added TAKE-OUT TUESDAY to the weekly meal plan. (Don't worry, we switched Taco Tuesday to Mexican Monday.) Tonight we had sushi delivered. It was a wonderful treat.

Until my next update, I remain, your Night-Off correspondent.