After dropping Beau off at Cathy and Steve's house Wednesday 06/26/19, Sue and I headed out to pick Lucas up at the airport for a several week visit. Though that was our ultimate destination, his flight wasn't arriving at Logan International Airport in Boston, MA until 8:30 pm from L.A., we had decided to leave in the early afternoon to take a nice drive down along the coast, winding our way into Massachusetts. Once we got to the coast, however, we ran into a pretty thick fog.

Fogged in along the coast on the way to Boston Logan airport to pick up Lucas.

The further south we went, the heavier the fog along the coast became, though inland on Route 95 it was bright and quite sunny. We stopped to have dinner at The 99 Restaurant in Saugus, MA before heading to the airport. The flight was just a little delayed, but it wasn't a long wait.

We had decided to come up from the airport on Route 93 instead of Route 95 as there was a huge construction project going on along there and we noted some pretty heavy traffic. We stopped in Portsmouth about an hour later to grab some food as Lucas was pretty hungry. It was close to midnight before we all rolled into bed.

Thursday, 06/27/19, Lucas just hung out at the house relaxing his way out of any jet lag. Rachel had come out the week before, and so after meeting up with her Saturday, they both came back to the house Sunday afternoon to spend a couple of days with us. That evening, they drove down to Portsmouth to attend a concert at The Press Room, not getting home until after midnight.

Chuck got to meet Rachel Monday morning, 07/01/19, when he came over, and we all enjoyed a great late breakfast Sue had fixed of fresh homemade lemon muffins with fried eggs over Rainbow Swiss Chard. After another cup of coffee, Lucas and Rachel headed off for a night of camping and then to Bethlehem, NH.

Rachel and Lucas visiting with Chuck on the screened porch.

Lucas returned to our place Wednesday 07/03/19 while Rachel went up to the New London area to be with her folks.

He'll spend Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday here, and then Rachel will join us Saturday for a dinner party! Wednesday, he and Sue hiked up Blue Job Mountain. It was a beautiful day, but really hot - in the high 80s, and humid. When they got back and cleaned up, we sat out on the screened porch and had a nice chat.

For dinner, I whipped up an off the cuff pork chops seasoned with rosemary, thyme, sage, and coriander. Just before they were done, I threw a bunch of kale on top of them and then added a sauce mixed with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, red wine, and what-not, covered it and let it steam the kale. Sue made a great side of basil infused sweet potato. Movie of the night was the really well done 2010 The Next Three Days.

Thursday, July 4th, while Lucas worked, Sue and I took Beau up to Ossipee to visit with Sue's aunt Carol. When we got home, dinner was just simple 4th of July stuff: sausage dogs on buns with a side of beans.

Saturday 07/06/19 Rachel was back with us, and we had a nice relaxing time catching up with her out on the screen porch.

Rachel, Sue, and Lucas enjoying the Summer afternoon on the screen porch.

It had, however, been a really hot day with temps in the 90s. I was glad that I hadn't selected a dinner menu that required turning the oven on as that would just not have happened. Around 5:30 I turned the tunes up, and headed into the kitchen to start my prep work.

Just about to start the prep work for the asparagus that I was going to sautee in the skillet.

I fixed an interesting Italian Lemon Chicken cooked in a sauce of capers, onions, oregano, fresh basil, diced herb tomatoes served over a bed of basil infused egg noodles with a side of sauteed asparagus, onions, ginger root, sweet red pepper, oregano, and water chestnuts. The bottle of Revolution Chardonnay that I opened really paired well with the meal. Great time.

Sue, Rachel, and Lucas ready to dig in.

After dinner Saturday 07/06/19, Sue kept peeking out of the window at the tree line as dusk began to settle over the mountain. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and announced that she just had to get up to the ridge to get some pictures of the sunset. Off we went, and glad we did as you can judge for yourself at the series of sunset pictures that she got.

Summer sunset over the ridge.

We were all up and moving around fairly early Sunday morning 07/07/19. Sue fixed a wonderful quiche for breakfast, and then Lucas and Rachel were off for Westerly, RI for a couple days with Lucas' sister Jill.

Before it got hot Monday 07/15/19, Sue took Lucas and Beau over to hike up Blue Job in Farmington, NH.

Lucas and Beau resting at the foot of the Blue Job Fire Tower Trail.

For dinner I did an off the cuff sweet sausage, and asparagus stir fry with fresh savory sprigs, onion slices, and garlic over a bed of basil infused brown rice. Came out just great. We finished off the evening, and the wine, with the 2014 Tom Clancy movie, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

Tuesday 07/16/19 after Lucas finished up some of his work that needed to be done before he leaves tomorrow, we had a great dinner of the specialty meatloaf that Sue had put together earlier. She finished off things with an angel food cake covered in the fresh strawberries we had picked earlier in the week. Another Tom Clancy movie, the really well done 1992, Patriot Games.

Lucas working in his NH office.

Wednesday 07/16/19 Sue and I drove Lucas down to Logan for his flight back out to L.A. What a great visit it had been!

Traffic going down and returning home was heavy, as expected. It was good to get back home to the "Happy Doggie Dance". But we were so beat that it wasn't long after watching just a little tv that we headed for bed.