Driving to Riderwood this morning at 10:00 the radio announced the temperature ... it was only 32 degrees! I did pack gloves, but forgot the bring them out to car.  Boy was that steering wheel cold!

I'm pleased to report that Mom looks good, and is obviously feeling much better  (and also that she loved her new giraffe placemats.)

I worked on the hanging sleeve for her giraffe quilt while we chatted (it's slated for a primo spot inn the apartment) and then we were off to lunch at the café, a fair distance from her apartment.  But she walked at a good clip, a major improvement from when I last saw her in May.  We both enjoyed seeing the resident and staff artwork on the walls along the hallways.  There was some very impressive work!

The café was doing a brisk business, and things took longer than we expected.  But lunch was quite yummy.  We sat near the ice cream stand, and assumed it wouldn't get much business on such a cold day.  We were wrong!

Back at the apartment we played a couple of games of Rummikub.  While I managed to win both of them, Mom only had a couple of tiles left each time so they were both close games.  I expect we'll manage to squeeze in "a few" more games during my visit.

The final for Andy's Evidence class was tonight, so I was surprised to find him at home when I got back to Mink Hollow.  It turns out that the professors are not allowed to be there during the exam, which is overseen by proctors.  Another surprise was that Ed & Emily and the kids had invited themselves over for the evening to do candles with us.  So it was definitely not the quiet evening I had been expecting.  LOL 

Maggie really liked Sandy's new stuffed dog, a recent anniversary gift.

Harry and Charlie on the piano

Sandy and Maggie got in lots of quality time!

Sierra was working on homework.  We were all quite impressed with the critical analysis she was writing, on The Other Wes Moore.

Emily and Gordon sharing a laugh

Everyone sang Maggie the shark song (a favorite of hers) 

which was new to me.

One of the rare quiet moments -

Maggie warmed up to me, and brought me a book to read to her.

Andy was trying (in vain) to get Maggie to smile for a picture, so Emily & Ed and Harry & Gordon jumped in and tried to help him...