Day 2: Snug and Warm in Lee’s Summit (1/7/22)


We woke to the tantalizing smell of bacon sizzling in the kitchen. Barb must have risen at 5 am, because she’d already put the pot roast and carrots in the crock pot, peeled a dozen potatoes, fixed coffee, made the bacon, and gotten dressed for work by the time we came down at 7. Amazing woman!

Both she and Gord worked today, so Phil and I were treated to a slow day of reading, videos (more Broadchurch), and naps. The living room was a perfect place to relax; the Christmas tree was still up, and all the decorations made me feel as though I was in an upscale bed-and-breakfast. 


I took an hour’s walk through the neighborhood, enjoying the sunshine and relative warmth of 22 degrees. It felt good to stretch my legs.


Barb arrived home after a long day as a caregiver and immediately went into action: Set the table! Boil the potatoes! On with the green beans and salad! Phil brought out some wine, and Derek showed us the amazing new cork remover that had appeared under the Christmas tree this year:


That made the cook very…shall we say, joyful:



And we enjoyed a fabulous roast beef dinner, replete with mashed potatoes, green beans, kale salad, and a tray of Christmas cookies for dessert. What more could you ask? Happiness all around (note the empty dishes and wide smiles).



Phil and I were tempted to ask for an extension of our stay (perhaps a week? two weeks?), but our host had already prayed for good traveling mercies for the following day, so we felt we should take the hint. 😏

We finished off the night with one of the great feel-good movies of all time: What about Bob? A wonderful way to spend an evening with family. 

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