Mom and dad

My parents are visiting this week. We've been bonding over food, number one. Even though we haven't spent that much time together here in the Ville, I think it is important to create traditions that are tied to this place. This has been my home for almost 10 years, after all. Both of them still struggle with moving so far away from the rest of the family all those years ago (that's my mom's biggest regret), but that was their choice, not ours. Anyway, most of our traditions involve food, in one way or another. Years ago, on another visit, we had a phenomenal dinner at Azalea. We still talk about it all the time. It was so awesome, and we've built it up even more since then, to mythical proportions. That shit was good, though! That restaurant is no more, unfortunately, so we made a beeline for the chef's new restaurant, Varanese. A few menu items have carried over, but it's not really the same place; it's "eclectic Mediterranean." I had been once this summer, on one of those days when it's so hell hot that you can't even eat, so we just had appetizers. This time, we tried the appetizers, the soup and entrees. Oh, and the Trappist-made beer. It was great, and the atmosphere is very cool, but it's just not the same as Azalea. Now we'll talk about Azalea ... and then how Varanese compared... Tradition. We threw down on a bunch of chow at the Irish Rover, since they don't have any Irish pubs in Maui, and that's still one of my favorites. We even made it through two desserts among the three of us, and this is at a restaurant where I've never had dessert, in all the many times I've eaten there. My dad even said it was fun. I'm quoting. He said it was "fun!" Keep in mind that he never says anything is fun, so I think I really scored with that one. I'm not going to say all the other places we're going to go, because I don't want y'all saying, oooo, that sounds great, and taking our table! Pilot is out of town flying and will be back at the end of the week, so they'll meet then, which I'm looking forward to. He's hating that he's missing all the food. As he said, I come by my love of food honestly.

Today, we checked out the Falls of the Ohio, which, shamefully, I've never visited before. We kind of made it a slow tour around, because my mom was in a lot of pain. I reminded her that the last time we were on family vacation together, I threatened her with a rented wheelchair and some hair-raising rides on the next vacation. She's not quite there, but it is getting closer. I had to make a joke out of it, because it's too serious. Since we lost Pilot's dad last month, it's front of mind that we don't know if this might be the last time we see each other. You just never know...

Later, we went to Paul's and bought tons of plants. We put in an herb garden, and hanging pots of lobelia and fuschia, and rhubarb, and delphinium, and one of those strawberry pots full of chicks-and-hens sticking out all the holes, and I can't even remember what all the other flowers are. Plus, there are really nice perennials that came back this year -- iris and peonies and rhododendron and hosta and mint and lilac and the magnolia tree opened one bloom today. I love how colorful the yard is. It looks gorgeous out there. We still have more to plant tomorrow.

It feels kind of funny to be hanging out with them, just the three of us. It's been awhile, but so far, so good. They wanted to see with their own eyes a slice of my new life, that I am doing well. And I wanted them to see it. There's plenty we agree to disagree on, but they've supported me unquestioningly through my bad times, and it puts that old stuff in perspective. There's no need to rehash it. Oh, I got all the new family gossip, and there is some good stuff in there. We've also been bonding over making fun of rednecks and giving the finger to bad drivers. Plenty of both around here. Ah, the nut doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?