Memorial Day Weekend in NJ

 No, this doesn't look like Memorial Day but I just got the photo from Nicole (Denny and Kathy's daughter) so thought I would include it.  A combined family from both Mike's and Nicole's first marriages plus a couple of their own!

So when we got to Marie's Thursday night, we could tell Bows (Eleanor's cat) did not look well.  He's basically stopped eating, has a tumor the size of a plum which is clearly causing him pain, is 17 years old and apparently has not been himself for several weeks.  Marie took him in after Eleanor died but he's ready to go too.  Tom and Marie took him to the vet and they very gently put him to sleep.  They said the staff was really wonderful.

 Tom and I spent Friday back at Eleanor's house going through stuff as they now have the house up for sale.  It still needs a lot of work so I may be making a trip back to do some painting.

 Some stuff we came across.....

 I'm going to get these pretty Lenox lamps.....

 After several hours of work I ran over to town to grab us some subs.  This Joe and John's place has been here for a long time but apparently there was a family spat and other Joe and John's or some versions there of are in other parts of town.....hence THIS is the original and only location!

Downtown Absecon

 Friday night while Tom and Marie were dealing with the cat, I stayed home to make dinner which Marie carefully set out.  Meatloaf, macaroni and cheese & stewed tomatoes.  Every ingredient in it's own little container, ready to be added.  I felt like I had my own cooking show.  She likes things just so and I didn't want to screw anything up.

The whole purpose of this trip was to take Eleanor's ashes out to the pier and throw them into the ocean.  So Tom and I got up early (Since we were meeting the family at 8 AM the next morning) to make sure we could actually get out there that early.  I dropped Tom off and he took a quick jaunt out while I idled on a side street.  The weather was cold and dreary so the usual kick off weekend for summer was kind of a bust.  Atlantic City is really struggling right now.  See, even Donald doesn't care if his sign looks old, broken and crappy.

 From there we headed over to Joe and Karen's to help them with things around their house.  Joe has started his new job in NC while Karen has stayed in NJ to finish getting the house ready for the market.  She was painting, stepped off the ladder and onto a paint can then fell and sprained her ankle something awful.  So while Tom and Joe moved furniture and took stuff to storage, I painted doors and trim while Karen wrapped things for packing.

Maggie and Marina wanting me to play rather than paint.

We got quite a bit done but planned to come back the next afternoon to finish up before heading home.  They bought us an awesome cheeseburger lunch that was delivered, but not until 3:00 so when Marie let us know Victor's fishing trip was postponed due to weather and he wanted us to join them for dinner we hesitated.  But after we got home, showered and re-set we decided to go and just have something lite.  Again, we were at the Crab Trap where they all know him and Tom and I both had a bowl of Crab Bisque.  OH MY GOSH.....so good!  Really, it was just perfect.

So, as is often the case with the Cowan family, firm planning is really non-existent.  So the next morning when we were supposed to be meeting, Dennis called and he had to show a boat to a customer who had come from NY.  Wasn't sure how long he was going to be so we got ahold of Joe just as he was heading to Atlantic City and postponed until later when Dennis was free.  So Marie went to the "building" (Victor's car museum) to hang out with the guys (they meet every morning for coffee and treats) and Tom and I went back to Joe and Karen's for more painting.  We finished the last bedroom and as it was getting late it was decided to postpone the distributing of the ashes for another day.  An upside to cremation I suppose.

We went back to Marie's and decided to burn all of Eleanor's old documents rather than have Marie have to shred them all at work.  The cast iron top of this stove fell off on Tom's toe which is now a very bright black and blue.  Ouch!  I sat and went over papers again to make sure we weren't burning anything important and pulling out anything that looked questionable.  I found one old plastic checking account book that had a $100 bill tucked inside so that was a good find!  It took a couple of hours so Marie grilled some hot dogs then Tom helped her plant some marigolds in her yard while I continued burning.

 We took off so we could stop by the Veteran's Cemetery where Tom's dad is buried on our way home.  Took us a while to find it and his headstone once we got there but we finally did it!  Finally rolled into DC around 10 PM smelling like we'd been camping.  Long Day!