My time in Joisey

 I had a fabulous visit to my family!

My sister (the sister) lives in Colorado, and I don't usually get as much time with her as I would like on her home visits.

This time we got closer to enough!  We went on a very slow, but scenic walk.  We watched Sabrina.  We said the Office and went to Mass together.  We remembered all the things we did to each other together growing up...

She's home right now because she nearly died of propane poisoning - not the exact circumstances I would have wished!!!  Her lungs were damaged and it was though best for her to recover at home where we have a sea level atmosphere (her home is two miles above sea level).

I had a great time with her, despite the fact that she consistently cleaned my clock at Mah-jong, and my Mom cleaned both our clocks at Pinochle (or Pigs' Knuckles, as we play it).

An excellent exercise in Lenten humility!

Speaking of clocks, it was during a game when I realized that my Mom, sister, and I all have the exact same watch!

I'm not sure what that says about us!

Looking at the picture again, I also realize that my Mom and I also have the same tablecloth.

There are a lot worse things than being just like my Mom!!!

I also had a great time talking with my Dad about World War II and the state of the military bases where I grew up playing in ways children are no longer allowed to play..

Interestingly, the Zoomlians and I discovered Terry Jones: Ancient Inventions on Netflix Instant and were watching it today (We'll only be doing the first two episodes!!!).  The first episode has Terry Jones (from Monty Python fame) riding around commanding a tank.  I said, "When I was a kid, my Dad got me a Russian tank commanders helmet."  And later, "When I was a kid, I got to play around in all kinds of tanks.""

Oob (the 4 year old) came back with complete self assurance, "When I was little, I got to make the tank cannon, CANNON!!!"