I had a very nice time this past weekend. My youngest brother, Mark, wife Debby, and children Ben and Beth, came to visit. Chez_Mathilde had a full house. My brother Charlie flew in from Denver, where he was working, and my brother Gene came down from way upstate to visit. We all had lunch with my Mom--it was great seeing all her with all her living children, at an event that wasn't a funeral.

On Saturday, we went decided to visit New York's wine country, the Finger Lakes. I randomly picked the Thirsty Owl Winery as our destination, because they had cute stuffed owls at the liquor store. And decent Riesling.

We got off the Thruway at exit 41, and found it swarming with state troopers and full of signs about Indian sovereign nations. In a WTF mood, we continued on to the Thirsty Owl. What a great choice! After wine tasting, we had a really good lunch outdoors under a grapevine-covered arbor overlooking beautiful Cayuga Lake. We bought wine and headed back up the lake, taking in a couple more wineries along the way.

Back at the Thruway, the troopers and sign-wavers had disappeared. It was on to Symeon's, a terrific Greek restaurant in the Utica area, for dinner. Then we went to Hamilton College for an alumni musical show, featuring my niece Heather Montana. Heather does a great song about "Why am I always chosen to do the Wagner roles?" while wearing a (plastic) Viking hat with horns and blond braids and holding a (plastic) battleaxe. Heather is, like many women in our family, somewhat Zaftig, or "built." And she has great pipes!

On Sunday, we learned that the disturbance at exit 41 was a clash between the Cayuga Nation, which had offered a $10.00 coupon on its NYS tax-free gas, and a group that thought the Indians shouldn't have special privileges and had effectively blocked the Thruway for a while. Yay, we missed both groups!

Mark, Deb, and the kids took off for the family camp in the Old Forge area, with plans to view fall-changed leaves, ride the chair lift up McCauley Mountain, and shop all the tourist places. Charlie headed back to Denver. And I was happy that my family included such nice and interesting people. Thanks, guys, for a good weekend, and y'all come back now, y'hear!

Today is my Dad's 85th birthday. He has senile dementia, a weak heart, and high blood pressure, so I'm really glad he's still around and remembers my name.

One year ago, on a similar pleasant June evening, Mom went to answer the phone. While she was out of the room, Dad took the car keys and drove away. We think he was going to park the car in the garage around back, and got lost. True, the garage was gone; Mom had it pulled down because it wasn't safe, and the new garage hadn't been built yet.

So Dad continued to drive. My sister and I cruised every place we could think of that would be familiar to him. We contacted the police, who put out an APB. By morning, we had no word about him.

The newspaper interviewed me, and their graphics department put together a poster for me. We emailed the poster to a local printing company that volunteered to print as many as we needed. The Rotary club and the hospital staff got ready to put up the posters, and the Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists and Episcopalians started praying in shifts. Dad was a popular surgeon here for many years, and he touched many people, usually while repairing an inguinal hernia.

Mom, being Mom, decided that he was dead, but she would be stoic about it. (sigh)
We were so glad when the state troopers found Dad, around noon, three hours away in the Adirondacks. My brother fetched him home, and my sister and I fetched the car. He had no idea of where he had gone, of course, and seemed happy to be home, but very tired.

The newspaper ran a front -page story on Dad's safe return. Mom devised a new hiding place for the car keys. Dad has not made any more getaways in the car. He now "helps" Mom at the store by driving the electric grocery cart, and sneaks candy into the basket while she's not looking. And balloons. Keep on trucking, Dad!