Oh, where to start? How about HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I sent an e-card to Dad and tried to call him several times, until it clicked in my mind that he and Mom were driving out to Aunt Mur's house today. I called Mom's cell phone, but she didn't have it on, and I realize that I don't have Aunt Mur's phone number, so I'm not sure if I'll get the chance to wish him this personally today.

Aunt Bernie and Uncle Bill were up early yesterday - they're still on Japan time I think. Uncle Bill hooked up his computer and downloaded his e-mail - he had a hundred messages waiting! I went over and picked up the rental car and we headed off. I took them to a diner in South Philly for breakfast and we all ate heartily. Then we drove up to see THE HOUSE. I think they like it, although it still requires quite a bit of imagination to see what it will eventually look like.

After we toured the site, we went to see an old Federal style house in Society Hill, one of the neighborhoods in Philadelphia. It is called the Physick House, and it was owned by the "father of surgery" in Philadelphia of the late 1700's. It was an interesting tour - between the furniture, the architecture and the surgical instruments.

I took them on a little driving tour of the city, past "Boathouse Row" on the Schyulkill River and the Art Museum, and then dropped them off at the Museum of Fine Arts. They stayed for about two hours, and I picked them up and we went back to the condo to rest for a while.

We had dinner at Panorama, a little Italian restaurant in Old City. It was nice, but their portions were large, so we all waddled back home. The condo complex has to have its electricity turned off Sunday morning from 6 a.m. until noon, so we took the two heaviest suitcases down to the car to make sure we didn't have to carry them down the stairs in the morning. Uncle Bill and I worked on our computers and Aunt Bernie read until it was time for bed.

This morning we had two small crises: the electricity being out, and my having to go work as a volunteer for a local bike club's annual ride for a couple of hours. Aunt Bernie and Uncle Bill were troopers and ventured out to the Snow White Diner for breakfast until I got back around 10:30. Aunt Bernie took a quick nap and Uncle Bill waded through his e-mails. We left for the airport around noon and I dropped them off for their Northwest flight to Atlanta. They'll be there until the 20th when they fly home to California. It was such fun having them here.

In the afternoon I went skating for a while and then started getting prepared to go down to Washington DC for a few days. We are having an internal meeting there, and then I will go see Maura on Thursday.

[I wonder what Suki will do with herself while I'm gone?]

Quote du jour:

"What is there more kindly than the feeling between host and guest?"

-- Aeschylus, 458 B.C.

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