Notwithstanding the dense, honking Friday afternoon traffic that reminded us of why we don’t like the Washington, D.C. area, we have been graced with the beautiful fall weather that is a trait we enjoyed when we lived here. A number of the trees still have vividly colored leaves in orange, red, and gold. Halloween decorations abound and a long sleeve shirt is adequate.

My girlfriend and I allowed hubbies to do as they wished – her’s relaxing n front of TV with the newspaper spread around him and mine dropped off at the Metro to go down to the “Mall” in Washington with his camera. We then went to perform the obligatory weekend errands of domestic life before heading out to shop for new purse and have lunch. We caught up on everything before going to provision for the birthday dinner for our son.

I couldn’t find Newburg sauce so made a slight modification for shrimp and lobster in a lemon butter sauce in pastry shells, with roasted carrots as a side. Baked brie chunks with raspberry  wrapped in phyllo and two other French cheeses made up the appetizers. We didn’t have time to order a birthday cake ahead and instead picked up a small chocolate mousse cheesecake that was at least symbolic.

Despite the hand washing that would be required, we decided to bring out the china, crystal, and silver. After all, it really shouldn’t just sit in the cabinet all the time and it wasn’t going to be a late night. Not with expecting daughter-in-law having worked all   afternoon and dance performance for son scheduled for the next afternoon. We sent them on their way and chatted n the way that friends who have known each other for years do as we washed and dried dishes. One final glass of wine and then it was bedtime.