Special Meal

(Joliet, IL) Hi 79 Lo 60 -- Rick took today off work to be with us, so this morning we headed to his place to spend the day. Jim has some items he wants to sell on eBay, and Rick is a very good photographer. (You can see some of his work at his website, Rick Walter Photography.) He worked most of the afternoon taking photos of the items, mostly collectible knives, for posting on eBay. We had a good time watching him set everything up.




Every year when we come here I make northern style chicken and dumplings for him and his family. He looks so forward to it, as it's one of the comfort meals he remembers from growing up. (The other is Hamburger Helper, which we ate a lot of when raising the kids.) Last year we ran out of dumplings before everyone was full, so this year I got two chickens and cooked up two big pots. We still almost didn't have enough.

This is the whole family. Laura, Joey, Jim, Ellice, and Rick


The dumplings came out out perfect.


Mmm good!


We left soon after dinner so they relax and get mentally prepared for work tomorrow. We got home just after sunset and watched some TV while I got in the chatroom. It was so great to spend time with our family!