"'Tis ever common, men are merriest when they are from home..." (Henry V)

On Sunday night Rho and I picked up my sons Joel and Bobby and drove them from the Fort Lauderdale airport to their hotel on Federal Highway in Boca Raton--about 20 minutes from our condo. After they washed up and refreshed themselves, we went directly to the Red Lobster restaurant a short distance away from there and we had a fine dinner--especially the boys. Well they're not really boys anymore--I should say the "guys"; although I have trouble avoiding calling them my "kids". After dinner we drove back to the house and we chatted for awhile until about 10pm. Joel gave us a couple of very nice pens that even lit up. I'm sure it will come in handy when I have to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night. In addition to those pens, we were given something of greater value--a box of Mallomars which are worth their weight in gold. So, in return I gave each of them a piece of their "inheritence"--a one-ounce gold coin...and since gold is now going for over $800 and ounce, I guess it was sufficient to make us even for the pens and Mallomars.

On Monday--a second Veterans' Day, I took the guys to the driving range and gave each of them a lesson on how to swing the driver. It was sad to see the results of this lesson, since I had to watch the balls go in every which direction except straight. However, I told them that their swings had "potential"--meaning with several years of practice perhaps they would develop swings that would help them to be more accurate with their driving. After hitting a couple of buckets of balls we retired to the putting green and had a contest which I won handily. After that I took Bobby to his grandmother's grave site to pay his respects; Joel did not feel that he cared for the experience and we respected his feelings. In the late afternoon we went to Green Cay wetlands where there was a boardwalk at least a circular mile where you could take photos of all sorts of birds, flora and fauna. It was really wonderful for me to see my kids in real life rather than in e-mail, etc.

On Monday night we took them to a Chinese buffet where they ate and left hardly anything over for other customers. After they sated, we went to my sister's place in Century Village where they enjoyed seeing their Aunt Betty and Uncle Mickey. My nephew, Zaldor, has an apartment in the same building and when we went down there for a visit, at least I was one who was absolutely stunned! The place was decorated like a bordello! Candles were everywhere, incense was burning, incandescent lamps with different colors were all over the place which was in the dark without normal lighting that one would expect. On one wall were shelves containing at least 2000 CDs. Every wall in the apartment was decorated with photos of rock stars and rock bands and Beatles. There is really no way to describe it adequately. You just have to be there. Finally, today I took them to the airport and by this time they should be back in their own homes. I hope y'all enjoyed the weekend. Buenos noches.