Labor Day With Aunt Mary

Marilynn and I just got back from a Labor Day visit with Aunt Mary at Lafayette-Redeemer Hospital in Philadelphia. Marilynn put together a picnic lunch that couldn't be beat. We went out onto the third floor veranda and had seafood salad sandwiches on rolls, cherry tomatoes, potato chips (Pringles!) and -- for dessert -- home-grown Cranbury raspberries on tapioca pudding!!! Here's a photo of Aunt Mary digging into the raspberries:

After eating, we went outside for a little tour of the Holy Redeemer grounds. There is a great little water fountain (two children, one holding an umbrella), some beautiful flowers and quite a few unusual trees (Tulip Tree?). Afterwards, we sat outside on the front porch and talked a little bit about the Notarfrancesco family. I learned (for the first time), that Uncle Nick's father (named Joseph) grew up in an orphanage in Italy before coming to America. Per Aunt Mary, the orphanage was run by the Franciscans, which had something to do with the ultimate creation of the family name, Notarfrancesco. I'm not exactly sure how the surname was derived and Aunt Mary did have a slight twinkle in her eye, so she might have been pulling my leg. Like a good reporter, though, I just relate what I'm told!

At one point, I tried to take a quick iPhone video of Aunt Mary relating a family story or two. As shown in the brief video below, though, I didn't get very far. I had just gotten her rolling on a story when she heard Marilynn knocking at the veranda door. Marilynn had gotten a little chilly out on the veranda and was fetching a sweater of Aunt Mary's to wear.

[Note #1: The sweater was exactly where Aunt Mary had told Marilynn it would be, it fit Marilynn perfectly, and Aunt Mary gave it to her as a present!]

[Note #2: I didn't hear Marilynn knocking it all -- that gives you an idea just how good Aunt Mary's hearing still is!]

Unfortunately, I had to stop the video to let Marilynn back out onto the veranda, which disrupted the story. The video only lasts about 10 seconds, but here it is anyway:

Not that great a video, I know, but it gives you some idea of what our conversations were like. I tried to record some other videos a couple of times after that, but the audio quality was very poor, especially when we went outside.

After about 3 hours, it was time to go. Aunt Mary was getting tired. I was getting tired too, come to think of it! We helped her out of her wheelchair (which caused an alarm to go off and brought an aide to her room) and instructed her to always call for an aide before trying to stand up. She humored us by saying she would. We all know better. :-)