Chasing Chickens and Ducks in Key West New Jersey

Yesterday, I was having one of those days. I felt as though life had sucked the life out of me.

Ross assured me that the cure for a sucky day is lunching at the The Smithville Inn and then taking the road less traveled to look for photo op's.

And so we did.

We were seated in the Garden room, right by the fireplace.  The fireplace was not lit, but that was understandable and okay because it was a balmy 58 degrees outside.

There was nondescript elevator music playing and the people at the other tables were speaking in soft almost hushed voices.

As we sat and waited for our meal to come,  I noticed this lovely little older woman being escorted by the hostess.    When asked by the hostess, which room she preferred, she quietly asked if it would be okay for her to wait for her daughter to get there.  The daughter was parking the car and would be in shortly.

After a couple of minutes the daughter arrived and they were seated at the table behind us.

Now I know most people get annoyed by people who talk on their cell phones.  Where ever that may be.  You know the guy in the post office who is talking to his buddy about the game, while fishing in his pockets for the change to pay for his stamps. Or how about the woman in the grocery store who is so intent on her conversation with her girlfriend, probably talking about that guy in the post office, that she blocks the aisle with her cart.  And, of course, the worst offenders are those who talk on their mobiles in a restaurant, especially a quiet one.

Well, the daughter, I am pretty sure her name was Madge, was not a cell phone restaurant talker violator.
But, by the end of the meal we could have pulled a chair up to their table and asked how each member of the family was doing, by name.  See, even though Madge was not speaking on a cell phone, she had a strong voice and spoke very loudly.

Apparently, her father had just passed away.  I know this because she gave her mother a gift.  The build up to the gift opening was a little over the top.  The conversation went something like this: "Wait till you see it, Mom.  I immediately thought of you. You're going to love it. Wait, wait, don't open it until you read the card..."
When Mom opened the gift, Madge felt the need to explain the meaning of the gift to her.
"It's a journal, Mom.  You know you haven't written since Dad died.   Oh, you have?  Oh, well, this is a really nice journal, don't you think, Mom?"

I have no idea what Mom thought, because she unlike her daughter was using her inside voice.

As I said, for the rest of our meal we were involved, though not by choice, in their  Madge's conversation.

After we finished our lunch, said goodbye to Mom and Madge and told them to be sure to give our regards to Evelyn and the kids...no we didn't, we chased some chickens and ducks, with our camera of course.

Then it was off to Key West

 I don't know what this building was, but I was fascinated by the solar panel.

Across the road from Debra's Cafe,  there was an interesting display of bird houses.

I think this should have also been written in Sparrow.

When we got home, I settled in my comfy chair in my knitting room, plugged in my earphones, listened to a book From Doon with Death by Ruth Rendell and continued growing my marigold scarf.  A calming  way to deal with the stress of a sucky day.

Since I was so busy eating lunch, chasing ducks and knitting, I did not post yesterday.  So here are two entries from Anna's diary:

Thurs. January 24 1929
Home all day. Vera and Junior play well together.  Rosalie came from school.  Went down town. Bought marble bust of Jeanne de Arc.  Edythe called for me to go to star party.

Frid January 25
Nasty weather.  Cold, Icy and hail all day.  Indoors all day long with Vera and Junior.  Jewel came for supper.  Stayed over-night.  Jean went to Flo D. with Peg.

So I have found out, from Ancestry.com that Rosalie, Jewel and Jean are her sisters.  I am surmising that Junior is Anna's son.