This weekend Girlfriend Brooks and I were able to visit my family in honor of Saint Patrick's Day Weekend. There really is nothing quite like Saint Patrick's Day in New England. A Facebook Memory popped up a few days ago, where ten years ago my family made 25 pounds of corned beef! 25 pounds! My family and I every year would have a huge party on the Saturday before Saint Patrick's Day. Some years it's been mild, some years a little chilly. We didn't have it in us for a party this year, we're still just not in a party mood after losing my sister Suzanne "Zannie," almost 14 months ago. Even though there would be no party, I still wanted to see and be with my parents. I hadn't been up since The Super Bowl, and the next couple of weekends will have me working at multiple events. Brooks and I started making our way up to Mansfield, Massachusetts Saturday morning. This was a pretty quick adventure, but still very important to me. Saturday the wind was intense, I probably used 20-25% more gas than usual on our drive from Vernon, New Jersey to Mansfield. The ride was going pretty smooth and routine, we crossed the Mass state line on 84 at a normal clip, meaning we were now just 59 minutes away. All of the sudden 15 minutes later, not only was our ETA more than 45 minutes, it had been upped to 1 hour 30 minutes! The closer we were getting, the more time kept increasing. We figure there must've been a terrible accident on the Mass Pike I-90, because both Google Maps and Waze were telling us the same exact information. We finally got to Mansfield at 3pm, even though our original ETA was supposed to be 2:03pm. We were more than ready to relax and unwind with my parents. Bog Iron Brewery was having a fun Saint Patrick's Day party. We were able to go and meet up with besties Sue, Jill, John, and Baby JoJo. We had a great time.
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Sunday morning we visited Grammy at her new nursing home. It's tough seeing her there, but she seems to be adjusting as well as possible. It does help me feel better knowing that she's in a great place, surrounded by very nice and caring people. We've had several fun conversations with them just in the two times I've been there to visit.
After that, we went to Zannie's grave to check on her flowers and decorations. Then we went home for a little break. I took Brooks to Patriot Place at Gillette Stadium for our usual selfie in front of Gillette. Some folks were wearing t shirts, shorts and flip flops believe it or not. At almost 50 degrees, I was totally comfortable in my Ireland hoody. Tough to believe I bought that Ireland hoody in Dublin almost 20 years ago. Time flies!
Padre then went to a wake at Sherman Jackson Funeral Home in Mansfield, we paid our respects to our friend Mike Sullivan. He was our family mechanic for me through high school and college. Paul who worked for him now has been our family mechanic for over 20 years. We had some good memories for sure. I remember 25 or so years ago meeting Mike's wife. She was joking about knowing everyone by their receipts, as she helped with bookkeeping. She didn't know me by name when I told her Steve Allan at first, but then when telling her that Mike usually labeled me as "Steve from Wallpaper City," she exclaimed "OH I KNOW YOU! YOU ARE HERE VERY OFTEN!" Yes, back then with my used cars I was quite a regular at Mansfield Auto Specialties.
My parents did an outstanding job with the corned beef probably 6-9 pounds or so. Brooks loved it, enjoying her first Saint Patrick's Day Weekend in New England.
We were able to have a fun visit with my Aunty Donna and Uncle Paul with many laughs. Later, besties Tracy and Matt came by and we were able to share more laughs and hear all about their new furniture store they just opened in Middleboro, Massachusetts. My parents will definitely be visiting South Shore Home Furniture very soon. Our upstairs living room furniture has seen better days, but in its defense we've had that furniture for over 30 years. Might be time to update a little bit.
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Monday Lunch Bunch was tremendous! My parents surprised us with New England Clam Chowder from Geno's in Mansfield, Massachusetts. I then picked up an order of clam cakes from Fresh Catch in Mansfield. We had an absolutely delicious Lunch Bunch at home before we hit the road.
That ride was rather intense back to Jersey. The timing was fine, 4 hours per usual without traffic, but that rain and heavy wind was intense. I don't think I really even left my couch last night. I just basically stumbled into bed wiped out from that intense drive.
Time to start planning next weekend. Saturday we're Feeding Families at Weis Markets in Franklin and Newton, then I'll be at Subaru World Of Newton from 4-6pm! You can win Stock Car Racing Experience tickets, and they have Zero Down deals on all models! This will be Epic and fun too!