Weekend round-up

Here's what we did on Saturday and Sunday:

J had slept over with a group of friends on Friday. He spent part of the day in the library, re-grouped with his tribe and slept over again Saturday night. Good times had by all. On Sunday I helped him meet up with his buddy and family for the afternoon. I joined the two boys watching a film (The Big Sick) at the Spectrum on Delaware Ave on Sunday evening.

C spent Saturday at our main hosts' house, mostly amusing herself as her friend had work and other commitments. They had fun in the evening though, including a late-night ice-cream excursion. On Sunday we met an inspirational middle school teacher friend and his wife for breakfast, and C interviewed them for a project she's doing. It was great to catch up with them, though like everyone else they are rattled by current US events. In the afternoon I took C to meet our formerly-farm-manager friend, who happened to be at the Russian Orthodox church in Colonie (stunning interiors - it was only built in 2005 but is gradually being decorated in traditional style throughout). I took her on from there to stay again with one of her oldest friends, A, in Delmar.

I met my fair trade friend and partner in projects, M on Saturday morning for an excellent walk at Five Rivers. Halfway round M had a skype call on her phone from family in Turkey, to wish her a happy 70th birthday. Pretty magical to be able to pull her little grandsons out of her pocket like that! I then caught up with a few familiar faces at the farmers' market, and from there called in on my refugee friends. All good news as everything seems to be going well for them at the moment. In the evening I drove my host into Albany. We started strolling around the Corning Preserve, then realised a storm was about to break. We avoided a thorough soaking (I had forgotten about that sort of rain), and when the downpour subsided we managed to find an Indian restaurant.

My Sunday activities mostly involved transporting the kids as detailed above, with a brief run-out to Thacher Park (Indian Ladder Trail currently closed - boo!) between times.