Late last month, an old college friend called to tell me that she would need to go out to Seattle for a week to settle her mom in a nursing home; she then asked if I could host her teen-aged daughter during that time. Marcia’s husband was traveling abroad on business, and she didn’t want to drag the child across the country. “Of course,” I said, and Gloria arrived this afternoon to stay with me in North Brookfield for a week.

The American Eagle flight from KRDU arrived on time, her luggage did not go astray, and soon we were on our way: north on 91, east on the Pike, then through the back roads of Palmer and Warren to my home. By then it was well past noon, and we were both ravenous, so we ate lunch as we drove.

Once Gloria had settled in to my living room, we took a quick walk into town, via Ward Street, then Elm. The day was hot and somewhat humid, so midway through our walk we stopped at Walnut Grove Cemetery to sit for a minute in the Walker Memorial Garden. As we stood up and strolled back toward the road, recorded music began playing. It was beautiful, but rather eerie.

I’m not used to cooking for anyone but myself, so I insisted that we should shop for groceries for the two of us. Thank goodness Hannaford Supermarket is a ten-minute walk from my house, and Gloria was quite agreeable to eating vegetarian for a week.

After supper, we decided to watch Clint Eastwood’s Letters From Iwo Jima, a movie that I had selected through my Blockbuster-by-Mail program.

Here’s Gloria in front of my home on Walnut Street.

Weather: hot and sunny
Lunch: tomato and hummous sandwiches
Dinner: refried bean tacos with guacamole and salsa
Dessert: carrot cake