From : "Amy H." Subject : Amy Life Update Date : Wed, 28 May 2003 21:02:11 -0400 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Hi All! I wanted everyone to know that I'm doing well. I've been travelling a heck of a lot, and the house is a mess, but I'm none the worse for wear. First and foremost event in my life: My uncle Jim Harrand passed away on May 17th. He had Lymphoma, and went through chemo, and it just didn't go very well. I was up in Traverse on the 21st for his funeral. On the one hand, it was nice to see everyone again. On the other hand, I really wish it was under better circumstances. I pretty much never see my Dad's family except for funerals. Hopefully there will be a family reunion sometime so I can see everyone at a happier time. On a much happier note, I've been seeing a lot of Scott lately. He was out on the weekend of the 17/18th for Chris and Akiko's wedding, and we went camping last weekend, and he'll be out here again Friday for the Taste of Ann Arbor. Yay fun! We went camping in the Finger Lakes region of New York, about 45 minutes west of Syracuse. We had both taken Friday off from work, and arrived at 4:30 at our campsite. Set up the tent, made dinner, checked out the campsite, etc. And then it rained. And rained. And rained. Oh, and my tent leaks. I talked to Jeannine tonight, she says it has always leaked. Apparently I forgot this; I'm going to buy some water-proofer for the seams this week so I can waterproof it after I clean all the caked-on mudd OFF this weekend. It was a good weekend though, Scott and I made some great food on the grill, and we went to 5 different wineries in a search for ice wine. Back in October when we went to Niagara Falls I bought a $20 Canadian bottle of Icewine from Kittling Ridge Estates in Grimsby, Ontario. Ice wine is a very sweet wine, and usually very expensive ($60 US/ 375 mL bottle). Hmm, now that I think about it, it may have been a $30 CD/$20 US bottle. Whatever. Anyways, my point is that the people at the first 4 wineries didn't know what Ice wine is, they thought it was wine meant to be served really cold, maybe as a slushee or something. The fifth knew what it was, and had a good almost-icewine for $20. We took it. Actually, we bought 4 bottles of wine that weekend, and so Scott bought wine glasses at Mikasa and a wine opener when we went to the outlet mall. ^_^ About 3 weeks ago I wanted to make a ham and white bean soup, but had no ham. Kroger had ham on sale. Whole, bone-in hams. I bought one. Specifily, I bought 14 pounds of ham. Yowzah! So, I have about 10 pounds of ham in the freezer cut into steaks, and some ham brother, and I ate several omelettes and split pea soup. And tonight, finally, I made the soup that I was wanting. Yay! Tomorrow: More omelettes. This weekend's plans: Friday night pick up Scott from the airport, marinate chicken breasts. Satruday: Omelette for breakfast, go in to work to give Oscar his medicine (he is a very sick fish), make Taco Salad and Broccoli Salad. Take salads, Marinated chicken breasts, and grill to Stacie & Sean's for cook out. Party. Sunday: Taste of Ann Arbor, all day. Gorge. Monday: Take Scott to airport.