special visitor

September, and into October, is a special time for us.  Our friend Francis, from Kenya, is IN the US.  He's here for about five weeks doing some medical conferences and other things like that. He's mostly in the midwest, but is planning a trip to us in October.  At the last minute he decided to go out to MA to see my parents, and so, of course we did too.

The main reason he wanted to go there was to see my dad who has had FOUR surgeries this year on his leg, which he broke several years ago.  He had his first surgery in February and there have been major complications since then.  There have been many frantic emails to Francis these past months!  Dad's last surgery was just a few weeks ago, so it was especially fitting that Francis would come out.  Thankfully -- and finally -- he's been given the all clear on his leg: infection is gone, healing is really happening now.  It isn't all perfect but it is on the mend.  PHEW.

consulting

working

Francis spent some time talking with my dad about his medical journey, and giving him advice on how to move forward (keep that foot up, take it easy! etc).  In these pictures Francis is actually applying a honey salve that someone gave my dad.  Then he wrapped the leg and sent my dad on his way.  I'm sure the bill is in the mail.  The nice part about this (beside the obvious) is that Francis gave my parents much more attention and information than they've gotten from the doctors here. It is so nice to have important friends!

Medical duties out of the way, we set out to explore the area.  Basically this was just driving around, showing him the hot spots, searching out potty locations for Kyalo (ah, potty training) and catching up. We stopped at the ever-popular Stage Fort Park in Gloucester, which is, apparently where we take everyone.  No matter, it is a cool place to see!

 a spot of history for you

 obligatory photo at the foundation of the US government

 and on top of that big boulder

 even though it was a cool, cloudy fall day, there was time at the beach skipping rocks

 And since he made Evelyn do it, Francis had to get his feet in the Atlantic

tough guy

We drove around some more, and once Kyalo fell asleep in the car, decided to let the guys go do some shopping.  :)  Of course, that's when the sun came out and the day turned beautiful. We ended the day with dinner at a restaurant in Essex, with Francis having his first clam chowder and fried clams.  Next time, lobster!

He had an early afternoon flight back to Michigan on Sunday so we didn't have too much time together in the morning.  There was just enough time for breakfast and chatting, a quick walk to the farm (of course) and more photos.

this is happiness

perfection would have been if Evelyn and Lisa came, too

This was, obviously a whirl-wind weekend.  Did I mention that we picked Francis up at the airport at midnight on Friday?  But let me tell you, this was 36 extra hours with such a dear friend (and a very unexpected trip back to MA!) which was very welcome.  We miss Francis and Evelyn so much, so it is fun to have Francis just a phone call away.  And we still have the weekend in October to look forward to.  NYC, here we come!