Hanging with Simon

Simon of the Crusades
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

Neil and I had the pleasure of spending the evening with Simon Chess yesterday. In fact, when we came to greet us at the door we told him that we were there to visit him and he promptly went inside to tell his Mum and Dad that there were people here that had come to see him. Thinking about it now, that might be why it was difficult thereafter to chat with Brian and Sally without Simon saying 'Excuse me...' and taking us off on an interesting tangent. However, we did get the great experience of Simon reading 'The Carrot Seed' to us and, later, playing trains and then just before bed time turning up in these cool crusader pyjamas.

It was a bit of a last minute affair and Sally graciously agreed to cook dinner for us. Brian was excited as he was able to use his wine aerator for the first time - we did the 'glass of normal/glass of aerated' experiment and he was delighted to note that he could tell the difference. Having used his new gadget for the first time he then offered us sparkling water - fizzed (an official verb in the UlloaSullivan dictionary) by another gadget - and then, after dinner, jasmine tea made from water boiled in a fancy tea-making kettle that heats water to the appropriate temperature depending on the type of tea you're preparing.

And with that it was time to bid farewell from the Chess' and make our way back to Sunnyvale...