New Jersey Weekend-The Epilogue

Believe it or not we actually had time this weekend to drive by some famous places in the city of Philadelphia. Top photo is the childhood home of Grace Kelly who became the Princess of Monaco. You can see the white front door thru the trees. It was a very traditional house with a big lawn. I learned that the Kelly family still owns the house. And yes, in Philly there is a Kelly Avenue. Gene showed us his childhood row house in Philly and the Roman Catholic High School he graduated from in 1964. Gee, time does fly. Gene's high school was the first Catholic High School in the city of Philadelphia. It was founded in the 1880's. We waved to William Penn on his city perch as we were coming and going to the Ben Franklin Bridge that takes you across the Delaware River to New Jersey. We learned that at one time no building could be taller than the building holding Penn at the top. Similar to Washington D.C. in that no building downtown can be taller than the Washington Monument. But in Philly that rule was overruled because now there is quite a skyline of skyscrapers. And a new skyscraper is going up. It will be the Com cast Building. And every city has its native sons. For Philly it is Ben Franklin and William Penn. I guess the native daughter would be Betsy Ross. Hm mm....I should someday do a blog about that! And as we drove down #95 towards home we could see the Philly Sports Complex which includes the stadium where the Eagles play. Yesterday the Eagles beat the Redskins! The second photo is a pic of my favorite dish of the weekend. Portabelo mushrooms in Stilton cream sauce in puff pastry. I think I could have downed at least five of those appetizers! Sandra is such a great cook. She could put Martha Stewart to shame because she does not have a staff of 100's to help her. She does it all herself from finding these delicious recipes to shopping for the special ingredients to preparing all the food from scratch. Sandra also creates lists and prepares much of the food in advance so she can spend time with her guests. Harry, the yellow cat in the previous blog, knows Sandra's entertaining routines so he is always sitting by the door to the fridge or by the door to the crimson dining room.

I had to coax Harry to the bay window to have his photo taken. Obviously he wasn't interested in this activity and refused to pose for my camera. Each time we crossed the bridge and entered PA we had to pay a road toll.

Each time we crossed back over the bridge to NJ we didn't have to pay a road toll. Apparently the local insiders' joke is this: You have to pay a toll to leave the state of New Jersey.