MOTHER'S DAY BREAKFAST AT ROMEOS CORNER GRILL IN STRATFORD ONTARIO

 PHOTO TAKEN BY THE WAITER WITH BEN'S SMARTPHONE CAMERA

An early start for us at 6 a.m. today.   We had to be at Romeos Corner Grill at the corners of Romeo and Ontario Streets in Stratford Ontario at 9 to meet Kelly's daughter Sabra, her son Ben, and his two boys, Darion and Kai for a Mother's Day breakfast:))  Stratford (my old stomping grounds) is slightly less than an hour's drive away so we rolled out shortly before 7:45 giving ourselves lots of time.  Knowing we wouldn't be gone long, Pheebs decided to stay home and keep an eye on things.

 WE SAW A FEW SMALL PATCHES OF SUNLIGHT ON OUR WAY

Using less traveled secondary roads under mostly cloudy skies it was a rain-free quiet Sunday morning's drive to Stratford.  We had never been to Romeo's Corner Grill before and the place was packed with people and more lined up to get in.  And OMG, the people noise inside was so loud it was nearly impossible to carry on a normal conversation  But, aside from that, I liked the looks of the place and remembered it as once being a Williams Coffee Shop and before that, a Fish'n'Chips place as I recall.  The food was fine and I enjoyed my good old standard bacon and eggs.  The best part was Kelly seeing two of her children and two of her grandchildren, and especially on Mother's Day.  

 KELLY AND HER DAUGHTER SABRA

 KELLY'S YOUNGEST SON BEN AND HIS TWO BOYS, DARION AND KAI

 KAI SCRUTINIZES THE MENU

 BROTHERLY LOVE HUH

 KELLY'S EGG BENEDICT

 TOASTS A LITTLE BURNT AND YOU CAN SEE I HAD ALREADY RIPPED INTO ONE OF MY EGGS

 JUST ABOUT READY TO HEAD HOME

It was 10:30 when we wrapped things up and headed outside to the parking lot and our cars.  Skies had begun clearing earlier and were still continuing to do so.  We had a really nice drive home in mostly sunshine through a very green picturesque countryside.  Rolled into our driveway shortly after noon.  

 KELLY RECEIVES A COUPLE MOTHER'S DAY GIFTS

 SNAPPING A FEW PICS

It was a perfect afternoon for doing things outside but I purposely kept myself away from doing anything at all and my right leg thanked me profusely for that.  Relaxed and contented myself reading.  Hey, it was Sunday eh.  A day of relaxation they say:))     

 HEADING HOME

 SUNNY BLUE SKIES AHEAD

Al's Music Box:)) So Far Away is a song written by Carole King, which appeared on her 1971 album Tapestry. The recording features James Taylor on acoustic guitar. In addition to Taylor, and King on piano, instruments include Russ Kunkel on drums, Charles Larkey on bass guitar and Curtis Amy of flute.  The lyrics express longing for a lover who is far away.  But Allmusic critic Bill Janovitz notes that while the lyrics start by focusing on the physical distance between the lovers, the lyrics use that as a jumping-off point to explore the emotional distance between lovers as well. Rolling Stone stated King's "warm, earnest singing" on the song brought out the song's sadness.  Cash Box said of it that "Carole weaves a magnificent ballad spun of soft, melodic phrasing and soothing piano accompaniment topped off with the superb Lou Adler production touch."  Record World called it a "finely crafted cut".  In 2017, Paste ranked the song number four on their list of the 12 greatest Carole King songs, and in 2022, American Songwriter ranked the song number two on their list of the 10 greatest Carole King songs.  It was performed at Amy Winehouse's funeral by friends and family as it was one of Winehouse's favorite songs.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( It was different when we were kids.  In second grade, a teacher came in and gave us all a lecture about not smoking, and then they sent us over to arts and crafts to make ashtrays for Mother's Day.

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Q: Why don't blind people skydive?
A: It scares the holy bejeebers out of their seeing-eye dogs.

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The trick is to not let people know how really weird you are until it's too late for them to back out.

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A customer walked into a bar and said, “I’ll have a pint of less, please.”  “Less?” queried the bartender. “What’s that?”  “I don’t know either,” said the customer, “but my doctor told me to drink less.”

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