Exquisite pizza, the school year winding down, and a shopping day (7 Quick Takes)

~1~

The long holiday weekend came just when we needed it. We are limping our way to the finish line with the school year, and I’m counting down on the number of lunches I still need to pack. (That’s 5 for one teen, 11 for the other.)

I suggested that we take a day trip together, and we threw a few ideas around. We ended up driving to the Toy Exchange, a vintage toy store in Mount Airy, Maryland, and continuing on to Frederick to stop at Pistarro’s.

You might not think it’s worth it to drive almost an hour for exceptional pizza, but I have known for years that we were on a lifelong pizza quest, and Pistarro’s is the best we’ve found.

We haven’t been there since February 2020, just before the world closed down, and we were well overdue for a return trip. Each time we do something that we haven’t done since before the pandemic, I feel as if we’ve reclaimed our lives in some new way. But we were too busy eating pizza to think much about 2020.

Now I’m making a list of day trips I’m hoping we can fit in this summer. I’m not sure how many will include pizza.

~2~

With the school year winding down, our younger son brought home a packet of all the art he has created this year. It feels like Christmas morning to pull out each piece and marvel at it.

He made this beautiful chalk drawing of a dog with tennis balls and some cool prints with crab shapes. But the piece that stopped me in my tracks was wrapped in two separate pieces of purple tissue paper.

I unwrapped them, and—I have to admit—it wasn’t obvious to me what they were. It’s much clearer when they are positioned right, as they are in the photo, that they are a keyboard and a mouse. I love them. I know we don’t have many more years of art coming home at the end of the year, and I really cherish this time.

~3~

One of my favorite things about the baseball season is that it starts chilly and gets warmer as it continues. Four years have passed since I last watched our younger son playing baseball, and I love watching him on the field.

Just don’t ask me the score. All I can tell you is how our son is playing.

I’m sorry we only have a few weeks left of the season.

~4~

Our nephew who is graduating from high school made his college choice—and he picked my alma mater! I’m sure he will have a different experience at Franklin & Marshall than I did since I graduated 25 years ago. I really can’t believe it has been that long. But I am excited for him, and I’m happy that he will be close enough for us to drive up to Lancaster and take him out for a slice of spaghetti pizza. Somehow this post is more about pizza than I thought it might be when we started.

~5~

For Mother’s Day, I gave my mother some of the new Tomie dePaola stamps, and I found myself wondering why I don’t give people stamps more often.

But then I love giving useful, fun, disposable items, and stamps certainly fit those criteria.

And I love Tomie dePaola. But then don’t we all?

I’ve written about him once before in this piece, Three Kisses for Tomie de Paola.

~6~

For Christmas, many months ago, I gave my mother a day of shopping together. We finally pulled it off on the Feast of St. Rita. As pathetic as it is that it took that long for me to find a day to take off that worked for my mother, it was worth the wait.

I met her at Mass that morning. Then we went shopping at some of our favorite spots, crossing items off our list, and scooping up a few deals. My older son was getting out early from school that day, so we picked him up and went to lunch together.

Our lives are very full—in the best possible ways. I know why it took so long to find the time. But we can’t wait to do it again soon. Before Christmas, even.

~7~

One of our female finches has laid four (unfertilized) eggs in a food dish.

Lisa and her mother—who are not always the best of friends—sit quite peacefully together on the eggs.

I’m not sure how long I will leave the eggs there, but it’s so sweet, and maybe a little sad.

Lisa will never be a mother unless we import a male finch specifically for her. I don’t think that bothers her emotionally. She’s a bird, after all. But I do imagine she feels a tug of nature.

I’m happy she and her mother seem to be getting along so nicely.

~Bonus Take~

Heading into the long weekend, I made blueberry muffins—along with some muffin tops. I don’t know why I even make the regular muffins because everyone enjoys the tops.

I use the same recipe I use for the muffins, the Jordan Marsh recipe, drop them in circles on parchment-paper-lined cookie sheets, leaving some room for them to grow, and then I just watch them carefully to make sure they don’t burn. They don’t need quite as long to cook as the muffins do.

Isn’t it wonderful that we’re moving into berry season? Summer is my favorite time of year.

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