November another great month

It has been a while since I posted and it is long overdue!! I have great news, my recovery continues wonderfully. In about 2 weeks I will be back at Duke for the bi-monthly check up, I expect just the confirmation of how well I am doing!!

November started with a trip to Orlando to meet with my sisters, we had a fun time, enjoyed the nice weather and the company. We had Halloween in Orlando, some shopping, and mostly taking it easy for me. Karen, Luca and Patty went to a couple of parks. One before I arrived and another one the day before we left. It was a short visit and it was so nice to spend time together.

The second week brought visitors from my school days in Peru. My friend Gaby and I organized a reunion with friends from Maria Reina, I spent my elementary school years there.  We expected mostly friends that live in the USA but we were also fortunate to have 2 girls that live in Peru travel to St. Louis for the weekend. We had 7 classmates arrive in St. Louis over the weekend. It started with two friends from LA on Thursday Nov. 8th, Elena B and Mariela, we had a nice lunch at the History Museum after a drive around Forest Park, it was a lovely day with Fall colors in full display. Gaby took over in the evening since I had to take my daughter Alejandra to violin lessons. The following day, Friday, most of the group arrived starting with Ani from Columbus, OH, we had a great brunch together at Osage. Next, Elena Q and her daughter Amber arrived by car from Minnesota after noon, and Liz a little later. We now had 5 classmates and Amber, we took everybody for a drive in Forest park, the group visited the Zoo and the Art Museum where we met to go to the famous St. Louis Arch in the evening and had dinner at Mango a great Peruvian restaurant.
On Saturday we had 3 arrivals, starting with Maria Pia and her husband Felipe and our last friend flying from Washington DC, Conchi.
We had a busy day planned visiting a variety of St. Louis attractions, starting with the Anheuser Busch brewery followed by a visit to the Arch and we ended at the hill for dinner. Maria Pia, was not able to join us for the earlier visits. Later after the Arch Maria Pia, Felipe, her husband and Renato, Gaby's husband joined us for dinner. A great time was had by all and I was very tired after all the activity so I went home with Elena and her daughter Amber to rest. The rest of the group went country dancing to Illinois.
Early Sunday morning I was sad to see Elena Bosio leave, but grateful she came, she is truly a joy.
During all this commotion my husband was in Brazil on a business trip, he arrived Sunday morning and we all went to the Boathouse for brunch.

Boathouse, Forest Park, St. Louis

Inside the Boathouse, missing Elena Bosio

We had wonderful Fall weather until Sunday. The day started cloudy so we had to change plans for the afternoon. We spent time at Elliot's parents home where some of my friends were staying. We had a book signing with Ani who had brought her books to share. Mid afternoon the rain started.
In the evening they prepared a delicious meal with Causa, my request, wonderful appetizers, some amazing salads and grilled chicken and ribs.  Amber made a great Alfajor that was amazing.
The following day Mariela and Ani came with me to get my Avastin infusion. It was quite a weekend with all the powerful energies of friendship and love. It is great for my heart and health. I want to thank each them from the bottom of my heart for being here with me and thank my friend Gaby for being a big part of this weekend!!

Bumper sticker in Elena Q's car

Book signing at the Uchitelles'

My buddies Mariela and Ani keeping getting a hand massage during my chemo.

After the great weekend I had a surprise for my friend Monica who was leaving St. Louis for Argentina. I invited her and Gaby to see Chuck Berry perform live at Blueberry Hill. We were all there for the first time, Chuck is 87 years old and still performing, it was a fantastic evening.

At the Chuck Berry Concert

Chuck Berry live!!!

This past weekend was Thanksgiving and so much to be thankful for. We all traveled to Oxford, Maryland were we met Stephen and Nicole at the airport in Baltimore. We drove to Oxford and spent the holiday with Ben and Susan, Becky, Dave, Alicia and Sam and we missed Liz and her family. We celebrated, visited St. Micheal's, did some yoga, played bananagrams.

Thanskgiving

Great games of Bananagrams

A little yoga after the great meals!

We made time to visit our friends in Virginia,  Sole Valera and her kids and her sister Tere, we missed her husband Tono who was working. The following morning it was time to go back, Nicole to Oberlin, OH and Stephen to LA and back to St. Louis for Elliot, Ale and I. Looking forward to December when we will be together again.

At the Rivera Valera family visiting

With Elliot