Marta at Breakfast

Marta’s plane touched down at PDX at 8:44 yesterday morning. We had all been up and running since way before dawn’s crack so we didn’t make it very far out of the city limits before we had to stop for breakfast. A BIG breakfast! Of all my loved ones, Roonie has THE BEST appetite and somehow manages to stay toothpick slim.

I am Marta’s “other mother” – or so she introduces me to her friends. From my vantage point it’s harder. “My other child” doesn’t quite have the same panache but, of course, she is. She came into my life when I married her father. She was five. That was fifty-five years ago. (Whoops! Sorry Roonie!) And how I dubbed her “Marta-Roonie-Bobs” is a mystery to us all.

The Accuardi Women

Marta spent all of her vacations and every other weekend with us during her growing up years which meant many summers and Christmases in Oysterville. It meant that my parents were her only “granny” and “grandpa” and it meant that even though her dad and I were together only ten years, Marta and I have a lifelong bond.

But, of course, things like work and having a life get in the way of frequent visits these days. We see her on the fly – usually for dinner – on our way to L.A. to visit son Charlie; we talk on the phone; we email. But getting her to Oysterville is harder. The last time Marta was here was for my mother’s memorial service in 2009.

At Bradley’s

Ironically, we rolled into town yesterday just as the memorial service for Polly Friedlander, another Oysterville icon, was winding down. We joined the others at the reception held next door to the church in Bradley’s stunning garden. The Accuardi women – also related to Oysterville neighbors and (more to the point) all involved with Portland restaurants – catered the food. Marta was in heaven! (As were we all.)

We made it an early night but not before lots of catch-up conversation and laughter and, of course, a snack. And… I have to say that Osa-the-Aloof immediately jumped up on Marta’s lap and stayed there for a loooong time. I would have been seriously miffed (that cat has never ever jumped up on my lap) if Marta had been other than my other child!

It’s grand to have her ‘home’ in Oysterville for a few days!