"Sisters are different flowers from the same garden" (--Unknown)

I'm off visiting my sister Claudia in New Jersey.  

She lives in a quaint, idyllic little town in a beautiful part of New Jersey.  When I was married, my husband, Bob, used to call NJ the "armpit of the United States."  I have to disagree--I grew up here and have always thought it is a beautiful place.  I still think so.

I think about Claudia a summer ago, having to endure horrible chemo treatments and surgeries one after another.  So, this year, watching her,  I'm so happy to see her relaxing and just enjoying.  It's wonderful to see her feeling so good again!

She and her family live in Clinton, which is right on the Raritan river, and is very picturesque.  I always love visiting this place.  

Their home in the area is a new home that they built here some years ago,  but the charming downtown area is just a block or two away from them, and I'm always psyched to go browse that area: it's like a walk back in time.

Claudia and I took their dog, a corgie named Tucker, and we went out for ice cream, and walked around the area for a bit.  Very relaxing.

Lots of Americana in Clinton!  And blooming flowers everywhere...

A tiny little ice cream shop had families, dogs, and children lined up waiting in the warm summer night for cool treats.  Claudia got a dish of butter pecan, and I had black cherry.  This hung from a tree outside the shop:

Lots of nice little outdoor cafes and eateries...I loved these urns:

Did I say flowers everywhere?...

Hope you're having a good summer!  I remember how kind all my blogging friends were towards Claudia last year when I was panicking over all she was going through--you can't know how nice it is to have her feeling relaxed and happy and "normal" again.  

We'd planned to head to Europe after her treatments were over, but she and her family have timeshares they have to use or they lose them, and they didn't go anywhere last year, so our trip is out this year.  I decided to take matters into my own hands and at least head up to see her instead.  

I'm glad I did...

Happy summer!