Well, there's a bit of unexpected news. Our granddaughter asked if we would agree to having her stay over with us for March break, this coming week. How else would we respond than with a welcome? We've long been accustomed to having her stay with us, but she hasn't had an opportunity to, over the last two years.

We were her caregivers while her mother and father were out working in the first nine years of her life. And it had become customary as she grew older into her teens that she would want to stay with us for that week. She'd accompanied us on a few occasions when we went off in the summer months to the mountains of New Hampshire, to indulge in our passion to be deep in the out-of-doors in the state's national forests, and climbing the mountains that held such an allure for us for so many years.

So now she's arriving to spend next week with us. When I did the grocery shopping yesterday I made sure to double up on fruits, vegetables, yogurt and cheese. She's vegetarian, something she decided a few years ago, after doing some quite intense research for several school assignments on conditions in which farm animals live and the suffering they experience in slaughterhouses. She wants no part of the animal carnage. In that sense she joins my sister, my brother, our nephew and our younger son, along with her own mother.

So I'll be altering our normal meal menu for the coming week with an emphasis on non-meat strategies. I have ample sources to rely on. For her it will be a treat to have someone else cook for her for a few days. And come up with some baking treats that she enjoys. For us, it'll be the pleasure of having her close by for a few days.

We'll no doubt be spending time jaunting about here and there with her. After which there is little doubt we'll be exhausted. At least for the day following her return home.