For the previous week with Castanea, click here.
The Landgraab mansion is probably a house everyone who has ever played this game is familiar with, even though in my game, the building has seen some modification inside and out.
There is an annex with an indoor swimming pool and hot tub there now, and what used to be the large upstairs office was long ago turned in to a beautiful room for the twins Malcolm Landgraab had as a souvenir from a visit aboard the Alien space ship.
Malcolm was a single parent right until his twins went to college. He married Castanea Capp, another one of Tybalt Capp's plantchildren, relatively late.
Then he died, leaving behind Castanea as the young widow all alone in the big house.
She is still 12 days or so from Elderhood and working hard towards reaching her lifetime want of becoming Hall of Famer.
Friendships do not come naturally to Castanea, and contact with her late husband's children is rather loose.
Will she do anything about it this week?
When she returns from work on this Monday, Cataldo Capp, a young relative of hers, walks by and is greeted.
He is soon followed by Harry Hart, son of Hailey Hart and grandson of the late Matthew Hart.
The two teenage boys get along very well.
Castanea's closest friend is her butler, and so it is not surprising that he joins his employer and her guests at the dinner table.
The only noteworthy event on Tuesday is a visit by Castanea's "step son" Lance Landgraab and his wife, Gesine (nee Gavigan). Castanea also wanted to invite Lilo over, but she does not know her well enough, and Lilo declined the invitation with the excuse of making a baked alaska.
Over dinner, Lance reminisces about his time at university and graduation. By the time the young Landgraabs go home, Lance and Castanea are friends - and much to my dismay, I discover that they have 3 bolts for each other and do NOT count as relatives.
Regardless, I have Castanea invite Lance and Gesine over again on Wednesday.
They watch a football match on TV together and obviously have a lot of fun.
Later, behind Gesine's back, Castanea congratulates her step son for being so attractive.
So far, nothing untoward has been going on between the two of them, and Lance is very much in love with his wife, but I wonder if it will be a good idea after all to move the younger Landgraabs back into their childhood home.
By the way, here are pictures of Lilo and Lance as teenagers and children, as well as a wedding photo of Malcolm and Castanea - just a little reminder of this family's past.
I find it strange that Castanea's butler never prepares any meals, and since I want to send her to a community lot anyway, I have her drive downtown to a groceries store. (From other households with butlers I remember that I used to be annoyed to the constant serving of food, no matter whether it was wanted or not.)
She meets and greets a few other New Maximilianians, such as Deirdre Dreamer and Mercutio Monty-Ottomas, as well as a number of townies.
Apart from buying groceries, Castanea has also splashed out on some jewellery. She is a wealthy widow and can buy whatever she wants, really.
And sure enough, on Friday morning the butler makes breakfast, moments after his employer has taken herself a plate of leftovers from the fridge!
The day passes by with Castanea at work. She comes back with a promotion to Assistant Coach and now needs three mechanical skill points.
Similar to Friday, Saturday goes by largely with Castanea at work. When she is home, she rings Lance and Gesine again, but Lance is at work and so Gesine comes over on her own. At the same time as she arrives at the Landgraab mansion, Helen Gavigan (who is she to Gesine? Younger sister? Cousin? Niece? I'm afraid I can't remember without looking it up!) walks by and is of course asked to join the ladies.
But then Sunday! Unlike some of the other days during Castanea's week, today is going to be really important. The morning starts with a relaxed session at the computer.
Then, Castanea pays all her employees; it is the gardener's day, and of course her butler and cleaner receive their weekly salary, too.
Then she asks Lance and Gesine over again - this time, to stay! Much to her delight, Lance instantly accepts her invitation to move back into his childhood home, and of course his wife does not need to think twice about the move, either.
Before he even goes to have a look at his old nursery and make plans for remodeling it to suit the needs of a married couple, he asks his sister Lilo and her husband to join them at the Landgraab mansion, and Lilo is there in a flash.
Now the house is full of Landgraabs again! I am sure the late Malcolm would have been happy.
Interestingly, Gesine knows a townie eligible for permanent residence in New Max: Caryl Lee.
With the young Landgraabs only just arrived, we are going to spend another week at this house; after all, they deserve to have "their" week, too.
The upstairs floor will need a makeover to suit two couples and a (for now) single lady, but that won't happen until next "week".
This was fun - and I was so pleased to bring Castanea's friendship with Lance to a high enough level for her to ask him to move in! The rest was easy-peasy.
Now I really hope that the three-bolt-attraction between Lance and his step-mother Castanea won't cause any problems!
