What makes Chief Sealth trail unique?

* It was built almost entirely from recycled materials, such as recycled soil and crushed concrete from the Link Light Rail Project in Rainier Valley.
* Runs along the City Light utilities corridor in Southeast Seattle, rather than an abandoned railroad bed.



* Connects Beacon Hill with Rainier Valley.
* Future extensions (not currently funded) will include trail connections north to downtown Seattle, and south to the city limits.

Mainly it is where I rode my last ride of 2008.

Bridges over May Creek

So we took a walk today,
About 7/8ths of a mile to Kubota Gardens.
Nice place.

When we got home I grabbed the camera and headed back in order to share the event with you all.
And Y'all, too.

There is still snow on the ground there.







And ice on the ponds.






And waterfalls.



This is also the first bridge.
That little gray arc to the right.



Moving upstream from the pumphouse.



A little further upstream.



Two views of the short bridge.





Lemme tellya something about taking pictures in a Japanese garden.
All the composition has already been done for ya.

Sayonara.

Thought for the day, or as long as you like

Lane says:

"Think radically, Vote liberally, and Act conservatively"

Doug concurs.

Lane said it, but Doug thought it up.

Everything was normal today the Prius started right up. the battery didn't go dead whilst submerged in a week of snow.
Nope, it was right up in the green where I left it.
We zoomed off to Renton to send a letter to Germany.
Debated a stop at the Whistlestop but went home instead.
After stopping at the library to pick up a present that the folks there gave to M in appreciation for her volunteer work.
But they didn't throw her out...go figure.
And checked out a pair of DVDs.
Fooled around with the DUKE for awhile then brought home some Kernal Kentucky's Sandy Fried Chicken.
Watched "Tristam Shandy".
With music by Nino Rota?
From "8-1/2"?
Weird.

So remember what Lane says.

"Avoid thinking, Vote for the pretty face, and Act like the world owed you a living"

Snowmoblile

All right! a Ride!!

Not raining.
Streets bare.
More Or Less.
If I'm going to get a ride This Month.
This is IT!
The window is closing.

Not a great ride
Just 5 or so around the top of the hill around here.
Around here the top of one hill is just the bottom of another.
Stump puller gear set most of the trip.
Some hills you kill.
Some hills kill you.

Found some sort of geographical apex near Skyway
Aptly named, Skyway.
Found the Chief Sealth trail.
Nice blacktop.
Smooth curvy path.
One of the hills that killed me.

Tires flinging,
Snowmelt.
Grit.
No Salt.
Jacket, Jeans, and socks in the wash.
As we -

Speak.

Splog;

Distance 7.3 miles,
Average speed 7.3 miles per hour,
Riding time 59:35,
Maximum speed 29.5,
Odometer 1131 miles,
Temperature 45 degrees.

Just a little ride, but I'm amused by it's presumption.
As I'm sure it is by mine.
Not very fast, but mostly uphill.

My shoes are wet too.

Snow ya later

As the back yard Atlantis slowly rises from the frozen aquatic mists in the mysterious Bermuda (grass) triangle (rectangular, actually), I pause to reflect on the nature of the first (probably) white Christmas of my life.
Hang on a mo, I must have had one in Alaska, I was there for a year and a half.
What I mean is, the first one here, in Seattle.
'Cause it sure didn't happen in L.A or Phoenix.
Well, anyway as I so ponder the quirks and inevitabilities therein, I come to the inexorable conclusion that as it was basically the same snowfall as any other snowfall differing only in the fact that it was actually on the ground on the arbitrarily selected date of December twenty-fifth, it was, in reality, nothing more than an exigency of random-seeming meteorologic permutation.

If you catch my drift (snowdrift, that is)*

But I got some presents.

The "new neighbor's' face is melting at an alarming rate. Has she been peeking into the Ark of the Covenant?
The new neighbor, if you recall, is a snow person that the next doorers assembled earlier in the week.

It's melting.
The glasses are falling off the face.
The pipe is slipping groundward.
The straw hat is following the pipe.

The roads are clear, the cars are safe i8n the barn, and my fing4ernails are catching on the numbers when I type on the q2werty line.

No other great thrills here other than the conclusion of the Carré DVD marathon.
The good guys win and then wonder if they are, indeed, the good guys.

And who, really, can answer that question?

*See previous post

Aftermath

For me it was "Language Arts"*

Ha!

Christmas day was a good time with the family and all the reads were clear except for the last block to Janet & Mack's, which afforded me the chance to do a little slippin'n'slidin'
Enough of that sort of thrill as I need anymore.
A block on the flat is sufficient.

For some reason, I got this "Nerf" 8 shot revolver that purports to fire luminescent sucker-tipped darts.
There seems to be no upper age limit on this sort of thing.

I did take some pictures.
None of 'em came out very well, however.



Best I can do for ya.
Thats Leah and Ruby.
Ruby's the short one.




This is Wyatt, he's Ruby's brother.

Then, later we watched Aleck Guinness give us his creepy interpretation of George Smiley in John Le Carré's "Smiley's People"

Friday opened with an unexpected desire to shovel snow.
Go figger.
After clearing the short bit of sidewalk in front of the house, I took a look over the edge of the precipice leading to the avenue and decided to clear the steps.
The 112 steps.
(That's one serious addiction)*
Actually M. counts the ramp between two sets of stairs as more stairs.
I don't agree with that.
Ramps have different names than stairs because they are different things than stairs.

So Hmmmph!

But 112 stairs does sound more dramatic than 112 stairs and a ramp.
Although I consider a ramp to be sort of an easing of effort and miss the break you get on a ramp when you call a ramp a bunch more stairs.

Then watched 66.666 percent of the precursor of "Smiley's People", "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy".

Now it's Saturday.
After having been awakened from our oatmeal-induced slumber by the thumping and bumping of a snow plow we decided to retrieve the Volvo and journey to the local Fred Meyers for food.


So now all the family's caballo's are back on the farm and the roads are clear enough.
La drama es finite.*

La comedie also.*





* These are the jokes

This is getting ridiculous

Robin in the apple tree

I was under the impression that the appearance of a Robin was a harbinger of SPRING!

This is not spring, in fact if it snows just a little bit more we might just have an actual winter around here for a change.
People are beginning to learn to live with this sprinkling of snow and some are actually driving sensibly.
Darwin has already selected out quite a few of the slow learners, so we should be alright for the trip to Edmonds for the family celebration.

Anyway Yesterday was a family event for M's side of the tree.


Yesterday I rolled out of bed at the usual 10:00 to find that the day's paper and the day before's paper were waiting.
About halfway through breakfast and the crossword puzzle, in-laws showed up with
This guy



In order to build
This house




This turned out to be a whole lot of messy fun for Meredith and Derrick.
But mostly for Meredith because Derrick got tired of the Gingerbread house after eating a significant share of the little candies.
So I got out the 2 cubic foot box of Legos (M told me to) and the rest of the day was spent snapping the things together.



Derrick build an oil tanker with a load of horses on deck, and other small bits, but most of the time was spent on a large and complicated space ship.
While I, not made for such things, read all the cartoons in the New Yorker's gigantic book of same.

Finally the parents showed up and suggested dinner out.
so we trunched (trudged through crunchy snow) down the hill to Cafe Vignole and had some very good Italian food.
And some very good Montepulciano and some very good Chianti.
It's nice to be able to walk home.

While we were gone the next door neighbors created a new addition to the Redwing gang.





Then we settled down to watch the first three episodes of John LeCarré's
"Smiley's people" on the telly.

Nice day.

By the way, I missed Judith's solstice party.
Stayed home and watched Brit comedy shows instead.
Not the same thing by far, but "Vicar of Dibley" is always a hoot.

Snow

We've got 9 1/2 inches of the stuff
Nice day today, the sun is coming out.
Booted up (my feet) and walked about a mile to the store.

Over dressed because the family seems to think that this is some kind disaster area and we should hide in a bunker until it's over.
So I got back almost as sweaty as if I had ridden 20 miles on the Peugeot.

Popped a couple changes into the viola concerto.

Gotta move on and write something new I guess.
Cello concerto is next on the concerto project so I suppose it's that.
Ho hum...
Life without coffee seems to lack a lot of inspiration.

So... I'm not very funny today.

At least W has stimulated the shoe industry.

And he did something else funny the like of which I can't remember.

I know....pictures, here's what it looks like around here.

Off the deck and into the wilderness



Squirrels leaping and surfing through the snow.
Birds pecking away at the stuff fallen out of the feeder while bigger birds hog the feeder.
Cat refuses to go out side at all (except for the litter box we've kindly placed on the porch)

The gong and the old apple tree

I don't remember ever having a white Christmas here

Some kind of bush out the north window

That's about it for today I'm going to catch a nap

Snow what some more

Decided to just stay home today , but that left the solstice party dilemma.
Should I go to the trouble to chain up the Volvo?
(We don't have recommended traction devices for the Prius.)
Just for the party?
Eh...
So when I get done fooling around with this toy, M tells me that the blood bank is running low on Dracula food and we should go help out.
It's not hard to don the Marleys, really, so that's what I did.
With the clankers on,we got down the hill tikkety-boo. (?)
After a couple miles on the flat the there-but-for-the-weakest-links got a little annoying and, frankly, redundant.
So...
We pulled into a convenient parking lot to remove the aforementioned pneumatic snowshoes.
Easy enough to unhook, but driving off the darn things resulted in one of them
(the right side) to jam on a little and absolutely useless knob of metal on the rear suspension just inside the tire that has no raison d'etre other than to confound the donning and doffing of the bracelets-des-roules.
Fortunately, Meredith managed to wiggle the darn thing out of its hiding place.

Good work, Meredith.

No problem after that getting to the blood bank.
Where I donated for the first time.
I always meant to but I was afraid that a bad sense of humor might be a blood borne malady.
I can't imagine what a horror it might be to wake up from some serious surgery thinking like me.
But they didn't seem to be concerned about that.

On the way home we stopped at Fred Meyers in Renton for some bunker munchies.
What a busy place. The express lines wended halfway across the store.
And the snow started up again, adding to the anxiety.
Fortunately, we made it to the steps on Rainier where we could park on the flat and leave the car until the spring thaw (most likely Monday if not before)
The short sweet life of a significant snowfall hereabouts.

So I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to make it to the party, but I've got a couple hours to thing about it.
I'm not supposed to drink alcohol for a bit.
I'd have to drive home in the dark.

We'll see.

Last night I weighed myself and found that the winter regimen of cookies salami and horizontality had had it's inevitable consequence.

So, if a pint's a pound, I've gained a bit on that eh wot?

I sorta hate to disillusion you about that dramatic picture that is the hook for this post, but it's not snow.
Actually it's shot through Silver falls (Oregon)

Be sumpin' if it was,eh?

O.K. that's that.
I've got to drink a lot of liquids and not lift anything heavy for awhile.

Snow what?

I didn't go trekking today because of the snow.
Meredith made a gigantic pot of Macaroni and cheese from her special recipe.
That should last for the duration.
There have been a few wolves circling the place so I'm waiting it out.
The main problem is that I didn't get any DVDs yesterday at the library.
So it's mere books again tonight.
I'm about halfway through Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia.
I have every brain anomaly mentioned therein.

Swan Lake is playing on the radio...

Ummm....

I may have to dig the car out, however, 'cause Judith's solstice party is tomorrow and I don't want to miss it.
I could walk, I guess, 'zonly about 5 miles.

We'll see.

That line across the picture of Mount Rainier is a crack in the Volvo's windshield that started with a stone off a truck in Alberta when we went to Drumheller to look at the fantastic dinosaur museum.
Over about three years it traveled about 72% of the way across the windshield then stopped.
That little drama ought to bring a little cheer to your holidays...eh?

I don't know what else to bore you with today...

The cat won't go outside the world as she knew it has come to an end as far as she knows.

Yeah

Let it go, let it go, let it go

O.K. I've eliminated the link to the music on the society of composers site.
They wanted me to resubscribe 'cause my dues are 3 mos late but their site motor or whatever you call it hasn't worked for a while and besides, they cost money, and I could only post four mp3s (MySpace hosts six and Facebook an unlimited number)
So what do I need them for?
Same music.

I have linked a new music site however, check it out.

Special Christmas Music from Ballard

Inspirational music that inspired my youth.
In an inspirational manner.

Snow here, it's quiet for awhile as very few cars are rushing along Rainier Blvd at the moment, although soon enough clanky chain music will be rattling past my window.

Maybe, later in the day, I can walk to the bottom of the hill and watch all the folks try to slip and slide upwards as mother nature insists on sliding them downwards.





And now I'm going to go practice my logrhythmics exercise program.
Wherein I assume the pose of a log and wait out the season with a blanket over my knees and a book over my face.

Christmas sans caffeine.

Not Funny

The order of the mp3s seems to be straightened out but SQ3 refuses to load.
What's on there is still a computer simulation of the flute concerto!!!
I loaded the right file at least three times and even though I was assured that the file was loaded correctly, it ain't!

Phooey

It takes about a half an hour to load it each time, too.

I've got better things to do.

Well, maybe I don't

Maybe I'll dump that player and put it all on MySpace.

Thats the one that seems to work.

Nobody listens to the Facebook ones.

What is needed here is some Steve Martin banjo music.

Or a picture of someplace warm

Beethoven

O.K. we had a nice time downtown today buying stuff for relatives.
Breakfast at the restaurant above the left wing book store.
I forget the name.
And dinner at the Pike Place Pub.
Delicious spicy salmon stuffed with crab and a pint'o'stout.

Got cold, it's nice to be home in the calories again.

Got home only to find that my mp3 posting was flawed.
I've got the order straightened out (I think)
but there seems to be a question about the second SQ,
so I'll have to check that out.

Meredith had a bunch of B&N book gift cards to redeem so we went a bit berserk there.
If the chillins don't learn how to read, it won't be our fault.

Alzo, for my own self, I bought Oliver Sacks' book about music and the human mind.

The human mind sounds like an interesting proposition,
I'll have to try to get aholt of one someday.

My profile MP3 just loaded, finally, it is now in the right place.
Also known as "Aspice Quod Felis Attraxit"
Number 4 on your MP3 dial.

I wonder if we have a picture of the cat that's doing all the (singing?)
Her name was Heller

I'll go check the other problem now.

II (s'posed to look like a double bar, means the end)

One, Two, One, Two, Three Four.

O.K. I've loaded the String Quartet and reposted the cat choir,
(Aspice Quod Felis Attraxit)

I'll put it on MySpace too, and maybe even Facebook.

Presto

The 30 dollar box of Starbuck's coffee was finally emptied yesterday.
We bought it to keep the musicians awake for the recording, but they didn't drink much of it, so M and I kept it hot for the weekend. (so to speak)
And my desire to ever touch caffeinated drink is at an all time low!

I'm going to detox this week and maybe the rest of the year or maybe forever.

Decaf tea! that's what I'll imbibe, I've got to drink something warm.

This time of year.

What with the snow on the ground and a nip in the air.

Not to mention the strange airflow patterns built into this house.
Heat seems to sink here.
So, when I'm upstairs typing on this thing I'm cold,
but when I go to the basement, it seems warm.
And, as I descend the stairs, I'm met with a nice warm zephyr wafting apparently upward but never achieving any upness.

So go figure.

Today I'll try to cut some CDs of the String quartet and the other two live pieces I've got.
Assuming that the format of the studio's computer is compatible with my computer.
My luck has seemed to be a little unusually good lately, so maybe I'm due for an awakening of some RUDE sort.

I'll let you know.

Tomorrow is Beethoven's birthday, we will bus downtown for a day of X-mas merriment and ritual shedding of our monetary reserves.

In the meantime (Greenwich?) I must away to the mercantile establishment to acquire consumables of a cheery, oaty persuasion.
Which I forgot yesterday when I was mercantiling away oblivious to even the small piece of paper in my hand that clearly stated a need for such a purchase.

Amongst other necessities.

So...I'll see y'all later

Fab Four in Ballard

So, here's where I was today...

Actually I think that portion of Seattle, north of Ballard, is called Blue Ridge.

It's been awhile since I lived there (1947 - 1951), so don't count on it.






Front row, M.K. Talvi - Ilkka Talvi - Walter Gray - Rachel Swerdlow.

Hiding in back,
David Paul Mesler - Doug Palmer




The pic was shot with

M. K. Talvi's

camera with Meredith pushing the button.

It was a terrific experience for me. None, none, of the disasters that kept me awake all last night occurred.
They read it, performed it, recorded it.
And it sounds great to me.
The computer simulations can't hold a candle to the real thing.
And this was the real thing.

Thanks again, you guys.

Thanks again to the Fab Four from the Ballard Savanthaus Orchestra.

I'll get the thing converted to mp3 and post it as soon as I catch up on my sleep.

Once again

Done working on the Viola thingy.
Ate two sandwiches for lunch.
Salame and cheese.
Peanut butter and jam.

Forgot to drink anything.

Better get to that soon.

Day after tomorrow is the big recording session.
I'll have to be out of bed by seven thirty.
What kind of musicians am I dealing with here, anyway?

Ones who have serious work later in the day, I suppose.

Did'ja hear? A Finn won a Nobel Prize for trying to get the American juggernaut to behave itself just a little.

Martti Ahtisaari has been "standing in front of the tank" more than twenty years.

It's nice to see this kind of courage rewarded with something other than being thrown out onto the street.

Not that anything I ever did would fall under the definition of courageous

But I did get thrown off the sidewalk and into the street.

Must be worth somthin'

.........?

Seems like we did something interesting last night....

Meredith came home early last night from her job cataloging books for the school library, cause they told her there was no more money available.
Not that money had anything to do with it.
But, in celebration of the lost "job" we popped out to Southcenter to buty some stainless steel pins for one of her C-mass projects.
After which we retired to The Whistlestop for dinner and a brew.
They were out of Guinness!

What the heck, the baked salmon was good.
The chicken marsala was good.

Lot'sa stuff is good.

'cording to Charley Brown, grief is good.







Randomly selected pic' from the Oregon trip

A Christman tradition for a fiftieth of a century

LUMP of COAL

Twas the night before the 25th of December
All through the house there was crap strewn about
The cats were hissing and smacking each other
And nary a dry Kleenex to be found

I and my wife had just settled down
To an evening of computer games, each to his own
When suddenly from the front door there came such a sound
As if religious proselytizers knocking thereupon

That turned out to be the case and we were then faced
With odd little beings who demanded that we accept
That the true meaning of this cold icy time of year
Was to celebrate the birth of someone who was born sometime in March as far as anybody who ever actually studied the subject could ever figure

So we listened and nodded and uh-huhed in agreement
And they soon went away
Jesus Christ!


There's lot's of wonderbar schtuff in the archives.

I may post my song book soon (all three songs)

But today involves taking the cat


Pretty little kitty

to the vet for a yearly tune up

Or, I should say, involved.

That part of the day is done.

After this, I will work on the viola concerto.
Whilst polishing the thing, I managed to rub through the finish and now I need to rearrange some of it.
Or throw out some of it.
Or throw out all of it.
Or something.

I am beginning to be thankful that the rant can be recognized as an art form.
I especially like the form for it's inclusion of factual inaccuracy as an integral part of the artistic arc.

I'm getting pretty good at factual inaccuracy.

This scary season

I think I'm getting a handle on why this time of year makes me want to hide somewhere until it's all over.
Hide in bed with several blankets over my head.
Pretending that there is no December.

Or Christmas.

Religion, let's face it divisive.
That's what it's all about.
Separating the wheat from the chaff.
With me being the chaff.

Christianity especially.
Jesus' job on earth was to select the "true believers" and take them to heaven so that they would be safe when God killed off the rest of us.

The fact that that didn't happen doesn't seem to signify with those who choose to continue to reject, discriminate, and abuse those of us who try to look life in the face and ask questions.

So somehow, being one of the "rest of us" at this time of year makes me a bit apprehensive when the believers start one of their orgies of "worship".

For most of recorded human history being an "atheist" was a capital offense.
That means that the church would hunt down and kill guys like me.
Not because I don't recognize the importance of the spiritual in the human heart.
But because I'm not willing to let the church, any church, stand between me and my own relationship with the unknown.

So while all the "good" folks are getting drunk on their goodness, nobility, and assuring their reservations in the grand hotel of heaven, I have to watch out for their rapturously abandoned Hummers jumping the curb of basic human social civility and sending me to everlasting 3rd, 4th, and 5th degree or more burns.

So it makes me nervous.

At the same time insisting that I remain cheerful and bright.

This is not easy.

Not easy to keep the anger, fear, and other ugly internal fight or flight responses from manifesting themselves in counterproductive ways.

The salon last Friday was the usual eclectic mix of inspiration.

Marcus Oldham had a great piece based on native ritual effects played on drums, stones, dried roots, and seashells.

Very effective, like opening a door onto the next world.
&
A guitar orchestra played a nice piece that was pretty conventional
&
An miked viola run through a computer was loud, soft, complex, and a bit too long.
&
A solo piano piece that spoke to neither of us.

Yesterday While M made chocolate chip cookies, I went to the store and bought, among other things, some commercial sugar cookies.
So that we will have something to ease the loss when we eat all the C-chipers.


Here's a picture of someplace warm.

Kentucky

I have decided to resort to strong drink in order to warm up this cold and lonely season.
Either that, or stave off this cold and lonely season as an excuse to drink distilled spirits

I firmly believe (sort of) that most, if not all, mankind's problems are caused by their perceived solutions.

Y'know what I mean?
You start to worry about something or other and next thing you know there's an insurance salesman at your door.

You get afraid some noise in the night and next thing ya know, marijuana's illegal.

Which creates an illicit market for the stuff
Which creates an artificial demand
Which creates a profit incentive
Which creates desperation
Which creates real noises in the night as some desperate person breaks into your house...

'cause he needs some cash

I mean, like, the government wants to protect you so it taxes you to buy deadly weapons.
Which need to be tried out on something
If you're not careful...

Someone you know and love, (are those two things even compatible?) is acting oddly
(complaining about your abuse, for instance) so you refer them to a psychiatrist and before you know it they turn out to have every kind of mental or moral (????) disease known to man and some that get made up on the spot.

Which just turns their oddity into gibbering lunacy.

All of which could have taken care of by a bullshit session over a shot of good booze and.....and

Another shot....

So I'm in the midst of a book about James Joyce's daughter Lucia...(light)

Whose problems as you may have guessed by now fall under the category I have just mentioned.

Punished for complaining about being punished.

So, don't cry for me you ignorant jackasses, what's it to ya if I get drunk and...

Hik!...

.........Belligerent



So anyway, look for me tonight at the Composers Salon
Which will take place at the Chapel at the Good Shepard Academy
Located at 50th and Sunnyside

8:00 PM




I'll be there stoned cold sober.

I am a published social commenter

I sent this to Seattle Times.
They said they published it on their website, seattletimes.com
I couldn't find it

Subject: The Ornament

The Bushes could have put the thing on an upper branch and nobody would have been the wiser.
Instead they continue to cause as much meaningless divisiveness as possible.
So glad we have regular elections.

I am NOT a fan of infantile behavior amongst person of persons who are supposed to be running a great country.

So glad we have regular elections
So glad we have regular elections
So glad we have regular elections
So glad we have regular elections
So glad we have regular elections
So glad we have regular elections
So glad we have regular elections
So glad we have regular elections

Copy paste
Copy paste
Copy paste
Copy paste

One with a gigantic stockpile of nuclear thingamagigs!

Good Night Ms Calaphurnia, Wherever you are.

What the Fuss...?

...is this all about ?



Hey, if it annoys the Bushes, it's O.K. by me.

Whats the German word for "ornament" ?

Once again I recommend you check this out.

DeeDee does D.C.

Deborah is a friend and a member of our book group

Way to go Deborah!!!

DeeDee does D.C.

Now

is the winner in a discount tent......
But I am not made for such nonsense
I am apparently here for a slightly different kind of nonsense.

As follows.

To answer some questions put to me by Butch on yesterday's comment section.

At a Starbucks on Queen Anne.
The cars are not only running but being sold at great profit.
I heard from the guy who bought the ALFA from the guy I sold it to for $1,500 says he paid $15,000.
Bristols (in pristine condition)
go for $70,000, and cinquecentos go for over $10,000 at auction
I got $2,500 for the B and $500 for the FIAT
We've got a new set.
Keth is in charge of the electronics around here and works all the time.
I only watch TV for SNL anyway.
Ruby is three, I think,
Keth was there, but didn't make much noise.
Nothing of any great import ever happened to me in a church.


Speaking of great import;
We really like our new Prius

But, while we are on the subject;

Some are born to greatness
Some achieve greatness
Some have greatness thrust upon them
Some stumble on greatness and fall on their ass.

I had greatness shove me aside to steal my place in line.

What the heck is greatness anyway?

What's so great about it?






Is this a great picture, or what?

Let's have another day

Just like the other day.

Only

This time it was bread I bought.

The weather is still mild enough that I could sit outside and slosh down a cup of coffee.
I know they don't call it a cup anymore but they used to.
Used to order it "black" too...
Now it's a "tall drip"
That darn fugitive tempus
And some slightly soggy coffee cake.

Maybe I should switch to tea.
I've tried that before but it never seems to take.

I like the Earl Grey (or Gray...'sup to you)

Thanksgiving was dampened a bit 'cause everybody seemed to have some sort of flu or cold.
M & I both have slightly rumbley tummies.

AND we don't have our new antenna set up yet so Wally and Dan had to listen to our team lose on the radio.

Ruby had fun and left a cupful of confetti strewn about the house.
Nothing is more inspiring than a playful child.

As long as mommy takes her home again.

Let's give three cheers for mommy.

Hooray!

HOORAY!!

HOORAY!!!

What the heck, let's make it four.

HOORAY!!!!




More warm climate pics.

The same church as last time

(not yesterday...the day before)



That's me in the church...



Don't tell God, O.K.