Rain, Rain, Go Away

My weekend began with the best of intentions including a self-imposed "honey-do" list, but first it was down to church for a financial seminar to learn a little about wills, living trusts, probate, etc. Basically, how the feds and state want to tax what little I might leave on my demise and how to beat them at their own game rendering unto Caesar only that which he is due.

Driving back, the freeway was heavily showered and my wipers were on high as to my left, the sun shined in infrequent spots. It was squall-like with burst of intense rain and/or wind followed by light mist. There were even several trees that had fallen onto Lake Forest Drive. I got back to have a sit down with our kitchen contractor about his last billing and as I waited I walked into the back room and as I took the last step from dining room to the back "storage" room, my foot went 'sploosh'. The carpet was wet and inside the back room, we have a soaked carpet. Much worse than what created havoc on Ashley and Bryce's stuff, but luckily there wasn't too much on the floor. So Carolyn and I spent the better part of the afternoon moving the rest of the stuff from the back room and moving everything over to the back wall in the dining room and garden room so our contractor can pull the carpets back, rip off sections of drywall in the back room and facilitate the drying, mold-stopping process. For now, you'll find us upstairs ignoring the problem.

After our project, we headed to the movies for a late afternoon movie planning to see The Aviator in prep for the annual Oscar party the Priors hold, but it was sold out, so we saw Sideways, another Best Picture nominee. Rather quirky, a fair amount of the 'f' word, a lot on wines, and sex scenes that were far from romantic! Not my choice for Best Pic! The only thing it did inspire us to do was to open one of our better wines when we returned home, light some candles and the fireplace, and listen to some classical music.

Hope you're all staying drier than our house is.

A picture from the end of our flooded street when the storm drain couldn't handle all the water.

Rainy Friday

Like a few of my blogger associates, I haven't really felt the excitement of posting recently. Perhaps it is caused by the routine of my day-to-day working life or the fact that it is raining again in So. Cal which makes the commute a bit more exciting/entertaining/dangerous/lengthy.

We finally got back to church this last Sunday and heard the first sermon in a series on speaking the true gospel along with the admonition to not rely on anyone (including our pastor) to provide God's truth without knowing it in fact yourself. Then on Wednesday we met with our application group and last night with our Bible study - prayer warriors all. Carolyn can use them as she is experiencing pain related to possible kidney stones and we are waiting for permission from Blue Shield to get a CAT scan.

After being totally lazy the last few weeks, we have great plans to create order out of chaos at home this weekend by completing the attack on the back "sauna" room and organizing books/clothes/bills etc. wherever they may be stashed. Sounds like fun, huh! But then, of course, on Monday, it's VALENTINE's DAY and you know what that means - DINNER OUT and maybe a little somethin' else.

May all you lovers out there have a great weekend and Monday. Do they do Valentine's Day in the UK?

Kitchen Kudos

Carolyn just got word that our kitchen won a regional award for design by Dacor, the maker of several of our appliances! Kathleen, our kitchen designer, called to let us know that the duo of Kathleen/Carolyn had finally been recognized. We're not sure what this all means, however, Dacor may have a professional photographer in to take shots. And, perhaps, there is another level of competition.

In any event, we are really pleased with how it turned out and my kudos to Carolyn who spent so much time in picking all the right components and was instrumental in the new design!!

Weekend at the Oasis

After rain off and on throughout the week, Saturday dawned bright and clear and Carolyn and I slept in and then packed the few essentials for our quick trip out to ClubIntrawest in Palm Desert.

Taking the toll road over to the 91 freeway and then the 60 to the 10, it only took us an hour and 45 minutes for the trip. We stopped for lunch just before getting to the club and then went to check in. We had a one bedroom condo on the second floor with a view of the pool and the golf course. The rooms are painted in bright colors, has tiled floors and even has an extra outside shower which we didn't use this time as it was a little too cool in the morning. The afternoon temps were around 70 and we made it down to the pool and spa for a while to read and relax.

Saturday evening we went down to the The River, a Spectrum-like (though smaller) enclave with shops, theaters and restaurants. After checking out Borders and finding that Sideways didn't start until after 10, we dined at a restaurant that fronted the "river" - a water feature separating the restaurants from the main street. After a nice meal and a glass of wine, we decided we didn't want to wait so long to see the movie so back to the condo we went.

Sunday morning we slept in again and checked out around 11, but before we left the premises, we checked with the members experience person, Karen, about changing our time planned in Zihautanejo from 12 days to 7 to avoid the overlap with a wedding and the end of Community Bible Study. Then, we began talking about other vacation alternatives and we ended up buying some additional club points which will allow us to have a two-bedroom on occasion. So over lunch at the golf clubhouse down the road, we began talking about how we might see Ashley and Bryce later in the year. Should it be in Scotland, or perhaps in western Europe, like in Holland, France, Spain or Italy? We're thinking of late summer or early fall.

On the way home, we encountered at least two accidents which slowed traffic significantly, and we even stopped at Casino Morongo to check out their new facilities. They allow smoking in the casino and it was crowded and over-priced - not likely to draw us back again! Arriving at home, Gracie was most happy to see us again after our short time away.

Left on a Jet Plane

Well, Ashley and Bryce have flown the coop on Wednesday back to Edinburgh and a return to their post-grad studies. We are feeling a little lonely after having the pleasure of their company for a month. Carolyn, especially, was feeling a little melancholy yesterday, but we were glad to receive a quick e-mail this a.m. that they had arrived in Scotland in a timely manner and their luggage had made the same trip! I think they were then settling into a time zone adjusting nap.

On Tuesday night, the Hales, Wanda, B&A and us, had a fine farewell dinner at Flemings in Newport Beach where we enjoyed great steak filets, cocktails, salads, side dishes of vegetables and/or various potatoes and a good Cabernet. It was a great time of over indulgence and conversation.

Just so we don't get into our routine too quickly, this weekend we're going out to Palm Desert to spend Saturday night at Club Intrawest (our timeshare)to just enjoy some time alone and away from chores and obligations.

I'll try to be more disciplined in my/our posts than I've been during the holidays and the 'kids' visit.

Wow!

As I left home this morning, the skies were brilliantly clear with views of the San Gabriels in their snow-capped glory clearly evident about 50 miles away! Now, I work in Upland at the foot of those mountains and some days you couldn't see them at two or three miles because of the haze or smog. The Santa Ana winds have cleared the skies and warmed the air so that we are in the low 80s.

Of course, in addition to the great weather, my Monday evening was nearly as spectacular as Bryce joined me and six others to play our monthly game of Texas Hold 'Em. I spotted Bryce the buy-in and he was up almost immediately after taking a few of the first hands. I was up most of the evening and had made my buy-in back about an hour into the game, but my best hands were in the last hour including the flop which contained 3 twos and while others were making full boats with the flop, I held the fourth two and the betting was heavy and no one wanted to fold. I was very happy with the result! For the evening, I walked away with $70 and Bryce collected $40.

This last weekend was focused on finishing moving all Ashley and Bryce's gear out of the back room which is wet from the rains. Numerous trips to Home Depot for plastic containers and lifting and stacking a 7x7 area in the garage occupied most of Saturday before we all called it a day and headed off to see Finding Neverland followed by a late dinner. Johnny Depp did another fine job of acting and we enjoyed the film. Sunday morning I had so much work to do to help Carolyn get ready for the baby shower for Katie Varela that we didn't make it to church. But we plan to make it to our Application group tomorrow.

Hope you had a good weekend.

Blue Skies

The past fortnight all was wet and grey
How happy to finally see blue sky today
White clouds around mountains still float
At least now, we can put away the boat
Again we welcome the sun, at last
Perhaps, we hope, the worst has passed

Get Out the Waders!

It seems that it has been raining without stopping for weeks although there have been slight breaks. But when it's wet inside, that's not good!

We discovered a few days ago that our back room's carpet was wet (its happened before but we thought that had been solved with our new landscaping area drains) and, of course, that is the room where all Bryce and Ashley's belongings are stored. We've made a beginning effort to move out some of the wettest boxes and soak up the excess water by de-humidifier or shop-vac with limited success. Bryce is currently concentrated on his impending licensure exam tomorrow and playing moving man or storm water remover is not high on his priority. So likely on Wednesday, we will hit the salvage effort in force.

The only saving grace in this whole disaster is that it got Bryce and me talking about how we could convert the room into a men's poker/game room with linoleum tile (easy to soak up any water), a British dart board, an elevated TV for sporting events, and a bar! I didn't know he had such a design interest.

This weekend we hit two church services, going to PCC on Saturday night so Bryce and Ashley could experience our worship service and then Sunday to a PCA church in Newport which is held in a Jewish synagogue. The senior Hales joined us there and then we enjoyed pizza back at their home in Three Arch and wished Blake a safe trip back to college.

Ashley hosted a number of her friends from elementary and junior high on Sunday evening for wine and appetizers (Natalie, Nicole, Sara, Melissa, Lori). While the estrogen levels where high, Bryce and I headed to the Spectrum for beer and munchies with Jon Varela at Champs (the Yard House was closed because of a power failure), and then Bryce and I went to see Ocean's Twelve. In the open-aired Spectrum, I laughed out loud at the signs which abounded that declared "Caution - Wet Surface" as the rain poured down!

When we got back home, four of the young ladies were still there, and we listened as they reviewed the various crushes they had on their seventh grade male counterparts or how a few of the chubby, short ones actually turned out 'hot'. It was actually quite funny to hear how well-behaved, Christian kids in Orange County viewed the 'difficulties' in their lives.

Pastor Bryce

Sunday the 2nd found Carolyn, Wanda and me driving up the 57 freeway about 30 minutes behind Bryce and Ashley to Christ Church in Pasadena to hear and support Bryce as he preached in their old church. Sally and John, Bryce's parents, drove up from a short holiday in the Palm Springs area and we spoke once or twice by cell phone on corrected directions to the church. Lisa joined us from Montrose.

We all were warmly welcomed by the pastor, Mark, and others in the church we had visited a few times before when Bryce and Ashley lived in Pasadena. Held in a community center at the base of the mountains, the view from the meeting area was of a fairly full detention basin - full of the rain waters that we've been getting fairly frequently in the last two weeks (New Year's day and the Rose Parade having been sandwiched between two storms).

After praise songs, responsive readings, and a welcome from Mark along with an explanation of who Bryce and Ashley were for those who were new to the church, Bryce led us in prayer before beginning his exegesis of Psalm 139.

Bryce went through David's song thoroughly and made clear our total depravity in the presence of an awesome, omniscient, omnipresent, and totally holy God. David used concepts and words that tried to explain how far from God we actually are and how we can neither hide physically or spiritually from God. So our only hope is to appropriate Christ's perfection through our dependence and faith in him.

For a complete sermon, you'll have to request that Bryce post it on his blog, but we all were proud of how well he taught from God's word and the call to those who had not yet accepted Christ which was integral to his message. He spoke with authority and at ease which is good because he wants to do this the rest of his life!

New Years Day

Welcome to a new year!! Time seems to fly faster and faster and now I must remember to write 2005, 2005, 2005 - repetition helps!

The 31st was spent without work - at Lewis anyway - with a a little longer sleep and lazying about in the morning before attempting to make "some" order out of the chaos that was my garage. The cleanliness that existed before the remodel was totally absent and both OSHA and our insurance carrier were about to forbid any human activity in there without my Friday effort. I spent about four hours trying to find the floor, my workbench, and to eliminate at least some extraneous 'stuff'. But after that amount time and the lack of any further trash can room, I put the rest aside for another day or week or new years!

Paul and Marcia came over with their grandson on New Years eve and we enjoined good conversation, a white chili dinner with cornbread, and games until the new year was rung in. We played Cranium at first but Paul and I weren't particularly clicking on all cylinders as the girls took a lead and even though we nipped at their heels a few times, they won. All I can say is I hate Humdingers! We followed that with Catch Phrase and here Paul and I did better winning 2 of 3 and 3 of 5 with our excellent deft exchanges as the timer was finishing its last few beep-beeps. A safe and sane celebration of the new year.

Today, I awoke at 7:55 just late enough to wake Carolyn for our annual watching of the Rose Parade in pajamas. In typical Southern California fashion, the rain storms of the last few days had stopped and the parade route was clear, bright and backdropped by the snow capped San Gabriel mountains. I expect a few more thousand mid-Westerners are packing up to move as I finish this entry.

After watching a little of the morning football games, Bryce joined me on trip up to Home Depot (a good diversion from writing one's sermon) to purchase a few items and observe me completing the special order of a new pair of bi-fold closer doors for the guest room. Our associate was friendly and helpful, even if he was not particularly adept at entering info in the computer. Then a quick stop to pick up lunch at Baja Fresh and home to watch the Rose Bowl with Texas and Michigan. Right now, Texas has just scored with 4:56 left and leads 35 to 34 and the Texas quarterback, Vince Young, has run in for three TDs! A really good game.

Tonight, if Carolyn is feeling OK after her headache, we're going to stop in at an open house to welcome in the new year. On Sunday, we'll be heading up to Pasadena to attend Christ Church as Bryce preaches and then rush back to OC for a birthday bash that afternoon including a jazz pianist.

Michigan just made a field goal to go ahead 37 to 35!

Have a Happy New Year you all and feel free to leave your comments.

UPDATE: Texas wins on a field goal with no time remaining 38 to 37!!

Christmas times 3

Well, we've just finished up with an extended Christmas celebration here at home. It started with a holiday from the office beginning on Thursday the 23rd and ended yesterday, Monday the 27th.

On Christmas eve, Lisa and Katie (Carolyn's sister and our niece) joined Carolyn, Wanda and me for an afternoon that started with a church service that found us in the overflow tent, followed by gift exchanges, talking and dinner served on Spode Christmas plates of prime beef, roasted potatoes, vegies, wine and dessert. I got a Seinfeld DVD from the first two seasons and Lisa and Katie got homemade knitted scarves from Carolyn. Lisa and Katie left in the evening while Wanda stayed over to share Christmas morning with us.

Christmas day was Southern California winter warm at around 70 and with no small children to start the process, we all slept in a little longer than our norm. But I had to have a shower and shave before starting with our stockings as I didn't want to scare Wanda with my "bed head". We found stockings stuffed with unique magazines, decadent chocolates, and small gifts like a new pocket knife for Carolyn. After fueling with coffee and homemade scones, we dug into the big stuff. I was gifted with several new shirts and slacks along with a new 70-210 telephoto for my old Olympus 1 and topsiders from Wanda for my future boat (the sailboat that my friend and I are talking about acquiring in the 25 to 27' range). Carolyn scored a pearl ring (she had found it on her shopping trip to the jewelry mart area of LA), several CDs, and a promise of a new drafting board and chair that are on their way from the mid-west for her art work. I enjoyed watching some of the Lakers-Heat game along with a little football as well. Then I drove Wanda home.

Sunday, we made it to church and this time were early enough to sit in the main sanctuary where we heard a good sermon on putting the past behind you - what benefit is there in worrying about the past? The admonition from Paul was to press on, to try to be more Christ-like. Good reminders for the upcoming new year! We then went home to ready our house for the return of Ashley and Bryce! We did manage a nap however.

John and Sally Hales stopped by in their Suburban on Sunday around 6 p.m. and the four of us headed up to John Wayne to pick up Ash and Bryce. They arrived timely at 7 and it was good to get/give hugs from/to them after nearly a year (for me, at least). After getting their bags, we drove directly to In N Out to satisfy Bryce's cravings, and he certainly seemed to enjoy it. Then back to our home where the elder Hales left us. Bryce managed to stay up to 9:30 or so before he collapsed in his own king-sized bed with a sigh of pleasure heard down the hall. Ashley managed to talk to us for another half hour before heading to bed herself. It is good to have them back for a little while.

Monday morning was Christmas No. 3 and we enjoyed gifting Ashley and Bryce. Their stockings were filled with socks, candy, magazines and gift certificates for In N Out, Chipotle and Starbucks so they can go out together or with friends. Then we gave them a couple of their gifts before the Hales family returned that afternoon. Bryce got a U2 Ipod (definitely a hit) and they finally got a DVD from their wedding. In the early afternoon, the Hales including Blake, Margaret (Bryce's grandmother), Lisa, and Wanda returned for more gifts exchanges and dinner. Ashley ended up with lots of new clothes, Bryce received the Ipod and some clothes, Carolyn had made scarves for everyone, the Hales had given Ash and Bryce the gift of the plane tickets home, and various other chocolates, bottles of wine, etc. were exchanged. Before and after, everyone huddled in our new kitchen eating appetizers and drinking champagne which was followed by dinner of pork loin, twice baked potatoes, green beans, cranberry molded salad and rolls along with a nice cab/merlot.

We finished up the evening with a Hales tradition of bingo played for white elephant type gifts that Sally and Carolyn had provided. We had a hilarious time as various participants had trouble reading the numbers off the balls or mis-hearing the numbers called. Meanwhile, I continued my poker luck by winning four or five or six times even after being handed cards by others who complained that their cards never won. For my success, I ended up with two rather tacky picture frames and a box of chocolates!

Everyone then left and Ashley and Bryce headed up to bed still trying to overcome the jet lag of their 18 hour journey home. Carolyn and I finished cleaning up and then hit the spa for a few minutes to sooth my aching back before heading off to bed ourselves. We had a great five day holiday break and look forward to more evenings and days with Ashley and Bryce in between their getting together with all their California friends and family!

Good Night at the Table

Our poker group met again last night for an evening of Texas Hold 'Em amidst bluffing, 'praying', eating and 'attaboys' after a particularly well played hand.

We started off with six players and added a seventh about two hours into our game. I was lucky and in the first hour and half or so I had about doubled my initial $20 buy-in and the losers in the group had bought some of my chips so for the rest of the evening I had that $20 tucked away in my pocket and was playing with other peoples money. I hovered around $15 to $25 up for most of the rest of the evening fueled by hands like my A-2-3-4-5 straight that no one saw coming (the A-2 were my hole cards). Then around 10:30 just before our 11:00 cut-off, I started getting some really nice hands again and some of the others led the way in raising pots that I was lucky enough to take. I ended up with a profit of $50.25, by far my best night with the boys!

I'm beginning to enjoy this monthly outing!

Holiday Weekend

I thought we were done with Christmas parties/events, but this last weekend proved that false.

Friday, Carolyn and Wanda rode the train up to LA (a little late after their 9:45 a.m. train derailed before reaching Irvine) to meet with Lisa and Katie for an afternoon of window shopping and conversation before Katie's choir performance at Crescenta Valley High. I then left work at 5 p.m. and drove over to Montrose and met them at Lisa's condo before we all drove over for the performance. I was utterly amazed that a public high school sang and played so many Christian hymns! They had a full orchestra and three separate choirs on the stage singing various Christmas themed music. For the finale, alumni including Lisa and Carolyn, were invited on stage to sing the Hallelujah Chorus with the retired choir director. I think Carolyn, standing in front of the young men, sang every part! But they both had a great time.

Then we drove through the holiday lighted Montrose and stopped at a BBQ place for a late dinner of pulled pork or brisket sandwiches. Then, after dropping Lisa and Katie off and picking up Wanda's new artificial "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree, we drove home and Wanda slept over.

Saturday was spent sweeping up the leaves in the yard that continue to fall - alas, when will the horror finally end? It was a beautiful weekend with temps in the high 70s and it called out to those of you living in colder climes. Then we readied ourselves for a evening at the Orange County Pops Symphony with front row tickets made available from Lewis Company.

Again, songs filled the air proclaiming the incarnation of the Savior with only a short section devoted to Hannukah and, thankfully, nothing to Kwanza. At one point, the conductor asked for volunteers and, of course, my bride was one of five invited to perform with the orchestra! She played the bells (like in sleigh bells) while Rockette-kicking, doe-see-doeing and generally hamming it up with the others on a stage with only three thousand or so in the audience looking on! So now Carolyn can honestly say that she has performed as a featured instrumentalist with the OC Orchestra!

Sunday, we drove down to pick up Wanda for Church, but found she was just too tired to make it. So we made our way down and enjoyed the sermon and Pastor Mike's teaching by ourselves. Then I dropped Carolyn off at the Hawley's for an afternoon baby shower while I drove home to do a few chores and watch some football. Carolyn got a lot of good ideas for 'future' baby showers. Our evening finished up with sharing a dinner from Biagios and catching a TV show or two before jumping into the spa for about two minutes (it was tooooooo hot) before calling it a weekend and a night.

Can I Rest Now?

Thursday, our Couples Bible study potluck. Friday, our Lake Forest I boat parade. Saturday, a drive up to Pomona for my company Christmas party after having put up Christmas lights, cleaned up the garden and started the long process of cleaning the garage. I acquired a five-year service award that makes either a handsome paper weight or a unique murder weapon. And, finally, Sunday picking up Wanda to go to our church, the service, returning to talk with Wanda for an hour or two, then some shopping, lunch, fixing the Christmas lights that were out, hanging some new ones, putting boxes back up in the attic, cleaning up around the computer, ironing, watching a little football (American), and then settling in for a three hour marathon of Survivor finale. Then we decided we had to watch another program we had recorded earlier so I got into bed around 11:45 and was up this morning at 5:30.

I need a nap!! I think most of our holiday events are over except, of course, Christmas itself, maybe a visit to watch the Newport Beach boat parade and the Boxing Day return of the younger Hales, Ashley and Bryce. I guess we'll have to clean-up 'their room' so they have a place to put their bags. And then there is always the Christmas shopping that I seem to postpone to the latter days of the shopping window! Wish me luck.

Holiday Party

Last night we had our Thursday night Bible study over for a Christmas 'potluck' if you could call it that with all the gourmet cooks in our group!

The six couples enjoyed an appetizer of cream cheese covered with a raspberry chipotle sauce and then after re-heating and prep work, all twelve of us went into the dining room for a dinner of spinach salad with warm bacon dressing, pot roast that just fell apart roasted with carrots and onions, pork loin, steamed vegetables, twice-stuffed potatoes and rolls. Some enjoyed a glass of fume blanc while a few others had a combo cabernet-merlot.

After clearing the table, we went into the living room which Carolyn had finished decorating with our Christmas candles and nativity scenes to sit down and have our white elephant exchange. Otherwise known as the "pass the junk" exchange. Some of the highlights included an absurdly decorated piggy bank, an angel with broken head, and a large smiley face yellow cup. We finished up with a decadent chocolate cake and coffee.

We had a great time and we enjoyed it all, but I am glad we have a two-drawer dishwasher because we had a LOT of dishes.

Birthday Celebration

Since we had been attending parties on both Saturday and Sunday nights, Carolyn and I hadn't had the opportunity to go out and celebrate her 12/05 birthday by ourselves.

Well, we were both so tired on Monday that we just stayed home, but we managed to go out last night. We went to BJ's Pizza which is in the former Gordon Biersch facility by the Laguna Hills Mall. Carolyn had been there for a lunch with some of the ladies from Community Bible Study within the last month so we tried it out for dinner.

They have opened up the interior which makes it feel a lot larger than Gordon's and they still serve micro-brews along with pizza, pasta, sandwiches, burgers, steaks and 'comfort food' like meatloaf or pot roast. I chose this huge frisco type burger with cheese and bacon while Carolyn, longing for the UK, had fish and chips. Both were delicious and well complimented with our medium dark brews.

Then, because I'd mentioned the birthday, our waiter brought us this heavenly dessert of warm chocolate, macadamia nut cookie covered with vanilla ice cream! It reminded us of Ashley's birthday 'cake' at age 8 in Crested Butte which was a large decorated cookie.

Certainly not on anyone's diet, but we came home full (maybe a little too full) and Carolyn's birthday had once again been extended for a few days. If she had her way, it would be a full week!

Parties and Rain

It's almost winter around here with the wind blowing, the rain and temps in the high 40s at noon on Sunday.

Carolyn was baking an apple-pear pie on Friday when I got home from work that was to be our contribution on Saturday's get together and we sat in our kitchen enjoying wine, cheese and crackers while it finished baking. Darla then called and invited us over for a Christmas tour of the lake. A number of lakefront owners had already decorated the weekend of Thanksgiving so lights flickered off the lake and herds of "deer" stood amongst decks and potted plants.

Saturday, Carolyn went off with five of the 'queens' to the jewelry mart area of LA while I did laundry, cleaned up the house, and watched the USC-UCLA game which SC won by a measly five points when they had been expected to win by a margin of over twenty points. Carolyn called with her success at finding a birthday gift for herself from me and another for Christmas. That pretty much solved my shopping issues for the season!

The queens and their husbands met that evening down in Links Pointe and enjoyed conversation along with wine, shrimp, ham, appetizers and desserts. The ladies showed off their shopping prowess while the Oklahoma game played in the background.

Sunday, we finally made it to church after an absence of several weeks and Pastor Mike again effectively used his own life experience to illustrate the passage from Corinthians. Then we stopped by Wanda's for a brief visit and I hung a new watercolor for her that she had purchased at the community art show. Then it was home to start the process of decorating for Christmas by setting up the tree and getting all the boxes out of the attic.

Six o'clock found us at the next party of the weekend for Community Bible Study. We drove up to Villa Park in the rain and I met all the women leaders and their husbands who get together just this one-time a year. I didn't hide in the corner very often but made acquaintance with a number of guys when we found connections through our work, mutual friends, or sports centered on SMCHS.

After a full weekend, we drove home, cranked up the heat in the house, watched an NYPD Blue from last week that we had taped, then dove into bed after throwing on an extra blanket to make it all cozy. That's all folks!

Wanda's 80th

After a rainy and blustery day on Saturday, we awoke Sunday morning to find the sun shining and the wind nearly still. We called at 9 a.m. to find that Wanda should be able to take her balloon flight out of Del Mar!

Carolyn and I drove to Wanda's home where we were met by Lisa and Katie, so at a little after 11 we left for a brunch in Del Mar. Steve and Candy met us at the Brigatine after driving down from Victorville. We had a great champagne brunch and Wanda opened her gifts. After leaving our waitress with love-life tips (she said she'd like to be proposed to on a balloon flight, but her boyfriend wasn't likely to be proposing anytime soon - we suggested she dump him), we wandered the main street and checked out various over-priced shops including one where you could buy a large jade incense burner at the value price of $150,000!

Then over to the Coffee Bean to meet up with the balloon company and have both Wanda and Carolyn sign away any ability to sue in case of death. We followed their vans through the back roads of Rancho Santa Fe to a small open field where two balloons were inflated, first with big fans, and then with propane heated air. The smaller balloon lifted off with six or eight people rather quickly, but as Carolyn and Wanda where on the "biggest balloon on the west coast" it took two tries to fill it correctly and both ladies crowded in with twelve others plus the pilot to make their ascent. Slowly they ascended and headed to the south and probably reached 1500 feet.

Lisa, Katie and I followed the vans in the chase (Steve and Candy headed home) and utilized Lisa's rental Jeep's four-wheel-drive in a couple of places as we went into fields or over median strips. Wanda and Carolyn landed and called us on the cellular to let us know they were earth bound (after three hops on landing!) and we met up with them about five minutes after touchdown. Then, it was champagne for the passengers along with a few appetizers.

Wanda enjoyed the flight and may try it again on her 85th. It was a long day, but we were glad we could do something special for Nans and that all her kids could show up to celebrate.

The Day After

After massive amounts of turkey, that is. Well in actuality I didn't even go back for seconds, having appropriately mounded my first plate with turkey, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, sweet potato souffle and dinner roll. Did I forget anything? Maybe, but my waistline would disagree.

A few glasses of champagne/wine and appetizers of grapes and cheese were the prelude to another glorious day of American excess! But it was the only meal of the day unless you count the pumpkin and mince meat pie in the evening.

Today, I woke up an hour later than my typical workday morning and enjoyed coffee while reading the paper and a slice of pumpkin bread that Carolyn had made. Now I sit around in my robe at 9 a.m. reviewing my favorite blogs and news sites.

Just got a call from Dennis Hughes who found a Catalina 27 that's for sale up in Long Beach so we're going to check it out! When I shop, I shop!!

I'm hoping for a relaxing weekend with boats, football (American), turkey and stuffing, and Wanda's ballooning on Sunday.

A Cold Wind Blew

This weekend was a cold one at least by Southern California standards. Late Saturday night or Sunday morning, the 20% chance of rain sounded more like 20 inches of rain. It just poured and the wind blew. We were the recipients of an Arctic blast and when Carolyn and I went out late Sunday afternoon, there was snow on Saddleback (quite low in fact) and people were even bundled in parkas and gloves! Not us, of course, we've been to Scotland!

I had left work early on Friday afternoon because I wasn't feeling that great and got home around 4 and crawled into bed for about a two nap. Carolyn said I had a slight fever, but the nap sweated it out of me, I think.

Saturday, Pattie Brown came over (she's here from London for about two weeks) to visit and later Wanda came over and helped Carolyn re-arrange pictures and knick-knacks now that the downstairs painting is practically complete while I got a haircut (the pre-Thanksgiving rush) and took my film to Cal's Cameras to have printed (esp. the 1 roll shot at the wrong ASA speed) as well as to have a few favorites enlarged.

Sunday, because Carolyn still didn't feel that well, we skipped church and read both papers in bed and then continued to work on de-cluttering our house. I ordered some new closet doors for our guest bedroom from Home Depot and went through piles of shirts, et al, that I began to iron while watching pro football. Then, in late afternoon, we drove out El Toro Road to watch the sun setting on one side and snow capped Saddleback Mtn. on the other. Afterwards, we grabbed dinner out in Foothill Ranch, Carolyn choosing Indian while I chose Mexican.

Now, I only have a short week of work (my favorite kind) and the view outside my office window is of the snow draped San Gabriel mountains! I heard this morning that there was even snow in Barstow.

May you all have a happy and tasty Thanksgiving!