Family time......

The weather cooperated for our arrival and then gifted   us with a lovely holiday scene.   

 The house is warm and inviting and filled with excited boys and grandmothers galore and granddad at the ready to help with the boy-toys.

Fat cats and yarn don't often mix too well.............
 

 Santa's cookies were made with care..............

  Wishing you all a bright beginning to another year, filled with  hope and love.  

Over the rivers and through the woods...

Bright and early we headed north and after we call it a night at a HI Express, we will have covered over 700 miles towards Ct.     Traffic has been heavy but even worse going south.  

Weather is dry and cool and not too scenic this time of year.   

We'll chat again once we're not moving so fast and we've reached the Andy/Mason house.    ( first time I've done this on the iPhone).    And, cheapest gas we've seen is here in Va @ &2.17....

'Tis the season .....

....to be jolly !!     The annual neighborhood Christmas gathering was last night and a record number of Inner Circle friends gathered for a catered dinner with all the trimmings.    There were a lot of red sweaters plus Bob in his tropical Santa shirt.     From the left, Bob and Nina,  Freida and John.  

 This morning, the sunrise was worthy of an iPhone shot, thru the screen, because I'm too lazy to walk out onto the dew covered grass.   The old adage of "Red sky at morning ....   doesn't seem to apply here as the forecast is for sunny skies.

Only 2 weeks until we'll be celebrating the holidays with two excited boys.    Until then, there are  a few things needing attention  (the grout project is on hiatus) including some outdoor decor and some traditional baking.     Christmas cards may be New Year cards.  

But, I'd really rather spend my time on this.    I took a class on Fair Isle knitting and this  project has enough color to keep me interested in the finished  hat.

One of our free amenities down here........

 On the 2nd day of launch efforts, we had this view of the huge rockets propelling the capsule skyward.    We are about an hour from the east coast but 90 min or so from Cape Canaveral.   There was heavy cloud cover and fog earlier but we got a bit of a break and we were able to see the brilliant plume as it rose fairly quickly.

 As it broke thru the 2nd layer, it was headed sharply east and we never saw it go higher.    Each rocket trajectory is different.    Smaller ones with satellites seem to go straight up...... The manned flights took a climb to the left and we could see the glow for quite a bit.     Apparently the crowds at the Cape only saw it briefly as it climbed into the clouds and it was totally obscured in the Orlando area so I guess we were in the right place......on our lanai !.....  in our PJ's !!

 Our local TV coverage is extensive and broadcasts are live for a few hours.    They keep the ubiquitous  scroll going for people's comments across the bottom.    One hapless person wrote and the station printed it...."God bless the astronauts on board......"  

The Season is fast approaching and I'm beginning the process.   It takes me awhile to get going and this is about all of the decorating that gets done around this house..... plus the Boy Scout wreath that will be coming via Andy's troop and will hang on the door.

Making memories.......

Hello again......!    Here's hoping you had a great Thanksgiving and time with family and friends.    We certainly did.     ( Bear with me, Blogger.com is not putting pictures where I want them)....

Early last Wed morning...very early,  we headed West and landed 3 hours later (according to my watch but not my body clock which said it was 6 hours later),in  San Francisco on a beautiful California day.     We picked up a car and headed south.      A slight diversion in my narrative......we are very connected and yes, even addicted to our devices..... especially now that I have my new phone....anyhow, we just  assumed that today's modern aircraft would have a source of power to plug into......but no, we were on an aging 757 that still had the drop down screens.   So, we practiced frugality and hoped for a connection in a rental car......not !    We checked several on the "Emerald Isle" and found none so we had to conserve even more.....plus, there were no GPS units on the cars (which we knew before hand ) but now we had to use our phone GPS and we were running on low batteries.     We made it to a Panera Bread down the road, had lunch and got charged up.   How pathetic we are.  

Our destination was my sister's lovely home .    In celebration of their 50th Anniversary this month, Sandy and Tom were hosting a gathering at a waterfront hotel in Monterey......It was perfect in every way.

 We gathered in a private room.    The buffet was over the top.....It was fun to watch Nathan and Justin pick and choose .....  Nathan ate a lot of shrimp and enjoyed many  chocolate covered strawberries.

While we waited for our reservation, we enjoyed the terrace overlooking Monterey Bay.   What a 

picture perfect day.   

Of course the seagulls had to get in the picture ..... that's a yellow kayak protruding from his chest.   

 

 From the left, my brother Tom, my sister Maureen (she always carries a great handbag) , her friend Tom and my favorite relative standing in the middle.

 Unfortunately, all good times must be over too soon....we left the next morning, via Las Vegas and pulled into the driveway about 2 am.  (The shiny new SW plane had mood lighting and on board outlets.)      
We are back to our daily routines ..... the house has needed a few updates and Mr Fix-it has repaired the dishwasher, replaced the disposal, trimmed the palms ( we have a lawn service but they aren't allowed to climb ladders so only trim what they can reach ? )   and I am trying to enjoy my new hobby involving grout cleaning.  

Enjoy the last picture of cloud feathers  over Monterey Bay...........