Saturday night's alright... with the kids

Our big Saturday night was spent with Dale's grandkids, who were pretty happy to spend the night and get to go out to eat. After we were turned away from the chicken and noodle feed at St. Paul's United Methodist Church (sold out), we headed to Johnny Carino's for dinner.


Josie, Dale and Luke. Dinner conversation included Jaden's very brilliant theories about how volcanoes form (he wisely rejected Dale's version about an old man smoking a pipe inside the Earth), the merits of spaghetti and meatballs vs. spaghetti and tomato sauce, and ...

Whether we had enough bread at the table (this was about half of what they gave us.)

Then, it was time to snuggle under the blankets to watch "Underdog." And by 8:30, bed. That's the nice part about little kids. They go to bed early.

Book club highlights, or....

Aren't you glad i finally replaced the tower of food shots?

We had our book club meeting at my house Tuesday night. The highlights, besides a rewarding and lengthy discussion of "Atonement" by 17 women, also included Denise bequeathing the club's "spirit stick" to Bonnie, its original intended owner (long story).

Bonnie looks like she knows her way around that thing, which, in case you can't tell, is aluminum foil shaped like a, well, phallic symbol.


Here, Bonnie displays the red "penis cozy" that book club member Peggy Smith so thoughtfully knitted.

As stated, we had a full house.


I call this Four Women on a Sofa. They (Carrie, Jaime, Lori and Brenda) were a bit packed in, but managed it graciously.

My apologies to all of the women who got the uncomfortable chairs (Chris, Suzanne and Cory were among them. Hey, you try to find 17 comfortable chairs in your house!)

When book club is officially over, there are always a few diehards who refuse to go home. Among them were Lori Buselt, entertaining us with a demonstration of something I've entirely forgotten (there were lots of empty wine bottles at the end of the night.)

Denise and Brenda, no doubt being entertained by Lori B.

I call this Still Life with Empty Wine Glasses.

It tasted better than it looks

OK, it might look a bit obscene, way too indulgent, an embarrassment of riches, etc, but it was darn tasty. On Friday night I went to Nouvelle Cafe with Denise, Carrie and Brenda, mostly because Denise had heard about Chef George's amazing mountain of food. She has a special name for it, but I'll let her share that with you. (Yes, she's probably writing on her own blog about this experience.) Anyway, I ordered the ahi tuna with roasted potatoes and spinach, and this is what it looked like. It truly was delicious. Note the real pansy flowers on top. Chef was into pansies last night. He garnished our appetizers with them, too.


Here's Denise enjoying her entree, whcih was essentially the same as mine except with a beef filet, mushrooms and the whole thing was balanced on roasted potato logs.


A closeup of the beef. We urge you to try Nouvelle. Very good food, and a handsome chef to boot.

A perfect day... for Jan. 6

I can handle winter if it means 60-degree days and beautiful sunsets.

We sat outside this evening after practically hibernating the past month.


Today was officially the 12th Day of Christmas, and like many others, I marked the occasion by taking down all of my Christmas decorations and getting the house back to normal. I hate this job , so I decided to keep one decoration intact -- my flocked pine tree, which I have decided is going to be a "winter" decoration, not a Christmas thing.
If I get to the point where I leave up all of my Xmas decor year round, you have my permission to commit me.

Another year....

.... another night of poker. Our gang welcomed the New Year at our house with dinner and cards. Dale and I both finally won, which is long overdue. We've been on a killer losing streak.
Here are a few photos from tonight and last night.

Dale and Carrie actually got along most of the night. Why they always insist on sitting next to each other, I'll never know.

Tina and Mike.

Molly and Leroy both went home empty-handed, I'm afraid.


Last night, before we went to Denise and Nick's for a NYE party, Dale and I went to watch his son's band play at the Rolling Hills County Club NYE bash. Bret is the trumpet player, right.


Dale and I actually danced, something we haven't done in years. But it was just one dance, since he had requested the band to play something special in honor of my birthday. It was the big 5-0. He knew I needed some TLC. Thanks, hon.