Sunday, December 19, 2010

Christmas Breakfast

Every year before Christmas Kathy, Leigh and I get together for breakfast and exchange gifts. I usually don't remember to bring my camera to capture the moment, but this time I did.



I tried to get the waitress to clear away the remaining dishes, but she either didn't hear my request or ignored it. So, sorry for the clutter in the foreground.

Hanging out

Friday was Al's birthday so we hung out at the house. He received several new video games for his birthday and Chantelle and I (and Lister) watched him play some of them. It was very low-key; Alex didn't even want a birthday cake.



Thursday, December 9, 2010

Eat Pray Love

I rented the above movie last night as a digital rental on Netflix, via my Amazon account. I enjoyed it so much I am going to watch it again tonight, since the rental is for 48 hours.

Although you don't see Javier Bardem until the last part of the movie, it is well worth the wait. That is one HOT & SPICY Spaniard! And I am certain I am not the only woman who thinks so! I'd let him nearly run me over too, if it ended up for me as it did for Julia Roberts' character in the movie.

Eat Pray Love is a quintessential chick flick, a must see.

Update...Seattle, Thanksgiving week 2010

Boy, oh boy! It sure seems ages since I posted anything on here of any length.

I finally have a moment to put some of the photos on here from my trip. Actually, I did barely any site seeing because the weather was cold and it had snowed just before I had arrived there. Apparently, the Seattle area is not as equip to deal a snowstorm as well as their New York State counterparts. I was amazed on the ride to Keith's house how vehicles that had been involved in accidents or had slid off the road and were stuck were just LEFT there. We actually came upon a tractor trailer and a minivan which had side-swiped each other and were left on the road between the driving lane and the ramp we were entering the highway on. That is such a huge liability. You'd never find that on any major highway in New York. The state is too scared of being sewed over such things.

Consequently, most of the photos and video I'll post are family. Also, Debbie has the better pictures of our bit of sightseeing at Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle, since I had forgotten my camera. It is a famous fish market where the salespeople throw the fish selected by customers from in front of the merchants' display cases to their coworkers behind the cases, who in turn wrap the fish/seafood up for the customers. There was even one merchant who had customers come behind the cases to catch the fish themselves. I did not volunteer for that. However, I did get my picture taken while sitting on top of a large brass pig.

That was Wednesday, Nov. 24. On 11/26, Tracy, Debbie and I went out shopping to a town north of Seattle, named LaConner. I only snapped a couple of pictures there:


On the way to LaConner, we stopped briefly at this Harley Davidson dealership to pick up a tshirt for a coworker who collects them


I thought these birdhouses were cute, but I think they would have looked better painted different colors or decorated somehow. I wonder if the birds actually nest in them.


Debbie liked this sign. She likes to take pictures of unique signs and doorways when she travels. She forgot her camera that day so I took this for her.


My visit to Seattle occasioned the opportunity to reconnect with a nephew I had not seen in 24 years. In fact, the last time I had seen him was the day I had gotten married. He and his father (my brother Arthur) had come to see me get married. It was so great to see him again. He has a wonderful sense of humor and a sharp wit and we all laughed a great deal thanks to him. Here is Brett with the incomparable Nathan (aka the Nathanator) followed by a picture of Brett and his lovely wife, Xin, who is from China. They met on the internet. Their story is cute; they like to tell people that they got married the third time they met in person, which is true. However, their relationship had been going on for quite sometime by then, over the internet and by phone. They have been married about 5 years and only about 2 years ago was Xin finally permitted to come to the U.S. to live with him. She is a lovely woman and I'm glad she's joined the family.





On the evening before I had to leave Seattle, Keith, Tracy and the boys took me out to a fantastic Mexican restaurant named La Palmera. I'm glad I had the waiter take the picture before the margaritas came. Tracy and I had these awesome margaritas in huge goblets. I was feeling mighty fine after drinking that thing.



And as a nice ending to my time off, Chantelle and I decorated my Christmas tree the day after I got back.





It was a nice vacation. I needed the break with the then imminent layoffs at work that have now taken place. We are losing two dispatchers at our station. Thankfully, I have some seniority, so they didn't affect me. But I feel awful for those who have been.

12/19/10 Update: It seems that my computer does not recognize the video I uploaded to it from my camera. It gives me an error message saying it is missing a codec. Goodness only knows how long it will take me to figure out how to fix that. I love the versatility technology offers, but hate the quagmire of trying to fix something that isn't working correctly with it.