I spent New Year's Eve with my brother Dave, at his apartment. When I went back to Eva's at about 1:30 am, the temperature on my car thermometer was zero. Yes, zero. No windchill, no other modifiers, just zero. No wonder the snow was squeaking when we walked on it.
Thank goodness I was heading south.
Later in the afternoon, I was at Scott and Rich's. Their dog Sydney loves to be tucked in and in fact will whine in the evening until someone does it. We tucked her in for a nap in the afternoon. She's a big baby, and I mean big. She's a great Dane and weighs in over a hundred pounds, but she's still a baby.
It's been a while and life has been very busy. Here we go with some updates.
When last we left off, I was getting ready for the holiday sale.
On Friday 12/11/15:
Getting set up for the sale.
I finally figured out where to put the hydra light --in the ceiling.
I went to Sears to get some staples for hanging the drop cloths in the garage and found a bunch of bag worm cocoons in the junipers outside the store. Quite a few of them.
Bag worm cocoons.
A huge hillside of them.
On Saturday 12/12/2015:
The sale was good, especially for a holiday sale in 75 degree weather.
Kim's banner.
Our snacks for the sale (and sunscreen).
Saturday night:
Karen's company Christmas party.
Me and Karen.
Sunday 12/13/2015:
Taking down the sale.
Saturday 12/19/2015:
Monday 12/21/2015:
I found some TINY mushrooms growing out of the maple tree out back. I also found some brown lacewing larvae that cover their backs with moss and lichen. Cool stuff.
I used my clip-on macro lens for my phone which has a really short focus length so bear with me on this.
These are really tiny.
I like the barnacle-yness of the lichen.
Zooming out to show the scale.
REALLY tiny.
12/25/2015:
Our Christmas was pretty quiet. Meredith came home for more than a week and it was nice having a full house again for a while.
Meredith with Binkley and his Christmas bone.
Stephanie throwing wrapping paper at me.
Overnight cinnamon rolls.
12/31/2015:
The day after Christmas we went to Pennsylvania to visit family for the holidays. We had a great time for the week.
On New Year's Eve, my brother Dave took me to his favorite Thai restaurant where they decorate the plates with various sauces. The woman there really does beautiful work.
Tofu in mango sauce with a beautiful design.
A closer look. I love the addition of the swirl with all those geometrics.
For dessert we had the dream bomba which is chocolate covered peanut butter ice cream with a caramel center --and an umbrella.
New Year's Eve we had a great dinner at Scott's house. The table was elegantly set and we had a sort of tapas dinner with all types of good food. I didn't get any pictures while we were eating since I was way too busy eating the delicious food.
On New Year's Eve my brother Dave and I went with my parents to their favorite restaurant. Ecco Domani is a small place in a shopping center near their house, but don't let it fool you. Julio (the owner) is a wonderful chef and we've never been disappointed there. Thursday was no exception. We started out sharing a fried calamari appetizer and then I ordered the eggplant parm which isn't one of the more exotic dishes on the menu, but I don't get to have it very often so I jumped at the chance and it was fantastic. For dessert we all shared a great tiramisu that's made right in the restaurant. Later, Julio brought out some black sambuca to finish the meal.
After dinner Dave and I went to his apartment for our annual night of video gaming. Good times.
