1/2 Home again

New Year's Day 2008, I'm in the middle with the pink scarf around my neck. Brrrrrr.

January 1 was awesome as usual. Part of the family went to the cemetery to celebrate Mom's and Dad's life, and we toasted them with a beer, like we always do. There were 20 of us there, which was great. It was absolutely freezing--a bitter wind was blowing, but we huddled together and enjoyed the visit.

Then we went back to the old homestead, owned by Joe and Cindy, and ate and ate and ate. We played games all day too. Most of us got very involved in the musical version of Catch Phrase. We played Texas Hold'em too, twice. And I won one of the tournaments, so that was a good pay off. Others played Cattan, which is a game where you build civilizations. Others played Rummikub and Triominoes. It was a super day.




Here's a picture of Rob and me on Christmas day enjoying the scrumptious meal.

12/31 Family stuff

Sorry I haven't posted for several days, but I'm staying at my sister, Jan's. She lives in the country and has dial up connection. She's ordered DSL but it hasn't been turned on yet.

So I'm sitting in a coffee shop in Quincy. Free wi-fi is a good thing. :)

I'm catching up on some work while Jan is working at the clinic this morning. Jane is off, but don't know what she's up to. I've been here since Friday and everything is going beautifully. Jan and Tim are always so welcoming and loving to me. It's such a treat to stay in their beautiful home. Friday night we just relaxed and played some games. Saturday we went shopping with Jane and her daughter Sarah. I got a few after-Christmas bargains. Saturday night all the siblings got together, without kids. We ate at Sprouts. It was a lot of fun. Several of us went to the Elks afterward, where we met up with True and Pat (a cousin and her husband).

Sunday Jane, Jan, and I went to Mass together. Then last night Jane and her family came for dinner, and so did Kris and her boyfriend, Brian. Kris is Jan and Tim's daughter. Also, Tim's Uncle Bill joined us. Caught up with the cast of characters? Just wait--there will be tons more tomorrow at Joe and Cindy's house.

Tonight Jane and her family, and Kris and Brian are coming again for dinner and games. I'm looking forward to it. But of course the reason for my visit will happen tomorrow--on New Year's Day. More on that later.

11/17 Word games

(The dogs earlier today. They seldom walk on the floor--they just go from furniture piece to furniture piece.)


Just got home from Genia's. We played two games I brought back from my Words weekend in New York. Everyone had fun--Genia, Caroline, Lorena, Cindy, and me. And everyone did well; we took turns winning which is always nice. :)

I left my puppies for 4 1/2 hours, and they did super. Eli walked them tonight so they were tired, which I appreciated. Of course they are wide awake now, so I'll have to stay up for a while. Maybe I'll play some online poker....

Tomorrow I have to clean the house plus have a few hours of work-work to do. So I can sleep in a little if I need to. (And by the looks of the dogs' energy levels right now, I may have to catch up on sleep tomorrow, because it doesn't look good for tonight.)

11/10 Fun fun fun

I backdated a few hours so this will show up on Saturday, but it's actually close to 2:30 AM on Sunday.

My flight was more than four hours late on Friday, because of navigation problems with the first plane. We tried to take off, had to abort, and then sat on the runway for an hour. I slept through it all. Hell, I was tired! It's rough getting up at 4 AM.

At Newburgh airport I checked in to get my subcompact car and all they had was a Lincoln Town Car which I got for $30 per day. Not too shabby. And I'm glad I had a big car as it started snowing or freezing rain or something as I drove up the mountain.

The weekend started on Friday night with dinner and some games. My team won Scrabble Scramble--how could I lose with DF on the team? We all won a prize. I ended up with a Scrabble mug which someone will surely get for Christmas. After the organized activities we stayed up late playing games. I managed to stay awake until 1:30 or so, and then hit the hay. Dave and some others stayed up until 4. I would have never made it.

This morning I got up at 7 and met friends for breakfast. Will post tomorrow about the rest of the day. It was a lot of fun, but I'm yawning. Love to all.

7/20 Lonely

I put Q in the kennel overnight because I went to a friend's for dinner and cards. Well, I got home around 10:45 and now I'm missing my Q-dog. It seems so empty in the house. Can't wait to pick her up tomorrow.

Dinner was fun and so were the card games. But I'm tired now, and will crash for a while. (Oh, Q slept all night last night. What a treat.)