A Baby Shower

 



Our nephew and his wife are expecting their first child and today was the baby shower!

 

His parents had a special cake made for the celebration--lovely to look at and delicious to eat.

There were lots of presents to open and they are almost ready for the special event now.

My trademark shower decoration is a white bear with balloons tied to the paws, so I made Dawn and Ross stand next to the appetizer table to get this photo. Malima is visiting her parents so these few photos will help her share in the party.

The baby girl is due at the beginning of March.  It's been a long time since there has been an infant in the family--we're all so excited!

Book Bonanza

I've been reading a lot lately and have some opinions to share, as usual!

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt was a good read. I thought it was an interesting take on the AIDS epidemic as seen through the eyes of a teen whose dear uncle dies from the disease. She befriends his surviving lover and learns so much more about her uncle as a person and an artist than she ever knew. I found it a little unrealistic in that she is able to keep this relationship secret from her family for a long time, but it's a tale well told. Definitely deserves an A for originality and its humanizing treatment of a sensitive topic.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs is actually Young Adult fiction, but the book kept showing up in the blogs that I follow as a good read. The author basically found a number of old photos showing children and people in unusual circumstances, such as the levitating girl on the cover, and he weaves a very original story around the people in the photos.  It's a quick read and while I don't think it's great literature, I was intrigued enough by the mystery to keep reading.  Definitely deserves an A for originality!

I saved my favorite for last--I loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce! It's an original and sensitive story with very believable characters in a modern setting.  Harold is a retired man who receives word that his former coworker is dying from cancer and he decides to walk across England to visit her, the pilgrimage of the title.  There are several minor mysteries here--why is Harold's marriage so empty and can it be saved, what happened to Harold's son, and what is the nature of his relationship with his dying coworker?  The people he meets along the way are just so real that's it a pleasure to read.  For a first novel, I'm very impressed and look forward to reading more by this author. There's just such a sweetness to this story that I found very appealing--no irony, no judgments--the author is very sensitive to all the different characters and their quirks.

Wildlife Tracks in Snow

 

 

We had a dusting of snow yesterday evening and it was fun to see animal tracks in our yard this morning.  The deer made the rounds--checking out the hydrangea near the deck (which they ate last winter so I covered it with chicken wire this year) and walking in front of the living room window and across the driveway.

I had to look up these tracks and I think they're from the rabbit that I often see in our yard.  I'm really surprised that the coyotes or bobcats haven't found him yet.  He's a very cute Eastern cottontail, but he's another plant muncher that we don't need!

Book Group Goes to NYC

On Sunday morning book group set out on a road trip to NYC to see "The Book of Mormon".  It's hard to believe that we bought the tickets almost one year ago for this very popular show.  We arrived early enough to have a wonderful lunch at nearby Trattoria Trecolori.

Here are the tourists in Times Square.  We were lucky to have a nice clear day with relatively mild temperatures so it was pleasant to walk around.

The show was hysterically funny! It reminded me a lot of the book The Poisonwood Bible that our group had read years ago and which remains one of my personal all-time favorites.  Of course the language and some of the concepts were over the top--just what one might expect from the creators of South Park.  Why use subtlety when you can use a sledgehammer?

I love live theater! Just wish it wasn't so darn expensive...

New Year's Eve

We're getting ready to ring in the New Year at my dear friend Dorine's home with her and her family.

Perhaps I should post some of our Christmas photos before 2013 arrives. When my tech support came here for the holidays, I tried to show him the problems I had been having with posting photos to my blog--but the problem was magically fixed! So now I'll see if I can post photos since Mark has installed Windows 8...

The Wigilia celebration had nearly 70 people in attendance!  Some of Mark's cousins came from Oregon, Colorado, and Texas to attend.

Here's Santa with two of his daughters...oops, I mean elves! 

 

 

It's so nice to have all our family members on this side of the pond again, and it was wonderful to spend Christmas Day together.

Wishing family and friends a very happy and healthy 2013!

Christmas Eve

The elves at our house are busy getting ready for our extended family's traditional Wigilia celebration at the local Lions Club hall.

Here's a photo from a past Wigilia with one's of Dawn's friends serving as Santa...hmmm, I wonder who will play the part this evening...

Wishing all a very Merry Christmas 2012!

Thanksgiving

If the only prayer you ever say in your life is

thank you, it will be enough.

 

~ Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)

 

 

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays as it's filled with family, friends, and food--and a long weekend. We were blessed to share the day with Dawn, some family and friends, while thinking fondly of those who could not be with us this year. Here's hoping that you all are having a wonderful holiday weekend too!