Adventure 892: A View from the Perch/24

We finished off the first year of holidays at the Perch with a wildly successful Christmas. All family members were present except for grandson Sawyer who called and sent his warm wishes over the airwaves. Our family tradition is to enjoy a prime rib at Christmas. By all accounts, this year's version was the best ever. Much joy and revelry marked the day. In addition, we're enjoying the extended stay of Libby and Angela. Enjoying family is a blessing we hold dear, and so this year made us smile.

Hard to get any better.

Daughter-in-Law, Bonnie yukking it up.

Falcon wondering what's so yukking funny, aunt Libby.

Dad and son figuring it out.

Emily and Libby hamming it up for the camera.

Son Steve reliving his sewing days.

Daughter Leticia sporting her new DIY tool.

Snacks.

Christmas salad: butter lettuce, grapefruit slices, pomegranate seeds, topped with creme freche.

Libby enjoying her exotic knitted kitchen rags, a gift from Bonnie.

Mimi rocking the Christmas carols.

Frozen peppermint roll for dessert.

Angela making the call to Sawyer for a chat.

Sarah and Falc yukking it up.

A photo of the girls taken from their good side.

Adventure 891: A View from the Perch/23

Life continues apace at the Perch. We had a birthday party for Falcon yesterday: four years old. Eleven adults and seven kids participated. At first, the kids played with the exercise equipment, then we played twister, musical chairs, Simon says, pin the tail on the donkey, and the kids smashed a dinosaur piñata to pieces. Candy spilled everywhere, and the kid scramble ensued. Then we ate pizza and cupcakes, after which we returned to the game room to open presents and witness another round of kid rambunctiousness. The whole event was wildly successful.

Falc's turn at the donkey.

Falc rocking the balance board.

Musical chairs.

Falc's favorite present: a moving T-Rex; five bucks off Facebook marketplace.

Pop Pops, keeping Falc out of harm's way during the piñata smashing.

Falc's second cousin.

The dinosaur piñata.

Izzy, Taryn, and Rick.

Twister was a little over Falc's conceptual understanding.

A meeting of future boarders.

Mimi surveying the action.

Momma and her birthday boy.

Merry Christmas!

Adventure 890: A View from the Perch/22

Never a dull moment here at the Perch. Last Sunday we attended the Whitworth Community Chorale concert (110 voices strong) at First Presbyterian Church. Judy, though she battled a cold, sang like a meadowlark.  And then to top things off, we enjoyed a wildly successful sit down Thanksgiving dinner. The only sad part was that Emily and Sarah were nursing bad colds so they stayed home. We sent them a nice care package of goodies. The rest of us enjoyed our traditional dishes, and managed to squeeze in a bit of gambling as well with the left, right, center dice game. We have much to be thankful for, so of course, we decided that life is good, especially today.

We played with three dollars each, which made Leticia's winning pot a total of $39.00.

Hors de Vors. 

Boopie arrives!

Mimi fixing plates for her and Falc.

Pie and stuffing. Who needs anything else?

Selfie of the day.

Art shot of the day.

Mimi separating the yolks.

That's Mimi in the front left row.

The whole chorale. First year success.

The family minus Mimi.

The family minus Pop Pops.

Sawyer with plate number one.

Steve working his way through the buffet.

Leticia right before her winning throw of the dice.

  

Adventure 889: A View from the Perch/21

It's hard to believe it's been six months since we moved into the Perch. We've met and are enjoying several new people. I've joined a coffee group and a cribbage group. Judy is a regular at exercise class. and she has joined the community chorale (110 voices strong). I've also been taking a philosophy course at Whitworth this semester, and I can tell you from that experience that both Judy and I are enjoying many epistemic goods. Lately, we've been out and about. We  shared wine and charcuterie with our longtime friends, the Cramer's and the Seidenstickers at a local winery. We attended an excellent concert at the Knitting factory featuring two bands: The Rainbow Girls and The Brothers Comatose. And we attended the fall youth symphony to hear our grand daughter, Sarah play. The only bad news is that we caught a cold about ten days ago. We're both just about over it, glad that it's not Covid, and otherwise we're doing well. I, myself, can't wait for the New Year so we can head south to Tucson, but first we'll get to enjoy the holidays with the kids. We're planning on filling the Perch with the whole crowd. As usual, despite our inconvenient illness, life is good, especially today.

 The six of us polished off a full board of eats and a few sips of wine.

Check out The Brothers Comatose, a Blue Grass/Americana band from the Bay area. You can find them on Spotify. Nice songs include Tops of the Trees, Valerie, and Morning Time.

One fun thing. They called up a gal from the audience to sing along. Karaoke on steroids!

The band features excellent musicians, including their fiddle player.

The warm up band, The Rainbow Girls, also from the Bay area, feature magnificent harmonies, along with a touch of political commentary. See their song: American Dream.

That's our Sarah at the top of the photo.

We're not keeping track, but this is just another in a long line of "hot dates".