The Adventures of Fric and Frac

Saturday, September 21, 2024

Adventure 935: A View from the Perch/Emily's 18th Birthday/48

Where does the time go? When suddenly before our eyes sits a wonderfully grown young lady who's smart, thoughtful, compassionate, funny, loyal, and self-possessed of all of the other Girl Scout qualities a person can think of. Of course, we're proud grandparents, and in our current venue, there's much bragging to others about the "kids". We have plenty to share, seeing as how Steve and Bonnie, as well as our other kids have been wildly successful raising their kids. But this is Emily's time. Eighteen. Wow! She is talking about what to do about college. Where to go? What to study? The good news is she's so smart, she'll be fine wherever she decides to land. She proof that life is good, especially today. Couldn't be prouder.

A few Christmas's back. I'm so amazed!

Party girl.

Biker babe in training.

What in the world?

I got a strike!

Hmmmm?

Cousins are good.

I got it figured out.

Semel training.

First mate training.

Skateboard training.

A few Christmas's back.

Lakin'.

Tie dye master piece.

Cousins are good.

Cousins are still good from the front view.

Loving the books.

Sisters are good; so is hot chocolate with whipped cream.

Books and more books.

More first mate training.

Bowline training.

Proud book nerd.

More lakin'.

Girl overboard training.

Just as tall as Mimi.

Ooh! That's a bit chilly.

Cosplay anyone?

Yes. More books.

Eighth grade graduation.

Pensive teen girl training.

Aunt Libby spoilage.

Cousin, Falcon, showing off Emily's birthday present.

Just another great reason to smile.

No fear training.

Emily and her mom.

Emily and sister, Sarah.

Cousins with Mimi a few years back.

Eighteen. Pretty cool.

Pretty good bunch.

Monday, September 9, 2024

Adventure 934: A View from the Perch/Ferguson Lake House/47

Birthday month continues, and let the thin gruel slide across the plate! We spent the weekend at Priest Lake, arguably the most beautiful place on earth. It certainly was this weekend. The weather was in the high eighties, the skies were clear blue in the day and starry bright at night. The crowds were light as was the wind. We enjoyed time with Judy's sister Karen and our friend Liz Ulmen. We swam in the lake (even Judy got wet up to her knees), warmed ourselves in the sun, played card games until our eyes glazed over, and of course, we ate...and ate...and as is also usual while we were eating we were planning what we would eat next. Every activity was accompanied by loud guffaws, sly giggles, and none too few belly laughs. A good time was had by all proving once again that life is good, especially today.

Sunset in paradise.

Spicy rice bowl with pork meatballs.

Karen made these apple philo dough delicacies from whole cloth.

Selfie with my birthday Bunny.

Beach art. No bites, but much patience.

Miss Liz is a real water bug.

Miss Karen enjoying the clear quite warm water.

It's hard to get tired of the view.

Of course there was some puzzling going on.

And snacks.

And the view from the dock.

I may not be good looking, but I'm definitely looking good.

Some times we just read at the beach.

We woke up to this view every day.

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Adventure 933: A View from the Perch/Mimi's 78 Birthday/46

Happy 78th birthday to Judy. In attendance was sister Karen, sister Deb, daughter Leticia, grandson, Falc, and hangers on, Ed and Tim. During story time, Karen related that Judy was a lot like Jesus when she was in high school: "She loved everyone." We had a nice salad for dinner, our traditional Angel food birthday cake (which Judy baked herself) sans candles, a little wine, a little after dinner wine, quite a few laughs, some warm hugs, some joyous tears, and an overflow of grateful emotions, which brings us to the bottom line: "Life is good, especially today!"