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Aurora on the Home Front

Northern Lights seen here in Sequim! May 10th and the Northern Lights popped by for a visit. I am happy to see them, but honestly, how DARE ...

Saturday, November 16, 2013

An Early Thanksgiving


Yay! My entire Baltimore Family
This weekend Bea, my niece decided to serve up an early Thanksgiving for my benefit. I was floored and pleased she would go through all the fuss of preparing a full Thanksgiving meal just so I could enjoy celebrating the holiday with family. Wow...

The meal was wonderful - delicious and even regional, as several of the entrees, such as the greens, were southern style. I mean, imagine: even the collards - a veggie I'd formerly avoided like a plague - were so delish I had seconds.

Loading up on Thanksgiving Goodness
You would think celebrating Thanksgiving would have been enough for the day, and you would be wrong. November is a birthday month for the family and all the birthday boys and girl were celebrated too.

Birthday honorees Kirk, Avon and Sydney

Our Saturday Thanksgiving is so wonderful, it has been decided we will do a repeat tomorrow. Hey, there are more than enough leftovers to pull off a double header of turkey wonderfulness. Yum!

Friday, November 15, 2013

Nyquil, Annapolis and a Whole Lot of Sushi

Ah! The photo below is a shot from the perfect ending to a perfect day. Today is Kirk's birthday so tonight we all gathered at Bea & Avon's condo for a big ole' sushi celebration in Kirk's honor. Yum. That's all I have to say about that, YUM. Oh! And a very happy birthday Kirk!

My Niece Bea, Great-niece Ain and one-year-older-today, Nephew Kirk
But as my last post was a week ago, I think I ought to catch you up on what I've been doing.Uh... well, dear sweet potions of NyQuil; I was sick all week! Strongly suspect I picked up a bug on one of the two fully booked flights I took from the west coast. Seven hours breathing recirculated air in a cheek to jowl packed flight can do that to you.

My neph Kirk had a couple of days off mid week, and although there were plans for birding & sight seeing, I wound spent most of the week. lifeless on the family room couch, hacking & coughing. I swear, I was a fat Camilla in the last scene of La Traviata. Must say, visiting with people you love, even though I felt like crap, was still, for me, a delight. So all in all, it was a fantastic week. Uh... maybe not so great for those who got to listen to me coughing up my lungs and watching the sodden tissue pile up around me like a gentle winter's snow fall.
Still a couple of outings were had. Yesterday, Thursday, I went along when my v. sweet niece-in-law Nicole picked up my sister Dolores and drove us to the outskirts of DC to visit Dolores' life long friend Beegee & her kin. Dolores & Beegee have been BFF since they were knee high to whatever it is you have to be knee high to in Brooklyn.

Got no outstanding shots in Annapolis, but I love this drive-by shot
for the scarlet tree with the Historic Annapolis sign on the right
Today, Nicole decided to drive Sydney, James and myself out for an airing. She took us to a locale of much history - Annapolis Maryland. It was a lovely drive and we took a nice walk there over to the harbor. The first surprise was I'd forgotten that Annapolis' connection to Alex Haley and his famous book, Roots. There, by the port where Kunte Kinte set foot in North America, was a statue of Haley reading to children.
Of course, if he's reading portions of Roots to those tender little minds, there will be nightmares
James, Sydney & Nicole
James hitched a ride
A view across Annapolis harbor
We passed by a small corner of the U.S. Naval Academy
The architecture and colors on Annapolis' Main St. remind me of Ireland
Beautiful brick paved streets, plenty of shopping in Annapolis - if only I'd had the energy!
So, all in all, it was a beautiful day today, even if my tail was kind of dragging on the walk around the beautiful streets of Annapolis. Oh well; my tail may have dragged, but at least it was wagging.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Girlie Cousin's Weekend at an End

Carol, Idea, Wanda, Jacqueline, Yvonne, Donna, Rhonda, Dolores and Bea
Our Girlie Cousin's weekend is at an end. We all got together for the continental breakfast (meaning we faced enough food to feed an average sized continent). We took advantage of this very-nearly-the last meetup of the weekend to exchange phone numbers, addresses and take new photos to stuff on our smart phones. I say it was v. nearly the last meet up because those who were so inclined went on a mini shopping spree post breakfast.

Great Group Selfie by Ideaa
My favorite shot of our weekend together
Our Cousin's Reunion was over way to soon. I'm looking forward to our entire Family getting together for a reunion in 2014 - see you there Cousins!