Marlena And Nick Return To School On A Cold, Rainy Morning

First Beignets Of The Day

Another Bleak Afternoon In KC

Well, Marlena an Mary beat me up this morning; I was up around 6:30, came downstairs to both of them sitting at the kitchen bar, Marlena eating her breakfast, both on their devices.  Marlena left for school at 6:45, catching the bus up the street and Nick left about 15 minutes later.  How uncivilized! The downside, getting up early, the upside, they are home before 3:00.  Weatherwise, we have rain all day, 36º at the moment, but it will clear up tomorrow when we start our journey back to Lake Chautauqua, with a stop in Oxford, Ohio, for the night with the Barry's,

Yesterday had two high points other than the fact that some of us watched football for also 12 straight hours, the Chiefs, then theSeahawks, finishing our view at 11:30 with the Denver win over the New England Patriots.  My only excuse being the weather; it continued to be wet and slick on the roads and my only alternative to sitting around watching TV, eating chips and dip, drinking beers was to go shopping and I certainly did not want to do that.  So the two highlights of the day.

Phase # 1, Frying The Dough

Phase #2, Letting Them Rest

Phase #3, Dusting With Sugar

First, for breakfast, Evie with the help of Nick, Marlena and Peyton, made beginets, from a mix we bought in New Orleans.  To say they were a hit would be an understatement.  Just as good as those at the Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans, the entire family devoured them as quickly as Evie and Marlena pulled them out of the hot oil and Nick covered them with powdered sugar.  Nothing like eating them warm, too, just out of the oil.  They remind me of the hot malasadas we used to get in Hawaii, mostly dough fried in oil with sugar on top.  Yum.  Anyways, that was the morning highlight

The Two Card Sharks

The afternoon was taken up by football, as I mentioned, except that Evie and Marlena played numerous hands of rummy and telefunky, caring less who won the football game.  Highlight #2 was Evie's putting together Tommy's favorite meal, the good old standby, Greek/Lemon chicken, with garlic spinach, salad, and rice.  This seems to be our family's favorite meal, our comfort food since we starting making it back in the 1970's when we were living in Turkey.   Evie did most of the prepping but everyone helped as dinner neared, especially Mary and Marlena who were the sous chefs and the table setters.  Nick's buddy Chris came over for dinner, so by the end, nary a chicken thigh nor spinach was left.

Granny And Her Sous Chefs

After dinner, Marlena coerced the entire family into playing Apples To Apples, so we gathered around the coffee table and roared with laughter at the attempts to match an adjective.  It's an easy game, little strategy, but fun especially for the younger members of the family.  Afterwards, Marlena went up to bed around 8:30, tired from the previous night, Nick worked on his homework, and the rest of us settled in to watch the Broncos game, the ladies reluctantly, I might add, but in this house football seems to rule.

Late Night Cheese Cake

We waited up till 11:30 for the exciting end to the Bronco's/Patriots game.  Afterwards, everyone hustled upstairs, worrying about getting up early the next morning.  In fact, it's 7:30 and Tom and Evie are still asleep, like a couple of babies.  Lucky babies.

A Freezing Drizzle And Gray Skies In Kansas City

The Family Davis

It's 8:00 and no one is stirring  not even a, yup, a grandchild.  The weather has not been cooperating much, as there's more freezing rain this morning, and it won't clear up until Tuesday when we head home.  It will be a good day to hunker down with Tom and family and watch their beloved Chiefs play the Buffalo Bills.  I am glad we are not going to the game; it's much nicer to stay home and watch it in a warm house, with a beer and chips and dip.

Yesterday did not lend itself to much of an outing because of the rain and cold temperatures.  Nick, however, had a soccer game, on a team with a bunch of buddies, san coach now that his season is over.  He and Tom braved the weather, leaving around 9:30, not getting home until 12:30 and the roads, fortunately, were no problem.  We both felt guilty about not going to the game but rationalized it by thinking we had seen many of his games over the years and this was just fun, the way it should be, not playing to get ready for the next season, just playing because you love to play soccer.  I watched the Ohio State game, as they devastated a Michigan team and the reputation of their coach as a miracle man.  They were just out classed by the Buckeyes.  I am not sure why I still care about Ohio State football, perhaps because I started listening to their games on the radio in the 1950's, cheering for Howard 'Hopalong' Cassidy, a 150 pound running back, as any good boy growing up in Ohio would do.

The Monopoligists, Granny and Marlena

When Tom and Nick returned, Tommy got out some home fries and turkey sausage, fried them up and Evie fried us some eggs, for a late breakfast.  We ate watching the Ohio State game. The only healthy one of us, Mary, spent a couple of hours working out at the gym.  For a good part of the afternoon, Evie and Marlena played Monopoly, not Evie's favorite but she stuck with it, even beating her granddaughter at the last minute, a true capitalist.  Nick and a friend watched a Spanish film in the basement for extra credit, while the rest of us wiled away the afternoon, playing games on our iPad, like a new one Evie has shown everyone called Word Brain.  Tommy and I are the only ones who don't seem to have any interest in word games; everyone else loves them.

Kansas City's Union Station

Union Station's Grand Lobby Christmas Decorations

We were going downtown, around 5:30, to walk around Union Station, the rehabilitated train station in Kansas City, then to Lidia's, a landmark restaurant here in KC, part of our favorite chef, Lidia Bastianich's empire.  We have followed her TV show for years, have her cookbooks and have eaten at her restaurant only once, about 15 years ago.  So we were excited to go there.  But first we spent a good hour touring the train station, an architectural wonder from the early 1900's.  Now it was festooned with Christmas decorations, especially in it's large main hall.  It houses restaurants, museums, a theater, coffee shop, and gift shops.  Like many of these older buildings, it was almost taken down before concerned citizens stepped up and raised the money to renovate it.  Now it's one of the gems of Kansas City.  We also took the skywalk, which connects Union Station with Crown Center, a hotel and an agglomeration of shops, all crowded with happy shoppers.  It was fun just being downtown on a Saturday night.

One Of Four Lidia's

Lidia's Main Dining Room

We got to Lidia's at 7:30 and the Burlingame's, Tom and Mary's best friends, were already there, enjoying a beer with their son Peyton.  Our table was ready, in the outer, windowed section of the restaurant, not as nice as the restaurant proper but we did have nine people.  Lidia's was crowded, as we expected, but our waiter though busy was accommodating, explaining menu items, sometimes two or three times, and letting us share meals if we wanted which was nice.  Most of us ordered the pasta trio, all you can eat pastas, a pasta with bolognese sauce, another with shrimp and crab, a third ravioli with butternut squash in a sage butter sauce.  I got the duck breast, Tom salmon, and Mike, osso buco. All our meals were good but nothing fantastic, alas, perhaps not worth the money.  But we all enjoyed being there, six adults and three youngsters, who enjoyed the ambiance and being out with their parents at a nice restaurant.  Lidia is going to have to kick it up a notch before we ponder returning.

Gang of Nine At Lidia's

Our ride home, on slick roads, went fine; we stopped for ten minutes at the Magic Tree, near Tom and Mary's house.  It wasn't so magical this year; no one wanted to get out of the car except for Mary and Marlena.  Bah humbug.  We did not get home until around 10;00, Nick and Peyton going downstairs immediately to play some games and watch movies, the rest of us watched some TV but soon went up to bed.

The Magic Tree

Today brings more football, at noon, the Chiefs and Bills, and Evie is going to make beignets for breakfast.  I cannot wait to see how they match up with the ones we had at the Cafe Au Lait in New Orleans.  

An Icy Morning in Kansas City

Mary And Tom Up Close

Lee's Summit, southeast of Kansas City, at 7:30

I was up around 7:15, came down to a wet morning, trees iced over, icicles hanging from the branches.  No snow, just wet, cold rain at the moment though it should get better as the weekend progresses.  Ice pellets forecast for the morning as well.

Yesterday, fortunately, was a long wet drive but no ICE thank goodness.  It was forecast for the Kansas City area and south, but we timed it well so all we had were wet roads, slick somewhat but never icy.  We left Dallas in rain, with flood warnings for the city, streets around University Park flooded but passable.  We got on #75 north through the city, stayed on it for the next five hours, where it turned to #69 once we hit the Oklahoma line.  Just  past Tulsa, Oklahoma, we picked up the turnpike, #44 to Joplin, MO, and then on #49, straight north to Kansas City.  Must of the ride through Oklahoma was through an occasional small farming town, with a couple of lights, stores and gas stations, then through farms for the next thirty or forty miles, than another town.  It was more fun than a major highway though slower.  It rained most of the way but only really hard for about ten minutes, so it was not nail biting.  There was not much beauty along the drive, at least nothing spectacular like mountains, just a few inland lakes which was surprising as we don't think of Oklahoma as having lakes, just pastures and cows, which they obvious do, lots of cows along the way.  And from Texas all the way north to Kansas City, it was flat, with an occasional hump, not even what I would call a hill.  That's why much of it is called the Plains I guess.

Catching Up

We arrived  thankfully around 4:00, just about the hour we expected.  And noone was home, as Tom and family had run off to the store, expecting us later.  So our arrival was anticlimactic after 8 hours of boredom but they drove in just as we finished unpacking the car.  Everyone looks great, happy to have a few days off from school and work.  Tom quickly made us some guacamole, opened a couple of beers, and we settled in comfortably, like we never left a year ago Thanksgiving. We were filled in on all the kids lives, Marlena's school, Nick's college plans; it looks like he's going to Arkansas, at least that's his first choice for now, a great school for him.

Kitchen Helpers

Baba With His Grandchildren, Nick and Marlena

Around 6:00, Tom got cooking, as we were having his fabulous shrimp with asparagus.  Everyone helped out as sous chefs, and by 7:00, we had a great pasta dinner, with garlic bread, as good as anything we might get at Lidia's, where we are going tonight for dinner.

A Shrimp Pasta Dinner A La Tom

We then settled down in the living room, on their couches, along with Hannah, Nick's girlfriend, and watched another 'Baba movie', at least that's what my grandchildren call foreign movies we like to watch with them.  We couldn't get Marisa and the rest of the Albarrans to watch it but the Davis's are more pliable, perhaps because it was our first day, so we watched a German film both Evie and I love called MOSTLY MARTHA, made in 2001, about a neurotic chef who ends up having to take care of her sister's eight year old daughter.  She obviously has no idea how to take care of a little girl and problems evolve but it ends having a happy ending, a feel good movie, well acted with a good story line.

Mostly Missed Marisa

We were all tired by the end of the movie so we went up to bed around 10:30.  It sure felt good to be in Kansas City, warm and comfortable, no eight hour drive ahead of us for a few days.

Good Bye Dallas, Hello Kansas City (In 8 hours)

The Albarrans, Thanksgiving, 2015

We are up early, of course, because we are hoping to drive to Kansas City today to visit our son Tom and his family.  At the moment, however, the weather looks bad, flood warnings here in Dallas, lots of rain on the way north, and icy roads around Kansas City.  Not much fun.  We are going to wait another hour or so, for daylight, to see how bad the flooding is around here before deciding if it's a go.

The guys slept in Thanksgiving morning, having gotten home at 2:30 a.m. from the previous night's concert.  Glad we did not  stay for it.  We had a slap dash breakfast, some croissants from Trader Joe's, granola, lots of coffee, and eggs and sausage later for Tyler and me.  We sat around watching some HGTV shows, talked about what we needed to do for dinner (not much till later) and I then took Cody for a long walk, past numerous signs in front of homes announcing the fact that there son or daughter was playing for the local high school team.  If not that, then a banner announcing the Alma mater of the parents, Texas predominating of course, with a few Baylor's and Oklahoma's thrown in for good measure.  Late morning, Mitch finished up a couple of his college essays, with help from his dad, so he really caught up with most of his applications.

Making A Couple of Breads And A Mess

Tyler woke wanting to make a couple of different breads in between a run in the neighborhood.  He started with a cranberry bread, making a mess in the kitchen like his Granny but it's great to see him excited about bread making.  So the kitchen till about 1:30 was chaos, Tyler making his two breads, Evie forming and baking her cloverleaf rolls, Beth making a green bean casserole, getting the appetizers ready, and Ramiro shooting the turkey full of salad dressing, often missing and hitting the floor.  O, yea, Marisa hung around, chopping cranberries for Tyler's bread, helping Granny with the rolls and potatoes.  And in between, some of us watched the football game, though it was more background than a major focus.  By 2:00, all was ready for the big meal, so it was time to relax with a beer, some appetizers, two cheeses, and spankopita's from, where else, Trader Joe's.

Tyler Slicing The Cranberry Bread Which He Has Been Making Since First Grade

The Boys And Their Turkey

Making Cloverleaf Rolls

But it's never over, things are never ready.  After some appetizers and watching the Cowboys get killed by the Panthers, Rami dropped the turkey into the hot boiling oil and the rest of us worked in the kitchen, getting things ready for Thanksgiving dinner, with a glass of wine thankfully.  We decided to eat earlier than usual, around 5:00, so the turkey came out on time for once, just before 5:00.  Evie pulled the rolls out of the oven, Marisa mashed the potatoes, and Beth got the stuffing and beans ready.  The turkey seemed done to perfection even though according the the thermometer, we over cooked it.  Rami carved the turkey, with help from his sons, and we were ready to eat.  Dinner as always was way too much, just as it should be.  We stuffed ourselves with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green beans and rolls until we did not want pumpkin pie (until later).

Finally, A Turkey Dinner

By 7:30, we had the dishes done, the kitchen cleaned up, and everyone was off somewhere doing their thing I guess.  Evie and I got packed, so we could leave early tomorrow morning.  It was raining fairly hard, however, making it difficult to get the car packed last night.  We managed, with help to get most of our stuff in despite the high water along the curb.

We ended up watching the Westminster Dog Show as a family and having our pie later in the evening, with Reddi Whip of course, and all we happy, the end to a great day, a great week actually.

Thanksgiving Texas Style

Marisa And Her Mom

Tyler's Back Home

It's almost 8:00 and I am still the only one awake.  Some of us had an early morning yesterday as well as a late night.  We may have some sun this morning, but it will cloud up later.  It will get into the 50's later in the day and seems humid, strange for us to feel humidity this late in the fall.

Yesterday was a waiting for Tyler, a junior at Dartmouth College, sort of day.  He finished his exams on Tuesday and was flying in yesterday afternoon.  We did not do much during the day, just some dog walking for me, as the weather turned nice.  And we did some shopping. Beth and I drove ten minutes up Lover's Lane, to a strip mall with Trader Joe's.  It's always fun to shop there, see what's new, a box wine for one thing.  We picked up a few things to make sure we had all we needed for our turkey dinner, then stopped at Tyler's, the tee shirt shop, and found a blouse for Marisa to wear to my niece's wedding in December.  Of course, when we got home, it was not quite what she wanted, so it will have to be returned.  Even at twelve, girls know exactly what they want.  Boys, except for a few like Mitch, could care less.  Mitch spent the day working on a few college applications and playing computer games.  Around noon, Evie and Marisa walked up to Marshall's, and I accompanied them with Cody, returning home when they got there.  The ended up just shopping, not buying anything, a unusual occurrence.

I had lunch of leftover prime rib, finishing it off, watched some of the basketball game from the previous night, the Warriors and Lakers.  I really enjoy watching Curry and Thompson hit bombs from 30 feet.  They are the only NBA team that's fun to watch.

Rami picked up Beth around 3:00 and they drove to the Fort Worth/Dallas airport, about a half hour away, and picked up Tyler who had flown in from Boston, having gotten up early to take a 7:00 bus from Hanover, NH, to the Boston airport. Fortunately, he was forty five minutes early.  He arrived home around 4:30, bags and guitar in tow, happy to be home and finished with exams.  He looks great, like a typical college guy, bearded, tee shirt and jeans, his travel outfit.  What happened to the good old days of getting dressed up to fly or to go to church for that matter.  Hey, sensible and comfortable is in, formality is out...for now.

Checking Out Breweries With His Dad

Tyler gave his Granny a big hug of course, what she has been waiting for.  We then relaxed for a couple of hours, pumping Tyler about his college life, his girlfriend, Helen, his courses, his social life and he was exceedingly patient and forth coming.  He's growing up, for the first time he almost seems like a man.  Scary.  We both remember that four year old boy playing with his trucks in Florida, at Chautauqua.  Tempus fugit.

Bar/Music Area 

We were all looking forward to the evening out.  Tyler had done some research and found that a band he really liked, the Snarky Puppies, was playing at The Prophet Bar, a venue in section of downtown Dallas called Deep Ellum, where all the music and bars seem to be located, a few miles from the downtown area.  He also found a brewery where we could go for dinner called the Brain Dead Brewery, literally across the street from the music venue.  So we left around 7:00 and stopped at Rami's office in Dallas, on the 39th floor of a high rise, with a great view of the city.  He had to pick up Dallas Cowboy tickets for a customer.

Ramiro's Office

We then drove to Deep Ellum, past the Prophet Bar and it's annex, called The Door, where a good hundred people were queued up at the door.  We then walked into Brain Dead Brewery, a rustic, comfortable bar, windows open, with people sitting both inside and out, typical for Dallas because of the great weather.

 Bar Signage

Mega Taps At The Brain Dead Brewery

They had lots of micro beers as well as an extensive menu of bottled beers  and four choices of sandwiches for dinner.  I got the recommended burger, called the Coma, with brisket and fixings, the others got a Cuban and and a kind of Club sandwich, all good.  And of course, fries, cooked in duck fat, somewhat of a tradition around here I think.  The beers were interesting; I got a cream ale called Gritz, something new since my Genny Cream Ale days at the lake in the 1980's.  Tyler, Rami, and Evie all ordered wheat beers, with a touch of citrus to them, and later a Red.

Enjoying A Burger And A Micro Brew

We were not sure what time the music would start, as there were three bands and we really only wanted to see the Snarky Puppies.  We are obvious novices about the musical scene because we got there around 8:30 but the first band did not start until 9:30.  This meant the Snarky Puppies would probably not go on stage until 11:30 or 12:00, to Evie and my dismay.  The venue was not much...a large warehouse looking space, cement floors, a few seats along the wall, and a small area with tables just off the stage where one could sit for a few extra dollars.  Most of the crowd stood.  Along one wall was a bar with a couple of  bartenders and that was it.

 Three Cool Dudes, Three Generations

Rami and Tyler thoughtfully realized there was no way Evie and I could make it until midnight or later, so after the first band played a couple of numbers, Rami drove us home, about a 20 minute ride, then he went back later, to see the Snarky Puppies, around 11:30, with Tyler and drive him home, a good father.  I don't think we could have stood for four more hours, even with numerous beers.  I am sorry we did not get to hear the band but glad to have been home in bed by 11:00, like grandparents should be, not out howling with the moon, which was almost full by the way.

Today will bring lots of food, no doubt, beignets, appetizers, turkey and the fixings, as well as lots of football watching, playing games, perhaps watching a movie and for me, walking Cody a couple of times.  We will have to do some packing up because we leave for Kansas City tomorrow morning to spend the weekend with our son Tom and family.  We can't wait to see them!

A Tangle Of Dallas Traffic , A Brief Road Trip To The Country

Visiting Jennifer Kent And Her Boys

Cow Country at the Kent Ranch

It's overcast, our first gray day so far here in Texas, and it looks like we will have wet weather over the next couple of days.  We enjoyed the good weather while it lasted, however, taking advantage of it to get out and do things.  Today, we will probably hang out, as Tyler flies in from Dartmouth College later this afternoon, and tonight, we are going down town to The Prophet Bar to hear a Jam Session with Snarky Puppy, RC And The Glitz, and Shaun Martin. Clearly, Tyler, not us, is familiar with the groups and was interested in hearing.  It should be fun.

Jennifer, With Her Oldest Son, Henry, The Charmer

James, Three Years

Will, 18 Months

Our niece Jennifer Kent and her family live in Weatherford, Texas, about 70 miles west of Dallas, on a five acre farm.  We were invited over for lunch, to see her boys, three of them, and their house and farm. Our drive through the tangle of Dallas overpasses was mind boggling.  How anyone could have planned these in advance is amazing but then, Dallas is a town meant for automobiles..  The first forty minutes, until we were beyond Fort Worth, was nail biting even at 11:00 in the morning, even with a GPS to tell me which lane to be in. There is no dearth of cars in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, nor highways.  We got to Jennifer's just before lunch, got a tour of their home, and then spent the next hour, until lunch, playing with the boys.  They are active little guys. Unfortunately, her husband, Robert, was working so we did not get to see him.

Lunch was pork chops, from the pigs the Kent's raised.  Yum.  Later, we all went outside to see their new batch of pigs, six of them, about ready to be butchered, and there two steers, which they are also raising for its meat and a coop full of chickens.  The boys took us around and seemed to love being outside with the animals.  Lots of wide open spaces for them to run around in.

                                       JAMES AND WILL OUT AND ABOUT:

We left around 2:30 and took another route home compliments of the GPS, through downtown Dallas but it ended up being shorter time wise than our drive out to Weatherford.  Three hours of driving is enough for a couple of more days.  We relaxed until Cody came by, made both Evie and me feel guilty, so we took him our for a late afternoon walk in the neighborhood.  We love looking at all the homes, all so different, mostly stone or brick, old and new, with a few older cottages thrown in. And since it was starting to get dark, lots of Christmas tree lights were on, a big thing here in University Park.

For dinner, we hoped to go Hop Doddy's Burger Bar, a short five minute walk from the Albarrans home.  However, there was a sign on the door warning customers that their fryer was down, so there would be no french fries.  That was enough to send all of us, especially Evie, to Twisted Root Burger Company, a neat burger joint just past the George Bush Library, on SMU Avenue.  We stood in line, ordered our burgers and fries from a varied menu, then went into the bar area where we sat down and waited for them to call our name.  A neat way to set up a burger joint and bar.  By the time we got our beers and sodas, our name was called and we sat down and devoured our burgers, mine the Texan, with onion rings, avocado, tomatoes, chipotle sauce, and cheese.  It didn't take any of us long to finish.  We were home by 8:30, and sat around talking, playing games on our iPads, watching junk TV while Marisa continued to work at water marbling her nails, tyring to get the patterns just right.

We all went to bed by 10:30, tired from our drive I suppose and fun times both in Weatherford and at the Twisted Root.  Another great day in Texas. I am thinking of becoming a fan of Texas.

Reflections On The George W. Bush Presidential Library

On Southern Methodist University's Campus

With My First Lady In The Oval Office

1988

Another fine morning in Texas, with blue skies, a chilly 56º for here.  No wind to speak of, and it feels like a Chautauqua fall morning, with lots of leaves still on the trees and lots of green, with just a hint of the winter to come.

Yesterday we went separate ways in the morning, me to the Subaru dealer about ten minutes away to get an oil change, easy and pleasant, a modern facility, like something out of a futuristic movie.  It took about 45 minutes, the only problem was figuring out how to use their coffee machine; you fit the foil packet into the machine, no tearing, just push it in and turn the sucker on and viola, a cup of java or your choice.  Afterwards, I went to Tyler's, a hip tee shirt/fleece/skate board shop and picked up a Texas tee, orange and white, kind of cool, then walked around the strip mall, neat shops like Trader Joe's, various coffee shops, GAP and Istanbul Cafe, a Turkish eatery with all kinds of good Turkish food.  Next time.  I got home around 12:00, took Cody for a walk, warmed up some prime rib, mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch and watched NFL highlights.  Meanwhile, Beth and Evie were out shopping till 1:00.  Beth has a world of patience when shopping with Evie; I have practically none.

From Bush's Inaugural in 2001

When Evie and Beth returned, Evie quickly showered because we wanted to head off to the George W. Bush Library And Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University, an easy three mile drive from their house. The museum is fairly new, obviously, on 12 acres just off the SMU campus. It's a large stone building, with annexes off to both the left and right.  It was busy, a nice day to be out and about in Dallas.  The museum follows W. from his childhood, growing up in Texas, to his courtship of Laura, and not much about his schooling at Andover and Yale.  It's definitely a tale of a Texan.  It then follows his career, first as governor, then as President.  And as President, all his achievements are proclaimed with large poster sized texts, letters, memorabilia, charts, and videos. Things like No Child Left Behind and his dedication to ridding Africa of AIDS are typical displays.

Engravings Of Those Who Lost Their Lives in 9/11

The most interesting, however, were the sections on the four world changing events during his Presidency: 9/11, the war in Iraq/Afghanistan, Katrina, and the Recession/Depression of 2007. We spent most of our time at these four areas, often disagreeing with the videos or text which, naturally, defend his decisions.  At each section the viewer gets to hear Bush explain in his own words his decisions at the time and in retrospect. The most moving section was the 9/11 display where all the names of the men and women who lost their lives in the four planes, the Twin Towers, along with the fire fighters, were engraved on the wall.  We found the name of one of my students, Todd Weaver, and my son Tom's college roommate's brother, Todd Douglas Pelino.

Sitting In The Catbird Seat

The Bushes

We ended up in a replica of the Oval Office, then an exhibition of Christmas at The White House, Evie's favorite part...she's a Christmas fanatic.  Overall, we felt it was lacking, with little of the awe, the nostalgia that we felt at Harry Truman's Library in Independence, MO. Perhaps George Bush's decision to invade Iraq is still too close for us and just makes us angry at all the lost lives, American and Iraqi, the chaos and hatred that his decision precipitated in the Middle East.   Interestingly, Dick Cheney is rarely mentioned if at all.  We are glad we went, however, and the guides were really helpful and friendly.  The last thing we saw was a recent Bush painting of 'Lamb Of God,' which will appear on his Christmas card this year.

Bush's Painting 'Lamb of God'

We were home around 4:30, having spent almost two hours touring the museum.  Both Marisa and Mitch were home.  Marisa asked me to evaluate one of her essays for class; the teacher asked that a parent evaluate it, so I did it for her.  It was fun as she's enthusiastic about her work and a quick learner.

Working On Marisa's Essay On Equal Rights For Women

While Evie and I were at the museum, Beth put together our dinner, a Greek chicken marinated for three or four hours in yogurt and Greek spices, then baked in the oven.  It reminds me of Evie's lemon chicken, only healthier.  We, of course, relaxed before dinner with some wine out of a carton, as both Costco and Trader Joe's now sell wine this way.  It's virtue...it keeps after its been opened.  Rami
unfortunately was not able to get home from work until after 8:00 so we had dinner without him.  We were all hungry from our day, devoured the chicken, rice, and salad.  We wanted to watch a movie with Marisa, a German film we love called Mostly Martha, but we could not get the large TV to work and the subtitles on the smaller TV were too hard to read, so we went back to our old standby....reruns of The Office.  We watched it upstairs while Beth and Rami watched their shows downstairs, the virtue of having more than one TV.

Father And Son