CHRISTMAS FUN.

Christmas every year looks almost the same at my house. Endless cards and games between gnoshing.  Theo, Cedric (hidden) Kristanne and Doug play 13, the national card game of Viet Nam while...

...while Mason and Virginia play cribbage at the other end of the table. People change places, step in and out of games and in general have a good time.

We chose a Mexican theme for this Christmas. Christmas Eve dinner was home-made chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice and pinto beans with a romaine salad. As the family members grow, it's tough to fit everyone in with one picture.

After dinner we took a walk into the night to look back at the lights and found our selves in awe of the starry, starry night. Stars so close we could see the constellations and Milky Way as though touchable. Virginia started a carol and we stood in the street and sang and gave thanks that light pollution has not blocked ancestral skies on our tiny portion of the planet.

Grandson, Stewart, home from Japan for Christmas, brought this sample of Japanese foods. He taught us how easy Japanese is to learn because the characters are so consistent. If a character means house, or rock or walk, it will always mean that no matter how many characters in a sentence.  His brother, Mason, easily picked up some Japanese words. Leave it to the young.

Christmas day was more of the same. My brother, Bill, left, joined us for the afternoon. We are playing elevator with Stewart, Virginia, Mason, Owen, Ken and myself. At the opposite end of the table, Theo, Doug, Kristanne and Laurie play RummiKub.

We played around with hats and I thought of some artists paintings as I looked at what the camera did to Mason's arm. One giant appendage and one shrunken.

I rarely wear this hat, but I love it.

It has seven watches glued on it, plus other fascinating pins, buttons, beads and junk.

I bought a Playboy jacket at a second hand store just for the buttons. (I'm a collector.)  We had great fun with it. I liked this picture of Owen, though a bit blurry and in a distracting background.

It's tough to get Owen to stand still for a picture, but I love this smile.

And Dad, too. I liked this one though the light wasn't quite right.

But he liked a different one. I think he was trying not to laugh.

Stewart said, no way. The hat was too small and he couldn't get the jacket on his second arm.

None of these pictures are in the correct order. I didn't remember to take a picture of our Christmas Day dinner, which was chili rellenos with an apple and cabbage pomegranate coleslaw, and home made-by Doug and Virginia- Chicken, Pork and chili cheese tamales. Goodt stuff.

Before we finished Christmas dinner, the desert table was almost bare.

We had our anonymous book trade, only three to open. And, all too soon, it was bedtime for me,  the picture taker. My ears picked up hushed conversation sliding under my bedroom door as I succumbed to sleep.

The next morning, everyone was up bright and early. Ken and Laurie's family drove back to Reno in time to put Stewart, Mason and Kristanne on an Airplane for Las Vegas. Home for Mace and Stan; Stewart will reconnect with his girlfriend before returning to Japan.
My cup runneth over.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE.

The last two years, we've rented a place at Incline Village for Christmas, skiing and playing in the snow. This year we decided a summer family reunion would be a fun change. We arrived Friday night. Doug, who is an expert at barbecuing anything to perfection, fixed hamburgers after our long drive. My camera was packed and I didn't get a picture. Everyone resorted to a game of pool. It was Doug and Ken, against Laurie and Kristanne.

Kristanne had never played pool before, and Laurie, who grew up with a pool table, is a shark.

She knows how to bounce those balls.

Everyone had a turn at the table, and after the games, everyone decided to be silly. A bit of wine and tequila probably helped.

No one really cared who won or lost. Laughter is what counts.

The next morning, most of us went for hike to the National Park.

I was ahead and turned to catch this sisterly hug. Don't have a clue what inspired it.


We had seen signs about a rope walk in the canopy and thought everyone would like that activity.  But, it was closed. Left to right is Cedric, Ken, Virginia, Austin, who seems fixated on a two finger salute. Then Laurie, Theo and Kristanne. Doug and Owen stayed back at the cabin.

We stopped for a couple pictures, but the sun was at the high, bright time of day and we got a lot of squints and shut eye.

We snacked and reminisced for lunch.

At four o'clock Saturday afternoon, we skyped with my grandson Stewart in Japan where he teaches English as a second language.

We asked him dozens of questions. Here he is explaining that his deodorant melted and he had to shave his armpits. The Japanese people seem fascinated by his facial hair. Komatsu, is a coastal town of about 100,000 people. It isn't a tourist destination and they don't see many foreigners. Students are very disciplined and continually kind of bow and say "hye" as a way to indicate they understand. He is learning to use that expression as well and practiced it for us. Technology is awesome and we loved the ability to spend a half hour with Stew.


It was Ken and Laurie's night to fix dinner, and they prepared a marvelous shrimp dish, with butter and lemon juice and pepper. The kitchen is small here. Everyone went to bed early

Virginia made scratch muffins for breakfast Sunday morning. She picked the wild berries on their property on the Eel River.

She also got "into" olives this year and brought 3 different kinds of olives she made from trees growing around Santa Clara. Theo declared they were inedible and about the worst thing you could eat. I loved them and got to bring some home.

At 9:00 a.m. Virginia treated  Kris and I to kayaking.  Ken took pictures of us before he and Laurie went for a ride to see the scenery around Silver Lake.


I've enjoyed kayaking before, but Virginia wisely chose a double for us since my shoulder is not completely healed. I had to rest from paddling periodically and she had to pull for both of us.

Kristanne, always adventurous, had never kayaked. She took to it like a duck to water and said, "Hey, I get to mark it off my bucket list." We rested on a distant beach, then sunned and dried out on a rock when we returned.

Kristanne and Laurie enjoyed a game of Rumikub in the afternoon.

The boys played pool or read a book.

Everyone played 13, the national game of Vietnam. It is limited to four so each of us dipped in and out of the game. It is one of those games where kids have just as much chance of winning as an adult and Theo proved it. Not visible, off to the right is Doug, playing DJ and selecting our favorite tunes on the computer.

Cedric took to the kitchen to bake pies for dinner.


This cabin was as close to wreckage as you can find in a domicile, and the oven temperature was difficult to gauge.  He struggled to get them cooked well. But, as usual, they turned out delish.

So, most of Sunday was spent playing games, eating, gabbing...

...snoozing.


Virginia showed off her skill with Theo's juggling balls.

During the evening, Hearts was the game of choice.

There was some high finance going on downstairs with a monopoly game with Austin, Theo, Doug and Owen.

Ken opted to wade through the New York Times and a San Francisco Chronicle.


Some of us walked to the beach and watched the fireworks.


It was a lovely, busy, relaxing 3 day getaway with stuff to do for everyone's taste. Can't wait until next year.

ANIMALSCAPES ART SHOW.

 

Hidden Giants by Lori Kelly.   The rules behind this competitive art show called Animalscapes, of Amador, Calaveras and Tuolumne counties, required depictions of animals from our area. I know we don't have elephants.

 

Chains to Flowers by Jim Sells.  A second elephant, embracing an unmistakable theme, and preciously done, reminded me that we do have elephants in Calaveras county, in the rescue acres at PAWS, the Performing Animal Welfare Society. They definitely live here.

 

Black Tail Deer by Laurie Williams.  The animals I see the most is deer.

 

Companions-Sifu Berchtold. And these pesty little beauties, the pileated woodpeckers.

 

Whee! By Juliana Tillman. Visitors can vote for a favorite. I spoke with an arts council friend who was a judge and she was surprised at the outcome. She did not reveal her choice as discretion is important in these things. None that placed would have been my picks. I find that happens a lot at art and quilt shows.  I quickly decided this one was going to be my fav. The opening event was one where you could meet the artist, and I met some of my favorite artists. Not all had an entry, but they do turn up for the arts.

 

Meet the artist, Juliana Tillman  I managed to corral the artist, I'd never met her before.

 

Spotted Owl-Forget Me Not, Diana Boyd.  There were many owls entered in the competition. Held at Kautz Winery, I learned that the Owl is the symbol of the Kautz Coat of Arms.

And, two real owls there to raise money for Wildlife Rescue organizations. This is a barn owl.

 

And this sawwhet owl is three years old and looks like a baby. She bites, the rescue worker told me. Her role in life is to tear her prey to bits and she is good at it. On an African Safari I took in 1997, that point was made so unforgettably clear, I could never again view deer as Bambi's nor lions as talking characters. The wild is something to respect and I never cross that line and feed wild animals. I love watching, though.

 

Bell Meadow Bears, Karen Nina Kling. Baby animals, no matter what specie, are adorable.

 

The Threat by Marta Magstrali.  Named the threat, huh!  The most petted piece in the show. You couldn't help but run your hands over this unique fellow.

The little mouse on his behind made me smile. What an enjoyable piece of art.


And, then I came upon the piece I voted for. This Horse Head by Larissa Stephenson. So real looking I wanted to reach out and pet its nose, even though the feel of velvet would be missing.


The show had a musician and young women passed out champagne and hors d'oeuvres. It was lovely and I'll see the show again when it moves to Amador County. I'm meeting a friend from Discovery Bay there for lunch next month.

 

I met Art Director, Susie Hoffman. I stopped her to take a picture of her feather earrings, very Native American looking. She bought them in Paris. She is director at Town Hall Arts, Galerie Copper in Copperopolis. She invited me to visit and I will get there one of these days. I love that I live in a community where the arts have such  great prominence. For the rest of my photos click the link below:

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