Random Thoughts

I changed my desktop background lately to this one of Carson.  It was taken in 2008 when we were making a mad dash to Washington, D.C. to try to rush through our passport applications in order to fly to France.

Our car broke down in West Virginia and fortunately for us, my nephew Stan and his wife drove from Middletown, MD to pick us up and drive us to DC.  We shall forever be in their debt.

I feel when looking at this picture that Carson is grinning just for me and we are sharing a secret.

 Our neighbor, Gary Morency recently celebrated his 60th birthday.  While we teased him about his advanced age, 60 feels awfully young to John and I.  Gary regularly hikes up to the top of Superstition Mountain so is in good shape.  His daughter, Heather, flew in from Canada to surprise him.  She did surprise him in spite of the fact that almost everyone in the park knew about it.  For a place where news travels faster than the wind, that was quite an accomplishment. 

We regretted the cooler weather but it was still comfortable sitting out in the sun for both Thanksgiving dinner and for Gary's party. 

We started a fire in the firepit for later in the evening.  Most of the women went to go bowling on Gail's Wii while the men sat around and told lies.

We had a fun evening having dinner with the twins (and their parents) this week.  Lily thought up a new game and Callum and I enthusiastically joined in.  We sat at the dinner table waiting for Erick to finish cooking and threw cloth napkins at each other.  Their mother seemed to think I was encouraging them in bad behavior.  But if you could have heard them laughing you would have done it as well.

Diet progress:  John has lost a total of 24 pounds and I have lost 23 pounds.  We're feeling good and enjoying our daily walks.  We don't feel at all deprived and think we're making progress towards changing our life style.  Every other week I get an order of fresh fruits and veggies delivered to our door.  So there is always fruit on hand for a snack and we are increasing the amount of veggies we eat and reducing the amount of meat.  We still enjoy a cocktail or 2 every evening with friends.