Thanksgiving, Part Two

For most families Thanksgiving is all about the turkey. I'm not saying we didn't enjoy dinner but the real reason this family gets together is this:





Yup, it's all about the cards with this family. The game of choice is Hearts. It is a game where the first person to reach 100 points loses. The person who is sitting with the least amount of points is then declared the winner.

The two sister-in-laws sat out the game, plus the respective dog cousins, but the family overwhelmingly agreed that Cory would not be granted that same privilege. Poor guy, little did he know what he was in for.





The first game was played without incident with the winner being none other than Bob.





Everyone was enjoying the second game.









Even D was enjoying a beer, though it looks like he could use a little help opening it.





Then things turned nasty. A person who shall stay unnamed was sitting pretty with the least amount of points.





Poor, poor Cory is sitting at 99 points. Yes, he only needs one more point and the game is over. He must play this next hand very carefully.





An unnamed person is also playing her hand very carefully. If Cory goes over 100 and she stays in her position with the lowest score she wins.





I am sitting and watching. I start yammering away about something which for some reason has everyone's attention. We are in a spirited discussion so people are half paying attention to the game and half listening and talking. Bad move. The distraction was enough for this unnamed person to shoot the moon. For my side of the family that means she took all the points. She now has two choices. She can add 26 points to everyone's score which puts Cory over 100 and her winning the game or she can subtract 26 points from her score which means Cory lives to play another hand. What shall she do? Let's just say Cory has set a new family record. He is the first person to go out of the game with 125 points which is also the most points one could possibly score.

This unnamed person with ice running in her veins won the game. When it comes to cards in this family there is no mercy.





There is still time to run, Cory.

Thanksgiving 2008

I know I am skipping around but I will get back to New York. For now it is on to Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving this year was spent at Bob's lakehouse in Michigan. His family plus our family. We arrived Thanksgiving morning with the turkey already in the oven. This year some of the cooking duties fell on the younger generation. What would Thanksgiving be without rolls and Katie volunteered to bake them this year.

















They were all ready to bake except for one more step. Something to do with a blue bathtub I believe.





While the rolls were rising it was time to get that turkey out of the oven.









How many brothers does it take to carve a turkey?









The turkey is carved and the rolls are ready to come out of the oven. They tasted as good as they looked.









Does the china look familiar?





Looks like D is ready.





It seems whenever I am around this family, random photos appear on my camera. This is one of them. I am cutting Sarah's contribution to dinner. She made pumpkin cheesecake which was excellent. Thanks phantom photographer! And thank you, Katie and Sarah, for your dinner contributions.





Tomorrow photos of what Thanksgiving is really all about.

Central Park

The car was safely parked, at a rate of 40 dollars a day I might add, and we were ready to start exploring the city.





We spent all of our time in Manhatten, though there are four other bouroughs of New York City we could have explored. We were on 92nd street a few blocks east of Central Park. Looking at the map we were east of the lake you can see in Central Park. Our plan that day was to walk through the park and head down to Times Square. Eventually we planned on making our way back to the hotel so we could change and catch a show later that evening. Things didn't really work out as planned but more about that later.

First up, Central Park.





It wasn't what I expected it to be. I thought it would be flatter and more open than what we saw. It was designed by a landscape architect and occupies more than 700 acres. More than 1600 poor residents living in shanties, Irish pig farmers and German gardeners, were displaced to create the park. There are many walking and jogging paths that crisscross the park.





By this time I was getting hungry and Dave spares no expense when it comes to feeding me.





Needless to say, because it is a park there are lots of trees.





There is our destination, Times Square.





to be continued....

Happy Thanksgiving

Did You Know?

New York City, Here We Come!

Well, we are finally on our way. When we left home the weather was doing nothing. An hour north of our house we ran into this.





The snow belt starts about an hour north of us so I guess we shouldn't have been surprised. We saw snow for a couple of hours and then drove out of it and never saw snow again. We made one sales call in Syracuse and a few hours later we stopped for the night. We had been in the car for 10 hours but were only 4 hours east of Pittsburgh when the day had ended.

We were up bright and early the next day and headed east. I added another state to my list of states I have been to.





Then we came to this.





That would be New York. Our plan was to drive down to Times Square and then go back to our hotel. But minutes after driving under that bridge we encountered this.





The traffic was backed up and cars were switching lanes willy nilly. We thought it best to just go to the hotel and park the car. Walking would be faster and easier.

To be continued....

It's All About EMPHASIS

Another week of scrapbooking homework and layouts. This week the emphasis was EMPHASIS. The idea was to make one element on the page really stand out.

Can you tell which photo is being emphasized on this page?





This is a subject I have done before but I love the picture and wanted to use it again. Again, one picture is being emphasized in this layout.





For Real World Color this week she sent us to a website that posts all different kinds of color combinations. We could choose any combination we liked and use it in the sketch she gave us. This is the color combination that I found and really liked.





That's it for week seven. Next, week? You will just have to wait and see.

Notre Dame, Part Two

Today's installment is brought to you by:



I really like it when we play the academies. They are so civilized. No yelling, cursing, or getting hit. Yes, all of that has happened to me on other campuses. Coming in a close second has to be Happy Valley. Other than having to listen to that lion roar for the whole game, I really enjoyed being at Penn State. It is so civalized that when the midshipmen were introduced, everyone cheered. After all, how can you boo military men?

I especially like games when this happens. Score!





As we were sitting there watching the game, we were also keeping an eye on the weather.





Especially when the guy behind us said that he was talking to his friend on his phone and he told him there were tornado warnings in DC and we had about 15 minutes before that front got to where we were. Unfortunately he was right. It started out as a light rain which wasn't so bad.





Remember when I said that there was no way one could boo a Midshipman? I was wrong. If they decide to call a timeout when the rain is coming down in buckets then that is an appropriate time to boo. The game suddenly became less civilized and suprisingly a lot less crowded in the stands.





The game was going along just fine until the last five minutes and then:

Notre Dame appeared to be coasting with five minutes left as Coach Charlie Weis cleared his bench. The Irish were suddenly and inexplicably overcome by a wave of turnovers, special teams breakdowns, defensive lapses, coaching gaffes and wrongheaded calls by the referees that nearly cost them the victory.

The game ended up a lot closer than it needed to be. But the Irish prevailed and won 27 - 21. Thanks, guys. I didn't sit through that monsoon to watch you lose.

In other sports related news, St Mary Catholic Central's football team found themselves with another surprising win. These undersized sophomores have gone farther than any thought possible. They find themselves in the semifinals Saturday against Leslie. Go Falcons!

On Tuesday, St Mary Catholic Central's volleyball team found themselves with another win. Like the football team this was supposed to be a rebuilding year for them. They move on to the semifinals Thursday night. Go Kestrals!

The Lions. What can I say? Overachieving is not a word that can or will be applied to them. Here is a post I found on a message board that made me smile.

I bet the best of the college players are having terrible nightmares of being drafted by this franchise and have thoughts of making some bad plays just to stay off the radar!

On the other hand, there's a lot of terrible players who are being told to give up the dream of going into the NFL.

"But coach, there's always the Lions!"

"... I'll arrange a scout for you next week.

I would say Go Lions!, but that would be pointless wouldn't it?

Go Notre Dame

I decided to work backwards and start with the end of our vacation which was the Notre Dame/Navy game in Baltimore.





As stadiums go it was ok. I think Heinz Field and Ford Field are much nicer football stadiums. Here are Cory and Sarah walking to their seats. Notice that they are dry at this point.





Yup, still dry and smiling. After all this game is under control.





Here come the Midshipmen!









There sure are a lot of them. Just who is protecting the country?





Why look who else is here. Can you tell who it is?





Why it is Condoleezza Rice. Well, look who is with her. It is Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Just who is watching the country today?

Until tomorrow's installment,