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How’s Life, Ricochet?
Every so often, when the culture or political wars get so out of hand that even this political nerd wants to ignore it all and settle down with the cat, I throw out a “how’s life” post for Facebook. The idea is to catch up on the important stuff: kids, grandkids, parents, pets, shiny new jobs, an old job that’s driving you crazy, recipes, what-have-you.
The lovely blonde suggested a similar post for Ricochet. So, Rico-peeps, what’s new with your life outside of politics, policy, and culture wars? Have cute pet pictures? Pictures of the grandkids with watermelon all over their faces? Do you have good news to share, or need a shoulder to lean on after a summer that ought to be nuked from orbit?
As for me: I’m enjoying a very summery day (temperatures in the mid-80s). We’re going to Kimball’s for ice cream and the driving range before it closes for the season.
Post by request for @rightangles.
Published in General
Yay! A post I can read without blood pressure medication.
Animal Photobombs:
My oldest son got married last Sunday – to the sweetest and smartest girl ever. Quilter and I think he is lucky to have found her. Her mother (her father died in January) thinks she is lucky to have found him. If that is not a good launching point for a marriage I don’t know what is.
Seawriter
I’m in bed feeling weak and dizzy so I’d love to hear someone else’s fun stories. Outside is beautiful and cicadas are buzzing in the late afternoon. Anyone want to pick me up a milkshake?
If you live anywhere near Massachusetts, I would bring you a frappe. :)
Here’s hoping you feel better.
Congratulations to your son and best wishes to your daughter-in-law! Such wonderful news.
Flew to CA this weekend. My favorite Aunt turned 90. Had a great time seeing her and my cousins as well as their kids and grand kids. Party was at a nice hotel by Redondo Beach, walking, kids went swimming, ate & drank and laughed.
Glad to have celebrated with her alive and everyone happy than a funeral-think that was a brilliant idea my cousin had.
My daughter, a senior in college, has an internship in her field of advertising and digital communications, and this week she worked on a TV commercial.
Finally have an appointment with the insurance adjuster tomorrow to look at what Irma did to our hangar roof. Yay!
And my 98-year-old aunt who lives in Houston and goes to work 3 days a week, kept up her flood insurance. Yay!
Although his parents are keeping his identity from the news media, I will let you know that The Cutest Baby Ever (TM) was born at the end of May.
Our first grandchild. Besides being ever cute (as universally agreed by all who have met him), he’s always cheerful, even when he has a cold, which he did when we visited last week, and which cold he cheerfully shared with us.
His parents are concerned about privacy, so I’ll share only a hint of his cuteness.
My niece and sister were in NYC for a visit last week — then I surprised the niece by getting on their return flight to KC with them.
The sisters here knew I was coming but no one else, so I also got to surprise Dad and all the nephews by showing up at a ball game that night, shocked my mom later, when I followed Dad into the house and surprised my niece the next day at her art show.
Heading back to NY tomorrow and kinda wishing now I’d arranged to linger here a bit longer . . .
That’s so fun!
One of my brothers surprised the whole family Labor Day weekend by driving up to the Adirondacks in NY from Georgia to help my parents close up their summer house. That was a really cool surprise (and much much better than the time he and his whole family surprised us all by flying in Christmas morning without reserving a rental car so that my husband had to go pick them up from the airport and there were no rooms or beds ready for them to stay in).
Camping at the beach for a week with the hubby. Good friends staying a little ways down also. Good friends, good weather (as long as Maria stays off to the east). When I get back to work, only one more month before I go part time! Life is good.
I performed a wedding. An adorable young woman I’ve known since she was in diapers was married a very nice young man. She wore a beautiful dress embroidered with wildflowers. He wore a blue suit. He built their house for them, on a piece of her parents’ land, bounded by stone walls and dotted with old apple trees. It all seemed somehow old-fashioned and right.
Good hunting RA. What was the weapon of choice? :)
Roast or stew ? ;)
Thank you Kevin, that is what I was thinking. Those corgis look plump and tasty!
Papa Toad literally just walked in the door with my favorite milkshake. How I love him!
I’ve got nothing, except for enjoying your posts and comments and weirding off on Facebook.
Now it’s empty.
So I’m almost finished with a Great Courses lecture series on Eastern Civilization (i.e. China and its areas of influence: Korea, Japan, and Vietnam). I’m on lecture 45 of a 48 lecture series. (Lectures are half hour each.)
In the year or so we’ve been subscribed to The Great Courses Plus, I’ve gone through:
Plus another half dozen courses I got bored with halfway through or Mr. Amy was watching so I only caught when we were both home:
Counting just the completed classes, that’s 294 hours spent learning for the cost of $360. Your average 3 credit hour class is 40 hours of instruction, so that’s roughly the equivalent of 22 credit hours of classes. (If I finished out the in progress ones, I could get that up to 30 credit hours pretty easily.)
I love, love, love The Great Courses Plus. It’s the best part of college for practically free.
Ah, see that’s why the sisters were in on it for my stealth mission.
One of them comes over here regularly to help my mom keep house so I figured if I wanted to be absolutely sure that my favorite room at my favorite B&B was available, then I should make the Head of Housekeeping a co-conspirator.
We got a new granddaughter 3 weeks ago. Here she is with her big brother too.
Whatcha need to tell him.
Seawriter
This morning I got to watch four deer, one a young ‘un, grazing about 100 feet outside the back door.
Also, about four days ago I thought I saw an eagle; today my son (42) told me he thought he saw one, and his description matched mine. Been here about four years, this is the first time or possibly the second. Standing proud on a stump it was a big bird with its head cocked just as if it was posing for a photo and me with no camera.
Cruising on the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto, Japan just now, where it’s Monday morning. Another blast of summer temperatures for us as the weather at Home has turned to distinctly Autumn.
There’s a whole list of photos I need to upload to one service or another about a certain cute red head who came to visit. Here’s a good place.
Bridget at the Reba Lake driving range (Paradise Cove). Afterwards she checked the prices of tee times and was shocked at how low they are. (Kentucky is a wonderful state). She has pictures of me learning how to drive a ball, and apparently I don’t completely suck at it (permission to post, if you thought you needed it).
A herd of deer -so many fauns I actually lost count, but I think there were 7-9 of deer -in McConnell Springs Park. Wish I’d had my camera -cell-phone zoom just isn’t the same.
We visited Buffalo Trace distillery and saw a familiar name on the sidewalk of people who have made the brand what it is today. (Probably not the same one, but we can hope…)
As a Kentuckian visiting San Francisco, I figure I was obligated to take a selfie with Blackie at Blackie’s pasture. (Story)
Also, I’m informed that “Cutest Baby Ever” title is only good for 1 year, with possible extension to beginning of 2019.
This was taken a couple of years ago. A bald eagle fishing on the Des Plaines River, where @arahant and I grew up.
Speaking of the driving range: I went to Kimball’s today for ice cream soda and the driving range.
One stall over from me was a little girl, probably four or five. She seemed to be having fun whacking away on the ball with a little kid club, but was frustrated because the ball wasn’t getting any loft.
So I went over and gave her a very basic lesson. (As Sabrdance can attest, I know very little about golf.) I showed her how to hold the club and to lift the club up to the height of the ball on the tee before swinging. Her dad came over and seemed to not really know what he was doing, either. She then hit the ball and it got some loft, which made her happy.
My next drive was entirely respectable, which was rather fortuitous, because the little girl was watching and seemed motivated to take my impromptu lesson to heart.
My friend found this all to be hilarious, because it was only two years ago that I was ineptly whacking away at the ball, and a much more experienced golfer came over and gave me a lesson.