Birthday Costume Party

We had a lovely get-together for Rachel’s 25th birthday. We each dressed as a character from a book! Mom was Fannie Farmer, Dad was a cowboy (I can’t recall from which book...help!), Grandma Pearl threw a Santa hat on and called it done, AJ and Rachel were James Herriot and his wife (what’s her name, Rachel?), Erin was Meg March from “Little Women,” Moriah was Arwen from “Lord of the Rings,” Tom and I were Dr. Zhivago and his lady (played by Julie Christie in the movie), Ian was the cheshire cat from “Alice in Wonderland,” and Nina was Madeline from the children’s books. Such fun!

And just for the record, I didn’t really like the movie Dr. Zhivago, have never read the book, and love wearing fur coats!

Christmas With the Poch's

Here are some snapshots from our celebration with Tom’s side of the family. I was honored to host this year (excitement all around, it being our first Christmas in our new home), although I received bountiful assistance from everyone! Much collaboration brings about a delectable meal. We had prime rib, asparagus and hollandaise, Grandma Patty’s wild rice salad, shrimp scampi, and Yorkshire pudding. Dessert was chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons and chocolate turtle cake. As you can see, I appreciated the help in preparing THAT menu! And now to celebrate with the McFarland’s... Christmas celebration round #2!!

A Visit From My Two Beautiful Piirto Aunts

Here is a photo of a spontaneous, wonderful visit from my mother’s two sisters, Aunt Jane and Aunt Rebecca (unfortunately you can barely see Jane behind the dog’s furry head!). They bring life and humor wherever they go, and even brought Jane’s adorable dog Maija. Initially, the kids didn’t know what to think about having a dog in the house. But Ian warmed up to her quickly and before long, was playing and laughing with her. Our cat Rupert wasn’t in agreement. I love having family visit and hope to see them again soon!!

Christmas Cookie Madness!!

I love having people over to bake absurd amounts of Christmas cookies. But I like to pretend that I enjoy the lovely company and actually baking the sugary concoctions more than eating them. I attempt to spread most of the festive results to unsuspecting neighbors, co-workers and unassuming victims. So in this particular instance, my comrades Cerah and Chandra were helping me out. I would like to identify here each specific bar, cookie or baked product that we made, but the fact is that I cannot recall what was attempted but most importantly, what resulted! But no matter. They were all delightfully GOOD!

P.S. My favorite is when my artistic husband makes visual art from them.

New Computer

My apologies for my lapse in blogging, but I do have a legitimate excuse! Our old computer was on its last leg and we found a delightfully affordable replacement in a used Mac that a friend of ours, who was previously employed at the Apple store, sold us. It is wonderful to have a nice, relatively new computer, but even better to not pay full price!