Day 98

Lots going on today. An early activity was Lexi (and Nana) picking roses from the garden for an art project. Matteo, AJ, and I spent over 4 hours fishing at Palmer Lake. Absolutely beautiful there today: about 70 for the high, bright and sunny, and the boys were catching fish (Matteo got 8). More Palmer Lake pics are here. Tonight's movie: You've Got Mail.

In that movie, Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) says something like, "Everyone says something they regret when stressed or concerned." I reflected on that by the new patio fire after everyone else had gone to bed. This lockdown period has been stressful, and I am concerned. And I did say things I regret, specifically to some of our recent first visitors since the COVID-19 thing shut everything down. It wasn't the content I regretted, it was the tone: cutting, sharp, a little over the top, like hurling a virtual molotov cocktail. The quote above is what Joe said trying to comfort Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) right after nailing him verbally, righteously, but unkindly. And she knew it was wrong the minute it came out of her mouth. So I ask myself, who delivers the truth well and sticks to rational thinking about politics, life's bigger meanings, etc.? You know: cool, calm, collected. Dennis Prager is one guy like that, I think. He's published a lot of stuff in many forms, but it's his Fireside Chats that I've gotten into lately. He's done one a week now for about 140 weeks. He's big on Happiness. Happiness is his root of all goodness. The lack of happiness leads to evil. Check out his book, Happiness Is a Serious Problem: A Human Nature Repair Manual. Some quotes are here.

Be happy. It really is up to each one of us.

Lexi's completed rose-petal art.

From the pedestrian bridge running from a parking lot to Palmer Lake.
This is a southbound BNSF unit train of coal on The Joint Line.

AJ got his School in the Woods patch in the mail.

That should keep us busy a few days.

Excellent "Week in Review": steak, eggs, onion saute.

We have no idea what she's making.

Tracy got all some Sasquatch Cookies!

Beautifully cool evening, the fire felt great!

Day 97

Matt's pork tenderloin for dinner. CHOPstonia continues to flourish with foreign aid. Tonight's movie: City Slickers.

The baby found Lexi hugely entertaining.

Day 96

Fina was quite busy today: making videos with the kids, baking, and dancing. And who knows what I flat out missed. No pool today, but we did have good food from Fuji Mt (love those drunken noodles!). We're in our own tighter lockdown again for the littlest one's upcoming surgery (next week). Jamie got a record three hours in today de-duping the Give! database (it's quite tedious). Tonight's movie: Serendipity. With ice cream from Josh & John's.

Any day now...

Fina was making a video of some sort.

And chocolate chip cookies!

We have regular outdoor friends dropping by.

To go with the cookies.

Day 95

Thank goodness for Lexi's love of art. She's put in so many hours doing art over the course of this COVID thing. Matteo had his 132nd and final Take Flight lesson today - a graduate! Not stopping, though. He's moving on to vocabulary, grammar, comprehension, etc. in continuation. Good show, Matteo! Have you ever seen a completely see-through puzzle before? See below (or don't see it below). And lastly, fun at the pool from 5-8pm. The kids noted the activity pool was considerably colder than normal. So did everyone else that jumped in! And poolside service; welcome back pink shirts!

Day 94

Very quiet day. We said goodbye to the Siscos with a steak and eggs breakfast. And then we settled into a lot of nothingness. We did "attend" church online. Lexi was pretty ambitious about her artwork.  Fina got into the intersection of makeup and COVID mask artistry. It was really nice at the pool this evening; we had the 5-8pm shift. I watched Hostage (Bruce Willis) this afternoon.

Dinner came from the Steakhouse. They forgot to staff the Grill at the pool.

Day 93

While Jamie did one of his Parlor Car Chats, this one on Railroad Chapel Cars, the Siscos, Matt, and two older boys went on a hike. They hoped to visit the Palmer Lake Reservoir but is was closed so they went instead to Palmer Lake. And the boys were quite successful fishing! Other than some wine and whiskey re-stocking, the rest of the day was very low key. We had a fabulous steak dinner that Matt grilled up.

Railroad Chapel Cars

Color!

A little tasting session.

Day 92

Doesn't every day start with the most important meal of the day, breakfast?! And what better for breakfast than peanut butter on fresh peppers. Nothing like a little game of HORSE, or PIG on the basketball court. They tried playing CORONAVIRUS but that lasted too long. The Regusci clan went to the pool with the 5-8pm group, but alas, lightning chased them out of the pool at 6:30pm and never let up. Meanwhile the Fosters and Siscos stayed home with take-out from Ted's Montana Grill, a rousing game of Hearts, and deck time.

Vickie was developing some moves!

Daily reading continues.

A nice Daou rose.

A game of Hearts with popcorn and Dark Chocolate M&Ms