Thanksgiving

I spent the day (noon to 7:30 pm) at Dad & Ma's. Sarah & Jon and the 4 kids (plus Hayden's Audrey and Celia's Michael) all had dinner with us around 2:00 pm. Sarah & I each had a beer. The Bears beat the Lions in the early game. Chocolate cream pie & coffee for dessert around 4:00. Hung out with Ma during the 2nd NFL game (with "FRIENDS" on too). Home with a ton of leftovers (turkey, gravy, stuffing, Syrian bread, dark roast coffee, pepperoni, cheese, crackers, a chocolate cream pie & a can of whipped cream) and two cool pint glasses (Brooklyn Brewery and a combo Wachusett Brewing Co & Westminster Crackers). Also, Dad & Ma gave me a $50 bill and a nice card for my birthday 2 days early. The sky was blue, but it was below 10 degrees all day!

Wildfires

There are fires in northern California, pretty close to Walnut Creek. This is the view of Mt. Diablo from my brother's neighborhood:

A far cry from when I was there last week:

Final Night

Today was my final full day in Walnut Creek, CA.

Jason was still on Italy time, so he was up at 3 am. He ran out to get coffee at 5 am (he only drinks ice coffee, and never homemade), and then ran out again at 8 when I woke up, to snag me coffee, and bacon for both of us. Nice!

Sawyer had a soccer game and a basketball game spread over the day, so J & Stacie were in and out with him all afternoon. The NFL begins at 10:00 am on the West Coast, so I spent the day continuing to read "A Dance With Dragons" with football on in front of me. We had chicken fingers from Safeway for lunch, and deep dish pizza for supper during the Patriots demolishing of the Packers. It was a fun sit-around day, and I got to hang out with my little brother for a day. Saying goodnight (and good-bye) to the boys was hard, it was such a great week having them all to myself.

I packed, read for a bit, and then was asleep by midnight for tomorrow's 5:00 am wake-up (flight at 8:05 am).

Oh, and J & Stacie brought me some stuff back from their trip:

Some Italian instant coffee, a bar of Italian chocolate, 

and a journal with an Italian leather cover (they all smell awesome - haha).

Mount Diablo

a nice drive & hike (more later)

World Series Champions

It was amazing watching the Red Sox win their 4th World Series title while I was in California with Cooper & Sawyer. Games began at 5 o'clock, and I got to watch them with my nephews. Not to mention all the great player moments, including clutch home runs, and the  David Price/Joe Kelly/Chris Sale pitching masterpiece in the series-clinching Game 5. What a run...

Also, we carved our Jack O'lanterns for Halloween!

Great Day Off

A checklist of my pretty decent day off:

• I slept in until nearly 11:00 am, but when I got up, I made scrambled eggs, and had them with a toasted bagel w/butter, fresh broccoli, orange juice, and coffee, while I watched "A Million Little Things".
• I did dishes (twice: sink; and pots & pans).
• I shaved my head and cleaned the bathroom sink (simultaneously).
• I called Workman's Comp and left another message.
• I did laundry (sheets & shirts).
• I watched sports tv and had fried chicken for a late lunch/early dinner.
• Went to Dad & Ma's to give her her birthday gifts (pear soap and a mouse & pumpkins figurine). Cousin Michael is here from Florida until Tuesday so we got to hang out for a few minutes. Ma sent me off with a couple of big pears, some roast beef and a bag of Syrian bread. Plus $100 to goof around with on my California trip!
• On the way home I got a few Mega Millions tickets since the jackpot is close to one billion dollars!
• I ordered a Lisa Jewell novel ("I Found You") from Amazon to read on the plane to California.
• The Raptors beat the Celtics (booo!).
• I had my first beer in a month (back pain meds), and it was glorious! A Metacomet IPA.

No Plans

Today has been a nice day off. I had no specific plans, nor a list of things to get done for the day.

I got up a little after nine, and had a banana, cereal & coffee for breakfast while I watched an episode of "Nova" about origami. Then I went online to watch a bunch of the final season of "The Office" on Netflix. Midway through, my hardcover English version of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" finally arrived.

Kevin came by around 1:30 and we sat outside (cool and dry, if a bit cloudy) and caught up for about an hour. I gave him the five tallboy Patriots Pepsi cans for his traditional NFL Week One 'shut in' event (haha). After that I bought a couple of books on Amazon.

The rest of the day was more of "The Office", and night coffee.

Only Day Off

This is my only day off until next week, due to the events of the "Bossless 9" (see previous post).

I went to bed at 1:00 am, and wound up sleeping in until 10:00 am. I needed it. I had cereal & coffee for breakfast as I watched an old episode of "Face Off" and played "Clash of Clans". Before, in between and after, I took out the trash, washed dishes, and shaved my head.

More dishes & finished shaving my head while I was online playing "Elvanar" among other things. Lunch was cold pizza. It was in the 90's and humid all day. Got a couple of annoying texts from my manager too (just enjoy your 'vacation', will you?).

At 6:30 I showered and at 7:00 I arrived at the lake to hang out for an hour with a beer (Fort Hill Brewing Doppelbock), pretzels, an apple, and the sunset. I listened to "The Moon and the Melodies" and Tiny Fireflies "Nothing/2040", and as it grew dark, the mosquitoes had at me, including my right ankle and right cheek.

3rd Day Off

Not bad, not bad...

I slept in until 10 (didn't fall asleep 'til very late!), then had a banana for breakfast. I did laundry and dishes, then ordered Domino's for lunch around noon. I watched "Avengers: Infinity War" on demand, and then was online for most of the day playing games and watching a bunch of Season 7 of "The Office".

I made coffee around six after an hour nap. It was sunny all morning, but at 3:00 pm the skies opened up several times to downpours. Ma texted to say that Dad had his appendix out today!! Sheesh. It went well, and he will be going home tomorrow.

At 8:30 I showered (and cleaned part of it) and then went to Hannaford to foodshop and get litter. I changed the litterbox when I got home and then did more dishes & laundry (blankets & towels).

I work 10:00 am to close tomorrow so I'll go to bed at a decent hour...

Booked

Jason booked my flights for my California adventure, which takes place October 27th - November 5th. I'll be staying with Cooper & Sawyer while J & Stacie are in Italy (and Ryan is away at college). He is too funny: because I am taking the time off from work they decided to pay me $80/day plus whatever is necessary for household expenses. Wow.

Hubbardston House

Hung out at J & Stacie's rental in Hubbardston on Sunday night after work. Steak, various Ballast Point Sculpins (Aloha in a bottle: good! Grapefruit in a can: not so good...), glow sticks, sunset, moon & Venus, etc... What a great way to spend a post-truck Sunday.

Ant-Man and The Wasp

I went to Dad & Ma's to pick up Ryan and Cooper to go to the Gardner Cinemas to see the 2:00 showing of "Ant-Man and The Wasp".

What a great movie! I love the big spectacles that are the "Avengers" and "Captain America" movies, but it was cool to see a more street level, low-stakes film for a change. Paul Rudd is a great Scott Lang, and Michael Pena was a lot less annoying this time around. Also, it was fantastic to have a happy ending (Thanos *snap* in the mid-credits aside). I'm so glad I saw it on the big screen.

4th of July

I worked 8a - 4p. It kinda flew by.

I went to the lake 6p - 8:30p. Good to see the family (parents, and Sarah & Jon's crew). Too many big fast boats on the lake, and too many loud neighbors blasting crappy music.

I don't have to be in to work until 4p tomorrow. Sweet.

Echosmith at Royale

Monday Funday

I got up at 8:30, had coffee & cereal, and spent awhile in a Wiki-storm (reading pages & pages of tangentally-related Wikipedia entries). I went online for a bit, and ordered a couple of books off of Amazon. Cold pizza for lunch, and then I was off to run errands.

I went to Searstown to buy work shirts (2 x $7.99 = BOO-ya!). Then, since I was going to the post office in Westminster, I stopped at the lake for a few minutes to see the winter sights (see photos). Post office: I mailed the California Christmas box (finally!), and bought both regular and post card stamps for future use. And there was no way I was going to drive by Dad & Ma's house without a quick pop-in to say hi :) It was a nice round of errands, and a nice drive too.

Day Off: 3*4

I got up just before 9:00 am and promptly moved my car to Jean Marie's vacated spot, to avoid any troubles with the plows later. Breakfast was a banana, cereal and coffee. I watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (finally - I was saving it for a super-snowy day), and had the tail end of "Star Trek VI" on in the background while I texted Ma & Sarah, and played "Clash of Clans" and Boom Beach".

Snow begins...

It's now 1:00 pm and I just measured Winter Storm Grayson's snow total outside my door, and it's at 10 inches!

Ten inches, viewed from my doorway.

I spent the middle of the day online, and I did a little drawing. Also I made mac & cheese & ground beef for a late lunch. Right around dark I measured the snow one last time, and it was at fourteen inches. Crazy! And it was blustery with high winds all day too.

The yardstick does not lie!

I had coffee and apple pie for supper (9:00 pm) as I watched the latest "Big Bang Theory", sports tv, and "Iron Man 2". Then at 1:00 am I took a shower, and went online to order some lined moccasins from L.L.Bean with my $50 Christmas gift card (from Dad & Ma). Also I went on Amazon with my $25 gift card (from J & Stacie) to get a Robert Silverberg story collection and a couple of silly Star Wars toys. Sweet!

Christmas Eve

I worked 6:30 am - noon. It flew by...

After wrapping gifts at home, I headed over to Westminster for the family gathering. Everyone arrived rather quickly, and after some pepperoni/cheese/crackers in front of NFL Red Zone with Dad & Kevin, everyone had dinner. I had turkey & gravy with stuffing & toasted Italian bread. SO good.

The kids all loved their gifts (so did Dad and Ma), and what I received was fantastic:

* Kevin & Family gave me a very cool hiking stick and $20 in scratch tickets.
* Sarah & Family gave me $30 to Barnes & Noble.
* Jason & Family gave me $25 to Amazon, a pound of Tesora whole bean coffee from Philz Coffee, and a little sketching book called "642 Tiny Things to Draw".
* Dad & Ma went gift-crazy for me (as always), and gave me:

• $50 to Amazon.
• $50 to L.L.Bean.
• $25 to Michael's.
• $25 to Starbuck's.
• A pound of whole bean coffee: Green Mountain Dark Magic Espresso Blend
• A pound of whole bean coffee: Peet's Major Dickason's Blend.
• A Ghirardelli's dark chocolate bar.
• A tin of O'Keefe's Working Hands hand cream.
• Two cool old calendars from the Westminster Historical Society.
• A book of old postcards from around New England called "Bygone Backwoods".
• A 7 oz. Balsam & Cedar candle from Yankee Candle.

Everyone had a great time, and no one looked disappointed (as happens sometimes). Sarah & I were cracking up over several inappropriate jokes, it was hilarious. Georgia and Jared helped me with my scratch tickets ($4 winnings). At around 9:00 pm everyone began to trickle home. We are supposed to get up to ten inches of snow overnight, beginning tonight around one am. I left last, at 9:30, with all of my awesome stuff, as well as a bag full of turkey, bread, brownies and baklava!

Home, tv, online for a bit (Elvanar), and asleep around two am.