Category Archives: Family

Gabe and Erin Married!

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Gabe and Erin were married yesterday! The weather was perfect.  It was a beautiful, sunny, and unseasonably warm December day.  The ceremony was at our house out on our evergreen festooned lower deck.  After the ceremony, the whole wedding party went to an Italian restaurant.  Bride and groom stayed at a Hilton in Northern Virginia, and spent the next day sightseeing in D.C.  Julian spent a fun-filled day with grandma.  Pictures coming soon.  No, really.  Soon…ish…

[Update 12/7] I uploaded some pictures right out of my camera, including some that could benefit from some time spent in Photoshop.  Let all the thumbnails load, then open the first one, and use your arrow key to move to the next.  I’ll fix it up and make it better soon.

Julian in Ancient Garb

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Here’s my grandson Julian wearing one of my brother Gary’s old “Desserts” t-shirts. Desserts was the name of Gary’s band back in the early ’70s. So that would be like me wearing a medieval jerkin…or something. So old…so old…

Anyway, it fits Julian to a “T” - heh.

Speaking of Desserts, look what the google found:  an ancient recording of “Bernadette” performed by Desserts several thousand years ago at the Royal Oak Music Theater (I think).  ”Bernadette” was one of my favorite Desserts songs back then.  I’s a clever and catchy  song about Motown Records leaving Detroit, using snippets of other Motown songs.   It was written by Stuart Mitchell, and  in this version, Gary Rosenberg is singing.  Give it a listen.  I believe Motown songwriter/artist Eddie Kendricks also recorded it in the early ’80s.

 

Julian Turns One Year Old!

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Julian had his first birthday yesterday.  Erin and Gabe had a party for him at our house.  It was a great time, especially for the birthday boy.  Lots of presents, lots of great food, lots of friends.  Here are a few pictures and  a video.

Yard Sale

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Here are a couple pics of the aftermath of the yard sale we had today. This is the the stuff no one wanted. Unwanted junk. So sad. Gabe and Erin were the driving force behind this, and by Gabe and Erin, I mean of course, Erin. It went very well. They made over $200. But as you can see from the pics, the pink Snuggy did not sell. I’m shocked! Amanda sold some clothes and odds and ends including her old stereo. Brenda, Gabe, Erin, and Amanda were at it all day, and did a good job – most successful yard sale I’ve ever been involved in. While they shmoozed with the customers, I installed a new alternator in my truck. And by “installed a new alternator in my truck” I mean of course “yelled at my truck.”

Red Velvet

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Sorry, forgot to post for a couple days. I know you’re clicking the page all day long hoping for a post.  And I disappointed you.  Again.  Well, dry those tears, here’s something boring and banal!  At last!

Amanda invited John over for dinner. Gabe, Erin and Julian were supposed to come over, but Gabe isn’t feeling well, so they stayed home. Too bad – their loss. Amanda wanted a chuck roast, natch’. So we had that, potatoes and gravy, and those garlic beans everyone seems to like. And a red velvet cake. Yum!  Good food and interesting conversation – a good night.

Oh, on a humorous note, while I was making the gravy, I unscrewed the pepper cap on one of those huge Costco bottles of pepper and, funny thing, someone had removed the plastic strainer from the bottle so I dumped about a pound of pepper into the gravy.  HA!  It’s funny because it didn’t happen to you!  So we had powdered gravy mix instead.  Delicious!

Last time we had the beans, Erin wanted the recipe, so here you go:

1# green beans – French style are nice
3 tablespoons or so soy sauce
1 tablespoon or so balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar or Splenda
2 tablespoons or so sesame oil
2 teaspoons of crushed garlic

Steam the beans until tender, but not too soft. Cook the garlic for a minute or so in the sesame oil. Mix up the soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar and dump that in with the oil and garlic, then add the beans amd mix them up so that they are coated with the sauce. Eat the beans.

New Computer

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Hey!  I bought a new computer last night!  Not that I need one.  My Mac was only 10 years old – still good, right?  I got a Toshiba Satellite laptop and am having way too much fun.

I plugged the memory card from my camera into the computer in order to play with images, and of course, there were no images on it.  But I did find a 2 year-old movie of Nick’s first birthday.  So I played with that.  It was my first attempt to use the video feature on the camera.  Sorry.

Soccer

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For over 10 years, Brenda and I spent the majority of our weekends at Amanda’s soccer games.  When she graduated from high school, she stopped playing, so no more soccer games for us.

But she’s playing again, this time on a co-ed team.  The team is very good.  They made it into the playoffs, won all their games, and last night they had their “Super-Bowl.”  Brenda, Gabe, Julian and I went to cheer her on (and by “cheer her on,” I mean of course,  “embarrass her”) .  It was the first time I’d seen Amanda play since she was in high school.  The level of play is very high.  The combination of of the guys’ speed and power, and the finesse of the girls is fun to watch.  The teams were tied at the end of the game, so it came down to a shoot-out.  Sadly, Amanda’s team came up short and the other team won the game.  Stupid shoot-out!

I have no pictures of the game, but I do have these 9 year-old pictures of Amanda playing soccer.  And that’s pretty much the same thing, right?

Happy Birthday Brian!

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Happy Birthday Brian!
[UPDATE] Dad here.  I tried to find a video of Buddy Holly singing Happy Birthday, but apparently, TV hadn’t been invented yet.  So here are the Beatles wishing you a Happy Birthday – hope you have a great one!