Our belated Christmas breakfast

Our holiday gathering, a few days late

Although it's not a very ancient tradition, both Lamont and Lily have invited a few special friends to join them at Avenue Bread for a lovely Christmas Eve gathering for the past few years. This year, we couldn't even get out of our driveways, so we had a belated gathering this morning, the Tuesday after Christmas. In the foreground on either side of the table are Paula, Gene's special friend, and Gene, looking very Santa-ish with his lovely full beard. Next on the left are me and Lily, and Lamont and John on the right. I had a smoked salmon omelette with their famous home fries, which are different from other places but very, very tasty. I was very full after we finished, but I didn't let that stop me from finishing it all. I did leave a little of the sourdough bread, but I ate everything else.

Lily and Lamont have started bowling a couple times a week, since they now live near an alley, and they asked me if I would join them today. Since I had promised to do so awhile back, I agreed that today would be a good day. We played two games, and I was surprised at how much fun it was, even though you can probably guess who was thrilled to have made two spares (no strikes) in two games, and came in last but still had a very good time with a couple of forgiving friends. The game has changed somewhat since I last played many years ago. It's all computerized now, and when you make a gutter ball, the entire screen makes sure everyone knows it! I will join them again, and I can see how you can get quite obsessed with the game.

Me at the bowling alley

I hope my arm will not be too sore from throwing the nine-pound ball down the alley twenty times, but it reminded me that I need to get back to some regular weight lifting. Another thing the pandemic cost me was my usual twice-a-week strength and tone classes at the Y. You don't think you're doing much, but I was accustomed to some light soreness the next day even using just three- and five-pound weights.

I'm eating that nose right now

I am also accustomed to getting up and finding such delights as this one on the kitchen counter created by my dear partner. There's no doubt he'll see some whimsy and find a way to share it with me. I'm pretty lucky, with friends and family like I've got, there's no dearth of smiles and happy moments around here. Now that the weather is actually kind of nice, back to wind and rain, our old friends, it's like all the holiday diversions never really happened. Only one more week to navigate before we enter a brand-new shiny year!

:-)