Hometown glory

I've joined a group on facebook that talks about being from Escanaba (my hometown) and what it was like.  I've enjoyed many aspects of it but none more than seeing the old pictures from even before my time there.  Here are two recently posted ones where the streets aren't even paved yet circa 1900.  The Ogden Ave one is across the street from where I grew up and some of these homes are still there (as is my childhood home built in the late 1800's).  The other picture is part of the main street downtown and while it doesn't look like
that now I knew exactly where it was when I looked at it.  Pretty interesting to one from this pretty little town
in the U.P. of Michgan.

Just another Saturday

It was just another Saturday for us with a mishmash of activities. First we helped Matt and Sara move kitchen and closet stuff into Matt's place. A visit with Penny (our granddog) and Leo the cat included. Then on downtown where we stopped for a glass of wine after walking around and on for Thai food. We ended our day at an electronic music happening where we were probably the oldest people there. That was great spot for people watching and made us realize we're just not "with" the latest fashion trends but "oh well" that is just fine with us!

Hulkilucious

Mark has always been good at impressions but this is just uncanny! :)

Trains

                         Dylan loves trains.  This visit we took him to NYC on the train and it was a thrill for him and for us to be able to share the experience with him.  He LOVED every minute of it!

And then they'll be 4.

Mid February ~  * ~ * ~ * ~ * Dave is having a baby and Lindsay is pretty sure it's her's.  ; )

Immersion Cooking

This is not a new thing but certainly not in everyone's cooking repertoire. Leave it to our son Matt to come up with a way to do it.
Using an instrument used in the scientific field that heats with a coil in water and concocting a heavy plastic container to hold the water
and coil by cutting an opening in the top, he pulled it off. We recently used this to make carnitas (pork) tacos for our reunion dinner and I am once again making them for a neighborhood gathering tomorrow. Using pork shoulder with spices, peppers and onions all together
in a ziploc bag to seal it, you slip it into the "bath" and cook at 60c for 2 days. The finished product falls easily apart and has retained
its moisture and is so tender and tasty it's amazing. I can hardly wait to have it again!

At the end of the day

Six nites on Lake Michigan and at the end of each day the beauty of a sunset.  A wonderful way to end the day!

The Getaway Car

At our nephew Jim's wedding yesterday this 1935 Ram was the car they used to go from the church to the reception. We all
thought it looked like a "gangster" getaway car!

The Saffron Kitchen

An interesting read.  Set in between the now and then time scenerio but not difficult to navigate between.  It's a story about a woman born and raised in Iran and how the times dictated choices we'd find hard to imagine and how the consequences affected her life.  The remarkable part of this book, for me anyway, was the ability of the author to make you feel like you could breathe the air and feel the essence of the time and place she ably describes.  Some authors have the ability to truly transport you.  This was one of them.

Jesus

While I don't as a rule seek out books on spirituality, this one intrigued me as the premise was the "lost" years of 12 to 30 in the life of Jesus.  We heard nothing about that period from the time he was left at the temple by Mary and Joseph til his baptism by John as adult.  Of course it is fiction but nonetheless interesting.  And as usual, I did learn a few things along the way.  Especially in the readers guide at the end.  And it reinforced beliefs I've held as mine for a lot of my life.  Now I think I must expand on them.