Another Birthday During the Pandemic

Sun.-Thur., July 19-30, 2020

The Covid-19 Pandemic continues to grow in the USA in general and California in particular. Thus, we continue to stay mostly at home with occasional visits with family only.

I enjoyed working on

a puzzle with Mary

She was in complete control of the situation of course.

I later found out that she is

a nefarious cardsharp!

All in all, we had fun on this day in Oxnard

Oh if life was only so easy . . .

Varese made the ABC news

in Los Angeles

MLB started up again!

So far, the Dodgers are 4-2 on the season and Laurie and I have watched all six games on TV.

The Princess would celebrate her

fifth birthday on July 23rd

I understand 100%

Celebrating her birthday

Can't go wrong with another

Barbie doll for her collection

A tea party was a must!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARY!

After the birthday donuts, Mary asked if she could color my head.

As usual, I said yes

It was a the only possible answer.

She seemed happy with her work

She really liked adding a

HUGE heart to the top of my dome

Looking in the mirror once back

home before showering the colors

out of my head

We headed to Las Vegas with Mike and Jacob today for the weekend too celebrate young Kevin's ninth birthday.

Andy was thrilled by the vintage

Star Wars gift from

Cyndy Cabrera and Debi Murphy

Always good seeing Andy and Mike together

I have indeed

Predictable

Kevin and I are working on

adding these to our vocabularies

Our 49th Wedding Anniversary and a Few Other Things

Wed.-Sat., July 8-18, 2020

The highlight of the last ten days was easily . . .

. . . our 49th Wedding Anniversary

on Friday, July 17th!

Laurie and Mary sat down

to look at photos from our wedding

day back in 1971

We shared an adult beverage from

a cockamamie drinking vessel that

my aunt Katy gave us as a wedding gift

We only sip from it on our anniversary.

It was a day for memories . . .

Vatican City in 2008

Murcia, Spain in 2015

On the Friday before our anniversary

our friends Juice Cabrera and

Cyndy Murphy tied the knot

Their wedding took place in a park with lots of social distancing. We wore masks but about ten people of the thirty or so in attendance did not.

We opted not to go to the reception for Covid-19 reasons.

Fun with Jacob on

a Wednesday sleepover

A bubblebath with the spa jets

being used was fun for him

On Monday, I attended a Zoom meeting

with other retired Rio Mesa HS teachers

It is always fun to catch up with this group in our monthly meetings.

Someday we'll be able to meet again for breakfast instead of on-line.

I hope. 

The Washington Huskies unveiled their

new look Adidas uniforms this week

That's a lot stripes in my opinion.

In news from the net . . . 

TRUE!

The original corn row look?

We have got to get back to Sicily!

Agreed

100%

For goodness sake, YES!

Our numbers in Ventura County

are much better than in

Los Angele County

But still not good enough . . .

We should not be re-opening our

schools just yet as the numbers

continue to spike in my opinion

I go through this daily

Turn left, DAMN IT!

]

The Cleveland Italians?

Reading Is FUNdamental!

As always, Donna Leon does

not disappoint

Solving a murder during a deadly

bird flu pandemic in London

The very idea of a worldwide pandemic, who thinks up these outlandish plots anyway?

Birthday #73

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

As the song says, today I completed my 73rd "trip around the Sun."

A gorgeous California day made for a beautiful backdrop to my birthday celebrated with family and a surprise midday visit by friend Debi Murphy.

Before I go any farther, I need to thank everyone who took the time to send me birthday wishes from, quite literally, all over the world today. The internet can be humbling at times.

Prosecco was the right choice

Isn't it always?

I only had one wish today, too cook dinner for the family.

Michael volunteered to be . . .

. . . my Sous-Chef!

Wine always makes cooking

much more fun

With Laurie, Jacob and

Michael

Our pasta turned out quite

well if you ask me

Chef and Sous-Chef love

It was a touching moment for me to be sure.

A happy Mary joined us

We had some amazing gelato for dessert to top off our Italian dinner!

If only Jenn, Andy and Kevin could have been here from Las Vegas, then the evening would have been PERFECT!

Reading Is FUNdamental!

A real corker of a story

I had never heard of Italian bicycle legend Gino Bartali until our son Michael, a cycling enthusiast himself, gave me this book last week.

It was interesting to say the least, especially his World War II anti-Nazi exploits.