Thanksgiving road trip

Once again we hit the road- this time to daughter Erika and son-in-law Mike's house in Washington, DC. Erika & Mike wanted to host our Thanksgiving feast this year, so 9 of us descended on the nation's capital for a 5- day stay.

Somehow Erika convinced a friend of hers to rent out his beautiful, brand-new home to us for our stay-and we truly enjoyed it! The weather did not cooperate on day 1 or on T-day itself, but the rest of our time was blessed with warm sun and brilliant cerulean (M-W word of the day ) skies.

Of course, just when you need the Energizer bunny, the rechargeable batteries in our camera decided they just couldn't take any more jolts, so the following pictures are courtesy of the Evans' and the Faheys. (More pictures are available on Erika & Mike's blog)







Did I mention the rain was COLD?? Some brave souls visited Arlington cemetary and watched the changing of the guard while Tom and I stood in line to pick up rental tables and chairs. The houses in Arlington are very small, so anyone who was hosting family dinners all converged on the rental stores to get extra table space. It was worth the waiting in line though, Erika set a gorgeous table and all 13 of us (Mike's Dad & his sister joined us as well) fit. No kid's table!






















The Capitol building.












Thanks to Susan, we visited the Library of Congress for the first time ever. It was well worth the trip. Those are mosaics on the walls and ceiling, and if you look closely, you will see the future Congressional Librarian surveying her kingdom!































Erika also made certain that we had passes for the Metro-we put them to good use! The house where we stayed was within walking distance of a Metro station - but it was a LONG walk- and uphill on the way home.















The guys at the zoo.



















This freize depicts scenes from the Civil War, and runs all around the building that is a museum devoted to - buildings! It is the National Building Museum.
















And then some of us went to the Museum of Natural History. Look what's on display there!



Thanks again, Erika & Mike- we had an excellent time!

Birthday greetings

Happy birthday, Rob!

Birthday Boy!

Look who's two today! Happy birthday Owen!

Tom's great Salmon dish

Just so that you know that we do not live by Krispy Kreme's alone, here is a recipe that Tom developed recently.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs salmon
1/2 - 3/4 C crumbly blue cheese
1/4 C finely chopped walnuts or pecans
Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
dark beer such as Yuengling

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450.

Marinate the salmon in the beer for approximately 1/2 hour. Drain and place in greased baking pan.

Mix the blue cheese and finely chopped nuts together with enough Miracle Whip or mayonnaise to make a paste. Spread the mixture on top of the salmon, and bake or broil for 25 to 30 minutes.

Serve with good brown rice (we found some that had lemon & herbs added), something green, and more beer or wine.

Note: 1 1/2 lbs of salmon is a lot- this piece you see here is what was left over after we finished our dinner.

Enjoy!

Look Quick- Krispy Kreme Queen for a Day

Cyndy will probably take this post down as soon as she reads it. Did I ever tell how much she likes Krispy Kreme donnuts? Well they don't make just anyone honorary Krispy Kreme Queen for the day. Here she is, hat and all...

A winter's poem

Oh No. Snow.