MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

 

Ron and I wish you and your families a very 

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

today!

 

IT'S TIME TO SAY......

GOODBYE TO NOVEMBER

November was an at-home month, with lots of local activities. 

I started my winter swimming season.  Since I only swim half the year, starting again is new, exciting, and reminds me how much I love swimming.

A few years ago Ron and I decided we were members of a certain risk group whether or not we cared to admit it, so both of us now get annual flu shots.  This month I got my shot free as part of my retiree benefits from work; Ron got his free on behalf of the taxpayers....Medicare.

We saw three movies.

Nightcrawler:

 

Jake Gyllenhaal brilliantly plays a sociopath joined by normal but greedy characters in crossing a moral line.  

The Judge:

Both Robert Downey Jr and Robert DeNiro were outstanding as father and son joined unwillingly in a different kind of moral crisis.

Interstellar:

Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey were both engrossing characters tasked with finding an alternative home for the human race, which had finally managed to destroy the earth.

We had a couple of Thanksgiving feasts.  The first was the week before Thanksgiving at the DuBois Center at NAU.

Each year the campus food service serves a traditional dinner to which senior citizens are invited to join for free.  Ron found out about it from friends at the local adult (senior) center where he works out.  We met two of his friends from there, Karen and Hazel, and had an enjoyable time.  Casual conversation led to a discovery that coincidentally all three of them had attended the production of the musical "Hair" in San Francisco in 1969.....what are the chances????

Ron and I had our own Thanksgiving dinner at home this year. 

 

 Ron grilled ham, I made a fried sweet/white potato medley, cornbread, and green beans with bacon.  Squash and apple pie rounded out the menu.  Simple and delicious.

As noted in an earlier posting, I said goodbye to my attempt to run the Honolulu Marathon.

 

 Despite on-going therapy and strengthening work, the IT band injury is intrangisent.  

Our itinerary for that day now includes the North Shore of Oahu.

It's hard to feel bad about this alternative! Though I realized that North Shore is about as far from Honolulu as one can get on Oahu..perhaps it wasn't a coincidental choice?  HAHAHA!

The month ended with a bang, literally.

Very early Tuesday morning, the 25th, we both woke to the 14 parakeets in their flight cage upstairs going nuts.  They have these "night frights" with some regularity, but one bird was chirping up a storm, so we both went up to check on them.  We left a dim light on for them and went back to bed.  Next morning, Ron checked the Kachina Village website and several people had posted questions and answers about a rumble during the night that was later confirmed as being a small

 

 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, we know we live in a very active fault area, but we've never happened to experience anything first hand.  Then Sunday, the 30th, we'd been asleep for about an hour when a much bigger QUAKE occurred, waking both of us, the birds, the dogs, and all the neighbors. I'm not ashamed to say it scared the bejesus out of me!   It was noisy, partly because of the house moving and partly because objects were falling to the floor. 

This second one occurred between Sedona and Flagstaff, and was reported being felt as far north as Tuba City.  It was 4.7 on the Richter scale, which is relatively mild.  Quite big enough for us!!

As always, there was reading:

 Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.

                                                    ~Theodor Seuss Geisel