Los Angeles, California: Yesterday was such a big day - with so much fun, family, friends, food and falcohol - we were all happy when Leo slept-in until 7 o'clock! Maybe the pitter-patter of raindrops on his window made his dreams continue a little longer, or maybe because he went to sleep way-past his bedtime last night? Not sure, but it was nice for the adults to catch a few extra winks this morning.
Los Angeles has not seen a good rain for quite a while. The happily-bathing birds in Lisa & Lenny's garden were singing all morning. We watched a hummingbird - perched on a wire tomato cage - chirping and preening himself in the rain. Leo watched for such a long time, amazed to find a bird also bathes. I opened the back door so Leo could hear all the bird songs. Everything delights a two-year-old.
On a side note: when we have a good hard rain in Oregon, our forest is pretty still. Oregonian birds hide in cold November rain!
How to keep a toddler busy indoors all day? Friends gave Leo a set of three little red leather suitcases for Hanukkah. Leo packed for an imaginary trip and entertained himself this morning by walking around and around and around and around and around and around the dining room table carrying the suitcases. Even more fun is when you can get your grandpa to carry a case and walk around and around and around and around and around the dining table with you.
DT is so patient with Leo.Until they get into a wrestling mode.
Or until we have a family jam-session. Lisa found a recipe on the Bon Appetit website this morning about making nachos with Thanksgiving leftovers. BA suggested putting turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, etc., on tortilla chips. It sounded disgusting to DT and I, so Lisa made regular ol' nachos with shredded turkey for we-wimps and went full-on Thanksgiving Leftover Nacho mode for everyone else.
So pretty.The girl, not the nachos.
Today is a Big Day for Oregonians - the 117th Civil War football game between the Oregon Ducks and the Oregon State Beavers. Friends Dan & Melissa sent this photo of their Portland home. This is what happens when a Duck & Beaver decide to spend their lives together.Today was a good day to be a Duck. The Ducks beat the Beavers for the 6th year in a row. Oregon tried to stink-it-up again, but beat the Beavers by one point. One lousy point. The Ducks are now so bad, it is impossible to remember they are 10-2 for the season. What happened to BSC title game talk? Rose Bowl? The Stanford loss turned the Fighting Ducks into the "when is this whole thing over?" Ducks.
Sad.
But not as sad as this - a sign from a post-Thanksgiving Beaver fan (without a dictionary) from 2012:
Dave and I are driving back to the desert in the morning. Until my next update, I remain, your GO DUCKS correspondent.