THE FOOTNOTES

 
Bob Toombs, Hannah and Dylan stopped over Christmas morning. Here is a collage. Click on it to enlarge,

 
Here are a few pictures taken on Christmas day in our house. Peggy, Rita, Moe and I had dinner together. Rita made a soup, Sausage and Pototo, from a recipe which is used ar Olive Garden. We liked it, and will make it ourselves in ther future. Peggy did the roast pork and it was a very good meal.
We had a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit. The game featured trivia from 30 or so years back. You would think I would excel considering it was sort of one of my eras, but when you can't remember what you had for breakfast, there is not much advantage,

On Christmas Eve, we went to a restaurant in Willimantic which is a favorite place. At one time it was the Willimantic Post office. Now it specializes in beer making and is an excellent restaurant
It was Megan's birthday. She and Patrick and Tabor, Laurie, Emily, Moe and I were there. Lots of pictures were taken which you will see in another posting

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope everyone had a good holiday. Christmas at my mom's house was full of these little guys. Amanda's cat Ellie had kittens...again.

We were really caught up in the spirit of Christmas this year, as illustrated by our colorful front door. Actually, the Christmasy object was still up from last Christmas . This year, the Town of Tolland is sponsoring a contest for the best decorated home in town. After some deliberation, we decided not to compete. We might have to add a few embellishments to the front door display should motivation and finances permit, to merit serious consideration for the trophy next year.

 
 
Mary, Megan, Moe Tabor and I had lunch together today. Mary had departed beforethe picture taking.

I was raking up the front yard this afternoon when a young woman, whom I did not know, and her two young daughters came along. I asked them if they had brought along their rakes. One of the little sweethearts, maybe 7 years old asked, "Would you like some help?" I was very impressed and remarked to the mother, "Those kids are well bred." She replied,"I'm liable to get a swell head." I told her she should.
Maybe there is hope for our youth.

 
You could also say "There is more than one way to skin a cat."
Squirrels are very goal oriented. This one couldn't access the seeds in the traditional manner, so his flexible thinking allowed him to access the seeds by an alternate route. There must be a lesson in there somewhere.

We were at our weekly exercise program at the Senior Center today, and the instructor was playing Christmasy music for some reason imponderable to me, when the song, "I'll Be Home for Christmas" came on. Instantly I flashed back to a time at Boot Camp in Sampson, New York. I was lying on my bunk, feeling sorry for myself because I would not be home for Christmas, but shipped out somewhere I did't know where following graduation from Boot Camp in a short time. I was very down, so much I still remember it.
Next morning, I went to the bulletin board where our next assignments were posted. I didn't much care because it would not be home.
What a shocking surprise I got. My assignment would be to Bainbridge Training Station in Maryland, and I had Delayed Orders which meant I didn't have to report until after Christmas. I could go home, and report to Bainbridge from there in a week.
In our barracks at Bainbridge the only place you could smoke was in the head, or toilet area. Cowds would gather to complain, or just talk. I went to that area where the topic was where everybody was going next. Lucky I didn't get killed that day. All of us were going directly aboard ship, or to some training facility When I mentioned I would be going to Electrician School in Bainbridge, I mentioned with the delayed orders I would have to go home for an entire week, including Christmas. I never get a break!
It didn't go over too well as you might suspect. Guess some guys going directly into war zones have no sense of humor.
Post Script: A friend from New Britain was in the same boot company. After leaving boot camp, he wenr directly aboard a ship which was torpedoed and sunk in less than a month--He survived

 
Here's old Bob demonstrating his pool shot making magic, as he might describe it. Actually, Moe is a better pool player, but Old Bobis still a nice guy

 
Bob's visits here always result is tasks being accomplished which might or might not be completed. For example, here he is repairing a faucet which has been dripping. He has installed railings so we are less likely to fall down. Today, he removed a Robin's nest from over our front door. He did a lot of the cleanup following the catastrophic storm a few weeks ago. He even helped Moe in her shopping. Don't know what we would have done without him.