I met Jim and Lucy at the Legion for Trivia Night. The winning team: Doug, me, Jim Reed. Doug’s wife, Sherry, creates and presents the trivia game every month on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays.
Monthly Archives: January 2020
Reading and basketball
Carson is really enjoying Alphabet of Alphabets by Allan Sanders. On Tuesday, I got to read a couple of pages with him. Each page took a fairly long time. For example, on the K is for Kitchen page, you look for 26 items from A to Z plus one pair of underpants.
On Thursday, I picked up Sophia and Avery from St Ignatius and went to Sophia’s basketball practice.
When Carson got home, the first thing he told me was N was the next page in his book! He was ready to read more.
Coffee with friends
Adrienne and Linda:
Football and friends
Just about a perfect day. Two football games on Saturday. Val and Maria came over! Good food. The 49ers won!
Meanwhile …
When I was in Deer Lodge, I looked at lots of Phyl’s crochet pattern books, looking for inspiration. I practiced with a bit of yarn, a hook, and a basic instruction book. When I got home, my neighbor Kathie gave me some leftover yarn from her finished projects and I kept looking online for something interesting. 
Social Thursday
#1 – I met Jim and Lucy at the Legion for a drink. Friends I haven’t seen in a long time began showing up.
Jim Williams, Lucy, Bob Bastian, Jim
Then, Allie showed up. She was Dave and Phyl’s neighbor when they lived in Rio Linda.
#2 – As soon as I got home I walked across the street to Lorraine’s. She was having a few neighbors over for wine and snacks.
I’m making progress. I knew the names of every person who was at Lorraine’s. OMG!
Busy mom
I picked up Sophia and Avery at school on Tuesday, then took Sophia to her ortho appointment. Sophia’s homework tonight was to complete a project for the Witch of Blackbird Pond: baking one of 3 recipes, taking 3 pictures and getting them printed, due on Thursday. She chose an apple tart. Thais found an easier recipe online, but didn’t have a couple of the ingredients. I asked if I could run to the store for her – yes!
As a retired teacher, I can not imagine the negative feedback I would have received to have made an assignment like this.
Home
Goodbye Montana:
Hello California. And Starbucks. I’ve missed you.
If you didn’t know this already, Dave can fix ANYthing. He reattached the legs to my Thanksgiving candleholder. Thanks, Dave! And both Dave and Phyl for your hospitality the past 10 days. Again, excellent timing on my part. I arrived home just in time for the Vikings/Saints game.
Missoula
We drove to Missoula in the late morning. Because there was a 70% chance of snow and high winds, Dave covered my suitcase in a tarp and tied it down tight. Thank you!
After lunch, they dropped me off at my hotel and we said our goodbyes. In this picture, you are not seeing snow but rather “graupel” – a soft hail or snow pellets:
Our timing could not have been more perfect. I got into my room at the start of the Bills/Texans football game! And … Phyl gave me 2 little bottles of champagne to enjoy in the evening. Life is good.
Departure eve
Tomorrow Phyl and Dave will drive me to Missoula for a very early Sunday morning flight. Looking east:
We made foccaccia in the afternoon. So delicicous!
Sundown:
arletelouise 