December/January: Back to California

 

Once I recovered from Covid I was able to get back to the gym where I play pickleball. There is a great group of regulars, a variety of ages and skill levels. We rotate so eventually you play with everyone in any given week.

Just in case you think it is always sunny here, I included this picture taken about noon. It stayed foggy for a couple days. But then we were back to sunny, highs in the 60s. No snow for Christmas but that was okay!

The Christmas plans were a little different this year. Rebecca was staying at her house in Studio City to get ready for a vacation December 26th. We did a Christmas Facetime which is always entertaining. I spent Christmas eve and day with Matt and Wendy. They made a great ham dinner which we decided to have Christmas eve and then continue Christmas day with the leftovers. It worked out great.

Wendy provided some fun necklaces for herself and me. I didn't get a picture of her but I did get a picture of me. Notice the sweatshirt I'm wearing that I made on Wendy's Cricut machine.

I'm not sure why, but I neglected to take any other pictures. Guess we were having too much fun. So I included this picture from 2020. We always had fun! The tree in the picture is still the same.

Then December 26th I headed to Studio City to see Rebecca, London and Trevi. 

Prime rib

We decided on the traditional prime rib dinner with asparagus and a baked potato. It was an excellent dinner!

Rebecca's plan was to make my Aunt Josie's secret recipe butter creams. They are pretty tricky to make and labor intensive. I hadn't made any in well over 5 years. Rebecca had made some the year before and gave some to her special friends. She had chocolate and glycerine left over so we started a batch before she left.  I was happy to finally make them again. When Wendy heard we were going to make them she said she'd like to make some also when I returned.

Rebecca was only there for the first step. The process requires a lot of mixing and then rolling the insides of the candy into little balls. Then they need to sit over night before they could be covered in chocolate. I took Rebecca to the airport the next morning so I was on my own for the chocolate.

When I returned to Rebecca's from the airport, I started on the chocolate. First you melt it in a double boiler. Trouble right away. Turns out chocolate doesn't last a year. It wouldn't melt all the way. So I searched and found a place where I could buy some. Its a special dipping chocolate and not easy to find, but I got lucky. I proceeded to chocolatize the first batch.

I was there for 6 days so I made a couple more batches so Rebecca could give some to friends. Also I wanted to take some to the Rahns because I was stopping on my way back.

I enjoyed watching the dogs. They are extremely friendly and fun. I took them for a walk every morning and every afternoon. There are many interesting trees in the neighborhood but this might be the best.

  

London

London often looked out the window waiting for Rebecca's return. She can open the louvered blinds with her nose. 

Trevi with her ball

Trevi absolutely loves to play fetch with her rubber ball. I decided to see if I could wear her out. After many, many throws I gave up! I wish I had half of her energy.

London and Trevi
 with me on the couch

Both dogs just make me feel good. They are fun to lay on the couch with. They definitely know how to relax. London in particular wants to be close. 

Both dogs slept in my room. Rebecca has an inflatable bed that is very comfortable. London slept in bed with me and Trevi is more independent and slept in her little bed on the floor. London always wanted to be leaning on me which was fine. Once we got to sleep she rarely moved. The third night I woke up and felt like I was in a cavern. London was almost on top of me and I was on the floor!  The sides of the bed were still inflated so I felt like I was at the bottom of a taco shell. I was able to reach the switch to reinflate the bed hoping it would last till morning which it mostly did. London hardly moved!

The next morning I found a little pin hole and was able to patch it. Problem solved!

 It's difficult to get a good picture of Trevi because she is so dark. Both dogs sure know how to relax! This is my best attempt.

Rebecca's tree was beautiful. It was a live tree.

The Rahns invited me for New Year's Eve. I again neglected to take pictures of the people but here are some of the decorations.

In particular I loved this little mouse manger set which Karen tells me is quite old. 

The table was set for a feast and the view of the lights in the back yard added wonderful atmosphere.

I included both pictures so you could appreciate Karen's artistic talents on the table.

And speaking of Karen's artistic talents, I included this large picture so you could appreciate her aquatic theme Christmas tree. One of three trees in the house! Of course Craig gets a lot of credit for the construction and electrical maneuvering to make it all work.

Some would say, the highlight of the decorations was the Leg Lamp. It is an exact replica from the Christmas story movie. I will admit, the Rahns are the only ones I know who have one, and I grew up in Cleveland where the movie was filmed!

Six of us enjoyed fabulous appetizers, dinner including three main dishes, chicken, lobster tails and pork tenderloins. (The reason for the numerous dishes was that one couple doesn't do lobster or pork.) For dessert there was an absolutely decadent cheese cake. One of the best I have ever had. 

I drove back to Encinitas on New Year's Day for dinner with Matt and Wendy. We had prime rib! It was great.

Wendy and I made some more butter creams. We wanted to share some with friends and relatives so we made a lot. Hand rolling the chocolate is an art that requires warm hands. If your hands aren't warm enough the chocolate cools too quickly and sticks to your hands instead of the chocolate. Turned out Wendy's hands were too cool and she wasn't able to help. Matt to the rescue. He gave it a very valiant effort but no luck. I think its his basic total lack of body fat! Too darn physically fit! So I continued on to get them all covered.

We put them in to the back bedroom until I eventually got them all chocolatized. 

Butter Creams in progress