The '98 Camry with 250K+ miles is toast. 24 hours after driving it home with 4 brand new tires, it threw a rod. Final verdict is approx $4500 to repair, no matter which way you slice it. Tire Man will refund the tires and we can maybe anticipate $200 for scrap. Oh, boy!

On a lighter note, tonight I had the pleasure of watching one of my personal classic fav's, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Ya know, some days it doesn't take much.....

Now that the VCR is gone I gotta pick up the DVD version of Christmas Vacation. I can't start my holiday without it. Tis tradition.

Au revoir mon ami....dog not included

Thanksgiving is such a goofy day -- so far out of the norm that I don't know what to do with myself. I am just not used to being home on Thursday. While I was up reasonably early, I'm still in my jammies while approaching noon. Running between the computer, a little laundry, and a whole lot of general piddling, I'm accomplishing very little but okay with that. The key to today is getting to mother's by 3:30 with 2 folding chairs and a pumpkin pie I did not make. Beyond that, who cares?

Got lucky and saw Julie's alma mater, Concord HS Marching Band, perform in the Macy's parade. Very cool.

The boys are performing Friday night at the Boathouse. There was confused discussion as to the true 'start' time. I see this morning that the website is updated to 9:30P.

Saturday I hope to rendezvous with Connie and Cathy, with their daughters in tow, for breakfast in Schoolcraft. It's a mid-way point between Clio, Goshen and Holland. Although, my guess is that Cathy will be coming from Kalamazoo, where she is probably spending the holiday with her beloved in-laws .

I'm ready to be relieved of the guilt of not posting the vaca photos. So, here is a sampling of the rest of my summer, from Sleeping Bear, over the bridge, up to the Keweenaw Pensinula, and then on to the Porcupine Mountains.

I'll give you a hint who I took the last photo for: Hint

It's been awhile since I've posted and I've been remiss in putting any photos from summer vacation up. So, until I have anything of substance to convey, I'll just post summer vaca photos.

Remember my comment about coming down the hill while speaking with Connie, waiting for that moment of 'ahh'? Well, here's the view...pictures don't do it justice.