I didn’t take pictures when things were fresh because I wanted to get everything plated ASAP. The food came out pretty much much okay. Nothing to write home about. I’m sure Terry can say what I screwed up without even realizing it.

Ham

Standard small ham. (Surprisingly, I found a small ham at Costco.) It’s hard to not get a precooked ham right. It tasted like ham. This was really mostly for Neil. The girls seem to not care too much for ham, and frankly I don’t care too much for it either.

Sweet Potatoes

These were supposed to be roasted. They came out sort of kind of like roasted mush. I thought they had a nice flavor, but only the adults here seem to care for sweet potatoes no matter what they taste like.

Peas

Peas aren’t too popular here. I like ’em though, so I made them. Peas made “fancy” really aren’t popular, so these won’t appear again.

Mac & Cheese

One of the most popular foods in this house, I went with a fancy version made with a billion different expensive cheeses. I thought it was not bad. Not great though. And Paige didn’t like it.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

The real winner tonight, at least for me. Very yummy. If I were to make it again I’d make sure to put in not quite as much bread.

Oreo Truffles

I made these yesterday. Pretty hard to screw up, and very tasty. For the most part the kids made these.

I’m here in Seattle for a few days to get my son, Calvin, settled in to attend Seattle Film Institute. It’s gone very well, and Calvin is clearly ready to begin this new phase of his life with an apartment of his own and 15 months of classes, with hopefully a start to a happy career at the end. I would say he made his official start in life as a full-fledged adult when he took possession of his apartment on Saturday. It’s almost not fair that his first place of his own is so incredibly nice. Good for him.

I’ve been hosted very generously by a couple of friends that go all the way back to college, giving me a lovely basement (with full bath!) of my own, and even use of a car when needed. Better yet, Eric has spent a lot of the time driving the car to ferry Calvin and me around town as we fill in all of Calvin’s apartment needs. Eric and Jody are very much appreciated!!!

I also got to see another friend from college and spend the evening with her at dinner and a production of The Sound Of Music, thanks to tickets that Eric and Jody just happened to not be able to use. I picked a good time to visit! Alice and I had a nice evening reconnecting, and it was fun listening to her pitch for me to move my family out here.

I’m almost done here, with a flight home tomorrow. The only thing left is taking delivery of a couch, which unfortunately had to be sent to Eric and Jody’s house due to unknown timing. So I’m sitting here on the porch by myself in lovely weather, with absolutely nothing I need to do but wait on a truck.

Yeah, this trip has just been so rough.

This morning after Eric and Jody went to work I decided to walk around Green Lake park, which is pretty much right outside Eric and Jody’s front door. What a great home they have!

It’s nearly 3 miles around and I stopped for a small brunch in the middle.

Yeah, I’m having such a rough time.

The only thing that would make this trip better is if my wife, Terry, could be here with me, because I know she’d absolutely love every minute. I’m having a great time, but if she were here my joy would increase by at least 500%. Next time, next time…

Tree parts no longer on trees after last week’s storm: