Date at the Portland Community College Sylvania Campus Theater.

Matt picked out a surprise date for us, a theatrical production based on Stan Sakai's samurai comic.  He was very excited about the surprise.

Our tickets.  The ticket machine wasn't quite working.  We were at the 7pm show on 11/13.

There were refreshments for sale including these cookies.  Many people asked about the price and the person selling kept repeating the same thing over and over again.  "The Usagi Yojimbo cookies are three dollars, or we have the yin-yang for $2.00."   

I had some popcorn.  Matt went for one of the yin-yang.  It was two dollars, in case you didn't know.

I enjoyed the play.  I find masks off-putting in theater, and so there was that.  The masks were nicely constructed though.  I appreciated their craftsmanship.

Z to A games: Letters from Whitechapel

We've made it to the letter "L" in our quest to play all of our games.  In this game, one person is Jack the Ripper, who attempts to travel from a murder back to his base before the detectives discover him.  The other person plays the detectives searching for him.  Ideally you play this with six people total so five people can be a detective, but it's just us, so Matt played all five detectives.

I'm happy to report I WON this game.  And very handily too.  It did get a bit dodgy there in a few places, but I succeeded in my tasks.  I guess I make a great Victorian-era serial killer.

Cat update.

Sentinel was in the way as I stripped the sheets for washing, so I constructed a tent for him.  He enjoyed it.

Antares says hello too.  He's taking a break from his heated pad, which is where he spends all his time.

Pizza making week 2

Skills have improved.  No holes, though the one on the front left did get a bit "french browned". *  I hope to make pizza making a regular occurrence.

*That's my dad's polite term for "a bit burnt".

First round of pizza making.

There was a recipe published in the paper, so I gave it a whirl. I had the pizza stone already. The recipe makes four supposedly 12-14 inch pizza, but mine top out at 10 or so inches.  I've got skills to develop.  Including stretching the dough so holes don't form.

This pizza had a minor leak.  The other three turned out okay.

Jan & Roger's 50th Annivesary

Jan and Roger are the parents of our friend Laurie and we see them at the monthly breakfasts that Laurie and Burt host.  We were excited to help them celebrate their Golden Anniversary.

Jan's dress, which is tiny.  It was so small it only fit a few of the teenagers in the room. And they were younger that 15. Jan remarked with chagrin that at the time she was wearing it, she though she was fat.  And so goes the lives of most American women.

The Obamas wish the couple congratulations

Poor insertion of this photo from their wedding album, but it was my favorite.

The topper from their wedding cake. During cleanup, one of the teenagers would ask if she could put her face in the cake.  We all gleefully watched while she did.  Also, my parents had a very similar topper, but it was in blue.

The wedding party. I adored the dresses and the white jackets.

Food!

The celebration's program.

Fabulous decor.

Which extended to the tables.

On the back of the program was a crossword puzzle about Jan & Roger.  Each setting also had a bookmark featuring a photo that the couple had taken on their travels.

There were also gold pencils to fill out the crossword.

Their son Andy, his daughter, and also Burt, Laurie's husband, provided some entertainment.

Then there were speeches.  Adam, the youngest son went first.

While Adam spoke, Laurie went over her tiny cue cards.

Which meant she was ready to speak.

Then Andy gave his speech.

After that, Jan and Roger followed with words of their own.

I enjoy that there were a variety of things this receipt covered, not just marriage.

Another poor transfer.  The list of the gifts the couple received. Notice how the thank yous were all sent out, you can tell by the check marks.

Photos were taken in various iterations.

Because they had the room until 4:00, Jan and Roger encouraged people to bring games and hang out.  The Gamers absconded to their game early on.

More photos.

This one is my favorite.

Jan with her dress.

Photos taken, we settled down to a game of Chronology, which I enjoyed enough to purchase for myself.

The Gamers ranks were depleted, but they kept on.

Happy Anniversary!!!!

Sunset over the Columbia

Hint.  When attempting to complete your McMenamin's passport page for Vancouver on a Friday night, get your stamp at the location on the Columbia, then drive out to east county and finish your stamp there.  The lines are very long at the west side location on a beautiful Friday night.  While we were waiting for a table (and before we abandoned our quest and went to Pizza Fino for dinner) I took this picture of the sunset using the feature on my camera where one click takes multiple pictures.