Family Holiday in Austin

Saturday, December 19-Saturday, December 26

Mr. E and I spent a whole week in Austin with J and the family this year. J very kindly gave up her office to the two of us, since we were all working for the first few days before Christmas. We managed to make it work pretty well overall!

The special family celebration (and primary reason for our longer visit) was M's baptism on Sunday, December 20. The service was outside in front of the church, with physically distanced chairs and a limited capacity congregation. B had composed a new song, Dandelion Sky, for the occasion, which was beautiful. He accompanied himself on guitar and didn't let the mask impact his performance at all!

That afternoon, J and M and I went to the Blanton Art Museum while Mr. E, B, and C headed off to play mini-golf and Mom got to stay home for some restful time in a quiet house. I was very excited to have a museum visit and get my art "fix" since museums here in Sac have been closed again for several months. I especially enjoyed the experience of Ellsworth Kelly's Austin, which is a stand-alone installation on the grounds near the main building. We were fortunate to be the only people in the building at a perfect time for the sunlight to illuminate the stained glass windows. Lovely!

The main theme of the week in some ways was: What are Mr. E and Dr. J making for dinner? Mr. E really enjoys cooking for a larger group and being able to make certain meals that he wouldn't make just for himself here in Sac. Here's the rundown of the nightly menu for the week, followed by photos of some of the meals:

Sunday 12/20 -- Pork fajitas and fish tacos

Monday 12/21 -- Tofu and veggie stir fry. This was my contribution, and I won over two tofu converts as both B and C really enjoyed the dish!

Tuesday 12/22 -- Happy Hour and dinner at Shore Raw Bar & Grill, just down the street from J's house. Yummy oysters!!!

Wednesday 12/23 -- Turkey dinner (since none of us had a traditional Thanksgiving meal this year) with guests J and J

Thursday 12/24 -- Standing rib roast and salmon

Friday 12/25 -- Leftovers galore, including turkey noodle soup that Mr. E made from the remains of the Wednesday meal

I managed to get in one set of mini-laps in the pool on Wednesday morning, once it was sufficiently heated. And I also took advantage of J's really nice Pilates reformers one afternoon. We didn't fit in a movie viewing of any kind, but we did play lots of card games. I taught C three new kinds of solitaire, double solitaire, and Rummy 500, and Mr. E started to teach C poker. The kid is going to be a card shark, for sure!

We returned to Sac in the late afternoon on 12/26 and had the rest of the weekend to unpack, clean, snuggle with the kitties, and then re-pack for our trip to Denver for New Year's Eve.