On Popular Request

 Ok, already! Certain individuals have noticed that I have not blogged in awhile. I attribute this to my annual wondering about whether to continue. Also, I'm usually driven by the photographs I take, and I've not been good about taking photos lately. In spite of the many people who tell me they love the photos they can take with their cell phones, I find that I am always dissatisfied with the quality of pictures I get with my phone. This may be because I do not operate it as a camera well, but I still vastly prefer the pictures I get with one of my regular cameras. I just need to start making sure I have same with me from now on. My not blogging may also be because I've gotten a bit lazy. Anyway, after some prodding by several of you, my evidently faithful readers, here is a potpourri of pictures and comments about recent events for you here in the "What's Up With Bill and Kathie" blog.

In early December, just a few days after we returned from being in Colorado with Travis for Thanksgiving, Kathie and I flew to Las Vegas for a few days. We stayed again at the Aria, a hotel and casino we had visited two years before and liked very, very much. The accommodations are great, and the atmosphere and amenities make for a comfortable and somewhat quieter visit than we have experienced at other locations.

We saw two good shows while there. One was the Penn and Teller comedy/magic show, including their making a Holstein cow disappear from the stage (Dad would have been impressed!). The other was Reba McEntire with Brooks & Dunn. The National Rodeo Finals were in town, and this show clearly appealed to that crowd. We heard lots of great music in the show, but we clearly had not gotten the memo about the dress code. Nearly every guy there was wearing a cowboy hat––we had already noticed lots of these hats when we landed at the airport. Here is Kathie attempting to win some money. Neither one of us brought extra money home this time, I'm sorry to say.

In middle December, Rob and I took Penny and Eleanor to a holiday open house at the Hawkeye Model Railroad Club. They both love little scenery kinds of things, having toys along those lines. Of course, there were lots of interesting, Iowa-related scenes for the HO trains to pass through. Seeing all of this also inspired me to start working on my HO collection here in Iowa! That way I can tinker with electric trains both here and at the lake.

Will, Sandy, and Anders were here the weekend before Christmas. They gave us a puzzle of the state of Wisconsin, which we promptly put together. I say promptly, but in fact it was a challenge. It was one of those puzzles where the picture on the box and the puzzle itself are not quite the same. So using the box picture to guide assembly can be a little deceptive.

When Will's family was here, we invited Rob's family and Carrie's parents to join us for a soup supper. On the Friday before, we had been looking forward to attending Eleanor's winter sing event at her school. Unfortunately, she was ill that day and couldn't participate. However, during our supper conversation, we hatched the idea that Eleanor could give us a solo presentation of some of the music. She even made a program for us, which I photocopied for everyone. Then we put a cheery fireplace scene on the TV, and she performed her songs. She has a lovely, sweet voice, which we all enjoyed.

Anders and Penny were not to be left out!

Betsy's family was here between Christmas and New Years Day. So we had a second gathering of family then. Carrie had suggested I make the girls some keepsake boxes as gifts. Here are the ones Penny and Eleanor received.

Then about a week ago, we traveled to see Betsy's family and to attend Clara's golden birthday––she was 8 on the 8th!

Finally, last night we went out for dinner with our friends Gina and George, who we had not seen in some time. Here we all are at Orchard Green.

Whew! I think that generally brings things up to date. I'll try to get back into the swing of things, taking more pictures and posting here again more frequently.