Cliff's 23rd birthday, celebrated immediately upon arriving home from the airport. For dinner, I made potato pancakes and chicken tarragon hazelnut salad, both of which are Kerr birthday traditions. Cliff blew out all 23 of his candles in one breath!
Dad's cousin Stu and his wife Kitty came down from Seattle to visit for a few days before Christmas. Here is a partial family portrait. Back row (L to R): Clark E., Kitty, Stu, Carolee, Mom. Front row: Dad, Cliff, Karina.
The semester is over at last - I have just finished grading 160 final exams and 40 final essays, and am very glad not to be in my office any more. Yay for Jeremy!
Stu and Kitty enjoy some Chardonnay against the backdrop of Grandma's magnificent view. Can you see the Golden Gate Bridge?
We take a break from cooking at home, and go out to dinner at Golden Dynasty Chinese Restaurant.
Karina and Cliff's subtle look of impatience can be attributed to the fact that we are all eager for the photo-taking to conclude so that we can dig into the delicious food you see before us.
Stu and Kitty brought along their Portuguese Water Dog, a bouncing young fellow named Kai. Despite his intrepid aquatic heritage, Kai clearly knows that he is a lap dog.
We're en route to the cabin at Lake Alta! Here we are at our favorite lunch stop on I-80, Ikeda's, which is famous for tasty burgers and fresh fruit. As you can see, we also like the milkshakes and onion rings.
Karina, Cliff, and me at the gate to our cabin at Alta. We were delighted to find snow on the ground!
As soon as we arrive at Alta, we always run next door to tell our friends the Pramuks that we are here. This time, they came and found us first! L to R: Dad, Gunda, me and Gabe.
I insisted that we take advantage of the snow, meager as it was, and go sledding down the driveway. Woo-hoo! Here, Cliff (who is wearing a very old jacket of Grandma's) runs after Karina.
We also found a "snow saucer" in the attic, which looks like a giant Frisbee and rides like a snowboard. Here I go down the driveway, followed by the Pramuks' dog Stella.
You can see from the big grin on Dad's face that he is glad to be back on a sled again, after who-knows-how-many years! (They don't get much snow in tropical Queensland...)
Cliff demonstrates how NOT to ride a snow saucer!
Lake Alta was lightly frozen over with the ice forming delicate patterns.
Portrait on the footbridge. (L to R: Dad, Cliff, Karina, Gabe and me. And Stella, of course.)
Sunset over the icy lake. (I said to Mom, "Wouldn't that make a wonderful picture?" and Mom said "You should take it!" so this is the one picture in the whole batch that I took myself.)
The Pramuks are caretakers for one of the big houses around the lake, and their employers just built a new caretakers' cottage for them. Well, it's not a cottage anymore - now it's a gorgeous little house with valuted ceilings. Gunda has decorated it beautifully!
After-dinner portrait with the Pramuks. Back row (L to R): Dad, John, Amber. Front row: Mom, Gunda, Gabe, Karina, Cliff.
Gabe, Karina and Cliff all share a passion for medieval music. Here, Gabe plays his lute while Karina and Cliff listen. It turned out they knew some of the same songs, so they played and sang together.