Tradition has it that we spend New Year’s at our home in Ocean Shores with  friends Barbara and Denise.  We always make sure to bundle up and take a long brisk walk along the ocean beach on January 1st.

January 1, 2012

It's nippy out here. (48 degrees..but NOT raining)

View of the Olympics in the distance.

Tradition has it that on New Year’s Day we play Pinochle. And since I only play this card game about once a year, every year Rick has to patiently remind me of the point system, the rules and regulations, and the precise meaning of the various “table talk” allowed.

Aces around? Double Pinochle?

Barbara, Denise, and Rick. Check out Rick! Those are carefully guarded cards in his hands!

Little (Old) Man Bear. As soon as we got back to Seattle on Sunday night, he got into another wicked cat fight with the neighborhood bully cat and came home wounded! But we have to come clean: our old guy STARTS the fights. No more letting him out in Seattle. Mr. Bear is now officially retired and an indoor cat (while in Seattle)!

Hearty and Healthy Kale! It grows year round in my garden (until a freeze comes along which has not happened yet)! Say YES to Kale! I just got a Christmas card with a seal on it that read: EAT KALE (Thank you, Amanda, for that profound command.)

Hard to make it out, but I planted about 50 tulip bulbs on New Year's Day! Luckily, the ground is not yet frozen.

St. Francis will be looking at tulips next spring!

Happy New Year 2012!