A lot of the neighbors have their lights up especially directly across the street so now we've joined in. The kids will be happy.
Blue again.
Update 12/16/24: I added a string of blinking mixed color lights on the bush to the right. Becky accidently bought them for our tree as a backup but we don't want blinking lights in the house.
Too bad about that Bills game.
So why did America cheer. The shooting took place on Wednesday morning December 4th and after five days the shooter is still on the loose.
People all over social media are calling the shooter a hero. That really says a lot about the state of our society
First we parked over on Bidwell and walked down to Talking Leaves book store where we bought some books for our grandkids. It is so nice to browse around in that book store. Then we took the bag of books and walked down another block to the restaurant. It was cold but not snowing although there was a lot of ice and snow on the ground so we had to be careful walking.
Our reservation was for 5:45 and we got there right on time. There were no reservations available after 6 pm. It wasn't very crowded when we arrived but there was soon a steady flow of people getting tables.
We decided to once again split a dinner of pasta and pizza. This time we got a Sicilian White pizza with sliced tomatoes, fontinella, oregano, romano and some amazingly delicious onions. I really loved the Rigatoni Bolognese we had the last time and I wanted it again. I was curious to see if they were consistent with that wonderful flavor and texture. We got it again and it was just as good this second time... maybe even better because this time I had some of their homemade Italian bread with it. Becky had some olive loaf bread.
With that Bolognese I really needed a glass of Tuscan Blend Antinori Italian wine. Becky had a glass of Pinot Grigio. I ordered another glass of wine and this time I got a Malbec. When the waitress came back with the wine she had a large quartino instead of the regular glass. She said the bartender poured the larger container but we would be charged for the regular glass as I ordered. It was like having another glass and a half. I remarked that it must be my "birthday special". She got a kick out of that it was my birthday dinner. A little later she offered us the desert menu. We had some cake waiting for us at home but I really liked that they had a gelato desert which I saw at another table. So I ordered it for us to share since it was my birthday. The gelato desert had three scoops along with a chocolate biscotti... like in the photo.
She brought out the gelato with a sparkling candle and exclaimed a happy birthday. The restaurant was very crowded and everyone saw the large display of sparkles coming from our table. We had seen this display at another table the last time we were here and it was impressive. I was surprised and somewhat embarrassed about all the clapping of other folks at their tables. I should have got a photo of that candle.
We had a very efficient and entertaining waitress. We had a good time talking with her and joking around about various things. The entire staff was good and the service was outstanding.
At one point we saw a guy walking down the street by himself and then entered the restaurant. We'll refer to him as The Silver Fox. He was tall, thin and a shock of white hair combed back into a high pompadour and wearing a Bills jacket. He was obviously looking for action as he came in and went straight for the bar which was very crowded. He squeezed himself into a solo seat. Last time we were there on a Saturday evening and there was a lot of action at the bar that included a significant number of blonde women drinking cocktails. So we weren't surprised to see the Silver Fox. Then our food came and we were busy. It was a while later when we looked up at the bar and noticed the Silver Fox sitting there with a blonde woman. He was still with her an hour or so later when we left the restaurant.
Overall we had a very good entertaining time at JT's.
It was also very tasty with some nice hot sauce added and dipping into with some of our favorite bread from the co-op.
They are calling for more snow tonight and into tomorrow but not saying how much accumulation because of course they don't know because of the lake effect snows and changing winds coming off the lake.
I took this second picture early this morning when I first woke up.
The concert was spectacular and we enjoyed it very much. Most of the five pieces they performed with 20th century romantic and two by American women composers.
The only problem I had with it was that the length of the first "half" of the concert went much longer than usual. I had PT this morning and had trouble sitting through the entire first set without a little squirming in my sight and having the need to stretch my leg. The break did not happen until around 9 pm. We got out of the concert a little before 10.
The members of the Trio are all Russian instrumentalists based in the US and have been playing together since 2011. They have released a lot of albums that I should check out in Spotify.
Another PT session. This is the fourth one and I'm feeling better. Matt is adding more exercises that are helping me stretch my spinal column where that protruding disc is causing problems.
I've been parking a couple of blocks away from the center. It helps for me to walk a little before the sessions and then afterwards. I could park closer but this does make me feel better.
I ran into Bob again and this time he was talking nonstop. He explained more about his stroke and what he needed to do to recover. The stroke caused a lot of problems with his sensory capabilities including visual and hearing. I noticed he was wearing hearing aids now. He showed me the scar where he had the brain surgery. I will need to get over to see him at home and give him some support. Next week I'll get his phone number again. It would be nice to see Desty too.
And then there was another conversation with my new Philly friend. I thought I'd bring up something that only Philly people liked to talk about and that was the Mummer's Parade. I mentioned that as a kid I played sax in a string band. Well, that got him excited because it turns out he is a Mummer too and marches in a Fancy Division group. His father and grandfather are also Mummers who were in the Quaker City String Band. One of them, I'm not sure which, is in the Mummer's Hall of Fame. Matt was wondering what we were talking about.
The magats are all in an uproar over this pardon but they loudly cheered when trump pardoned the many traitors, criminals and family members. And now how many more scumbags will trump pardon in the coming term as president including the insurrectionist currently in prison for their traitorous activities. Makes me sick.
