Houseguest
What a wonderful week we had with our daughter, who flew in from Canada. We went to see a movie in the IMAX theatre about the Spirit Bears in Canada, who are being protested by First Nation people. We went shopping, walking the dog, and had dinners out and at home with the rest of the family: a reunion with 8 of us. On the first evening I prepared Indonesian Lemper with the help of the wooden box my friend Margie had sent me. I had prepared it before for the de Jongs here, but our daughter had never tasted it. Other evenings we ordered Thai food takeout and all together drove to Chuy’s, our favorite Mexican restaurant. Pizza at home with a nice glass of red wine, and chocolate ice cream for dessert, we enjoyed every minute.
Keynote Presentation
On August 14 I gave my third 
annual Presentation in the Independent Living Theatre. It was well attended again, since many new people have moved in during the past year. One repeat person in the audience told me afterwards that it was the best of the three she had seen. I was happy to hear that, after I had made a chan
ge in the June presentation at NCSU. Eight people took advantage of my August special: two books for the price of one. That reminds me to let you know that my special also counts for you all: for $20 plus shipping I will send you both books currently in print. Of course, if you want to avoid shipping charges, you are more than welcome to pick them up when you are in the neighborhood!
Lani
Lani is one year old as I write this, on August 20. We have started obedience classes again one morning a week, and the only problem we have with that is that we do not have enough people come to the house so I can tell her to sit and not jump. When I go to the Club, I find so many people with mobility problems, I would not want Lani to push them over if she jumps up at them before she learns the command sit. Perhaps we can try to engage passing staff members, we’ll have to see.
Birthdays
This Wednesday, the kitchen will prepare a birthday dinner of steak and lobster for all those with an August birthday plus one guest each. A few months ago, when the chef served something else as an entree, so it would not become boring, everyone protested. So the month thereafter it was steak and lobster again. I do not care for either animal on my plate; rather see them in their natural habitat, so the chef graciously prepares a dish of my choice. This time I specified a salmon steak swimming in a sea of spicy chili sauce. The chef thought it an excellent choice (and easy for him to make :-)) We missed our cruise to Alaska, so I have never seen salmon swim and jump in their natural habitat; therefore, to have it on my plate will be okay.
It’s a Wonderful Life!
Until next time,
Ronny