LA

Daphne is 10 months old today. She's standing up and walking around holding chairs and tables. The winter is here in Berkeley. That means some cool weather and rain. Occassionally, we'll get a clear cool day that allows us to see the Golden Gate and the bridge that spans it. You may have heard about our citrus freezing--that's not good but we'll just have to eat something else in the mean time. Thankfully, the farmers have plenty of food for our markets.

The NorCalAllens went to LA for our annual Brother's Weekend (lately, Brohter's Night). Now that we all live so far away, we have to carve out a whole weekend for this reunion. It's well worth it. This year was the first in which we had members of the next generation of Allens, Miles Molina and Daphne McConnell. Here's a picture of Uncle David with Daphne. He's probably telling her how he was at Yaz's last game at Fenway or some other story.


We had a little get to together down in LA. This was great because we got to see the SoCalAllen's in-laws, our favorite Swedish-American-Columbian family, the Olsons. Here's Miles with his grandfather, Pete. He (Pete) knows quite a few things about USA history, so Miles should be a good conversationalist when he grows up. You know the old saying, everyone loves to talk about American History.

Daphne's previous experience with dogs was either looking down at them from the high perch of her parents' arms, looking at them on the level in the protection of a stroller or looking face to face with Daisy, a short dachshund who lives in Carmichael, a town just east of Sacramento. Well, Daphne was quickly introduced to real dogness with a face to face with Risa, Peter and Jill's spaniel. Even though she's seasoned, Risa still has the energy that distinguishes her breed. I think Daphne held her own well with Risa. As for the latter, she seemed to accept Daphne, but only after a careful sniff of the NorCalAllen's butt.
Jill and Miles. It's great to see motherhood come so naturally to a person. Jill's doing a great job and all the NorCalAllens are happy that Miles is in such good arms.
Dave and Miles. Dave is working on his marquee demi-smile.
Daphne and Uncle Fred. Fred is telling Daphne how cool it is that a coffee shop in Santa Monica seals the drink with a thin plastic coating. It's fun to see Fred holding Daphne because in the past he held Mr. NorCalAllen when he was a baby (Fred - 10 years = Ben).
The $50 haircut, Fresh shampoo and Tom's of Maine toothpaste are SO worth it.
The climax of the annual Brother's event is a poker game, the winner of which gets to take home the ancient silver chalice, Little Momo. This is Mrs. NorCalAllen telling Daphne about the special cup (which is resting heavily on the antique wooden sea captain's chest).
Petenice: "OK, I'm totally ready. Take the picture....OK, let's just do another one real quick....No reason not to do one more....OK, let me see them....Yeah, that second one is OK, but let's just do one more, just in case."

Daphne: "This sweater is soft. I think I might poop now. Something's sqeezing my foot."

New Year's Eve!

We had good times in Sacramento for Christmas and New Year's Eve. Here's Daphne and Emma in their PJs. Here's the spread that Kelly put together at her place. We had a great time at the Vellanoweth's for New Year's Eve.
Daphne and Emma in a red wagon. Daphne looks like a character from a Robert Frost poem about winter: Quietly, she looks like she's reciting in her head "the only other sound's the sweep/of easy wind and downy flake."
The Samuels/Levi Family with Daphne. Josh (center) and I played some backgammon before this picture was taken. His jovial face belies my dominance with the dice. We ended up playing another game to 10 in LA a few weeks later and he got his revenge in a big way. Looking forward to our rubber match.
Ben and Rob took some time away from eating food and opening presents to throw the football around a little. We were basically throwing tight spirals for about 35 minutes straight.
Daphne getting excited about her new red wagon! Emma is helping her try it out. (aside: one of these days, I'll remember to upload the pictures in reverse order of time so they are displayed for you in proper order. This is Christmas Day, so you'll notice we're already 7 days before the top picture)
Dan and Gwenna on Christmas Eve. I like those smiles.
Papa with his two great-granddaughters on Christmas Eve.
Sinterklaas, I mean Santa Claus, posing with the NorCalAllens (can you make out Zwarte Piet in the background?). Here is a really interesting article about Santa (no, I don't work for Wikipedia--I just enjoy adding hyperlinks for those of you who want to extend your break from work or just want to read something else while you're at it).

Next stop, the Spring Equinox fertility festival! I mean Passover, or (if you're of the liturgical persuasion) Easter. Nothing like painted eggs, budding trees, Baby Jesus, bloody lintels and smiling bunnies to get me in the mood for bright days!