The field of a hundred turkeys

On Saturday, we went out to lunch with Josh, Julie, and Allie. I loved the lighting in the restaurant

My anniversary gifts: flowers, Orangecello and Belgian chocolates

The turkeys were all spread out over a large area. They would not let me get close

Over the last few days, I've been wrapping plenty of presents..these are for some of the Moms

Beautiful Xmas tree at the hosting Mom..plus all of the rest of the house was decorated. Due to our move, I am not decorating this year

Every year, the Moms exchange gifts. Could you believe that 2 of them gave very similar gifts?
The one on the left, with quails, was painted by Peruvian artists; the red wing black bird one was painted by my friend. Each one was different. I wish I took a picture of all 8 gourds to show how special they were

Busy, busy: December will be over too soon. And last night was in the 50s! In this unexpected but very welcomed warmth, I went for a long bike ride yesterday. I keep thinking, this will be the last one here but then the weather gods are favorable. On Thanksgiving, I had written that I've only seen flocks of less than 10 turkeys around here (as opposed to the Massachusetts turkeys I posted on that day; huge flocks and some have been known to roam developed areas such as Cambridge MA.)Also I hadn't seen the turkeys on my bike ride lately ever since they clearcutted a huge swath of land (all these new residents will be driving in my backyard in the rush to get to the freeway..reason to move right there). But on the unmolested field on the other side of the road, fifty to a hundred turkeys. I could see an albino amongst them, or an escaped domestic turkey. Also, I believe all of them were female as I could see no beards, though older females grow beards too. In the winter, the sexes keep separate. The Massachusetts flock were mixed but it was breeding season. As I tried to get closer, they scattered and flew over my head. Very antsy and for good reason:later on my ride and about 5 miles away where another flock usually is, I kept hearing gunshot. I assume they were the targets.

Saturday was our anniversary. Two very popular noodle shops have opened up on campus. We went with Josh's family to one of them. All kids of noodles from various Asian cultures. Josh and I chose different varieties of pho, which he pronounced 'foh'. I said it was fah'. The non-Asian waitress pronounced it wrongly when asked. (Waitresses also mispronounce 'bruschetta' all the time too, that doesn't make it right. Ms. Pedantic says it has a hard 'c'. She got an A in Italian 110). Let's let Google settle the argument. Their mnemonic: Pho is f*cking good. We will assume one is not British and pronounces f*ck with a long 'o'. So was my pho f*cking good? Meh. I prefer the pho at the Flytrap in Ferndale, which costs way less but then everything in Ann Arbor is overpriced. My new city for instance with its precious downtown has free parking. Ann Arbor's cost as much as Boston. But it was nice being with Allie and her parents. She is speaking much more. She loves restaurants as there are usually people to come  and fawn over her. She loves attention.

I was too tired to go out at night for our anniversary. Steve arranged a nice dinner at home. I do not deserve him.

After my warm weather bike ride (and today is warm too, I will go out again once the traffic clears), we had the Mom's X-mas party: early and not at night due to all our conflicting travelling schedules (no traveling for me though). We have been meeting since our 35 year olds were infants with 10 kids amongst us and 9 grandbabies. Lots of sharing our stories and those of our babies and their babies. Great food and drinks too in a very festive setting. My friend went all out. And now I have new birdhouse gourds, wine, cookies, scented candles, pretty bird ornaments, a color changing Xmas tree night light, scarf and many other goodies.

In between all of this, I try to get things ready for the move. So much to do. On today's schedule, running and biking and later Xmas dinner with my ex-colleagues. Should be fun.