Morning All:

It is a great morning to just stand outside. Temperature is not too bad and the wind is snapping around. Just my cup of tea or should I say coffee?

Which brings me to yesterday and a true coffee disaster, but I get ahead of myself. This week it’s been the annual budgeting effort at work. Time consuming stuff that all came to a head with all day meetings on Friday. On top of that it was the annual office Chili cook-off. To add to the “busy” list, Thursday evening it was a Symphony concert. So absolutely nothing got done about anything. Hours before sunrise I plugged the coffee in and started organizing my Chili entry. Once done, I began putting some last minute paperwork together. That is when my mind began to wander on that bit of critical Chili cook-off must do – the naming of the stuff. About the time that I settled on “This ain’t no Mad Cow, just gobbler Chili” as the name, I heard strange gurgling coming from the kitchen. The gurgling was loud enough to cause me to stop and walk into the kitchen where all looked just fine, nothing unusual; crock pot looked ok, coffee pot had stopped brewing, the coffee pot sitting next to it still clean and empty. What then was happening?

Once I cleaned the dripping and pooling coffee from the counter and the floor, refilled the basked and added another pot of fresh water, we were back on track.

Part of the concert on Thursday was Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. The soloist (Midori.) played an instrument that was built in 1734 by Guarnerius del Gesu and given to her on a lifetime loan. What impressed me is that rather than placing such a marvelous instrument inside a building in a case for a few people to stare at, that now thousands are able to enjoy the magnificent workmanship and sound put together by an artisan 300 years ago. It was quite a privilege.

In the morning I am driving Adrianne to the airport so she can fly to St. John, V.I.. It is for a wedding where everyone will be staying at a rented villa. Since it’s Winter Break the timing is perfect. Marcia baby-sat Marin twice this week. Once Marin realizes that ‘Oma’ Marcia is the ‘fairy queen from the East” and not “the wicked witch from the West” he’ll stop crying. She loves him dearly anyway. In Florida, Derek will be one year old on Monday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEREK! He just learned to clap his hands – so give yourself a great round of applause big boy.

Finally, here is the best spam cartoon I have run across, enjoy and smile a bit. Be sure to enjoy some of the great sounds of the state of Bahia in Brazil running in the background, as you get ready for Fat Tuesday and Carnivál.

Have a great week.

Cheers,

Dirk