"The first thing to know is that champagne is made from PORK."

This was stated by fellow Trollop Stephani at the Domaine Chandon Cellars in Napa Valley during our first Trollopfest adventure. We had gone to Domaine Chandon and were in a sitting area waiting for the tour guide to arrive for our visit to the cellars. There were probably ten other people also waiting and when the guide was late, Professor Steph got up and began giving her own lecture, beginning with that important point above. You should have seen the puzzled expressions of the other people!

The tour guide did show up about thirty seconds later, and Stephani sat down with a completely innocent look upon her face. To this day, however, we still refer to champagne that way: "Would anyone like some pork?"

[Oink.]

The numbers of people killed in the tsunami continue to rise and it appears that even 135,000 is only the tip of the iceberg. Indonesian offcials now say that the death toll in that country alone could top 400,000 as they begin to survey some areas of Sumatra that had not yet been reached. Digital Globe has some amazing satellite photos of Banda Aceh before and after the tidal waves. Parts of the coastline are simply missing. Here is one example:

Just GONE.

Gary is investigating the possibility of going to Thailand with one of the medical teams for a few weeks. Of course I ( and Suki) would miss him, but with over 500,000 people injured, I'm sure he would be even more appreciated there.

[Not exactly a vacation.]

Josh and Katie, Gary's kids, came over to see the house for the first time since we moved in. They were very impressed. We hung out and opened "Christmakah" gifts - they gave me two books: "The Assassin's Apprentice" and "Neverwhere" along with the latest Harry Potter DVD. Fun! I gave Josh a converter so he can play his iPod in the car; Katie got a leather bound drawing journal, pencils and charcoal, and a calendar of old French posters. They seemed to like everything.

We walked about three blocks over to Abbaye and had dinner - it was great! Gary had a salad and a "fou-fou" cheesesteak, Josh had lamb stew and an oyster po-boy, Katie had a veggie burger and I had fish and chips. We had a nice time. Katie goes back to school on Monday but Josh is off until at 17th or so. I think they might be coming over on Sunday too, but I'm not sure.

We had invited some friends over for New Year's Eve, but plans got changed so we'll just have dinner at home. Gary is picking up lobsters today - yum! His partner, Allen, is coming over tomorrow for brunch. I'm glad we at least have the dining room table set up. I'm planning on organizing closets and cupboards this weekend. Very exciting, I know, but it will be nice to have stuff done.

The Cyruses have done a lot of work in the past few days - they have run the lines out to the front wall to install new exterior lights, mounted the mailbox, resealed the bathtub and are hopefully finishing the upper cabinets in the kitchen.

[Slowly but surely!]

Quote du jour:

"Every New Year is the direct descendant, isn't it, of a long line of proven criminals?"

-- Ogden Nash (1902 - 1971) US poet

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