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Jeff and I began the day with a ham biscuit at my folks’ house. Then we headed to Cary Street in Richmond to wander, shop, and eat. We picked out some beautiful Christmas ornaments, before stopping for lunch at the New York Deli–a very cozy local restaurant. Jeff had a scrumptious burger, and I had a toasted pastrami and swiss on rye. We topped off lunch with a latte from the coffee shop next door.

We took a winding path home through some of the gorgeous houses along Cary Street and the James River. Jody met us at home with Benjamin all decked out for some Christmas photos. Dinner was my Dad’s AMAZING fried chicken.

After dinner and a Euchre re-match (where I am now 0-3…I have lost with EVERY partner), I got to dance with young Benjamin and sway him to sleep. He is just so adorable.

I thought I would close with one of the Monticello photos from yesterday.

Our luggage arrived around 4 or 5 in the morning..quietly deposited on the front steps. After a warm shower, fresh clothes, and a hearty toasted English muffin with ham and cheese, Jeff, Cliff, Jody and I headed west to visit Monticello. (A quick stop at Starbucks before we drove TOO far, of course!)

We toured Mr. Jefferson’s home, lead by a chatty man with a colorful yellow tie. Monticello is a beautiful home–and the ONLY home in the U.S. designated as a United Nations World Heritage Site. The air was crisp and smelled of fallen leaves as we walked around the grounds and out-buildings.

We ate an early dinner at Lord Harwicke’s in Charlottesville, before hitting the road for fresh brownies and key lime pie at home.

After desert, Cliff and Dad watched young Benjamin (and football), while Jeff and Jody taught Mom and me how to play Euchre. (For the record, Jeff had previously taught me this card game in Michigan, but I failed to retain the rules…or basic strategy 🙂

Well, Jeff and I arose early this morning (5am to be precise) to head to the airport…bound for Richmond. Check-in couldn’t have been quicker, and security was only slightly longer, so we had plenty of time to buy a few magazines and the requisite latte before boarding.

No luck getting an upgrade…these 500-mile vouchers are utterly useless. But Jeff and I had fine seats.

Now, when the pilot comes on and announces that they are rebooting the computer to try and fix ‘something odd’, you know that you’re being set up for a delay. When the pilot comes back on and tells you that they are going to try shutting all power down on the plane–rebooting the plane–then you know it will be a good delay.

Sooooo, we arrived at Dulles quite late, and just barely made our connection. Our luggage did not.

Its now 2am, and we’ve given up waiting. Our lugage should be here ‘before 8am’ accoring to the phone update.

On the plus side…we had a delightful family evening. Goodnight 🙂

I took this shot from Ft. Mason this afternoon as I was leaving photo class. Today, we spent two hours sharing works in progress–10 or so classmates presenting photos. And what a variety of photos. We had architecture, people, morning fog, graffiti (guess who that was), mysterious objects, etc. The mixture of styles and techniques is one of the reasons I keep returning to this class.

Our lives are full of useless trivia, but this tidbit from my morning dose of “Ask Yahoo” tweaked my interest. It would seem that the most common birthday in the US is October 5. The least common US birthday is May 22.

Frankly, I don’t know how to apply this bit of knowledge in my daily life, but I found it worth passing along.

Please return to your daily routine.