Christmas Tree III

I found this rolled up in a tube at the back of a closet shelf. It's just about impossible to photograph but I did the best I could with some help from John who very grudgingly held up some watercolor paper. I bought it several years ago at St. Francis Winery where it was arranged on a huge table with several more like it in various sizes clustered around it. Note to self: things that look good in a group often just look a bit pathetic all by themselves. I'm not wildly happy withthis picture but it was fun playing with the flexible beaded wire 'branches'. Maybe I'll pop over to St. Francis tomorrow and get a couple more ;-)

The sun was out this morning for the first time in several weeks. I don't know how long it will last as it is beginning to disappear behind  the gathering clouds as I write,  but it was nice while it lasted.

John is in mourning as the Oakland Raiders just played their last game in the Oakland Coliseum (and lost) before leaving Oakland and moving to Las Vegas. I frankly don't care where they go, but it does seem a bit fickle since they have had such notoriously loyal Oakland fans ( crazy ones at that...one section is (in)famously called 'The Black Hole')  John and Tim had season tickets for several years and had a really good time having a tailgate picnic in the parking lot together before going to the game. They didn't sit in the Black Hole.  It also seems a bit ridiculous that they are extinguishing the 'eternal flame for Al Davis for the last time' (isn't that an oxymoron?) . Al Davis was the former owner of the Raiders and a truly unpleasant man. (Or as John more bluntly put it...an a**hole). If they're so sentimental about all that, why are they leaving? As always, I'm sure the answer is money....

Having forgotten that Joni doesn't eat red meat and Owen doesn't eat anything but pasta, we had quite a lot of stew left from yesterday, and have invited the neighbors to join us for dinner.