Weekend Updates

• Patty reported that Charlie has been responsive for brief periods, and that the tube has been removed. He is still at Hopkins, no word on the cause of this latest setback.
• Today we were joined by future politician, Luke, who was receiving political advice from Don. (Sadly, this may doom Luke's career before it even begins). He was advised to keep a notebook to jot down possible slogans, such as "I keep my back against the wall". Luke returns to college this week, where hopefully he will learn useful information.
• Don's grandchildren, Chase and Cheney, visited us. I asked whether the new baby will also have a name beginning with "Ch- ". They are considering Chandler if it is a girl, but don't have any favorite boy names yet.
• Allison joined us for some chocolate milk. We miss seeing her daily now that her new job is located in Towson.
• Remember, anyone can leave a comment by clicking below on "Comment". Type in your comment, you can be anonymous or click on "Nickname" and type in your name. Comment on the comments too!

Don models Laura's gift, elf boxers with hat. Even came with jingle bells. (Laura, what were you thinking?)

How to Eat a Bagel

Many of us have been fascinated by Doug's weight-reducing method of eating bagels. He scoops out the middle of the bagel, then layers in the butter....and after consuming that, he eats the scooped-out middle with butter! Think his original intention was to discard the middle of the bagel, but he is usually too busy talking to throw it out. In fact, he was too busy talking to notice that this video was even being filmed!

Happy New Year 2008

• I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Sam's for their gift of friendship during 2007. I look forward to seeing each of you and hearing your stories. It is good for the immune system to laugh, and you always make me laugh! The intelligence, creativity, connections and kindnesses that unite this group of former strangers amazes me. So Happy New Year to each of you! Here's to many new memories and good health in 2008.

• Unfortunately, I learned yesterday that Charlie has had a major setback. He is again in Johns Hopkins, and has fallen into a coma. Tests are still being conducted. Please keep both Charlie and Patty in your prayers.

• When my computer was out of commission, we had an interesting occurence at home. Even though it was December, Harold was out raking leaves, and our Labrador Retriever, Sam, was with him. Sammy is ten years old and always chases squirrels and rabbits, but has never caught anything. On this day, he suddenly began to bark and dashed off into the woods. Several minutes later he came back, proudly wagging his tail, and gingerly holding a...... bagel. I kid you not. He would not allow the bagel to be taken from him and he ate it after parading around the yard with his trophy. Harold calls this the "Ballad of the Wild Bagel". We still don't know from whence it came (we don't keep bagels at home), so it is a pretty good mystery. None of our neighbors complained that their breakfast went missing.

• One of my faithful blog readers noted the many recent photos of Don, and perhaps was feeling left out. I promise to feature anyone on the blog who comes to Sam's in your underwear! This led to a lengthy discussion on what was overwear, underwear, or outerwear. Apparently what you wear next to your skin should be referred to as your underwear, even if it is a Speedo....... so if you wear boxers on top of that, it is transformed into overwear. I have no idea what outerwear is........ maybe the kilt?

• It was great to visit with former Sam's regulars, Gwen and Peggy, who moved to Florida last summer. On their visit, they found out that Sam's waffle iron broke after they left and was never replaced, so they had to settle for bagels. Gwen shared photos of her grandchildren, Jake and Faith. Glad they included us in their busy visiting schedule.

• Doug had promised to share the rockfish that he caught with several of Sam's faithful on Monday. They came with coolers to take home their New Year's Eve dinner, but Doug never showed up. They went home empty-handed, an experience I am sure Doug understands.

Our record number of tables linked so far.

New Year's Eve

A view from above......

Here's a contest......what would you call having a kilt placed over your head..... while being worn by someone else? ("Yucky" has already been submitted.)

Under a kilt, these boxers, under these, a Speedo. We took Don's word about the Speedo. There couldn't be boxers for Martin Luther King Day, could there?

It's "Donner", not "Donder" , you goofs at Bass's Pro Shop. ( "Donner" is the German word for thunder, "Blitzen" the German word for lightning.) Didn't Doug use to work there?

Great to see Gwen and Peggy on a visit from Florida. Cheers!