Greetings From Home

We slept late Sunday after being up late Saturday night at my niece's Bat Mitzvah reception, though we knew we had to check out before eleven to go to brunch at my sister's family's house. The kids had hoped to go swimming in their pool, but it was quite chilly, so we all put on the sweatshirts that were party favors and hung out indoors -- the kids mostly downstairs where there's a projection TV, another plasma screen hooked up to a Wii, and lots of toys, the adults mostly upstairs where the video montage and party photos from the Bat Mitzvah were playing on the living room TV and there was a big brunch buffet in the kitchen. My middle niece spent lots of time attacking my younger son, but otherwise it was a nice peaceful celebration. Tomorrow I'll post actual travel photos. Tomorrow I'll post actual travel photos. At my brother-in-law's request there will be no photos with people in them, so here's one of the cake from the Bat Mitzvah that we ate at brunch on Sunday.



We left in the afternoon and drove through the center of town, where we saw geese and goslings by the pond, before heading over the Tappan Zee Bridge and down the Palisades Parkway to the New Jersey Turnpike. We dropped off my uncle on the way at Newark Airport to fly back to California -- a pleasure since we don't get to see him very often, so we got to spend a bit of time with him en route. It was a very pretty clear day and there wasn't much traffic through New Jersey or Delaware. We got home in time to watch The Tudors, where Catherine Howard met her expected end, though the narrative continuity was pretty ridiculous -- Henry knew Catherine was sexually experienced from the day he met her, she put his ring under her skirts and rubbed herself with it, so for him to utter a line like "He spoiled the Queen for me" is pretty silly -- Henry's different treatment of Catherine's lovers had to do with their social positions, not because one deflowered her while the other merely committed adultery with her. I am looking forward to Joely Richardson as Catherine Parr!

Belated Fannish5: Name your five favorite spaceships.
1. USS Enterprise, Star Trek. No bloody A, B, C, or D.
2. TARDIS, Doctor Who. Nine's -- the one whose heart Rose looked into.
3. Millennium Falcon, Star Wars. "Hear me, baby? Hold together."
4. USS Defiant, Deep Space Nine. I wish it had been used more for research and less for war, but I don't love it any less.
5. Eagle Transport, Space: 1999. Actually Moonbase Alpha is my favorite, but since the moon gives it propulsion I bet it doesn't count.