mum,uncle and star of the show

Today we drove up to the mountains to visit with friends of daughter. L and L bought 40 acres way up in the sage brush and lived in a caravan there for about 3 years till they had built the house of their dreams.
When we last saw them they were feet deep in snow, with a leaky old fire and a mad cat [he was very opinionated, L had to throw paper balls up the far end of the trailer for him to chase, so she could scramble out of the door without being attacked, he didn’t like to be left alone I guess].
Now they have this wonderful adobe style building full of light and comfort, and wonderful views. Around the house hop blue jays, chipmunks, rabbits and ?grouse. L feeds then every morning so it is like a Disney cartoon with them scurrying around.
The two bathrooms [and sauna] are wondrous for English eyes to behold, the living room has floor to ceiling windows crystals hang reflecting the clear mountain light, bet that cat wishes he had shown better manners, they regretfully had to have him put down when the paper balls stopped working.
Second visit was to dinner in Reno with other friends, and their offspring and relative’s [one mother and g’mother] offspring comprising four babies under 3 plus our own wonder babe of one week. Very chaotic and convivial, guess this is what only children miss out on.

Travis cooked us stuffed chicken breasts........stuffed with what he called pineapple sausages, wrapped in bacon with a slice of pineapple, and salad, excellent.

The living room and kitchen were joined around the fireplace, if you see what I mean, so the kids and our young father could run in screaming demented circuits, until the kids gave in and collapsed in happy heaps. Some older people expected tears before bedtime, but young father kept his end up OK.

This is now Saturday our last full day, "onesies" [what I call babygrows] have been painted for posterity to enliven Baby's days in the future, the fairies have been finished on the nursery wall and a BBQ is being prepared.

Tomorrow we drive to San Francisco with son.

sand dance

The desert casino theme is becoming a habit, last time we visited daughter we first stayed for a couple of days in Las Vegas - in the Luxor glass Pyramid. An amazing edifice which shut even our sceptical mouths, or rather let them drop open.

No dollar had been spared to cover the joint, even the lifts, with Egyptian slant eyed maidens offering food to the gods. Only by stroking them [when safely lone in the elevator] could one tell it was a stained/coloured fibre glass? copy.
Sphinxes and huge enigmatic cats abounded on the floors, Ramses strode thru the halls of one armed bandits. Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, the endless corridors smelled of something like formaldehyde but I am not sure that was intentional.

[Sadly this is the nearest we have been to the real thing, our previous Nile Cruise was spendiferous but only visited the wonderul palaces; having not read the literature I expected pyramids, next time maybe.]
The casinos in Reno are less culturally aspirational, there is no re-creation of Venice [including gondolas] or Paris and the Eiffel Tower; the Sands was the nest for Frank Sinatra and his acolytes, built in 1947 it has two towers these days and claims to have 18 floors, but there is no 8 -11 and of course no 13th floor.
We explored the Eldorado and Circus, Circus……..pretty boring, just lines and lines of one armed bandits, endless variations on the theme of how to lose your dollar. Small enclaves of black jack, craps, poker.
The Silver Legacy was perhaps the most enjoyable with a beautiful art deco glass ceiling and a huge pseudo mining tower stretching up into the cloud painted dome.
Casinos in Nevada are exempt from the no smoking laws so they stink in a way we had almost forgotten, but they feel totally safe for all ages, sexes ages, even cosy. Not in the least exciting, but then I don‘t gamble. Maybe not all classes however, I would suspect only blue collar at the tables and machines here
Son arrived yesterday and stayed up till 3.30am giving the “house” his hard earned cash, tho hopefully not too much of it, and seemed quite happy at the outcome.
He got his first ever full house or whatever on his machine, [took a photo to prove it] so won $75 for his quarter, but soon ploughed it back playing twenty one.
When he went out this morning at 11am an Alaskan woman and her mother he was playing with, were still at the table. They come here once a year and this is what they do.