Mundanely interesting … today
[22-24, June, 2024]
A couple of high school friends now living in the East Coast (Philly and NYC), Terry and Lito visited for a weekend of reconnecting and of course, eating up. It was a great time to catch up amid several lavish and fun meals as is customary with Filipino get-togethers. Short visit, but long on memories to always cherish.
Kate, Keane, and Yui all celebrated birthdays this summer (June 14, July 15, and August 8, respectively) and below is a gallery of photos commemorating those milestones.
[6-8 June, 2024]
94-year old Aunt Nora and cousin Kay came down from Michigan for their annual spring-time visit to Ohio. Of course, get-togethers with lots of Filipino food.
[1 June, 2024]
Korean BBQ for family dinner this past weekend. And what vaguely looked like a volleyball game broke out in the front yard.
K BBQ in the backyard.
Volleyball game (?) in the front yard.
[25-27 May, 2024]
Many events and happenings converging over the Memorial Weekend, with Kaori’s 5th birthday, Yui’s church confirmation, and Vernon and Luanne arriving from California for a week’s visit to Ohio. Of course, many get-togethers involving plenty of food.
[12-21 April, 2024]
My niece and I celebrated birthdays 6 days apart, and it turned out to be a series of food celebrations and get-togethers comprising dinners, breakfasts, and brunches over a couple of consecutive weekends. Deliciously fun times!
[13-16 March, 2024]
Our Pi Day celebrations date back to over 20 years ago back in my Corporate Planning days at Honda, in the early Aughts. At that time, pie-eating work get-togethers were organized by our office admins, with approval of course by the managers, and enjoyed by the entire department. We harked back to those times when my former boss and another former co-worker went on a road trip to visit one of our favorite pi day organizers who is now retired in Tennessee.
On the way down, we also made a side trip to Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, KY for a bourbon tasting and some purchases at the gift shop.
On 3/14, pies were purchased at a local bakeshop and enjoyed heartily. Later that day, we drove through Great Smoky Mountains National Park and visited Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. On Friday. it was a drive to Norris Dam for a look at that area of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s state-wide system of flood prevention, power generation, navigation, and recreation infrastructure of dams, locks, and reservoirs. (We are engineers, after all.) We headed back home on Saturday.
Overall, we had really nice weather, and a welcome late winter break for some time with good old friends.
[ 22 February, 2024]
The former Japanese president of the engineering division I worked in at Honda was in town visiting last week. We had a little get-together for pizza and chicken wings with several retirees who knew or used to work with him. No less than three of these guys were former bosses of mine.
[31 December, 2023]
A potluck dinner with my breakfast club gang closes out the year with a ‘flavor’ bang! Lots of gluten-free fare and fine bourbon cocktails highlighted the evening, just before the ball dropped in Times Square.
[16 December, 2023]
A birthday party for Kamille that took place two days early! Complete with unicorn cake, colorful balloons, and parlor games! As these things go! A fun time for all!
[15 December, 2023]
Time flies … it’s that time of the year again. A potluck Christmas party for friends and former co-workers. A party that we aptly called … “Christmas Group Therapy”.
This year’s party invite.
[23 November, 2023]
It was a low-key Thanksgiving Day, largely due to everyone’s conflicting work schedules. Something we’ve learned to live with, what with a majority of family members in the “no-holiday” medical professions. And still, it was our usual non-traditional dinner, notably with nary a turkey to be seen.
Fall season birthdays, new dishes, family visits, and other celebrations.
[14 June, 2023]
Seafood pasta and homemade cakes for Kate on her birthday.
[10 June, 2023]
More family from Chicago visited with us over the weekend. Another excuse for a food gathering and some downtown gallivanting.
[27 May, 2023]
The Satoh’s have arrived and it’s one big get-together after another! First, a big 4th birthday party for Madeleine Kaori, complete with banners, bunting, and chocolate cake!
[14 and 20 April, 2023]
Kasey’s and my birthdays are only a few days apart so it’s been a foodie flurry of lunches and dinners the past couple of weekends. Here’s to celebrating completing another revolution around our closest star!
[ 8 April, 2023]
Easter weekend celebrations at home.
[23 March, 2023]
Mike and Ron are former co-workers who recently retired on March 1st. This party was at Benny’s in Marysville. It was a good time to see them off to retirement, and of course, see other co-workers whom I haven’t seen in a while.
[14 March, 2023]
An old tradition long observed with previous Honda co-workers is to share pie on Pi Day (3.14159 …. you know the drill). I hosted the annual get-together this year, so it was coffee and pie at my house this morning. Today is also Jiro’s 9th birthday, so there’s an extra reason to celebrate! (You can see his behind in the photo below.)
