Joyce's birthday

Joyce's birthday is not until Monday but we celebrated it with a dinner Saturday night. Joyce's daughter, Kristan, and Kristan's husband planned and held the dinner at their house.

The dinner was to start at 6 pm and I was 20 minutes late and the last person to arrive. I arrived as they were about to call me to ask where I was. (I had to stop at Ace Hardware as the cashier on Friday had given me the wrong rebate form.) I missed out on the tour of the house (built last year) but Kristan gave me a tour at the end when the party broke and the guests were leaving. A nice house; a large house; a unique house. The house had a high ceiling in the main section and it appeared they had cut a Christmas tree from their property as the tree was 10 to 12 ft tall with room above to the ceiling.

Everyone and their spouses (if they had one) but Gary from the hiking group were there. Peter and Edwina were also there so that made a dozen of us at the two tables put together.

The food was excellent and so was the company. Sue Ann is a pastel artist - having made her living at it recent years before being eligible for social security - and she gave Joyce a choice of one of a half dozen of her smaller (16 x 20 or so) paintings. Joyce chose a nice one of a mountain lion.

After the meal some of us played the Skip-Bo card game and others retired to the living room for conversation. A nice relaxing evening with friends.

As I drove home down the mountain Flathead Valley and Kalispell lay lit up below. A pretty sight.