Lazy long weekends

 Mostly I have done nothing of note with the long weekend......it's been bliss!  I do plan a long run today, once I get myself out of bed.  Thanks Giving dinner was great fun.  As always some connection with NZ.  A friend of Pete and Amy's, who is an American, but lives in Wellington (having lived in Otago and loves Middlemarch) was also there.  And yes, predictably, we did have some folk in common (she is a Prof at Victoria University so I dredged up some memories of under grad days).  She loves NZ and wouldn't move back to the US.
Photo of her to the right (Annemarie on the left and Amy's mum on the right).  Amy is pictured below, she is Pete's wife and was our co-host for the day.  The drink she is sipping on is a Pomegranate martini - yum, nice way to start the day.
Irene (below) played bartender for the first round of drinks. While Pete was our cook - see the shot of the HUGE turkey being basted.  Needless to say too, Pete got a little bit of a ribbing about his very festive shirt!  He's been living in the US for 12 years now, having done his undergrad (and I think Masters) at Otago University before heading to the US to complete his PHd.  He now lectures in the same department as Irene at the University of California Santa Cruz.
Amy is a lawyer and they have two very sweet kids.  As an added bonus they live right next to Golden Gate Park so in-between courses we headed out for a walk.

Also at the dinner was Amy's sister Nancy (in the blue shirt below) and Sharon, another colleague of Irene and Pete's.  I have met her before, she is currently on a sabbatical and preparing for an art show.  All very interesting people - Thanks Giving is such a sweet holiday here.  Always makes me very happy.

I've also added a couple of "arty" shots that Julia took while Rose was visiting.  We were down on the beach walking the dogs.  We like to think of the one on the right as "The Band".....this would be the cover to our album of course.  Irene clearly the lead singer, Rose the all rounder - you know can play everything and can sing as well....Rose decided I was definitely the bass player as I was all in black!  Below, a different view but you get the idea!