The Crown - Season Four

Friday night, Sharon and I finished watching season four of The Crown on Netflix. We finished watching season one in April of 2018, season two in May of 2018 and season three in February of 2020.

The fourth season spans 1977 to 1990. It is set during Margaret Thatcher's period as prime minister and also focuses on Lady Diana Spencer. Events depicted include Lord Mountbatten's funeral, the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, the births of Princes William and Harry, the Falklands War, Michael Fagan's break-in at Buckingham Palace, the Prince and Princess of Wales's 1983 tour of Australia and New Zealand, the Princess of Wales's appearance at the Barnardo's Champion Children Awards, and Thatcher's departure from office.

Olivia Colman stars as Elizabeth, along with main cast members Tobias Menzies [Prince Philip], Helena Bonham Carter [Princess Margret], Josh O'Connor [Prince Charles] and Erin Doherty [Princess Anne]. Season four adds Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher and Emma Corrin as Diana, Princess of Wales.

Personally, I think that this may be the best season of The Crown so far. Gillian Anderson's performance as Margaret Thatcher is astonishing. The season paints Charles as a spoiled, petulant child; he is not a sympathetic character. I really enjoyed this season and highly recommend it.

At Lincoln Hills Orchard Course

Sharon and I played golf on Saturday afternoon with Holly and Van at Lincoln Hills on the Orchard Course. Originally, we were planning to plan on Sunday, but decide to switch to Saturday based on the forecast of rain on Sunday. I have never played this course before.  Teeing off at 1:15 pm, we are able to play fifteen holes before it got dark.

Like when played on the day before Thanksgiving, I feel solid at the driving range, but couldn't translate that to the course. I continue to play inconsistently. Surprisingly, my chipping wasn't the biggest problem... I had a par on a short par five. Additionally, I had three iron shots (a long pitching wedge, a nine iron and a seven iron) that were as good as I can hit a golf club; each dropped on the green with a deep divot. I struggled on a several of the more difficult holes (lots of tules!).

After golf, we had a socially distance dinner with outdoor heaters in Holly and Van's backyard. We got a Doordash delivery from Sienna. Van and I had stir fry (tofu and chicken, respectively), Sharon had a burger and Holly had short ribs.

Downton Abbey - Season Five

Monday night, Sharon and I finished watching season five of Downton Abbey. We finished season one in August, season two in early September, season three in late September and season four in October at Sea Ranch.

The fifth season comprises nine episodes. It originally aired from September 21, 2014 to November 9, 2014 with a December 25, 2014 special Christmas episode.

The show explores the lives of the fictional Crawley family, the hereditary Earls of Grantham, and their domestic servants. The storyline in season four runs from February to December of 1924. Historical events include the election of the MacDonald Labour government, the British Empire Exhibition, the Beer Hall Putsch and displaced Russian aristocrats.

I continue to enjoy and recommend the series.

mailing the Christmas Cards

Twenty-two of the last twenty-three years, Sharon and I have sent out a Christmas Card. Dissatisfied with the quality of the photos on commercial cards like Shutterfly in the late 2000s, I built my own format and process. Unfortunately, this was a lot of work... Additionally, the number of cards that we send out has exploded to over 100 in the last fifteen years with the inclusion of people from SEAS, Outlaws, Jesuit High, Sutter Health, Adventist Health and Deterding Ranch.

This year, I decided to go back to a commercially printed greeting card. Everything went a lot quicker!  I dropped 119 Christmas Cards at the post office on Sunday night, December 6.  I have a few more that I want to get in the mail this weekend.

In 2019, I dropped 73 Christmas Cards at the post office on Tuesday night, December 17 and 33 more on Wednesday morning, December 18.

In 2018, I dropped 104 cards at the post office on Monday, December 17.

In 2017, I mailed about 70 cards on Sunday afternoon, December 17 and another 30 plus cards on Monday morning, December 18.

More than 10,000 steps a day for 500 days

Over the last 500 days, I have taken more than 10,000 steps a day every day. Based on the Withings app, I have more than 9.5 million steps during that period and have averaged just over 19,000 steps a day.

iPad Air

The first iPad was shipped in April of 2010. I purchased one in May of 2010. I used it for a number of years to score Jack's baseball and basketball games and decreasing as a kindle and internet browser when we traveled.

Although I have refreshed my iPhone, Apple watch and Apple TVs on a regular basis, I have several older Apple devices in addition to the iPad, including a Macbook Air (September 2011) and Mac Pro (early 2009) that have been work horses. In December, I am updating several devices and changing my approach to how I use the devices. The first update is the iPad. I replaced my first generation iPad with a iPad Air.

Mank

Saturday night, Sharon and I watched Mank on Netflix. This film is being talked about for several possible Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay.

Mank is a biographical drama film about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his development of the script for Citizen Kane (1941). Directed by David Fincher, it is based on a screenplay by his late father Jack Fincher.

The film stars Gary Oldman as Herman J. Mankiewicz, Amanda Seyfried as Marion Davies, Arliss Howard as Louis B. Mayer, Tom Burke as Orson Welles and Charles Dance as William Randolph Hearst. Many other Hollywood icons are portrayed, including: Greta Garbo; Joan Crawford; Charlie Chaplin; Bette Davis, and; Clark Gable.

Sharon did not like the movie. She said "that was terrible" when it was over. She rated it 2 on a scale of 10. Sharon had a hard time following the plot.

I enjoyed it much more than she did. I have a very different perspective. I liked the movie more than Moonlight (2017 Best Picture Winner) or The Shape of Water (2018 Best Picture Winner). It is very much an "Inside Baseball" kind of picture about the movie industry in the 1930s. Gary Oldman won the 2018 Best Actor Oscar for his performance in The Darkest Hour. I think that he will get nominated for this film.

Fabian's plus Wallens

Saturday night, Sharon and I got curbside takeout from Fabians's Italian Bistro. Sharon had eaten there with Holly in November. I had Rigatoni Bolognese [angus beef & pork ragú, emma pecorino, romano cheese, whole leaf oregano], while Sharon had Pappardelle Scampi [shrimp, gilroy garlic confit, arugula, saffron tomato broth, calabrian chili, lemon, butter]. We split an order of Fried Brussels Sprouts [harissa, preserved lemon] and a bottle of Lyric Pinot Noir.

As we were pulling away from the restaurant, the Wallens called. We had a nice extended talk about grandkids. When things return to normal, we need to visit the house they are building in Todos Santos. Additionally, I would like the four of us to visit Vancouver and then bounce over to visit Lance and Barb. I am fascinated to see the house that Lance built on top of a giant rock!

More adventures with Lee

Sharon and I spent the day taking care of Lee.

2020 Christmas Lights - Front

Throwback Thursday - Drew and I - Almanor 2006

2020 Christmas Tree

After picking out the tree last Friday, we got the tree delivered on Wednesday night. It is going to take a couple of days to get it decorated.

Del Mar Saloon and Store

Del Mar Saloon and Store
1904-1910
Marker 34B-8
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This marker is located on the Saloon Trail near 41195 Deer Trail, Sea Ranch, California. The Sea Ranch Archives Committee has identified twenty-six historic sites scattered about The Sea Ranch. They have constructed trail markers with information explaining the significance of each place. They were placed as part of The Sea Ranch 50th anniversary being celebrated from Memorial Day 2014 to Memorial Day 2015. The GPS coordinates for this location are 38° 44' 44.5" N 123° 30' 13.7" W.


The saloon was sited straight ahead, close to the eastern edge of today's Highway 1. The Russian colony converted it to a school, since the Del Mar school house was too small for their number of children. Diagonally across the highway in a southernly direction is where the Del Mar Store stood.

The Queen's Gambit

Saturday night, Sharon and I finished watching The Queen's Gambit miniseries on Netflix. I first heard about the series on one of Bill Simmons' podcast. Shortly afterwards, Morgan recommended it.

The Queen's Gambit is an American coming-of-age period drama miniseries based on Walter Tevis's 1983 novel of the same name. It was released on Netflix on October 23, 2020. In just over a month, it has become Netflix's most-watched scripted miniseries.

Beginning mid-1950s and proceeding into the 1960s, the story is about an orphaned chess prodigy. It follows her rise to becoming the world's greatest chess player while struggling with emotional problems and drug and alcohol dependency. It covers themes of adoption, feminism, chess, drug addiction, and alcoholism. Anya Taylor-Joy stars as Beth Harmon.

The Queen's Gambit is very, very good. Both Sharon and I enjoyed it. I recommend it. Three notes about the miniseries. First, the cars, clothes and sets do a fantastic job of creating the 1950s and 1960s. Second, the chess game sequences are amazing; who thought that you could capture chess as a sport. Third, Taylor-Joy's performance is remarkable.

I got a thrill out of the scenes of Moscow in the last episode. I had a chance to spend two weeks in Moscow with the Nooters in 1995.

Catan for Drew's Birthday

Saturday afternoon, Shannon, Drew, Jack and I played Catan for Drew's birthday. Shannon won both of the games.

Drew's 36th Birthday!

Happy 36th Birthday! Drew

Shopping for a Christmas Tree

Taking Tiber with us, we headed to Roseville in the late morning to shop for a Christmas Tree. For the third year in a row [2019, 2018}, we went to Bambi's Christmas Trees at Douglas and South Harding.

The last two years we went to Bambi's on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, rather than the Friday after Thanksgiving. Going on Friday was a mistake; the place was zoo. I was shocked at the number of people.

We ended up picking out a nice 10' to 11' foot tree. We are getting it flocked and delivered on Wednesday.

Afterwards, we had a lunch with Tiber outside at Eureka! Both of us had a Eureka! American Burger [American Swiss / grilled onion / butter lettuce /tomatoes / pickles / special sauce].

Thanksgiving 2020

After a virtual Run to Feed the Hungry and Zoomsgiving get together, we finished the day with Morgan, Lee and Daniel for Thanksgiving dinner. We had a very nice turkey dinner that we had picked up from Whole Foods on Wednesday evening.

Although he hadn't taken a nap in the afternoon, Lee was very good during dinner.

Zoomsgiving

Thursday afternoon, we did a Zoom with Sharon's family. The group include Kevin, Leah, Lydia, Amelia, Eric, Ashley, Tom, Tim, Erin, Cromac, Sharon and I. Over the rest of the day, we facetimed with Jack, Drew and Shannon.

2020 Run to Feed the Hungry

For the sixteenth time in the last seventeen years [2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005 and 2004], Sharon and I ran the Run to Feed the Hungry. We entered in 2007, but I was feeling under the weather and we decided not to run before heading to San Francisco for Thanksgiving. Sharon also missed four years ago when she was feeling under the weather.

With the pandemic raging, this year's event was virtual. Sharon, her brother and I walked a 10k in Arden Park and Sierra Oaks on Thursday morning.

It was disapponting not to be able to run the 10k. I use the race to test myself and measure my fitness. It is a marker that I can compare to previous years.

Using Runkeeper, I generated the map of our walk. Additionally, Runkeeper allowed you to upload your virtual results to the race results.