Author: stenaros

Slide Scanning Comes to an End

I spent the summer scanning my grandfather’s slides. The vast majority of them were 35mm, and could be scanned with the slide scanner I bought. But there were a few large format ones and a few of other sizes that just didn’t work in my scanner.

So those, I dropped off for scanning. In less than a week I had them back and stored on a handy USB drive. Most of them are from the early 60s, when my mom and aunts were still in high school. So it’s fun to see new pictures of them when they were young.

Note my grandmother’s label, slides, and that it is affixed with cellophane tape.

SKS: Chai, not Chair

I received all three postcards on the same day (amazing!), and I skipped looking at the picture on the front so I could instead read what Sara had written on the back. I read that Sara’s cousin had gotten her this lovely package of chairs (12 in total), and I wondered why the cousin would give her such a large gift. Also, did Sara want 12 chairs?

The confusion was cleared up when I looked at the front and discovered, that what I was reading as chairs was actually chai, as in tea. 12 is a much more reasonable number in that case.

Sara reports that there is an atmospheric river happening, and that she’s enjoying 50 so far.

Firehouse Restaurant V-Day Menu

Firehouse advertised a special Valentine’s Day prix fixe menu, and Matt and I took them up on their offer. It was quite good.

We had eaten at this restaurant before (and check out that post to see if you can find the fun typo), and I was glad to see roasted carrots were on tonight’s menu. While we didn’t opt for the wine pairing, I had a nice red, and Matt had some ginger beer.

We ordered one of each item and traded. This served us well until the dessert course. The sorbetto was good, but not nearly as good as the chocolate brownie.

SKS: Napa Valley

Sara was on a 50th birthday jaunt, and I got these postcards out of the trip.

Fun quiz question. What do you think is the postmark on a card mailed from the Napa Valley? Answer below.

With this postcard, Sara had just been to the bookstore and sent a hello.

Sara reports that the London Fogs at the Retrograde Coffee Roasters are quite nice. Also that the sunny weather with temperatures in the high 50s is a good combo for a weekend celebrating the entrance into one’s fifties.

Answer: These are postmarked Oakland. Is that what you guessed?

Sugar Skull Embroidery

I finished Kiriki’s sampler a few weeks ago, but took my time washing and stretching it. Let’s have a look.

I like the overall result of my stitching, but I do wish the ink transfer had been darker. It’s almost invisible.

The embroidery turned out well. I really like that rose in the center of the skull’s forehead made out of bullion knots. And I also enjoy pistil stitch, which made up the flowers on the top of the skull.

This pattern came with the sampler club bonus. (I think it was the reason I bought this, the haunted house, and the crow, because they were the last available samplers that included the sampler club bonus). It’s a cute little candy corn cat, which I have diligently embroidered and which will stay in this form until someone comes to deal with my estate.

Mom’s Birthday Celebration 2025

My mom celebrated her newest birthday with pizza at Pizza Caboose, and a black and white cake. That would be a chocolate cake with a chocolate fudge filling and vanilla bean buttercream frosting.

As you can see, I could have done a little more planning before I started decorating. Both the sideways day and the numeral one could have come out better.

In good news, it all tastes the same, and it was delicious.

It Has Happened!

I stopped by the Starbucks in the Fred Meyer near my house because I needed to buy 6 ounces of coffee to make a cake. Like I usually do when buying coffee to make cakes, I explained that I wasn’t a coffee drinker, but needed a small amount for cake baking. The nice young man working there did some figuring and quoted me the price of $1.77, which was fine by me. I handed over two dollars and was on my way, holding the coffee behind me on the walk home, so I didn’t have to smell it.

The next day, I had another look at the receipt and discovered why the price was so low. I had been elevated to senior pricing!

While I’m still several years away from getting this discount for real, I was happy to take it in my 50th year.

While looking for the age requirement for the Starbucks senior discount, I have discovered that Starbucks does not have an senior discount policy! But! Some baristas might apply one if you ask. So I got doubly lucky. Thanks, Jayden.