sandmchristmascards

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Seasoned Greetings 2021

Seasoned Greetings one and all

Happy Christmas, merry New Year, happy holidays, happy Solstice, happy everything else and blessings at the turning of the year

This year has been marked mainly by cats and cooking (and reading and virtual connections and puzzles and Lego), so these are more indoor photos than usual.

(clockwise in a spiral from top left working inwards)

Phryne impersonates a parrot; Phryne when she was small enough to fit in from of a keyboard; Phryne utterly summing up the pandemic; I spent a lot of this year up a ladder making this mosaic from old hard drives and DVDs ; on the one hand I had to check three times what year to put on this card and on the other this didn't arrive until spring 2021, which seemed perfectly fitting; they were the Bad Kitties and they terrorised the kitchen ; we think we might need a bigger cat tree; Phryne when she was still small enough to lie down next to a keyboard; parrot impersonating a cat washing its feet; Simon photographed the moon when it was full and when there was an eclipse; Drunk Parrot did NOT like the snow; after many years of being blonde, Mary's new hair colours for shorter braids to avoid having a cat dragging behind her at every step; for a very brief period, we went OUT; recycled flowers decorate the roof terrace, now enclosed as a catio; we got pretty good at making marmalade; robins really have opinions; tiny daffodil in the rain; Phryne as the literal chocolate box kitten

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Seasoned Greetings for 2020 one and all Happy Christmas, merry New Year, happy holidays, happy Solstice, happy everything else and blessings at the turning of the year

Enjoy a rather different year in pictures from usual, but with as much love and best wishes as ever

(clockwise in a spiral from top left) In retrospect, Drunk Parrot hanging upside down in January might have been a metaphor for the year; two wrestling lizards in San Jose in the Before Times when we could travel; the first blossom in Putney; even before All This I had started drying tangerine peel; an Enigma machine from the NSA collection at RSA just as the year became scrambled; Lyra is lap cat; Lyra and Phryne sit on Mary and much washing ensues; a sometime Christmas present encapsulated the achievement we felt at getting up every day; the succulents on the roof terrace flowered and attracted huge bees; books, wine, TV, cats, recipes and going online sums up our 2020; a Putney robin flies in; intersecting cogs on an alley gate off Regent's Street; the only photo I can find of us both this year was taken on a Teams call, appropriately enough; fantastic floral lanterns in San Francisco; the Red Arrows and La Patrouille de France fly past our roof terrace; Phryne is Shoulder Cat!

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Seasoned Greetings for 2019 to one and all

Happy Christmas, merry New Year, happy holidays, happy Solstice, happy everything else and blessings at the turning of the year

#(clockwise from top left) Mary and Simon standing back to back on a peg mirror to make a combined selfie; a funhouse mirror version of the s

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 Seasoned Greetings 2017 

Happy Christmas, merry New Year, happy holidays, happy Solstice, happy everything else and blessings at the turning of the year

Enjoy our year in pictures!

Starting top left, going clockwise and spiralling inwards Sioux Falls (on our drive from Seattle to Chicago), mini Christmas tree, Mary's Build minifig, the placemats at Laughing Larry's Lunchroom in Tomah WI, Simon's chalk art sunset, we resemble the milk stout couple in the Lost Coast brewery restaurant driving from San Francisco to Seattle, Texas barbecue at the rest area, Simon and Mary try on Cleopatra's headdress at Universal Studios in Orlando - who wore it best? To tour the shuttle trainer you have to wear protective booties, testing shows that the unicorn hat does not fit Simon, this year we went to Seattle four times, enjoying the architecture cruise in Chicago, glass pumpkins at Pike Place market, December sunshine at Sorel Point, Mary's birthday wine tasking at Bonny Doon (hic!), the first time Simon tried the tiki drinks at the Virgin Atlantic clubhouse in SFO, self portrait of Mary in a yellow dress at the Chicago bean reflects at least six times, top of the trail peaks highway is arctic tundra, the salmon sculpture at the Hiram Crittenden locks in Seattle, the bacon dispensing hand dryer in Taos, all the miles we drive from Raleigh Durham to Orlando to Park City, Carkeek park in Seattle, sketching on a Surface Studio, about a year's worth of beer caps, quivering aspens between Provo and Park City

Love and hugs

Mary and Simon

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Christmas 2016 

Utah from the air, Simon after a certain amount of beer at Fieldworks in Berkeley, sunset over Cedar City, Hermes does the Bad Horse Bat Signal as a scarf in Las Vegas, a frozen river in Canada from the plane LHR-SFO, parachute roof at a winery in Lodi, Ultra Stack Feature Panda is the real 10x developer in Las Vegas, the colours of Capitola, snow over the red rocks of Utah, juggling the rainbow in Park City, light sculpture at Maker Faire, Mary tries on a horn headdress at Maker Faire, latte heart art at Barefoot coffee in Campbell, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Zion Deer, tree detail from the Bank of America mosaic in San Mateo, Kinect-driven wooden peg selfie/ussie, sparks flying in Seattle, we stand between two countries at the Peace Arch, Putney's finest Christmas decorations, splendour of the elephants in Sausalito, drunk parrot of Putney, reflected in the Christmas decorations at the Ivy, carefully arranged tags at the craft store, Sandy Claus wishes you all seasoned greetings!

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Seasoned greetings 2015!

Starting from the top left and going round clockwise and spiralling inwards: the tinsel tree on CA 58, a flying visit to the Bonny Doon tasting room, a heart drawn on our roof, snow in Zion National Park, chickens at the buffalo preserve near Zion (extraordinary!), decorations on the CA 58 stump, buffalo at the preserve, tiles in the Virgin Atlantic LAX clubhouse, minions in San Francisco go modernist, light art at Maker Faire, self-portrait with mirrors in Hackney, bee on the echinacea at the Snoqualmie golf course, Chihuli glass in Bellevue, Simon and Mary have too many hands at the Chicago bean, Simon meets the guard robots of Mountain View, Simon and Mary on the Bonneville salt flats measured mile, Chicago mural. Eagle-eyed viewers of a certain vintage may also spot an easter egg; an old technology I got very excited about this year ;)

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Christmas 2014 -  Starting from the top left and going back and forth: from a plane, parakeet in a Putney garden, Santa Claws, Simon in a tiki bar, bighorn sheep in Zion, ASCII art in real life at a gin festival, Paso Robles reflected in a Brecon glass, Santa peloton in Richmond deer park, the watchtower at Grand Canyon, reflected in a bauble on CA 58, Seaview motel Santa Monica, Ben hard asleep on Simon, Antelope Slot canyon, the tree on CA 58, we finally stopped at Dynamo donuts, big data in action in SF, three sizes of Totoro, a cheerful silicon valley motel, the wine trail in Santa Barbara, sunglasses selfie at the Grand Canyon, supermoon over Mount Baker, the provincial Canadian marine park, the milky way over the Santa Cruz mountains, Mary with flowers and phablet, coffee in progress, bats in Austin, Grand Canyon sunset, from a plane, Macy's European coffee big enough to swim in, hummingbird in Willow Glen, a decorative gasometer in Amsterdam, slow motion Santana Row fountain, Firestone Walker beer life in Paso Robles, San Francisco salt pans, the pig biscuit at Cochon, Golden Gate bridge, frost in Richmond Deer Park, the watchtower wood pile, Mount Rainier from the air, a trash bird in Sebastopol 

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Christmas 2013 - London, Niagara Falls, New Orleans, Kolob plaza, Fort Bragg, Las Vegas, Carmel, Sonoma, San Francisco, Pescadero, Mount Ranier, Simon giggle into a Surface 2 - full size image and notes at https://www.flickr.com/photos/marypcb/11536536336/in/photolist-izrLjU-ixTRbB-iop7r8-iBvvEx-ixTncP-ixT4Yv-iQUt6t-ixTSo5-iAdvnQ-ixU8J7-jajwfD-iQUuRc-iAm9qa-iydDEF-iQUsoB-iopV4V-iANqZc-janwuo-iDM1rY-jb64ah-ixTXRG-iwvyi9-i9VKGc-iooMLd-iAzYao-ScKyGH-iAGTsq-iooY9z-iDV8HB-izFDrq-iA51cv-iBx1yn-iB1nxQ-iBAiN6-iAuCX6-izxhAA-iZbzYi-iopczx-iJ4Tni-iQX9Rj-jahL7n-iopyQt-jdPEwL-iJ5znQ-hXBh1U-iop8X4-iopdtP-iBMjsG-iJ5EXC-ioo7Wu

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Christmas 2012 - pictures from New York, Seattle, Los Angeles and more: look at the full size image at http://www.flickr.com/photos/marypcb/8302392738/ to see what the pictures are and where we took them