2025, November 24-30

We had a happy Thanksgiving week with all of us together for a few days. 

Hallie's Starbucks customer Kenyon gave our family some frozen fish and steaks that he caught and raised himself. Pretty cool! We cooked up the steaks for part of our Thanksgiving meal. 

Mike made a paper representation of the digital flake he made from the real life Libbrecht one he did last Sunday.

Hallie got another few images from Kora's wedding. This is a fun group to work and play with! 

Mike headed down to Springville bright and early on Tuesday morning, arriving in Salt Lake in time for dinner. He was so happy to see Hallie and Eliza at the airport. They all went to Shake Shack in Murray. 

Part of being back home means packing up a few things to bring back up to Missoula. Hallie and Eliza have been working on the garage (ever so slowly). This week, Mike grabbed his old journals and some other stuff. In his journal box, he found some paper snowflakes he cut from back when we lived in California. 

This inspired him and Eliza to cut some more to hang in our windows as part of our Christmas decorating. 

Landon challenged Mike to make a flake of the winged crest of the Jedi Order. Not too bad. 

Hallie got to work a few shifts at Starbucks with Mike here to look after things and people at home. What a bunch of cut-ups! 

After our Thanksgiving meal of grilled steak and sides, we had dessert at Gma and Gpa M.'s. Grandma always loves to give Kai cuddles. Hallie tried (and failed) to get Grandpa to let Kai sit on the couch next to her.

Here is Eliza helping Gpa with the ice machine for his shoulder on which he had surgery last week. 

On his walk with Kai on Friday, Mike saw the local herd of ponies. 

Kenyon went over to Gma and Gpa's with Hallie, Mike, and Kai on Friday to bid on a sidewalk Hallie's parents want poured. Mike and Hallie also took apart and retired the Muskoka chairs Gma and Gpa had inherited from them that used to grace our front porch in Michigan and back patio in California. Goodbye, old chairs! Mike got a picture of the snowcapped mountains to the south . . .  

. . . and Kai. 

And Hallie got a picture of Marilyn and Kai. 

Prior to going to Elk Ridge, we had gone to Dutch Bros to get their holiday ornament promotion. Hallie's a sucker for free things! 

Eliza and Mike decorated the front room later in the day. We didn't go all out this year. 

At this point, we have a lot of ornaments and not a lot of tree to put them all on. That's OK. We just rotate the boxes. We sent Mike up with a small tree and a box of ornaments to give his apartment some cheer. 

Ferg likes having just a little more room under the tree without a train getting in his way. 

Saturday morning, Hallie woke up to Kai holding her hand. So tender! 

She, Mike, and Eliza went over to Jolly Circle and Darn Good Coffee to get an estimate on a bike repair and to enjoy some Small Business Saturday treats. We all enjoyed our soup, sandwiches, and drinks. Mike and Eliza battled it out over some pretty intense games of Go Fish while we waited. Glad to see so many customers at the shop. 

Later in the day, Mike and E ran some errands at University Place, which meant that Mike had to window shop for LEGO sets. He won't buy any, but they're fun to look at up close. C'mon. Look at this Willy Wonka set!  

Eliza wants to see if we can make a Santa hat for his upscaled minifig. 

They also went to Daiso in Provo. Eliza said it made her feel nostalgic for Japan. They got stuck in post-football game traffic coming home though. Grr. 

All too soon, Sunday morning came, and Mike had to head back up to Missoula. He misses Fergus but is happy that Ferg has found a cuddle buddy in Eliza.

Mike drove through snow all the way to the Idaho border and on icy roads near Missoula. The rest of the gang got snow in Springville. 

Fergus seemed determined to get into this blanket bin we have in the living room. Maybe he wanted a bed. Maybe he was looking for something inside it. Who knows?

After getting back to his apartment, Mike added a little festive cheer. 

And here we are, writing the blog with Mike up north and Hallie down south. Modern technology helps us cope with being apart, so we're grateful to have it. 

2025, November 17-23

Mid-November features photos of felines, flakes, and frolicking fauna. 

Halloween sort of passed Mike by this year. Hallie thought he might appreciate a little treat in a care package she sent him. He did, indeed! 

The late afternoon sky reflected in Mike's snowflake-bedecked office window confused him into wondering why his monitor was on and elevated so high.

Hello there from SHS!

Apparently a sleeping Landon had trapped Jocie while they were watching TV. We don’t think he is a fan of Hallmark movies. 

Mom got Eliza some new reading material. We love that she's reading, although she sometimes uses time in the bedroom as an excuse for not coming downstairs when asked. 

Eliza sent Mike a movie of her doing a stunt on a wall at a local church. Our girl is super strong! 

Let sleeping dogs (and cats) lie. 

On his walks to, from, and around campus, Mike frequently comes across his dear deer friends. Well, they tolerate him more than anything. They're tame, but not that tame.  

The sun coming through Mike's office windows can be quite bright, hence the need for heavy shades. As a side effect, his window-hung flakes get dramatically silhouetted. 

Mike was feeling (relatively) photogenic, so he opted to change his Facebook profile pic. 

He made some variations in the mobile app. Some are quite . . . interesting. 

Eliza returned to Summit, and she also got some new glasses. Cute!

Here we see Fergus engaged in his typical back scratches on the front sidewalk.  Hallie thought it was funny that he had leaves all over him.

Here we see him in an atypical investigation of the people in the car. He generally avoids cars, so we don't know what got into him (hopefully not curiosity. We like him alive). He was probably wondering why they were cleaning it. 

The bucks and a doe decided to hang around Mike's alley. Best not to get too close to these young, er, bucks. 

Tasty drinks are always appreciated. Swig did drinks for two days celebrating Wicked for Good. Ty and Hallie wanted to join in on the fun. 

Kora used one of our B-Side labels on her phone! The person is from the manga/anime series Jujitsu Kaisen. We think the saying reads, "I save people unequally." It must be a reference from the show. 

Mike attended a couple of on-campus education-related meetings on campus on Friday and got some UM-specific treats. 

He also attended a few activities for UM's International Education Week and enjoyed some international-themed cuisine at the Lodge Dining Center. 

Who doesn't love a sleeping kitty warming your lap?

Yes, maybe swearing will help. Hallie got the candle for her birthday, and now it is empty. She is bummed, so she took a picture to try to find it again. 

Ferg seemed to want Eliza's attention while she was drawing. Maybe he wanted her to stop disturbing his nap with her moving hand. Funny to see him really cozying up to her after last week's absence. He has been sleeping with her as well. 

Yet another sleeping cat pic. He will only sit with Hallie if she has a blanket. 

Saturday sunset on UM Campus. Sadly, UM did not win its big rivalry game against Montana State.

In addition to being wrapped up in her books, Eliza sometimes can't come down because the cat holds her hostage. This is the picture Eliza sent Hallie when asked to help with the list of chores. 

More Duolingo done. 

This week Mike snipped a few flakes inspired by Ken Libbrecht's images of snow crystals.

The flakes have to make their home somewhere, so that place turns out to be Mike's apartment this year.

On Mike and Hallie's chat with Papa and Alie, Mike did some digital work rather than scissor work. 

(Original by Caltech professor Ken Libbrecht, known for his work studying and photographing snow crystals, for reference.) 

The kids and Hallie are excited for Mike’s return in just two days! Mike is too!