News about the RKIDs
Early Winter of 2025 Edition
"It's Not So Cold When You're Dancing"
Performance Program
Over 40 RKID members and their guests gathered at Marilyn and Obie’s place this year for the annual Winter holidays party. The house rocked with chatter, music, laughter, gift-exchanging, plus a cornucopia of tasty food and various flavors of Bailey's Irish Cream to propel the socializing. Some of the highlights were an extended set of caroling punctuated with delightful musical performances by Toni and David D, Willie, Kathy O, David M, Kathi R and Sandy D.
Adding to the merriment was the always-popular dramatic reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas with a moving gifts exchange and a hilarious reenactment of the 12 Days of Christmas song; this element of the party kept everyone on their toes, see and hear for yourself!
Tea-ing-Off
The Book Club had their annual Holiday Tea on December 7th. It didn't go exactly as planned. Sadly, Connie was a bit under the weather and, in order to give her time to rest, our Book Club leader, Sonja, transferred the event to her house – in the nick of time. Tom did the mission of mercy to pick up the food Connie had ordered, driving to a grocery store in Frederick. And, guess what! It went off just beautifully! Mary Ann, Carole, Robin, Michelle, Marie V, Toni, Christine, Marilyn O, Maddy, Kate and Barb ate finger foods and collected around the dining room table where they laughed, sang, chatted and reminisced. Then there was the wrapped books exchange; you never know what you might get to read. Barb led a holiday season trivia game, with questions like "Does Rudolf have antlers?". We missed Connie, but the event was a huge success.
How about Some Thai for Lunch?
On a 20-degree January 16th, twenty-one RKIDs made it to the Thai House Restaurant to sample some hot and spicy food. Well, some of the gang - not all - took that heated culinary path.
Again, skillfully organized by Marie V, the diners were Marilyn O and Obie, Michelle, Gina, Kathryn, Clare and Chuck, Jim Ca, Jack, Kathi, Toni and David D, Emma and Jerry, Marilyn M, Bill and Maddy, Carole, Kathy and Connie. The spicy-heat levels of the varied choices were denoted with a range of 0 to 4 hot pepper icons on the menu. The outcome wasn't always consistent: Emma commented on how the 2-pepper Tom Ka Gai soup had only a little warmth, but her accompanying 2-pepper dish really brought on the heat – which was more to her taste. Bill said that was the case with his doubly-peppered red Panang curry dish saying it was nicely on the picante side. On the other hand, Marilyn O happily reported her dish had no fire at all and she "really enjoyed it." So the restaurant was able to cater to a variety of spiciness tolerances. No one dared order the full-four pepper dishes, which meant there was constantly-flowing conversation and no screams of pain.
The luncheon just happened to occur near a milestone birthday for Obie. We were happy to remind him of that with a card signed by the group and autographed balloon numerals. Big numbers.
Games Day Players Prevail Over Harsh Weather
Despite the cold, wind and snow, nineteen RKIDs tackled a variety of table games at David M and Kathy’s house on Sunday, January 12th. As always, the afternoon began with a rousing two tables of Left-Right-Center. Hoots and hollers could be heard from each table as the tension mounted towards the climatic conclusion. Finally, the victors took their pots — Emma, for the second time in this series, and Clare, for her first time. Then, it was time to settle down and concentrate on Mexican Train, Sequence, CodeNames, and Bananagrams. Lots of talking and laughing filled the air as each player battled for the winning spot. Besides our host, hostess, Emma and Clare, the other gamers were: Carole, Christine, Marie, Barb, Jim Ca, Chuck, Joan, Marilyn W, Colleen, Dick and Kathi, Marilyn and Obie, Jerry, and Michelle. As the afternoon came to an end, Jerry, David M, Kathy, and Marilyn W lingered behind to play Bridge. Another great Games Day goes down in the books!