{"id":110292,"date":"2026-02-13T11:02:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=110292"},"modified":"2026-02-13T11:02:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:02:43","slug":"fridays-the-thirteenth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/fridays-the-thirteenth\/","title":{"rendered":"Fridays the Thirteenth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

F<\/span>or several years, before we bought Pistachio House, Francine and I shared an apartment with the various children and cats. The address was 13o2 Division Avenue, and we were in apartment 13. Francine was convinced that 13 was a lucky number (“it’s lucky in Italy!”), so on most Fridays the 13th we would have a little party. These were small affairs, typically, with just a few friends over.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Oldest known photo of Thom and Francine (2003?). She only got more beautiful as she got older.<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It was a fun little tradition. It ended when we moved out of #13, but Francine was always keen to bring something like this back. For many years, we had game nights at Pistachio House, but that’s not quite the same thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We both missed those gatherings; Pistachio House is big, but it’s cramped, so it would require some extra space to make this sort of gathering – a salon, she called them – possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan was always to kit out half our oversized garage as a pub\/game room so we could resurrect the Friday the 13th parties or possibly even host one of these salons monthly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully, this plan will finally come to fruition, either this year or next, depending on my employment situation. Thanks to a sudden need to re-side the garage, it now has the required door and windows. Next, frame the interior, redo the wiring in the buildings, and finish the interior. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had hoped to have that done before I leave for France, but that’s clearly not going to happen. We shall see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For several years, before we bought Pistachio House, Francine and I shared an apartment with the various children and cats. The address was 13o2 Division Avenue, and we were in apartment 13. Francine was convinced that 13 was a lucky number (“it’s lucky in Italy!”), so on most Fridays the 13th we would have a little party. These were small […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,10,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-francine-my-love","category-fun","category-pistachio-house"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-sGU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":87514,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/reason-438-why-i-love-my-wife\/","url_meta":{"origin":110292,"position":0},"title":"Reason 438 why I Love my Wife","author":"Thom","date":"01 August 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"in both the Extraordinary Form and the Benedictine Ordo is the Memorial of the Seven Holy Maccabees. Their story may be found in the Bible - provided you've got a Catholic or an Orthodox one. Martin Luther removed these books from his Bible - so if you don't know their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Thom-and-Francine-parish-bbq-2016.jpg?fit=582%2C582&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Thom-and-Francine-parish-bbq-2016.jpg?fit=582%2C582&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Thom-and-Francine-parish-bbq-2016.jpg?fit=582%2C582&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2857,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/pistachio-house\/","url_meta":{"origin":110292,"position":1},"title":"A Sunday at Pistachio House","author":"Thom","date":"22 April 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"So. My wife and I live in an urban neighbourhood known as Hilltop, or \"The Hill\" as I prefer to call it. The Hill is one of the oldest and grittiest neighbourhoods in the city of Tacoma Washington, a place that sometimes calls itself \"Grit City\". So that's a whole\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/thom-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":84546,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/hyde\/","url_meta":{"origin":110292,"position":2},"title":"Hyde","author":"Thom","date":"09 December 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Nothing says love like digging a grave in the middle of the night in a rainstorm. We just conducted an impromptu funeral for Hyde the rabbit. He was a good rabbit, and he lived a good long life. We concluded with a few songs in his honor. I sang a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family"","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hyde (a.k.a. Bun-Bun)2007-2014","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Hyde-240x240.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":87855,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/christus-vincit-christus-regnat-christus-imperat\/","url_meta":{"origin":110292,"position":3},"title":"Christus Vincit! Christus Regnat! Christus Imperat!","author":"Thom","date":"21 November 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, on the great feast of Christ the King, we held our annual feast of thanksgiving at Pistachio House as we do every year. Daughter Raine and I went to the Noon Mass at Holy Rosary. There were some additions to the Mass, as we closed out the great Jubilee\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "community"","block_context":{"text":"community","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?fit=610%2C343&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?fit=610%2C343&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?fit=610%2C343&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":85747,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/mazel-tov\/","url_meta":{"origin":110292,"position":4},"title":"Mazel Tov!","author":"Thom","date":"24 August 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, my step-daughter Michaela married Mr. Corey McKee in a lovely outdoor ceremony. Although she was raised a Reform Jew, it was a largely secular ceremony. There were some nice nods to the Jewish traditions, though. In particular, Michaela's father gave one of the traditional blessings in Hebrew. He then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family"","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Michaela, the blushing bride","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/2015-08-23-15.56.57-240x320.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":87052,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/eleven-and-two\/","url_meta":{"origin":110292,"position":5},"title":"Eleven and Two","author":"Thom","date":"26 March 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Eleven years ago today, on the night of the 26th of March 2005, I was baptized into the Church at the great Vigil of Easter. Last year, I wrote a retrospective on my first decade as a Christian. I don't think I have much to add to that. I remain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Ephemera"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Ephemera","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/blog-ephemera\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Pilgrims Arrive, 02 May, 2013","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Santiago-240x321.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110296,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110292\/revisions\/110296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}