Merry Christmas

Let's start with our Christmas Eve reality:

Tis the night before Christmas

and all through this place

there's no heat a flowin',

not even a trace.

The furnace has stopped, and

now it won't go.

The temp is a fallin'

though so far it's slow.

A party we've planned

for tomorrow afternoon,

but if the heat won't start up

folks will leave here real soon.

On Christmas eve

just who do you call?

The builder who's usually

no help at all?

And who was the sub

who put in the furnace?

Of that piece of info

we can't find a trace.

This story will start

again with the dawn.

We'll either have heat

or we'll soon be gone.

To be continued. . . .

Scottie got up of course

as the loudest and first.

Feeling cold air, I

suspected the worst.

Alas it was true,

no heat would there be,

and my heart filled with fear

for a ruined Christmas party.

I got up quite grumpy,

feeling cold and depressed

Yet I managed to pull on a robe,

not ready to get dressed.

While I lit up the oven

and mixed up the scones

Scottie got busy with a

job of his own.

He cut up some wood,

though damp it might be,

and built a nice fire

to warm up little me.

By the time we ripped open

the gifts we'd received

My heart had lightened;

I was feeling relieved.

It might be a bit cold here

and the fire makes for grit,

but I suspect in the long run

it won't matter a bit.

We've found Christmas gladness,

I'd even say cheer, and

All I could wish is that

You all were here!

So, that's the way it has gone. We had a nice Christmas morning with fresh scones and a fire. Thanks to some low clouds we didn't get the really cold weather that can come with very clear weather. The fireplace kept the downstairs nicely warm. Check out Scottie - with part of the uniform for the racing team he's been invited to join - AND with the bike horn, which turns out to be a great dog discipline tactic!

We had way, way too many deserts, but the folks who showed up really seemed to enjoy them. We'll have deserts to contribute to the upcoming New Year's Eve and New Year's Day parties.

The table looked really nice with all the Christmas trees. Friend Yvonne sent me a tree that she has had for years. It's really crazy how many things she and I have shared in common for all these years without even knowing it. Y also sent Scottie the bike horn and got a big laugh from both of us.

Our tree will get the decorations pulled off soon so we can plant it. Have to come up with a name though. . . .



Oh, we'll also need to get the heating contractor here!



Well I'm tired. It's 7:30, and I'm already in bed!

Would you eat the cookin' from this kitchen?

OK, it could be Julius Child. . . .

Or the Mad Scientist. . . .

Maybe Bertie Crocker. . . .

All I know for sure is that many ingredients in the hands of this one man made a HUGE mess!

I'm not tellin' what all got wiped with that towel, and certainly not all the words used, but he did manage to come up with something edible.

We named them Scottie's Sinfully Sugary Sensations. And, they're all gone. Maybe he'll make more.

Visitors both 2 and 4 legged

We've been a busy locale lately. We've had the coyote clan moving through in the middle of the night several times. That always means that Cocoa and Buck start howling an eerie, mournful sound and won't quit until the coyotes are out of range.

Than we've had Oso the Bear who has finally discovered our garbage cans. For some time we'd seemed immune to Mr. Bear, but he's now found us. We'll need to come up with a system to thwart him if this continues.



Then the 2 - leggeds:

Ron, on the left in the photo, whose father was a friend of Scottie's decades ago, and Victor, who we've known for 10 or 15 years, came to visit for a "boys" trip. This is just before they headed up the mountain, and yes, Ron did have long pants in the van.

I could listen to Victor all day. He has a beautiful accent and a most interesting life story from fleeing Lithuania at 3 or so in a hay wagon, through growing up in Columbia, to MIT and onward even including an arranged marriage to the daughter of a friend of his mother. Plus, he's a kind man. When he got the old family estate in Lithuania back a few years ago, he deeded to house and some acreage to the long-term caretakers. I like that in a human.

Always fun to have good friends visit. Wen are YOU coming?

Christmas is gettin' closer! I already got presents.

First let me correct a mis-perception: NONE of our 4 kids are joining us for Christmas. Apparently my prior post made it sound like they are. Monica and family will be in Charlotte; Jeff and family will be in Atlanta; Sarah, grandpa Hughie and family will be in San Diego; and Amanda and kids will be in . . . . Nicaragua.

Now, about those presents:

First, we have snow in the high country. This is Moro Rock taken from our balcony. Won't last, but it looks cool in the meantime.








Then, my Christmas gift from Scottie. We went to Bakersfield Saturday & had a bit of a rocky day. I didn't feel well; store wasn't where it was supposed to be; Scottie didn't want me to listen to Willie Nelson (well, I think it's good), but it ended well.

Scottie let me pick two little stained glass windows for my Christmas gift. I've always thought that "someday" I'd get a couple to go in the small windows on either side of the fireplace. Well, someday arrived!

The windows, being far from energy efficient, are installed to hang in the opening, but leaving the real windows in place behind.

Looks pretty pleased with himself doesn't he?




Of course putting the Christmas greenery back up in front of the windows takes something from it, but it will be way cool on an ongoing basis!



If you click on the photo below, you can see how it looks for now up close and personal.






Of course, this means there will be nothing in my Christmas stocking on Christmas day!


Unless YOU send me something that is. Want my list?

Update on "Stormy Weather"

OK, here's the scoop:

Stormy Weather was written in 1933 and first sung by Ethel Waters at the Cotton Club in Harlem. Wowsa. Since then it seems everybody and their brother has recorded the song. In 2004, Ethel Waters' version was chosen by the Library of Congress to be included in the National Recording Registry.

And, you might ask, just what is the National Recording Registry? Well, friendly reader, it was set up to preserve sound recordings that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically important and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." Can't claim I fully get it, but it would appear that some rather important folks think the original recording of Stormy Weather is important. Works for me.

Stormy Weather

Wasn't that an old song title? Who sang it? I can't remember.

Anyway, we had a wonderful rain storm last night. This morning we have low hanging clouds and wet foliage all around.


The scenery around here changes so quickly this time of year. All of a sudden things green up. We have running water in the river. You can almost feel the parched earth sighing in relief after the months of dry weather.







When you look to the East, up toward Eagle Peak, there's a group of Sycamore trees that grow in a natural watercourse. Now, a sycamore isn't really a tree that gets pretty fall/winter color. They do get some yellow, but it's not the beautiful gold type, then the leaves turn brown and fall off. Only at times like this, when the leaves are sparkling with moisture, do they really take on a beautiful sunny shade and appear to shimmer on the hillside. And above the sycamores you can see the flume that carries water down the mountain.


Love this time of year, just love it. Love the wet weather. Love Christmas season though not the commercialization.

You can expect me to be ridiculously happy for the next several weeks. Hope you're feeling good too!

I'm SO excited!

I really, really wanted to have Christmas at home for our first year in the new house. Not an easy trick when family is spread from coast to coast.

But, that's exactly what we are doing, and we are going to host a Christmas afternoon desert party just to liven things up! So, I've been decorating.
Tree will come in last since we do a live one and try not to keep it in the house too long before it goes outside to be planted, but most everything else is done.

This is the view as you come in the front door:


I like how the garland looks draped in front of the two little windows on either side of the fireplace.

The white lump in front of the patio doors (to the right and sorta behind the table) is all the tree decorations covered with the table cloth I use as a tree skirt.






Pretty much my favorite part of the decorating is getting out my crystal tree forest. Most of the trees were collected by my mother-in-law. I've added a few more, especially last year when everything was in storage and they were all we had for Christmas decorations. I've learned ebay is a great place to find them.

A few tiny green balls in the bamboo and it becomes part of the decorating scheme too, as does the fiddle leaf fig with some big red bows added. It had to move away from the patio doors to make way for the Christmas tree.


In the window to the right are my tumbling Santas that I bought when my kids were little! Let's see, Jeff's almost 41, guess I've had them a while.

When it's night, the candles are lit, and the lights above are on dim, this will sparkle! Other than 3 lace trees, everything is green and white crystal & I stuck with that theme for the ones I bought. I like that Ruth's and mine are now mixed and no one can tell which are which.




This tree moved from the corner to the base of the steps to give the top-heavy fig a safe place to live for the duration.

Amazing what a bow and a couple of oversize balls can do to make a tree look holiday-ish.


These two balls were part of the group that hung in my library corner in New Mexico. Everything the last year there was Silver, Green & White.




Since I'm such a sentimental goof, I have some stuff that's old, really old.




My little Charlie Brown tree for instance is a twig tree, all brown and homely. It has tiny ornaments and bows, and every year it gets stuck in a big box after Christmas without removing any of the stuff. Next year - just pull it out and it's ready to go. I may spend a bit of time this year and take stuff off and re-hang it a bit more pretty. Or maybe not.












At each side of the fireplace are the pets stockings - two per side. Right now they are on with scotch tape until I pick up some of the removable hangers that stick on. I love how the clear, oversize ornament looks in the window. For the party we'll light some of the old laterns too.

Friend Yvonne made the big stockings, one for Scottie and one for me. Quite cool. And large enough to hold BIG presents should you want to send me something!



And, yes, the bathrooms get decorated too. This is the half bath downstairs. It doesn't get a lot - just a little tree covered in tiny wrapped packages and a few candles.

Wonder how many candles I can light for the party?













Moving upstairs - yes, I decorate that way too - We have the Christmas cat boxes on the steps.

Think I need to put a big bow on the old highchair and something on the rail.














In our room all I've done (so far) is take down the painting above the bed and replace it with a grape vine wreath decked in silver ribbon and with a single glass ornament in the center.

I may do a touch more in this room, but I like my bedroom quiet, so no reds here.







Guest bedroom has my stuffed moose (or mousse for our old dog) that plays music, and the Christmas bear that is his girlfriend. May have to put a bow on Lucy Cat. Nahhhhh.













The guest bath has the oldest thing of all. This is a big pine cone that I decorated when my kids were tiny. It's a bit worse for the years but still stands up if leaned on something, and still has most of its tiny, tiny ornaments. Call me sentimental.











So far all I've done in the laundry room/studio is
put out the box where I store Christmas cards. What? You don't save them? I have maybe 3 years worth, but since the box is full, I'll have to get rid of a few this year.


So, the tree is yet to come in. The steps need more work. Nothing in the master bath yet. Outdoor stuff to be finished too.

But, I'm mostly there.