Holidays
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Miscellaneous Monday
My company extended our 4 day workweek through 2023, so Fridays are my ‘me’ days. My Friday morning walks are more relaxed and meandering than the other weekdays, since I don’t have to be back and at my desk by 8:00. I enjoy them, but not as much as I did when I had Mulder to accompany me in exploring our town. Le Sigh. This last Friday, I had an appointment at 11:00, after which I took myself to lunch, where I enjoyed a lovely grilled asparagus salad with a delicious biscuit and a glass of Sancerre. I finished up my chapters of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for Engee’s…
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Meme Monday – Covid Edition
Well, Ted tried his best to keep us safe, but our house is just too small, and Covid is too virulent. I tested positive Sunday morning, and Maya tested positive this morning. I feel like we’re at different phases, with Ted on the mend, me in the midst of it, and Maya on the decline. Mostly it feels like a head cold. At this point, all we can do is stay away from everyone else, and hope none of us have long Covid. I am very thankful for grocery delivery and curbside pickup. Early in the pandemic, in the lock down phase, it felt selfish to me. Like, “I’m not…
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Happy Valentine’s Day
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Friday Thoughts
I’m a day late to wish you a very Happy Winter Solstice. Longtime readers will perhaps remember that I have shared this photo before. It is a time lapse photo from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, of the path of the sun on the Winter Solstice, taken December 21st, 2012. Fairbanks is outside of the Arctic circle, so the sun does technically come up every day of the year, but in the darkest days, it peeks above the horizon, then skits along for a bit, before setting a few hours later. Speaking of the Winter Solstice, I read at Light and Momentary that although after the Solstice, we get a…
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Christmas is Coming
I’m not sure how this happened, but I just realized that Hanukkah starts on Sunday, and Christmas is the Sunday after that. I think I thought we had another week somehow. I’ve been feeling pretty prepared, but am just realizing that I have some things that I want to get done this week, rather than waiting until next week. I had assumed I would do holiday shopping on Friday, since I have the day off from work, but then I made an appointment at the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew my license, and I’m getting together with my friend Neva for late lunch and shopping after that. I feel…
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Caveat Emptor
You all know better than to buy items advertised on Facebook, right? I mean, unless they are advertised by a reputable, known company. Apparently, I have not yet learned that lesson. Or perhaps, I have finally learned that lesson. You can see how I was tempted though, right? Look at that cute holiday card. Seeing as how I went to France this year, I couldn’t resist. So I ordered a set. Scratch that, I ordered 4 sets, so I would have enough to send to everyone on my Christmas list. As soon as I completed my order, I started to regret it. I should have done a bit of research…
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Thankful
Quick post today…guests are arriving in 15 minutes or so. This is our table, with casual glasses instead of our crystal. It’s not exactly what I would hope for, I love our crystal, but it’s delicate and our table is tight and I worry it will be broken. So there you go. I haven’t been very good about commenting this week. My iPad often won’t let me log in to comment, so I have to do it on a different computer. Work has been crazy. But I’m loving NaBloPoMo, and hopefully this weekend I will be by your place and say hello. Happy Thanksgiving to my US friends.
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Meme Monday
This isn’t truly a meme, but instead some words of wisdom that I gathered from my bloggy friend Roma 8 years ago, that she posted on Facebook. Does Roma still have a blog? I can’t find her old one, but honestly, I’m not even sure how to look. Should have kept her on the sidebar maybe, but then again, if I removed it it was likely because she wasn’t maintaining it anymore. ANYWAY, the message is timely and one that I try to keep in mind, especially during the holidays. Resist everything except what your heart dictates. If it makes you happy to polish the silver, go for it. If…
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Thanksgiving Prep
This is the current situation at my house. I have washed the good china, and just finished polishing the silver. I’m not going to use our good crystal glasses this year, they are too fragile and I don’t want to risk them getting broken. Back when we got married, almost 30 years ago, couples registered for china, silver, and crystal. We don’t use them often, but we do use them a couple of times a year. Sometimes for Valentine’s Day, always for Canadian Thanksgiving, and then if we have Christmas or U.S. Thanksgiving here. We celebrate two Thanksgivings, just because it is fun. Ted was born in Canada, though his…
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Meme Monday – Ready for Christmas?
I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. Ours was very nice, delicious food, good company, lots of laughs. Overall a winner. After Thanksgiving, we had a little friends and family time. Ted had lunch with his best friend on Friday, and Maya went into San Francisco with a friend to visit another friend of theirs, who recently had an appendectomy. I had to do a bit of work, but not too much. Working from home is a blessing and a curse. I didn’t have to go in to the office, which was the blessing. I did have to work, which maybe I might have avoided if I weren’t so available.…
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Wordless Wednesday – Bastille Day dinner
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Meme Monday – Happy Birthday Edition!
Today is my daughter Maya’s 25th birthday! That is somewhat shocking to me, I remember 25 very well. Actually, 25 is when my biological clock started ticking, and I started really wanting a baby. Before that, I was more hypothetical about it. But Ted and I were dating still, had just recently gotten engaged, and I was just graduating from college, into a recession. So it was 5 more years before we had Maya. Anyway, this is her 2nd COVID birthday. She went out yesterday with some friends, and sat in the park and had a lovely time while socially distant. It was almost 80 degrees, so pretty perfect weather…
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Meyer Lemon Cheesecake
I decided to make a cheesecake for our Christmas dinner. I’m not much of a baker, but I do like cheesecake, and I remember Maya talking once about how much she loves Meyer lemon cheesecake, which she has had once or twice at local restaurants. So I looked around online and found a couple of recipes, but I didn’t love any of them. I was talking to my neighbor, Barbara, about it, and she told me she has a cheesecake recipe that she loves, that came with her Oster brand mixer that she got back in 1972. It’s not really lemony flavored, but it does have some lemon in it.…
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Merry Christmas
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Picture with Santa
We brought our daughter, Maya, up without Santa. My mom said she would not lie to us, so did not tell us stories about Santa Claus. Ted’s parents did raise him with Santa, but they failed him, in that when he learned Santa was not real, it was because his parents forgot to buy stocking stuffers, and left a note (In his mom’s handwriting) that said, “Sorry kids, I ran out of candy…see you next year.). Perhaps because he was the 4th of 4 kids, this was the amount of energy left. So we didn’t have the experience of a parent telling us that we were ‘part of the magic’…
