Monday, December 24, 2012

Christmas Eve

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring...

Snaps of my place on Christmas Eve 2012. All is well.

The place is small so there aren't a lot of decorations. If I bring in a tree, whether real or fake, the cats would get it. So I just hang something at each window and that's about it. But the ambiance they provide is truly peaceful. I like them very much.

In the living room I put up a glass block into which tiny fairy lights have been wound. A red and gold gilded bow is tied around the block. Behind the white lace curtain the glow of the lights diffuses into a nice low-key holiday atmosphere inside and spreads out to the lawn for my part in neighborhood decorating outside..

The same goes for the bedroom. In this case there is a white ball studded with tiny white lights. They are  bit brighter than the living room window's glass block, and so they cast a nice glow into the entire room. I'm only in the bedroom when I go to bed so its dark in there. There are no other lights competing with the white ball, and the room has nicely lit radiance.


There is a sleeping kitty! Shhh!

In the kitchen is one candle. It runs on rechargeable batteries. On the sill above is a small vase of red holly and berries, interspersed with some white espresso cups! I wish I had a Keurig.

Where is Luke? Why, eating, of course! The small snuffs of the sleeping Bert and the mild chomp chomp of Luke's kibble are the only noises in the house. Except for the hiss of the gas stove and the clicking of the laptop keyboard, that is.

Atop the tall bookcase in the living room are the Christmas angel and the Christmas cactus. I have to put the cactus on top because that is the only place the cats cannot get to...for the time being. I know they are attracted to it and would find a way eventually to climb up there. So I am giving the cactus away tomorrow as a gift, so I won't have to worry any more about them munching on the greenery and getting poisoned by the blossoms...


So that is my quiet Christmas Eve. I have plans to eat Christmas Dinner at a friend's on Christmas Day. But for now, all is quiet with me and my kitties.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

SNL, George Carlin, and old TV shows

This is a weird coincidence. I queued up the original episode of Saturday Night Live, which debuted in October 1975. As I began to watch, I listened to host George Carlin's opening monologue. I was thinking at the same time that it is 38 years ago that I first watched it, and how the time flew by. I was wondering how many of the cast is dead by now. Just then, Carlin asked,

“Do you ever look at the crowds in old movies and wonder if they’re dead yet?”

Either I should be spooked by the coincidence, or worried that I think like George Carlin. By the way, here are the ones who are dead:

Dan Aykroyd
Chevy Chase
John Belushi
Jane Curtin
Garrett Morris
Laraine Newman
Gilda Radner

First head writer: Michael O'Donoghue,
First musical performer: Billy Preston
First host: George Carlin

Did Carlin ever wonder if someone would wonder that about him?

Cats playing pattycake

I totally get this. I have two cats. ... "It's never over!!"

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Christmas vacation

Christmas vacation starts this afternoon and I am glad for it. The last few days have been grief-filled and difficult, as we digest the news of the Sandy Hook, Newtown elementary school massacre.

The children have been all right, thankfully, but we have heavy hearts but we are smiling for the children. And each other.

It's a good long break. We go back to school on January 7. So that means I have a long time to write my blogs, study the bible, scan for new shows to watch on Netflix, read books, and play with my cats. It may not sound like a lot to you, but it is enough for me.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

December blossoms

We have had some warm days. It was so warm, a steady several weeks of in the 70s, that the tree in front of school began to blossom.
Since then, we had a few nights of frost, which likely killed the blossoms. But the days rebound to the upper 60s. This is why I love Georgia. Even when it's cold...it's not.

This morning I watched Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in the newspaper yarn His Girl Friday. The repartee was hilarious. In one quick fire set of dialog, the newspaperman was summing up the murder's situation, saying that after the killer lost his job he hung around the park listening to 'soapbox spellbinders.' What a marvelous turn of phrase. I love good writing.

I've been taking it easy this morning. Cook and eat breakfast, watch a movie, do some chores, listen to a sermon, study a little. Easy does it. I wouldn't want to go too fast and startle my sensibilities and faint or something.

Now that I've cleaned out the fridge and washed all the dishes I think I'll cook something and mess up all the dishes again. Anyone feel like washing dishes is a pointless exercise?

Perhaps roasted vegetables will be on the docket, and maybe some kind of soup. What kind, I don't know yet.

But first, I'll pray for the families of the babies that were killed in Newtown yesterday.

Saturday, December 08, 2012

It's a kind of Farmer's Market Saturday

I am so glad I live in a place where the Farmer's Market goes all the way until the end of December. I am headed out this morning to pick up some winter greens, and blueberry bread, then to the store to buy my Christmas cards, and come home to coffee, warm blueberry bread, and write out my cards.

I love when I come out the front door in the morning there are roosters crowing next door.

I love having only a 10-minute drive to work in the morning, past fields and farms, cows and donkeys.

In the main town of the county, the county seat, there was a meeting as to what to do with the only  intersection where there is the only stoplight. They decided to put in a rotary (called roundabout here). The mayor said, "This is probably the biggest decision Danielsville has made in 50 years," and I think that is wonderful. How great to live in a small town like this! I just love it.

When I go to the store I'm also going to buy ingredients for a green bean casserole. Something about the cooler weather makes me want to roast vegetables and make casseroles. This weekend I want to make the casserole, roast a variety of veggies, bake some Asian-marinated tofu, and maybe make oatmeal-craisin cookies.

The guy next door has put up his Christmas lights. Now the space shuttle can see us, lol. I always love the lengths he will go to decorate his home, and it is certainly colorful when he is finished.

As for my own decorating, I put only a white light in each of my windows. In the bedroom, I hang a sphere studded with white lights. In the living room there is a glass block with white lights inside, with a bow on top. It's pretty. In the kitchen window is a simple white candle. At the front door I hang an angel that lights up white. I leave the other bedroom window bare so that my cat Bert is not bothered, because that is his looking-out-at birds-spot. If I put something there he would likely have a nervous breakdown at the change. Plus, the next door guys' house is that direction and there is no way anyone driving by would be looking at my lights, lol.

It is the Christmas season. Merry Christmas!