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.

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!!"

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.

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.

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!

End of vacation, almost

I have today and tomorrow left on my lovely week-long vacation. I've really enjoyed being home. The cats have too. They follow me everywhere and cuddle up on cold nights. I've been enjoying the peace and quiet. Today I made a huge batch of ratatouille, and a fresh fruit salad. I'm listening to discernment lessons, doing dishes, reading. My kitties love to have me at home. I am a celebrity, with an adoring fan base of two.

My car is under the weather so I have stayed home all week, except for church and one trip to the Dollar Store to get kitty litter. I have stayed busy by dong the above and also by watching Netflix. I'm not so enamored of the selections on the Netflix instant download, because it seems that every movie I type in is not available on instant download. Instant downer, if you ask me. But there's enough to keep me limping along with non-graphic content that is devoid of commercials.

I am daily getting more sick at watching television. Just the sheer number of commercials is outrageous, but the subject of them is atrocious. In attempting to watch even the most innocuous of shows, a quiet cooking show called Chopped, the ads in between the show segments made me sick. In successive turn, I saw an ad for vaginal mesh, male enhancement for more fun in the bedroom, and a housewife pole dancing around an upright vacuum. I turned the TV off.

Fortunately I have Netflix to watch Frasier, or Andy Griffith, or a fifties movie like Dial M For Murder. Sitting around the house all day watching movies or reading online can't be good for me physically. But it is oh, so good mentally and emotionally. And 2 out of 3 wins.

Ways to be happy

How many ways can a person describe happy?

I have time and energy to clean my apartment really good, and do laundry and to put it all away. I even spent time arranging all the coverlets so they are evenly hanging. (This is a comfort to an Asperger's person).

I miss a bloom or a blossom, and I scoured the yard for something alive I could bring into the house. I found one fading rose (or gardenia) and some morning glories. In the other bud vase I put holly leaves and berries.

The day is warm and sunny, hitting 63 degrees even so early. I turned off the heat. I am having tea and listening to a sermon. I am awake and not tired at all.

This alertness translates to being able to read a hard book, such as several chapters of John MacArthur's "Christ's Prophetic Plans". At night, I read Farley Mowat's "The Siberians." My eyes are not tired.

My laptop is fixed and so is the wireless.

I watched several episodes of Columbo. (His first name is Frank). I wrote a bunch of blogs on the other blog, and read the bible. It is quiet, and I cuddle with the cats.

Happy!

Vacation and pictures of hay

I'm home for Thanksgiving break. It is such a relief! In our school District we have the week off. We do not go to school on Monday and Tuesday, so that's that.

I particularly like Sundays when we have a holiday weekend or vacation. On a regular weekend, Friday night feels great because work is furthest away. Saturday feels great because I have the whole day to myself. Sunday morning is for prayer and then Sunday School and then Worship service. When I get home I make a midday meal, and then usually conk out. So it is mid-afternoon when I come to and that is when I have to start getting ready for the week ahead. I cook meals for the week, do a load of laundry, pack a lunch. Then around 5pm I sit on the couch and watch a rerun of the police show The Closer, and before I know it, it is dark out and evening has arrived and in a few short hours I go to bed and then get up and go back to work.

Weekends go by fast.

But not the week-long vacations! Those are great!

Here are a few pictures I snapped of the hayfield next door. For some reason I really like taking pictures of hay.

Hay, a Hawk!

As I neared my driveway on the way home from school today, a huge hawk flew in front of my car, and landed on this hay roll. The pasture is next to my house. I lurched the car to a stop in the street and jumped out to snap it. I'm glad I did, when I drove into the driveway and jumped out again to look for him, he was gone.