The festive greetings seem louder this year and maybe they even mean more.
Bill and I once again managed to put the tree up and got it covered with memories. I am always so proud that each ornament carries its own story going back so many years.
There are the Hungarian hearts sold to me by a woman on a street in Budapest. It was my first trip to Hungary to see where my father was born.
And look at the smallest decorated glass globes! They are what are left of the very first ornaments we purchased 62 years ago when newly wed. We were so young and just starting our lives as adults.
I love the doggy memories too. One real ostrich egg has our pair of Golden Retrievers painted on, and another is of my brother’s Dalmation. The horses are there too – Martini and Lucy.
The list goes on and the finally the fully dressed tree each year is actually a biography of a family.
That is what Christmas is all about – Past, Present, and Future. So, I am wishing you, my family and friends, good health and happiness and more of the same and lots of great memories in days to come.
My mind is wandering. The chaos of the holidays is especially confusing this year and of course I can blame it all on the pandemic.
Is the Covid-19 pandemic evolving or devolving? Is it now called endemic because the cases are going down? Or is it because the numbers of hospital stays are decreasing? Or is it the number of deaths? Or maybe things are not improving at all.
They say there is a new “variant” emerging that could be faster at spreading than ever and maybe more lethal. Or is it? Boosters might help or might not. Hunkering down again might help or might not. Should I wear a mask all the time or just in public or just among the unvaccinated? Should it be made of cloth or what?
Really I have more important things to think about. Almost my whole family are coming for Thanksgiving. Who will bring what or cook what and how will we all be seated? My mind is wandering.
It is not even Halloween yet but I already have plans for Thanksgiving. Planning is the secret.
I will make a big beautiful chocolate bundt cake the day before. That is in case there is a pumpkin shortage. They are predicting shortages you know and pumpkin is one (due to some sort of fungus on the crops… or is it a dearth of trucks for transport?). I do love pumpkin pie but chocolate will take the yearning away if need be. I have all the cake ingredients now so Ready-Get Set-Go!
I will also make my own favorite cranberry salad two days ahead to give it time to set and merge. There is a joke in the family about the grand who added 3 cups of sugar to the salad making it inedible. Not this time although she has graciously offered to make it again!
But just in case there is a problem or a shortage of cranberries we have two cans of the jellied version – the old fashioned kind we used to get when I was a child.
I will also make my own favorite veggies with carrots and turnips the day before.
We are stocked up with Stovetop Stuffing.
There is nothing like instant mashed potatoes nowadays but I will have a bag of real potatoes on hand just in case.
My friend reminded me of the merits in making a marinated salad so forget the green bean casserole.
That only leaves the turkey and gravy!
And there you have it. This is what happens when my mind wanders.
This gift is another very special thing that must be learned.
And I am tired of learning.
The school room was the place for that along with a younger more receptive mind. And if you learned something well and once, it was good for a lifetime. Well mostly.
When I was 17 I had a job as a gopher (go-fer this and go-fer that) and they told me if I learned to clean and operate an Ozalid machine, I would have some invaluable knowledge for life. Noone I know today has ever heard of an Ozalid machine, have you?
Nowadays, however, if you learn a thing and think you have it stored and always ready to draw upon “you have another think coming.” Nope. If you learn one part of a computer it may be useless in a matter of hours.
Here I am with a shiny new computer I am calling Ogar (short for Ogre) that was given to me for Christmas with great love by my whole family. I am truly grateful since the old object of their affection, which I had partially learned after 5 years of struggling was showing signs of ultimate collapse.
Groan. How can I disparage such a thoughtful wonderful gift?
Well, the process of transferring all the old stuff to the new Ogar may sound easy but HA! Not so. The process is more like a pulling a tooth. You mindlessly explore with the tongue for a ghostly apparition of what might still be there, but in the end all the exploration yields only a gaping empty space.
My sweet family saw this sleek new marvel would not only replace the 5 year old relic, but it would also keep me busy whilst waiting for a Covid-19 vaccine. In addition to proving how warm hearted my family is, there is also an element of logic there.
Ogar is definitely a time guzzler.
And better Ogar than Covid right?
Ogar is certainly keeping me busy too, creating a roadmap of wrinkles upon my brow. Thankfully I call upon my son to guide me through all the myriad options chasing an insane cursor through a maze of intricate maneuvers over an increasingly insane canvas. And only my son really knows where the mercurial sensor is going or why.
“You see that thing that looks like a cog?” he asks in his effort to guide me through all the symbols.
A cog?
How do I know what a cog looks like?
Where on this page of icons, symbols and totems is there a cog?
The whole world has been shut down to deal with an unknown virus that has seemingly taken over entire lives.
And even though it is happening slowly, the world is trying to regress back to the good times when people could hug and talk and sing and shout from less than six feet away
We yearn for those Good Old Days too, but being among the Vulnerables, our world still stays shut.
And some days are tougher than others. Today was such a day.
Bill came in from a trip to Lowes and announced he is convinced the virus will never go away because so many people refuse to wear masks. His conviction and disillusion made me feel sad.
Then a big rain storm came to add to the gloom.
And of course Elsa was convinced the sky was falling again.
I spent some of the gloomy day catching up on news, and of course there was nothing very uplifting to report.
As always, in midday Bill went for our mail. But this time he came home with a package from Janet, our dear old friend in Arizona.
The box contained a greeting card that reminded us to celebrate Christmas in July!
And under the card was one of Janet’s homemade famous English fruitcakes complete with a marzipan icing and a red ribbon to celebrate the holiday.
In addition there were two boxes of Terry’s Chocolate Oranges, an English favorite and mine too. You may have guessed that Janet is originally from England.
But talk about smiling!
Imagine our delight at receiving such a happy thoughtful gift. And the timing was perfect!
It has been an unusual winter here in rural Virginia. Everybody says that around the globe, but it may actually be true here. One day it feels and looks like Spring with balmy breezes and sunshine. And the next there may be snow or freezing rain or rain or flooding or wind.
With each ensuing event our family and friends (in warmer climes) would call and ask if we were o.k. “No problem. They simply exaggerate the weather here. All is well,” we said.
But then for the last two days we got seriously punishing winds. Gusts were up to 60 miles per hour which caused limbs and toppling trees to fall onto power lines and then massive outages.
Even so,
for a time we were spared any inconvenience and we smugly carried on.
But then there were the inevitable lights out.
It was our turn.
Ah well, no problem. There is a trusty wood stove in our living room and a little generator only Bill knows how to operate. And soon we were once again smugly carrying on.
And in a mere two hours our lights returned and we let the fire in the woodstove slowly burn itself out.
I retired around 11PM and went into a warm cozy dreamy kind of sleep
when around midnight the lights went out again.
The house slowly turned stone cold.
So did the top of my head
and then my nose which woke me up at 3:15 A.M.
Have you ever tried to warm your nose and keep breathing?
I did manage to create a sort of blanket tent
around head and face but
the cold kept seeping in.
I got up to put on a wool cap
(not particularly becoming).
It kept slipping down over my eyes.
The forehead got warmer
but the nose re-froze.
This went on until 5 AM…. a rough night.
Bill finally got the wood stove going again at 6AM and the power returned about 10 AM this morning.
My nose is warm again. So is the forehead. But I had a lot of time to think about coping with a cold nose and other bodily parts and kept remembering “mama in her ‘kerchief” in the Twas The Night Before Christmas poem. Surely she and my ancestors had the same problems with the fires going out and the cold creeping in.
Today my side of the bed is at the ready with
a wool cap nearby (forget romance forever),
an extra blanket for swaddling semi-exposed areas of face and body,
tightly closed windows (never mind allowing in fresh air for health),
and warm socks to avoid frostbite.
I wonder if “mama in her ‘kerchief” had a canopied curtained bed.
Not a bad idea.
Now if only Elsa-the-fuzzy-wuzzy-dog would recognize the value of cuddling, winter’s woes will disappear.
This Christmas has come and gone but it doesn’t feel quite gone.
Our pretty little tree still glows in its place of honor.
And no matter how I resist, the peanutbutter fudge calls my name.
And so do the truffles along with those scrumptious European style Christmas cookies.
And don’t forget the peanut brittle and banana bread with chocolate chips!
All the treats combined are a symphony calling, calling, and designed to lure me into a sugar high.
A “Santa’s Fave” night shirt is still under the tree waiting.
There is a brand new portable MANUAL typewriter waiting for me to experiment with “the old way” to type. I wonder if these old fingers are strong enough. I have been groaning about computer keyboards for years but will have to find some other modern thing to complain about now. (No intention of giving up the computer however. A manual typer is like going back to the horse and buggy – a delightful visit to the past but one needs to return to the future).
Other Merry Moment reminders of the picturesque past have come unbidden this Christmas:
I almost forgot to put the bacon bits on top of the green beans and that reminded me of my Mom who served peas for dessert one year long ago. We are still laughing over that.
And I was as surprised as anyone that this Christmas dinner was actually palatable. It made me recall Dad saying, “That was delicious if I do say so myself.”
This year our Christmas was quiet and missing the noise and chaos of yesteryear. Family and close friends are scattered to points west.
Still this was a good kind of quiet with a new little dog to make us laugh and play, and good friends sharing dinner.
Now it is time to wish you, my cyberspace friends, a Happy New Year and wishing yoy your own Merry Moments that live on and on.
Elsa on the Sidelines – Note: Lovage Herb still growing mid-November!
Today is chilly and wet here in rural Virginia. When we go outside, our new dog, Elsa, confines herself to exploring under the eves of the house where it is still dry.
I too confine myself to the interior to keep warm with wooly socks and comfort foods.
I am contemplating the arrival of Thanksgiving.
However – the stores are already playing Christmas music!
And whole aisles are devoted to holiday trimmings and diabetic inducing holiday sweets.
Time seems evermore meaningless.
Commerce demands earlier and earlier displays.
Maybe it would be a good idea to have Christmas in August for Bill’s birthday. Why not?
Tree and all.
My friends and I are becoming cynical about the charms of winter.
But then I discovered a magical snow globe.
It plays holiday music.
Turn it upside down and of course there is a gentle snow storm.
And flip a switch for barn illumination and little colored lights that twinkle in the trees.
I am transported in time to the sweet charms of Winter.
The little globe has done what no store display could do.
It has inspired me to look forward to a joyful winter season with much to be thankful for.
So no matter what holiday you celebrate, my wish for you is joy
Things that glitter and glow like diamonds, sequins, twinkling lights, cut glass, shiny makeup, gemstones, or anything with a glint will receive my full attention.
But rarely is there a shiny thing that is not only glittery, but elegant and practical too.
And of course today’s story is about a charmingly small Christmas gift from a great friend (Pam). Pam also loves shiny things.
The little object of this tale is a “crystalline pen” made by Swarovski! It’s center is filled with tiny little crystals that shine in different lights. I keep it right where I can see it too. And occasionally a deep sigh can be heard across the room. It is a sigh of contentment.
Because this sparkling object is not only wonderful to look at,
but is also a smooth and silky writing pen.
And it has a thumbs-free rubber stylus at one end
Did you know I used to be able to type 70 words per minute on a manual typewriter?
And 100 words per minute on an electric typewriter (does anyone remember those?).
But I am woefully clumsy when it comes to texting on a cell phone!
Result: Typos! Great Big Ugly Typos!
Forefinger-texting doesn’t work for me because the typos are so horrendous nobody can decipher the mesHvs7& (see what I mean?).
Enter: The Swarovski Magical Pen.
This wonderful little thing is a real problem solver and a Senior’s Answer to keeping up with social media’s high speed demands.
Like who can match the maddening two-thumb expert young-uns who probably exceed 100 words per minute just before they run into a wall or fall down the stairs?
It’s the stylus I now love…. that little eraser-like thing at one end of my wondrous little pen.
The stylus is like a miniature thumb
and is just the right size for error free cell phone typing.
Now if they would only invent a pen that has twin stylus-es styl-eye? at one end to work like the kids using two thumbs.
Maybe I will write a letter to Swaovski!
In the meantime, thank you Pam for this sweet little gift.
Greetings from your Absentee Blogger who has been re-visited by her BigFoot family of
Boots
Braces
A Knee Scooter
Crutches
and
a
Cane
And not a candy cane either.
It has been over 2 years now and 4 MRI’s later, a cat scan, numerous XRays, an electrocardiogram, blood tests and more blood tests, and about 9 different diagnoses. And the latest diagnosis is an injured bone in the ankle area which may respond to megadoses of calcium and Vitamin D3 if I “stay off my feet” and wear a boot for 8 weeks (or perhaps longer). The “injury” lets me announce, “I have a sports injury!” Then folks can admire and wonder if this old lady got it skiing!
Bill is back in the kitchen. He is also now a veteran grocery shopper, cook, cleaner- upper, gopher, and generally expected to smile and keep MY spirits up.
My job is to sit.
Watch t.v.
Read.
Think.
Nap.
Somehow the days go by but there is not much exciting to report. Hence, the long delays between blog posts. I keep hoping for a dog for Christmas but that would be kind of silly right? I will make do with the plush pup my Mom gave me years ago. And when noone is looking, he gets lots of hugs.
This whole holiday look with the scooter, crutches and the puppy toy make me laugh. I hope they make you laugh too.
Love, Hugs and My Best Wishes for a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS
Virginia Views 