Waffles

Cooked my second breakfast for our guests. Omelet yesterday. Home made waffles with maple syrup this morning. I now know that you can make "acceptable" waffles without the melted butter. Left it sitting in the microwave till it was too late to use. I think they were preoccupied with getting away to home in the snow that was falling etc.

Topics?

The Reilly's have been here...just the males. So my knitting/talking habit has resulted in a product that's much too long. (will unravel soon) Actually the skill has been to keep them off the topics that I know nothing about. That list seems to be getting longer and longer. Health care, politics, geo thermal, tidal power, terrorists. hmmm

This is my latest knitting project. Thanks Kathy for the Fairisle advice. This one will be harder to unravel though.I have the Reilly's visiting so it's great to knit and talk.It's getting longer and longer.

Isn't this a great picture of these two. It's hard to get G. to relax during picture taking.

I guess I should take the snow flake off his head. Looks like an angel in the s.s. pageant.

So how do I write a note under each picture here...I haven't found that out yet.It was a real blessing to skip from house to house in a minute to see all the grandchildren with their own Christmas setting.



There,I just found out how to do it. How' s this for 2 dark eyes peeking out of the face mask?

For awhile there was a real backlog of requests for Olympic Mittens. When I was shopping the clerk said I could sign up at the service desk and there were already 500 names ahead of me.

I did decorate my tree, Jill...it looks great in the sun room.

It is a great Christmas celebration...and I'm so glad I discovered Gloria Vanderbilt jeans with elastic in the waistband.Tonight O

..one more meal at Kim's shortly...hmmm and there's always tommorrow.

Jill's Bed

Did you ever see such a humble kitty. Here's Ashes having a sleep on Jill's bed. Her bum is practially hanging over the edge like she's trying to take up the least space possible. Brian's bed is still there, Jill, but you can see it's in a position for moving out of that room., hmm

Wet Day

T

Do you think the cookies will smell like wet mittens. There was just no place to get a good spin on drying.This sort of worked. We had a family supper here tonight 'cause Murray won't be here for Christmas. I'll have to add some more later...I'm falling asleep.

Music

Everybody's learning Christmas carols. Matthew and Maria have memorized a couple. Curtis is interested again.Today the competition was to get to the keyboard.For my own enjoyment I worked throught some CD's of Christmas music and found they were more for background restaurant music. Made me feel sad actually. Then I descended to the basement where I had Grannie's cassette tapes stored. Jim Reeves is filling in nicely now...and I may even go back down to get Gene Autry.Then it was really fun when I discovered I could play along with him. One of us is a little flat...but it's the closest I can get to a jam session tonight.

Shiatsu

I'm thinking I spelled this right..shiatsu. Kathy introduced me to this massager for my neck.After researching it's popularity on the internet she did her shopping at The Bay.I tell you, it's great.There's at least 2 metal balls in there that go around in circles.Colin has always been my best neck therapist but he's not around often. This will take his place. I'd make a good salesperson...I've had 4 people today that I've introduced it to.

Scraps

This is really an example of making something out of scraps. Actually it was a bundle of fabric samples that I sewed together to make this tablecloth. I don't usually get it out of storage. When Maya saw it for the first time she wanted to play tic tac toe on it. Hmm

We saw another beautiful tree at Marilyn's last night. I had read about someone who didn't dismantle their tree when Christmas was over. A sheet was artfully draped over it with a sign "Do not open until Dec.24th." With Marilyn's space in her home it was very evident that this would be a obvious move to make.(She doesn't do it).Actually at the Rodney Hall they do it. It takes up a small space on the stage which doesn't get used anyway.

Sorry Jill...I'm revealing that thing about myself aren't I.

Cozy

This picture is just a suggestion of another scene. We've just come from Grammie's house where we visited the sisters and Kathy. It was so cozy with the Christmas lights and the fireplace.
Kathy produced the box of chocolates she had purchased for herself. If I have it straight, the 4 nieces didn't mail each other gifts. Instead they each bought something "in honor" of the other
three and taped themselves elaborating on it and shared the videos. Great idea!

Poor Ashes

This is what Ashes does every morning while Garry's having his porridge...sits patiently and waits til his dish has just a little milk left...hmmm It's a special time between the two.She's such a humble kitty. I thought Queenie had accepted her in the household but I heard that spitting/hissing thing going on today.hmmm

Hard up for a picture

I don't usually put these on the same slice. Our Potluck Dinner was snowed out so I had to eat the filling.Of course cheese and cherry on the right. On the left...tuna and lime jello. Sounds yukky but it's quite popular.
Thing about potlucks..no matter what you take, it's always a good feeling when it gets eaten up.
I remember as a new bride in the community I was asked to make a gingerbread. (that was the dessert choice for our community supper) The first one I made was terrible;the second not much better. I sneaked it into the hall as best I could, left quickly and never claimed the 9x9 pan. It's still floating around someplace in the land of unclaimed cookery.

I did go over the lines with a bigger marker but you can get the idea.The thought of having only a window instead of a whole landscape to paint reminds me of something. When the kids were in elementary they had to write in a journal every day about their activities. They also were required apparently to draw a picture to go along with it. So many times they would draw only a part of a swing set...or just an eighth of a building. It was great for them.So this is for our Christmas concert tomorrow night.

Avocado and shrimp.This picture gives you a hint of the great meal we had at George's last night. They decided to get really adventuresome in spite of the "meat and potatoes "appetite of a couple of their guests. It's just items we don't have at home and if we did they wouldn't taste the same. (like the chinese food that's in our fridge left over from our employee party)

The fire place was crackling away beside the dinner table..I'm getting quite rosy here. The cream puff was luscious. Almond something cooked and added to the whipped cream. A glaze dribbled over the top under the sliced almonds.

Did I ever tell you that I don't believe I've ever had George and Betty here for a meal...in our 35 years of friendship. I can't seem to get past the barrier of fear of comparison.. Need I elaborate on that.

Sitting pretty!

This is George's cat ...cute or what.

Saturday Night

No pictures 'cause Craig has my camera. He did a great job on the entertainment for our employees party. Working his way around the well known buildings in town, he gathered a collection of pictures. Cropping out portions, he created a guessing game as to their location.
It's surprising what you look at every day and don't see.
I had an ah ha moment and made fudge to take to the waitresses at the restaurant where we began our evening. Works best in a small town, I'd say.
Now the party's over. Whereas some can simply turn the page in their mind and get on with the next thing, I'll have to go through my usual ..what do the astronauts call it...a debriefing period or something. The party activites will be going around in my head for hours.I can help the process by watching a movie, reading or watching the time pass. As I've said before I have a hard time getting my head in gear and a hard time getting it out.

Footprints

Making sugar cookies from Mom's recipe...and reading her Bible that has her notes up and down the margins...They probably reflect a younger woman than I am now.It's not a sad feeling but it's definitely a revelation on the passing of time with its changes.More on that another day. ...I'm falling asleep.

A real exercise for me...we invited people to our home tonight. It's become sort of an annual tradition having folks in after the performance of the cantata at church.
Last night George had given us his old lazy boy chair. It sort of fit in the trunk of the car, was unloaded into our basement in the snowstorm when we got home and today we brought it up to its spot in front of Garry's T.V.. Tonight after the other folks left George had his moment sitting in his familiar chair and we all sat in the sunroom in the dark, watching the flame in our Dimplex fireplace. You'd have thought it was the only room in our house.

This is a new thing...adding a pic from cyberspace. Anyway Maya was visiting today and her main activity was having a looonnnggg turn on our special swing in the basement. I usually try to busy myself during that time by cleaning or organizing my stuff. She "thinks" her favorite tape is the Chipmunks. Hmmm Later I switched over to Jigs n' Reels. Then it dawned on me that I could be burning up calories during this time period. Recalling earlier days and earlier skills, I decided I could do the hop polka for a while. (hop being the operative word)...anyway this little voice from the swing chanted...."You look like a kangaroo!"

I didn't realize how late the sun comes up these days until I tried to get a picture and found out I was a little early even at 8 o'clock.This was taken Monday after our storm the day before. We're getting lots of morning light in our sunroom. You wouldn't know it but that railing is not white..it's green. I guess the snow was really sticky.

Green Bunny

I've emailed this pic to Maria to tell her that Green Bunny is ready for pick up. The hat will fit Maria herself. Today was the School Christmas Concert. I always find it such a strange experience to visit the school where our kids/grandkids spend their time when they're not with us.I mean like really strange.I've never been able to analyze it to explain it.I think I just like houses and not institutions.

Testing with a video

See if this will work...Edie said Grammie Giles used to play Gloaming for her kids at bedtime.

(she can tell us anything can't she)

No picture today

Just bedtime and we're listening to the weather which is forecasting snow. I visited with Mom today. Mom was dozy on the couch as I played the piano for a half hour. Then out ot the blue she came back to life and got up and beautifully played a selection from memory. I think I stirred that part of her brain. By the way I think Dorie said it was called Gloaming.

Groan

Let me tell ya what we did today. Big Senior's Christmas banquet in the Legion building in a neighboring town so I was invited to help with the music. Art graciously consented to bring his fiddle and help round out the music. They were going on to their home so took their own car. Betty A. came in our car to enjoy the afternoon and supper hour with approximately 120 people. So from 2 until 5.30 pm we sang, played ,then ate. After a quick good by to Art and Beth we headed up to Cyril and Janices's to visit .
After lolling in their living room for an hour., I was sharing a tidbit that Betty A. had related on the trip down when we came to the terrible realization that we had LEFT her behind at the Legion.
I'm not sure which was more alarming...the fact that we had deserted her completely or the fact that our brains ( both equally at fault) had malfunctioned to such a degree.

New book

This is a book from Frenchy's. It's a sex book from Dr.Ruth.I think they all knew the facts already except Matthew maybe...quite a reaction from him..Hmmm

Yawning

This is the creation I did that day in November at the "art" class. As I mentioned before it's simply tole painting techniques but it is impressive, isn't it?
I have no great nuggets of wisdom tonight. The kitty is purring at my elbow and my cozy bed beckons. Jill, have I told you how much we like your bedroom. Sorry...I do have a double bed set up for you...right between the Fooze Ball Table and the treadmill. Hmm

Insanity

Maybe it's not insanity...maybe an addiction...maybe an obsession....but definitely not healthy. This makes me completely out of balance. No moderatioin in the picture at all. This is my third little hat. First I'm going to rewrite the pattern in simple terms for dummies. Then I will unravel it and start a more complicated pattern. I would rather do this than ANYTHING this morning. I am going to have to tear myself away from it.This mental condition is reflected in my neck muscles and my eyes. I know alot of you share this handicap.Are there normal people, do you suppose, or are they just covering up?

I know some of you will be anxious to hear of my dentist experience. Hmm...Dorie and I had planned a nice luncheon together 'cause she doesn't get to that town very often. But you see in this pic...I'm not eating. Dorie (in the reflection) had to enjoy a luscious chicken wrap by herself.

Yes, I did inherit the Fullerton jowels but here my cheek is stuffed with gauze in response to a first class tooth extraction. Kim' s dentist did a great job.

By the way this is the result of a long standing cavity that was hidden beneath an old filling. My other option was a root canal and a crown. Now that would be one valuable tooth in my 63 year old mouth wouldn't it.