because the wind sounded like there was a freight train heading right toward us. Then I couldn’t go back to sleep because I really love listening to the wind.
We’ll have to do the best out of it…
We’re actually celebrating today, since swimmer is leaving for Sweden tomorrow afternoon.
A week visiting family and friends. I suspect one friend in particular is the real reason for the trip, not seeing aunts and cousins.
I hadn’t realized you had family in Sweden as well as Norway. I’m always jealous of your trips to Norway but I have to confess that my 2 weeks spent in Trollhattan (back in the 90s) gave me a negative desire to ever return there.
It’s my ex-wife that has siblings and cousins in Sweden.
I understand your sentiment of Sweden if Trollhättan is your only sample.
But there’s lots of great natural scenery in Sweden, though it lacks the fjords of the Norwegian west coast and dramatic beauty of the arctic north.
Thanks for the weather reports, everyone. It’s nice to know how much better the weather is down here on a daily basis. Aside from some fog and gloom, it’ll be a nice day – partly cloudy and 72. Just like Pleasantville.
Today is the last with Frank the Schnoodle. It’s been quite a lovefest but all good things must come to an end. He’s a snuggly little guy to sleep with, but his bathroom habits leave something to be desired.
I lent my card reader to someone who shall be nameless and I never got it back. I need to get another one as well as figure out why my photos with the new camera look flat.
Here endeth the advice (to use the term exceedingly loosely).
Giddy the malamutt insists that 30mph winds are no big deal and that I need to go for a walk now. So being the weak-minded soul that I am, I’m nodding in agreement.
Here is Cleveland’s version of Dick Feagler, an old curmudgeon who has slowly but surely been liberalized over the years – quite a satisfying thing to behold. This is his annual Christmas column about life in the 40s in the shadow of Cleveland’s steel mills. For some reason it always makes me cry by the end.
t’s Christmastime, my friends. Let’s rest our weary brains. Let’s turn our backs on earthbound stars and People magazine celebrities and media personalities. Let us visit some people whose names get into the newspaper only when they die. And even then, just in the tiny type of the death notices.
Let’s go to my Aunt Ida’s house. Come on. It won’t take long. You’ll be home in time for the 11 o’clock news, I promise you.
The house wasn’t far from the steel mills, and the fallout from the mills made the dirt in Aunt Ida’s back yard black and rich. When the wind was wrong, the air in the neighborhood smelled like a chem lab. Breathing it might have been bad, but nobody knew that then. By the way, my Aunt Ida had great luck with flowers.
This is the part where I want to gather all of my family in a big hug and stop time:
I am with my cousins in the unheated bedroom at the back of the old house. We are burrowing under the piles of coats that have been dumped on the bed. Moutons, mostly, with a few Persian lambs, for animals do not yet have rights. Just a glimpse of myself is all I want. I don’t want to look too hard. Because for me, this trip is a wistful mirror.
The bedroom door opens and Aunt Ida is standing in a rectangle of light.
“You kids go into the living room now,” she says. “Santa Claus is coming soon.”
We go. And as soon as we leave, Aunt Ida opens a bureau drawer, reaches under some flannel sheets and pulls out a moth-eaten Santa Claus suit and a scraggly beard. The pants of this suit have long since disintegrated. So my Aunt Ida hikes up her dress and yanks on a pair of my uncle’s blue serge pants. Over these she tugs galoshes.
She takes a pillow from the bed and plucks off the pillowcase. She stuffs the pillow under the Santa jacket to give herself a tummy. She fills the pillowcase with toys from Woolworth’s, Kresge’s and Grant’s. She puts on the beard, the cap. She tiptoes out into the hall. Then out the back door and into the night — air so cold it makes her nose sting, sky lit with a faint glow from the mills.
Around the house she goes and up on the side porch. She pauses and peeks in the window.
She sees what we see now. Me at 7. My young, handsome father and pretty mother.
(Death took my mother gently, during a nap. My father followed her the next year. But memory brings them back now, and makes them young again.)
On the frosty porch, my Aunt Ida sees us all — the old folks, the young folks and the kids. Moving, though we can’t feel the current, down a river of time.
Misty and gray here today…I know that gives SN the warm fuzzies. 🙂
Ask, have fun celebrating today!
Boran2, I don’t envy you the shoveling, but some snow would be a welcome change from gray and wet.
Family man, are you inundated with relatives yet?
I’ve been baking this morning, now it’s time to get ready to finish the shopping errands…this has been interesting, cramming all of the holiday preparations into 4 days. I think I’ll be sleeping in on the 26th.
Good morning all! Our fire company was called out at 5:20 a.m. to assist with removing trees that had fallen across roads during the night. As Andi said above, strong winds will be with us all day. Be careful out there in the woods, Andi.
I’m not going out with the old crew anymore, having reached geezerhood and highbloodpressuredom (probably due to my work at the county office building).
Time to go play chauffeur and pick up Mom. Have a relaxing day, everyone;-)
Morning, Andi!
Hope it is all enjoyable.
We’re kind of done already. Only relaxation ahead.
Watching a full moon setting (actually, full moon was yesterday).
Hi ask! We saw The Cruise last night at a friends’ home. It brought back a lot of Manhattan memories for me. I was born on LI and spent time with my grandfather visiting notable spots from the Bronx to the Battery when I was a kid. If you like the unusual and quirky, its a good one to see.
Affectionate portrait of Tim “Speed” Levitch, a tour guide for Manhattan’s Gray Line double-decker buses…
That’s Darth Tater actually, and he’s a pie fiend (as are all the members of the household).
We’re going with a summer themed meal:
Insalata di pereoni e capperi (pepper salad with capers)
Insalata di finocchio e arancia (fennel and orange salad)
A Glamorgan style (vegetarian) roast
And for desert, Summer pudding of raspberries, boysenberries, blueberries and black currents.
I can’t believe I’m the first one up this morning. What’s wrong with kids today? Although I probably did go to sleep before the kids did, but still when I was a kid I would already had been up waiting to open presents.
It’s driving me crazy they aren’t up yet. I’m giving them another 30 minutes and then George is going to accidentally start barking outside their rooms. 🙂
FMom loves stuffing also. There’s a cafe downtown that makes great stuffing, so we always get a couple of pans from them.
I just checked the camera and the batteries are at full power. Although I didn’t think to get spare ones. 😉
Merry Christmas everyone. We had loads of fun and I had too much to drink last night, a rarity for me since I seldom drink at all, and this morning my cell phone has been ringing off the hook with Christmas wishes…..for the wrong person! Whoever had my number previously sure has a lot of friends, and I don’t want to be surly, but I don’t much enjoy wrong numbers before 7:00am.
Merry Christmas! Hope you all have a lovely day. Mrs. Dem’s home office is a complete and total wreck due to wrapping aftermath and cat romping among the ribbons.
And to you as well, Olivia! I should have snapped a photo, but I lost the opportunity in the rush to be finished and be off to my brother’s last night. Mrs. Dem cleaned up this morning.
I figured since she has completely immersed herself in everything Southern, that this would be a perfect present. 🙂
How are those aching muscles after your trek into the park yesterday? I’m just thinking of all the food we have left over, and how I’m going to try and finish off a coconut cake today. Haven’t eaten a whole cake by myself in awhile. :~)
Thanks, FM. I have just hungry enough to eat that pimento cheese sandwich. I’ve been eating so much heavy food over the past week that today is just water and tea and juice for me. And a birthday martini at my son’s place tonight.
It was pretty laid-back.
As you know, we had the main celebration already on Sunday, since swimmer was leaving Monday.
A friend came over and we had some good food and went on to have a scrabble-thon.
And I got another night of 8 hrs!
I had a landlady once that loved scrabble, but I never could get into it. Now I used to be a whiz at Trivial Pursuit. I guess once you get a certain age, there’s so much trivia inside your head that some has to stick. 🙂
Between the cakes and pies I decided to start with the cake. Oh and my sil had the kids decorate all these Christmas cookies yesterday. Got a lot of those to go through too. 🙂
Your calorie requirements seem to be well covered for the next week, or so. It’s been a while since I went on a cookie/cake diet, hope you enjoy 😉
I better get coffee ready, I hear some stirring from the bedroom.
It’s been good – the only thing that seems to be missing is a hike in the forest – we’ll have to settle for Central Park, since we’ve scrapped the plans for a Berkshire-trip later this week.
Looks like you and Jim had a great time in the big park yesterday. It must have been quiet in the forest.
It was very quiet –we even noticed was that there weren’t even very many planes. It made us wonder if airlines actually schedule fewer flights on Xmas.
Sorry about the Berkshires but Central Park is always pretty.
Thanks, ask. You’ve hit on the theme of all of my birthdays thus far – oh. wow. another celebration. Imagine that. Christmas birthdays are sort of anticlimactic.
Back at work but at least it should be quiet. Strangely enough, of the few drivers on the road this morning most were in a pronounced, rush weaving in and out. Perhaps it’s those returns.
it’s a new cafe!
Busy with all kinds of cleaning projects today…
The old one was pretty trashed.
no text required.
lTMF’sA
Good one!
What a fun holiday! Thanks dada.
Very clever. I love the ending.
because the wind sounded like there was a freight train heading right toward us. Then I couldn’t go back to sleep because I really love listening to the wind.
Morning/Afternoon/Evening, folks.
Morning Andi.
Wind is blowing pretty hard down here too. Had a hard time getting on here this morning.
The wind’s blowing steadily at about 30mph with gusts up to 50mph.
Did you get some more rain?
Yep ours was last night and now the wind. I don’t think we’re getting near what you’re getting though.
Glad you’re getting some rain.
We have a wind advisory till 7pm so I think we’re going to have plenty of it.
Good morning, Andi and FM!
We can expect a mild day with heavy rains…Christmas spirit, bleh!
Morning Ask.
We had our rain last night. The temperature is supposed to drop today.
Yeah, all our snow is gone and none in the forecast.
But I’m guessing the holiday-lit city does a nice stand-in for snow.
We’ll have to do the best out of it…
We’re actually celebrating today, since swimmer is leaving for Sweden tomorrow afternoon.
A week visiting family and friends. I suspect one friend in particular is the real reason for the trip, not seeing aunts and cousins.
I hadn’t realized you had family in Sweden as well as Norway. I’m always jealous of your trips to Norway but I have to confess that my 2 weeks spent in Trollhattan (back in the 90s) gave me a negative desire to ever return there.
It’s my ex-wife that has siblings and cousins in Sweden.
I understand your sentiment of Sweden if Trollhättan is your only sample.
But there’s lots of great natural scenery in Sweden, though it lacks the fjords of the Norwegian west coast and dramatic beauty of the arctic north.
I’ve always wanted to visit that part of the world. I think my people are there 🙂 The pics you post of Norway are always beautiful.
Thanks, the motives really require little talent to come out decently.
Follow the link and see the slide show of a few professional images.
Yeah, I realize it isn’t fair (especially since I was there in February) — but I don’t want to ever meet another fish drowning in gloppy white sauce.
Hah, I have also been in Trollhättan in February….
Dreary, drafty and cold.
Thanks for the weather reports, everyone. It’s nice to know how much better the weather is down here on a daily basis. Aside from some fog and gloom, it’ll be a nice day – partly cloudy and 72. Just like Pleasantville.
Today is the last with Frank the Schnoodle. It’s been quite a lovefest but all good things must come to an end. He’s a snuggly little guy to sleep with, but his bathroom habits leave something to be desired.
It’s kind of funny how often we talk about weather early in the morning — I think it’s that weather is an easy subject for sleep-befuddled brains.
I think it’s a shame that Frank is leaving without having made an appearance in Thursday dog blogging.
Yeah, I got a different camera and it takes forever to upload photos to my laptop, so I just don’t.
You get could get a card reader — I miss your pictures (whether flowers, birds, dogs, kids, pooties, beaches).
I lent my card reader to someone who shall be nameless and I never got it back. I need to get another one as well as figure out why my photos with the new camera look flat.
It might be the white balance or the exposure setting.
I’ve fussed and experimented with all of that. One of these days I’m going to read the manual.
Here endeth the advice (to use the term exceedingly loosely).
Giddy the malamutt insists that 30mph winds are no big deal and that I need to go for a walk now. So being the weak-minded soul that I am, I’m nodding in agreement.
Ta.
Good morning all. It’s fairly warm here, snow is melting. Time to clear the driveway.
Here is Cleveland’s version of Dick Feagler, an old curmudgeon who has slowly but surely been liberalized over the years – quite a satisfying thing to behold. This is his annual Christmas column about life in the 40s in the shadow of Cleveland’s steel mills. For some reason it always makes me cry by the end.
Link
This is the part where I want to gather all of my family in a big hug and stop time:
I meant Cleveland’s version of Andy Rooney! heh.
Misty and gray here today…I know that gives SN the warm fuzzies. 🙂
Ask, have fun celebrating today!
Boran2, I don’t envy you the shoveling, but some snow would be a welcome change from gray and wet.
Family man, are you inundated with relatives yet?
I’ve been baking this morning, now it’s time to get ready to finish the shopping errands…this has been interesting, cramming all of the holiday preparations into 4 days. I think I’ll be sleeping in on the 26th.
I usually spend the 26th sleeping and denying that I’ve grown another year older. Yuck. And double yuck as I approach….oh god I can’t even say it.
Hey, they say it’s the new 30…I’ll go with that.
Well, we really have to get out and finish the shopping (ewwww)…see y’all later.
Good morning all! Our fire company was called out at 5:20 a.m. to assist with removing trees that had fallen across roads during the night. As Andi said above, strong winds will be with us all day. Be careful out there in the woods, Andi.
Yuck – you be careful out there too, ID.
I’m not going out with the old crew anymore, having reached geezerhood and highbloodpressuredom (probably due to my work at the county office building).
Time to go play chauffeur and pick up Mom. Have a relaxing day, everyone;-)
Thanks ID. Lots of stuff down or coming down so you be careful too.
(and noisy — we heard several branches and one large tree come down).
Our pair of Welcome Swallows’ two babies make their first foray from the nest inside our shed.
Hi keres! Happy Holidays! I can’t remember if you are a day ahead or behind us…
Hello Everyone!
K K K Katiebird – is that you? Merriest of Christmases to you!
Hi Second Nature, I hope you’re having a Happy Holiday.
Merry Christmas! How have you been? All ready for the big day?
Cabin Girl! How are you doing?
Me all ready? Nope. I’m never ready until about noon on the 25th. Actually by that goal, I’m ahead of schedule!!
Have a Happy, Happy Holiday!
Hi Katiebird! How’s things at Eat 4 Today?
Just a drive by for me today — we’re off to Cincy to do the family thing. Have a good one.
Morning, Andi!
Hope it is all enjoyable.
We’re kind of done already. Only relaxation ahead.
Watching a full moon setting (actually, full moon was yesterday).
Hi ask! We saw The Cruise last night at a friends’ home. It brought back a lot of Manhattan memories for me. I was born on LI and spent time with my grandfather visiting notable spots from the Bronx to the Battery when I was a kid. If you like the unusual and quirky, its a good one to see.
Morning, id!
That looks like fun, we’ll try to get it on Netflix.
All set for your celebration?
We’re just “wrapping up”. I’m making spinach salad to take to my brother’s old farmhouse in the country a few miles from here.
Gledelig Jul!
Takk, i like måte.
And enjoy the family dinner!
comfort and joy.
God rest ye merry gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay.
Ladies, rest ye too.
God bless us every one. Merry Christmas to all.
Good morning Alice! Merry Christmas to you too!
Did I miss everyone already?
Just got back from the grocery store, and now it’s time to make the creme brulee…
When does swimmer leave for Sweden, ask? Was Santa good to everyone at your place? 🙂
Hi CabinGirl! Happy Holidays to you and the CabinBoys!
and now it’s time to make the creme brulee…
Wish we were in “drop-in” distance. That sounds delicious!
Happy holidays to all!
Morning boran2! Do you still have lots of snow? Ours was rained away a couple of days ago.
Good morning ID! We still have some but most was taken care of by the rain yesterday/last night. It will be a slushy Christmas.
Good morning everyone! Its chilly but sunny in our little corner of the midwest.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or whatever you’re celebrating!
Just a hit and run here. More family coming in all the time. I’m going to make, I hope, my last run to the grocery store.
Everyone have a safe and happy season.
Happy Holidays Family Man! Good luck with all the influx of family;-)
Happy Holidays BooMan! Thanks for giving us a place to hang out, be informed and vent our frustrations. May your hearts desires be fulfilled.
Peace
Wishing all the best to you and yours, from us and ours.
Merry Christmas, keres. Keep Darth Vader away from that pumpkin pie!!
That’s Darth Tater actually, and he’s a pie fiend (as are all the members of the household).
We’re going with a summer themed meal:
Insalata di pereoni e capperi (pepper salad with capers)
Insalata di finocchio e arancia (fennel and orange salad)
A Glamorgan style (vegetarian) roast
And for desert, Summer pudding of raspberries, boysenberries, blueberries and black currents.
Great pictures, keres. Hope you and Imogen and all the critters had a terrific day.
peace
I hope today is everything that you want it to be.
Ho, ho, ho to you too Andi.
I can’t believe I’m the first one up this morning. What’s wrong with kids today? Although I probably did go to sleep before the kids did, but still when I was a kid I would already had been up waiting to open presents.
Did ya’ll have a good time with family yesterday?
That is shocking. Then again maybe you should enjoy the peace and quiet while you’ve got it.
We had a very nice day and some of the best stuffing I’ve ever had (I love stuffing).
Got the battery charged up on the camera? 🙂
It’s driving me crazy they aren’t up yet. I’m giving them another 30 minutes and then George is going to accidentally start barking outside their rooms. 🙂
FMom loves stuffing also. There’s a cafe downtown that makes great stuffing, so we always get a couple of pans from them.
I just checked the camera and the batteries are at full power. Although I didn’t think to get spare ones. 😉
That’s another advantage of heating with wood — a woodstove offer endless opportunities for accidentally making noise.
Merry Christmas everyone. We had loads of fun and I had too much to drink last night, a rarity for me since I seldom drink at all, and this morning my cell phone has been ringing off the hook with Christmas wishes…..for the wrong person! Whoever had my number previously sure has a lot of friends, and I don’t want to be surly, but I don’t much enjoy wrong numbers before 7:00am.
Merry Christmas — sounds like you are having a fine one (except for the wrong numbers).
Here’s a gift for you — a reminder of what you aren’t missing. 🙂
(Not a current picture; no snow here.)
Morning, Andi and FM!
I got what I wished for; more than 8 hrs sleep last night – can’t recall when that last happened.
Morning Ask.
Glad you got what you wished for. Hope you’re having a great holiday.
to do that for you. I have no idea the last time I slept 8 hours — I think it might have been when I was 3 or 4.
Sound like a very good morning indeed.
Kids are up. I hear them in the hallway. Gotta go!
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy – It’s presents time!
Not that the spirit of Christmas escapes me……….. but oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! 🙂
Have a great Christmas, FM!
Merry Christmas everybody!
I’m envious of ask’s 8 hours of sleep. 🙂
I put up a Christmas cafe diary…it’s in the recent list.
Merry Christmas! Hope you all have a lovely day. Mrs. Dem’s home office is a complete and total wreck due to wrapping aftermath and cat romping among the ribbons.
…office is a complete and total wreck due to wrapping aftermath and cat romping among the ribbons.
Now that sounds like fun ID!
LOL
Merry Christmas you and your family!
And to you as well, Olivia! I should have snapped a photo, but I lost the opportunity in the rush to be finished and be off to my brother’s last night. Mrs. Dem cleaned up this morning.
Thanks, Andi! It’s starting out really nice – big, luscious rains falling on my skylights. Great sleeping in weather!
First a rose for your B’day.
Now a cake.
And lastly, a Happy Birthday pimento cheese sandwich. Don’t ask. I’m trying to start a tradition here. 🙂
Have a very Happy Birthday SN!
Oh wow, you got her a pimento cheese sandwich — nobody’s going to be able to compete with that. ;P
Morning Andi.
I figured since she has completely immersed herself in everything Southern, that this would be a perfect present. 🙂
How are those aching muscles after your trek into the park yesterday? I’m just thinking of all the food we have left over, and how I’m going to try and finish off a coconut cake today. Haven’t eaten a whole cake by myself in awhile. :~)
I’m recovering. I’ll take a nice muscle-stretching walk with the dogs in a bit and that ought to help.
I don’t like coconut so I’m happy to let you go for it.
Well that cake is just one of a lot I have to go through.
And yes, I’m busily adding pictures over at my place right now. It just takes so long for them to load.
Thanks, FM. I have just hungry enough to eat that pimento cheese sandwich. I’ve been eating so much heavy food over the past week that today is just water and tea and juice for me. And a birthday martini at my son’s place tonight.
And a birthday martini at my son’s place tonight.
Tonight? What’s this tonight stuff. You should at least start your day out with a Birthday bloody mary and work your way up to the martini tonight.
Oh and in between a few pimento cheese sandwiches. 🙂
Good morning!
What a nice surprise – another celebration.
Happy birthday, SN!
Morning Ask.
SN is probably still snoozing away. I hope you had a nice day yesterday.
It was pretty laid-back.
As you know, we had the main celebration already on Sunday, since swimmer was leaving Monday.
A friend came over and we had some good food and went on to have a scrabble-thon.
And I got another night of 8 hrs!
Congrats on the another 8 hours!
I had a landlady once that loved scrabble, but I never could get into it. Now I used to be a whiz at Trivial Pursuit. I guess once you get a certain age, there’s so much trivia inside your head that some has to stick. 🙂
Oh yeah – how is the cake project going – you need an early start, I guess, to be able to complete?
Between the cakes and pies I decided to start with the cake. Oh and my sil had the kids decorate all these Christmas cookies yesterday. Got a lot of those to go through too. 🙂
Your calorie requirements seem to be well covered for the next week, or so. It’s been a while since I went on a cookie/cake diet, hope you enjoy 😉
I better get coffee ready, I hear some stirring from the bedroom.
See ya Ask. Have a great day!
Hope you had a lovely Christmas.
It’s been good – the only thing that seems to be missing is a hike in the forest – we’ll have to settle for Central Park, since we’ve scrapped the plans for a Berkshire-trip later this week.
Looks like you and Jim had a great time in the big park yesterday. It must have been quiet in the forest.
It was very quiet –we even noticed was that there weren’t even very many planes. It made us wonder if airlines actually schedule fewer flights on Xmas.
Sorry about the Berkshires but Central Park is always pretty.
Thanks, ask. You’ve hit on the theme of all of my birthdays thus far – oh. wow. another celebration. Imagine that. Christmas birthdays are sort of anticlimactic.
I know, it must be tough as a kid – no juice left for your day.
Happy birthday SN!
Back at work but at least it should be quiet. Strangely enough, of the few drivers on the road this morning most were in a pronounced, rush weaving in and out. Perhaps it’s those returns.
Thanks, boran! Back to the old grind, eh?
Yep, but only for the 3 days. Then I’ll have 4 off.
How are you spending your birthday?