or would be if not for a couple of things (Boston Tea Party, Declaration of Independence, Revolutionary War, …, this is Sunday):
http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/boxingday.asp
Beginning last weekend: This weekend has been the most relaxing in recent months. We didn’t have to go to town, and only had to feed ourselves, our animals, and play with the new kitty. We did a little house cleaning, but not as much as we should have. All weekend and most of Monday morning I finished sending our annual newsletter to folks, via email. We will not be sending conventional cards this year, except to a few, who don’t have computers. The letter was written with wide margins and is too long for printing to send with cards. At least the news this year is a lot better than last. I found the sad letter John sent to a few people last year. I don’t know how he managed to do that with all the rest of the things going on.
He even moved me out of my university office, while I was in the hospital and the rehab center. He packed 22 boxes of stuff and hauled most to our outbuilding. We have yet to even think about going through that yet. The house also has boxes stacked up in the living room, den, back bedrooms, and hall. I never felt like going through any of this since I have been home. I didn’t have the stamina, which has just returned at the end of this year. Maybe in twenty-eleven, I will slowly tackle some of the clutter and we will have an un-Boxing Day.
The most important thing now is to make room on the counter for my laptop computer where I can enter tax receipts into an EXCEL spreadsheet. Then I can copy totals by “code” from there to enter in the Turbo Tax software. Oh, fun, but it will be, because we really need to get the taxes done. They will be very complicated this year with all the things that happened.
One day this week John made a big pot of chili which is good for my low-salt diet. The only thing with salt was the can of chili beans, but the garbanzo beans and tomatoes were without. It seems he will have to start with dried beans to get to a near zero salt concoction – will it still be chili?
This week marked the first day the kitty has ventured out of the back computer room and into the rest of the house with the dogs and us. He’s gaining more confidence and the dogs are getting used to him. This morning and last night, he was lying on the floor with the dogs, in front of my chair, waiting for a handout. If any of us move in the “wrong” manner he dives through a slot and disappears behind the chair. His idea of wrong still eludes us, so while the situation is somewhat tense, it is getting less so.
Tuesday, we were invited to a Solstice party and were served potato pancakes. We took a cut-up fruit cake along for the group. People were asked to bring their musical instruments and there was some jamming afterwards. It went well. There were a couple of friends there we did not expect to see. The food was pretty good, and there was apple sauce and our fruitcake and salad to eat with the potato pancakes. One person also brought an apple pie. I had several of the great Christmas cookies one of our friends brought. We sang some songs, but I was the only one willing to play my fiddle. Our friends brought several percussion instruments and played along with the tunes. It was fun. John thought if one is going to make real shredded potato pancakes then the rest of the food ought to complement those. This wasn’t the case (except for the applesauce) so he came home and searched the web for an idea for next year. The one he liked is artery clogging but the Winter Solstice (‘sun stands still’) only happens once a year so how much harm is there in this:
Potato Pancakes, Kielbasa, Caramelized Onions, Sauerkraut
Wednesday was a strange day. It started snowing in the middle of the night, and kept going all morning. We had over six inches before it ceased. Our neighbors do not have 4 wheel drive and they are in their 80s, but needed to go for two tests at the hospital. John drove them in, and also let me off to play music at Dry Creek. We played (just 3 of us) in the lobby for a large and appreciative crowd. They sang along on the Christmas carols and songs. We stopped by a friend’s house for cookies and to see their decorations, and to receive a gift. I left the gift there to display for Christmas because we don’t have an appropriate flat place yet cleared in our house. Perhaps by next Christmas! It is a plastic/crystal angel playing a violin – lovely.
Thursday. We started the morning with a nice gift from our neighbor (different one) with a big tractor, who plowed out our driveway and the area up on the road in front of our mailbox and paper delivery boxes. John went out and talked to him and his cousin, and thanked them. John had just broken the handle off of the broom implement he uses to push snow around. Then we played with kitty Sunny, and I got ready to go for a haircut at my neighbors. Wow. I have hair again grown back to be able to cut. Another nice gift for the morning before Christmas Eve. I was all pretty to go to play music at Hearthstone Cottage, and I put on a vest I found in the old chifferobe (choose your own spelling), in our bedroom, where we store seasonal clothes. On the web you can see a picture of one that looks like ours. Ours is walnut, and belonged to my parents, who were married in 1937.
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Collectibles-General-Antiques-682/2009/5/antique-chifferobe.htm
OR:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chifforobe
Search Google images for the variety of styles.
The vest is black velvet, with snowmen, and a blue denim back. I don’t recall where I acquired it, nor that I have ever worn it, and it was way too large for me, but I wore it anyway. After our playing, my friend in the music group heard me talking about it, and how big it was, and offered to “take it up” for me on her sewing machine. I was thrilled and she carried it home with her while I did other things in town, and I picked it up on my way home. She has done alterations before for a theater group. Perfect. Now I have a lovely new vest that fits. I showed it to John and he had me link to this:
Thursday evening I spent more time on the retirement celebration page, which is still under construction, but can be accessed at:
http://www.elixant.com/~nancyh/2010retirementCelebration.html
Before I quit Thursday’s reporting, I need to tell a story that I had left out, but just told John the day after Christmas as we were driving to town. He said I needed to add it to the blog. So, here goes. I played music that day (discussed above) and left the Hearthstone Cottage. I had to park on the street because the parking lot was full. So did my friend, and we left together. I was closer than she and got to my car and managed to get in and shut my door before a car came screaming by splashing slush up on my car. I watched as the car proceeded by Mary still standing by her car, with the door open, and watched in horror as she was covered with the slop by the inconsiderate driver. I drove up beside her and got her attention to say I saw what happened. She was sitting there in disbelief and said she was composing a letter to send to the local paper for the Thumbs Down column. I left her and drove to the grocery store. As I drove a few blocks down west I saw two people walking IN the street because the sidewalks had not been shoveled. They were in their fifties, and looked like they needed a ‘thumb’s up’ experience, instead of what I had just witnessed. I slowed WAY down and drove by them, waving. I had not gone a half block when I suddenly pulled a U-turn and went back to ask them if I could give them a ride. They were first a bit surprised, but quickly accepted and told me their names and I told them mine. I moved my fiddle case over and got my purse, and the man sat in the back seat and the woman sat in the front. Once in the car, they said they were going to the hospital, which was about 2 blocks down the street, and I figured maybe they lived near it. As we approached, the woman said, just pull up there by the dumpster (behind the hospital). I figured they must be in the apartments behind, but not. She opened the door and got out and went past the dumpster to a black container to empty the contents. Her husband told me they were addicted to nicotine but couldn’t afford to buy cigarettes and so she was getting butts and they would take the tobacco from them to roll their own. Source shown here:
http://www.newpig.com/us/janitorial-supplies/cigarette-ash-receptacles/cigarette-posts-urns/
YIKES. I smiled and told him he needed to figure a way to kick the habit, even though I knew it was hard, that I had lost my dad at 58 to a heart attack and he smoked cigars. The guy said, ‘Oh my. I’m 55.’ I said, ‘Well, you give me a Christmas present and try to stop smoking.’ He claimed he would. She came back to the car almost empty-handed as someone had beat her to the container. Then I still had the two of them, and didn’t know where they lived. I asked if I could give them a ride home. He said he had to go catch a bus (no idea where), but I said, you mean you have to go to the bus station? ‘Nope, just to Bi-Mart.’ I assumed it was to wait for Central Transit there (free bus service around town). He told me they were married but lived in separate places. So, I took them there and realized she was not going on the bus with him, and so I offered her a ride home. She said no, I can walk; I live right behind there in Briarwood. So, I bid them adieu and wished them a Merry Christmas. That completed my thumbs up for the year.
Friday. We need eggs we forgot to get when in town, to make John’s mom’s Pecan Pie for sharing with the neighbors’ family for Christmas dinner. Perhaps we should just go borrow some from them and save the trip to town. John decided he had 3 eggs, and could make just one pecan pie to take along, so we saved a trip to town. We have a half of blueberry and a half apple we have combined and frozen. We’ll take it along too. There are 16 coming to dinner.
Tonight we were having chili –I was in my recliner and John was in his chair across the room from me. I looked up to my right (on a table) and Sunny Kitty was coming in over my pillows and blanket headed to my chair. He came on over to see what was on my plate. Nothing at that point. I was holding the bowl of chili out of his reach. Remember, he doesn’t like the recent canned food (pate’) John bought for him. So, he was so interested and jumped down on the floor and back up on my foot rest. I moved my plate down to the foot rest. I put some chili, with tomato, beans and meat on the plate. He ate the tomato and the meat and sauce, but not the beans. Funny kitty. We offered him some more fresh canned food later, and he declined.
He will still eat his hard food, so that’s good.
It’s Christmas Eve. It is not snowing here, but we hear there is a lot in the rest of the country, Great Britain, and even Australia where it is mid-summer.
Christmas we will be going to two different homes for dinner and for dessert. First is to our neighbors across the street and second is to our friends’ parents’ house out East of Kittitas. We had a nice visit both places.
Today, Sunday, we went to visit a family about 12 miles south of us, in the valley. Their girls are home from work and graduate school, for the holidays. It was good to see them again. Hadn’t seen the one gal in well over a year, as she is in Oklahoma. She brought up a USA snow-depth map on her lap top. There is even snow in ol’home town Atlanta. What a hoot! I remember a snow when I was a kid in Atlanta, and writing 1951 on the windshield of our 1950 DeSoto. I took a picture of it with an old “brownie” camera. I’m sure it is buried some place in my mom’s stuff we hauled up from GA many years ago. To finish our visit: we ate cookies and fudge, saw their gifts and admired their Christmas tree and Gingerbread house cake with candies.
Will close now with hopes John can get this on the web for our regular readers while it is still December 26, 2010. [John adds: Read the “Sightings” thing at the bottom of the ‘Snopes’ link. Maybe today’s blog entry should be headed as Nancy’s emulation of Good King Wenceslas – helping strangers in the snow.]
We’ll be back next week. Have a good last week of the year, and a safe New Year’s Eve. It will be the new year 2011 the next time we write. Nancy & John