Our tree is up and decorated, and I am taking a chance and putting out the Christmas pyramids this year. You can see them in the header photo. The cats have left them alone thus far. I will keep my fingers crossed. I think we will put the cats in the basement when we light the pyramid candles. I had to put the straw goats up high, since our grey cat likes to chew the wheat berries off their beards.
I never have had a themed tree, one with color coordinated glass balls and bows. No, ours is a mix up of glass, straw, wood and china ornaments. Some were my parents before I was born. We like having lots of red color in our tree. I put the tomtens out on the buffet, hang the wreath on the front door, and that is that. A friend of our daughter who grew up in Stuttgart says our tree looks very German. It is how my mother decorated the tree, and I like the style.
There is a Lutheran tradition that you really shouldn’t sing Christmas music in church until Advent is over. I love the mournfulness of Advent carols. They often are in minor keys. I find them calming. Husband and I have many treasured Christmas recordings that we listen to every year. I listen to the Holiday stream on MPR at work through the day. I find I am becoming increasingly fussy about what Christmas music I can tolerate. Gene Autry and Rudoph is definitely a no go.
What Christmas music do you like? What do you loathe? What Christmas earworms have you had this week?
Yesterday my city announced an opportunity for the civic minded to demonstrate their devotion to the community. There are 200 fire hydrants in our city, and we can to select one to care for. It involves clearing any obstacles from around the hydrant so it is ready to use in emergencies. Only 15 hydrants have been adopted to date. I can see the wisdom in this, as city workers are spread too thin to check them all for obstructions, and neighborhood residents are more likely to notice problems.
I don’t know why this struck me as so funny. I can think of many city excresences I would like to care for: poorly trimmed trees, obscured street signs, vehicles on snow emergency routes that should have been towed but weren’t, etc. Give me a Bobcat with a snow shovel and I will clear out problematic snowy intersections. The possibilities are limitless .
What civic problem would you like to adopt and fix?
Yesterday from 11:30 until 1:00 pm was my agency Christmas party. It was a potluck for staff only, with the Social Committee supplying deep fried Turkey, cheesy potatoes , and punch, paid for by agency fundraisers over the past year. It took place in a large and shabby meeting room in the basement of our agency. All the food was good and calorie laden. I brought cranberry salsa. We played simple games, ate, and returned to work. What a change from the parties of 30 years ago when Husband first started at the agency.
The director at that time was a guy who really liked a good party. He was the first director the agency had, and he headed our agency for many years. In his mind, a good party was held at the Elks Club or the Knights of Columbus. It was catered, and there was plenty of alcohol and fun, with late night pinochle games. Spouses and significant others were expected to attend. He somehow managed to find money in the budget to fund it.
Well, things are different now, and I kind of like the change. There is less drama and alcohol-related poor judgement. It is less fuss.
Yesterday in 1684, Isaac Newton’s paper on the theory of gravity was read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley. I wonder how it was received? Did they nod and say ,“Oh yes, I can see exactly what he is getting at”, or did they scratch their powdered wigs and shrug their shoulders, thinking “Poor Isaac has been spending too much time sitting under the trees.”
Hard sciences were never my strong suit in high school and college. Neither was mathematics. for that matter, although I was pretty ace at Psychology statistics in graduate school. In college, the Physics majors I knew often said that Physics was a way of investigating God. I was just glad I didn’t have to take any physics classes. Biology, now that was a subject I could embrace. I don’t know what it means that my poorest grade in college was in bowling, a physical education class I despised. Maybe if I had taken a Physics class I would have been a better bowler.
What came easily to you in school? What was difficult? What would you like to learn about now?
The first thing I do each time I check into a hotel is to check out the view from the window. This is particularly interesting when I am in a city or airport hotel – as the variety is so great. In Peru, the first of our hotels was literally just across four lanes of traffic from the Lima Airport so I was happy that my room actually faced the parking lot on the city side and not the actual airport. (Although I have to admit that it didn’t really matter as I spent very little time in this room!)
One of the things that I’ve noticed about many cityscapes worldwide is that many countries have not yet abandoned the billboard the way that we have here in the states, although I don’t think I’ve EVER seen anything like the giant six-pack of Coke that was in my view. The other thing that is very common is posters plastered around business entrances. In Peru, the zoning laws are spotty so you can have business and residences crowded together, making it likely that you’ll be looking at posters for all kinds of goods and services as you approach your home.
The other noticeable difference is the large numbers of stray dogs that roam around many of the cities in Peru (although not as much in Lima). Most of the dogs I saw seemed not only well-fed but well-behaved. And very nonchalant about their lifestyle. You could find dogs sleeping in all kinds of places where you would think they would be skittish. This dog decided to plop itself down to snooze among a group of Japanese tourists in the train station – as if he were just part of the luggage:
Our local Walmart store management tore out most of the checkout aisles and installed several dozen self-checkout kiosks. I refuse to use them, which means I have to put up with long lines and long waits while my icecream melts.
Husband and I were in line the other day conversing about a spaetzle-aspragus recipe, when the woman in front of us asked what exactly spaetzle was. She and her husband had been chatting up the cashier, who happened to be from the same Hispanic community they were from near Bakersfield, CA. She said she had heard of it but didn’t know what it was. I explained, and then cautioned her that it was different than schnitzel, and then I explained what forms that could take. She had heard of that, too. Behind us in line was an elderly neighbor from a block over from our house who takes long walks in the neighborhood and wanted to know if we got our produce in. She said she loved watching our garden.
Shopping is a social outing for us, and reinforces our sense of community. We aimed to be Community Psychologists, so I guess things are working out.
Husband and I returned last Monday from a week long trip to New York City. We were there with four other members of our church handbell choir to participate in a massed handbell choir of 275 ringers. We were the opening act before a performance of Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall.
Everything that could go right on the trip did, and there were no disasters. We slipped past three major snow storms in our travels. All our rental bells were there as ordered, hotel reservations were good, and our names were in the program. What more could a person ask for?
In addition to the Dec. 1 Carnegie Hall gig, we had the options of playing in Central Park on Saturday afternoon, and with the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall at various times during the weekend. Here are the players at the Naumberg Bandshell in Central Park.
The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular featured the Rockettes in numbers like “The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers”, during which the dancers collapsed on one another like dominoes. They also did a number called “Sleigh Ride” in which the dancers were featured as precision-stepping reindeer. In between the dance numbers were high tech visual effects and bell numbers. It ended with a tableau of the nativity complete with three live camels, a donkey, and a sheep. All the animals had been blessed by Cardinal Dolan at the start of the season. No unsanctioned animals in this production! I haven’t any photos. Photos were prohibited. This will give you an idea.
The Carnegie Hall concert was really fun. We entered the hall through the stage door, just like all performers do. There were a few ringers on stage with the conductor, and the rest of us were in the boxes on Tiers one and two on either side of the Hall. The following photos were taken during dress rehearsal.
We played well. The acoustics were good, but we had to be as precise as possible given how many of us there were. Given the size of the hall, we couldn’t use our ears to make sure were were together. We had to watch the conductor as much as possible for the timing. The conductor was so excited as they used “the Bernstein podium” for him.
The Messiah performance was wonderful. The two male soloists were on loan from the Metropolitan Opera, and there were more than 300 singers in the chorus. Half of them sang from the boxes we had played in. We had to vacate to the nosebleed seats in the balcony during the oratorio.
So many things could have gone wrong, but nothing did. We were all so grateful for this opportunity.
Tell about your best and worst vacations and trips.
Today marks the anniversary of the first publication of the Encyclopedia Britannica in 1768 in Scotland. I love encyclopedias. I loved the World Book set my parents got me and I read it all the time. Wikipedia pales in comparison, I think, to holding a real encyclopedia in your hand.
Several years ago Husband and I were in a Fargo furniture store where we purchased a pair of lovely table lamps. They are Tiffany glass and mica and go well with the Mission/Craftsman style furniture we have in our bedroom. They sit on either side of the bed.
I have had some buyer’s remorse since we purchased them as I didn’t take into account how fragile the shades are. Both Husband and I have accidentally whacked the shades. I even knocked one on to the floor one morning. That resulted in a dent in the base of the shade.
Stained glass artisans are not very common out here. We had one in Hettinger, about 80 miles south of us, but she retired a couple of years ago. She worked a lot on stained glass windows in local churches. I am fortunate that one of my coworkers is an artsy person and does some stained glass work, and was able to fix my shade.
We used to have furniture refinishers and clock repairers out here, but no more. There are a couple of upholsterers in town. They are old guys who I assume will retire one of these days. Then what? I worry about too many arts lost.
Where do you get things fixed? What lost arts would you like to see revived?
Trail Baboon 