Sunday, 31 December 2006
This, however, was mid-August 2002.
On John’s way up yesterday, the odometer stuck just south of the house, as all those 139999 nines were rolling over. Then today, as we were heading back to the house after the necessary stop at the liquor store—excuse me!, party store!—it finished its delayed rollover, and read 140004 by the time we got to the house.
Saturday, 30 December 2006
I thought it was too cold to be foggy this morning, but I was wrong, and eventually the sun burned through enough to make it, dare I say?, actually a bit scenic!
Friday, 29 December 2006
We accomplished the first major moving day, and Mom is settled in her new residence, as planned, with enough furniture to limp through until the second major moving day. Here’s her night-view, complete with holiday icicle* lights and a wan half-mast flag. Not bad, eh?
I suppose this place is pretty good, perhaps very good, as these places go, at least the ones with prices potentially within reach of the Middle Class, but I will have to get used to the institutional feel (like a dormitory, that way).
The Botanist and I dined with Mom this evening, and got the full feel of the place you could say, choice of Salisbury steak or beef ravioli. But the indisputable hit was the all-you-can-eat ice cream (butter pecan from a huge industrial food-service size container). Remind me, however, to specify “no dressing, please” when next I order salad, so I can avoid the unnatural orange “French” (bah, humbug!) dressing awarded to unwary diners willy-nilly.
One more big push, planned for Sunday, and we’ll have the furniture in place, and can figure out wall decorations and curtains, then that should be most of the move-in hubbub**.
* There’s a difficult-to-spell word, especially if you haven’t seen it in a while!
** Etymological footnote courtesy Mac Dictionary…ORIGIN mid-16th century: perhaps of Irish origin; compare with the Irish exclamations ababú, abú, used in battle cries.
Thursday, 28 December 2006
Every once in a while, I fly in or out of Atlanta and get decent views of the city. Success depends on many variables: weather, flight pattern, time of flight, seat location, quantity of window scratches—in this case, the latter almost confounded me, but the plane turned and I was on the shadowy north side, and they pretty much were out of play.
Wednesday, 27 December 2006
When your auntee and uncle(ee) have the chutzpah, or perhaps panache, to obtain actual Stickley furniture for their living room, you have to bring the Real World into play, by, well, playing in the coffee table.
Thanks to the Mato-Tato, Tati for the lesson….
Tuesday, 26 December 2006
I don’t remember that we had these blocks—Lincoln logs, yes, but I don’t remember these. Stupendous gift! And their shapes give much more possibility than Lincoln logs, it seems to me….
Some proficiency with engineering skills are apparent in both the bro’s boys (perhaps courtesy of Grandpa on their Mom’s side, who was a Boeing engineer), and here’s the colorful tower the oldest has been modifying since yesterday.
The rest of us have been concentrating on eating pie, visiting John Howell park (especially the fire truck), washing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen over and over, and other mundane tasks.
Today’s biggest mundane headline is probably that my PC-forever-for-no-good-reason (if you ask me!) bro, tada!, bought a new (ACDC) Mac laptop! I look forward to hearing how much he ends up running it as a PC, as we urge him to convert to “our way”—a thousand pardons for my proselytizing!
Monday, 25 December 2006
Although at one point I thought there was no chance it would happen, we did manage to unite the family with everyone participating, against the odds, perhaps.
You can see that triple bypass surgery in early October has hardly set the Botanist back, as he’s learning new skills from his grandson. What you can’t see is that the wheel has multicolored lights that make it even more fascinating than the models we played with as tots.
Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and for all your help and support. Major appreciation flowing outward from this extended household….
Sunday, 24 December 2006
I am so grateful to jcb’s bro and his family for making bourbon balls this year; my schedule didn’t leave me time to do so, and I would have missed them.
The small things can matter so much!
Saturday, 23 December 2006
We’re not even going to make our every-other-year Xmas card mailing, which is now on its third year. Know that we’re enjoying the cards we receive, however!
Maybe we’ll do January cards!?
PS Don’t hold your breath!
Friday, 22 December 2006
Sometimes the past sneaks into the present when you’re not expecting it—today, when we were unpacking the heirloom tree decorations to apply them to their annual service once again.
Can you imagine? $1.19!