Goodbye 2010

Seattle Times

After a predominately gray and soggy 2010, we're ending the year with days of cold weather and brilliant sunshine. Mt. Ranier was spectacular yesterday morning, and the Cascades were shining in the distance like a magnet. So many people headed for the mountains that Crystal Mountain Ski Area had to turn some away. Hopefully that foretells good things about the economy in 2011.

Here's wishes for the new year:

May peace fill all the empty spaces
Around you and in you.
May contentment answer all your wishes.
May comfort be yours, warm and soft like a sigh.
And may the coming year
Show you that every day is really a first day, a new year.
Let abundance be your constant companion,
So that you have much to share.
May mirth be near you always
Like a lamp shining brightly
On the many paths you travel.
May you have true love.

(Author unknown)

Christmas toys

No, the mice didn't scare me off this morning-- but our little raft of technology was dead in the water until 2 pm. We couldn't get on the Internet through our wireless service Clear. Multiple modem reboots and phone calls later, we're connected once again with the outside world. How quickly those bright and shiny toys become black paperweights.

In the picture above, you can see the blog running on the Color Nook right next to the blog up on my laptop. I don't know if this is exciting or scary. The Nook is a new reading device from Barnes and Noble, but has features more like a touch pad computer. And exactly what is a computer anymore? I remember when the vision at Microsoft was "a computer on every desk in every home." Of course now we carry them around in our pockets.

The Color Nook may be a step down from the IPad, but it has similar features. For one thing, a touch screen so the "book" pages turn with a little flick of the finger instead of a button clunk. The screen is backlit so you can read in the dark. Like the Kindle, you can download and store many thousands of books and arrange your library into electronic bookshelves, or collections. B&N is also a partner with Google's EPUB (Amazon is not) so in theory you have access to over 3 million books, many of them free. But so far I haven't actually read anything on my new Nook, I've just played with it. Amazing how much fun you can have with your reading device, not reading. Hope that Internet connection holds out.

Denial?

I don't see very well without my glasses, but at 5:30 am I see well enough to know that a mouse ran across my feet in the hall. OK, I've been in denial about those little black specks scattered under the kitchen sink where we keep the garbage can. Oh, I said to John, it's probably just spilled coffee grounds, or something...

I thought I'd look for a cute mouse poem this morning. But I didn't feel like it.

Ham and saints

Freyr and friend

The tradition of ham at Yule time may have started with the Germanic god Freyr, who was associated with boars, fertility and harvest. This rich meal was possibly a winter sacrifice to Freyr. Later on in medieval England, Saint Stephen was given some of Freyr's characteristics, and his feast day is December 26. And so, roast boar with an apple in its mouth became a tradition. Stephan is also the patron saint of horses, quarry workers, Deacons and sling-shooters. He is invoked against migraines. (No, I didn't make that up.)

There's an old English Christmas carol about St. Stephen dating back to 1400. The song says he was servant in King Herod's castle at the time of Jesus' birth. When he comes out of the kitchen with a boar's head on a platter, he sees the bright Bethlehem star and throws the meat on the floor, forsaking Herod. And in the process, sets himself up nicely for gruesome martyrdom and sainthood.

We usually have ham for Christmas. It's easy on the martyred cook that busy day, and the leftovers are good. I just made a big pot of ham and bean soup. If you put a chopped jalapeño pepper in with the onions, celery, garlic and carrots, it gives the soup just the right amount of zip on a cold night. We have a possibility of snow tomorrow in Seattle. Amanda, Tom and Nova got home safely last night, but she said they had a snowy, white-knuckle drive up the Methow Valley.

Photoshop fun

John gave me the Photoshop Elements program for Christmas, which was a very thoughtful gift since I use my digital camera almost daily. Elements is a slightly dumbed down version of the full Photoshop, but still has more features than I'll ever need. And so, I was excited yesterday morning to sit down and "learn something new." Anyway, there's this tipping point with mastering new software. If you're like me, you dive right in confidently and just as quickly want to give up. The trick is to soldier on through the fog.

After a couple of hours, I finally started having fun making myself look glamorous in a lousy photograph. A feature called "Create Portrait" walks you right through it. Click, click, click. A little blur gets rid of shiny nose and wrinkles. A touch of eyebrow pencil and lipstick helps. The toothbrush feature gave me teeth like white fiberglass. Oh my goodness! All of a sudden I looked 25 years old again. No wait-- even better than I ever looked at 25. So that's how they do it on magazine covers. And the final best click of all to "remove 10 pounds."

Remember when photography was so easy? We shot a few rolls over the holidays and took them to the drugstore. I miss the anticipation of opening those envelopes of prints weeks later. Some were good, some were bad, but there wasn't anything you could do about it either way.

Speaking of Nova and moving targets. Digital photography makes you look like a superb photographer, because half the pictures you take are deleted and no one ever sees them. That's because most look like this:

Or, there are fingers in funny places:

Hey, at least it's her ear!

Boxing Day

During the late 18th century, Lords and Ladies of the manor "boxed up" leftover food, or sometimes gifts, and distributed them the day after Christmas to tenants on their lands. Many poorly paid workers had to work on Christmas Day and took the following day off to visit family. As they prepared to leave, employers presented them with these Christmas boxes. (Wikipedia)

After you party big, you get to clean up big. But what's the rush? There are new toys to play with (Photoshop and a Nook!) to challenge our over-fed and over-wined brains, and other wonderful gifts to admire for a bit before putting away.

Thank you everyone for the phone calls, thoughtful presents and messages sent our way yesterday. I have to admit, we spent most of the day in a happy trance just watching Nova-- babies are the best entertainment of all, and this is true since the very first baby started babbling and toddling on earth.

It will be sad and oh-so-quiet quiet when Tom, Amanda, Nova and Roger leave later today. We're teasing them about the U-Haul they'll need to get everything home.

Christmas delights

I hope your day was wonderful too. John and I were up early on Christmas morning, drinking coffee by the fire and waiting for Nova.

And she made a beeline to the tree...

And a first ride...

Dad gives pointers on paper ripping...

Looking at new books with Mom and Roger...

Playing with new toys...

And plenty of wrapping paper fun!

Christmas Eve

John and I were sitting in the kitchen tonight, eating pasta for dinner and drinking good wine. Then we looked at the tree, and Santa had already dropped by with something for Nova to ride on Christmas morning.

A vintage Christmas

Here's some old-fashioned greetings from the New York Public Library postcard collection:

An original photo card-- just rubber stamp the holiday!

A nice pussy cat...

A peaceful church scene...

A naughty boy with his loot.

Waiting patiently for Santa...

A helpful angel drops down to decorate...

Other angels are busy...

Lighting the candles...

Santa leaves behind a fire hazard...

Decorating the woods...

Folks out wassailing (or something.)

And these dear faces say Merry Christmas, everyone!
Got apples?

Edible art

These chocolates look almost too good to eat-- but not really :-)
Thanks Dan and Becky for thinking of us, all the way from sunny Mexico.
Feliz Navidad!

Nova gets ready for Christmas

Nana's Christmas tree is BEAUTIFUL!

Very cool ornaments...

This is where Santa comes...

Grandpa John gave me a pizzelle, made by Great-Grandma Wilda...

I wasn't sure at first...

But I decided it was darn good.
More, please!

In the Bleak Midwinter

By the time I was done baking yesterday, I felt like I'd made a cookie for each person at Boeing! These went to work with John this morning for their annual holiday lunch. At 5:30 from bed, I heard him making several trips to the truck because (of course) it's raining hard.

Amanda and Nova will be here today, with Tom joining them later in the week. That's sweeter than a ton of cookies...

Portrait of Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)
by her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti

How about a Christmas poem? Christina Rossetti was an English writer known for romantic, religious and children's poetry. Her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an influential pre-Raphelite painter, and if you're familiar with his paintings you will recognize the lines of her face since she sat for some of them.

Here's one of her most famous poems:

In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter,
Long ago.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am,
If I were a shepard
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what can I give Him,
Give my heart.

Solstice

This morning the world sunlight map says it all: 24 hours of darkness at the North Pole, and midnight sun at the South Pole. We won't notice it in Seattle for weeks, but tomorrow there will be a few more seconds of daylight. And the day after that, a few more. The sun is now at its lowest arc in the northern hemisphere, and it just creeps along above the south horizon. It rarely comes out from behind the clouds anyway, but when it does the strange angle of light through dirty windows shows dust in interesting places while I sit at my desk. (Maybe spring house-cleaning is yet another ancient pagan ritual brought on by the return of the light.)

Many, many cultures around the world performed solstice ceremonies. It was about the basic fear that the light wouldn't return without human rituals. And in northern climates, there is something anxious about the long darkness. If you have time to read a good article on this busy short day, click here to read There Goes the Sun by Richard Cohen from the NYT.

It should be a relief to know this event is completely indifferent to human intervention, one way or the other. (Although we all enjoy the excuse for a party.) But the Solstice will still be happening when we're long gone from this planet.

Sweet mules and Buddha hand

Sunday was a bright gift after weeks of rain, wind and clouds. On California Avenue near the outdoor market in West Seattle, there were free wagon rides courtesy of these fine mules. Santa was visiting one of the stores, and there was a long line of dressed-up children and nervous looking babies. It was good to be out in the sunshine, after lazing around and eating roast beef on Saturday. We had lunch (Pho, again) and then stopped at QFC on the way home for a few groceries.
Grocery store aisles are cluttered up now with the food people want for the holidays, like cans of French fried onions and mushroom soup. But seeing a Buddha's hand in the produce section was a first. Pricey little thing, isn't it?

I learned on Wiki it's a citron that grows on a small, thorn-covered tree. The fruit has a thick peel, and in western cooking is used mostly for zest. The white pith isn't bitter, so the whole thing can be grated and sliced directly into salads and such. It grows in parts of California, but the origin of the plant goes back to India or China. The Japanese use it for perfuming rooms and clothing. The fruit is traditionally given in Buddhist temples as an offering, with the "fingers" of the fruit in a closed position resembling prayer.

The Citrus medica tree

Tis' the season...

Here's something nicer than fried sausages. Standing rib roast! I even had to look for a recipe to remind myself how to cook it. They're on special this week at all the grocery stores, but it isn't something I usually throw in the cart. So I asked John if we should freeze it for a company meal later, and he said, "now sounds better."

There are all kinds of weird tips and cooking methods, including putting the roast in a scorching oven, then turning it off completely and going away for 3 hours. But...a little seasoning, a 350 oven and meat thermometer (trust it) is all you need. Yes, it was an indulgent meal for two on a cold, rainy Saturday night. But it cost less than dinner at Appleby's, and we didn't have to drive anywhere near the Mall. And the wine was better. And we had French dip sandwiches on Sunday. So the list of good things goes on and on. I hope your busy weekend was tasty, too.

The Festival of Yule

It's comforting that we didn't invent all the traditions that are taken for granted at Christmas. Some go back thousands of years, and understanding that just enhances the religious holiday. Otherwise, why on earth would we have a white owl, a fox and a chickadee on our Christmas tree along with the angels? It's all about nature.

The winter solstice is coming up on December 21, but it was once known as the Festival of Yule. The pagans believed the "wheel of the year" stood still at the solstice, and to celebrate the return of light folks shared their stored food, gave gifts, had parties, lit bonfires and decorated their houses with evergreens. Sound familiar?

The calendar year circle is also the origin of Christmas wreaths, made with holly and ivy to protect the household. Yule time was a season, not a day. In ancient times, the fun finally came to an end on Twelfth Night, or January 5th. We're well into our diets and resolutions by then. But so many ancient beliefs have been seamlessly merged into our Christian celebrations. The wheel keeps turning.

The holly and the ivy

The Holly and the Ivy is a traditional English Christmas carol. December 25th was chosen to mark the birth of Jesus, but many symbols of the season are pagan, and go back thousands of years. For example, the bright red berries of the holly once represented fertility in the depth of winter.

If you grow holly, then you know the male and female trees need to be planted close in order to produce the beautiful berries. Occasionally, you still see old pairs of hollies flanking the front walkways of houses in Seattle. But the plant is out of fashion, since they are miserable to prune and can become enormous trees in our climate.

The ancient Romans believed if holly grew near a house, it protected against lightening, poison and sorcery. I planted some in the kitchen window box for Christmas, and we haven't had any problems with those things.


Holly water was sprinkled on newborns for protection, and was taken for good sleep, better dreams, and to help cope with death. The wood and smoke was used to forge and consecrate weapons. Romans associated holly with their sun god Saturn, and gave boughs of holly to friends during the winter solstice festival, called Saturnalia. When Christian missionaries tried to convert the Celts, they used pagan traditions to help the process along, and so holly became a religious symbol. Holly leaves were symbolic of the crown of thorns, and the berries represented Christ's blood.

The holly tree is personified in the Celtic Holly King, who rules nature. At each solstice, he and his brother the Oak King compete for the goddesses' attention and the winner rules over nature for the next six months. Their battle is symbolized by the ascent of the sun after winter solstice.


Natalie Cole does a wonderful version of the song. Here's a link to a YouTube video of her singing The Holly and the Ivy with Jose Carreras in Vienna:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxH60hIb9TM