Christmas hangover

The Seeress of Prevorst
Gabriel Von Max

The month is finishing up moist and balmy in Seattle. It's reached the mid-50's this week as a subtropical weather flow is stacking up the storms from the warm bottom of the Pacific. The TV weathermen have kindly numbered the incoming storms on their satellite image, as if there's any doubt we're going to be warm and wet for the foreseeable future. It reminds me of the 1995 flop movie, Waterworld. There are flocks of noisy starlings out enjoying the tropical weather and thinking about spring, without having to buy an exorbitant airline ticket to Hawaii like the lucky people who are getting out of here now.

I can't remember the last time I had a cold, but a heavy one has suddenly come on. Should I blame it on my snuffling little granddaughter? She seemed fine while she was here, but there is something about kid germs that can lay the heartiest grown-up low. Ask any parent. Ask any teacher.

The Christmas decorations are still up and the house needs cleaning. The tree looks ready to disintegrate. My smart friend Candi said she just bought an artificial tree on sale, which is the perfect time to do it while all the mess of a big dried up pine is fresh on your mind. By next November, you're thinking again how wonderful real trees are in the house, which of course they are for a couple of weeks. But by January?

Well, there is good news buried in this moaning and groaning post. Since Christmas eve, our mother has been hospitalized with pneumonia and serious complications, but she's been making slow progress and we're hopeful that dad will take her back to Cripple Creek soon. Also, Amanda and Nova made it safely over Stevens Pass yesterday in advance of a foot of snow that fell last night in the mountains. She said it was a very long day-- Nova suddenly decided she wanted to be potty trained after all, so there were many stops along the way for calls of nature. Not to mention Happy Meals.
All is well.