The first duet

Well, we're not quite ready for prime-time viewing, but Amanda did a great job with her new video camera, especially with one of the performers dashing back and forth across the room.  This was so much fun and hopefully the first of many other  "musical productions."  

Little Maya is so cute, taking it all in.  

Winter blahs

Cold weather finally arrived and the temperature won't get much above freezing for the next week.  But compared to eastern Washington, Seattle is downright balmy.  It will be below zero in Twisp by the time Amanda, Tom and the kids get home tomorrow.  At least the weather should be mostly sunny and dry for the long drive.

Here's some tried and true remedies for those pesky winter blahs.

Invite friends over...

A new bonnet...

A trip to Hawaii...

A glass of tonic...

Start cleaning...

Some bathroom primping...

A hearty winter supper....

A facial...

Chicken soup helps...

A nice scalp massage...

We three kings

For me, the week between Christmas and New Year's Day always feels suspended in time-- between two celebrations, the time both flies and drags. Of course it isn't the same at all, but it feels something like the Saturday before Easter.  The big defining event is finished, but we haven't made the new start yet. 

I think the Journey of the Magi by T.S. Eliot might be the best poem ever written about spiritual transformation.  I read it every year.  Surrendering the old and familiar to embrace the unknown isn't so simple.  The first lines go like this:

'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'

Here's a couple of pictures from yesterday.  Fast-moving targets in a dark house are not conducive to good photography.

Non-stop action

Nova on Christmas morning...

Hanging with grandpa...

Show and tell...

Finally, pooped out...

And of course, the star of the dinner table.  Happy Boxing Day! Hope you had a great Christmas-- afraid I was too busy for quality photography yesterday, but I'm sure you get the idea.

Christmas Eve

The paper white narcissus are blooming just in time for Christmas. They smell beautiful, and I put them where I like to sit and practice my ukulele, although there won't be much plinky-plinky going on today.

Christmas Eve is a busy day and I'll bake cheesecake and make cinnamon rolls for breakfast tomorrow.  I'll cook some sugar syrup and squeeze the amazing home-grown lemons my sister sends us each year from Las Vegas.  John bought me a rather deluxe citrus squeezer last week I'm looking forward to trying it out. A pitcher of lemonade has become an unusual (but refreshing) tradition here on Christmas day.

Nana and Grandpa are looking forward to the arrival of Amanda, Tom and two excited little girls late tonight.

Amanda has to work at the clinic in Twisp this morning, so they won't get an early start.  Unfortunately, snow is predicted in the mountain passes later today, but then-- winter driving is nothing unusual for them. God speed. 

Breathe

It was another unseasonably warm December day in the foothills yesterday, and a blessed escape from the Christmas insanity. A few quiet moments in the woods on Spanky.  What better place for a quick prayer, than from the back of a good horse? Thank you Dolly. 

What is this life if, full of care
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Leisure, by William Henry Davies

"Biscuit"

'Zat you, Santy Claus?

Here's a photo Amanda send from the Omak Home Depot store yesterday.  Even though Maya can't actually look at Santa Claus yet, she keeps getting a little closer!

Which brings to mind a favorite Christmas classic, sung by Louis Armstrong.

Cookie finito

Peanut butter chocolate dipped...

Coconut dream bars in your dreams....

Gingerbread stars...

Butter cookies...more chocolate.

Sugar cookies, decorated...

 Lemon, white chocolate orange, oatmeal, chocolate chip and cut-outs with sprinkles...

Off with John in the morning...
Whew. Done.

Wet, warm

A ski area with no snow is a sorry sight in late December. Especially for the owners of these resorts! The summit of Snoqualmie Pass was still bare a few days ago, and although it is snowing this morning at pass level, yet another Pineapple Express storm will melt and wash away most of it by afternoon. Flood warnings again on the rivers.

I sound like a broken record about how warm it is, month after month.   Now December is going down as perhaps the warmest in Seattle, counting back to 1890. It's raining cats and dogs this morning, and traffic will be a mess.  I still have plenty of cookie and other chores to do, so I won't venture far from home on the "busiest shopping day of the year." 

The good news, bad news of all this warm rain is the plants like these alliums I photographed yesterday (and of the course the weeds) are sprouting up like it was February.   

A Christmas Carol

From Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac program this morning:


It was on this day in 1843 that Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol, the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, whom Dickens described as "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire." In A Christmas Carol, Scrooge learns the Christmas spirit of generosity from three ghosts who show him his past, his present, and his future.

 At the time of the book's publication, the celebration of Christmas was somewhat controversial. Puritans in England and America argued that Christmas was a holiday left over from the days when pagans celebrated the winter solstice. Many Christians felt that the extravagance of Christmas was an insult to Christ. But A Christmas Carol was a huge best-seller in both England and the United States, and it set the tone for Christmas as we know it today: a season of generosity, feasting, and merriment.
 
These great illustrations are by Arthur Rackham, from a 1915 edition of A Christmas Carol.

Temple of Porcine Love

The Swinery

John takes his daily afternoon walk past this little West Seattle artisan butcher store.  I don't shop at The Swinery, but I did buy some pretty good bratwurst there once, so I asked him to drop in and see if they had any small hams for our Christmas dinner.

"Yes," the girl at the counter said, "some just came in and ham is going fast." So he ran back home for money and a shopping bag.

It's a good thing he took a big shopping bag and plenty of money, because she underestimated size and he lugged home this 17 pound piece of smoked piggy. The label doesn't say much, just smoked ham. Actually minimal ingredients and lack of nutritional information is kind of refreshing these days. Hey, it's a HAM. It came from a place called Carlton Farms in Oregon.  Well, that should do us for Christmas dinner and leftovers into 2015.

Last week we watched smarty-pants Martha Stewart bake an enormous ham, and I found her recipe on the Internet.   It's more of a technique really, since there aren't any complex ingredients needed to heat up a fully cooked ham.

Being Martha, she scored the top with mathematical precision and whipped up a nice glaze with maple syrup, Dijon mustard, champagne vinegar and apricot jam.   Her buffet ham was beautiful of course, with wonderful sweet, fatty, crispy, brown bits on top just begging to be pinched off.

Well, Martha Stewart sets a high bar.  If I'm not too frazzled by dinnertime on Christmas, I'll remember to take a picture of ours.

Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree

1931

New York City

I ran across this great old photo of the first Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center, back when the Plaza was still a construction zone.  John D. Rockefeller developed the site in mid-town Manhattan beginning in 1930,  and it was the largest private building project undertaken in modern times. 

Just how rich was Rockefeller during the Great Depression?  He took on the enormous project of razing existing buildings and constructing new skyscrapers as the sole financier, at an estimated cost of $250 million, the equivalent of about $350 billion today.

Fast forward to our bright and garish Digital Age, and here's the 2014 tree arriving on the Plaza.

Bing Crosby Rediscovered

We always watch three old movies in December:  Scrooge (1970) starring handsome young Albert Finney, then a sweet little English film called A Child's Christmas in Wales (1987) based on the Dylan Thomas poem, and of course, the all-time classic, White Christmas, starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Vera Miles and Rosemary Clooney.  There are other good Christmas movies, but we're creatures of habit and besides, we own those DVD's.

The PBS program American Masters just aired a special called Bing Crosby Rediscovered. John was smart and recorded it in advance so we could fast forward through the long pledge breaks begging for money.

Anyway, Bing's acting and singing talent was undeniable, but the man's personality is an enigma.  Even the four sons from his first unhappy marriage (two of them committed suicide-- hum) couldn't agree if he was a sadistic, cold disciplinarian or a pretty decent dad for the time. The second family he raised had a much softer opinion of him. Maybe he mellowed.

Remember we went to Crosby's historic Del Mar racetrack in November? We walked around and ate popcorn and placed some 2 dollar bets.  So it was interesting seeing footage of that elegant track in its heyday on the TV special.

Can a man who loves horses be all that bad?  


Bing Crosby was born Harry Lillis Crosby, Jr. in Tacoma, Washington, the fourth of seven children. He was of English and Irish descent. Crosby studied law at Gonzaga University in Spokane but was more interested in playing the drums and singing.

I saw his pipe displayed at the Gonzaga University Special Collections when I attended an archives conference there in the 1990's. The "Crosbyana Room" in the "Crosby Student Center" is a shrine for Crosby fans.