Bacon Day

 "It is my passionate belief that we can all have 

better health through rationing."

Richard Lamm

December 30th is "Bacon Day." Yea! Although John will tell you, in this house bacon is stingily rationed.  As in one slice each for this "bagel thin" breakfast sandwich.

Anyway, we should be fasting this morning. We're meeting friends in the International District for a dim sum late breakfast-early lunch, but we were up early as usual and needed a snack to get us going.  Pork and shrimp dumplings are not exactly health food, but hey, let's end the year on a high note.  January is the month for new resolutions.

The snow has melted, yesterday's deluge and last night's windstorm have passed, and the first days of the new year look bright, dry and mild.  Marianne and I plan to take a short trail ride tomorrow, which will be a perfect way to finish off 2017.

Then back to reality.  The house is dirty and boxes of Christmas stuff needs to be packed away.  The soft and fragrant tree is crispy dry and brown (yes, ugly.)  I'm not looking forward to that big needle explosion when we drag it unceremoniously out the front door tomorrow.

The country is cold

Winter morning paper and milk

Nothing much to say this morning. Rain, rain, rain in Seattle.

Winter reading

The New Yorker magazine recently published a long, interesting article about the writer, Jennifer Egan.  She won a Pulitzer Prize for her 2011 book, "A Visit From the Goon Squad." How did I ever miss it?  Maybe the title turned me off at the time.  I found a cheap copy on Ebay and can't put it down. The central character is aging punk rocker and record executive, of all things.  You could call it either a novel, or just 13 interrelated tales.

I usually don't care for books with a big mash-up of characters, but "Goon Squad" is strange and good. At any rate, it's the kind of book that stays with you.  Her new book is called "Manhattan Beach," a meticulously researched historical novel. She is probably incapable of writing anything bad.

On the other hand, I enjoy Ann Pachett's books, in particular "The Patron Saint of Liars" and "Magician's Assistant," so was looking forward to her new novel, "Commonwealth." It's a complicated story about family that jumps around in time. I can't get into it.  But then, my concentration isn't that good right now. I have only about a 15 minute window to read in bed before I fall dead asleep.

The holidays wind down and the week between Christmas and New Year's always feels suspended in time.  The Christmas tree is dry as tinder, and everything looks a little worse for wear, including us.

2017 is rapidly drawing to a close and good riddance!

But as Buddhism teaches, "good" or "bad" do not exist: all good comes from bad, and bad follows good, round in an endless cycle. Attachment is the source of all suffering.

Bring on 2018.

One for the record books

White Christmases are rare in Seattle, with only a seven percent chance in any given year.  And this was the first time in Seattle's recorded history that we had snow on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day-- 1.6 inches on December 24, and 1 inch on December 25.

I have to admit, the Western Washington adults were more excited than the  Central Washington children, where snow is just a ho-hum fact of life all winter.

All weekend the missing "Roger" was in our thoughts.  I made a computer slide show from the many photos I'd saved of him and the kids over the years, so we shared tears and smiles.

The family is safely home now in Twisp, but it was a long journey yesterday.  The holiday traffic backups were terrible on I-90, and it took hours just getting to the town of Wenatchee, where they had arranged to drop their car off at the Toyota dealer and take rental car the last 100 miles home.

Fortunately, the kids are used to being strapped in their car seats for long periods of time.  Amanda said the whining was kept down by new toys and beef jerky (thanks, Dave.) When we saw them off yesterday, the girls were surrounded with their Christmas loot.

Speaking of loot!  John always finds the best presents, and among other nice things he gave me a beautiful little travel ukulele.  Sexy thin and light as a feather, with a cool case to carry on my back. It's a "Kala" brand, with a lovely tone. And won't I feel like a smarty pants at the next Uke's song circle?

And so many other thoughtful and wonderful gifts:  gourmet food, tea, handmade soaps, books, music and some new tech "toys" for John-- requiring a full day of fiddling. 


We are beat.

Snow magic

Just like magic, the snow started falling on Christmas Eve.

And we woke to a winter wonderland.

Our Christmas rose brightens the street.

Nova and Maya, playing with Amanda's old set of Christmas blocks...

A Christmas Eve day tradition.

Waiting for Santa.

He came! 

And the rest of the day turned into a big, busy blur of activity.  

We hope yours was happy.

Our big Nutcracker day

A lovely winter afternoon at the Seattle Center.

A pretty thrilling ride on the Monorail.

  (Maya loved it.)

Nova (not so sure.)

Inside McCaw Hall, decorated for the ballet, lots of fun photo ops.

Mother and daughter clowning...

 Ballerina Nova

 Ballerina Maya

 Oh, my. Look at the beautiful young ladies they are becoming.

But for now, another precious Christmas with little girls.

(The stockings, by the way, are already hung by the chimney with care.) 

Happy Christmas Eve, dear friends and family.

You are in our hearts, thoughts and prayers tonight.

Peace on Earth.

Stollens and such

Oh, I wish mom could see this German stollen that John brought home today from the fancy Bakery Noveau. First of all, the size and price of it would shock her, plus it's nothing like the light yeast bread with candied fruit that she and Grandma Dutzie called stollen, and always made at Christmas.

This one is probably filled with marzipan, probably wrapped in a dense butter dough, probably delicious. In a totally different way, that is. But what I wouldn't give for just a taste of mom's old Christmas stollen.



John also bought flowers for the house, as he does every year. I pulled these orchids out of the big bouquet and made a separate arrangement, just as mom would have done.

This looks better than it tastes, but since Amanda can't have one crumb of wheat,  I made a loaf of cinnamon raisin "bread" with a Bob's Red Mill gluten free mix.

Other delicacies stacking up in the kitchen...

And plenty of this stuff...

Homemade pizza for dinner tonight...

And a packed fridge.  Now entering full holiday food mode...

A white Christmas?

It's still too early to tell, but if the cold air stays in place until Sunday, we might get a white Christmas in Seattle.  There has been snowfall on only about 6% of Christmas Days in the last 121 years.  The last time was 2006, with 0.4 inches.  Snow isn't anything unusual for Nova and Maya, but still-- much more fun than plain old rain. 

 "Here they come Mom!  
And John won't need the wish bone-- 

they've got their PLYMOUTH!"

I love that caption.  John keeps pointing out the television commercial where the guy looks out the window on Christmas morning and sees new Mercedes with a big bow.  Well, that probably isn't going to happen! But from the looks of the tree, it will be a merry morning here. We will miss our furry family member, but take joy in our love and memories.

The family will be here tonight, and tomorrow afternoon we're all going downtown to see the Nutcracker ballet at the Opera House.  John is on vacation now until after New Year's, but my busy time is just getting started.  I'm off to the grocery store (yet again.)

A life well-loved

"Dogs are not our whole life, 

but they make our lives whole..."

Roger Caras

"Roger"

May 29, 2008  -  December 20, 2016
 

"When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, 

and you shall see that in truth you are weeping 

for that which has been your delight."

Khalil Gibran

The darkest week

The Bed

by Toulouse Lautrec

Some of us would like to just stay in bed and hibernate until Christmas morning. In Seattle, we've had non-stop news coverage of the train catastrophe, along with relentless rain and epic traffic jams.  On the bright side, the weather is supposed to lift with cold and clear days before Christmas. Hopefully the family will have an easier drive over the mountains Thursday.

This morning we're all concerned about Roger, our dear furry family member. He's been a fixture at every Christmas since 2007 when he was still the "only child."  He has suffered from a mysterious respiratory aliment for over an year, and even the best vets in the state haven't able to determine the cause, much less a cure.

He's been doing mostly OK lately, but Amanda said yesterday he took a sudden and serious turn for the worst. His lungs are filled with fluid, and we don't know yet if he can recover.  My heart just breaks for Amanda, Tom and the girls facing such a sad situation right before Christmas.

So many memories.  This is a picture of Roger and his cat Jack, in happier times.