Happy New Year

“May Light always surround you;
Hope kindle and rebound you.
May your Hurts turn to Healing;
Your Heart embrace Feeling.
May Wounds become Wisdom;
Every Kindness a Prism.
May Laughter infect you;
Your Passion resurrect you.
May Goodness inspire
your Deepest Desires.
Through all that you Reach For,
May your arms Never Tire.”

D. Simone

A stranger in a strange land

Apologies to my little group of followers who check in on the blog daily and have been greeted by a stale piece of fruitcake. This old dog is trying to learn new tricks and I haven't been able to write.

You know how it feels to land in a foreign country where all the familiar things you take for granted have changed? I suppose your zest for adventure and new learning depends on how weary you are when you step off the airplane. (I'm post-Christmas beat.) People are suddenly speaking a language I don't understand and doing familiar things in different, perplexing ways.  What was once second nature is suddenly baffling and complex.

To make it worse, the new computer is talking to my iPhone behind my back in a frightening way.

And so it is, traveling to Apple World after 30 years in Windows Land.  Like people, computers are all the same under the skin--they just wear different clothing and speak different languages. For example, Restore the files you accidentally deleted is now called Put Back in Mac talk. Causing moments of panic. And so on, over and over again.  

After my photos were transferred to the new machine, I was surprised to see 11,000+ images stored on Viao going back almost 10 years.  All of them organized in lazy librarian default according to the month and year they were taken. Not a horrible arrangement, but pitiful now considering the astonishing tools available on IPhoto and Photoshop. (That is a project for another day.)

It's all very perplexing. I just want things to stay the same (don't we all?) and upload pictures into my blog without writing down item numbers, dragging things into new temporary folders and straining my eyes staring at miniscule thumbnails.  Wait!  That sounds like one of those sad Windows workarounds! I need some help from a Genius, and not the one who lives in this house.   My first "Getting to Know Your Mac" lesson is tomorrow at the Apple Store.

There's a big adventure ahead in a dazzling new land. But for now, this tired blogger is signing off on the old Hewlett Packard.

National Fruitcake Day

National Fruitcake Day celebrates the rock hard, fruit filled holiday cake. While fruitcake was popular in the 40's and 50's, we are not sure if anyone has ever eaten this weighty, gooey, sugar laden cake.  Scientists have been unable to penetrate deeply into a fruitcake, and therefore, have failed to uncover its exact composition. Its density has also hampered their ability to use carbon dating to identify the age of a fruitcake. Unconfirmed rumors suggest that some fruitcake are hundreds of years old.  From Weird and Wacky Holiday Calendar


I once made a pretty good brandy-soaked fruitcake, or maybe I'm just fooling myself because I don't remember anyone actually eating it except me and an old English friend who called it "Christmas cake" and loved it.  Fruitcake is much more popular in Great Britain. 

When my brother went on wilderness adventures in the 1980's he would take some of my fruitcake along in his backpack as emergency "survival" food.  That was before energy bars had been invented. My grandmother who never threw anything out kept hers in the refrigerator for years.   Despite all the bad jokes, I still think a thin slice of well-made fruitcake is pretty good with a cup of tea.  Anyway-- enough about fruitcake! If you have one, December 27th is the official day to pass it along.

The Second Day of Christmas

Before the storm

The Twelve Days of Christmas is largely forgotten in the United States, except for that song that I don't care to hear again for another year.  This time of winter was once a wild, twelve day period of non-fasting celebration. In the olden days, the holiday was just getting started on December 25th.

I always like Boxing Day because after a whirlwind of work and craziness I have a chance to contemplate my gifts-- both material and spiritual.  This can be almost as overwhelming as Christmas Day. On the highly material side, there was a new MacBook Pro under the tree.  Yes, that means in 2014 I'll leave the aggravating but familiar PC world behind forever.

And what a good world it was. Thank you, Microsoft for all the highs and lows of a long relationship. But nostalgia only goes so far and apparently new wonders, ease and luxury awaits. Perhaps the best part of the gift will be a year of one-on-one lessons with a smart (and hopefully very patient) Apple Smartperson. 

My Viao will be taking a last, sad walk with me to the Apple Store where its insides (thousands of photos and documents) will be unceremoniously removed by an Apple Genius and installed into a sleek new machine. Just like going from a Ford Taurus to a Ferrari. Thank you, John!

And to all, a Good Night

Some special moments today when Nova played with the old wooden toys that were once Amanda's. For me, Christmas Eve Day tradition always centers in the kitchen.

A pitcher of fresh lemonade is a once-a-year-treat made with fresh Meyer lemons sent up from Las Vegas in an expensive package.

Thanks, Marji!

Quiche Lorraine ready for Christmas breakfast

And a Manhattan-style cheesecake for dessert after ham and scalloped potatoes tomorrow. Whew.

But tonight, a quiet dinner at home and maybe a walk around the block to look at the neighbor's lights. And it isn't raining!

We send love and Christmas blessings to our family and friends tonight.

Sleep in heavenly peace. 

What's easier?

Q: What's easier than taking candy from a baby?  

A: Teaching a baby how to use an iPhone.

Maya and I spent some quality time today while Mom ran errands and visited with friends.  I had that little finger swiping the screen in no time. Building airplanes is next.

Now, tucked among Nana's old Christmas treasures, Nova tells me there are some "scary" things. Like Amanda's big wooden Pinocchio (really??)

And this fat elf--

Because Nana has to stay one step ahead of her bright granddaughters, she put "scary elf" up on her desk.

It's called "natural child deterrent."