What comes down must go up

On the last day of Christmas, my true love handed me:

5 big tubs,
4 plastic boxes,
3 cardboard cartons,
2 plastic bags,
And a toy sleigh without the reindeer...

You know the tune.  It took all weekend to undeck the halls, but Christmas is finally stowed away for another year.  Everything gets hoisted up through this rather small hole in the hall ceiling.  After all these years we have the teamwork thing down, so it's not as horrific as it looks.

The house suddenly feels spacious, without a big dry tree and 12 cartons of decorations strewn around.  It was a beautiful New Year's Day in Seattle, so the bright sun highlighted all the cobwebs and dust.  I spent most of yesterday cleaning, including the wood floors, which hadn't been touched since before Thanksgiving.  That's a lot of crumbs, folks.

I put some barbecue ribs in the oven and let them cook all afternoon while the smell slowly drove us crazy.  So we had a simple and final indulgent holiday dinner.

Cabbage and pork is considered good luck food on New Year's. The Pennsylvania Dutch and Germans made sauerkraut, and John's mom cooked pork with boiled cabbage.  They would always call from Ohio and tell us about their lucky lunch.  Oh, how we miss hearing their happy and optimistic voices on New Year's Day.

How about them resolutions?  I have some new ones to add to my recycled list.  For example, stop thinking, reading and obsessing so much about POTUS. This too shall pass, and it only adds to the cloud of anxiety and despair in the country.  Instead, I'll do what little things I can to make this world a better place and find a new volunteer position that lifts my spirits.  Maybe the Audubon Society?

And here's some glowing faces to brighten our first week of January. Thanks, Amanda for the fun sledding pictures.

Welcome 2018

Wishing you a New Year that’s sparkling with fun, adventure and high spirits. Smile!

New Year’s resolutions are just a to-do list for the first week of January. 

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.