Archive for the ‘Musings’ category
December 16, 2014
Today is warm even without the sun. I woke up early, around 5:30. Though I tried to go back to sleep, I couldn’t so I came downstairs, brewed my coffee and checked out the TV news. I heard the thud of the papers hitting the driveway a little later and wandered outside still surprised at how warm a day it is.
This morning I have to bring goodies to the library’s Christmas open house and I have PT at 11. After that I get to decorate my tree. It is not as tall as usual but is beautiful and fresh. I ran my hand up and down the needles just for the pine smell. The tree is sitting in the middle of my living room all ready for the lights.
One snippet in the paper caught my attention. Yesterday the police arrested a drunk driver on the highway. He was also cited for an unsafe car. It seems he was riding on three tires and a rim. When asked about it, the driver said he hadn’t noticed.
Every Christmas Eve my mother and I were always the last to go to bed. We’d sit, have a drink and chat and exchange one present, one special present. One year my present to her was a replica of a framed picture which used to hang in the bathroom when I was young. It had a small boy wrapped in a blue towel and a poem with started, “Please remember, don’t forget never leave the bathroom wet nor leave the soap still in the water…” It was hung on the wall across from the toilet, and I used to read it every time I went to the bathroom, and it is permanently etch into my memory drawers. We saw it in a house in Ireland, and my mother tried to buy it but wasn’t successful. I found the replica on-line. She loved it.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Christmas Eve, Christmas tree, don't forget, newspapers, Please remember, special present, three tires and a rim, TV news, warm day
Comments: 10 Comments
December 15, 2014
Today is much the same weather as we’ve had for days. The temperature is in the 40’s. The sun is gone and probably enjoying warmer climes so we are stuck with perpetually gray skies. On my to do list is the tree. I still need to move a few small pieces of furniture to open the corner where the tree fits beautifully. I also need to do a bit more hunting downstairs as I haven’t found the Christmas stockings yet. The tree ornament boxes are already up from the cellar. The tree stand is stored in its box and will be easy to find. I hope to finish decorating tonight.
When I was a kid, once December came around, my house always felt like Christmas. My mother didn’t put up tons of decorations, but the lights in the windows, the huge tree in the corner, the stockings hanging on the bannister and a few Santa knickknacks were more than enough. I remember the Santa cups. There were four of them and the handles spelled Noel when the Santas were beside each other. I don’t know what happened to the original cups, but I found the same set and bought it. I also bought a few other ceramic Santas from the 50’s and some plastic ones which light up with a single white bulb. Of all the holidays, it is Christmas which brings back my childhood and fills me with joyful memories.
My mother gave us the gift of Christmas. My dad came from a socks and underwear family. My mother put whimsy in Christmas and found the best stocking stuffers. Decorating the tree was a full family affair, and my mother was the director. As we’d get closer to Christmas she’d tease us about what we were getting and did that the whole of her life. She’d call and say, “You’ll love what I bought for you today.” She was always right. The other night my brother-in-law called. He said listen to this and I heard paper being crumbled. He told me that was the wrapping paper he was putting on my gift, the perfect of all gifts. My mother would have loved that phone call!
Categories: Musings
Tags: a socks and underwear family, ceramic Santas, decorating, gray day, lighted plastic Santas, my mother and Christmas, Noel cups, nostalgia, stockings, sunless, teasing about gifts, tree shopping, warmosh
Comments: 8 Comments
December 14, 2014
Yesterday was the perfect start to the countdown to Christmas. The play, Meet Me in St. Louis, was wonderful. The cast had great voices and the scenery was cleverly built so the pieces could be turned. Summer became fall and fall became a snowy winter complete with a snowman. It was the Saturday matinee in the very same theater where I spent so many other Saturdays watching movies when I was growing up. The marquee is the same, the ticket booth is still on the side wall and the upward incline leads to the seating areas just as it did when I was a kid. Missing, however, are the teenagers making out in the back rows, the candy counter on the wall between the two aisles and Al and his flashlight patrolling those aisles and shining his light on evildoers throwing candy. The stage isn’t very big, but it seemed huge with all the characters dancing and singing together.
After the play we walked down the street to Felicia’s for dinner. As we walked closer to the restaurant, we could smell the food, especially the garlic. The restaurant was crowded and you got a table only if you had a reservation. We did. The garlic enticed me to order shrimp scampi. It was delicious.
After dinner we took the long way to my sister’s house, the same way we used to walk to and from school. There were so many houses with lights, it was amazing. Even their fences were decorated. I had’t seen so many lit houses in a while. I stayed with my sister for a bit then took all back roads to the highway. I wanted to see more lights.
The ride home was uneventful and boring. The city, as usual, had a stretch of bumper to bumper cars, but beyond that the traffic lightened, and the ride was quick. The radio played Christmas songs and I sang along. I got home in good time, gave Gracie some hugs, patted the cats and got comfortable. Today is house decorating day. I’ll go up and down the cellar stairs several times hauling the decorations I want to use this year. I’ll have to go to the back for the boxes as the front boxes were last year’s choices. Tomorrow is tree day. I can hardly wait. I love decorating the tree.
Categories: Musings
Comments: 16 Comments
December 13, 2014
The clouds are back, and the day is gray. The limbs of the oak trees are silhouetted against the sky in a jumble of branches. The morning is cold. Maddie has her head under the lampshade to get warmth from the lightbulb though the house isn’t cold. Fern and Gracie are having their morning naps. It is the usual start to the day.
The week or so before Christmas seemed to have a spark, an edge of excitement. I remember the early darkness and all the houses and front bushes lit up with the big colored lights which always got hot. The square was strung with garlands across Main Street and a huge lit wreath hung from the middle of each garland. A bandstand of sorts was erected in front of The Children’s Corner, a long ago store, and every night a different group sang Christmas carols for the shoppers. When I was in the fifth grade, we got to sing. I remember how cold it was and how we huddled to stay warm. We each had one of those carol booklets John Hancock gave out. The nun would tell us the page rather than the name of the carol. It was quicker that way. I remember feeling proud and important and hoped there were neighbors who would notice me singing. In those days the square had all the stores, and the sidewalks were filled with shoppers. You always ran into someone you knew.
Tomorrow is the Dennis Christmas stroll. All the stores are open, there are singers in the bandbox, a horse-drawn wagon takes people up and down the road, the library has a crafts fair and there is food in a tent and in many of the stores. The insurance company usually has hot dogs and the fire station gives out hot chocolate. At the Cape Playhouse there is a sing-a-long. Mrs. Claus is usually there. Mr. Clause wanders a bit. Many of the towns have strolls but this one always seems local to me, filled more with people from Dennis than from other towns. I always meet lots of people I know.
Today I’ll be going off Cape. Gracie has a sitter, her Uncle Tony. The cats are fine on their own. It’s our traditional Christmas play day and then out to dinner. My mother started the tradition, and my sister and I keep it going. My favorite was the year my mother took us to see Death of a Salesman with Brian Dennehy. After the play, with tongues in cheeks, my sister and I thanked her for such a merry Christmas offering then we all went out to dinner.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bandstand, Christmas, cold, Death of a Salesman with Brian Dennehy, Dennis stroll, fifth grade, John Hancock booklet, lights, shoppers, Singing, singing carols, the town square, wreaths
Comments: 10 Comments
December 12, 2014
Piles of Christmas bags filled with wrapped presents sits on the couch ready to be boxed and mailed. My marathon wrapping session of Colorado gifts has ended. When I finish here, it is over the river and through the woods to UPS where they will box and sent. I will pay and breathe a sigh of relief.
I don’t have my tree yet. That will have to be on Sunday as tomorrow is booked with the annual play then out to dinner with my sister. The play this year is Meet Me in St. Louis. The dinner will be Italian. It always is.
I need to get in gear. My house isn’t the magical Christmas scene it usually is by now. My back is to blame. It hurts when I carry things and hurts when I don’t. The only time I get relief is sitting with pillows behind me. I’m thinking that sounds like a bon-bon day. I’ll wear frills and call for the maid to indulge my every whim.
A spawn of Satan came in the mail. im6 sent it to me. The spawn is grasping a bag of acorns, ammo I suspect. It is in this room with me. I swear its eyes follow me, and I think I heard the acorns rattling. The spawn is cute which is its weapon. You get drawn in and then whack. The spawn has you. Gracie thought it was hers. She does have several stuffed toys so it was a natural mistake, but I saved the spawn from Gracie clutches. I don’t know why. I’ll regret it. I’ve seen all the movies. Chucky comes to mind.
Today is sunny and the sky is blue. I almost didn’t recognize either one as it has been so long since their last appearance. They are welcomed, but neither is enough to keep the cold at bay. It’s in the mid 30’s and will stay that way all day. It’s a bundle day.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Christmas play, decorating, dinner, maid, mailing boxes, Meet me in St. Louis play, spawn of satan, Stoneham Theater, stuffed squirrel, sunny but cold, Tree, whims
Comments: 12 Comments
December 11, 2014
I may have seen the sun a bit earlier, but I can’t be sure. It’s not raining-that much I can say with certainty. I watched Gracie from the back door after I let her out and noticed birds in the side yard and one woodpecker on my back step. The birds were juncos, and there were many. I had a mixed seed bag so I threw some into the yard in case the juncos come back. They haven’t been around much so I figured I’d give them some incentive. Today is a one errand day, for dog food, and a wrap like crazy day. I need to get the Colorado gifts wending their way westward.
The old tinsel controversy has reared its head. My family called the silvery garlands tinsel. They were wound around the tree and draped for effect. We also had a red tinsel garland and a construction paper one we had made once. It was the worst for wear, but it was part of the tree tradition. The tinsel was put on the tree just after the lights. My mother did the honors as she knew exactly how the tinsel should look from branch to branch. The ornaments were next. The big breakables were put around the top by my mother. We always thought of them as the fancy ornaments, the untouchables. We all put on the rest of the ornaments including the small glass ones. I have some of those and I have one fancy ornament. My mother gave each of us a box filled with the ornaments of our childhood including one fancy ornament I still put high up on the tree. Last of all to be put on the tree were the icicles. We’d each take a handful and drape one at a time on a branch. After a while draping became boring, and mayhem ensued. We’d take handfuls and toss them on the tree to get rid of our piles. My mother would yell,”One at a time. One at a time.” We didn’t care. We were lost in the throwing frenzy. Finally my mother stopped us and took all our icicles. She then removed the piles on the branches and put the icicles on the tree one at a time. We watched television.
Now, were they icicles or were they tinsel? What about the garlands? Were they tinsel too? I say there is no question, no confusion. Those silvery strands were icicles because that’s what they looked like hanging from the branches. They looked like the real icicles which hung from the edges of our roof. I do admit the real ones never hung in clumps.
Categories: Musings
Tags: birds, construction paper garland, fancy ornaments, garland, gifts, icicles, ornaments, piles of icicles, sun, tinsel, tinsel garlands, tree decorating, UPS, wrapping presents
Comments: 16 Comments
December 9, 2014
The wind is howling and the rain is falling sideways. My backyard trees are again dancing in the wind, back and forth and back and forth. The rain has flooded roads and is falling so heavily that even a quick dash means getting cold and wet. This morning I made four stops. First was the library board meeting, then the post office, then PT and finally the store for life’s essentials: bread, cat food, chicken and a chocolate bar.
I am so happy to be back inside my warm, dry house. When I finish writing, I’m going upstairs and put on my cozies. I bought some clam chowder for dinner. It seemed perfect for a day like today.
Yesterday I brought up a few Christmas decorations from the cellar and later today I hope to decorate some more. The tree in the dining room is lit. I like to go the long way around to the stairs so I get to see the tree. I can hardly wait for the big tree, but now I have to hope for a couple of dry days.
The gold finches have braved the rain and are at the feeder though it swaying in the wind. The red spawn doesn’t seem to like the rain. He is probably in a cozy nest snacking on my sunflower seeds. If he were a character in The Wind in the Willows, his nest would have comfy furniture, a fireplace and a filled pantry. He’d be sitting by the fire with his feet on an ottoman as he drinks afternoon tea from a dainty China cup.
The last wind storm took down several of my outside decorations. I had to go down the side hill which is covered with brush, thorns and branches. Getting down is never the problem. Getting back up always is as I have nothing to hold on to help pull myself up. The other day I threw the ornaments I had retrieved onto the grass above the hill so I could have both hands free. I made it safely up the hill, a major accomplishment for me.
Now to my slippers and my cozies and maybe, just maybe, a nap.
Categories: Musings
Tags: chilly day, Christmas decorations, clam chowder, cozies, cozy, dancing trees, errands, getting soaked, rain, red spawn, Tree, warm nest, Wind, Wind in the Willows
Comments: 12 Comments
December 8, 2014
Today is so bitingly cold I didn’t even bother to go out to chase the red spawn off the deck away from the birdseed. I did watch from the window and thought of ways to discourage it now that I haven’t the hose. The potato gun is still in the top spot, and one of those blaster squirt guns has made the list. My poor birds can’t get at the feeder so I am determined to rid my yard of this vermin.
The weather is cold, dark, damp and ugly and will stay ugly all week as we’ll have rain for the next few days, and winter rain is seldom welcomed. Even running to the car means getting wet and being cold. The roads get icy. Stopping often means sliding. I sometimes slide right by my street as the icy corner is difficult to maneuver.
I hate scraping my windshield. Sometimes the ice is so thick it takes a monumental effort to clear. Two of the best reasons to retire are not having to scrape the windshield or leave in the dark for work.
I remember when we used to decorate the picture window with snowflakes, stars and snowmen. My mother usually bought the kit which had paper stencils and a spray can of fake snow. One of us would hold the stencil while the other sprayed. We’d take turns. It was a popular decoration when I was a kid, and most houses in my neighborhood had snowflakes on their windows.
My father always decorated the bushes in front of our house with strings of lights. The bulbs on those outside strings were huge and bright. We’d watch my dad from the windows and when he was finished, we’d all run outside to see the lights. My house at Christmas was always beautiful to me. Candles with orange bulbs were in the single windows and a five bulb holder was in the picture window. The bases of all those candles were white plastic, and my mother sometimes had to tape the bases to the windowsills so they wouldn’t fall. Every year we’d pull the old yellow tape off before using the new tape.
Darkness was the best time. We’d plug in the outside lights then run to the windows to turn on the bulbs. That was done by hand, turning each bulb until it lit. Christmas always brought light to the darkness.
Categories: Musings
Tags: blaster squirt gun, decorated bushes, icy roads, orange bulbs, picture stencils, potato gun, red spawn, scraping the windshield, snowflakes, stars and snowmen, window candles, winter rain
Comments: 8 Comments
December 7, 2014
The wind is howling and the trees are swaying and bending, especially the tall pines. I expect limbs to snap and fall. The brown dead oak leaves hanging from the ends of the smaller branches almost look frantic as they blow. The rain has stopped but a cold, grim day has taken its place. The wind is from the north, never a good thing.
Today has no list, no errands. I did bring the laundry down, but it has been known to sit by the cellar door for days. I think, though, that it may end up being washed as I need to go downstairs to get my Christmas cards. Because I’m going anyway, I might as well haul down the laundry. Yesterday I brought up my first decoration: the ugly fake scrub pine I always put in my dining room. It is decorated with old, vintage ornaments and on the top is a plastic lit up star from the 50’s. Two of the ornaments hanging from the tree are small square candy boxes. They have a white string for carrying and scenes on both sides, of the Nativity and the kings. The boxes were filled with hard Christmas candies which usually stuck together. The nuns always gave each of us one as a Christmas gift. Last night I lit the tree for the first time this season, rearranged a few of the ornaments and straighten some branches. To me the tree looks beautiful.
My outside lights aren’t synced too well even though I did set them to come on at the same time. One side of the front is first followed a few minutes later by the other side and then a while after that the deck lights come on. The two front timers are the same kind on the same setting so I’m bewildered as to their idiosyncratic lighting. The back is different, and I’m okay with the later lighting as you can’t see it from the front.
Lots of houses are already lit. Soon enough it will be time for my annual light tour. Gracie gets to come, and I give her a running commentary on the houses we see. A few are must visits every year. One of my favorites is the simplest. A lit tree sits in the middle of a cranberry bog. It is take your breath away beautiful.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bent branches, decorated candy box, furiously blowing leaves, hard candy box, howling wind, laundry day, light ride, light timers, light tour, north wind, outside lights', scrub pine tree, vintage Christmas decorations
Comments: 12 Comments
December 6, 2014
The rain started last night and continued into this morning. The day is dark, the sky a pale grey. It’s a stay at home day. I’m thinking I’ll do my Christmas cards and maybe bring up a few decorations from the cellar. Last night I was able to get all the outside lights to work with the timers. One comes on just a few minutes later than the other, but I can live with that. My street looks beautiful as so many houses are decorated with lights. One house has a lighted train car on its lawn which looks as if it’s moving as the lights flash around the wheel.
When I was a kid, I didn’t care about the weather except for snow. I remember getting excited watching the first few flakes. They were usually small and took their time falling to the ground. Every kid wanted those small flakes to get bigger and multiply to cover the ground with inches of snow. It wasn’t just for a snow day but for the fun the snow would bring. We could make caves, have snowball fights and go sledding down our street, a giant hill. The TV didn’t list closed school announcements in those days. The fire department blew their no school signal around seven, and it could be heard all over town. I swear the shouts of joy right after could also be heard all over town. If the snow was still heavily falling, we waited inside until my mother would let us out. I remember when the snow finally stopped and the sun came out. The world was at its most beautiful. The snow was untouched, no footprints, no car tracks. The sun glistened off the snow and lights twinkled and shined from the tops of drifts as if diamonds had been strewn about.
It didn’t take long before the snow had footprints and the marks of sled rails. The first few sled marks were rusty but the snow quickly cleaned them. We all had wooden sleds with metal steering in the front you could turn left and right. You took off running and jumped stomach down on the sled, legs from the knees down in the air and you hoped for the ride of your life.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Christmas lights, lighted train car, no school announcements, rain, Sledding, Snow, snow day, snow fun, snowball fights, the sun, twinkling drifts
Comments: 12 Comments
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