This week began with the Rose Parade and ended with party cleanup.

The Rose Parade was covered live on KTLA in Los Angeles and we watched that feed cast to the television instead of the commercial-ridden network broadcasts. Other than sorting medications for the week, did nothing on New Year's Day except eat junk food and watch Galaxy Quest. The day ended on a satisfactory note with the two-hour M*A*S*H retrospective: just the cast and the producers talking about the show and the changes of format, no dubious celebrities telling us how much they loved the show.

Tuesday I updated all the copyrights on my web page so I could do my monthly web site backup. Except when I went to do the backup, the backup drive was gone. It usually sits next to my computer desk and has been in that location for over a year. But, apparently, it, and the container it was in, at some point tipped over and fell in the wastebasket, and it was sometime previous to when I emptied the baskets for trash last Thursday. Annoyed that I now have to go waste money on a new one.

Kaiser still hasn't reupped James' referral to physiotherapy, so we went to MicroCenter on Wednesday instead; I got the cutest little two terabyte (it's about the size of a deck of cards) backup drive that can be hung up on the side of the tower instead of near the basket. It was a grey, bitterly cold day and it was good to get home after we went to Publix next door.

Thursday we did our monthly trip to Canton: strolling the aisles of Books-a-Million, then lunch at Uncle Maddio's Pizza, and finally a stop at BJ's for maple syrup and fruit cups.

On Friday James had his second iron infusion. I posted a short story on AO3 and cross-posted on Fanfiction.net. We ate supper out so as not to have to dirty dishes. Alas, it seems the Okinawa on Dallas Highway doesn't have beef bulgogi like the one on the East-West Connector. I had Mandarin beef instead, but it wasn't a fair trade.

And Saturday was our Twelfth Night party! We ran to Hair Day quickly to get James' hair cut, then came home to finish tidying up and then it was time for food and conversation. We had a couple of call-outs as the Spiveys and the Butlers both were under the weather, but it was a great time anyway. Clay and Maggi and Bill and Caran were here until midnight talking up a storm.

Sunday was cleanup day, and I went outside and took down the lights as well since there's a massive rainstorm coming on Tuesday.

Watched three good movies this week: Operation Mincemeat (now I can't wait to read the book!), Feast of the Seven Fishes (which kinda reminded me of Mystic Pizza but more low-key; I liked the Italian family dynamics more than the jerky Yuppie mother who was trying to force the rich boyfriend on the blond girlfriend), and Knives Out, which was so really convoluted (and I thought some of the families on Law & Order: Criminal Intent were bad).

Labels: books, computers, electronics, fanfiction, food, friends, movies, New Year, nostalgia, parties, shopping, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:08:00 PM

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Have spent a very desultory week doing chores and "detinseling." The usual stuff got done, the easiest of the Christmas decorations got put away. Oh, and I trimmed the bushes in the front yard while they're dormant to keep them in check. I want the nandina to fill in at the bottom, not look like a bunch of broccoli with skinny stems.

Most of my entertainment is reading about Paris for the piece of fanfiction I'm writing. It's a longer story and I'm scheduled to start posting the first chapter in mid-February. My favorite so far is Vivian Swift's Le Road Trip, which is written in handwriting like a Susan Branch book and illustrated with Swift's watercolors of France. I've also done research on what's at the Armistice site at Compiègne, which is pretty cool.

The big event of the week was the late-date Christmas party at the Lawsons, which was a welcome break. John made a pineapple upside down cake, and we ordered pizzas. As usual, the men chatted and the ladies played games. We had one very funny minute where Jessie was supposed to toss the dice and she absently plopped them into her drink glass instead. By the time we left I had a killer headache from laughing so hard.

He didn't get hurt, but James fell on the way out. He went to put the tip of his cane down and it sank into soft grass instead of the sidewalk of the driveway, so he just relaxed and went down. Luckily a few friends were able to get him vertical and going again.

Labels: books, Christmas decorations, friends, parties, writing

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 4:06:00 PM

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James had twenty hours of vacation time left going into December. At first he was going to take the Sunday before and the Sunday after Christmas, but someone had already claimed Boxing Day. Tim also depends on James on Sundays because for the first three hours of the day he's the only one on phone duty. So he asked for either the 22nd or the 29th (both Wednesdays) and then five hours each Sunday afternoon on the 12th and the 19th.

We had already used the afternoon of the 12th for my birthday dinner; Sunday we had our annual Christmas get-together at the Lawsons' house. We managed to remember all the gifts except for David's, but both forgot our phones; I didn't care for any other reason, but if Butch broke down we had no way of calling for help! Luckily nothing happened. We had pizza as the main course (Jerry even ordered me a bacon-black olive-and-no-cheese pizza) and a group played games, but I sat on the back porch with Alice and Juanita chatting. Then we had the mad gift exchange with wrapping paper flying. And then it was time to go home, which was rather a relief. They always have a nice wood fire at the party, and my allergy just revs up when I have to breath woodsmoke anymore. I was finding it kinda hard to breathe by the time we left, so the cold air was very welcome, and we got to look at Christmas lights on the way back.

Labels: food, friends, parties

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:10:00 PM

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Labels: autumn, chores, events, friends, parties, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:02:00 PM

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Well, at least we had no unpleasant surprises this weekend. The old blister on James' leg is still healing, the new blister is healing pretty well, and the doxycycline seems to be working on the new infection.

Thursday was our errand day: we drove to the local government office to pay the house tax (great relief this year as I applied for the age 62 exemption and now the tax bill is less than half of what it was; once I'm 65 we can get another exemption that will cut it down a little more), then went on to Kaiser to fetch James' medications. His doctor always writes the scrips for 90 days, but somehow between his checkups it gets cut down to 30 on two or three of them, which means we either have to mail order them every three weeks or go pick them up every three weeks. I hate the bottles they have to ship them in; they take up too much room on the two pill shelves, so we usually pick them up.

Then we were able to have a little fun at Barnes & Noble. There was a coupon this weekend, so I picked up the new Ideals Christmas, and I also found a couple of items on the clearance table that I can donate for Toys for Tots.

Finally, on the way home, we stopped at Publix and did the weekly shopping.

Friday I was up early for the Friends of the Library book sale (see here), and then we had lunch (alas, on our own this week as everyone else had appointments) at Chow King, the Chinese buffet on Cobb Parkway. It's been open some time but we've avoided it because it's between the Best Buy and Scalini's Italian restaurant, and frankly just getting into the parking lot is a pain in the neck, not to mention the parking. Generally we were pleased with the food, and most of it was not overly salted. Hibachi Grill's teriyaki chicken is better, but Chow King has sesame chicken (not bad) and their honey chicken is sweeter. They do have potstickers, and I could have made a whole meal on them alone (nice dipping sauce, too). I thought the wonton soup was a bit watery (James disagreed) but the wontons are stuffed full! Didn't have a egg roll, so I can't comment. Big dessert bar, though, and their cream puffs don't have raspberry ick inside them like at Hibachi.

We needed more nonstick pads for my nursing ablutions, so we went to Walmart (after trying not to scream at the prices at Walgreens—less than half the price at Wally World; got paper tape as well), and stopped at Lidl for those small necessities like milk and chocolate on the way home.

Saturday was James' meeting, so he left home at 10:30. I was curious to see the new remodeled Love Street shop. It's been finished for a while, but it's been too hot for me to even consider going there. Actually, it's a new Love Street location. The original Love Street store was in a tiny five room house on the corner of Concord Road and Love Street. Later the owners expanded and bought the old house next door (a little bit bigger, but tiny compared to today's homes) and opened a women's clothing and accessory store called Heart and Soul. First they remodeled Love Street to shift the front door to the other side of the porch. We figured this was it, but then last year both stores completely closed for a bigger remodel. What they eventually did was put Love Street in the bigger house and now Heart and Soul is at the original Love Street. So I wandered around the new Love Street for about a half hour, but the gifts are pretty expensive (especially the branded items) and I left without anything, and besides it was time for me to head up to Mellow Mushroom at Town Center, where Jessie Elder's 26th birthday party was taking place.

James wanted to go to the party, too, so he split the difference: he went to lunch with the guys, and then came to the party. It was cool enough that we could sit on the patio, and we had a great time.

Labels: books, errands, food, friends, health, parties

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:32:00 PM

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Compared with yesterday, which was a dead loss of a day because of a severe lack of sleep (nothing serious, just...a pain in the neck), today was sunny within, if not sunny without. It was another day of grey, mist, rain, fog...well, name something wet that doesn't involve snow or ice and we had it today.

James went off to a model contest, and I took advantage of some good coupons. JoAnn had 40 percent off your entire regular price purchase, and I bought little things including laminating sheets and a nice piece of Aida cloth. Since I was at Town Center, Michaels was right next door. They had a 20 percent off even sale items, and a single 40 percent, so I picked up some little things including chalk labels for use in the kitchen.

Next I cut through the back to go to Barnes & Noble. This was a profitable trip because all the clearance items were at 75 percent off, so I was able to pick up some really nice gifts for 3/4 off the price as well as another nice set of Christmas cards. Plus they had the Victoria tie-in book on the remainder shelf and I got it for $7. The only fly in the ointment to the bookstore portion of the day was the inconsiderate lout with the ginormous SUV who parked over the line and so close to me that I had to get in the car via the passenger door and crawl over the steering column to be able to back out.

I had less luck at Publix across from the bookstore: I was picking up Toufeyan wraps and ground meat for James and they had no low-sodium low-carb wraps at all. So I skipped the ground meat as well and went home via the Macland store instead. They had at least three packages of wraps, so I got them and ground turkey, which was the least expensive.

Came home from there and watched a very strange movie called Arthur and Merlin. In this version, Arthur and Merlin meet as boys; Merlin is a strange child who is born with marks on his face that mark him as a member of an ancient race that knows magic. Arthur saves Merlin from being sacrificed by King Vortigern's chief Druid. Fifteen years later Arthur is still fighting for the King, who has become forgetful. While helping a Christian woman avoid becoming a sacrifice, Arthur finds a magic sword which gives him visions. He saves the king because one of these visions, but is banished because he offends the Druid, who is using Dark Magic for his own ends. Another vision shows him the Druid is working against the King, and he realizes he needs magic to fight magic, remembering the Druid was afraid of young Merlin. He goes looking for the boy to find he has grown up in solitude learning magic. Socially Merlin's on the Sheldon Cooper level. Anyway, they do defeat the Druid, but very strange Arthurian story. Its main positive point is that it actually takes place during when the mythical Arthur would have lived, and not in medieval times as so often portrayed. A definite "eh!"

James had arranged a little retirement party at Keegan's tonight, so we left at five, picked up the cake (chocolate, chocolate, and chocolate) from Publix (bagging three more packages of wraps), and proceeded to the restaurant. We had some no-shows due to the miserable weather, but very understandable, and they were missed. The service was a bit iffy tonight, due to one of the waitstaff not being used to a crowd, but we had a good time. James actually found me the sweetest gift at the model show: it's a bracelet with multicolored crystal beads and one single cross bead. Terica also gave me an African violet. Poor thing. I will try to remember to care for it, but plants usually have a hard life with me.

Then came home to watch Olympics: snowboarding, biathalon, women's skating, and finally curling!

Labels: books, friends, movies, Olympics, parties, shopping, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:53:00 PM

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It's been a frustrating ten days.

New Year's was pleasant. We watched the Rose Parade (grand marshal Gary Sinese) and its colorful floats and equally colorful bands (a Japanese band had bright purple uniforms) and horses. Later we went to Alice and Ken's house to watch the Rose Bowl because the University of Georgia "Bulldogs" were one of the teams. I don't like football, but I have to admit it was a really good game; lots of suspense into two overtimes. The "Dawgs" won, which meant they went to the SEC championships. Alas, they lost that game in overtime to the University of Alabama this past Monday. Apparently the "Tide" was too high to resist.

The cold continued apace. It was cold even for me. LOL.

No one came to pick up the poor truck until Friday. We had left it out all afternoon on Thursday as they said they were coming by. Apparently there were so many wrecks over New Years' weekend they couldn't keep up. We have not heard what they are offering us yet, but today we found out the repair would be over $9,000. The truck was only worth a third that much. No word how much they will offer for the lift.

When I arrived back at work on the 2nd, I still had thirteen hours of use-or-lose remaining, so I took Thursday afternoon off and Friday. Thursday I took James to his nurse visit (thankfully his blood pressure was down) and then we looked at two local used car lots for cars. We also broached the idea of getting a small SUV. However, another Tacoma would be the best value, and we did find a promising one just down the street, near the house.

We also went vehicle hunting on Sunday, including cross town to a Toyota dealership. That was a bust, because all they had was a double cab, which won't fit in the garage with the lift. We came back, went by the Toyota used lot on Cobb Parkway where we saw an access cab that looked promising, but which was as old as the old truck. It was freezing—we were in our "Rhode Island winter coats" and bundled up like Randy in A Christmas Story—but the salesman was very helpful. Finally we headed up to the Toyota lot at Town Center. They had a very nice 2011 in "pyrite," so we decided to keep an eye on that one.

However, James finally decided on a 2014 white Tacoma from the lot near our house. We took it on a test drive, kept it overnight, and then brought it to our mechanic, who found it needed brakes and the tires were suffering from dry rot and it had a broken door hinge, but otherwise was good mechanically. The dealership agreed to fix those three things and we should have it by the end of the week. We have an appointment to put a new trailer hitch on it next week and Mobility Works is ordering a new lift. (The old lift cannot be fixed. Once it is even slightly damaged they cannot guarantee its structural integrity anymore.)

We also tried out Wade's Diner and didn't think much of it.

We had our Twelfth Night party as usual, this year on Epiphany itself. We had a small but fun crowd, and missed Mel and Phyllis, who were home with a cold. Aubrey found the pickle on the tree as always. Gifts were exchanged and enjoyed.

A few weeks ago we got an offer from Earthlink for their "Hyperlink" service (broadband through the phone line). We were doing okay on DSL but we are still considering "cutting the cord." I made an appointment to get it yesterday because the salesman said it only took about an hour, an hour and a half to install. They assign you a time, and since James had to take the white pickup over to the mechanic to get it checked out anyway, I figured that would work.

Well, this turned out to be a fripping nightmare. The Hyperlink is installed via AT&T. Yesterday's technician showed up, turned off the phone without telling me (I was in the middle of an order), then went through the house testing all the phone jacks to find the one that was loose so he could connect the modem to hardwire to the computers. Once he found that, he installed the modem, but it wouldn't update. He kept going back and forth outside and then finally decided there was something wrong with the outside line and called an AT&T tech to come fix it. This dude was outside for about four hours, and when I noticed he was in the truck (this was after dark by now) I went to ask him what was going on, since when the first tech left we had a dial tone and now we didn't. He thought it was fixed and expressed surprise about the missing dial tone, and had to go to the box on the main street to turn it back on. It was horribly scratchy, and even though the Hyperlink hadn't been installed, we had no DSL at all and couldn't even fall back on it. For some reason my dial-up modem would not work, either.

Plus James had missed a day of work, I'd missed most of a day of work, and I was madder than a wet hen. I called up Earthlink and gave them a piece of my mind, but since the call center isn't even in the U.S. it's not like they really care.

By this time the first tech had gone off duty. They promised me someone would be here at 9 a.m. today to finish the install. I didn't let it wait. Since I couldn't sleep anyway—I had hurt my left leg on the stairs during the day—I was on the phone with Earthlink customer service at eight and finally found the Atlanta number and called them at eight thirty. During the latter call I got someone named Debbie and she called up AT&T and made sure someone was on their way.

He indeed got here at nine, but it took him over three hours to get it going. He had to work on the box on our street, and then the main junction box on the cross street, back and forth, and finally, to get our dial tone back, had to lay a new line just for the phone (someone will be out to bury it next week). He didn't say it aloud, but apparently the dude who worked on the box yesterday didn't know what he was doing. Anyway, finally we had a solid green light, and one by one we could attach the computers. The cell phones and the tablets were the least trouble because all you have to do is show Android a picture of wi-fi and it connects. 😊 Even the ancient Blu-ray player attached to the modem and it hasn't spoken to the wi-fi signal in five years! It took us, however, at least another hour to get the most critical unit attached: James' work laptop. The other two computers were a cinch: find the modem, tell it to connect, type in the cybernetic salad that's the password, and you're in. The work laptop wasn't that simple because we also had to set the connection parameters (what level of security and in which format, which we didn't know until James found the specs on the modem). That didn't get done until 2 p.m. James' supervisor sounded really testy this morning when he called in saying the internet was still down, so he worked an additional hour to make up for not being available in the morning.

There has been entirely too much drama already this month.

And I've only just begun putting Christmas back up! Only the kitchen and the foyer are cleared so far.

Labels: accidents, cars, Christmas, electronics, food, friends, holidays, parties

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:38:00 PM

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Sigh. When I need to sleep, I never can. Put me on the futon in the middle of the afternoon, and I will pass out like a tightly-corseted lady dancing too much. At night, toss, turn, leg hurts, knee hurts, rinse, repeat. Grr.

Anyway, we had Hair Day this morning—the usual tumult of haircuts, chat, and snacks. We were glum that we had to go back to Verizon after that—since the phone did its thing perfectly and quit making calls and started rebooting after 12 hours—but to our surprise, this didn't take long. We found the same tech (Robert) and he called James' phone and again it didn't work, and he immediately put in an order for another phone. It will be mailed to us within three days, which still doesn't get it here for Monday. He will just have to use my phone.

It took so little time that we made a short trip to Barnes & Noble, but we stayed only a few minutes. I was about to fall asleep on my feet. James picked up "Airfix" and we went home, but I had so many other things to do that I didn't get to lie down until almost four o'clock and then had to rise in a hurry to get to Publix to pick up James' birthday cake and then get all the way to Brookwood for his birthday dinner (we should have had the cake done at the Macland store, which was closer and on the way).

But, we got there on time, and a good time was had by all, and the chocolate cake was a hit: James had it as chocolate cake with fudge filling and chocolate frosting. Even with small pieces we were chocolated out. 😊 Of course we missed James' mom and sister, and Maggie and Clay; they were supposed to come up, but that got scotched by the mass evacuation of Florida due to Hurricane Irma which has I-75 north from Warner Robins bumper-to-bumper with cars, vans, mobile homes, scooters, you name it. Someone from Florida is already taking refuge in our neighborhood, and the news coming out of the Caribbean has been genuinely scary: Puerto Rico got clobbered.

After the party we came home to collapse but ended up not getting to bed on time again.

Labels: chores, events, friends, parties, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:23:00 PM

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Hair Day rolled around on Saturday morning. We didn't roll out of bed very well, but did have a good time, and we "ate great." Pat and Alex supplied the main dish, and Pat made the spaghetti sauce—she said when she was making it that the real test would be if I liked it!—and then Alex made baked ziti with it, one with meatballs and one with Italian sausage, and there was also some plain ziti with sauce for Juanita, who's allergic to cheese. (And it was indeed quote delicious, especially the one with the Italian sausage.) We brought a cucumber and tomato salad with orange blossom honey balsamic vinegar, Shannon brought baby greens and mushrooms with dressings, Oreta and John provided watermelon, Phyllis brought the usual relish plate, Charles provided cheese, and Terica and Ben brought a fruit and cheese plate. We all had a feast, and then it was time for cake to celebrate the July birthdays: Charles, Juanita, and Pat.

Now very full, we headed home to set a spell with Snowy and Tucker; I made the bed and cleaned up some in the bathroom and put together a little remembrance gift for Jessie, who is leaving soon for a five-month internship at Disney World, and then dozed off on the sofa after reading the new cross-stitch magazine I bought last night. Woke up during a Christmas episode of the British Antiques Roadshow.

Around 6:20, got dressed, walked Tucker, and then we headed out to Jessie's farewell dinner at Keegan's Irish Pub. We minded our carbs after the ziti overload earlier: James got a sampler platter that was mostly meat and veg and I had chicken wings. The only "overage" was more cake: Juanita had a Beauty and the Beast cake for Jessie. We headed home on a truly lovely summer night for late July: we not only rode to the Butlers this morning with the windows down, but we could do so again that night.

Of course this morning we intended to be up around 8:30 or 9 to go to Costco when we opened. Well, if we plan to do such things we need to set alarms, because the last time I looked at a clock it was 7:35, and the next thing we knew it was 9:45. So I walked Tucker—it wasn't that bad out; warm in the sun, but a nice breeze and low humidity—and James had a burrito, and I munched on a BelVita breakfast bar on the way to Costco. Since it had opened an hour earlier, it was quite crowded, but there was still a handicapped space out front.

We had a nice stroll about; I bought another fall magazine (the "Cottage Journal"), and then spent a joyful five minutes in the wonderful chill of the dairy room to pick out some milk. We also picked up Skinny Pop, mushrooms, Loratadine because it was on sale, a big bag of slivered almonds for my oatmeal, and the soap we needed, although we couldn't find Costco's brand of soap any longer; we had to buy Dove. At that price it's cheaper for me to get the oatmeal and almond soap at the Dollar Store. ::grump:: But we did find more Rice Ramen! These are great ramen noodles made from millet and brown rice, and taste delicious in Asian dishes.

We brought the milk home, then went to Kroger, ostensibly for gasoline, but James wanted to get more chai tea, so we found a parking space after a few minutes searching—the place was packed because church was out—and went in. Picked up the tea, Those Damn Bananas, a few other things, and a chuck roast to pressure cook tonight. We will cook this with teriyaki and have it over the rice ramen noodles. Yum!

James confessed that his portion of the closet was a bit of a mare's nest. He has been having such pains in his knees and hips that he's just been laying his clean laundry on a shelf and not hanging his shirts up. So we spent an hour making order out of chaos. I hung up most of the shirts and he put them back where they belong (the closet has a double row of shelves and I'm too frippin' short to reach the top rail comfortably), and he sorted through the pants. We put three in the trash and four are in good shape, so they will go to Goodwill, and the rest are nicely folded on a shelf.

Then we kicked back and chilled out, watching the rest of Aerial Ireland and Aerial America: "New York City 24" on Smithsonian Channel. At 4:30 James sauteed the beef in sesame oil and started the chuck roast in the pressure cooker. We ate a little bit after six. Okay, we needed to cook it longer; it was not "fork tender," but it was cooked and edible. The sauce he made was outstanding: teriyaki, miso broth, and no salt beef broth thickened with cornstarch. Enjoyed the beef soaked in it, the rice ramen, and even dipped some bread in it. Next time we will cook it longer.

Sadly, Colour Confidential has gone into reruns. Did see the final episode of America in Color, which was the 1960s and had some authentic color footage instead of colorized. 😀

Labels: food, friends, magazines, parties, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:06:00 PM

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Well, it was a long weekend to remember, but, unfortunately, mostly for the wrong reasons.

Friday I continued a combination "de-Christmasing" of the house, putting up the winter decorations, and cleaning up for the party. I got everything packed up but the Christmas tree—it just wasn't going to happen and it was a postponed Twelfth Night party anyway, so we needed some appropriate decoration. Otherwise I had put up the winter decorations everywhere except on the room divider, because the Christmas tree was blocking the way.

Since we had to go to Sam's Club to get supplies, we tried to find somewhere to eat Friday supper nearby. The Marietta Diner was slammed. The Chinese buffet is too salty. Didn't want the halfhearted food at IHOP and fast food was out. We ended up at Williamson Brothers for barbecue (yeah, salty too), and then went to Sam's. Got honey barbecue wings and "Lil Smokies," but their mini-egg rolls were spicy, so we skipped them, but picked up chips and popcorn as well. Then we went by Publix to do the shopping and pick up another BOGO set of pot roasts. We were going to serve one of them at the party.

Saturday was Hair Day, so James zipped off to get his hair cut while I continued cleaning and clearing. There are so many books everywhere! :-) He came home when he got done to get the bowls down, the utensils, etc., help me move the table, and all that. We got done early enough that I could relax down for a little while and that James could be done with most of the warming up before the first guests arrived at five. Since Willow isn't around anymore, there is no Ritual Barking of the Dog, but all our dogs have known John and Betty are soft touches anyway. :-) We had a nice crowd—Bill and Caran even drove all the way here from Stone Mountain—and a good chat/feast/gift opening was had by all. We watched the Falcons beat some other team, which means they are one step closer to the Stupid Bowl, talked about commuting and Juanita's retirement, watched Aubrey find the pickle on the tree for the umpteenth time in a row (I didn't even remember where I'd put it this year), and generally enjoyed ourselves. Unfortunately my tummy was being a little touchy and I had to retire for a bit, ostensibly to walk the dog, but also to get me a little air.

Once the last guest had left around ten, we put up the perishables, stretched out for about an hour, then went to bed.

Took our time getting up Sunday and spent the rest of the end of the day mostly cleaning up, but we had a nice break in the early afternoon: we had to go up to the Town Center Kaiser for James to pick up more insulin, so we took the opportunity to stop at Barnes & Noble with our coupons. James got lucky and found a new "1632" book, and I picked up a book about a man who walks the old roads of Great Britain, plus two cross-stitch magazines. I also asked James to drop me at JoAnn to spend some coupons: needed more superglue since mine had gone stringy, bought a Command shelf for the bathroom, and a red bandanna for the truck since the old emergency one has appeared to have done a bunk (plus the new "Just Cross Stitch").

We had eaten lunch at Panera after going to Kaiser, and were still pretty full at suppertime, so we just potlucked it for dinner. I wasn't feeling hungry much and just had a PopTart and some cereal. I was okay up until after I walked Tucker at eight thirty, so I could be ready to watch the first part of Victoria at nine. Alas, about five minutes to nine, I started getting terrible stomach cramps.

I'll spare you the details, save that I saw very little of Victoria, not to mention my bed. Nothing stopped until nine in the morning, and by then I was exhausted. I had my usual breakfast yesterday and neither the PopTart nor the cereal should have bothered me; it had to be something I'd eaten at Panera. I suspect the cream cheese I had on my bagel. It didn't taste bad, but it's a likelier trigger than the soup. Anyway, I finally slept from nine to noon, then watched Victoria and, thanks to PBS and no thanks to Dish Network and its amazing disappearing channels, last week's Sherlock, which was literally mesmerizing—I couldn't take my eyes off the odious Culverton Smith, who had definite Jimmy Savile vibes. Just plain creepy. And then I went back to bed until James got home. I didn't eat much today, just dry toast and milk, and had plain chicken broth and rice for supper. I hope I feel better tomorrow; I never even got to the tree and feel like a bowl of boiled spaghetti.

Labels: books, Christmas, crafts, food, friends, parties, shopping, sickness, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:30:00 PM

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The party's over...

Our post-new year's actions are divided into two parts, before party and after party. "Before party" consists of cleaning, so that's what I did on Friday. The hall bath was scrubbed and the floor washed, the master bath floor was washed, the preliminary vacuuming happened, and a lot of other dull cleanup downstairs in case the young'uns wanted to go downstairs and play a game. I washed and dried the chair covers and the master bathroom mats. I listened to the BBC and played Christmas music as I worked. I did go out to Publix to get some soup for supper. $65 later, because there were so many good twofers, I got home with a load of groceries to put away.

So we had the soup, good thick chicken noodle with carrots and onions, and James commenced to cleaning the kitchen, while I polished the coffee table and did other pickup.

Saturday we then had little to do but go to Costco shopping for the goodies (although the "little to do" lasted all afternoon). Unfortunately they no longer sell the big box of mini-egg rolls nor did they have the delicious beef puffs we had last year. We got chicken wings, chicken pineapple teriyaki meatballs, a box of spring rolls, and a box of teeny potstickers, plus some chicken-and-nacho-cheese triangles and Tostitos for dipping. We already had potato chips. On the way home we bought some salsa and nacho cheese  (bagged a couple of steaks for supper later in the week, too, and enough yogurt for this week and next), and at home we had olives, chocolate chip cookies, Hershey's kisses, M&Ms, and cheese and crackers. James made maple bacon dip.

Tucker did not like my moving the table at all!  We put it closer to the china cabinet and set it up as a cold buffet; the cooked stuff is in the kitchen with the drinks. The chairs we just scatter around, but because they weren't under the table anymore, he couldn't creep into his "cave." I gave the downstairs bathroom floor a quick mop; otherwise it was spick and span down there. Swept the foyer and shook out the rug, then vacuumed the stairs thoroughly. Finally I could do the final vacuum upstairs and then take the final few things off the coffee table. I set "Christmas tree" and "gingerbread" candles burning so the house would smell festive when people arrived. James started cooking everything about four, and I took Tucker out in an annoying drizzle about 4:30, and by the time the first guests arrived at five, the food was ready.

We had a smaller crowd than expected, sadly. Two couples were not feeling well. But Juanita, David, and Jessie flabbergasted us, but made us feel happy, by driving down from Red Top Mountain where they have been camping with the Lawsons since New Year's Eve. Juanita wanted to come because she was still in the hospital last year at this time and in a week has to go in for surgery to correct the "fix" on her shattered heel.

We were worried about Tucker's first party, but we needn't have. He got overexcited twice and started to "lead with his teeth," but I told everyone if he started that, to stop playing with him and not put up with that type of behavior. He mainly just tried to mooch food (he only got a few dropped items) or sit in people's laps, starting out by charming Neil (or maybe Neil charmed him, because animals seem to naturally gravitate to Neil—he went to take a photo of Snowy and Snowy was still chirping and chattering as he did; usually he shuts up for anyone else) and just making conquests as the night went on. He didn't bark at anyone the way Willow used to, but then she was very shy and it made her defensive until she determined people weren't a threat.

James said the nacho cheese triangles weren't very good, and I wasn't happy with the honey barbecue wings at all. They had Perdue this year instead of Tyson and they were dry-looking and not as flavorful. Still, everyone ate and had a good time, and we watched the tail end of one football game (with the sound off) and the beginning of another. Juanita and David left early to go back to Red Top, just as the heavy rain was starting, but we got a message from them that they had gotten back safely and that the Lawsons had secured their trailer before the storm hit.

Folks headed out about ten, and we put away the food—we have enough goodies to take over to Alice and Ken's next Saturday for a game night. Alice is going to make more chicken and rice in the pressure cooker like she did for Bill and Caran's party—and tossed the trash. Part of the dishes went into the dishwasher; the rest got rinsed in the sink, and we gratefully retreated to bed.

Somewhere in the middle of the night it really started to pour, and about midway through we had thunder. At least the weather radio didn't go off, but both us got rotten sleep and James had to go off to work this morning. I tried to sleep late, but it was too warm (it was in the low 60s outside) and I didn't care to go back to the dream I'd been having. I promised myself I could have a nap during the day, but it never happened.

Got a break in the rain to walk the dog, then had breakfast, then went to Kroger to get bread for my work lunches and a newspaper. I went to the Battle Ridge store because the baker at Smyrna can't make decent sandwich rolls for beans; the last batch were like sandpaper. I also bought turkey thighs and a small jar of gravy for supper so James wouldn't have to cook anything. After bringing that home, I decided I would go on a short errand and see if I felt well enough to go on a longer one.

We had two Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons expiring today, and we badly need a new space heater for inside the master bath. The previous burned out last month, and since the temp is supposed to go down to 16 on Thursday, it was time. I got a nice little one, plus two potential gifts and a storage container (I put all our card games into it). I also stopped at Barnes & Noble to check out the clearance tables. Found two swell gifts and also a cool book that will also serve as a gift.

I decided I felt well enough to drive up to Books-a-Million, so I did. Disappointed by their "sale" though, but did find two games, plus a book I picked up "just because": Inside Charlie's Chocolate Factory, about the writing of the book and the media followups (did you know there was a Charlie opera?). I was starving by then (it was 2:30) so I had a bowl of chicken soup at Panera, then briefly stopped at Michael's to buy a couple of crafty things and some Christmas clearance.

Before I went home I stopped at Kroger to fill up my gas tank. I did a fill up for under $25! I don't think I've done that for years! Sadly, coming home on Windy Hill Road, I had to slow down to get past an accident. It looks like a car had to stop short to keep from hitting a dog, but the dog was at the side of the road covered up with a blanket. No way to tell if it were alive or not. The person in the car needed an ambulance.

Put everything up when I got home, got things ready for work, then vacuumed up all the crumbs, put the table and chairs back where they belonged (Tucker immediately disappeared into the "cave"), put things back on the coffee table, and generally tidied up, at which point it was time to start cooking the turkey. It was only then I could sit down and read the paper. Four packets of coupons! I hope there's something decent in them! I'm tired of finding coupons for processed foods and overly-salted stuff.

By the time we ate, it was time for The Librarians (very imaginative show tonight about fairy tales invading a town named Bremen—yeah, I got the joke) and then Alaska: The Last Frontier.

Labels: birds, books, cleaning, dogs, food, friends, parties, pets, shopping, television, work

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:16:00 PM

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So, James got home early both days this week. You'd figure he'd be home even earlier New Year's Eve, right?

Nope. He worked all day, which is good for our pocketbooks, but I'm sure he could have used a nap before the party.

Me, I walked the dog, scrubbed the master bath, made the bed, tidied up more, finished re-reading The House Without a Christmas Tree, and finally settled down to listen to Christmas music and read The Cottage Holiday. I also had the BBC's production of Master and Commander on in the background. About three I started watching The Nine Tailors, because the mystery proper starts on New Year's Eve when the church in the village of Fenchurch St. Paul is going for a marathon bell ring. (British Anglican churches do a complex mathematical thing called "change ringing"; I don't understand it, but I do remember the names of all the bells in the ring in this story: John, Jericho, Jubilee, Gaude, Dimity, Saboath, Batty Thomas, and Tailor Paul.)

I ran out to Kroger at one point; we were going to bring chips and dip to Bill's party, but they said they already had that. I got some cheese and some summer sausage instead, and sliced it up, and bought some crackers to go with the cheese ball we bought at the Chicken Salad Chick. I bought some potato soup as well, since we wouldn't eat until after nine; when James came home, I warmed it up with extra bacon bits and chives in it, and a little butter, and to James I added about a handful of chopped-up summer sausage I held back.

We left about eight fifteen, which should have put us at Bill and Caran's house at nine, but there was a whopper of a car accident on I-285 eastbound—five lanes blocked! We left the detour to the GPS, and we still can't figure out why it didn't take us all the way through on Chamblee-Tucker Road, since we crossed it at least three times. We were so close to work I could have spit and hit it. Eventually we ended up on the route we usually take home, through LaVista and Brockett. (Everyone else had to do the same thing. Several people were delayed by the traffic jam.)

Nice party, not as much of a crowd as other years, but still fun. Sat around and talked to Alice and Ken and whomever wandered into the hardback library (the paperback library is in a different room). Stepped into the dining room occasionally to get a bit of this and that. Alice brought a barbecue chicken and yellow rice that she cooked in her new pressure cooker which was delicious. The cheese and summer sausage disappeared. Alex's little pastries were great; I had the pumpkin creme brulee ones. Yum! Had a chicken wing, some chips, most of the Special Dark miniatures in the bowl, two of Lin's piecrust rolls, and lots of Alice's dish. Tried the sangria, but it needed more fruit juice; it still tasted too much like wine. :-)

And finally...tick...tick...tick...tick...it's time for the Happy New Year, Snowy. A chorus of "Happy New Year," the clink of glasses, and 2014 is history.

Bye, Willow. We miss you...

Labels: food, friends, parties, pets, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:57:00 PM

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Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to Hair Day James goes...

I stayed home because (1) the centerpiece was chili and I can't eat it and (2) I was down to the last of the cleaning for the party. I swept and washed the master bath floor in case someone needed to use it, tidied up the bedroom, cleaned the hall bath thoroughly, washed the kitchen floor, and then cleaned off the coffee table and the sofa, put up my cross-stitch things, and generally tidied. I needed to vacuum, but Willow was asleep and I thought I'd let her, as I knew she would be schmoozing tonight.

I was just about finished when James came home, and we went to Costco. The place was like a mob scene! James finally dropped me off and I ran inside to get things for the party and I also found omeprazole on sale. By the time he found a parking space, way down near the Costco gas station, I was already at the checkout counter! We came home by Publix, where we got a few more party things, and then commenced to get ready. I finished vacuuming, moving chairs, etc. just in time to get tidied up and change before Anne and Clay showed up.

We had a very small crowd, as Isabel was at her mom's party and Juanita; of course was unable to come (but she is now testing negative for C-diff—hurrah!), so we had the Spiveys, the Boulers, Anne and Clay, the Butlers, and Terry Sanders. Had the football games on for most of the party, first the Eagles and the Colts and then the Chiefs and whoever. Nowhere near as fun as the hockey game in the snow from New Year's Day!

A small crowd means we had lots of leftover food. We decided to eat the roast beef au jus rolls tomorrow and the chicken wings on Monday since we both have to be back to work and will not be in the mood to cook. (We will have to cook for Willow, though. Good news: Anne brought some of the dog food she cooks for her three dachshunds. It is ground chicken, frozen vegetables, and brown rice in a sodium free broth. Wil would have preferred all meat, but she did eventually eat it all, mostly because the big pleading eyes she turned on everyone, including her usually go-tos, John and Betty, didn't work and she didn't get any goodies at all.)

Spent the rest of the evening listening to Christmas music. Sigh. It's over again for another year. Now it's time to plan for the RV Show and Anachrocon and maybe the Home Show...

Labels: chores, dogs, food, friends, parties, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:56:00 PM

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We had a busy day today.

Our first stop was Costco, just as it opened, and, boy, we ought to go to Costco this early all the time. We got gasoline and got our things all in a half hour.

We'd ordinarily do this on Sunday, but we were picking up honey barbecue chicken wings for the big reception Juanita was having for her mother, since Juanita doesn't have a Costco membership. We also got milk and bought the first two seasons of Pie in the Sky because we've enjoyed them so much, but the main reason for the Saturday trip was the wings.

Juanita's mom turned eighty a few days ago. Last year we weren't even sure she would live. She had a massive stroke, one so bad she could only communicate by blinking at first. And now she is walking with a walker and is talking again, hesitantly, but she talks, a huge milestone from last year, so this was an especially heartfelt party. Juanita's brother and sister were all there, and nieces and nephews, and us and a bunch of her other friends who know her mother, and we had a nice party this afternoon at the Hollydale Methodist Church Hall. We helped bring the food and things we were providing—cookie sheets to warm up the wings, foil and Pam for the cookie sheets, our crock pot, and the gravy James made last night for the Swedish meatballs—over to the hall, and then cut out for a few hours. Since it was payday I stocked up on omeprazole at Sam's and got some huge California navel oranges, and we visited the hobby shop for a few minutes, then went back to the hall to warm up the chicken wings. Anyway, it was a bright spot in a very grey day, an even drizzlier grey day than yesterday.

(I found a whole set of "The Bible Story" in the church library...wow, that brings back memories. The first volume was in every single doctor's office when I was a kid; I think the publisher gave them away for free. It made the Bible story very understandable, told in an avuncular way. They also had a bunch of "Happy Hollisters" books!)

We got home about 5:30, and after all the nice chicken and things just had cereal and oranges for dinner, and watched Law & Order: UK and a new episode of Colour Confidential—I didn't realize there were new ones made recently. Great show to watch!

(Also discovered there's a Bryant and May website. That's posted about in Cozy Nook. I just finished #4. Love these books!)

Labels: books, food, parties, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:20:00 PM

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The Tournament of Roses Parade had just ended with a blast of F-18s—a parade full of birds and airplanes, quite appropriate since "Sully" Sullenberger was the Grand Marshal, and I'm sitting on the couch watching more airborne action, as the birds are fluttering thick and fast at the feeders: both nuthatches, titmice, that messy red-headed woodpecker, and lots and lots of bluebirds! One tried to land on the diamond-shaped bird wreath on the door to the deck.

So now I've switched channels and am watching the parade replay on the Travel Channel, with Bob Eubanks, Stephanie Edwards (she sounds so much like Betty White to me), and company giving more facts than the HGTV folks did (but there are commercials). I had it on the Hallmark Channel, but the picture was soooo bad compared to the HD feed. I notice Encore Westerns channel is running the series The Virginian today, Have Gun, Will Travel tomorrow, and Gunsmoke on Sunday. Unfortunately, they aren't showing my favorite Virginian, the story about Elizabeth and the white stallion Aladdin. (Looks like it's called "Beloved Outlaw.") I'd love to see that one again...

Never got the nap yesterday. Had turkey soup with crackers for supper and then about eight got prepared to head to Bill and Caran's party. But first—we put the 2010 tags on our license plates. We've only had them for three weeks.

As we were leaving, a sports car drove down the far cul-de-sac, then came back up the street, circled the cul-de-sac near us, then parked there with its lights on. Made me uneasy. I finally called one of the neighbors and let her know. I think it sucks that you have to be so careful. They were probably just lost.

Anyway, great party as always. Had a little of everything, talked with folks, got up-to-date on things, snapped some pictures, sat or stood as needed, and had a great time. I wore the Time Turner James got me for Christmas and got some nice compliments on it. At midnight we kissed, and then got to wish Mike and Jen (and later Rodney) a Happy New Year via the chat app for the Droids. Ain't technology wonderful? There we are at midnight, wishing a good new year to folks thousands of miles away.

Didn't make it to say Happy New Year to Jen, though; just too tired. Gave Schuyler a kiss and James took Wil out, and we went to bed and didn't get up until after ten.

Gosh, I love the horses in this parade: Shires, Appaloosas, the Anheiser-Busch Clydesdales, saddlebreds, Haflingers, miniature horses, mustangs (ridden by Marines), palominos, paso finos, paints, chestnuts, and more.

Labels: friends, holidays, New Year, parties

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 12:57:00 PM

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This was a long, long weekend, and Friday was the first of two long, long days. But in the end we had a Christmas tree and proper lights for the village.

Friday I went back to Lowes for the bench and the plant table I had seen on Thursday. They weren't all that heavy, so I just tipped them into the back of the car (and paid for it later). I went to Target looking for yellow bulbs. None could be had but I did find slippers for James and myself, so it was a win anyway. Following was an unsuccessful search at Home Depot. I would have kept searching, but I hadn't eaten lunch yet (it was almost two), and I had other things to do. But I was determined to get those yellow bulbs now if I had to mail order them. The white bulbs just do not work on a 1940s village. The white bulbs make it look like there are fluorescent lights, which aren't period.

(Reputedly, the most stubborn Italians come from Calabria. I'm not sure why this is supposed to be so, but when an Italian wants to call another Italian "hard-headed," he usually accuses him of being "Calabrese." Lou Monte used to bandy around that word frequently. My mom claimed that, after the Calabrese, the people from my dad's paese—Quarchina—were the most hard-headed. When he got stubborn about something, she would shake her hand at him and mutter "Quarchinese!" Which is why while I'm hunting these yellow bulbs I keep hearing her voice saying "Quarchinese!" LOL.)

James hadn't been able to get the tree upstairs Thursday night or Friday morning, so I figured I would prep everything for tree decoration. After eating lunch and watching Rick Steves' European Christmas, I cleared the area and vacuumed, and cleared off the coffee table so I could bring up the box of ornaments and have all the boxes and bags open and ready. In this way I was able to separate out James' airplane ornaments and would be able to put up the little airplane tree in the downstairs hall.

First I had to assemble the plant stand. This came with a little metal wrench and no instructions, but it was really easy to assemble. Next came the piece of material we had picked out to cover the stand: a royal-blue yard of cloth with glitter scattered on it like stars in the sky. I had pinked the edges so it wouldn't fray and ironed it smooth. Next came the little silver tree. I placed all the little airplanes and one non-flying object, our Hallmark Snoopy in his French flying ace outfit, on the tree and put a thin, curly garland around the branches. It's red and green, like the navigation lights on aircraft, with gold in between. At the top is a wire star I had.

It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself! :-)

We had supper in (pizza). James was in a bit of a morose mood (more about that later), but he brought up the tree and I commenced to decorating. This is when I found out I shouldn't have carried those boxes, however light they seemed, because boy, did it hurt after awhile. I started at eight and ended sometime after Conan O'Brien started blathering.

In the meantime James was looking critically at the village. "It looks like it's on fire." Yeah...sigh...I know. Earlier I had been surfing the web for yellow C7 bulbs and found a company that supplied them in, of all places, Alpharetta, GA, not far from Fry's. Since we had to go to Fry's anyway for a new computer keyboard and they had showroom hours on Sunday, we thought we would try that.

Yesterday we had "Hair Day." The main course was chicken; in an uninspired mood we just brought French bread and some dessert things, but the cake slices and brownie bites were well received. It was Neil's birthday last week, so they had a cake for him, but they had my name, Lin's name, and Oreta's name placed on the cake as well, for the rest of the December birthday crowd, which was sweet.

We left a bit after one and James dropped me off at home to go to the hobby shop. I wanted to tidy up the living room after the great tree trimming—there were fake needles scattered everywhere—so I vacuumed the living and dining room and also the stairs and swept the foyer (again), and then took some ibuprofin and lay down for a nap since we were going to be out late.

About 5:30 we left to drive out to Birmingham for Shari's Christmas party. We didn't go last year because gasoline was so expensive, and since we usually only see her once a year, we had missed it. Neither of us had eaten dinner, so we made one brief stop on the way for a single Wendy-burger, but that was only stop on a road which is mostly pretty bleak except for a couple of large shopping centers after you get west of Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville.

It was a great party. Shari's co-workers, theater friends, and family all come to this party, so it is a great mix of personalities. Plus she loves to cook—her fantasy is to open a combination teashop/bookstore—so we are well fed as well. We had a good time, but by the time midnight came we were both about to turn into pumpkins, and I was becoming a sneezy one to boot. You see, the Butlers have cats, and Shari has cats, and the combination of two households with cats played hob with my allergy. So my eyes were itching and watering as James drove home accompanied by some Yuletide radio programs: Fibber McGee and Molly doing early Christmas shopping, Phil Harris and Alice Faye encountering a Christmas miracle, and a dramatic playlet called A Daddy for Christmas where a wife tries to make her husband into something he isn't.

We arrived home at 2:30 and went directly to bed, as you can imagine—even James slept late this morning! We were so late getting started (and then we had to stop at Kroger again) that we decided to go to the Christmas store first, as we tend to dawdle when we're in Fry's.

This isn't a "Christmas store" per se; it's a lights and tree display business in an industrial park that has a very small, plain "showroom floor" with different models of trees and some garland. So I bought a box of yellow C7 bulbs (they only had opaques, not clear, darn it—I wanted to try both) and we also bought a blue Moravian star.

When we drove up to my mom's right after we were married, we were driving through North Carolina and noticed that so many of the houses there were decorated outside with the white Moravian stars. James and I thought they were so pretty! Naturally we jumped at the chance to have our own, especially in a color that matched the blue lights out front.

Picked up the new keyboard and a couple of other things, including something to put away for Valentines Day, at Fry's, then came home. James assembled and put up the light immediately. It's very pretty, if a subdued blue next to all those bright blue mini lights and LEDs! He also assembled the bench tonight. It's not only nice looking but nicer than it looked in Lowes, and appears darker, too, which was what I wanted.

I had soup for supper to soothe the last of the allergy symptoms, since I've had a nagging cough and sore throat all day. I was wondering why it made me so queasy when I realized what was bothering me was an odd smell. It turned out to be coming from the newspaper, from the Michael's ad, specifically. I don't know what they printed the ad on, or with, but it literally stank. I finally had to cut the coupon from it and ask James to take the paper out with the trash. I can still catch a whiff of whatever it is from the coupons. Ugh. Whoever printed these should be forced to smell burnt honey all day.

We watched a cool special tonight on TCM: The Age of Believing, about Walt Disney's live-action films. Several of the actors from the films appeared, including "little" Karen Dotrice from Mary Poppins and Thomasina, Kevin Corcoran, Hayley Mills, and Glynis Johns, who looks damn wonderful for 85 years old!

And as for those yellow lights, they look Just Right. :-)



(The reason James was in such bad spirits was that late Friday afternoon everyone at work got an e-mail announcing a 10 percent pay cut effective the next day. Merry Christmas indeed...)

Labels: Christmas, decorating, events, parties, shopping, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 7:51:00 PM

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We're sitting watching the repeat broadcast of a A Capitol Fourth: fireworks over the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian, and Marines playing over at what looks like Arlington. We're trying to figure out where everything is taking place.

We had a great time talking and sharing our grill goodies, chips, fruit, and chocolate, and later on watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Poor Jessie wasn't feeling well, though, and spent about an hour curled up on the futon in the spare room. There were steak, brat, burger and chicken leftovers which Willow gobbled without a qualm and begged for more; for dessert she got to lick out the strawberry bowls. Schuyler let out an occasional scold, but she's not a social critter like Bandit or Pidgie were.

The party broke up about quarter to ten, just about the time the neighbors down the street started shooting off fireworks. They must have gone to Alabama or South Carolina, since they had Roman candles and other things not sold here. So as everyone drove off, James figured we should shoot off our small collection of Georgia-approved fireworks, and so we did, out on the driveway with me holding the hose, and the thunder of the finale of the fireworks on the Square providing background noise. Our fireworks were small, but colorful, with some crackers in the midst. In the middle of them I ran back upstairs, put CBS on, then hit pause on the DVR, so that after we finished setting them all off, we could come back in and watch the Boston Pops fireworks. Sheesh. They didn't even broadcast them in HD! But it was a great show, with a knockout finale. One set was completely blue and purple, another had fireworks that looked like waterfalls. During one of the sets the music sounded really familiar, because it was the theme song to John Adams. CBS is still showing too many crowd shots, and they move the camera too much. This isn't "shaky-cam theatre," guys. It's fireworks. Point the camera and leave it there. Gawd, I miss WCVB/A&E's old broadcast.

When that was over we cleaned up a bit, then I thought to check the schedule and that's how we ended up seeing the end of A Capitol Fourth.

[And now it's 12:15 and we're watching 3-2-1 Fireworks, a documentary about how the DC fireworks are manufactured and set up.]

Labels: holidays, parties, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:52:00 PM

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