Happy New Year

 In a little over an hour it will be 2024.  A brand new year is starting. For me it will include gaining a new husband and a new name and more than doubling the size of my family.  And it is a really nice family as I discovered this past week.  My FF and I cruised for the past week in the western Caribbean with his son, daughter-in-law, their three children, and her brother and spouse, The nine of us had a really good time getting to know each other. During the days we went our separate ways on shore excursions, or swimming, or whatever other pleasures the ship, the Sky Princess, had to offer.  But each evening the nine of us gathered for dinner together in one of the large dining rooms, and had time to reminisce and laugh; never cruel laughter, just fun, and tell a little of our history.  I really appreciate easy joyful conversation and we had plenty of that.  Hooray for new beginnings. 

bon voyage...

 "So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good-bye." If that doesn't get you singing, I don't know what will.  So, having said good bye and knowing that we are leaving for our cruise early tomorrow morning, I must close for now and go finish packing.  I will be back, with pictures, just about New Year's Day."  I hope you all have a blessed and joy filled holiday season.

packing light

 I started packing today for our Caribbean cruise.  We leave very early Friday morning and didn't want to wait until the last minute to pack.  So far so good.  I have folded a lot of clothes and it appears that most of them will fit into my suitcase, probably.  Side note here, my FF is wonderful in one more way, he packs his own suitcase.  Which is a good thing, packing one suitcase is enough for me, but I am packing light.  Light weight clothes that is, but sadly lots of them.  Evidently this cruise involves two formal evenings, and five smart casual dress evenings.  What is smart casual anyway?  I suspect they're thinking of something a little classier than jeans and a tee-shirt.  I imagine that what I wear to go exploring a Mayan ruin or zip lining or even going down in a submarine won't really qualify as 'smart casual.'  On the other hand, no matter if I end up the best dressed woman in the place (not likely) or the worst dressed (also probably not likely) I will be enjoying undoubtedly delicious food in the company of my new soon-to-be family.  And, I hear, there is also a casino on the ship.  So, one way or another, we will be having a good time.  Excuse me now, I must go finish packing.

and not so serious...

 I realize that this may not seem as important as getting a marriage license or signing a prenup but, you will probably agree that pre-nuptial shoe shopping is a necessity.  Today I went to Roberts Shoes because I needed two new pairs of shoes; black patent for the cruise and beige patent for the wedding.  Knowing full well that eleven narrows are not the easiest size shoes to find, I allowed myself to be led to the area where they had Trotters on display.  While the clerk was finding shoes in my size (she found two pairs, both of which were OK but not perfect, each priced at $100) she happened to mention that all of the shoes on the sale racks were marked down from their sale prices, so I wandered over to the size 11 rack just to have a look, not at all hopeful, and "what to my wondering eyes should appear?" (no not tiny reindeer) but three pairs of shoes, two of the exact styles I wanted and one pair of Easy Spirit summer shoes. I didn't need those but at $12 who could resist?  All in all I spent $67.  For three pairs of shoes!!!  Happy cruise to me, happy wedding to me. Life is good. 

getting serious now...

 This morning my FF and I did some serious, getting ready for marriage, stuff. First we met with my attorney, having already reviewed the document from my FFs attorney, fine tuned a few details and signed our prenup agreement.  This happened at a downtown business building right next to the Court House.  So, when that legal business was finished, we walked over to the Court House (in the super-cold baby blizzard that was blowing thought the streets) and applied for and received our marriage license.  All very official looking with space for witnesses to sign and everything.  That will happen during the wedding ceremony.  Since we had prefilled the form on line it was a quick and easy process.  After that, feeling proud of our accomplishments, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch.  We headed to Al Azteca, one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, had delicious lunches with nice warm Fideo soup, and even toasted our successes with midday margaritas.  Believe me that doesn't happen every day.  Which is, no doubt, a very good thing.  

celebrating relatives

My west coast brother informed me that, on this date in 1903, the Wright brothers got off the ground.  This is special to me because without airplanes I would have traveled a lot less in my lifetime, or taken much longer to get where I wanted to go.  I'm also interested because, according to family lore we are distantly related to the Wright brothers.  My maternal grandmother's maiden name was Wright and they were third cousins or something like that.  

The other relative (or almost relative) I want to celebrate today is my FF because it's "National Maple Syrup Day."  Back at Thanksgiving I baked a carrot cake following my sister-in-law's excellent recipe (another relative to be celebrated).  Carrot cake is traditionally topped with cream cheese frosting and I bought some. I admit I don't make frosting.  Unfortunately the frosting I bought was made with corn syrup to which my FF is allergic.  So, ingenious person that he is, he found a recipe for cream cheese frosting made with pure maple syrup which is absolutely delicious.  In fact it's so good that I am feeling compelled to bake another carrot cake sometime soon.  Or maybe he could make it again and we could just spread it on graham crackers or ginger snaps or eat it with a spoon. I'm not proud.

Tis the season...

 It's the season for something.  I'm sure about that, but today I'm getting mixed messages about just what season I'm actually in.  This morning I spent a delightful hour and a half trying on wedding dresses, and, yes, I found THE DRESS!  David's has a fun little ritual where, when you're sure you've found your dress, you close your eyes, make a wish and ring a pretty bell loudly.  Then everyone else in the area cheers for you.  It was fun. So it must be wedding season.

But then, this evening, we attended the Philharmonic Pops Christmas Concert.  If that doesn't put you solidly in the middle of the Christmas season, I don't know what ever would.  The Children's Choir alone was worth the price of admission.

When we got home from that experience, the sight of my yet to be packed suitcase reminded me that I need to get ready for the cruise we're leaving for on Friday.  That will be in the Caribbean where the season will definitely feel different.  

Tis the seasons to be jolly.  That I definitely will be. Ho Ho Ho!

while shepherds watched their flocks...

 My west coast brother has told me that today is "National Lemon Cupcake Day" and  "International Tea Day." I am sipping lemon ginger tea as I write this which is as close as I've gotten to anything lemon today.  i really do love tea and one of the pleasures I enjoy when traveling in the British Isles is the abundant availability of good hot tea.  Tea for breakfast, lunch, supper and evening snack is common in the nice hotels.  Thinking of the British Isles reminds me of a really excellent demonstration of sheep herding I saw once in Scotland.  Those super well trained sheep dogs, including one who was blind, followed their master's whistles to gather the sheep and get them moving in the desired directions.  It was an amazing demonstration but I wonder what would have happened if the dogs had been herding cats instead of sheep.  Today also happens to be  "Cat Herders Day" in case you're wondering what brought this question to mind.  I've heard the phrase "like herding cats" used to refer to trying to control kindergartners or a group of tourists let loose in an Italian shopping area, but I've never ever seen a demonstration of herding cats.  I suspect there's a reason for that.

Be brave...

 Well, it had to be done, sooner or later.  After giving cash gifts to several relatives, and ordering gifts on line for others, I realized that the time had come for me to finally brave the mall.  Today was the day. I did fortify myself by enjoying a very good Chinese lunch with a friend first.  She treated me for my birthday, which made it even better.  So off I went.  I did visit some of my favorite stores, especially the games and more shop and Barnes & Noble.  My assignment at B&N was to buy some books for my six-year-old soon to be step-granddaughter.  She's in first grade so I looked for books she could read or enjoy having read to her.  I looked at the Barbie fairy tales book but it just didn't thrill me, then I explored further and discovered three books I think she will like.  One is all about dinosaurs, which she loves, one is an easy to read book of poems called "My Parents Think I'm Sleeping."  And finally, one of my all time favorite books "Blueberries for Sal."  I really hope I get to read that one to her.  On my way out of the mall, having achieved my main missions, and taking a quick detour through Macy's, I spotted a lovely, long swishy dress that appeared by the tag to be a returned item, on sale, although the price wasn't marked.  The size tag was missing, but it looked about right so I tried it on.  It had long tight sleeves, but not uncomfortably so, and the skirt was floor length on me, which is rare. I couldn't zip it all the way up the back because I didn't have anyone to help me, but it felt like it might work, so I carefully took it off and went in search of a sales clerk or cashier.  This is not an easy task in Macy's these days, but I did finally find a cashier and asked her if she could figure out the size and tell me what the sale price was.  I was delighted to learn that it was a size eight (since I usually wear a 12) but when I learned that the marked down price was $299, I quickly told myself that it was really too tight and walked away.  Ah well, it was fun to try on, and my mall shopping is done for this year. 

Happy birthday indeed...

 I'm happy to report that it has been a very good birthday.  My west coast brother started the day by informing me that my age this year is the 22nd prime number.  I'll leave it to you math wizzes to figure out how old that makes me, but he assured me that it means I am in my prime.  Hooray!  I also took time to put together the Lego birthday train I received, all by myself.  It measures about five inches long.  And those 58 pieces were all quite tiny.  It's so cute!

We ended the day with dinner at Casa's with my FF, kids and kids-in-law.  Delicious food and congenial conversation.  Then my FF and I finished off the evening with a game of Scrabble, which I won (for the first time in a while) by over 100 points.  Getting those extra 50 points for using all your tiles really helps.  Altogether a fine day, and, to make it even better, I'm only one day older than I was yesterday.  

a perfect gift...

 I opened my second Christmas gift of 2023 this evening.  Actually it was in the same box I received from my west coast brother and sister-in-law and which I mentioned in my blog yesterday.  You may remember that I mentioned the Christmas package was pretty and squishy.  My sister-in-law had said I should be sure to open the present before we go on our cruise and now I know why.  The contents were in a very nice mesh-sided cosmetic bag which will work very well for the trip.  Inside the bag were two pairs of fuzzy socks and a sweatshirt.  Friends who know me well know that I love sweatshirts, especially in chilly weather.  This is one of my favorites.  It's a lovely soft beige color with neatly printed words in brown that say "Drink Tea. Read Books. Be Happy."  All things I prize.  If there can be such a thing as a sophisticated sweatshirt, this is it.  

happy pre-birthday to me...

 Every year about this time my west coast brother and sister-in-law send me a gift box with a birthday gift and a Christmas gift.  I got the box today, and found, as expected, inside an extremely securely taped box, a gift for each occasion.  I'm waiting a while to open the Christmas package which is soft and squishy and quite mysterious.  But, since my birthday is only two days away and the birthday gift was small, hard, irregular and lumpy inside its pretty paper, I decided it needed to be opened now.  So I opened it and guess what?  It is a Lego set, and not just any Lego set.  It's a 58 piece Creator series Birthday Train.  But what made me smile and makes it very special is that this is my very first Lego set.  That may not seem surprising to you, but my son has been a Lego lover and collector for 45 years or so and my daughter and late husband accumulated their fair share over the years.  But somehow, I have never received one before.  I am going to wait until my birthday to put it together and I will do it all by myself.  I will post a picture when it's finished.  

Seasonal trivia....

 I know that you probably have many pre-holiday questions bubbling in your brain these days.  I know I do.  Happily, I have discovered answers for some of the most pressing, so here we go.  First of all, what's the difference between a caribou and a reindeer?  Surprise, there's no difference.  A caribou and a reindeer are the same animal.  So why not Santa and his eight tiny caribou?  It turns out that, in North America, the animal is called a reindeer if it's domesticated and a caribou if it's wild.  I took a ride in a sleigh pulled by a reindeer when I was in Lapland.  It was the absolutely coldest experience of my life.  Santa must have a really well insulated red suit.  

Here's another question I'm sure you're pondering: how did the cranberry get its name.  I do realize that cranberry relish is a thanksgiving dish, but it also works for Christmas.  History has it that Dutch and German settlers in North America came up with the name 'crane berry' because the plant's blossoms resembled the neck and head of a crane.  This was eventually shortened to cranberry. I'm not sure why.  That's only one letter less.  

Question number three - how fast does a snowflake fall from the sky on average?  You probably wonder that every time it starts snowing.  On average they fall between one and four miles per hour. Which, I guess, is why it looks like they are just innocently floating down.  However, don't get too complacent.  If they pick up water as they fall they can speed up to nine miles an hour.

And finally, why is it good to eat fried sweets during the holiday season?  It turns out that latkes, doughnuts, and other fried treats are popular during Hanukkah because they recall the old testament story of the miracle of the oil that, even when there was only enough oil for one day, burned in its lamp for seven days. Now I'm not Jewish and you may not be either, but I think it's fine to honor the traditions of other cultures.  So go ahead and eat those doughnuts.  On the other hand, I recommend that you skip the reindeer drawn sleigh ride.  

time to share

Our Christmas poem is finished and mailed so I have decided that it's ok to share the poem in this blog now.  Many years ago I gave up trying to compete with my friends who sent long Christmas news letters about everything fabulous their children were doing.  I decided that if I didn't have time to read a three page single spaced letter, maybe my friends didn't either.  I assumed that people who wanted more details would call, and they do.  So here is this year's effort, for your quick enjoyment.

An Unexpected Development

We thought things were set,

Not too many changes in our future,

Children succeeding,

Grandchildren adulting.

All very nice.

Then suddenly,

Or so it seemed,

Old friendship since college

Has become a new love,

And wedding bells will be ringing,

For us, not the grands,

In 2024.

Now don’t be alarmed or upset,

If you haven’t received

An invite yet.

We love you all,

But we’re keeping it small,

Relatives only.

January 14 is the date.

Isn’t it great?

 

Have a blessed Christmas,

And a surprisingly good New Year!

 

One step closer...

One of my friends was complaining today about how many things she still needs to do before Christmas, which reminded me, Christmas is coming.  Between preparing for a cruise (we leave in two weeks) and a wedding (a little over five weeks away) and committee meetings and a birthday celebration (for me) and of course Christmas, I do understand having a long list of things to do.  I am happy to report that our Christmas poems have been mailed out, this morning, and today we decided on the restaurant we will go to for the wedding supper.  We're doing supper instead of a formal reception since this is a family only affair.  My soon to be daughter-in-law asked me if we should have place cards at the tables.  I actually think that's a pretty good idea.  I would like the grandchildren from both sides to sit together so they can get to know each other.  There are 12 of them including two significant others.  Twelve grands sounds like two tables of six; easy right? except the grandchildren range in age from six to twenty-four. Ah well, I'm sure things will all work out. 

travelling phoneless....

 Today I was the one 'who let the dogs out.'  Both my son-in-law and daughter were working long hours, so they asked me to let the grand-dogs out about noon.  I'm happy to do this because I hate to think of those three sad-eyed canines sitting around all afternoon with their little legs crossed.  There was no problem with getting there or letting the dogs out, but while there I realized that, gasp!, I had left my phone at my FFs house.  A side note here, I think it's a little unsettling (or maybe a lot) to see how dependent we've become on having our phones always with us.  I'm just as guilty as anyone else. As soon as I realized it was missing, I tried to figure out how to get my phone.  I didn't have time to go back and get it before my lunch date with a girlfriend, and I couldn't call my FF because my daughter doesn't have a land line, so I decided I could get along without it for one afternoon, and I did. I had one slightly frustrating moment when I wanted to check the time while waiting in the restaurant.  There was no clock on the wall, I wasn't wearing a watch, and, of course, no phone.  

What I didn't know was that, while I was getting through the afternoon phoneless, my considerate FF had discovered my phone at his house, driven with it to my daughter's house, and missed me by about five minutes.  Meanwhile, my son-in-law saw my FF lurking around the front of their house on the camera, thought the skulker looked a little familiar and called my phone to check it out.  They then had a delightful little text chat about how silly I was to forget my phone.  Right! Like it never happened to them.   

Christmas gifting....

 I realized today that my Christmas gift giving practices have really changed over the years.  In olden days, when my grandchildren were much younger, I would take each of them individually on a "shopping spree" after Christmas, and after they had seen what the other grandparents had given them and knew what they still wanted.  The rules were that we would shop wherever they chose. I would treat them to lunch sometime during the day, they had a set amount of money to spend, and I would never rush a decision or tell them to hurry up. I regretted that policy once when one of my granddaughters opted to spend five long hours in an antiques mall, but a deal is a deal. I have three granddaughters and one grandson.  Over the years the grandson led me to places like Chucky Cheese to eat pizza and play games and Home Depot to buy a soldering iron or other similar equipment, while the granddaughters loved the mall where shopping evolved over the years from Build a Bear to Claire's Boutique to Victoria's Secret, and sometimes beyond to the Good Will store. But almost always, I'm happy to say, one of our stops would be a book store. Fun times indeed.  Then, just as the grands seemed to be aging out of the shopping sprees, the pandemic struck and suddenly all of the shopping was on line.  Now, they are off to college or busy with their jobs and on line shopping has become the norm.  They send me lists, with links so I know just how to order things, I buy the gifts and, depending on what the holiday schedule looks like, either have them shipped to my apartment so I can wrap and present them (which is still the most fun) or simply have the gifts shipped directly to them.  We still have fun when we all get together but it's not the same as those shopping sprees.  And shopping has gotten too easy.  I found myself thinking today that I will just buy gifts for everyone on line, have them shipped, and avoid the mall and post office or UPS store altogether.  And then a happy memory flashed through my mind, as memories sometimes do.  What I'm doing now is not so very different than when I was a child and my brothers and I would pour over the wonderful big fat Sears Christmas catalog, mark the gifts we wanted and hand over the catalog to our parents who ordered gifts from our list.  Different technology but the same basic idea, so now I'm not feeling guilty at all.  

some fun facts...

 My FF and I spent some time this evening looking over the requirements for getting a marriage license in Allen County.  You can start the process on line, which is handy.  Since we're both in our 70s, we were interested to learn that we can get married even if we're first cousins (which we're not) if we're both over 65 (which we are.)  We were also interested to learn that we will be asked the birth places and current addresses of our parents.  They want to know about previous marriages, with 20 spaces provided.  Some people have obviously led more exciting lives than I have.  It seems that a blood test is no longer required.  That's fine with me.  They also want to know what our level of education is, our ethnic and racial origin, and how many dependent children we have.  And, of course, what my name will be?  Ah, there's the question. Stay tuned.  

taking a risk...

 Today, once again according to my west coast brother, is "National Dice Day" and that reminds me of gambling.  I like to gamble.  I like to play games in general. What I don't like is loosing.  I don't mean loosing games like Gin Rummy and Scrabble (although I do prefer to win), but I really don't like to loose money.  I enjoy Las Vegas, although I haven't been there for several years, and I will probably do a little gambling if the cruise ship I'm going on later this month has a casino.  What I don't like, as I mentioned before, is loosing. So I tend to bet very conservatively.  I typically set a limit like $50 (the cost of a meal and a show) and when it's gone it's gone.  Sometimes I get lucky and win, but you will never hear of me winning fabulous amounts of money.  I just don't bet enough.  A friend of mine swears that if you double your bet every time you loose, you will eventually win back all your money, but I can't bring myself to do that. I do like Black Jack and I will play the slots a little bit, but the slots are not as much fun as they used to be.  There are sound effects of course, but instead of copious coins pouring out of the machine it spits out a slip of paper that tells you how much you've won.  Yawn. Some years ago, when the coins were real, my husband and I were strolling through a Las Vegas casino (no idea which one, although the Golden Nugget was always one of my favorites) when we decided to drop some nickels in a machine.  For some reason the machine wouldn't take our nickels.  They kept dropping through the machine and into the tray.  We kept trying and laughing (we may have had a drink or two) until the lady at the next slot machine informed us scathingly that we had been putting our nickels in a five dollar machine.  We slunk away sheepishl, but we didn't loose any money.

Hooray for potlucks....

 Potluck Dinner or Carry-in Dinner or Covered Dish Supper, they all mean the same thing, and it is a marvelous invention.  My west coast brother informed me that today is "National Green Bean Casserole Day" and also "National Apple Pie Day." He then went on to inform me that they were having a potluck after church.  I'm guessing he may have gotten lucky and enjoyed both beans and pie, but I'm not jealous.  I hosted my own little carry-in lunch for some friends this afternoon and our spread was quite delicious - pulled pork sandwiches, two lavish relish trays, a fruit salad, cake, and possibly the world's best homemade caramels.  Not bad for seven people. But when I think about who in my lifetime has produced the best potluck dinners, the clear winner is the little church (about 60 members) in rural southeastern Ohio that we attended when we lived there.  I can bake a decent pie, so I could contribute, but the other ladies of that church really outdid themselves. Excellent fried chicken, ham, salads, soups, and an infinite variety of casseroles made those suppers not to be missed events.  They were so popular that on election days, they offered up all their specialities to sold out crowds at lunch and dinner.  It was the church's big moneymaker and also got out the vote.  I was a little disappointed to learn, when we moved back to Fort Wayne, that the large church we joined didn't do carry-in dinners very often.  They had a cook on staff to prepare dinners.  Recently, we have done some carrying in there, but it usually only involves desserts (not all bad).  Coincidentally, I brought an apple pie to the last such event.  I must stop writing now, I'm starting to drool on my keyboard.  

Unique combinations....

 My west coast brother informed me that today is "Earmuff Day," Popcorn Day," and "Rhubarb Vodka Day."  My first reaction was "What a weird combination."  I can see popcorn and earmuffs together if I was at an outside cold weather event like ice skating and wanted some refreshment that might warm me up like popcorn with, maybe, hot chocolate, not vodka!  I am not a fan of vodka in any weather, in case you hadn't guessed, but rhubarb vodka sounds particularly disgusting, even though I do like rhubarb (but in pies, not drinks).  On the other hand, but somewhat related, theme wise, I just received a text from my son describing his day with his family at a festival called Kristkindlemarkt in Carmel, Indiana during which they sampled "hot mulled wine, hot cherry beer, big soft pretzels and warm candied almonds."  Now I don't know about you but that list sounds way, way better to me than rhubarb vodka.  It's just a shame I don't have any of the above handy.  I guess I'll make do with my usual cup of tea.  

the great flood...

 On Tuesday, the water in our entire apartment building was turned off all day so a new hot water system could be installed. All seemed to have gone well since then.  Any time I have turned on a hot tap hot water has come out.  But today an email was sent to everyone telling us to turn on all of our hot water taps for 30 minutes to help get the air out of the lines.  So, being a conscientious tenant, I turned on all five faucets in my apartment, two in each bathroom and one in the kitchen, and let them run for a half hour while I ate supper.  Then I went around and turned everything off.  You would be amazed at how hot and steamy a bathroom can become in 30 minutes.  I was. I went to my bathroom last and it was just as hot and steamy as the guest bathroom.  It also held another surprise.  I had forgotten, when I turned on the faucets full blast (as Instructed) how slowly my bathroom sink drains. Surprise!  When I opened the door. the sink was doing a Niagara Falls imitation.  So I baled water out of the sink, sopped up all the water on the floor, tossed the floating box of Kleenex, dried everything else on the counter, and finally got things back in order.  It was an unexpected mess but on the upside, I have company coming on Sunday and my bathroom counter and floor are shiny clean now.