The End is Here!!

 

Well, the end of the year, not to be too melodramatic! And good-bye 2021!!

Sorry but maybe it IS the end of civilization as we have known it. I attempted to buy Bob a new TV for Christmas. Here's our old TV: 

Probably a lovely set in it's day but it's got a gigantic back that sticks out a good 18" and it doesn't have a very large picture area. It's old! And the modem that we require to allow the TV to "talk" to the dvd player needs a firm whack every few minutes to keep it running. (*1) We decided we needed a new TV.

 So I purchased what looked to me to be a huge step up; like 32" (diagonal) screen. And in all fairness, I'd done a ton of research and determined the brand and approximate size but was utterly intimidated and bowled over by all the enormous screens on view at the store. I felt like I'd crawled out from under a rock. I quickly selected my 32" set and fled the store.

I presented it to Bob on Christmas and we were both excited at the prospect of watching TV while lying in bed and feeling all luxurious and up-to-date. But somehow, I had misgivings when we brought the TV upstairs. It looked less huge; in fact, I thought it looked small. We debated for a while and finally agreed. We'd go one size up.

(Another consideration is this lovely sculpture that resides on top of the TV cabinet. The cabinet needs to accommodate TV and sculpture. Then we to arrived at wall mounting the TV and put the sculpture on another surface...)

So we went to the store- for us a still unusual excursion as COVID has kept us close to home and away from "the public"- and return the new but too small TV. We scouted the rear of the big box store, found the bigger TVs and instead of the 40", I see Bob's eyes go wide and he says, "That's the perfect size!" pointing at a 43" model. So we truly did graduate from old set to 32" all the way up to 43". (*2) The punchline is that they had two of these behemoths in stock, but the boxes were water damaged and we didn't want to take a chance on a defective TV and another return trip. I finally ordered the 43" on-line.

So we're awaiting delivery of the new member of our household. I alluded to the end being near and part of me is afraid of the novelty of a giant screen. Will it become so seductive as to reduce the time we spend reading? Will we become "like everyone else", glued to a huge screen and watching endless hours of mindless dreck? I fear for our future! Oh well, welcome to 2022!

(*1) We tried to purchase a new modem-thing and were laughed out of BestBuy and WalMart. How's that for humiliation?!? 

(*2) And yes, there are far gigantic-er tVs out there. 65", 75"... we'd have to get a bigger wall to make space for these "home theaters". And neither one of us wants our lives dominated by a TV that big!

 

Pop Quiz: Solstice Edition

Okay kids: What are the two things that Rita enjoys about the Holiday Season? If you said, "Xmas tree!" and "Cookies!" than you have a splendid memory. Above is the partially decorated pine tree that Bob harvested from our vast acreage. It's actually a bit taller than some recent models and boy is there plenty of open space to hang ornaments! Looks great!

                                     

And here's the beginnings of several bouts of cookie creation. We didn't have the ingredients I needed for a few of the other cookies I intended to make, so I resorted to that pseudo-healthy standby of oatmeal raisin cookies. They're half gone already.

Here's our tree illuminated at night. I think this was from our Solstice Celebration. We like to hold celebrations; what else can you do in times of COVID 19 and continued Trumpism?! Let's break out the booze and have a ball... (*1)

It is strange to be decorating and thinking that we'd ordinarily have family (Hi Cathy! Hi Beatrice! Hi John!) over for pork roast, which Bob is just now starting to cook in the CrockPot. (Or, The CrackPot as it IS at our house!). We're cooking the pork roast a day early, thinking we'll enjoy it for Xmas eve as well as Xmas day because Holy Hell! The weather people are predicting heavy rain! High winds! Flooding! Armafuckinggeddon!! Power outages! Darkness! Despair! Our energy company (don't get me started on Eversource (*2)) left a weird robo-message excusing themselves in advance of any responsibility for power outages. They advised to remove or tie down any outdoor decorations... yeah, right. (*3)

So we're having a small feast: mashed potatoes, roast pork, gravy, Brussels sprouts and our own carrots. And we have a warm spinach artichoke dip as an appetizer and a punkin pie to finish up. Slosh it all down with a nice red Bordeaux and boy are we livin' the good life!

In the meantime, I'm doing everything with one hand tied behind my back as I had a freak accident (*4) and my left hand looks like I decked someone in a bar fight. I'm swollen and can't bend two fingers. Thank goodness I'm a Rightie! 

So... Happy Holidays from us and ours to you and yours!

(*1) To quote Miss Peggy Lee.

(*2) And there were a couple of degenerates (one, whaling away at a rose vine with a machete!!) sent by Eversource to prune the trees that line the driveway so as to prevent outages. But walking out to the mailbox and surveying every bloody inch of the driveway, I was unable to discern that they had done anything!!

(*3)  But I will bring Burned Santa inside for the night. Remember him? Rescued from the wilds of Shamokin Pennsylvania where he had been badly burned in some heathen Xmas sacrifice. He gets tied to the fence every year as our one concession to outdoor holiday decorations.

(*4) Don't ask how I managed to hook my sleeve on a gate, pull on it and cause my poor, innocent left hand to come careening across and POW! impact on the side of the horse food bucket. I am swollen and can't bend two fingers.

Starting All Over Again

We made it to 2019! Taking everything into consideration, I think that's a remarkable accomplishment. I spent (and I know you did too!) part of this last year worrying about nuclear annihilation and the epidemic of stupidity that has swamped our country so to see the dawning of 2019 is some sort of milestone.
It's hard to fathom but we're celebrating our 8th anniversary of buying this house today. Yikes! That went by in flash.  We have done lots of great things here, and so far haven't done a few funny things- like fix those weird holes in the wall in the living room. (They're conveniently hidden behind the dining table most of the time.) As some one reassured us at our house purchase party, "You have the rest of your lives to do things". I'm paraphrasing but it was something to that effect!
Baring unforeseen disasters (tornado, anyone?) Bob and I are eager to get on with more interesting and challenging projects such as redoing the kitchen sink and making the famous mosaic wall. Last year's tornado did throw us off schedule (not that we have an official "schedule") and we're still picking up the remains of that storm.
Better things in 2019! Impeachment of a certain (neurologically disturbed) Orange Menace? Move forward of effective Climate Change?Making my first million dollars... yay!!! I guess- despite a nasty head cold that Bob and I thoughtfully shared- I'm somewhat cautiously optimistic today.

An Xmas Post

Xmas was celebrated today (December 28th) with my family. Things got off to a rocky start as the reports of ultra cold weather to come threatened to derail our festivities. After the inevitable testy phone calls, emails and smoke billowing from both of my ears, rapprochement was achieved and- cold weather be damned!- Christmas happened.
I think this year was more heavily laden with emotional and familial baggage because it is the first one since Mommy's death. Holidays are always fraught events; this is nothing if not the perennial cliche. My family certainly comes up with it's own exotic expressions of stress, sisterly hierarchies, issues of control etc etc. You get the picture.
I guess I'm lucky in that differences of opinion and questions of rationality versus emotionalism appear insurmountable and yet (mostly) seem to be overcome once we're in each others company. Then we have a good time. I suppose food and wine solve many squabbles...
We cleaned, we cooked, my family arrived. Indeed, they were brave and doughty souls to bundle up in parkas and boots and scarves and gloves and confront the arctic chill. I applaud their heartiness as it is Siberian out there, what with single digit temperatures and bracing wind chill. But our house was warm and the tree was lit up, well... like a Christmas tree.
The food was stellar. We ate so much that Bob and I skipped dinner altogether and I woke up after midnight full of energy and rarin' to go. (Go where you might ask, as it is 1:30 and something like 3 degrees outside? I know this last bit in reality as Lil' Robin the Good just decided that she needed to relieve herself. It really is cold!) Highlights of food included guacamole, spinach artichoke dip, roast pork, sweet potato casserole, cranberry relish (I could eat the whole bowl myself!),squash, brownies, peach pie, several bottles of wine.... and slightly musty tasting green beans.
The green beans sparked a new tradition. They were passed around, tossed, balanced, fondled and generally employed as entertainment. Worthy of the Schmenge Christmas! (Google that on YouTube if the reference escapes you.)
All in all, it was a nice day. We don't exchange Xmas presents anymore- thank god!- so at least that source of stress is eliminated. (Although Bob and I did give my brother in law John his birthday gifts, distinguished this year with a black and red motif.) Lots of food, bright sunlight (despite cold), a tree harvested from the side of our driveway, politics with everyone on the same side of the aisle; it was a good time.

The Requisite X-Mas Post

Well, here's the tree:

I think it looks exactly like last year's tree- although the needles are the longer variety. And this one cost $13.00- half price at Lowe's! (We're boycotting Home Depot as they apparently supported The Orange Menace). I'm glad we scored a tree only a couple of days before Christmas; it lent a modicum of "cheer" to a relatively cheerless holiday! (I mean, the world may soon erupt in a radioactive fireball when The Orange Menace blows us all to Kingdom Come. Heaven help us!)
I know it was this lack of hope and general despair that inspired this year's card.

(Caption inside: "Let's put the X back in Xmas"... who first used that weird abbreviation, anyway?) The image was a nice way of negating this holiday season, if not the rest of the year. Somehow we wound up with 120 cards, not the 60 we had ordered, so we slaved away in our little factory decorating a lot more than we needed before we realized our mistake. I guess we can use this nihilistic greeting as thank you cards or something.
I've had the week off and Bob and I have spent it lurching from social event to social event. I feel fat, logy and generally in hibernation mode. I've been playing an inordinate amount of video games and am surprised at just how easily enthralled I am by them. (In fact, the sillier the better!)

 See? Oh boy! I got to level 35! And I "bought" a Dragon Castle! And more fish! I do find these games relaxing and it sure beats crawling back to bed to sleeping for the next four years. (I've considered that, and I'm sure I have company!)
Don't worry: I have also spent time in my studio and am having fun with that. I have a few new projects in the works- one that I have been dallying with for three years or so involving a World Atlas sort of thing... and more seditious fabric pieces. Something to live for!

This Year's Model

Here's this year's Xmas tree; we can call it the "Bondage Tree". But don't worry, both Bob and I were forced to "liberate" it as guilt over its possible suffering caused us to cut the string...
I went to Walmart a week ago. Yes, I confess to occasionally visiting Walmart (despite those pangs of knowing we're supporting exploited child labor and grisly conditions to produce our pukey cheesy goods at ridiculous rock bottom prices). Anyway, on my way into Walmart, I spotted actual real live Xmas trees, bound up and ready to thrust into the hatchback of our (temporarily) running car. And- can't beat this!- there was a sign reading $5.50. I went in and inquired at the courtesy desk to make sure I wasn't misreading the sign. I then called Bob to get his approval for this remarkably affordable transaction. I enjoy his input.
After smelling and fingering each available tree (for freshness and vigor) I loaded the selected tree into the shopping cart where it projected like a harpoon. Thus armed, I made my other purchases and was greeted with other shoppers exclamations of approval. In truth, as the trees were strictly bundled, there was no way to ascertain whether this tree was a lovely desirable pyramidal spruce, or a homely lop sided individual. It didn't matter anyway- cheap is good.
It was Bob that had the clever idea of leaving the tree all strung up. He even prefaced his idea by saying, "This is an idea more typical of you..." He was right! And for a couple of days, we lighted it and left it bound.
We almost used the above image as our Xmas card, but it just didn't translate all that well. Instead,
we freed it and were pleasantly surprised to find a perfectly shapely five foot tree. We'll officially decorate it tonight, before watching the Democratic debates. Go Team Bernie!

(What We All Need is a) Pre-Christmas Rant

Hey! Remember him? That's right; the half- burned Santa from Hell. Actually, Bob and I retrieved this Santa (with the help of our beloved friend and artist extraordinare Wasil) from a still smoldering slag heap in Shamokin, Pennslyvania several years back. It was early summer and he had apparently been sacrificed by some coal country crazies. But at least he's found a new home among us North Country heathens and was featured on our Christmas card when we were in between housing... let's just not go there.
Anyway, it's the eve of Christmas eve and as good a time as any to promote unhealthy habits and a healthy dose of nihilism. Good ahead! have more eggnog and bacon or eat another gross of cookies! Why not? I think I've started in on food because this is the season to over eat and the repent, isn't it? Well, we may not even have to repent as the world as we know it may end very soon indeed. So much for my being thrilled about ObamaCare! We'll all need it in a big way before much longer...
What am I referring to, obliquely? How about Fukufuckingshima and the fact that that "incident" is still happening. There is so much radioactive water pouring out of that derelict plant every day and true "containment" is years away. Have you heard that they want to try and put walls of ice around it? That'll take ages! And in the mean time, they're attempting to extract the rods, very slowly, very carefully as there's a really big bang waiting in there somewhere if one touches another- and there are hundreds of them! There are these hastily bolted together vessels, stacked on one another in endless rows; what are they- or we- going to do with all those containers? Any one got a bright idea?
The radioactivity has already reached California, according to maps and models. West coast fish is no doubt contaminated and I do so like my salmon. I guess we'll be eating canned food from some other decade down in our fall out shelters.

And food in these fine United States? Has everyone (I hope) seen the little video about a ten year old school kid who was assigned the typical science experiment of sticking toothpicks into a sweet potato and watching it sprout? She waited and waited and waited and started doing a little research. Turns out they treat sweet potatoes  (and so many other foods) with a chemical cheerily called "Bud Nip" that chemically prevents foods from sprouting and weeds from growing. But we're eating this stuff! In the meantime, she got an organic sweet potato from a farmers market and stuck toothpicks into it and mounted it in water and it sprouted right away! Bob took a sweet potato from the box we'd purchased; he's hoping that it sprouts.
Scary, no? Bob and I aren't quite sure what to eat for the holidays...
That's why I'm sort of nihilist this Xmas season; have another cookie! Have a good time!

It's Probably Still Christmas Somewhere!

The tree is down and the personalized Christmas stockings are safely tucked away but I've left the Holiday cards up on the back door. We sure get some great cards- a gigantic benefit to having artist friends!
Bob and I have amassed quite an extensive collection over the years, saving all the hand-drawn, hand made cards. Some of our friends- like Roberta!- make truly amazing art works each year. Take a look at this
 year's model:

We gave Roberta's card it's own shrine in the ice making dispenser section of the refrigerator door. Have an odd year, indeed!
Most years, I really enjoy creating cards with Bob. I think this year's offering was pretty clever and we received good feedback. Some years, the "well is dry" and making cards seems a real chore. Bob and I actually broke down and purchased cards several times in the last twenty plus years. (Oh the horror!) I have already conceived of a brilliant idea for next year; let's see if I remember it by early December 2013.
And don't get me started about "Merry Christmas" versus "Happy Holidays" and "Seasons Greetings". Please. We have friends who are vegan, pagan, trans-gendered, left-handed, Middle Eastern, fly-fishing, cat-walking, stay-at-home dads and we try and accommodate ALL tastes and inclinations!
And while we're at it, here's the bulletin board where we stick "over flow".

There's a nice new postcard from our friend Ben who is in Mexico (as always) for the winter season. He's making art in a warm, dry climate.
Incidentally, I think this posting was about friends. Due to weather events, we've missed several parties, dinners and festivities this last month. Last night it was fog! We were supposed to have dinner after an opening but as we drove up the road, the visibility was terrible so we came home and dined on leftovers and (non-violent) video games.

Seasonal Disconnects But Happy Endings

It has been a terribly mixed up holiday season thus far. Unfortunately, the matriarch of our clan (aka "Mommy") was in the hospital for Christmas. She was not up for visitors and was having a tough time of it. It was decided that as we had been elected to prepare the meat course of the main dinner, the feast would be moved to our humble domicile. As it was our first Xmas at home and our tree was especially dramatic we agreed that ours doors were open and the festivities would happen here.
The blurry photo above attests to the remarkably cheerful scene, despite Mommy's absence. (I think it's blurry as I was trying to hurry up and take a photo before everyone ducked or turned their heads away from the camera). Anyway, we all ate waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much and had a really nice time.
We spent the last several days visiting Mommy in the hospital and she seems in much better spirits today, as she is discharged to a convalescent facility for a few weeks. Let's hope she's on the mend!
To much food was the theme this year, as Bob and I staggered from groaning board to groaning board. Two good friends were gracious enough to invite us to Christmas Eve at their house where the fed us at least 23 courses of amazing diverse and delicious food stuffs (thanks to Byron and Dan!). Boxing Day saw us gathered at the home of another good friend (thanks John! Ever the host sublime... makes it look so easy, too!) So now I feel as if I need a month of fasting and pilates or Zumba (what is that anyway?)
And here's someone else who was charmed by Christmas. We gave Jules (our beloved doggy who is trying to climb on my lap even as I write this) a huge chew bone. I think he was scared of it initially. Now he's carrying it around and banging into tables and doorways.

And even better is that some Secret Santa left Jules (who is very good) a doggy bag with a chew toy and a stuffed animal on our doorstep- anonymously! Jules is VERY HAPPY!!!