My second favorite Christmas Carol



I haven't seen the movie in many years, and truthfully, I never loved the movie that much. The kid in it was kind of an irritating brat but I've loved this song ever since I first heard it there. Ronnie used to make sure this one was on the jukebox too.

The spirit of the season

I've been crashing for the last few days. I think walking around in the cold, or rather standing around in it while the pup did his sniffing thing, finally caught to me. I wasn't feeling that great but it seems to be passing. Meanwhile, I'm trying to work up some Christmas spirit. I've decided to start torturing you with my favorite Christmas carols. This one is my all time, number one fav.



This song always reminds me of Ronnie Sarazin now. Ron was such a odd guy. He had a reputation as a mean old man, a genuine Scrooge and God knows there were many times when I was bartending for him that I thought he deserved it, but there was a soft side to him, that most people never got to see. He knew this was my favorite and at Christmastime he would make sure it was on the juke box and he would always cough up the quarters to play it for me, every time I had a shift.

I think he may have secretly really liked Christmas carols as well, but still he did for me. Considering how really stingy he could be, I always found it touching. In many ways he was good friend and I miss him sometimes.

Meanwhile, if you need snow to get into the spirit, this is a gorgeous winter video from Finland. I'll be viewing that one more than once. That's kind of the only downside to Christmas in the south. Being such a lifelong Yankee, it never quite feels like the holiday since we so rarely see the white stuff where I am.

There's no place like home

Well I'm back home again and I would love to have a day to decompress and poke around the house but I have a long dentist appointment again today. It was a good gig but I'm glad to be back in my own little space. I'm definitely not taking a walk today. I won't have time anyway but tomorrow is supposed to be warm so I'm going to try to take a nice long one then. It will be nice to set my own pace. The pup had a tendency to want to take really long sniff breaks so the exercise factor was somewhat diminished.

The big excitement of the whole gig was the night a huge freaking bug followed me into the house. I mean it was four inches long and black. I thought at first it was a spider but on closer inspection, I realized it was some kind of cricket even though it didn't make any noise. It had long legs and it hopped. Someone with a video camera could have made a fine YouTube of me chasing it around the kitchen with a glass and a towel trying to catch it.

I suppose I could have just smooshed it with my shoe, but I'm funny like that. I don't like to kill things if I can help it. I usually rescue spiders too.

Oh, and on the ride home last night I pass through a lot of farms and got to see the planets. They weren't in that perfect triangle with the moon anymore but they were visible for most of the ride and sometimes it looked like I was going to ride right between them. The stars look bigger down here somehow. It was a nice end to the gig.

Follow the Star

Last day of the dogsitting gig. This is a nice place and the doggie is a sweetie, but I'll be glad to be home again and not be forced to go out for a walk in the howling wind or the raw, wet cold for an hour whether I feel like it or not. Now I remember why I stopped taking these sort of gigs in the winter. Man, it was cold yesterday.

Today looks a little better. The sun came out and it looks like just a fairly mild breeze out there at the moment so my last walk with the little guy should be more pleasant. Hope it warms up a little more by walktime.

Meanwhile, Avedon tells me advent doesn't officially start for a couple of more days but the calendars of course start on the first. I've always loved advent calendars. It was a big part of our Christmas tradition when my daughter was growing up. I don't get them anymore. It's not quite the same opening up the window by yourself, but there's a whole wealth of them on-line.

Avedon collects the links every year. I'm a traditionalist so my favorites are the St Mary Margaret and the Liverpool Museum versions, but you may like the more modern ones better.

Anyway, I really like the on-line ones so if you find any while you're surfing the intertubes, please do leave me a link in comments.

Ready or not, here it comes

I'm talking about Christmas of course. My Christmas shopping is going to be easy enough. Since I'm broke, I'm not doing any to speak of but if you need ideas on what not to buy, well here's a couple.

Bras for men is the latest rage in Japan apparently. Unless you have some cross-dressers on your list, I have a feeling it probably won't go over so well with the macho men in your life. And here's a list of the 22 worst gifts that you probably shouldn't put on your list either. [h/t Avedon]

An ad you won't see in America

I expect you'll either find this beer ad really offensive or really funny. Or you might find it so over the top offensive that it's almost comical.

I'm not easily offended myself, so I have to say I found it just kind of lame. Probably will sell a lot of beer to guys though.

Whether you are offended or not by this beer ad, Alcohol Rehab Centers offer effective treatment for people with alcohol issues.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm a little groggy today having inadvertently spent half the morning sleeping. Usually the sun coming through the window or the kids hollering outside would have woken me up on a holiday but here the bedroom is dark and the neighborhood as quiet as a national forest in winter. My mind is still clinging to vague dreams that I can't quite remember but still feel haunting the far corners of my consicousness.

I'll be having dinner with the family so I'm thankful for that and I'm thankful for my new PJs. They are indeed cozy and warm. I'm thankful for this gig, to feel like I'm doing useful if only for a week. By the end of it I should be back in better shape again.

Hoo boy am I feeling muscles I forgot I had today. I didn't have time to change into my sneakers yesterday so walking a mile and a half in clogs has taken its toll. I'm practically hobbling. I'm thankful the weather is going to break and it's going to be warm today and tomorrow. It will help.

And of course, I'm thankful for you dear readers, who bear with me through my morose whining and inattention to this place and celebrate the good moments with me as well. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with good food, great company and your favorite football teams all win.

The wild life

I started my dogsitting gig today. Man did it take me forever to get ready this morning. Back when I used to travel a lot I had packing down to a science. I could be ready to go on an hour's notice. I guess I'm out of practice because it took about four and I was just going about a half hour drive from my house. Not to mention I ended up bringing tons more stuff than I do to travel around the world. Of course, this wasn't exactly like taking a trip to the tropics.

For one thing, it's been really cold here for a couple of weeks and I suddenly realized I needed to bring warm clothes to walk the dog so I had to dig out my hat and gloves and my long johns. I had to do laundry this morning too. I don't expect anyone to visit me here of course but the owner's brother may show up so I decided to run out and buy new pajamas last night. By the time I got back it was too cold and dark to trot over to the laundry room.

I scored some great PJs though so it was worth it. Soft fleecy top and pants with a cloud and stars print. Very funky and I think they're going to be really warm. Good thing because this place is on the chilly side. Nice house though and a great hood.

It's a closed development with a circle street and then dead end branches off the ends of the circle. Big lots and there's large tracts of undeveloped land that's all woods. I took the little guy for a walk this afternoon and saw lots of birds but the best part was towards the end. Just as we rounded the corner I saw a big deer peeking out of the woods. The pup didn't notice him at first and was rooting around in the dead leaves on the periphery so Papa deer and I just looked at each other for a long time.

He came out onto the pavement and for a moment I thought he might walk right up to us. But then the doggie finally noticed him and started running so the deer took off into the woods on the other side. A few seconds later the rest of the deer family bounded across after him. It was so cool, two grownups and three little ones. Nice start to the gig.

For Whom the UPS truck stops

The UPS truck comes here just about every single day. I'm always hoping there will be a surprise package for me. There never is, but it is kind of fun to imagine there might be one. Kind of like scratching lottery tickets. You're pretty sure you won't win, but there's always a chance...

It's my Dad and "Mom" Helen's wedding anniversary today. If my math is right, I think it's been 38 years. You both mean the world to me and I hope you're having a wonderful celebration.

Oh no!

I only have one pair of pajamas and I just tore a hole in the knee. Everybody knows you can't be a serious blogger unless you're in your pajamas. Worse yet one of my slippers just busted a seam and the sole is going to start flapping in the next few days.

Probably a blessing in disguise. I was just thinking this morning that I needed warmer lingerie anyway now that I'm keeping the house so much colder. I may knit some slippers if I can find my knitting needles. I have the urge to knit something and I have a really good pattern saved somewhere for felted elf slippers.

The pajamas will take some shopping though. I hate shopping this time of year. Maybe I can dig out my long johns until after Christmas. They'll be okay with my bathrobe and that's holding up just fine. Glad I saved them. [grahic via]

Instant addiction

You probably have seen this by now, but if you haven't and you value your free time, under no circumstances should you click this link to the live puppy cam. I took a quick peek myself and got out fast, before I could get hooked.

Happy Birthday to one of my favorite artists, Rene Magritte. I love the surrealists. [graphic credit]

Happy Birthday to one of my favorite artists, Rene Magritte.

Ready or not

I heard nothing about it last night so I was surprised to wake up this morning to -- yes -- some snow. Just a dusting, but enough to cover the cars and stick to the rooftops. It was pretty, the sparkly kind of white stuff and the trees were covered in glittering jewels of cold clinging water drops as the sun did its best to beat back the first signs of winter.

It's all gone now, save for the residual tiny ice crystals kept alive in the swirling gusts of arctic wind that kicked up since. They won't last long. [graphic]

The sun is my lightbox

I'm in my annual state of Seasonal Affective Disorder. I don't do well when there's so much dark. Since I don't have a light box anymore and can't afford one, I try to sit out on the deck in the mornings and grab the rays before the sun moves out of range. It's a small window of time.

In the summer I get sun until about 11:00, when I don't need it. In the winter, when I do, it's gone by 9:00am. Still it helps even though it's been freezing here the last couple of days. It looks like it's going to stay unseasonably cold too. But it's hard to complain too much. Thirty degrees here, even with the wind chill factor isn't nearly as cold as thirty degrees up north with that arctic air blasting. Same arctic air, but it seems to lose it's freezing power by the time it gets all the way down here.

It may be my micro-climate is especially good here for some reason. I saw on the news that the big city to the south had snow flurries yesterday. There was nary a flake out here in the country. I was glad. I kind like snow this time of year but I'm not at all ready for it just yet.

Cloudy, windy and warm

Crazy day here in the south. The winds aloft must be howling. The low clouds are moving so fast that it almost makes me seasick to watch them. The wind on the ground is pretty stiff too but it's a warm wind. Warm enough to have the windows open. That always make me feel better.

I wanted to get some short video this morning when the trailing edge of the thick clouds started rolling in. It was so beautiful. The top layer was bright blue sky with really white cumulus clouds standing still. The second layer was slightly less bright cumulus puffs moving right along. And then there was the low layer of wispy grey just ripping by at top speed, clawing at the treetops.

Unfortunately by the time I got the camera out, the low cloud cover had already closed in and it wasn't so interesting anymore. Maybe next time.

Hired

Well someone finally hired me for something. I got a gig yesterday to house/dog sit for six days at the end of the month. Nice neighborhood about 20 minutes from here. It's even more remote than this place but it's closer to the big city and the dog is really sweet. He's a 13 year old Jack Russell, the short kind so he's really tiny. We bonded instantly.

The couple are very nice people. It occurred to me on the way home I didn't even get their last name but they were thrilled to find me. They picked me out of 100 people who called. Hired me on a handshake on the spot. They don't even care about checking my references. That's the reaction I'm used to getting when I try to find work.

So it's not much of a job but it was good for my self-esteem and it's a start. Who knows, maybe it will turn into a business. The last time I started with one gig like this and half the neighborhood ending up wanting to hire me. I got so many offers I had to turn some down. One lives in hope...

On the bright side

I don't know how many miles it is, but it's about a 35 minute drive to my dentist. Luckily my car is fuel efficient and it doesn't cost too much in gas to get there and gas is much cheaper in the big city. I paid $2.19 and the going rate around here is about $2.39. Usually it's a bigger difference, as much as 30 or 40 cents.

But what really pays for the trip is the day old bread store. They carry the same high fiber bread I was paying almost four bucks a loaf for at the grocery store really cheap. Last time I hit on the daily special and got 2 loaves of nearly fresh bread for a dollar. The deal wasn't so good yesterday but still I scored a couple of loaves, which was all I could fit in the freezer anyway, for $1.39. What I save in sandwich costs pays for the gas and then some. So there's that.

Waiting for the sun

Well, I'm in my annual meltdown over the time change. I've been falling asleep before 9:00, waking up at 3:00am, tossing and turning for hour or two and then waking up at 7:00am cranky and groggy. It feels like a long way to the solstice.

Meanwhile, I'm still getting the dental work done. I'm freaking out about going into debt for it but I'll never get any job without better teeth so I'm just trusting the universe to carry me through somehow at this point. At least I was able to score a new credit card with a 0% APR for a year to carry the balance. That helps.

It doesn't help that I've been set back a couple of times on the timeline. I got the crown done yesterday that will anchor the partial but for reasons too complicated to explain I ended up with the temporary cap for so long it irritated my gum so now I have to wait another two weeks before they can take the impression or else the plate won't fit.

It's always something. I just hope something really good is waiting at the end of this dark tunnel. I suppose if nothing else it will be good to be able to chew again. Not that I've been eating steaks or anything anyway but I figure it will improve my digestion and I'll be able to eat crunchy vegetables again. That will be an improvement.

Otherwise, I'm trying to look on the bright side. As I always said, nothing bad lasts forever and I'll really appreciate the change when my luck finally turns.

Thanks

Somehow I've never been comfortable saying Happy Veteran's Day because it's really a sad occassion. But for all the veterans who died in our wars and their families who mourn their loss, thank you for your sacrifice. And for all those who lived through their tours and those currently on active duty, thank you for your service to our country.

Update: I'm late in adding this but since I haven't blogged all week anyway, this would seem to be the most appropriate place to point you to Survivor Corps, an organization that provides services to returning military service people. I googled them and there doesn't appear to be any complaints on the internets about them and a charity rating group gives them a 64% efficiency rating, which amounts to four stars. So any rich people reading this who need to off some money at the end of the year for tax purposes, might want to consider donating some to them. From what I can see they appear to do good work and certainly our soldiers deserve the help.

The autumn leaves...

The leaves went fast here this year. This is only shot I got before the rains came and took them all down. What's left is rust and dinghy yellow. But they were pretty for a week or two.

Meanwhile, for your viewing pleasure, here's a beautiful photo essay of Central Slovakia and Marcellina always has some gorgeous shots of Austria. If you've never been to her blog, scroll down through her archives.