November 19, 2006

Getting Back to Normal ...

... as if this time of year could ever be called "normal."

Although we think the traveling is all done for the rest of the year, the holidays are creeping up faster than ever. We're filling the calendar with deadlines, meetings, and projects, and if we're not careful, the holidays will fly by before we've had time to enjoy them!

At work, the branches and units are busy putting together gift baskets to raffle off at our annual "cookie meeting" on the first Friday in December. We, at home, have just hosted a book club meeting, and are now scrambling to get ready for Thanksgiving in a few days. And after that come the Christmas preparations.

I am sorting through the photos we took on our trip to Ireland, and am turning them into a self-running slide show that I can burn to CDs and send to the families or post on the Web. I'm using a program called Picasa, which is a free download, but has many good features and is very easy to use.

The book about Eamonn Ceannt, "Supreme Sacrifice," has arrived, and I've put it on the "read next" stack. I've got both a knitting and a crochet project in the works, and I need to put in some face-time with my tiny garden to get it ready for winter. I don't expect to be taking any more time off from work, so these things will need to be done on my precous weekends.

Tuesday morning, I'm going to be making Cranberry Chutney and preparing an apple pie for Thanksgiving dinner. Patrick will be joining us. I learned recently that the daughter of my cousin Marie is attending graduate school in southern California, and I've enquired whether she might be free on Thanksgiving. Haven't heard yet what her plans are, but it would be great if she could visit. Sacramento is a stop on the Amtrak route.

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