Christmas Season Officially Launched

With Thanksgiving just barely behind us, my attention must now turn to Christmas. This year, I may not get the week off I usually take. I use the time off to begin the time-consuming jobs I set for myself: the photo calendar, gifts for library staff, Christmas cards, baking, cleaning. I've already rescheduled once, from this week to week after next, but I may need to work through that week as well, in order to complete all the database renewals at work. I'm just thankful we are a household of adults now - no insane caching of tons of gifts for children any more.

So, I actually have a 5-day "weekend" - Thanksgiving through Monday - and I need to put it to good use. First thing will be to hit the craft show at the Crocker Museum. Not only does it attract a higher class of craftsmen, but the gift shop at the museum is a treasure-trove of interesting items that would make good gifts. Next is to collect the photos for the calendar. That will actually be a challenge, because we haven't taken a lot of photos this past year - at least not of family members. Laurel has promised me some of hers, so we'll be able to put something together.

Last job for this weekend: swapping all the shorts and tank tops for turtlenecks and sweats. The weather has finally got chilly, and it's also been foggy the last few days. Fog is a sure sign of winter, and makes everything seem much colder. However, I MET MY BENCHMARK! I did not need to turn on the heater before Thanksgiving, and, if things continue as they have been, I may still not need to do it for another couple of weeks. Wonder if I can make it to Christmas ... (probably not.)

Thanksgiving Eve

Boss gave a beautiful speech at our reference staff meeting this morning, saying she is thankful for having the opportunity to work with such an awesome and capable staff, despite her high standards and the many changes she's implemented over the past year. We applauded. She's a very good Boss!

A family we know is traveling this week in Thailand. The recent news stories about PAD protesters causing the airports to close makes me thankful we live in a place where such disruptions to free movement are not likely to happen. Our friends are now "upcountry" and out of the danger zone, but there is still the question of whether the airports will be open by the time they are scheduled to return. It's interesting following their tweets.

Daughter made the apple pie, and it looks scrumptious! I haven't cooked the squash or made fruit breads yet, but made some pickled carrots, peppers and cauliflower instead. The turkey should only take a few hours to cook tomorrow, so I will be able to do the breads first, and the squash can go in the microwave.

Random Thoughts on Fall Themes

About half the trees decided it was getting pretty darn late in the year, and all decided to turn color at once. Then 3 days ago, they all decided to drop their leaves at once, too. There isn't much color this year - most of the trees are a drab orange-brown - but it's getting colder now. It's the cold that produces the brilliant colors, I'm told. We have fewer than 10 hours of daylight now, because it gets light around 6:15 a.m. and is dark by 5:15 p.m. The days will continue to get shorter for another month.

Today, my friend A and I went looking for photogenic trees in the park. I took some photos with my Blackjack and posted them on Flickr. Nothing spectacular this year...

It looks like I may just barely make my heating benchmark: no turning on the heat until Thanksgiving. It might be hard for the next couple of days, because the outside nighttime temps are forecast to dip into the 30s and there is a frost warning for tomorrow morning. We've been staying in the 62-68 degree range indoors, but I'm not sure how much longer that will last. I took the precaution of bringing in the ginger, plumeria and anthurium tonight, but the ti is too big - it's gonna have to take its chances outside. When it gets really cold, I'll cover it with a blanket. And when the inside temperature hits 60, the heat will come on.

I rummaged through the storage tote this afternoon and got out my long-sleeved tops and pajamas. I put away the shorts and tank tops. Found a couple of sweaters I'd forgotten about, so I'll have some options for keeping warm. I've been using my fleece booties for a couple of weeks, now, because we have a draft across the floor (no square doorframes in this apartment, so lots of outside air sneaks in.)

Thanksgiving will be smaller this year, both in numbers and in amount of turkey. We got a free 13.5 lb. turkey from Save Mart for spending over $100 last week on groceries. It's about half the size Husband usually buys, and I get to cook it - my first turkey in over 21 years! Son will not be joining us this year, because he's gone to visit his friends Mike and Miranda in Georgia. Left this a.m. and will return next Sunday. So the smaller turkey is not amiss. I made the cranberry chutney this morning, and plan to make some cranberry and pumpkin bread on Monday or Tuesday. On Wednesday evening, I'll bake the pumpkin pie, prepare the butternut squash for soup, and Thursday will be clear for the stuffing and the turkey.

Housing Stalls

This was going to be a townhome 'plex with 24 units. The first 5 of them have been sitting in this condition for a year and a half, now, complete with stacks of shingles on their roofs, and are heading into their second lonely and unprotected winter. I believe transients sometimes stay inside, and once in a while we see a new broken, then boarded, window.

A family farm used to stand on this property, with a lovely old white farmhouse, garage, barn, etc. In our tenure here, we saw years of corn, tomatoes, sunflowers and other crops grown and harvested. But then the farmer died, and the property was sold. The new owners razed the house and other buildings, leveled the lots and put in the streets. Soon after the buildings went up, the housing bubble burst, and ... overnight the project was abandoned.

In this photo, if you blow it up, you can see a kid in a red hoodie standing on the corner. A few days ago we saw him tagging up on the levee. I think his paint can was empty, because he tossed it away in disgust, then sauntered down off the levee, trailing booming bass and angry-sounding rap from his media player...

How Many AT&T Service Reps Does It Take ...

... to upgrade a cell phone?

Five. One to greet us at the door and assign us to another sales rep. One to mess up the accounts and assign L's phone number to my phone, and mine to hers. A third to tell him how to fix it, a fourth to figure out that the second had dropped all the extra services (like unlimited family text messaging and unlimited data pkg for my phone) and to add an incorrect text message service to my phone only. The fifth service rep appears to have set things right, finally, after four hours of in-person and phone conversations and questions.

In the process, I managed to lock my online account, so Rep #5 also graciously re-set my PIN.

So - we're back in communication again. L can again both hear conversations and be heard. Text messages are again flying from phone to phone, both within the family plan and without; I can surf the 'net from my Blackjack again, I have a new PIN, and it looks like things are just peachy ... until the next time we have to upgrade a phone. But I'm NEVER going back to the AT&T store in the K Street Mall again!

Self-Carving Pumpkin

Exploring links from links this evening and happened across the Librarian's Lounge's link to Make: Technology on Your Time, which led to this post about the self-carving pumpkin. (Be sure to read the caption.) I know Halloween is SO yesterday, but I couldn't let this go without a mention.