Goodbye 2011

I've just finished putting all the photos in the 2011 scrapbook. As I say good-bye to the year, I think about how I would rate it.

Politically and economically 2001 was a terrible year, but that didn't affect me all that much.  I do follow politics, almost as an addiction.  I marched in the Madison protests against our governor in March.  I wrote letters of support and signed recall petitions.  I watched the Republican presidential candidates self-destruct, one after another. It was awful for them, but amusing for me.

People are suffering from the bad economy, but I've had a low income for so many years, I'm used to it.  I could give lessons on living on next to nothing.  

From a personal standpoint, 2011 was a wonderful year.  This year, I traveled 8,410 miles to tell stories all the way to the West Coast.  I hiked mountain paths, drove along swollen rivers, waded in the Pacific, and camped in the desert.  And when I was back in Wisconsin, Gary and I camped beside forest lakes and canoed.  I counted cranes, guarded sturgeon and birded.  At the end of the year, I had spotted 105 avian species.

I continue to be healthy.  Even with some bouts with arthritis, I kept on exercising. I swim several times a week, work out with Gary at the fitness center, and continue to walk,  652 miles this year.    

2011 was the year I gave up volunteering and decided to spend the rest of my life writing.  Wade Peterson and I started a short story blog.  Our stories are read by people around the world.  I even self-published a book.  It didn't go anywhere, but now I know how to do it.  I will send more books out to the world in the coming years.

Gary made improvements in Mathom House this year. The dining room is now lovely and he has plans for other parts of the house.  He caulked the windows before cold weather started.  Even with winter winds blowing, we are warm and secure. That man is intelligent, funny and so ready to spoil me.  I am so lucky to have him here.

Then there's my  family.  My son and his wife gave me a cute grandson to play with. Tisha takes time to go shopping with me in the thrift shops. Chris is ready to answer my panicky calls about computer problems.

I have friends around the world and one close friend, Norma. We met 55 years ago.  We still meet several times a year, though she lives in Chicago.  We e-mail almost daily.

And beyond that there are sunrises, sunsets, rainbows, stars, and all the world to explore.

All waiting for me in 2012.  I wonder what's next.

Another Writer Joins Us

This week, Wade Peterson and I were joined by our good friend Nikki Kallio on our short story blog, Black Coffee Fiction at  http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com 


Nikki is a journalist, a fiction writer, an editor and a teacher.  She excels at all her occupations.  We met her when she taught a workshop for our critique group and since then, I took her Fox Valley Technical College course on blogging, which led to this blog.  


We were especially pleased to have Nikki with us this week.  Wade has been tied up with family commitments and I am busy with my end-of-the-year organization. (Only 19 more things on my list by tomorrow night.) We discovered that writing a short story every other week is a big commitment.  We'll keep at it, but a vacation is a relief. 


Nikki decided to begin by demonstrating "Three Word Wednesday", a prompt on the Internet at http://www.threewordwednesday.com   that was set up to inspire writers. Using the prompts, Nikki wrote two short pieces.  


To learn more about Nikki, visit her blog, http://morepurplehouses.blogspot.com

Hard Times

Tonight I went over to the aquatic center to do some work on my arthritic knees.  I was doing the usual, standing in the warm water and bending them over and over.  I talk to the lifeguards, finding out what has been going on in their lives.  One was home from college.  He was finally a junior, but it will still take him over two years to graduate.  Carlotte was planning on going to visit her family in California to celebrate Christmas Hispanic style, but it didn't happen.  She missed her big extended family as she told me about their traditions, their food, and their love for each other.

Then I began talking to a couple in the pool.  She was walking back in forth in the deepest part of the pool.  Knee injuries, I asked, just to make conversation, and she began to tell me about her arthritis, caused by an injury at her job.  At the same time, her husband's employer went out of business. They found themselves without work and in serious financial difficulties.  The bank took their house and for a while, they lived in a tent behind their friends' house.   Now her husband and part time work and she has disability, but they are living on a quarter of what they used to earn.  They were pleased to find the pool so she could work on her legs and back.  Seymour's pools and fitness center are much less expensive than the YMCA.  

This is what economic hard times look like.  We talked about ways for them to find a place to garden.  There was a community garden last year, so maybe they could do that.  I told them about the vouchers they could get to use at the farmers' market next summer.  I know a lot about living below the poverty line.

This is reality, not what politcians and corporate honchos talk about.

Even more tasks .....

This morning I did a final taste test of the bean soup I made yesterday.  It was delicious.  There are fourteen individual servings frozen up.  Now I am wishing that I could remember how I made it.  Three recipes went into it, followed by leftover scalloped potatoes.  That's all I can remember.

I found more tasks to do.  I went through the greeting cards we received this year, saving the most meaningful for the scrapbook. I cut the fronts off some to be used as postcards or gift tags.  

At the end of the year, I put all the magazines and catalogs into recycling bags. These things tend to pile up if they aren't thrown out regularly.  

I went through the CDs containing digital photographs. Some I will put in the safe deposit box in case of fire, though most are in the Walgreens on line photo shop. The best are part of this blog.

I use my big bulletin board as storage for the odd piece of paper that doesn't belong in any specific file. It contains bits of poetry and wise sayings, photos, and menus.

Every year it must be cleared so that I can start over.  This year I want it empty because it will be used to tack bits and pieces of the novel I am working on.

We stopped at the cemetery this morning.  Snow is forecast, so we took away the wreath and candle I had placed on my parents' grave on Christmas Eve.  While we were there we noticed a northern harrier flying over the fields and that reminded me that I must set up the 2012 birding notebook.  

So much to do and only three more days before the New Year.

More End of the Year Tasks

At the turning of the year, there are other items on my "to do" list. 

First is disposing of the food left over from Christmas.  The ham bone went into the pot for bean soup. There were some scalloped potatoes left so I threw them into the soup since a recipe called for potatoes. I say "a" recipe since the soup was concocted out of three recipes to make something original, which I will never be able to repeat again. The cookies are no problem, they disappear quickly. There are only five left.  The chocolates are nearly gone, too. 

The food has left behind residue:  our weight gains.  Add to that there was never much time to exercise.  We're working on that now.  The swimming pool is open again after a pre-Christmas cleaning.  I went today.    Gary and I go to the fitness center to lift weights twice a week.  He is walking on the treadmill there, but I prefer to walk outside in the sunshine.  The days have been sunny and warm so I am once more walking three miles a day, going downtown to shop or down the trail when it is clear. 

Other things to do: I put the birthdays of family and friends in my day planner, to remember to send them cards.   I must also organize things like car maintenance, gardening projects, and bill payments. I want to review my credit cards and decide which of them to cancel.  Then there are the writing projects that must be organized in a logical way.

Only five more days to New Year's Day. 

Organizational Week

The week between Christmas and New Year's Day is the time when I put my life in order.

Today, I am organizing photos, memorabilia and blog entries that I've printed out to make a scrapbook record of 2011. Some years I need one scrapbook to cover events.  Sometimes I need only one for two or three years, but 2011 has been a very busy year so I will have two scrapbooks.  I'll have this job done by New Year's Eve.  While I do this, I review the year. I can announce that though politically, the nation was in a mess in 2011, I enjoyed these "best of times and worst of times" enormously.  

I will be giving a series of talks in libraries about my travels, so I must put together a CD of photographs that I can use for a slide show.  This means reviewing all the digital photos I took.

We're talking about taking the Circle Tour around Lake Superior next summer.  More organization as I send e-mails to libraries in Ontario to find some work that will pay for the cost of gas and the provincial parks.

The end of the year means preparing a tax file, so I'm getting all my storytelling records together. I make out  yearly and monthly budgets.

There are housekeeping jobs.  I go through the filing cabinets and throw out old paper files.  I go through the computer deleting documents. 

Finally, I set my goals.  Each New Year's Eve I update a five year plan.  From that, I will set my goals for 2012.  During the year, I will set monthly and weekly goals.  Do I meet all of them?  Almost never, but by pushing myself this way, I do get a few things accomplished.

This is the busiest week of the year but at its end, I'll be ready for 2012.  

Sloth

There are two days a year I strive to do absolutely nothing.  One is my birthday in March and the other is Christmas Day.  This morning, I stayed in bed until 6:30, when Rascal sat next to my ear and purred loudly.

OK, so I had to get up and feed him, but then I made a cup of tea and did nothing else but read until Gary woke up.

OK, so I made us a high cholesterol breakfast of bacon and eggs, but I left the pans to soak.  It was my day of sloth, so the pans are still there.

I sat and read some more, my feet up. Rascal sat on my lap, enjoying the human cushion.  At  times he went to see what Gary was doing.  Then  I checked Facebook, and played spider solitaire.

For lunch, we went to the China Garden for a delicious meal.  Seymourites still have cottoned to the idea of going to a restaurant on Christmas Day, so we had the place almost to ourselves.

We came home to take long winter naps.

But now sloth is getting wearing.  Restless, I find myself wanting things to do.  I had no intention of posting on this blog today, but a woman has to do something! So instead of actually doing much of anything, I am making up lists of things I will do....tomorrow.

Busy Yule

I got up early, cooked all morning.  By 11:00 a.m. my guests started to arrive, and I cooked on while they communed in the living room.  The scalloped potatoes were late because Gary told me I should put in 40 potatoes instead of 30.  (He was right.)  I cooked on.  To keep grandson Evan occupied, he and I decorated the sugar cookies while I kept an eye on the stove.  That done, I threw the broccoli into the microwave, the buns into the oven to warm.  I covered the scalloped potatoes with shredded cheddar cheese.  And then the cooking was over.  I dropped exhausted and ate.

Chris meanwhile was working on a computer that Gary arranged for his sister Kathe.  Her computer is ancient so she will like that.

Social time, chit chat and then Gary's family left.

Evan opened his twelve presents.  Tisha and Chris brought me a calendar filled with pictures of Evan and bags and boxes of toilet paper and paper towels.  They work at Kimberly Clark and bid on lots of paper products.  We now have enough for 2012.

Then it was off to the cemetery with Chris, Tisha and Evan to place a candle on my parents' graves.  Evan came along to see the tombstones and was disappointed that he didn't get to see any bones.  We didn't go into any details about cremation.

Next was the 4:00 pm Christmas service. Evan went up to the children's sermon with the rest of the children.  When the pastor asked any question about the nativity, Evan's hand shot up.  He knew all the answers.  He doesn't attend church, but his mother has read him all the Bible stories, so he has a pretty good idea what religion is about.

Next there was the birthday party for Jesus with cake for all.

When I got back home, Gary had cleaned up, doing all the dishes.  Love that man!

In a few minutes, I am off to the church again to rehearse the choir for the 7:00 pm service.

When I get back, around 8:30 pm, I am heading straight for bed.

Tomorrow, nothing much is going on, to our relief.

Counting Down

With no weather forecast to support it (the forecasters were wrong again), snow is falling here in Seymour.  More than a dusting this time, we will have a white Christmas.  Gary and I took a ride through Seymour looking at lights. I noted that tonight, Seymour looks like Bedford Falls, the town in "It's a Wonderful Life".  The snow transformed us. 

I am ready to be cheerful. I posted my last depressing Christmas story at Black Coffee Fiction, http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com   I expect my next stories to be more cheerful, though readers must understand that without something going wrong, there is no story.  That is the nature of fiction...and life.

Meanwhile, we look forward.  Tomorrow afternoon, our families gather here to celebrate Christmas, along with two church services.  With Christmas over, I begin a fast and furious charge to the end of the year, organizing and planning, culminating in New Year's Day.  

I still face the dreaded winter, but beginning today, I count the number of days until spring, as we watch the short days become long.  We are planning events to help us through the cold.  On January 20-21 there's the annual RV and camping show in Green Bay.  Friends will come up from Illinois and join us in planning next summer's camping. 

I will be taking a seven week fiction writing class beginning on January 28, seven Saturdays that will be force me to come up with new story ideas.  I've been writing all my life, but these classes are like tune ups for the brain synapses.  

Gary bought a new plant stand that will hold trays for seedlings by the end of March. Last year, we started 29 tomato plants, too many, but we certainly enjoyed those fresh tomatoes this past summer. 

It is 89 days until the equinox and spring.  As a gift to my friends and family, I do a daily countdown. I'll include it in this blog.  

Cookies

Mid-December I started baking cookies for my Solstice party.  I made peanut butter blossoms (peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses on top), pecan puffs and decorated sugar cookies.  The party was not well attended and so there were cookies left.

I've been telling Gary that it must be awfully dry in this house because those cookies evaporated. Not a single one is left. With company coming on Christmas Eve, I've had to go back to baking.  I made pecan puffs tonight and hid them from Gary. Tomorrow I will be making sugar cookies for my grandson to help decorate.  I want to make blueberry scones, too, for another dessert.

I shopped for the party today, buying a nice sized ham, potatoes, milk and more butter for the scalloped potatoes son Chris loves and demands every and for his birthday.  Gary went shopping, too.  He bought doughnut holes dipped in chocolate and covered with sprinkles.

He bought vegetables, too.  We do try for a balanced diet.  

Solstice Birding Day

I don't have sleepless nights often, but sure enough, last night I had a bout of insomnia. By 12:30 a.m. I was wide awake and by 4:00 I gave up the struggle and came downstairs.  I fortified myself with black tea and started the day.  I would be tired, but there was no way I was going to give up a trip to look for snowy owls.

The Oconto Breakwater is run by the Oconto County park system.  It is a narrow band that stretches along Green Bay on Lake Michigan.  At this time of year it is popular with ice fishermen, who had their little tents set up inside the frozen water inside the barrier. They didn't seem to bother the birds because we were treated to a pot pourri of  avian life.  There were at least a hundred common mergansers out on the open water along with scaup, herring gulls, Canada geese and tundra swans.

On the breakwater rocks we spotted two snowy owls, our main interest.  Every so often, hundreds of these owls descend on Wisconsin.  It seems to have something to do with the lack of prey in the frozen Arctic tundra.  When they arrive, they are often near starvation.  These two, however, seemed perfectly healthy and much whiter than the photo shown here.



(Photos from Wikipedia)

On our way to the end of the breakwater, we spotted a Northern shrike, another visitor from the tundra. This little guy has the nasty habit of impaling his prey on barbed wire fences or any other spike it can find.  It is only the second I've seen in my life.


As we were leaving, yet another treat, a couple of bald eagles, their white heads shining in the sun.

When the snowy owls show up in this part of Wisconsin, there is a good chance that the largest owl, the Great Grey, will be hanging around northern Wisconsin. We may take a winter's drive to see if we can find them.

From this point on, the sun will stay longer and longer in the sky.  By the end of March the tundra swans will return and birding will be in full swing.

Solstice

Tomorrow is Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year.  

These dark days are so difficult for me.  I try to get the most out of the existing sunlight by waking up early in the morning.  I take long walks whenever there is sunlight, as there was today.  I have a light board here in my office. I take St. John's wort from mid-November through February.  Still, seasonal affective disorder will eventually hit me and depression set in.  I'll convince myself I have no friends and have some deadly disease.

Gary understands my affliction and thinks of ways to help.  One way has been to decorate this house from top to bottom during the holiday season.  The lights, both electric and candle powered, shine on until New Year's Day.  The house is glowing tonight plus I look out  my office window to the neighborhood light displays.  

Exercise helps.  We go to the fitness center to work through the machines.   I swim.  

Finally, we go out and look at nature, such as it is in this cold northern climate.  With fine weather forecast tomorrow, we will spend Solstice driving up to the Oconto breakwater to see what kind of birds we can spot off Lake Michigan.  There are reports of Harlequin ducks and snowy owls over there so we will take a look. If there is sun, it will sparkle off the lake.  Sunshine doubled is just what I need.   

From tomorrow on, the days will get longer.  Somehow I will make it to spring.    

Nook Redux

Today, Wade, my fellow short story writer and computer guru, helped me figure out the Nook.  By the end of our meeting, I was able to download a book from the Gutenberg Project (gutenberg.org), free e-books available to download, most of them classics.

I downloaded Henry David Thoreau's Walden.  A month ago, I picked up a hard cover edition at the Muehl Public Library's book fair, and I still have my well thumbed paperback, so that's three Waldens, and each one has this paragraph about living truly:

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.  I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary.  I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to route all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest  terms, and if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world."

The words are the same in paperback, hardcover or e-book.  It is the words that tell us how to go about living.  The words are important, not the delivery system.

Wade also helped me download an e-book mystery from the Outagamie-Waupaca Library System, and of course, there's Barnes and Noble and that's more books. I can collect hundreds of them.  I can be a packrat yet have all my acquisitions in one slim easy to dust Nook.  

Three sources for literature, never ending reading.  Marvelous.

The Nook

We change with the technology.  As my friend Norma points out, learning new technology is a way to improve our synapses.  The same age as me, she is learning a whole new computer system at her work.  It takes us a bit longer, but we are adapting.

I've been reading Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, which came with the first Nook e-book order from Barnes and Noble.  The last time I read Little Women , I was in grade school.  I had forgotten all the moral lessons Marmee preached at her daughters. Did I find them as annoying back then? I know I much preferred Jo, the tomboy, who is so much like me.

I find that a Nook is no different than a paper book.  Both are delivery systems for words, nothing more.  I am enjoying the system of turning pages and when my eyes are tired, it is simplicity itself to make the font bigger

I remember books similar to Nooks from "Star Trek, the Next Generation".  (It was Captain Jean-Luc Picard who was considered odd because he had some very old fashioned paper books.)  Now I am  there with the rest of the crew of the Enterprise.

I still haven't figured out the library connections for the Nook, or how to access the Gutenberg Project but I'll get there. The Nook holds 1400 books, according to Chris, which should prove to be enough books to last me the rest of my life.

In January, I start putting together a collection of my columns which will be available through Barnes and Noble so the Nook is essential as I explore the ways and means of doing so.   I've already done a book for the Kindle through Amazon.com, but the Barnes and Noble system seems easier in every way.

I can feel those brain cells expanding.  Either that or I'm getting a headache.



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Since I stopped my volunteer activities, my time has been my own.  I wake up early then spend my mornings writing followed by long, lazy afternoons with frequent naps.   

Today wasn't like that. After last night's babysitting duties, I slept late, getting up after 7:00 a.m.  When I came downstairs, I began to struggle with the Nook Chris gave me.  It was a used device that came with no instructions.  I researched on line, and tried various things on the little electronic book.  No luck.

So I went over to the library to consult with Colette who understands all things electronic.  She didn't know much about Nooks except that once I had my Barnes and Noble account, I would be able to download books from the library and told me how to do it. I jotted down notes, but finally had to give up. I came back to talk to Gary about it.  

He checked the Internet and found the manual, all 167 pages of it.   I sighed and started working my way through it.  I found this tidbit and that piece of information, until I picked up the Nook and went back to pushing this button or that. 

Suddenly, it all came together and I had ordered a book for $2.99 from Barnes and Noble  which came with three classics, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, and Pride and Prejudice. 

It's a start.  Tomorrow, I'll work on adding the library's e-books to the Nook.

But meanwhile, Chris, Tisha and Evan arrived.  Chris had a better computer for me and started to install it while I showed Evan the Christmas trees. 

At 3:00  we were at the Methodist church getting ready for Los Posadas, our version of the Mexican Christmas tradition.  The Mexicans have several nights of candlelight processions to various homes asking for a place for Mary and Joseph to rest.  We only do it one afternoon in December.  It is too cold here at this time of year to be wandering around on dark streets.  The school's Spanish classes joined us.  Our group gets bigger every year.

We had two donkeys this year, a pretty little mare and her foal.  They had been practicing with a member of the congregation, but she had been called away on a family emergency.  With people they didn't know the two little donkeys tended to balk. Each had someone pulling and another pushing t the back. Once the mare got way ahead of the foal and the little filly panicked, and tore away from her handler and took off down the road.  Both left droppings along the street.  (They were picked up later.)

We sang carols, visited homes, were turned away and finally returned to the church for the fiesta of tacos, followed by the smashing of three pinatas.   Evan loved it! 

Then it was home to chat with my family and wait until the computer installation was complete.

And here it is late, I am finally writing this post, and hoping for a quiet day tomorrow.

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Don't forget to check out the latest Christmas story at http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com  Wade Peterson has outdone himself with his latest.



 

An Evening with Evan

I love eating out and going to a movie, especially when it is Chris and Tisha who do that, because then I get to sit with Evan, my grandson.  Gary drove me here to Appleton then went off to do some errands.

Chris and Tisha went off for their evening out after giving me all the necessary instructions.  Tonight was a special treat because Evan doesn't have school tomorrow.  We could play an hour and a half longer.

After he ate his supper, he played a Disney game.  These things amaze me, because by making the proper motions, he could ski with Goofy, throw snowballs at yetis, fly with Peter Pan, have a sword fight with Captain Hook or go down the rabbit hole like Alice in Wonderland. It was good exercise as he wiggled and waggled his arms and legs.  When each segment of the game was done, the system took a photo of him and showed it on the screen.

While he was doing that, I was playing with the new toy Chris found for me, a used Nook, the book reader from Barnes and Noble.  I still don't know how to use it, but will check on line when I get home then go to the Muehl Public Library tomorrow to find out how to download books.  I've wanted a Nook or Kindle for several years now.

An hour later Gary was here.  He became the caller for "Vowel Bingo", a game Evan brought home from school.  I won one game, Evan won the next.  Then it was reading time.  Evan read a book about Christmas to us.  He is an excellent reader for a six year old and only needed a little help on some words.

He changed to his PJs, brushed his teeth, took his medicine and vitamins.  Time for bed but first Gary asked him to show us how to use the rather complicated remote control.  Evan quickly switched the television on and went to "live TV" but then we ran into problems because it kept going back to "Star Wars, Part II".  This was suspicious because Evan loves Star Wars.

We finally decided we would not have television tonight.

Then came my favorite part of babysitting.  Evan sat on my lap while I read him three books.  There is nothing sweeter than a little boy hugging his grandmother as he hears his favorite books.

I chanted our little night time ritual.  "Love you, love you, love you.  See you tomorrow, see you tomorrow.  Night, night, night, night, night."  

"But I won't see you tomorrow," he objected

"Yes you will," I said and explained that tomorrow is Los Posadas at the Methodist Church in Seymour. "You get to whack away at the pinata."

Evan immediately made plans to catch more candy than anyone else.  "But then I'll share," he promised.

And off he went to dreamland.  

Plans do Go Awry

On Sunday night, the Packers threw a wrench in the works for our Christmas concert by changing the time for their game. The game started at 3:30 and we knew that the people of Wisconsin were more likely to stay home and watch the game than to hear Methodists sing. The concert was lovely, attendance was down. Nothing I could do about it

Tonight I'm holding my annual One Size Fits All Sing for Your Supper Solstice Party. I set the date way before Thanksgiving and invited all the writers and artists I knew.

The house is clean and decorated to the hilt. The meat for the tacos is simmering, driving Rascal Cat crazy. There are three kinds of cookies, banana bread, party mix on the table. I'll soon be making apple scones to add to the spread.

But who will be coming to partake of our largesse? We don't really know. I was fairly sure of eight party goers, but most of them live in the country or in surrounding towns and cities. The wind is kicking up with gusts of 40 mph. The temperature is dropping. Bad weather was nothing I could plan for. 

Gary, who originally was going to a meeting in Appleton tonight, has decided to stay home. It may well be that just the two of us will be making pigs of ourselves.

No matter what happens tonight, there's still Los Posadas on Saturday and all the company and church services on Christmas Eve.

What will be, will be.  

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Addendum:   As expected, the turnout was small, but it was a fine party anyhow.  Good food, good friends.  The highlight was the Skype from Betty in Colorado, all decked out in Christmas finery, laughing as we recalled past Solstice parties and getting caught up in the gossip.

Could be in the future we'll all just Skype ourselves to Christmas parties and stay at home! 

Another December Day

My car was leaking brake fluid so in it went to J J's Auto Clinic, Seymour's finest mechanics.  I've lived in several states and have been dealing with mechanics for decades, but the crew at J J's are the most honest, hardworking and knowledgeable I've ever had work on a car of mine.

Gary and I left the car with Dennis and went Christmas shopping.  I don't spend much time on such things.  When Gary and I want to give each other something, it is whenever the mood hits.  It doesn't revolve around holidays.  We've made an agreement with friends and families to forgo presents because after all, we have enough stuff.

I do, however, have a grandson who will be here on Christmas Eve.  I bought his books on line (I am the book grandmother), but it is absolutely necessary for a boy to rip open packages at Christmas. We went to the Dollar Tree, everything in the store a dollar, and found a dozen toys, everything from a periscope to a rocket. We spent $11 there and that included wrapping paper.

We stopped in at a Goodwill store where I found a wonderful desk calendar. Each page has the date, a section for my daily "to do" list, another section to keep track of exercise and diet, a quote of the day to inspire, and a sudoku puzzle.  It's perfect.

At the Habitat for Humanity store called "Restore" we looked through the donated items.  We want a new (used) bathroom sink.  One for $5 seemed to be perfect until Gary whipped out his measuring tape and found it was three inches too wide for the space we had.  We'll keep on looking.

Gary used to work at the Menards home improvement store on the east side of Appleton so we always stop to say hello to his friends.  There I found tea lights for tomorrow night's party.  They will be burning merrily while we dine on Gary's tacos and all the other food we are preparing.

We stopped to see Gary's sister and to abscond with two gallon bags of Chex party mix, her specialty.

When we returned home it was to pick up my car at J.J.'s.  The mechanics had fixed the brakes and replaced parts that were still under warranty.  That included the labor. While they were at it they changed the oil and replaced the air filter.  This cost me only $35.  As I said, I can always depend on those guys.

Tonight, I baked pecan puffs, one of our favorite Christmas cookies.  I made a half recipe, two dozen cookies.  Only a dozen are left.  Gary has powdered sugar all over his shirt.  I will bake more in the ten days left before Christmas.  We'll worry about the calories in the New Year.

Tonight, present wrapping and the Nutcracker Suite on TV.  The Christmas tree lights are on and the tea lights are lit.

The holidays are so lovely.

Timing

When Gary moved here,  I had been living alone for over a decade. I wondered if the two of us would get along in this little house.  Mostly I feared that I would never find enough time to do my work. That proved to be unfounded. 

Gary is a night owl.  He goes to bed long after midnight and doesn't wake up until some time around 9:00 a.m. 

I am just the opposite.  I am in bed at 10:00 p.m. at the latest and up by 5:30 a.m., some mornings even earlier.  I only need seven hours of sleep.  

Those morning hours are precious to me.  That's when I work on short stories or my novel.  Three solid hours in front of the computer is enough for me.  Later in the day, I work on storytelling projects.  Gary and I are thinking of taking the Circle Tour drive around Lake Superior next summer, visiting friends in the Thunder Bay area. I will be trying to pick up some performances at libraries and nursing homes to pay for the gas, so I am spending several hours a day working on that. It doesn't need the concentration writing requires, so there, too, I get quite a bit done.  Giving up volunteer work helps, too.  

I often take an hour's nap in the afternoon.  During that time, Gary is free to work on his own projects, plus he usually has three hours on his own after I go to bed. 

We each have the time we need to get things done.  

Photo Scrapbook

Each New Year's Eve I put together a scrapbook for the year.  Along with the photographs Gary and I take, I put in brochures, maps, and journal entries copied from this blog, or in previous years, newspaper columns I wrote.  I have forty of these scrapbooks in my living room bookcase. Every page is meticulously labeled.

This New Year's will be a little different because what a year 2011 has been!  This was a year of political turmoil in Wisconsin so I have photos from the Madison protests in March.  It was a year spent with nature from our first hike to Fanny Lake in the snows of February and ending in the final autumn camping excursion at Laura Lake in October. In between we observed flora and fauna all around the state.  We canoed, we swam. We counted cranes and guarded sturgeon. There was time we spent with friends from other parts of the country and the world.  There were improvements to this house and a garden to take care of.

Then there was my grandson Evan who lost his first tooth this year, learned how to read, flew a kite and watched hot air balloons with me.  Finally, it was the year of my six week western tour in June and July.

There were so many events in 2011 that there are far too many photos and mementos for one scrapbook. It requires two.  I knew I would never finish recording the year on New Year's Eve, so I started early.  As of today, my June-July western tour is covered in a purple bound book. I've printed out the blog entries that go with the photographs and made additional notations.

All of that work served two other purposes.  Beginning in February, I'll be presenting talks in Wisconsin libraries about my summer journey.  I need to have the photos in order on a CD so I can do a slide show. Most of that work is now complete.  Finally, I am planning on self-publishing a book on my adventures. I will work on that in January.  

That leaves the rest of the year to record. Tomorrow, I'll order some more photos printed up and then be ready to finish that second album as the year comes to a close.  

Finally, the Concert

As I often point out, I don't watch football games nor pay much attention to what the Packers do.  I knew there was a game today and that was it.  When I arranged our Advent concert, I checked the Packer schedule and called all the churches in town to make sure there were no conflicts and there weren't. The Packers played at noon which gave them plenty of time before they finished up.  It seemed we had picked the best night possible.

I wrote the press releases, made sure we were on every community calendar on local websites, newspapers and radio and television stations.  The posters were up all over town.

Then this morning in church, I found out the worst had happened.  The National Football League had changed the time of the football game from noon to 3:30.  The game would still be going on when our concert began.  We lost a tenor who of course went to the game.

When the Sunday school demanded use of our practice space, I'm afraid I blew up with a mighty hissy fit. We had not had the use of the church for two weeks and we had a concert tonight. Once again, the choir was forced to practice in the choir room. I announced this was my last concert and my last year as choir director.  (In fact, that is true.  I am ready to move on and had decided that a week ago.)

I came home with rising blood pressure, angry that what I had been working on for months was falling apart. Gary fed me lunch, took me for a walk, and then told me to take a nap.   I did and felt much better.  By 4:30 I was back at church rehearsing and running people through parts.  I worked out where my people would sit, talked several people into singing with us.

In the end, we pulled off the concert.  We had a nice mix of vocals and instrumentals with singers from the youngest Sunday school kid to the old timers in the choir.  We had a superb flautist,  pianists and some moving solos.  Our twenty voice choir rocked the place, especially on "Holy is the Newborn Child".

We didn't have much of an audience but the people who came enjoyed the concert and stayed for the reception.   But it was my last concert as choir director.  A relief.

Christmas Update

Gary couldn't wait for the Christmas sales and now that eleventh tree is in place.

It's small but it lights up my bedroom at night.

Gary continues to decorate.  He bought some wrapping paper and is using it to wrap lampshades so that they glow at night.  Candles are everywhere with pine or cranberry scents.  

Three weeks ago I bought something I've wanted for years, a Christmas cactus. I selected one that was not in flower but was full of buds. Since then, I've been watching it anxiously, wondering if I would never have anything but buds.  Today it started to bloom.  These plants last for decades if properly tended, so I think it was a good investment.

Rascal the Cat is now in Christmas mode.  He explores all the new decorations to make sure they meet with his approval.  When Rascal does not approve of something Gary or I do or if the nosh is not to his liking, he usually sticks his tail straight up and stalks off.  In the holiday season, he retaliates by going straight to the nearest Christmas tree and bats an ornament until it falls to the floor.  Hey, a cat has to express himself! I don't put anything breakable on the bottom branches.

Gary and the squirrels continue to battle.  He is often in the basement designing a new squirrel-proof feeder.  Meanwhile, he has greased the poles.  This has no effect on them whatsoever.  They are getting fatter and he is running out of sunflower seed.  

I've been over at the Methodist church rehearsing.  The concert is tomorrow night.  I have no idea if we'll pull the thing off.  I never know, but there's no going back once the publicity is out.

This afternoon, I pulled out the short story I want to post on December 23rd, thinking it was a rough draft and was surprised to find out that it was pretty much finished.  When did I do that?  The 15th is my solstice party and for my contribution to the entertainment, I think I will read "The Pastor".

Tra la la la la! I love the holidays!

Trees, Cookies and Short Stories

I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't sleep anymore, thinking about the short story I had to post today.  It was still in rough draft form.  So I got up and set right to work. This is one of the depressing Christmas stories, about a woman and her cat who is considering eating her.  It is one of the nastiest stories I've written so far, but as I typed, I was singing Christmas carols. I am a strange woman.

After three solid hours of work the story was done. At 8:00 a.m. I sent it to Wade for a second opinion and went to work on other things.

A friend just got a job as an editor at a business magazine and we're talking about me doing some freelance work.  I used to have a financial column for a log home company so have some experience in that area.  So I spent some time digging through my files to find some tear sheets to send her and got them ready to "snail" mail.  At the same time, I e-mailed my resume to her.

By then, Gary was up and began to decorate.  We are up to ten Christmas trees counting the six on the deck, and debating whether or not to put up an eleventh. But that's not the end of it.  Every inch of this house gets the treatment.

This is what the dining room looks like so far, with ribbons and candles everywhere.  The Christmas cactus is carefully being tended to bloom by next week and through the holidays.  And this is just one room!

The day had turned cold with a brisk wind, so no walking for me. Instead, I went to the aquatic center for a workout in the swimming pool.  That was followed by practice time at church and shopping for more baking necessities.  I still haven't found what I need to bake pecan puffs, but there were chocolate "stars" at Don's Market, so I was able to make peanut butter and chocolate cookies to add to the frosted sugar cookies and banana bread.

By then Wade had checked out the short story.  I made a couple of corrections and posted it at Black Coffee Fiction at http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com

This evening, Gary and I went out in his van to check out the Christmas lights around town.  Down on Depot Street, the Seymour Historical Museum has its usual display of memorial Christmas trees.  For some reason the folks on Kuene Street are in some kind of lighting contest.  

I think this may have inspired Gary because we had to stop at a store and look at inexpensive trees.  He decided to wait until the just-before-Christmas discounts, but I expect that eleventh and perhaps twelfth tree are in our future.

And that was my day.  I wonder what we'll do tomorrow?

Advent Concert

It's my turn to write a short story by tomorrow for the blog I share with Wade Peterson (http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com) but as choir director,  I am also responsible for an Advent concert at the United Methodist Church on Sunday at 6:00 pm.  I wonder if I can get everything done.

Last night we held a rehearsal but it was poorly attended because the Cicero Methodist Church, whose choir plans on joining us in the concert, had a Christmas party instead.  The Praise and Worship Choir, the contemporary group, will be joining us, too, but it turned out they had a rehearsal at the same time as ours.  Our strongest tenor had to work and our strongest soprano was having health issues.

We charged ahead because there is no choice.  The concert has been advertised, so it must take place.

We did what we could.   By the end of the rehearsal, I had the concert program finalized, or so I thought.  Today, I had to run over to the church twice to deal with changes.  We added piano and trumpet solos.  One of the vocalist changed her solo.  The Cicero Sunday school deleted one of their songs. I learned I will have to play the piano for two vocal solos.  I'll have to practice some for those. Still, it looks like an interesting concert and we've pulled off miracles before.

I spent part of the day baking Christmas cookies because there is to be a reception afterwards.  I need to bake more, too.

But meanwhile, I need to get that short story finished. It has to be done so it will be.

Squirrel Wars

It is that time of year again when Gary puts out birdseed and suet for our avian friends.  We have up to a dozen kinds of feeders dispensing four or five kinds of treats.

We do get hundreds of birds in the cold of winter, most of them house sparrows (weaver finches) but we can expect four kinds of woodpeckers, several varieties of finches, blue jays, cardinals, doves, starlings, juncos, chickadees, and nuthatches. A Cooper's hawk keeps a careful eye out for all of them, but the birds avoid him by hiding in the many shrubs and bushes on this property.

It is a joy to see our friends on these cold days, but beware of the thieves!  The gray squirrels love the feeders, too.

Gary has an ongoing war against those fat furry squirrels.  He hangs the feeders away from trees and buildings because they can launch themselves from any high point.  He greases the poles the feeders hang from so the squirrels will slide down if they try to climb.

All of this is the theory.  This however, is the way things looked today.

This morning, our gray friend was seated on top of the feeder warning off the rest of the squirrels and any birds. As we ate our lunch, we watched as six squirrels lined up for their chance at the feeders.

I tell Gary that we are keeping those squirrels nice and plump and should the economy worsen, we can always eat squirrel stew.  He thinks that is not a bad idea.

No Stopping Christmas

Once Gary had the interior Christmas decorations finished, he stopped for a week and did other things.  Today, he resumed decorating, this time outside.  There are now six small Christmas trees on our front porch, bringing our total to ten trees, in and out.  There's a wreath on the door.  There will soon be more lights and boughs of greens along the porch railing. I expect him to keep adding things until the 15th, when I have my Solstice Party.

As for me, I've finished the Christmas cards.  I decided to order Evan's books on line, leaving only some small inexpensive gifts we'll get in a trip to Family Dollar the week before Christmas.  So shopping is taken care of.

Tomorrow, I begin to bake.  I'll start with sugar cookies and go on to peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses.  Pecan puffs will follow.  There will be sweet breads, muffins, caramel corn, and scones.  I already have banana bread in the freezer.

My mother's recipes are in a card file on my desk.  At this time of year, I remember the smells in that old farmhouse I grew up in.  At Christmas, she made cookies, yes, but it was her candy that was mind boggling.  She bought a big slab of chocolate every year and every bit of it was used up.  There were white creams dipped in chocolate, chocolate creams rolled in crushed walnuts, caramel squares, and so many more.  They were stored on trays in the little cold entrance at the back of the house.  We children went out that way to walk to the one room elementary school or catch the bus to the high school.  Of course, we always grabbed candy on our way out of the house and again when we came home.  It was so good!

That is what Christmas is about for me: memories, both past and in the making. So I bake.  

Clearing Files

Chris is planning on replacing this computer with a new (used) one.  His job, which I don't understand, is working with computers.  He always has the latest equipment, and when he buys something new, I get his castoffs which are still state of the art.

Before he brings the computer over, I have to go through my documents and delete the unnecessary ones.  I haven't done this since 2007 so there were many, many files.

About three weeks ago, I wrote a post about volunteering and how after thirty years, I intended to stop doing it.  This deleting process is an indication of how much work I was doing for the community.  I've deleted over 300 files so far and of those, at least 250 had to do with work for the organizations I've been involved in.

When I was on the city council, I wrote up reports to my constituents. I worked on grants.  When I worked with the Seymour Greenway planting trees, I wrote up agendas and reports.  I wrote publicity for various clubs.  I created posters for civic events.  I drew cartoons of Seymour's citizens from a century ago and wrote up their histories. With a couple of friends, I compiled a list of the birds that we see in Seymour.  And so it went.

One project after another, years of work for the community.  No wonder I never was able to find time to write!  Now the files are gone.  All that remains are the short stories, novels and essays I have been writing.  They will be transferred to the new computer soon.

I am free of all those commitments.  It feels so good.

Sometimes You Just Accept Things

I started trying to arrange an eastern storytelling tour in the middle of September.  I wanted to go to Rhode Island, Delaware and perhaps South Carolina.

I followed my usual system of selecting a route then sending e-mails to every library along the roads and highways.  I sent out ten e-mails every evening, cutting and pasting my pitch in each one.  This went on all the way into mid-November.  It was exactly what I did a year ago when I arranged a six-week, 19 library tour on the West Coast.

This time around I finally am admitting defeat.  After all that work, only two librarians showed interest in my services.

I was never sure what the problem was.  It might have been the economy.  Wisconsin is not the only state whose government is cutting funds for libraries.  However, I think the real reason was the summer reading program theme, which is the same in 48 states.

Last year,the theme was "One World, Many Stories," which called out to storytellers all over.  In 2012, the theme is centered around night.  I tried convincing librarians that they could have campfires or pajama parties, but it never worked out.  I expect there will be planetarium visits or astronomer visits.

So next summer, Gary and I will be camping in the national forests watching our own night sky.  Instead of telling stories, I will be working on my writing.

Things often work out for the best when you accept what life offers.

Copycats

My friends and family often find what I am doing strange and tell me how crazy I am.  I might take that seriously if they didn't often wind up doing exactly the same thing.

Example:  I organized an ecumenical Christmas concert that continued for 29 years, with as many as 120 singers.  One of my sisters said it was a silly idea, then started one in her town.

Second example:  I wrote out my funeral instructions and gave a copy to my parents.  My father was so, so upset that I wanted to be cremated.  The idea must have grown on him over the years because when he died, we found out that he, too, thought cremation made sense.  A sister and my mother followed suit.

Third example:  on a whim, I ran for election to the city council and darned if I didn't win. I hated it and after two years, I quit.  But by that time, my brother was on the Ashland city council. He is finding it just as awful as I did.

So it doesn't surprise me that after I started writing really depressing Christmas stories, Wade decided to try his hand at it, too.  He decided it would be really depressing (and funny) to have his hero get arrested at Christmas and he was right.  He posted his story yesterday:  http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com

Christmas Cards - Finished!

It's only December 2 but I've finished my Christmas cards.

I cut back a little each year, but there are still fifty names of people who require cards. I've lived in several states, moving some seventeen times in the fourteen years that I was married.  That meant always meeting new people,  many of whom became friends.  Some of the cards go to people I haven't seen in over fifty years, yet once a year we connect because of the holiday.  Each letter requires at the least a note and at the most a long chatty letter.  Some of the names are new on my list.  They belong to Gary's family.  When he moved here he gave me the job of sending cards to them as well.  I don't mind.  

I begin on Thanksgiving and "bash on" as a friend says. Every day, I work through two or three letters of the alphabetized list.  Tonight, I dropped all but three of the cards at the post office.  Those three require a day time trip because they will be mailed overseas.  

The job done, Gary and I sit back and wait for Christmas cards to arrive in our mailbox.  

E-mail greetings are never the same.  I get some of those, too, but they can't be held in my hand.  They haven't been touched by the special people who sent them.  Somehow, the connection just isn't there as it is in those pieces of paper.

With the cards done, with the house decorated, we move to the next phase of Christmas preparation:  baking.
Gary bought a room freshener with a sugar cookie scent and set it here in my office.  I think that is a hint to get out the cookie trays.

Tonight with Evan

Tonight I was taking care of my six year old grandson while his parents were busy at meetings.

It was pretty easy.  He worked on a computer game, trying to better his score while I read a letter from my pen pal in France and started writing a reply to put in her Christmas card.  We were so busy with our own tasks I almost forgot his bed time!  Bad grandmother, we were ten minutes late getting started.

He did all the tasks he had to do.  We fed the fish.  He ate his granola snack.  He changed into his pajamas and brushed his teeth.  He helped me lock the two cats, Brodie and Dante, in the basement.  Then we sat and read four books.  He read two to me, I read two to him.  I am so impressed with his reading skills.  He reads with emphasis in all the right places.  He understands the flow of the words across the page.  Perhaps a future writer?

Then it was time for him to be in bed, but he popped up almost immediately to tell me he was afraid to go to sleep because of something he had seen in the movie.  Well, I could understand that because I used to have the same kinds of thoughts when I was young...still do, sometimes.  The trick is to think about something pleasant.

He thought it would be pleasant to play a computer game.  I thought not.

Instead, I told him how I put his daddy to bed when he was a boy.  Did he play computer games, too? he asked.  No, I said, he never did, because there were no computer games.  They hadn't been invented yet.

This astonishing fact was just settling in when his daddy came back from his meeting to tell his son goodnight.  I'm sure Evan went to sleep thinking about that amazing pre-computer world.

Promise of Spring

Just when I was settling down to accept winter, I received an e-mail that promised that spring was on the way.

The missive was from the International Crane Foundation based in Baraboo, Wisconsin. This organization works to save cranes all over the world.  It brought the sandhill crane back from near extinction in Wisconsin and now is working to save the whooping crane as well as cranes in other continents.

The Foundation was sending the results of the Annual Midwest Crane Count held last April 15. Counters in the Midwestern states spend a Friday in the middle of April counting sandhill cranes and if we are lucky, a whooping crane or two. The report said that in 2011 we counted 338 cranes here in Outagamie County. Three of those cranes were on my site on the northern most edge of the county...or rather above it since they  came flying over just at the end of my two hour stint.

By 10:00 a.m., we counters all meet at the Mosquito Hill Nature Center to compare notes, drink coffee and eat sweet rolls.  We're old friends who come back year after year.

The Crane Foundation announced the date of the next crane count.  On April 14, which is likely to be a cold morning, I will be on site, searching the skies and listening for those calls that announce that spring is indeed here.

A week or two later, Gary and I will be guarding sturgeon along the Wolf River and perhaps two weeks after that, we could easily be at our first campground of the summer.

The e-mail was a reminder that in only a few months, there will be a spring morning when I can go back to nature to find my serenity.  Could there be a better Christmas card?

Celebration of Lights

It was a cold blustery day that kept us inside.  Gary busied himself putting up decorations, while I worked on Christmas cards and publicity for our upcoming choir concert.   


But tonight, the wind died down and though it was cold, it was time I got out and walked. The night was dark, with only a crescent moon in the sky, but now we begin the month of the celebration of light.  In the Christian calendar, it is the period of Advent with the lighting of the Advent candles.  In the Jewish tradition, it is the eight days of Chanukah, also called the Festival of Lights.  African Americans celebrate Kwanzaa beginning December 26 with its tradition of seven candles. 


As I walked through the town tonight, I enjoyed the Christmas lights beginning to pop up at houses here and there.  In another week, the lights will glow up and down the streets.  In mid-winter, I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, but the seasonal light displays fend it off until the middle of January. 



My friend Margaret, from New Zealand, used to think American light displays were foolish until I explained to her that in the darkest of days leading up to the winter solstice, those lights helped us keep our sanity.  In New Zealand, the seasons are just the opposite, so her Christmas falls on the hottest of days. 


After visiting her country, I suggested that the Kiwis could use some festivals of lights, too, but in June and July.  




So Gary and I move on to Christmas with four trees and candles flickering here at Mathom House.  It is a quiet joy that will not last, but for now, it suffices.

Once camping season is over, Gary and I have to keep fit somehow. The canoe is in storage and I no longer have trails to hike on for miles. Winter limits us.

I walk around town instead of taking the car. I go to the pool whenever I can.  From time to time, Gary and I go to the Fox River Mall and walk two or three miles.  I exercise at home and sometimes do yoga.

But to really keep in shape, we go to the fitness center in the high school.  It is part of the wonderful package we older Seymourites are entitled to.  For $35.00 a year we have the use of both the aquatic center and the fitness center. 

People who have used other gyms tell me that Seymour's is just about the best.  It is state of the art, they say.  There's plenty of equipment so we seldom have to wait for any of the machines.
( check out the photos at http://www.seymour.k12.wi.us/fitness_center.cfm )

I start off in the fall with light weights and add a few pounds each month.  I am more interested in upper body strength than cardio when we exercise.  I am trying to build muscle tone.  I can take care of the cardio stuff at the pool or walking downtown. 

Gary likes the elliptical equipment but that's too hard on my knees.

We are getting to know the other people working out so the fitness center is part of our social life.  It will do until we can go to the woods again.  

Six to go

Yesterday was Thanksgiving with Chris, Tisha and Evan and Tisha's family.  It was a fine meal and a good time, but what pleased me the most was that Evan read to me. Before, he was sounding out the words without really getting the meaning.  Now he reads with a dramatic flair, even making sound effects. He will be moved into the second grade reading group next week.  

Then I met my best friend Norma in Oshkosh for a quick meal. I would have liked to spend more time with her, but I hate driving at night at this time of year.  It was the end of deer hunting season, so the deer were in motion.  It was raining and if the temperature dropped, it could mean slippery roads.  Then there are drunk drivers to worry about.  To add to all that, the brake light went on last week to show a drop in brake fluid. That seems to have been fluke because the problem hasn't been repeated, but I still checked the well from time to time.

This morning was church, but when that was done, I could come home to finish decorating the big Christmas tree.  This takes hours, because each ornament comes out of the box along with memories.  At the top of the tree is a red bird that once was on my mother's tree.  It is probably older than I am.   

There's a glass ornament my grandmother gave me when I was perhaps five years old. I've kept it safe all  these years.  It is high on the tree, safe from my grandson and Rascal.  The ornaments on the bottom are often batted around by that cat, so they have to be unbreakable.  (This is an improvement on two years ago, when he hid a dead bird under the tree.) 

There are ornaments that Chris made when he was young, and now I have ornaments from his son.  I love the electronic ornament with a recording of Evan saying, "I love you Grandma.  Merry Christmas!"  It's two years old now and is an important memory because that sweet little voice is maturing.  

I always have candy canes on the tree.  Years ago, old Jake Dog used to munch all the canes off the bottom of the tree. These days, one or two will leave here with Evan.  I don't mind. 

It's a rather crowded tree, but I love every ornament and the memory attached. 

Not to be outdone, Gary put up his own more contemporary Christmas tree in the living room.

With the two fiber optic trees in our offices, that makes four trees.   Tomorrow, Gary will be adding six small trees to the deck.

Christmas has come to Mathom House.  No turning back now.

Buy Locally

When we found out that two strands of the Christmas tree lights didn't work, we started looking around Seymour for replacements.  They had to be red to join with the rest of the lights.

On Friday morning, we tried Family Dollar, Dollar General and ShopKo but none of them had a string of red lights.  They had clear lights, mixed lights, blue lights, and pink lights, but that wasn't what we needed. Gary thought we would have to brave the Black Friday crowds in Appleton. I told him he would have to go on his own.  I hate those crowds.  He first checked on line and found that Walmart had the string of light we needed for $4.99.

But first we had our lunch at the China Garden, newly opened.  It took a while, because the owner had never figured that the first day would be so busy and didn't have a big staff ready.  She was wrong.  All of us Seymourites who had been drooling ever since the rumor about the restaurant began circulating jumped at the lit up "open" sign.  Most of their customers were construction and mill workers. Some women came in for big take out orders.  We were happy to wait while we looked at the extensive menu. The food was delicious so we will be regular customers.

After Gary and I finished our lunch, he drove home to get ready for his trip to Appleton, but I decided to take a walk and look for those lights in a few other places.  I checked the grocery store and spent some time gossiping with a friend. (I always meet someone I know there.)  Next I went to the Ace Hardware store.  It's one of the city treasures, an historical building which has been a hardware store for almost 150 years.  The wood floors are still the same as they were when I was a child.

"Any lights?" I asked.  The clerk pointed to a display a few feet away and there they were, the exact lights we needed and for only $1.99 a string.

I bought the lights and called Gary, catching him before he left for the big city.  

By shopping locally, we saved $3.00 on the string and over $10.00 in gas. It's always best to see what our town has to offer.

Now I can finish decorating that Christmas tree.

Shades of Green

"Shades of Green", my depressing Christmas story is now posted at http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com

Almost all of my stories contain an element of fact.  They are based on something that I know has happened to someone, if not to me.  My imagination takes flight from that starting point.

"Shades of Green" is probably as close to fact as anything I've written so far.  I did indeed have to do my son's paper route twenty five years ago when he was sick, though as I recall, it was on Easter, not at Christmas.  It was an enormous route with extremely heavy newspapers with inserts on Sundays and holidays.  

The bedroom I described was mine from the hanging plants to that Kelly green afghan.  I did not, however, have a therapist...though I probably could have used one after that morning.  

Most of my stories start with character.  From time to time, I have been an actress.  There is no other way to act than to immerse oneself in the character to the point of becoming that person even off stage.  That can be disconcerting to family and friends.  

The same is true of the writer.  You create a character and watch them do things almost on their own. You live with them even when away from the keyboard.  

Abby, the heroine in "Shades of Green" is not me.  She is more fearful, more considerate of others than I am.   Yet once in a while, there are parts of Abby that I recognize in myself.  I do my best to quash them.  

Please read the story...and write comments, good or bad. 

Next Holiday!

We finished our simple Thanksgiving meal, the Packer game was over and it was time for Gary to go into action.  He set up the big tree in the dining room and started adding the lights until we found out two strings no longer worked. We'll pick up more lights late tomorrow afternoon after the Black Friday nonsense is over.  Then I'll hang the ornaments, six decades worth of treasures. 

Gary dug out two more trees, small fiber optics, and put one in my office and one in his.

Yet to come, the tree in the living room, plus six trees on the front deck.

We weren't done yet.  I put the Christmas wreath on the front door.  The wreath for the cemetery requires a new ribbon but it will be out there by the weekend.  Gary decorated the mirror at the top of the stairs. Soon all the other mirrors in the house will have the same treatment.

All the lights are on timers to save on electricity, most of the lights are LED and of course, with all of this light show, our household lights are mostly off.  There is never any surge in our electric bills during the holidays.

I don't expect Gary to be done until just before my Solstice party.  At that point, we'll be totally tacky, but who cares!  It's Christmas!  

New Restaurant

Summer before last, Cheezy Jim McMaster keeled over with a massive heart attack at his pizzeria and that was the end of one of Seymour's best restaurants. Gary and I missed Jim and his great sandwiches we ordered once a week.

Jim's widow, Susan, sold the place this summer and we all wondered what would show up there next.  By the end of July the word was out, we would have a Chinese restaurant. I love Chinese food and began to dream of all my favorites.

Whenever I walked to the library, I made a point of peeking in the door to see what was going on.  The new owners gutted the entire interior.  They put in a brand new stainless steel kitchen.  When the light board with the take out menu went into place at the beginning of October, I began to get excited, and I wasn't the only one. Almost every one in town loved Chinese food, I found.

Whenever I saw one of the workers, I asked, "When?" and they answered with what was apparently the only word in English they knew:  "Soon".  That's what the sign hanging out front said as well.

One day when I was at city hall, I asked the clerk what she knew.  She said they were supposed to open up on November 1.   It didn't happen.  

I ran across the woman who will be managing the place and she explained that the county inspector decided the place needed a new furnace.  It was ordered the same day but it meant another long, long wait. The "opening soon" sign began to fade.

I kept walking by, peering in the window.  Beautiful Chinese lanterns were installed.  There were new tables and wall hangings.  When, oh when would we be dining on chicken and cashews, or moo goo gai pan, or dozens of other favorites?

At the pool, the lifeguards kept asking me about it because they knew I was keeping an eye out.  We talked about our favorite foods and we drooled into the chlorinated water.

Then this morning on my morning walk, I spotted the Chinese owner going into the BP station.  I went in, too, and there she was, giving the manager a menu.  She recognized me and said, "We open on Friday!"

I read the menu through and found all my favorites there.  Oh, what joy!

So forget Thanksgiving!  Oh, Gary and I will have a special little meal and all, but all the while I will be planning on what we'll eat the next day when we help open The China Garden.

Car Problems

As I drove home from Appleton yesterday, I noticed a light on the dashboard. I pulled along side the road and pulled out the car manual.  It was the brake light.  Something was wrong, but I was close to home and the brakes were working, so I continued. When I got home, Gary checked it out and found out the brake fluid was down, and pointed out a puddle on the garage floor.  We bought brake fluid and filled the well.  

This morning the well was still full, so I drove the car around town to see what would happen. The fluid seems fine.  If there is a leak, it is a very slow one.  I called my mechanics but with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, their customers wanted their vehicles checked out.  They couldn't look at my car until next week.  

We'll watch the fluid carefully over the next few days.  On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I plan to drive to Appleton to have dinner with Chris, Tisha and Evan and a few others.  After that, I am to meet my friend Norma in Oshkosh, coming home rather late.  

All of this is dependent on the brakes working, of course. I have a can of fluid in the car and you can be sure I will keep watching the dashboard for that light.   

Another Senior Citizen

Gary and I are both senior citizens, in our 60s.  We are not however, the oldest occupant of Mathom House. That honor goes to Rascal.  He is 18 and 1/4 in cat years but converted to human years, he would be around 90 years old.   

I have rheumatoid arthritis and Gary has his own aches and pains from falling off motorcycles and other youthful accidents.  Rascal is getting stiff, too.  Most days he can jump up on our laps, but sometimes he misses.  This is a source of embarrassment for a cat.  Sometimes he just sits and meows and I pick him up and plop him on my legs.  

These days, Rascal is sleeping most of the day, preferably on a warm lap.  He likes his ears scratched.  At night, he sleeps at the foot of my bed.   

When Rascal arrived in my house ten years ago, he hated being covered by a blanket. He immediately clawed his way out of it, biting if necessary. These days, he loves it when we cover his old body with fleece on a cold day.  An electric blanket is even better.

Winter is hard on us old geezers.  I hope we all make it to spring.

It's Only a Game!

Today was another Packer game day. The church was having a financial meeting/lunch but it could only happen if the Packer game was shown on the big screen in the church.  This happens all the time in Wisconsin.

When our ecumenical choir committee met to select dates for rehearsals and the concert, we had to have the Packer schedule in front of us.  If pastors know a game is at noon, they make their sermons short. Here in Wisconsin, religion is not as important as football.

For someone like me, who thinks it's just a game, the whole thing is a mystery, but I like the fans for their sheer insanity. The clothes they wear reflect who they are. All sweatshirts are green and gold. Any extra cash must be spent on some kind of  Packer gear.

Packer fans are certain that visitors from another country should immediately be shown the Packer Hall of Fame.  They don't comprehend that football is an American and (to a lesser extent) a Canadian phenomenon.  A New Zealander would not mind seeing a rugby game.  A Brit would enjoy a cricket match.  Japanese and South Americans love baseball.  Instead, visitors to Wisconsin are dragged over to Green Bay to admire the history of a game they don't understand.

My mother was one of the crazy fans.  When I was still a teenager, she noticed that when I watched a game, the Packers lost.  She asked me to go off and do something else, which I thought an excellent idea. Years later, she was still calling me wherever I lived to ask if I was watching the game. The Packers were losing. It must be my fault.

I told Gary about that when he caught Packer fever. In his eyes, I became the jinx my mother believed I was.  Today, I walked through the living room and just then the opposing team (no idea who they were) scored a touchdown.

Leave, Gary said.  I went for a walk.  When I came back it was half time.  Nothing for it, I went swimming and took another walk after that.

It worked.  The Packers won.

Recycling

Today, Gary and I went to the Muehl Public Library's book sale.  He bought a bagful of books which he will store in the camper for next summer's reading. This saves him the problem of returning library books on time when he is deep in the forest. As he finishes each one off, he will donate it to another library in one of the towns in the north woods, where it will be sold in yet another book sale.

As for me, I am taking a different tack. I only got one book,  a better copy of Thoreau's Walden than the one I've had for decades.  That one was a paper back, falling apart along the spine.  It is now replaced with a new hardcover edition.

For years I've collected books.  With the advent of computers, I got rid of a quarter of them, mostly reference books.  If it's all on the internet, why worry about dusting useless books?

When Gary decided to move in with me, I thinned out the shelves even more to make room for his books.  But now I want to clear even more.  The only way to do this is to stop using my library card for the winter, because when I have books that are due, I read those, not the books I own.

This year, I will read the books stored on shelves all over the house. Some I've owned for three or more decades. Then I'll turn them over to the library for their next  book sale. Recycling at it's best.

After that, I'll buy a Kindle or a Nook.

Right Heat, Wrong Event

When Wade and I started Black Coffee Fiction, our short story blog, we had a backlog of stories to fall back on.  Because I am much older and have been at this longer, I had more fiction laying around than he did.

This week, Wade finally used up his stash and had to write a new story from scratch in one week. He rose to the challenge brilliantly in his story "Right Heat, Wrong Event". (See http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com )    I think he feels more secure as a writer because now he knows he is capable of getting a story out there under pressure.

Next week, it's my turn to get something out, but it's no problem because I have a few Christmas stories in folders.

Some years ago, returning from church late on Christmas Eve, I paused to look up and down the street.  Some houses were brightly lit with cars parked on the street. Other windows were dark.  Perhaps the children had been sent to bed to have an early morning after Santa came.  Some of the parties were getting raucous and I knew the beer was flowing.

I began to wonder how each of my neighbors were celebrating Christmas. That led to other questions.  How does a battered woman spend the night. A pedophile?  A family with a child in the military?

I love Christmas, the music, the lights, the food, the family, the snow, all of it.  But I know that the majority of people get depressed at least once during the holiday season.  It is more difficult because they know they are expected to have that perfect Norman Rockwell Christmas.

I began scribbling.  In time, I had a series of what I call extremely depressing Christmas stories.  These stories are for those people, to let them know they are not alone.  

I've already posted "The Rapture," and "A Candle in the Window" in the blog.  Now three more of those stories will show up starting the day after Thanksgiving, followed by two more on December 9 and December 23.  In time, I intend to have a very unhappy yule collection, under the title "Christmas on Lincoln Street".

Come the New Year, I will be in Wade's shoes, writing frantically, searching for ideas.  It's not easy writing 26 stories a year!

Groceries

Seymour is not all that big (population around 3,750 depending on which way you come into town, the signs vary).  It does have what many towns our size don't have:  a good grocery store.

Gary tends to think the prices are better in bigger cities like Appleton or Green Bay, and he may be right overall, but when it comes to sales, Don's Quality Market can't be beat.

I always begin my shopping by looking at Don's ad in the local shopper on Monday afternoon, though I can also look at the on line ad on Monday morning.  I have a good idea of what I am willing to pay for anything.  I clip coupons, make out my list and I'm ready to go.

Yesterday, I bought a package of fresh spinach, 2.7 lbs of oranges, 1.24 lb of broccoli, 2 lbs. of baby carrots, a pint of milk, four bags of frozen vegetables (1 lb. each), and dessert topping.  Because I had bought these groceries, I could use two coupons on a nine lb. turkey.  The cost for everything was $21.18.  According to the store receipt, I had saved 49% on my groceries, or a total savings of 20.85.

I showed the receipt to Gary, who said I had done so well that I should go back and buy more.  In other words, to save another 50 percent, I should spend twice as much.

I'm not sure about that logic.

10,000

On October 19, 2011, I began this blog.  I've posted every day but three, once because the computer system went down here in Seymour, and the other two when I was traveling in the West and couldn't find wi fi anywhere.

I've been followed by readers from around the world from China to Australia, from Russia to South Africa. I know geography rather well so I was only stumped once, when I got a reader from Moldova. I had to use the Atlas to find that country next to the Ukraine.

I thought I would run out of things to write about but day after day, something new happens and it goes into this blog.

Today, I received my 10,000th "hit", almost thirteen months since I began.

Nothing changed, but it feels good to have gotten this far.

Maybe I will have something more profound to write when I reach 20,000.  

Volunteering

When I moved back to Seymour over thirty years ago, I began to volunteer for a myriad of projects. I chaired the ecumenical Christmas concert committee. I started and ran an arts council. I helped revive a community theatre, acted, directed and did publicity. Then there were the cartoons I drew for the “ghosts of Seymour past” at Halloween, the trees I helped plant as part of the Seymour Greenway, and on and on and on. At each new project, I was told "you are so talented."  I fell for it every time.  

Now looking back, I think, what an idiot I was.

From the earliest days of my childhood, I wanted to be a writer. I wrote my first book in the second grade. In my senior yearbook, I said my goal was to be a writer.

But somehow, other things always came up. Marriage, a child, being the breadwinner, and volunteer work, and here I am, in my 60s, without having completed the novels I wanted to write. True, I was a writer, but it was not fiction. I was a journalist and essayist. It wasn't what I wanted to do with my life. I should have used those hours, days, weeks, months and years differently.

So now I am trying to catch up. Over the past two years, I've quit every club or organization I volunteered for, with the exception of directing the choir for the Methodist Church.

I have been very firm on this. Slip once, and I would be sucked back into volunteering. One thing always leads to another so I ended it all. I no longer go to meetings for any group because I have too many good ideas that slip out of my mouth and suddenly I am heading yet another committee. Even a simple thing like putting up a poster leads to putting up posters for everyone.

My thought was that everyone would say thank you for your work and that would be the end of it. Instead, I was met with anger. Who will do it if you don't? You can't do that. 

Well, yes, I can. And it makes me wonder why I did it in the first place. Would Stephen King be expected to make cupcakes for a PTA meeting? Would Dr. Seuss be expected to sit on the city council?  

If I had been one of the hundreds of citizens who never volunteer for anything, no one would be angry at me now.  

I am a writer and a writer should write. It is as simple as that.  That is how I intend to end my life.   

Walking Atom

I've been walking Atom for over two weeks now.  

Atom is an interesting mix of two breeds:  boxer and Australian cattle dog.  The ears certainly look like a boxer's, but the face and the brindled fur are pure cattle dog.  That beautiful fur ripples as he runs, catching the eye of others out walking.  

There are some problems in walking Atom.  He loves people and wants to visit with anyone he sees.  At some point, he must have lived with a family with a pickup truck because he wants to investigate each one he sees.  Then there are white doors.  Why does he have to go up to each one?  A dog has secrets and we mere humans have no way to let them out.

Atom has taken me places in Seymour I haven't visited recently.   He took me down the Newton Blackmour Trail and there I found this bench:

 It certainly wasn't there in the spring when I was hunting asparagus.  When I worked on the Seymour Greenway Committee on improving the section of the trail that runs through our town, we talked about installing some benches.  We found out a boy scout wanted to do something to earn an Eagle Scout badge and referred him to the Outagamie County director of parks and trails.  I assume that he worked out the design of the benches.  In time, there should be benches every mile from just east of Seymour to New London.

What a fine place to sit and rest with Atom.