DD,
Had a few snowflakes but now they're done, although I think they'll start up again later today. The Weather Channel (last night, at least) predicted 4 - 9" but I'll believe that when I see it. Hubby is getting over a cold, and I don't want him shoveling so much white stuff.
Gonna do a lot of cooking today. This isn't our holiday, but since we won't be painting yet (we'll probably start tomorrow) and there are no open restaurants, it's time to cook. I'll make 2 chickens and stuffing and salad, probably some sort of mixed veg too. We'll have a lot of leftovers for the next month or 2. :-D
Best wishes to all who celebrate this holiday, and those who don't.
Dear Diary,
I couldn't get into A2K for hourssssss....Oh no!...took a long nap and low and behold...here I am. B. and I trampled into the livingroom with our plastic JC Penny, Lowes and LL Bean bags...no wrapping paper...and pulled out a few gifts. Our big time will be with the kids (adult type) and grandson. That comes this Saturday...not presents, but just being together for a week. My daughter's MS continues to tear away at her body. Our daughter-in-law, who is still recovering from cancer and birth of first child, is doing better, but no longer recovers easily from colds and such. We savor our time with them.
Mapleleaf, your bittersweet post broke my heart, yet I know your love for your family brings comfort to all of them, as well as to you and your wife. Too often, we forget to savor our time with loved ones--you have wisely learned that lesson.
DD, the day has been lovely with family here. One son has to return to Boston tomorrow, but the time with him has been a joy.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all.
Both ladies are in their early 30s. Both are strong women who pretty well drive the household. Both are determined to live life to its fullest. My daughter refuses to let up in her work. Our daughter-in-law was an exec with Bell South. Now, she is fulltime mom and local head of a cancer support group in Atlanta. Other than lowered energy levels, the public is indifferent to their challenges. We are proud of our ladies.
I LEAVE FRIDAY ON A FAMILY TRIP, SHOULD BE BACK TO ATTEND TO THREADS ON SATURDAY, JAN. 4.
Oops! Sorry, this is Husker's thread.
I don't feel a particular ownership - but feel flattered for your respect. Thank You!
Dear Diary from Salamanca, Spain
Dear Diary:
Been an eventful two months. I notice someone was in Prague recently. I remember being there when I was very young, can only now remember what it was like through the jerky, flicky, scratched 8mm film images that clatter through my mind's eye, and now sit staidly on a compilation VHS video my father made some years ago, waiting to be dusted down and sentimentally observed once more I'm sure, now I remember they're there again; I'm sure Prague is now quite different though, quite something else, not sentimental, quite forward-looking.
I was in Zagreb in the month of November. There are images of Croatia on that compilation too, images of other places, Rogaska Slatina up on a steep hill down which a moped would putter every morning, dew on the grass, the smell of the forest and mushrooms drifting in through the open windows, the house forever unfinished, a family Sunday lunch, Baka shaking her fist, half-cross with the cameraman for catching her unawares as she shares out the semi-fried potatoes, the finely-sliced cabbage salad, the clear chicken soup with noodles and sliced carrot, or maybe the sarma, then for dessert the small ball-shaped doughnuts, even in summer, even in the sweltering heat of summer she would be there in the kitchen frying and boiling; or maybe strudel, tossed up high and stretched and then rolled and turned into heaven on earth; and then down below between the trees, swinging round into the village at the foot of the hill, the grey smoking steam-engine, the black line of carriages, always swinging round the same bend, just after Baka shakes her fist, or just before, I can't remember now.
A few images of Krapina too, maize growing high like thin sentries swaying in the breeze, sheet lightning over the high hills across the valley, us shuddering with fear in a darkened kitchen as we looked out from the third floor old-aged pensioners' flat my grandparents lived in; then the following morning, up over the railway track and into the trees, the smell of forest and fresh mushrooms again, and damp pine needles giving way softly underfoot; one day, the high-walled yellow-painted graveyard up on top of the hill, draped around it in a loving sort of way like a cream-coloured antimacassar perched on top of a narrow threadbare armchair; many days, the friends of family who smoked so much and drank small concentrated cups of thick black sickly-sweet Turkish coffee, the home-made cherry wine, the lovingly-fingered and carefully re-read copies of Time and Life piled up on a dark wooden sideboard in the English teacher's house, the one she shared with her brother, who slowly fell ill along with the memories of local and national injustice that young and old hugged close for too long, unspoken, invisible for outsiders who only ever saw the beauty, never ever that routine mediocre hell of quiet desperation which underpinned the beauty, perhaps even helped sustain it.
So anyhow, I haven't even started on November. Was going to, but all those memories sprung up. Maybe another time.
Nice to be back. Abuzz without the visual pollution. Like coming across a favourite city in summer, when all the cars and families are away on holiday, and the streets are bare and snoozing, collective caps over their faces, figurative legs stretched out in front.
Let me be the first to welcome you, eiohel!
I think you'll like it here. Enjoy!
eiohel: That was beautifully written. Welcome to able2know. I look forward to your posts.
Yes indeed, eiohel, beaufully written.
Dear Diary,
Could you hurry up and get this year over with and let's start all over.
I went to CA for a week at Thanksgiving and was so glad to return home and get away from a spoiled rotten 2.5 yr old granddaughter! yikes, what a kid. I guess I am getting old & intolerant because thoughts of a jolly good spanking entered my mind more than once.
Upon my return home, I discovered that the car I had just purchased in October, and spent every cent I had getting new tires, batteries, etc was destroyed. Not wrecked but destroyed. My ex husband, who was just recently served with papers by the state of Florida letting him know that he still had to pay the $88,000.00+ interest, in unpaid child support in spite of the fact that our youngest has turned 18, gained access to the car. The engine's oil was full of water when I returned and it was destroyed. Now I sit like a prisoner in my own home with no transportation and so far the police will do nothing.
Christmas was almost as bad and I don't even want to raise my bp over that. My 26 yr old son who is in the Army reserves may get his orders to go and be murdered for George Bu$h's insanity any day now. All I can think of is that I want this insanity and this year over with.
I hope that the countries who are supporting bu$h - - by his bribes and blackmail - - tell him to go fly a kite. Same with the UN.
But the main thing that will stop this brutal murder of people who are doing nothing to us and have no capacity to do much of anything is the people of this country rising up in force and demanding a stop to the insanity.
Unfortunately, there are the usual, very vocal, die hard radicals who scream for war and world domination with every breath. They are the soul of bu$h's insanity. Why can't we just try to get along with each other? Why should our country be turned into such a mean, nasty bullying, dictatorial type of government.
I would like to take the money spent on dumb wars and feed all the hungry of the world. Why is that so hard to do?
Magginkat, Sorry about all that misfortune thrust upon you. It would seem, though, that your spanking should be reserved for that criminal who destroyed your car. Do you have car insurance? They might cover vandalism. c.i.
Eiohel, welcome to a2k. I don't remember you from abuzz, but I wasn't all that active. Your writing is wonderful--I look forward to reading more.
Maggincat, so sorry for your troubles. As c.i. said, your insurance should at least cover some of the damage.
DD,
We had a second Christmas today. The weather here in Connecticut was snowy with sleet on Christmas Day, so my mother-in-law, brother-in-law and niece weren't able to make it down to our house. In a way, it was nice to just enjoy the time with my husband and our two sons, but we missed the others, so I fixed another Christmas meal and we all had a fine time.
The weather here has been delightful for the last few days, with snow on the ground and bright, clear skies. Our little town looks beautiful, like something out of the 19th cnetury. Which reminds me, c.i., have you grown fins yet? When do you think northern California will finally dry out? I hope you and your family are alright.
Diane
Dear Diary
Thanks Diane & C I ,
I have comprehensive coverage but my insurance says no on the car. The claim that it is a civil matter and I did not see him do it so it's not police business according to them.
Ah the description of the snow makes me homesick. I have not seen snow in over fifteen years. I grew up in Virginia and the thoughts of the Blue Ridge Mountains covered in snow is pure homesick material.
It also makes me wonder why I am still in Florida, which I am starting to hate. Oh well this coming year is not looking to good with another insane war staring us in the face. It's really hard to be positive when something so wrong is going on right in our faces and we seem to he helpless to do anything about it
Magginkat, I had a "hit and run," and my insurance covered it. I don't see the difference! c.i.
I'll have to give it another whirl c.i. , but they definitely said no the first time I talked to them. Maybe I'll get anohter agent who will be more friendly. After all I've had insurance with this same company for 40+ years and have only had two minor claims. One car was vandalized and my only accident ever, backed our of my driveway and put a dingy in a lady's car!!
Thanks
Welcome Eiohel
Magginkat
So sorry to hear about your troubles and I am so with you on the moron Bush situations going on. I'd love to throw that trigger happy nutcase right on the front lines.
Hi msolga, dupre, everyone:
Thanks to all for the welcome. I was never really active on Abuzz either, Haiku thread I really enjoyed, technology (idea of anyhow) I think was really imaginative. But you did end up feeling part of some marketing manager's target constituencies for advertisers. (Who pays for able2know, by the way?)
Magginkat, I had a dumb car accident a year or so ago, in a hurry to pick up kids from school, going round the roundabout at the entrance to the housing estate, bumping into the back of a car which had just come to a stop behind a large bush (so invisible for me). Slight scratch on other car's bumper (is that "fender"?), total headlight, radiator and bumper destruction on ours.
Insurance said it was my fault 'cos the other car had stopped; if I wanted to pursue the matter, then I had to go to the Guardia Civil and get them to take the driver to court for dangerous parking. So we had to cough up the headlight replacement, repair the bumper as best we could, pay the upped insurance premium the following year as the other driver did a total respray (perhaps I'm exaggerating) on the back of the slight scratch claim (no questions asked by insurance companies up to a certain threshold claim level).
But nothing as bad as what's happened to you. Hope it works out for you in some way soon.
Anyhow, now I don't rush, at least not until I'm out on the open road.
