The Sixth Day of Christmas

Whew!  How did we get here already?  It has been a busy week.  Tuesday the 22nd was therapist day.  I made chocolate chip cookies for Glenn, but don't remember what else I did--probably work on the puzzle and think about all the things I had to do.  Wecnesday started with brunch with a dear friend, then a visit with the Radiation Oncologist, who is concerned that I am still having pain that breaks through the morphine I'm taking--I'll see him again next month after my CT scan.  That visit was followed by a trip to the mall for last minute Christmas shopping then to the grocery store for Christmas dinner fixings.  An added plus for that task was running into a friend from the phone company.
Now we're to Christmas Eve, and things really get busy.  I had to make sure I didn't work myself to death, so I would work on the puzzle till I found a piece, then do a task.  The tasks accomplished included putting out three nativity sets, making three different kinds of cookies, cubing a loaf and a half of french bread and seasoning it for stuffing, chopping the onions for the stuffing, fixing dinner for Glenn, taking a nap, then attending Christmas Eve 11 o'clock service where I was one of the readers.  I had it easier than Glenn, because he had to be at work at seven on Christmas morning.  I got up, did the same routine with the puzzle to enforce rest.  I made two kinds of cranberry sauce, finished the stuffing, stuffed the 20 pound turkey and got it into the oven by noon.  Mark and Elaine and the kids got to the house around 2.  Here's a picture of the tree before presents were opened:

The grandchildren and Mark were enthusiastic about the puzzle, each one lending their efforts to find pieces.  The girls had to go with their other grandmother to their cousin's house for dinner, but I kept them at the house till after Glenn got home so we could all be together for a few minutes.  Monica gave me an album with pictures from out trip and a key-chain with a digital picture viewer, preloaded with trip pictures.

I was sad the girls couldn't be with us for dinner, but we had a good time.  I made a splendid dinner--turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauces, carrots and parsnips, red and gold potatos, green salad and waldorf salad.  I never think about dessert--no one needed it.  A good time was had by all.  Glenn and Elaine took care of the clean-up while Mark and Ryan worked on the puzzle.

Saturday, I could barely move.  I slept a lot.  The only thing I HAD to do was make tomato soup for Sunday lunch.  Sunday was another good day.  I had to be alert for church, because I am Worship Leader this month and we had a guest Pastor.  Right after church, I called my BFF Roz, who was even then on the BART with our BFF Tobie heading to San Bruno.  I got their location and figured out how much longer I could graze on cookies at church.  I got to the BART station just before their train came in.  Tobie is another friend from jonior high, so another person I've known for 50 years.  The last time I saw her was at the hospital a few weeks before my mother died in 1992.  A good many hugs were shared.  Roz and Tobie came to my house for lunch and memories.  Somehow, I didn't get pictures this time.  That was my error.  Kris is hoping to come north again in April.  We'll get Tobie to that reunion and I'll be sure to get pictures then.  I took them back to the BART station somewhat after 3.  I came home for serious puzzle working.  I placed the last peice about 10:45.  Here is the completed puzzle:

It was hard to the very last piece.  I started it before Thanksgiving.  I left it up for a while.

Monday Glenn and I (mostly Glenn) had to get the house ready for my sister--well, sort of ready.  I'd made plans with Elaine for her to come over to make more cookies, and to my surprise, she, Mark, and Ryan got here before noon.  I was barely up.  Elaine was a real helper cleaning Glenn's room for my sister and cleaning the bathroom.  It was a little chaotic, but it was good chaos.  Somewhere in the afternoon I managed to make cookie dough and get it into the refrigerator.  Elaine and Mark went off to see if they could steal the girls from the other grandmother and also bring Mark's daughter, Rachel, up for dinner with my sister.  There were unsuscessful on each mission, but later in the afternoon, the OG called to ask if we would like her to drop the girls off when she picked them up after the movie.  That was a big YES.  By then, the puzzle was back in the box and going home with my daughter so that they could have the joy of putting it together.

Gretchen arrived just as it was starting to rain.  We had a dinner of left overs.  The girls arrived just as we were starting dinner.  It was so wonderful to have my family all together for a meal.  Here's the crowd:

It was a wonderful night for me.  Exhausting, but wonderful.

Tuesday was another reunion.  Our Mother had a first cousin, Evelyn, who lines in Marin County.  I've kept in touch with her over the years, but probably hadn't seen her since the early 70's.  Gretchen called her before she came up and we make plans for lunch.  Here we are with our cousin, Evelyn:

We had a delightful lunch in Larkspur then browsed the shops.  As with all the reunions I've had this year, it was as though no time had passed since the last time we were together.  Evelyn is one cool LOL--that would be in the pre-e-mail usage of the letters.  Her mind is sharp and she is funny, and I'm happy to be related to her.  Gretchen and I came home in the late afternoon.  We had another dinner of left overs and watched the Kennedy Center Honors, one of my favorite programs of the year.  I got to bed was too late.

Gretchen was up and dressed before I woke up.  We had breakfast and got her on her way.  I went back to sleep and slept until Glenn got home around 12:30.  I spent most of the afternoon nodding off.  Like Saturday, I never got out of my jammies.  I'm looking forward to a restful next few days with NOTHING to do.

xxooxx

Getting There

It was a work hard day today.  Glenn and I bought the Christmas tree on Friday when the weather was good (and a good thing, too, because today has been a real Christmas day--see previous post).  The first thing we/I had to do was clear space for the tree then actually get it up from the garage, because the elves were coming in the afternoon to trim it.  I'm so far along on the jelly belly puzzle that I don't want to just give up and put it back in the box, so we had to work around the card table.  Because my stamina is still non-existant, I hade a deal with myself to make sure I rested.  Find a piece for the puzzle, pick up something.  I thought that was going to be a good idea till I started finding pieces.  Glenn has all the stamina in the world, so he wanted to get it done.  When I would start to drip with sweat, I knew it was time to sit for a while.  Still, we did manage to clear a path and a place to put the tree.  Oops--it's a big tree.  Glenn was also dripping by the time he got it upstairs.  I helped.  I also vacuumed up lots of needles.  I love my new vacuum cleaner!  I'd love it more if it came with a maid, but nothing is perfect.  I watched my soap opera and dried off.  The elves arrived right on schedule, God bless them, and we now have a beautiful trimmed tree.  I still need to put up the nativity sets, including the one that was up from Dec 2007 till Jan 2009.  If I hadn't put it away, I wouldn't have to get it out--just dust it.  I opened up the tiny nativity I got in Chartes--wish I'd gotten a ton of those, they would have made great gifts.  Gifts--I need to do something about those too.  Good thing there are still a few days before Christmas.
xxooxx

Stranger than Fiction

Those of you who know my son will just say, "Of course."  Those of you who don't will just have to take my word for it.  Yesterday afternoon, I took a long nap in the afternoon, waking around 7.  I didn't feel like eating but thought I needed to come up with something for Glenn.  Not a problem, he'd gone out and picked up something for himself.  He said he would have asked me, but I out sleeping.  He had to eat and run because he was seeing a friend.  I know several of Glenn's friends and most of them don't have a clue where his working hours are concerned.  Not to worry, he said, he'd be home early.  And he was.  He got home before 10.
His phone rang at 11ish--see what I mean, no clue about hours.  I wasn't asleep yet, and he poked his head in my room and asked if we still had our cat carrier.  Now we haven't had a cat for years--maybe 10, and I have no idea what happened to the carrier.  Seems the friend he saw had been given a puppy and was flying out at 8 in the morning.  They'd been looking for one when he was out earlier.  I told him he could go ahead and look, but good luck.  Off he went downstairs to the warehouse.  Ho luck, so he was back up shortly and said he would be going out--he had one more thought.  I went to sleep like a person and I was asleep when he left for work.
So for you Paul Harvey fans, here's the rest of the story.  He went to a 24-hour Walgreens to see if they had a pet carrier.  He asked the clerk who was talking with a customer.  The customer said she used to have a small dog that she took everywhere.  Her family had been talking about having a garage sale and including this pet carrier it in.  If he wanted, Glenn could wait till she got what she needed and follow her home and check it out.  Remember, it's by now around midnight and these were perfect strangers.  Glenn waited, followed her home, checked it out, and it was better than perfect.  He gave her $20.00, thanked her, and was off to where his lady friend (did I say it was a lady?  I believe not) was staying and presented her with the pet carrier.  She flew off to Georgia (where she will be living) this morning with her new puppy and presumable all went well.
What are the chances?  Less than none.  Why did Glenn take on this impossible task?  Well, that's just Glenn.  And because he is a good soul, good things happen.  I'm still shaking my head about the whole thing, but it is all very Glenn.  Someone needed something and he make it happen.  There are angels and I think my son is one of them.
xxooxx

OK, It's Christmas Season

It is three o'clock in the afternoon and it is dark outside.  It has been dark all day.  It is raining cats and dogs and there is a fine fog.  Now why would this make it Christmas Season?  It is amazing the things that stick with us.  When I was a wee little thing, and I actually was, once upon a time, it was the last day of school before Christmas vacation.  I was in kindergarten, so it was my first last day before Christmas vacation.  I remember walking home to Etna Street (and that is how I know I was in kindergarten) in a driving rain storm.  Since then, driving rain and fog in December makes me smile and remember my tiny self splashing home.  The only thing that could make it more Christmasy would be making fudge and chocolate chip cookies.  They will come sometime within the next two weeks.  For now, the dark clouds and the rain and cold are good enough for me.
I had to go out today, since the mail finally included the rent check and I wanted to deposit it, so I got to experience the joy of the storm--somewhat more appealing when watching from the inside out.  I dug through the closet to find my snow/rain boots, so my feet were toasty.  I'll be needing those boots come February.  I feel good today, so it was OK.  I did not feel good yesterday.  I think 10 hours of sleep helped.  I'm still pretty fatigued from the radiation.  It has been three weeks now, so maybe there's only one more week of exhaustion.
Back to working on the Christmas cards or working on the puzzle.  The puzzle has to be finished before we can haul a tree into the living room, so it is a toss up which task needs doing more.  Now would be the time to clone myself.
xxooxx

Recovering from Radiation

You haven't heard form me in a while because I haven't been doing anything.  Radiation hit me harder than I expected.  Sometimes I feel a little nauseaus, but mostly I just feel tired.  I do too much then I sleep.  A nap us usually two to three hours and unless I'm doing anything early in the morning, I always get at least eight hours at night.
To catch you us on the highlights (few though they may be), as I left off, my niece, Victoria, was running in a 40 mile race.  Gretchen, Jim, and I bundled into the car in the afternoon to drive the hour or so into the hinterland to watch her finish.  That was exciting--cold, but exciting.  Victoria was a very tired girl and was really happy when her father volunteered to drive her car home.  I'm glad I stayed over Saturday.  I would hate to have missed that thrill.
The drive home Sunday wasn't bad till about Prunedale, then 101 turned into a parking lot (you can tell that I'm a Northern California native because I don't say "The" 101).  Traffic pretty much let up when I hit 85.  It was good to get home, even if I did get home after Glenn went to work and I had to schlep all my stuff upstairs myself.  That caused another round of exhaustion.  I'm sort of glad I had to put Sonoma off till January.
Nothing much till Wednesday, when I started with an 8:30 doctor (a NON CANCER doctor) appointment, a haircut in the city, lunch with an ex-boss, and shopping.  That was a killer day and I paid for it.  I had a good time, but I paid for it.
It's been mostly resting and Facebook since then.  I did manage the first draft of my Christmas letter--good thing, since the cards have been coming in since the first.  I figure if I have them in the mail by the 18th, I've won the battle.
Back to the current puzzle--all jelly bellies.  I think I've been working on it a month already.
xxooxx

Hanging at my Sister's

Spelling and finger dyslexia warning--they have changed blogspot and I don't know where the spellcheck went.  I'll try, but spelling and proof-reading have never been my strengths.
The drive down was glorious--warm and clear but with the tang of autumn.  I had lunch at Margie's Diner in Paso Robles, where they make about the best fries in the world.  I'm sure they are cooked in something terribly toxic and I don't care.
I've been having a great visit with my sister and her family.  Gretchen has been very considerate of my post-radition malaise and has let me get plenty of rest.  Sleeping late, naps, what more could you ask for.  I sat in the sunshine and kept the dogs company.  The weather has been spectatular.  Wednesday's outing was the Museum of Natural History--a little gem tucked away in Santa Barbara.  We weren't the only ones who thought it was a good idea; still, the museum is big enough that it can accomodate lots of people and small enough that it didn't wear me out.  Everywhere we looked the views were amazing on the drive to and from. 
Thanksgiving Day was restful and casual.  We had been invited to have dinner with my nephew's landlords, Flash and Tina.  The beauty of having Thanksgiving at someone else's house is that you don't wear yourself out cooking, though we did make three different kinds of cranberry sauce (I made the plain old fashioned one) and Gretchen made an apple pie and a green bean salad.  I watched football.
Thanksgiving Dinner was a wonderful experience.  We had to park a bit away from the house, so I was winded and exhausted when we got there.  I sat down to catch my breath and of course, got weepy.  At the least little sentimental thought I become a watering can.  I hate it, but what can you do.  Tears come like the tide and won't be stopped.  I never really know what sets them off.  Fortunately, everyone but Gretchen was busy with much preperation, so I didn't weep all over the world.  Once drained, I had a lovely time.  Flash and Tina were warm and generous hosts as well as being interesting and charming people.  Jim brought champagne.  I was pretty sure my meds wouldn't like it, but I did.  Even bad champagne is good, and this was very good champagne.  The property has a huge yard with an amazing brick fireplace that I wanted.  We had dinner by a roaring fire, under the stars.  Gretchen and I were sitting near the fireplace--we were warm and toasty.  One of the guests, a young man named Andy Chang, is s sushi chef.  He was in charge of carving the bird.  The show of carving was worth the price of admission (or would have been, had there been a charge).  Naturally, I left my camera at Gretchen's house and my little gizmo to transfer the pictures to the computer at my house.  Many pictures were taken,  If Gretchen or Victoria send me one or some (large hint),  I will include it or them in a later post.  Everything was delicious.  Picky eater that I am, I enjoyed everything--even though it was quite dark by the time we ate and I couldn't eat one thing at a time as I usually do.  As we were dining under the stars, I thought of friends in other parts of the country where it is really coming on winter and I must say, I gloated and gloried in the evening.  It started to get cold, so pie was eaten indoors--by the fire in the living room.  Getting me off the couch took three strong men and a boy, and it wasn't pretty, but I did it.  This is my third Thanksgiving since I lost Lee.  Each one has been special and each one included a few challanges.  This year, except for the weepy bouts, has been delightfully challange free.
Yesterday morning--well, late morning--Gretchen took me for a ride with views to admire.  The family went wine tasting in the afternoon--I took two naps.  While I was napping the wind came up with a vengance.  Gretchen had a tennis date after the wine tasting.  The rest of us agreed that we were happy not to be her, trying to play tennis in a hurricane.
This morning was another drive with errends,  Victoria is off on a 40 mile race and Gretchen and Jim are at a 50th anniversary party.  My original intenion was go to home today, thinking they would have had enough of me by now, but Gretchen looked hurt when I suggested it, so I'll be driving home tomorrow with the rest of the world.  Kyle will be coming over for dinner tonight, so it will be nice to see him again this trip.
I'm afraid I've turned into the feeble old aunt that people need to help in and out of chairs and up and down stairs.  Part of me hates it and the other part knows that I am helped out of love, so I appreciate it.
The only real downside to going away for Thanksgiving is no left overs.  I'm sure Glenn would be happy for me to do a turkey dinner sometime and I almost think we could find friends to join us.  Now there's a thought.
That's it for now.  It might be nap time or it might be Facebook time.  We'll see.
xxooxx

Advent is earlier this year and will last longer

Friday was my last radiation. I was not welcomed with flowers and cake, but I did get hugs, and hugs are better than just about anything--except maybe diamonds. I saw Dr. Chee in the afternoon (my little Cal Bear of an oncologist).  So now we wait. Apparently, getting zapped with radiation is only half the battle. Now that I've been zapped, the radiation has to do its work. This takes time. I get to learn a new skill. I get to learn patience. Dr. Chee put in the order for my next CT scan, but it won't be till the middle of January, at which time, we will see what the radiation accomplished and the next game plan will be made. I'm in cancer limbo now, just waiting.

Yesterday was not a waiting day. Yesterday was the church Thanksgiving Dinner, for which I have been chief cook for the last several years. I arrived at church shortly after 9 in the morning, ready to work. As always, I had a crew of helpers who make the time go by with laughter and conversation. I start with cranberry sauce, to get that smell going. We dispatched six bags of cranberries and moved on to stuffing--yet more smells to fill the church. This year there were five turkeys--four to be stuffed and one to be gluten free--though we did stuff it with onions because I just couldn't handle the thought of cooking a turkey with NOTHING inside of it. The birds were all in the oven by 12:30. It is always such an act of faith to stick the birds in the oven then go home and trust that they will be cooked when you get back. My BIG sacrifice this year was BIG GAME. The game started at 4:30 and that's when I had to be back at church for the rest of the festivities. When I first started cooking the Thanksgiving Dinner, we had it on a Friday. The only thing that ran interference with it was Pacific Star Chapter's installation. I have been knows to finish up the dinner in a formal. When they moved the dinner to Saturday, it always hits on BIG GAME DAY. Now this is manageable when big game starts at 12:30 or 1--get the birds in the oven, come home, watch the game, change clothes, get back to church and finish up. I had my little radio with me, but it isn't the same. Still, I was able to maintain contact and knew what was going on most of the time.
Back at the church, God worked His miracles. The building was full of wonderful smells. The birds were cooked. I tried to take the first one out of the oven and got yelled at. Birds out of the oven, stuffing out of the birds, unstuffed birds handed off to the cravers while we collected juices for gravy. My last job is making the gravy, which is pretty much by guess and by gosh. Too thick? Add water or more juice, if available, not thick enough? Mix cold water and flour to make more roux. Find volunteer tasters to see if it needs more salt of pepper, and stir, stir, stir. There will be no lumps in this gravy. And listen to the game. Finally, everything is ready to eat. By this time, I took the first percocet of the day. The Thanksgiving Dinner is always a big success, and last night was no different. We had a good crowd and lots of good food. After dinner, the tables were cleared and put away and the chairs were brought back into pew formation. It was time for the last act of the day--the talent show and Open Mic Night. We started with Anne and the Bethany Brawlers, playing Simple Gifts and a nice leisurely tempo then switching to Pigtown Fling as fast as I could play it. We got the crowd clapping in time to the music. We rearranged our percussion section--that was Fred switching from the spoons to the bodhran, and played Riding on a Load of Hay. One more instrument change for Fred and we closed with Ashokan Farewell. After that, I was officially allowed to be tired. I checked the score again--we won!--then sat through the rest of the show, looking sort of glassy-eyed. It was a great show, as usual. I must admit, I was happy to finally go home. I didn't set the alarm and still made it up in time for church today. I am now hanging out, which I intend to do tomorrow too. And wait. I think I shall wait tomorrow.
That's it.
xxooxx