I think this old polaroid was taken in 1962 at my grandparents house in Florida. That's me practicing my runway walk for my future career as a top model. A model for what, I'm not certain.
I'm off to the supermarket this morning for a few holiday tid-bits. I want to get out early before the holiday crowds build. It's a jungle out there. Not.
When I started with that blog post "Chestnuts roasting, etc.," I wasn't planning to title subsequent posts with each line from "The Christmas Song." It just sort of happened. If I had planned it, I would have made it so the final line would post on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Opportunity missed.
So here's the final shot with the whole tree. If you look closely through the curtains, you might see the white outdoor lights hanging from the roof over the deck. Now, the question is what am I going to do next?
This little golden bear is one of a small collection of glass animal ornaments that Ken gave me one year in the eighties. In almost forty years, I've only broken one. I'm glad it wasn't this one because it's my favorite. The Golden Bear is the mascot of what would later become my alma mater, UC Berkeley.
It looks like our brief cold snap is ending. Although it didn't really freeze, we were close, and it's not even winter, yet. It's anybody's guess as to what this winter's weather will be like. We used to get some snow between December and March, but recent years have not had any. I kind of miss it.
This ornament is a tiny bird house, although I don't think that there's a bird on Earth that could fit through the hole. Maybe a bee. But I really like its simplicity.
It's a "busy" week ahead for us. Mostly for Ken. He's got a couple of appointments (a haircut and a covid booster) and he's going to drop by the garage to see about replacing the Peugeot's broken gear shift knob. There's some light grocery shopping to do, including getting cheese for our annual Christmas Eve fondue. On Saturday we'll be picking up the holiday bird and whatever other things we might have forgotten. I've decided to make apple tart for desserts, so apples are on the list.
This ornament is a miniature model of North Carolina's Cape Lookout lighthouse. It's just over twenty kilometers, or about thirteen miles (as the crow flies), from the town where Ken grew up. In fact, on a clear day, you can see the lighthouse from the beach just across the sound. It's only accessible by boat.
It's cold this morning, about 3ºC outside the house. The vineyard will be colder. Freezing fog is forecast for some areas nearby. It's beginning to look a lot like winter.
This is the reindeer collection. A paltry three. The silver one is supposed to be, I think, a tree ornament, judging from the ring on its back (there used to be a red ribbon tied to it). However, the thing is so heavy that it weighs down any branch it's hung on, so now it's just a free-standing buck. Once again, I don't recall the origin of any of them.
I was surprised to see the weather forecast for the next five days: clear, sunny, and colder than it has been. I hope it's accurate; we haven't seen much of the sun these past weeks. Parts of the wood pile that got wet may now have a chance to dry out. And I may be able to get some outdoor tidying up done. We'll see.
Here's another wreath, another of my step-mom's craft ornaments from the seventies. It's a painted wood ring with an embroidered Christmas tree fixed in the middle. It's another of my favorite ornaments, and this one's much more durable than the wreath in yesterday's post.
The pickle (or cucumber) ornament is among a small group of vegetable ornaments given to us by a friend in California. By the way, I decorated the tree yesterday afternoon. Pictures to come!
