Of Wind, and Plague

Okay, okay, so plague is a bit dramatic. I guess it's just a sinus infection, brought on by allergies due to the devil winds we've been experiencing. The rather fuzzy shot is of my driveway, made dangerous by a dousing of liquidambar burrs. Brought down by those same devil winds.

Tell me again why I keep those trees?

Oh, and the other photo?? That's the huge collection of the things that are still hanging on the trees.

Okay, here's the tree story. Way way back when, my children were
just little tykes who went to school. On Arbor Day, it was customary for someone to give the fourth graders a little tiny tree in a milk carton. So of course the little tiny tree comes home, and gets popped into the ground. After all, these are children who from their earliest years were helping me in the yard. Pulling weeds, and picking flowers--sometimes, pulling flowers and picking weeds, but you get the drift. So these little trees got lots of TLC. First came #2 son's (they didn't always get the same kind of trees--#1 son got a little pine tree that turned up its toes at the SoCal climate) and then came D1's--planted side by side, for some unknown reason. And they grew and they grew and they grew, as did D3's little liquidambar seedling. Now? There are 3 trees that are taller than the house, shedding little burrs all over the place. And the kidlets who used to happily gather the burrs and paint them gold and stick them onto things, or tie ribbons on them and put them on the Christmas tree, have gone on to bigger and better things.
I hope the gardener has a big broom to sweep all these things up with. He will be here tomorrow so the driveway may be passable for a little while, if the winds die down.
Driving over these things feels like four flat tires. Or driving in downtown LA.
In other news, a court date has been set for the Grandcarrot's Official Court Hearing. Yay!
Okay, time to go take more of those good drugs (generic antibiotic, and I hope it works) and get some more rest. I hope that someday God will explain to me just why he invented sinuses in the first place. Not that I'm questioning His design skills, you understand.
Reminds me of the little couplet from Ogden Nash:
"God in His wisdom made the fly,
And then forgot to tell us why."
Happy Third Day of Christmas to all!

Holly-dazed Update

Leading off with the (at long last!!) finished Pea Pod. Mom must have told Santa about the sweater-to-come, since this perfect-match bib was in Garrett's stocking!
The buttons are just plain little iridescent pearls from JoAnn's, 95 cents for 6. But perfect, no?



The scarf is done. It's been delivered, and its new owner has approved. I really tried to get a shot of the detail, but this was the best I could do.

It's a reversible cable, pattern from the Lion Brand website (but really you don't need a pattern once you "get" that reversible-cable concept. There may be a few more of these in my knitting future, as this one was roundly applauded by the male contingent of the family.

This is a shot of this year's tree--the one on yesterday's post was last year's. The house is D3's. Amazing to me that she can pull this all together, while still working her crazy long hours!







The stockings were hung on the staircase with care, since hanging them on the mantel would have seriously impaired the fire-building. And it was really nice to have a fire blazing while we got ready to tear into that stack of gifts!
Speaking of that stack, it's much smaller than usual. This was the Year of the Heifer Donations. The Conn. families donated a goat, and a flock of chickens, geese and ducks; I gave a pig; plus, there was a whole menagerie that was given for my birthday.


Carrot with carrot. He loved the soft bunny--those ears are just right for chewing! You can just see the leg and ear of his new teddy bear (courtesy of Uncle Jeff) too. He had a lovely Christmas even though he wasn't feeling 100%--that's why we didn't put him into the PP for a shot. However, it's going to fit just fine, with a little room for growth. Thank goodness!

Well, that was us--how was your holiday?? Inquiring minds want to know!

Happy Holidaze!

Just a quick note to wish you a very happy/merry holiday, whichever one you celebrate, whether you're having a big party or a small one, alone or with a multitude! In the end, it isn't so much what we celebrate as the fact that we do celebrate at all. Here's a toast to peace and joy and love for all!