Christmas Time again...

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" (Yes, I think in song all the time). Decorations go up right after Halloween because I love the lights of the Christmas tree and other decoration lights along with the burning warmth of a wood fire to make my evenings warm and cozy for as long as possible. Sometimes I don't take decorations down till February. This early prep for Christmas started when we went skiing every year during the Christmas and New Year weeks and so started using an artificial tree to avoid having to take it all down (for safety reasons) just before we drove to Park City. I just have room for the top half of the tree, now...anyone need a bottom only?

And with the DVR I can make sure I have a Christmas Show or a Christmas program to watch every night as well. It's a good time of year...

And earlier this week I had this thought while shopping at the Dollar Store...

When I was a child we would go to an Elks Christmas Program every year and as we were leaving they would give each of us a brown paper sack and it would always have the same things inside. There would be an orange (very precious to us), hard ribbon candy and creme drops. I especially loved the creme drops so when I saw a bag of them at the Dollar Store I was very excited.  I had not had one of those in years.

The front of the package says "Low Fat Candy"--I checked the label on the back and it said 10 calories!! Yea, I won't break my diet! I quickly ate 4 of them --I mean, only 40 calories!! I was curious as to what they were made out of to be a whole bag for a dollar and only 10 calories, so when we arrived at the restaurant I took them inside to read the ingredients. I was thinking "No wonder they could give us so many, they are cheap and made out of something strange, not like Hersheys or M & Ms". The package also said they had been making them since 1919 so I knew they were the same thing we had as children.

Imagine my dismay when I read more closely and it said 110 calories! Yikes, there went my diet. And it is chocolate, sugar, corn syrup and all the usual suspects.

Montana Friends

Posting Santa Claus on my blog reminded me I have a picture of my first boyfriend, George, his wife Susie and son and family so will post that. George and I were best buddies from second grade on and always had fun together. Bill and I were remembering when Bill and Carla and George and I were in sixth grade and we had our first double date. Suddenly, best buddies who could always talk, didn't know what to say to each other. It was funny and fun. Walking home from that date there was a beautiful spring snow still on the trees and I have never forgotten how beautiful Glendive could be with all those overhanging trees.

I lived with Susie in Billings when I was teaching school for one year. She was known as "Beauty and Brains" and still is. Great memories.

Santa Claus

Whoever thought one of your school friends would grow up to be a Santa Claus? Not me, but here he is, Bill, the class flirt, an authentic Santa Claus with a real beard and mustache!! He says he has been doing this for over 15 years so look for this face in those Christmas commercials!!

"The Thick and the Thin of it"

I am only a size 10 but standing next to a size 4, that is pretty huge. Where Melissa is, I once was, never to be there again--but it is nice to remember. She looks so great. Of course, we didn't wear the low necks except at the swimming pool but we did look pretty good in those latex bathing suits. The two piece ones only had a halter going around the neck and I learned the hard way you don't go diving in that kind of a suit! I think in our day the sizes were different. A figure of 36-23-36 (high school days, not now) was a size 9 then, would probably be a size 4 today. Of course, in England, the sizing is different again--I would probably today be a size 14 there. Oh, well, what is in a number? Just happy to be healthy and able to get into jeans and sweaters and still jump out of bed in the morning...

Richard

Yesterday, Nov 27, was the llth anniversary of Richard's death. The song "I Cried For You" is dedicated to him and the way I felt when he passed awy after 37 years of love, marriage, family and sharing all my joys and woes with a wonderful friend and husband.

Bruce to the Rescue

Maria told in her blog about Bruce biting through Bandido's leash and leading him to the back door so we could let him in. I got to thinking about that. Bandido wanted outside at Maria's but I didn't feel I wanted him roaming a neighborhood he didn't know so I hooked him up to Bruce's run. Unfortunately the run is a little way from the house and when he probably started barking to come in, I did not hear him. To tell you the truth, I had forgotten all about him and was concentrating on the dinner.

This just shows you how smart dogs really are. I would give anything to have witnessed Bandido in distress and Bruce figuring out what to do to save him. Reminds me of when my sister Carole was about 2 or 3 and wandered down to the football field. We found her there with our dog Star sitting beside her on the top step of the football arena. Dogs are so smart.

Thanksgiving at the Valkos

Grandma and Bandido get invited to the Valkos for Thanksgiving. It is a beautiful, though colder, sunny day and all the Valko family have arrived from Sacramento, Redding, and Truckee. Bandido was even excited to see Bruce and they had a fun day together as did we all...

The table is set..

The cooks do last minute touches...

The turkey is carved and food set out to serve...

Handsome Matt is in snowboarding competition this weekend...

Model Melissa strikes a pretty pose...

Beautiful Family Portrait...

Maria at Coventry Gardens

Maria as she exited from Susanville's own tea house Coventry Gardens. Meagan will be happy to hear that even Susanville has High Tea now. We had lunch in celebration of Maria's birthday and the Spinach Quiche was wonderful as were the Pumpkin Mousse and Pumpkin Crisp. The interior has been restored beautifully and the tables are set with lovely cloths and napkins in keeping with the fall season.

As I was waiting for Maria to arrive a couple of ladies drove up by me for tea and one of them I see in the Gym all the time. She is the wife of the realtor who handled my house purchase. She introduced me to her sister and then informed me it was her brother who owned the tea house. What a small world.

In talking to the owner's wife we found that they had run the Little Norway in Lake Almanor for 30 years with the wife's mother. Since her husband came from England they had always had tea. Anyway they had sold and retired and then wanted to go back into business. The idea for the business had arisen when the wife cleared out the furniture in her home one day and had a tea party for 40 women. It is a charming place and I am anxious to go there again when it is all decorated for Christmas. The house is only one block from where Maria and her family lived for a dozen years or so.

One of the magazines inside had some interesting facts about Victorian Days. For instance did you know there was a whole "language" in using the fan. There were 32 listed such as : The fan placed near the heart means "You have won my love". The half-opened fan pressed to the lips means "You may kiss me". Drawing the fan across the cheek means "I love you" while fanning slowly means "I am married" and fanning quickly means "I am engaged". And twirling the fan in the left hand means "We are being watched". I just wonder if the men really understood the language and how did they learn it? No wonder they didn't have to do a lot of talking. Fascinating to say the least.

"You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby"

was a popular song in days past--and Maria was a very beautiful baby and is a very beautiful lady today on her birthday. Happy Birthday, Maria!

I remember well the day I went in for a check up. Since John had been a cesarean and Linda had come natural they were waiting "to see" what Maria would do.

Well, it appeared Maria had turned and was now in a breech position and labor had started. Two doctors conferred on "what to do"--let the labor proceed and hope for a peaceful delivery? or do a cesarean?

They finally decided a normal delivery was too risky, the inner sutures might tear, a risk to me as well as the baby. So another cesarean was performed and Dr. Rust commented on the unusual circumstances of each of my deliveries--"You are always a surprise," he said.

Well, Maria was the surprise. An angel till age 3 and then tantrums and such after James was born. I think since she came only 17 months after Linda she had too many bottles in the carriage and not enough cuddling but she turned into a most compassionate, caring, and creative Mom and friend and hopefully she has forgiven those early competitive years with her demanding siblings.

We love you Maria, you are a terrific, beautiful, and amazing person who we all love to imitate, read everything you write, and listen to your interesting tales of the life of a working Mom, a determined college student, a computer expert and a writer 'extraordinaire'.

Last Bud of Summer

This poor little rosebud has been like this since I came back from San Diego over three months ago. It is below 30 degrees at night--and though it is up in the 60's-70's in the daytime, it will never be warm enough till spring for this little bud to bloom and yet it looks so promising--there must be a message here. "Unfulfilled wishes?" "Frozen in time?" "Stilted growth?" "Never grew up?" You name it. When will it finally give up????

Bandido

I heard on the TV today that people and pets become very much alike in personality, so I have been thinking about what is similar with Bandido and I. It has been 11 years we have been together. For the most part he is much more patient than I am but when he feels neglected he really lets me know. If I forget to let him in from the cold, he really scolds me. If I haven't put his food out yet, he complains. Yes, I guess that is like me, I want what I want when I want it. For the most part though I think we are both pretty mellow. And we are both walking slower, taking more naps and I think we kind of look alike, don't you?

I read once that Lhasa Apsa dogs were watch dogs for the monks. And he is certainly that (he is part Lhasa and part Maltese). If I get up in the middle of the night and come to the computer, he gets himself up and comes and lays beside me till I am done. If he is outside and I am in the kitchen, he keeps a watchful eye through the patio door to see what I am doing. He waits beside the door of the room I am cleaning ready to follow me to the next room. The other night when I let a pot of veggies burn he barked and barked and would not leave the kitchen till I came and took care of it.

And, of course, there was the "Bandido to the Rescue" story I like to share with the granchildren. Camber's big dog had stolen the prettily dressed teddybear off my bed and was in the midst of tearing it apart on the patio off my bedroom. I screamed and went after the dog and Bandido immediately ran out and began retrieving the pieces of teddy bear and her clothing and running them in and dropping them in the bedroom and then going out for more until all the pieces were safe inside again. So smart.

Whether we are alike or not, he is surely a great companion and friend. It is amazing how he can sense my moods and be so sympathetic and concerned. And I swear he can understand exactly what I tell him.

Years earlier Camber dressed him up as a surfer and took this picture.  Such a darling puppy.

Dreams

I hate to go to sleep lately, the old nightmares of post Richard's death have returned. When I first starting having them Maria bought me "The Dream Catcher" so I could record my dreams and then analyze them. The dreams varied with time and place and people but were always variations of not being able to find my clothes, my purse, my car, my home or my way to wherever I was going. Not hard to analyze those kind of dreams but you wake up so exhausted. Usually I was alone in my dreams with strangers around me but sometimes I would converse with friends I hadn't seen for years and then they would disappear. One time my sisters were all dressed up ready to go somewhere and I couldn't find my clothes to get dressed so they finally left me. One time I had Lea in one hand and Jacob in the other and I was racing around with them trying to get somewhere? on time but never reaching our destination. Occasionally I would have what the Dream Catcher called "wish fulfillment dreams" but mostly they were dreams searching, searching through rain, up hills, through buildings, asking people I saw, always searching for something I had lost or just being lost...