Day After, Part 2

Here are a couple of photos that Abby took today:

The Day After

Well, here it is, the Morning After the Day Before. And it is snowing to beat the band!! I just checked our local TV station's weather page, and some places here in the Tidewater area are going to get 6-12". Already, there is 4" outside our door, and it is supposed to snow all day. As WAVY put it on their page, "This is the big one."

So that means that we are snowed in, and as you can gather from posts in my archive, this is my favorite thing to have happen. To be able to curl up with a book (laptop?), hot cocoa or International Foods coffee and watch the snow fall from a couch and warm blankets is nirvana.

We had a great day yesterday, and everyone was pleased with their gifts. I certainly am in love with my two new CDs. I love swing music, and one of the modern purveyors of Swing is the band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and Abby got me one of their albums.

Right now, I am listening to The Limeliters. They were a folk trio from the 50's & 60's, and were a favorite of my Mom's. Which meant, of course, that all of us Fisher kids grew up with Limiliter music. One of Mom's passions was music. She had the biggest collection of LPs that I can think of, what with Broadway and movie musical soundtracks, and other albums. One of her favorites was the Limeliters, so I grew up with their music as part of my personal soundtrack.

A few years ago, I found a Limeliters CD and have enjoyed it on my computer and on my iPod since then. And thanks to Amazon's Wish List function, I got a double collection, two classic Limeliter albums on one CD: Slightly Fabulous and Sing Out. I'm listening to it now, as I blog, and it is so delightful. Glenn Yarborough's high tenor vocals, the trio's musicianship, and Lout Gottlieb's uproarious patter make this CD an absolute delight!

I hope you get to enjoy this day after Christmas. It's going to be a good one for me.

Merry Christmas

Well, it's now after 11:00 and we've just finished opening our presents. Everyone is happy with their presents and we've gone about our different ways of enjoying the day. Irene, of course, is in the kitchen, preparing for Christmas dinner. We are having ham for Christmas, and Irene is glad. She's buzzing about wearing her new snood -- "Snood?", you ask. Yes, a snood. She told me over a month ago that she wanted one (Google it, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Abby is listening to her new Tom Waits CD, Orphans. Waits is her new passion, and this one is probably going to be a forever one, as Waits is like Bob Dylan - a less-than-passable singer who is a genius with lyrics. Plus he has the sense of humor that Dylan lacks. He can screw with your head so fast it will make your head swim.

Amelia is lost in her new jewelry-making book. She is becoming such a talented jewelry designer/maker and it is her future, I'm sure.

Me? I'm blogging, putting up with Tom Waits, and occasionally looking down at my left hand. My big present this year is that I am wearing my wedding ring again. We had it resized, and so I am able to wear my original wedding ring again.

A ring is given as "a token" of love in the wedding ceremony, and it is supposed to symbolize the eternity of love, a never-ending circle. But do you ever get the feeling that you don't deserve love? And, occasionally, I feel that I am not loved.

Not today. It's Christmas, and I am happy that God's love is manifested in the Incarnation of Jesus.

Merry Christmas to all my readers (you know who you aren't.)

I'm Back...

I realize that I come and go, on this blog. I'm sorry. I guess I am saying that to myself, as I know that I don't have any followers here.

I guess that the problem is that the world is too much with us, and we are too much in the world. Anyway, another Christmas is upon us, and I guess that in winter, I wax nostalgic and sentimental, and feel the need to post something here.

Updates:

1) I have retired!!! I am 61, with horribly advanced arthritis in my hip (so much so that I cannot stand for more than a minute or two at a time) and I could no long perform my job as a school librarian. I made it through the last year by the grace of God, the help of Abby and Amelia, and the tolerance of the administrators and teachers of John Tyler.

2) Nathaniel, our youngest son, joined the army in August, 2008, served a year in Afghanistan, is married, bought a truck, and is going to be stationed at Ft. Bragg, just a few hours from Suffolk.

3) Abby graduated from Paul D. Camp last year.

4) Amelia just finished her last class at Paul D. Camp this month, and should be getting her diploma soon.

5) Nathaniel is married, to a local girl named Heather, who is rapidly becoming part of the family.

6) We are Methodists. We joined the local congregation of the United Methodist Church (Main Street UMC, Suffolk) three years ago. We started attending Main Street 5 years ago, when we left Cornerstone, and it took a couple years of healing before we could join there (a whole 'nother story/post, trust me).

7) I've been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Irene has become my keeper, when it come to food.

Enough of that hooey. Water under the bridge, spilt milk, etc. What's my plan, going forward?

Who knows? I know what I told people I wanted to do when I retired, but so far, I've done little beside mope around, feeling sorry for myself and go swimming at the Y. Maybe I can find the boot in the butt that I need to get going.

Hopefully, I will be more consistent this coming year posting here. Lord knows, I've got the time, now.

Oh, Merry Christmas