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adventures / iPhone / Monday / photo — Comments Off on Travel day
31
Dec 12

Travel day

Up and at ’em and at ’em and at ’em. Finished the packing, had a brunch with my father-in-law at a local diner. Packed up the car and he took us to the airport. They put on a wonderful Christmas, my in-laws.

Shame about the traveling though. This trip started with a four hour drive. Figure in the time from the parking spot to the airport, the airport wait, the two hours in the plane and then the 45 minutes or so to their home and you have an entire day of travel. On the other hand, a full day of travel means moving something like nine degrees to the north. It snowed on me there.

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The downside to a lovely visit, though, is the return trip. So we packed our bags with all of our things and Christmas plunder — Santa was far too good, as I was not — and then went through the tiny local airport, onto the windy tarmac and into the tiny plane.

We landed in Atlanta, the plane took off late but landed more or less on time. Caught the shuttle to the car and saw this:

hula

And that’s what happens when you move nine degrees south in latitude.

Tonight we had barbecue and celebrated the new year with friends. One of them used the word “bifurcated” in a conversation about 1980s music — you can tell he’s in a doctoral program. Another discussed the capabilities of his kevlar vest. He works with the ABI. The fire chief stopped by, because he is a friend of the host. One woman pronounced every song her favorite. Another guy, a financier, managed the impossible task of being in three different conversations in two different physical locations of the party.

Most of that was before the counting down and the silly string and noisemakers.

We all decided that it was beyond time for 2012 to be gone. In that boundless optimism that comes along when you’re through with one year some resolved that 2013 can only be better.

It started out with momentum, after all. We laughed at Mayans and watched the Senate, kicking and screaming, doing something resembling their job. At a party full of blue collar and white collar people, it was good to see people who still work hard, believe in themselves and what they do. That’s what a new year’s optimism is all about, belief in one’s self.

Good to have when you’re going around the sun.

photo / weekend — Comments Off on Catching up
30
Dec 12

Catching up

The weekly post of extra pictures. And, so, with no delay:

After our week of ornaments I forgot waited this long to share the newest piece to our tree, found in a trendy little garden shop in Savannah. Turns out we used that same place for our wedding flowers. Small world, nice ornament:

starfish

I saw this before Christmas, but have been hanging on to it because it looks like Santa just grabbed what he could and is abandoning everything else. “Ho, ho, see ya suckers!”

Santa

Saw this in Florence, Ala. No one can quite put their finger on what this company does. And every picture you can take of the place refuses to fall into right angles:

abstract

My lovely grandmother made a chocolate cake. She is an excellent baker. I had two pieces. (One was little.) She’s such a sweet lady:

grandmother

Ms. Annette, here, at the airport, helped me find a sandwich. Or, actually, a sammich, which we both agreed was necessary after I established I was hongry. I had a ham and swiss. It wasn’t bad. Ms. Annette was a nice lady:

Annette

My in-laws. They had a white Christmas. And two other snowfalls while I was there. Thankfully they were all small. Usually they are in a heatwave when I am up to visit, so probably it should have been six-below with 18 inches of powder or something.

snow

adventures / family / history / iPhone / photo / video / weekend — Comments Off on Our last Christmas party
29
Dec 12

Our last Christmas party

You’ll pardon the fuzzy nature of this photo.

BobClem

That’s my father-in-law and his best friend. “Friends for 60 years!” they said today. They are each the godfather to the other’s kid(s). Bob and Clem’s wives went to nursing school together. Between the two families they had three daughters, and they essentially grew up together. This is about as close to family as you can get without the DNA, which just makes it better, really, because you’re choosing all of those people in your life.

And so it is fitting that this is the last Christmas party of the season. But it was the “Friends for 60 years!” comment that you really like. Especially if you are an in-law, as I am. They all have so many wonderful stories together, two generations and so many decades, and they are all fun to hear.

Then someone goes to the back and pulls out this photograph, because somewhere along the way they discussed it and realized that no one but Bob had ever seen Clem’s upper lip:

Clem

That was a photo he’d rescued from his father’s house, one of those thousands of items salvaged from the millions and millions of memories lost because of Hurricane Sandy. We heard Sandy stories, we had homemade lasagna that you wouldn’t believe. We unwrapped presents. We watched the two little kids play. They are the only two kids I’ve met my entire laugh that don’t want to play with me.

That’s OK. I played with their trains, invented a game (that they loved) and made a video:

And I had Sammi, the love dog:

Sammi

Can’t beat that for late Christmas fun.

Now bring on the spring.

adventures / Friday / iPhone / movies / photo / Twitter / video — Comments Off on Look down, look down
28
Dec 12

Look down, look down

Seen alone or with a friend, knowing the story or completely new to it, as a moviegoer or — as I did — with Broadway purists, Les Mis is good.

Russell Crowe, as Javert, is the weakest part of the performance. And he was reasonably acceptable.

The best part was this: Colm Wilkinson, the original Jean Valjean, plays the Bishop of Digne. It is a great part, and so obvious and well done, and everything is in good hands throughout.

This is pretty incredible, too:

Typically, the soundtrack for a movie musical is recorded several months in advance and the actors mime to playback during filming. However, on this film, every single song was recorded live on set to capture the spontaneity of the performances.

Saw that this evening. Beforehand I got a shave. The professional kind. The someone-else-has-sharp-implements-aimed-at-your-face kind.

This was a unique Christmas gift my father-in-law and I received. He made the appointment, we went down to the salon this morning and saw this sign:

Barber pole

I knew about this association of barbers and blood letting, but this was a good time to be reminded. Especially so soon after my fall haircut experience where my local barber almost took off my ear. It clearly got to him. He got me out of his chair quickly, without finishing the haircut, which was why I had a great feathered look for a few days as my hair got to a certain length.

Alas, there would be no hair cutting today, just face shaving. And this is how they do it, as my father-in-law went first, I could watch with detached cool from the sofa in front of SportsCenter.

She only missed one spot. Also better than I do.

Have you had a professional shave? The next time you have a big event coming up you should consider it.

photo / Thursday — Comments Off on The world from a window
27
Dec 12

The world from a window

I coughed a bit Sunday morning. Just the throat-clearing kind. By Sunday evening it had progressed into something a bit more persistent. At dinner my sinuses announced their plans to disprove of everything.

On Monday I popped a low fever and fought it off. I spent most of the day in bed, alternating between tired and weary. I ate, but those were my only adventures. My fever broke. My fever returned over night.

By Tuesday the fever disappeared for good, and I’d been under two full days of sinus and cold pills, chased with Nyquil. Nyquil doesn’t hit me like it hits you. I take it during the day and wait for something to happen. Nothing ever does. But the medicine helps.

The cough comes and goes. My ability to breathe comes and goes. I’d prefer almost any other mild illness over the inability to breathe, so this is never fun.

By yesterday I was in a better place, no longer happy to have all of these many medications, but considering them a chore. I’m getting better!

Today, just the sniffles and the cough, but I can breathe about 75 percent of the time. So this is all received very well.

window

I spent the afternoon watching the sun move across the sky from this view. I was smelling — smelling! — a homemade chicken soup being slow cooked on the stove.

When it heals me tonight we’ll talk about the miracle cure.

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