Christmas 2014

The time off so far has been fun.  My sisters and BIL came to town for a few days.  We did a lot of tourist things and went to a bunch of local restaurants.  A good time was had.

One thing that disappointed me was the lack of hot air balloons.  I talk all the time about how we see balloons in the air all year 'round.  No such luck.  I guess all the balloonists were working at their day jobs in the days leading up to Christmas.  My younger sister did get lucky on Christmas Day.  She went out to get the newspaper and there one was at the end of the street.  She took a couple of photos (I don't have copies).  They left on Friday and wouldn't you know, one took off from the park out back this morning.

In looking at my last post, this appears to be the same balloon shown in my previous post.  I guess they're a balloonist that resides in this neighborhood who finds the park a convenient launching pad.

Today I added to my small amount of Christmas decorations.  While my sisters and BIL were in town, it occurred to me that putting Christmas tree balls in my cut glass bowls would be pretty.  I was at Target today and they had decorations on sale so, what the heck.

I think they look very festive.

Happy Holidays!
Papillon

Xmas in Colonial Williamsburg

At first I was worried I wouldn't be able to make it to Christmas this year.  For whatever reason, my sinuses went into overdrive late last week.  I felt fine through Wednesday and then felt progressively miserable on Thursday and Friday.  Lots of pressure and tightness.  I started taking OTC sinus medication and eventually started to feel better.  Not great but better.

I felt well enough to fly out on the 24th to Norfolk, VA.  I woke up to a shock on the 25th.  I had pink blotches all over my body.  I hadn't felt anything overnight, so I didn't REALLY think it was bedbugs, but I didn't know for sure.  Perhaps it was a reaction to the detergent the hotel used to wash their sheets and towels??  In any case, I looked like a Dalmation - just with pink spots instead of black.  I was only slightly itching so things weren't TOO bad.  I did notify the hotel and they said they would check things out.  (Note:  they did get a professional in who did confirm that there were NO bugs in my room.)

I went ahead and drove to Williamsburg.  It was a lovely drive with lots of scenery to be seen - including a stretch of first bridge and then tunnel, over and under the Chesapeake Bay.  I haven't seen that much water in one place in quite some time.

After getting to Williamsburg, my younger sister and I went to the local emergency room.  (Oddly, all the urgent care places were closed.)  Fortunately there were only a few people there.  None were hacking up lungs and nobody had any unfortunate gaping holes and oozing body fluids.  In slightly over an hour, I had been checked out and told I had a case of hives (and therefore NOT contagious, which the hotel wanted to make sure of).  The culprit was decided to be an OTC herbal supplement that was supposed to help ease my sinus pressure.  It did that, but one or more of the ingredients also cause the hives reaction.  On the plus side, I didn't have bedbugs!!!!

It was good getting together with my sisters and BIL.  Thanks to Pace for taking this photo!

Xmas day we had chilly but sunny weather.  The 26th it rained for most of the day.  Sure made it tough to hold the umbrella against the wind and take photos at the same time.  I changed clothes halfway through the day after the first set got wet.  The 27th was chilly but at least partly sunny.  Much easier to take photos!

I love these three little side-by-side houses.  They're so cute!

Here's a colonial reenactor.  He really seemed to get into his role.  It was a hoot watching him in action.  Here he was in the process of teaching some young men how to bow to the ladies and the ladies how to curtsy in response. 

Here are some decorations.  (In colonial times, they decorated inside the houses but not outside.  These are technically not historically accuate.)  Because we now like to see outside decorations, they do this to make the tourists happy.  All materials are 100% natural materials.  (The guide said the squirrels love this 'buffet' of food.)

These are a couple more reenactors.  You can tell it's a chilly day.

I don't remember which, but this reenactor told one of my sisters that he's worked at Colonial Williamsburg for something like 30+ years.  He was working on a rabbit stew - in an open pot over an open fire.  Later he was going to make cabbage cakes.  (He said these are sort of like potato cakes except using cabbage.)  His wife works down the street at the apothecary's office.  (I asked if she had anything for my hives.  She recommended calamine lotion.)

I am glad we decided to do this.  We had a yummy dinner on Xmas night at the hotel.  On the 26th we went to the Trellis restaurant.  I had the pork loin.  OMG - that was some yummy meat!   It makes my taste buds smile just thinking about it!

There were a few hiccups along the way.  Hives, followed by being out and about on a rainy day that would have had New Mexicans building arks.  But - according to G.K. Chesterton, an inconvenience rightly considered is an adventure.  We definitely had an adventure.  (And the hotel staff at the Williamsburg Lodge felt so sorry for my Dalmation-spotted self, they upgraded my room.  It was lovely!)  When the sun finally came out late in the afternoon on the 26th, there was a gorgeous rainbow to be seen from my window.

I hope all of you had a great Xmas as well.
Papillon

Christmas trip

For Christmas, my sisters, brother-in-law and I all met up in San Angelo to spend time with my mom.  As mentioned in my Thanksgiving post, the drive for me is long and, at times, rather boring.

The trip to San Angelo was rather unusual this time.  I called ahead and checked on the condition of the roads.  The recording said they were fine.  The recording did not mention the foggy conditions that were pretty much in place until I got to Roswell, NM.  Sometimes you could see several hundred yards to a mile.  That's unusual for the country I was driving through where you can normally see for several miles in all directions.  In Lincoln County, NM the fog was especially heavy.  Not much fun to drive in.  Here's a picture of when conditions were foggy but not too bad.

Normally you could see for at least 5 to 10 miles -- at least.

All the fog plus temperatures around freezing put a frost on the vegetation.  Just north of Vaughn, NM, I spotted a couple of trees.  I pulled over to take a photo.  When I rolled down my car window, it sounded like there was a light rain.  It turns out I had stopped about the time that the temps got just above freezing and it was the sound of frost sliding off branches and plopping on the ground.  Here's one of the trees.

Just north of Vaughn is a very small town called Encino.  Here's a sad little house.  I always wonder what it's history was and why it looks like this now.

On the trip to San Angelo I was very glad I had finished all my shopping.  One of the towns I went through was LaMesa, TX and the strip center with WalMart was PACKED.  Ditto in Big Spring, TX.

Between LaMesa and Big Spring I almost ran off the road when I spotted what I thought was a full-grown, real, live reindeer.  I checked again on the way home and decided (due to the other animals in the pasture) that it was probably an elk instead.  I think the ranch it was located on hosts hunters for a living.

Christmas was nice and so was the drive home.  It was sunny and windy and a bit chilly.  As I got to Brownfield I noticed several long ribbons of geese headed in an easterly direction.  Not sure why and where they were going, but they were pretty to look at.  Also spotted on the drive home was a solitary hawk perched in the only tree for several miles.

It's good to be home.

Papillon

Make It Stop

I suddenly like political ads better than Christmas ads.  Why?  Because the day after the election, the political ads stop.

Apparently this is no longer true of either Christmas ads or Christmas music.  After having both start up before Thanksgiving, it looks like folks are trying to wring every last bit of sentiment out of them.  Especially annoying is the incessant Christmas music.  Yesterday I was hoping area merchants were just letting the music linger through the weekend.

Then I was in a local restaurant today and what do my ears behold?  More Christmas music.  Fortunately the restaurant was a bit noisy and I could tune most of it out.

All I can say is - make it STOP!
Papillon