Getting Stuff Together

Bridget asked where I got the cat Nativity.  Actually, it was the Bradford Exchange  You know, the ads that you pay a smidgen of attention to until something really grabs your attention?  One of those.  It came to me one piece at a time, which was oddly satisfying.

On the subject of Nativities, I found the pieces of one in the pets' stockings, where it was stowed as I cleaned up after last Christmas.  Did any of you ever play Pick-Up Sticks?  That's what this reminded me of when the pieces tumbled out: Pick-Up Creche:

All my various congestions have begun breaking up, and I feel better.  Lots and lots of throat-clearing going on, though.  And, right on cue, the weather turns cold and rainy, so sinus headaches are setting in.  It really is always something, isn't it?

Not a whole lot of knitting going on, as I've got a couple of holiday embroidery gifts to get done.  I may have my actual shopping done, though that may change if one or more of my children add to their Christmas lists.  One of them has a history of last-minute add-ons. I shan't reveal which one.

Are there enough hyphenates in the post? 

Scenes

I'm not doing much Christmas decorating this year, as we'll --- hopefully --- celebrate at Hannah's.  I have, though, set out my new Nativity scene:

 

It's so cute that the Wise Men brought yarn, a mouse, and some fish.

I've hung my horse head "wreath" on the front door, and wreaths around the light fixtures on either side of the front door.  I've got some Santa spindle-like things that I'll hang somewhere.  That's gonna be it, unless I get just super motivated.

Today, I'm knitting and watching football.  And sneezing and coughing and blowing my nose and dealing with the just-added sore throat.

Holiday

Maybe what Hannah and I were feeling "off" about was this head cold of mine.  I wouldn't have wanted to be around them with this anyway.  Hopefully, we'll be together on Christmas.  As for today:

Three hours live.  I spent a lot of time sneezing and coughing and blowing my nose, but it was fun.  And note Hannah's new "little" guy.  He's as yet unnamed.  Stay tuned.

Cold and Catching

 I've been trying to keep a head cold at bay for a couple of days now, mostly successfully.  You know that fuzzy kind of feeling you get?  That;  wanting to stay settled in on the couch underneath comfy covers.  Hard to breathe, sneezy, blowing my nose to the point of drawing blood, ears stopped up--- you know the drill.

Tap still needs to be walked, of course, and on one of our outings yesterday, look what we came across:

How that feather came to rest perfectly shaft-down, I don't know.  But it sure was easy to spot and collect.

Quickly

Today's BYOB prompt:

The title of a doctoral thesis.

Funny Bits of Latin Doggerel

From Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game.

A Tree

Tap and I went for a walk in a park the other day, and I saw this.  It turns out I love isolated standing old trees the same way I love isolated standing old fireplaces/chimneys.

We've decided not to get together next week for Thanksgiving.  Hannah and I were both unsettled about it.  We both felt something "wasn't right."  We may do a video call instead.  Briton seems a bit upset about the cancellation, but we would all rather wait and have Christmas together rather than Thanksgiving, which has never really been a grand occasion for us.  When Dale was alive, he and I might cook more than usual for a meal (he made a mean pecan pie), but that was about it. 

In Bring Your Own Book prompts:

Overheard at the zoo:

"Get me out of here!"*

*From Deep Down Dark

Reading, Writing, Random Lists

Kathy has asked if my list of boat names is of ones I've made up;  it is.  I have a running list of Boat Names, a running list of names I've made up for colors (yarn and/or nail polish), a running list of names I've made up for old British pubs, and a running list of My Favorite Words (not ones I've made up --- actual ones.)  Lists like that are fun for me.  Truth be told, I get as much happiness from the physical act of writing things down than actually concocting a list.  I love to move a pen across paper.

Turning now to ink that has already been put to paper, today's BYOB prompt:

The title of a mystery novel

My answer, again from Deep Down Dark:

"It's Not in My Hands"

I Won't Have a Boat

I will never own a boat.  I have no interest in one generally, and specifically, as someone who cannot swim, they offer no promise of fun. I am, though, a person who keeps a list of potential boat names.  (Weird.  Yes, I know.)  But on to today's Bring Your Own Book prompt:

The name of a battleship.

Me, again from Jon Meacham's His Truth is Marching On,

"Canaan's Edge." 

Order

Briton and Hannah both want us to all have Thanksgiving together.  Briton says he hasn't heard Hannah's voice since last Christmas.  (They both prefer communicating via text.)  I'm not really comfortable with the idea right now, though.  There will only be the three of us, and there's plenty of space in Hannah's apartment for us to stay 6-to-10 feet apart.  I'd prefer Christmas to Thanksgiving but will roll all this over in my mind for a few days.  Interestingly, they both asked for green bean casserole for the meal.  Only that.  

Is there a family that doesn't have green bean casserole on its Thanksgiving table?

Tonight: Something that might be seen on a sticky note in an office.

From Deep Down Dark by Hector Tobar: "Who taught you to do that?  That's wrong.  You're not supposed to do it that way."

Game On

I'm managing to find more things to pack away of late.  Not that I'm going anywhere imminently, but more as an exercise in cleaning out.  In so doing, I came across this game:

What you do is bring a book --- or books --- to the game.  Yes, cookbooks count and they can make excellent "game pieces."  There are playing cards that have prompts on them, and players are supposed to look through their book(s) and find a word or passage that matches up.  I'll provide the game's prompts, answer them myself, then hope that y'all will play along.  At the end of the week (each Sunday), I'll choose an entry at random and send a little trinket to the winner.  I'll try to post a prompt each day, and you can enter as often as you'd like.  Just please let us know the book you're quoting.

Today's prompt: A slogan for a bumper sticker.

My answer is from Jon Meacham's His Truth is Marching On, quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

"We will wear you down by our capacity to suffer." 

Qs

 Have you had to sneeze while wearing your mask?  On my walk with Tap this morning, I felt a sneeze coming on, and couldn't decide if I should pull the mask down or not.  Now, the two of us are all alone as far as you can see on the sidewalk, so it doesn't matter at all.*   Has this happened to you?

If you had to recommend a good movie to someone right now, what would it be?  I think I'd go "The Misfits," which I watched for the first time a couple of weeks ago.

Would you rather cook or bake?  I'm no cook at all, but I do get the itch to bake occasionally.  I'm still making lots of cobblers, the other day I made some cheddar apple bread (which was not as good as it sounds), and yesterday some banana bread using yellow cake mix.  It is delicious.

Are you wearing socks?  Mine have menorahs and Stars of David on them.  Happy Early Hanukkah.

Bridget suggests naming my Tree Friend Aloysius.  Make it so.

*I just sneezed into the thing.  It's washable, after all.

Watch This Space

It's about this time every night that I say to myself, "Is there anything to put on the blog today?"  Usually, the answer comes back a resounding "Uh-uh."  And so it did tonight.  But I might have something in the works.  MIGHT.  Stay tuned.

My Friend

 When I sit out on the back porch to read or talk on the phone, this is the tree that I see:

It's the fig tree I've talked about a lot, and if you look there toward the top, you see the face that always catches my attention.

Depending on the weather, it's either a surprised face or a happy face or a face with shrugging branches.  I really should give it a name, I suppose, having anthropomorphized it to this degree.

Days

Am I the only one who woke up this morning and didn't feel the need to check my phone first thing for any election developments?  Am I the only one who is breathing a little easier?  I realize there are potentially perilous days yet ahead, but today's been a day for a bit of mental rest.

Someone certainly flipped the "Let's Start Showing Christmas Commercials" switch this weekend.  I've been trying to come up with holiday plans for us this year, but haven't been able to land on anything yet.  What are you all thinking?   I've done a little bit of Christmas shopping already, even some wrapping!  There'll be no knitted gifts this year unless someone makes a specific request.  Are you doing gift crafting?

Done and Done and Done

 

Folks

Two pick-up trucks with big Trump / Pence flags attached to the back of the beds drove around and around and around the neighborhood, then up and down and up and down the main street beside my house today.  Not sure why --- just passing on what happened.

The network I'm watching election coverage on has a few anchors that I just can't with.  It also has guest commenters that I enjoy listening to, so the "Mute" button has been a good friend to me this week.

The couple of orders I've placed with Amazon during Quarantine have been delivered promptly, and by very friendly drivers.  This morning, the canned cat food I ordered (can't get it anywhere in town) was left on the front porch, and Tap heard the delivery man.  And Tap started barking.  And Tap kept barking.  And Tap kept barking even after the man and his van left.  And Tap moved into the front hall and barked in the space that goes all the way upstairs and echoes well.  It was too early for all that, so:

BFF Shari and dear, dear Bridget both live in Pennsylvania --- the former in Allentown, the latter and Philadelphia, so I'm thinking about them a lot each time those cities are mentioned in election coverage.

 

Still Waiting

Both Hannah and Briton have called me every day this week, and I can tell they're nervous about the election results.  Both of them are smart, and both of them have big squooshy hearts and know the very different paths this country would take dependent upon the winner, and they are concerned.

It's hard to help other people when you yourself are as stressed and anxious and taking your dog on multiple walks to stay away from media and eating too much (why did I buy ice cream and ice cream sandwiches?), but I've been trying.  

Breathe

What a trying, tense, sort of terrifying day.  And things aren't over.  So here's a picture of Briton with his friend's month-old baby to remind us that there's goodness and sweetness still out there.

Stay hopeful, y'all.  Do what you have to do to stay sane.  Help each other out.

 

Election Day

Tonight I will be stress-eating (I've already started, TBH.)  I will be stress-knitting.  I will be stress-everything-ing, frankly.   All my handwringing and pacing and taking Tap for walks, though, stopped cold when I got a phone call from my son. 

Today, out of an abundance of caution, the library made sure all its employees knew the active shooter protocols, in case they were needed in the next several days.  

What have people in this country become? 

Three I Wish

If you could suddenly have three skills or talents that you do not have now, what would they be?

Fluency in American Sign Language 

Playing the drums 

Painting