Advent: The Time of Preparation

Well its December 16th - Just 10 days before the Feast of the Nativity according to the New Gregorian Calendar. I finished my cards for my new calendar friends. Wrote a note in each card this year rather than do a letter-for-all. It was a very pleasant evening activity during Advent - I'd play Christmas music of one kind or another and write little notes to my friends. With a fountain pen of course. And green ink. I've also gotten the presents I need to mail wrapped, packed and ready to go. With a card and note in each. Written with a fountain pen. And green ink.

I did have to take down my little Hello Kitty Christmas tree - Skiddy and Pippen kept attacking the tree. Not the Hello Kitty figures mind you, but the tree. Tackled it, pounced on it, biffed it. I have no idea why they found it so in need of punishment. All 30 of my Hello Kitty figures are fine and none the worse for wear but I clearly need a cat free area for the tree. The tree is fine also and in protective custody.

Else I finished loading all my Christmas CD's onto my iPod. Then I went to Panera bread and spent an afternoon near their gas fire updating various programs on my laptop. So now the AGV, iPod, iTunes and WinXP are all up to date. I really should do this monthly instead of quarterly. I was there for 3 hours and didn't even get to checking for updates for my other apps. Also got all the routine chores done at the house so I'm ready to work on crafts and just enjoy the rest of the Holiday season. December is really a most excellent month.

Let It Snow - Let it Snow - Let it Snow

This is the scene that greeted me when I got up Saturday morning. Not much changed all day. Once it got dark the wet slushy snow turned to frozen crusty icy snow. Very unpleasant. Concerts were canceled, church services (including those at my parish) were canceled, and in general whatever was planned for Saturday evening didn't happen. The Malls even closed early. Not that this bothered me all that much. See I had planned to drive up and visit The Urchin Saturday evening through Sunday evening, but a change in The Urchin's Work Schedule necessitated a change in my visit schedule to Thursday evening through Friday evening. So The Urchin, D&D and I had a grand time. Urchin, Dolores and I went out to breakfast at the Amphora and then checked out the local pet supply store. Later on Urchin and I went out and got our hair styled. We even went to Tyson's Corner to check out the Holiday decorations, although that was a bit of a bust. Very sparse decorations, none of the wonderful displays in the concourse intersections that I remember at Tyson's in years past. I drove up and back on clear dry roads.

Of course we had to fuss over Urchin's kitten Wicket. He's gained half a pound in the last 2 weeks, which is very good. He has also learned how to wake up and immediately scamper at warp 9 all over everything in sight. In other words, he is a typical kitten with a corner on cuteness and a chainsaw purr.

He has also managed to wrap Don around his itty bitty paws. Mischief managed incarnate.

I did get out on Sunday, bought some Christmas cards and started in on them after dinner. May all my readers have a Wonderful Advent, a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a Joyous 12 Days of Christmas. Or if they prefer a Happy Chanukah or a Joyous Mid-Winter.

Advent Has Arrived !

Advent has arrived. This the season of harried shopping for many, free live musical concerts for some and joyous anticipation for we few, we happy few. I've been to UVA for 2 free concerts so far. Both were semester end presentations so they didn't feature seasonal music. They did feature baroque music so I was hardly disappointed at not hearing any carols. I've also worked with the horses on Tuesday, bought pet food, cleaned my kitchen, done the laundry, washed the dishes, finished scrubbing the kitchen walls, mailed 2 ebay sales, listed 3 more items on ebay, balanced my checkbook, sorted the Important Papers file, practiced some songs I'm working on learning and engaged in Buckskinner Stress Relief by throwing hawk & knife. Plus read some and slept. To top all that activity off I put up my kitchen Christmas Tree today. Yes friends, its decorated with battery powered mini LED lights and Hello Kitty figurines. Bunches of Hello Kitty figurines. Only the silver angel on top isn't a Hello Kitty item. So far the cats have ignored it. I also have an Advent calendar going. Urchin gave me a calendar of Church Saints (late 1400's through late 1700's western art) and it included an Advent Calendar. So everyday I get to open another little gold door and see if I can guess what Latin saint or feast it reveals. So far I've gotten 2 of 3 right. I've also learned that St. Sebastian is the patron of both upholsterers and policeman. Uh, right, go figure.

T-Bird Day Was Just Duckey

Got up Wednesday afternoon (I had worked Tues night, so I got home about 7 am Wednesday), it was a beautiful day, so I drove up to my Urchin's Digs earlier than I had planned for T-Bird Day. The traffic was light and it was one of those crystal clear early winter days. My part of the feed was veggies and wild rice. The Urchin provided the duck, mashed potatoes, gravy and sparkling cranberry juice.
This is the Urchin with her new kitten Wicket. He's a rescue kitten who was bottle raised so he's small for his 10 weeks of age. He's got a chainsaw purr, very curious paws and an amazing jump. He's not allowed a run of the house yet, not until he gets bigger.

He gets fed every 4 hours right now so he can transition from being bottle fed to solid food only. Plus he needed surgery so Urchin has to monitor him closely while he's healing.

This is D&D's older cat CC. Stands for Cuddle Cat. And she is.

This is D&D's younger cat Tabitha.   Tabitha has decided her job in life is to supervise the household from this chair.

So I didn't get much routine cleaning done or any project work done. Found the Round Tu-it for spending shinning times with my Urchin and D&D. The cleaning and projects Tu-it will just have to wait until Monday. Hope all ya all had a good T-Bird Day. Oh, and Happy 82nd Birthday to Ted Gewirtz ! Sorry I have to work tonight and can't come to the party.

Farewell Fall - Welcome Winter

Its official. As of Friday November the 20th it is Winter. There were no crickets or other critters singing in my yard on that night, thus Winter has begun. A quiet enough beginning, perhaps it maybe that we're in for a quiet winter. That would be nice - a quiet and not too cold winter.

When I got home from work Friday morning my friend Gypsy Jane was here. She had worked nearby Thursday and we had arranged for her to visit Friday. The day was bright but very chilly and damp, the damp at least was a product of the recent heavy rains. So we spent the afternoon changing strings on various instruments. Note to Self: Self, when next you buy dulcimer strings get the kind with little brass thingies on the ends. Putting loop end dulcimer strings on is way more work than its worth. Anyway, once Jane and I had banjo, guitar, 12 string guitar, bass and dulcimer strings on their respective instruments we of course had to play said instruments. After we had a dinner break that is. A good time was had by all.

Pippen and Skiddy Help Play Music

Saturday Jane and I tackled going through more boxes of books, sorting them into keep, give to the church library and sell piles. So all the book boxes I've located to date have been sorted once. I had already finished sorting through the all my clothes, cleaned what I wasn't keeping and then took the surplus items to the local Thrift Shop. The old Nokia cell phones and their accessories have also been donated to a recycling facility. Its looking more and more like a home here and less and less like a 4 room storage facility with bath and kitchen. Jane left for places south in the early afternoon and I finished up house chores. Then I settled down for a good read with one of the recently found keeper books.

Sunday I was off to Liturgy at church. I caught up on prayer and parish news alike, picked up the jacket I had left behind and found the shelf for the refrigerator that hadn't made it into the fridge before it came home with me. It was a very good day, but sunset came all too early ! Oh well, 2 days of work and then Thanksgiving with the Urchin !! WooHoo !!

Fall's Little Gifts

Fall is a very conflicted season. One day is all big poofy cotton ball clouds with blue skies so intense they crackle and a warm breeze full of bird song. The next day its cold hard rain with s slate gray sky and a cutting wind stolen from the straits of Mackinac. Last Saturday was one of the poofy cloud days light wind days, which means it was also a perfect day for ballooning. There are over half a dozen of balloons available for hire locally plus at least twice as many more used solely for their owners' personal pleasure. Its not at all unusual to see 6 to 8 ballons at once in various parts of the sky here. This particular balloon is about to land and ts chase truck was parked right across the street from were this was taken. It landed in the field just over the trees on the left of the picture.



The Fall Hunt Season is another sight & sound common to this area. I've heard a hunt before but never actually seen one let alone been able to photograph one before. This was was winding up one evening down in Culpeper county. About half the riders and a third of the hounds have walked past me and gone over a river to a farm pickup spot. This group was shortly joined by 2 more riders and another hound. Then they too crossed the road and were last seem heading towards a barn complex.

Of course its also hunting season alone the eastern side of the Blue Ridge. Archery season opened in early October, muzzleloading season in the beginning of November and general firearms season will open in mid November. This fine fellow doesn't seem all that concerned as he strolls around a field about 4 miles from my house.

The last 2 days have been very gray, very wet, very windy and very chill. I did the sensible thing - washed floors, vacuumed, polished all my shoes, cleaned out the hall and yellow bedroom closets, did the laundry, did the dishes, updated my blog, spackled and in short removed things from my Round-Tuit list. As a reward to self I then spent Thursday evening making music with my friend Jane. A very nice end to an otherwise dreary late fall day.

Fall Thoughts

This is one of my favorite spots to just go sit, watch the wildlife & think.

The trees in my woods have lost almost all their leaves, the understory plants are but dry stalks, and the crickets still sing of an evening but with less enthusiasm. I have redone the tomahawk stump pile & the firewood pile, putting landscape timbers under both so the bottom layer is held off the ground. All the wood I've cut up so far is now stacked back by my fire ring. The kitchen wall cleaning is almost done & I've started spackling the walls so I can paint them. My clothes closet has been gone through & everything that doesn't fit well is cleaned & ready to go to the local thrift store. The old cell phones & their accessories (the ones Urchin & I had when she was in college) have had their contact numbers erased & are ready to be recycled.

Friday last I was able to meet the Urchin for dinner at a grocery store food court. We had a great time, talked of this & that, pretty much just enjoyed each others company. I hope we can do that a bit more often. Saturday I puttered around the house a bit & then went to the Ivy Creek Natural Area for a walk in the woods. Sunday found me at the IWLL shooting range with my friend Jane. I finally got around to firing the .45 flintlock pistol my dad gave me back in 2000. It shoots nicely but I do need to spend some time working out its optimum target load. Monday I worked on the house & yard some more, then took a nice ride over Snickers Gap to enjoy the fall vistas. I also picked up pet & bird food. The chickadees, tufted titmice & wrens are quite happy about the birdseed part. Today I've done more routine cleaning while loading blog pictures. And so it goes.