The Ciel Show

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Monday, December 21, 2015

Chicago for a moment

This morning around 11:30 Charlie flew out of here to Washington DC via Chicago, where a 6 hour layover is almost long enough to say he's actually been to Chicago. It has been several years since he's visited his sister and her family in Maryland, and I have no doubt they will all have a grand time! I'm really pleased that it all worked out this year. While he's away, Davy is here in my side of the house. We will have a quiet Christmas together. When he is missing Charlie, he'll be planted at... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Mom and Yorkshire Pudding

It was one of those things she wanted to make. It's an English staple with roast beef, an eggy batter dropped into the super-hot drippings off the roasted beef, it erupts into a great thing like a popover, but savory rather than sweet, and deliciously greasy! She practiced it for about 4 or 5 weekends, using us as her test-tasters. Delicious roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, every Sunday until she believed she had it down. But she had never had 'the real thing,' so when some family friends... Sign in to see full entry.

Christmas menu

The frozen poultry section at Whole Foods drew me in with duck and goose and Cornish game hens, but here was a first: pheasant! There was a world imagined by CJ Cherryh where the most conservative social class disdained all farmed meats, considering it only proper to eat hunted meat. The idea was that it was repulsive to breed animals solely to be eaten, that it was heartless and unnatural. I thought of that recently in a conversation about vegans, vegetarians, and the moral/ethical... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, December 18, 2015

Expectations... Disappointments... Problem-solving...

The trouble with having expectations in your head, especially unconsidered ones, is that disappointment keeps you from seeing the actual qualities of a thing, for a while at least. Now the new electric fireplace is set up and glowing, flickering, filling a corner of the room, and I'm trying to appreciated the look of the 'fire' which is not quite as realistic as I thought it would be. But maybe it isn't as bad as initial disappointment made it last night. I'll give it a few days, maybe look... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

What a find!

I treated myself to a pedicure today--the whole shebang with massages and oils and all! The technician was excellent and the chair had a really good built-in massager! I'll go back to that one again! Feeling quite light on my feet, I went next door to the thrift store because it was there, and found a few odd bits of this and that, and then... the thing! One of those items I always have an eye open for: a lovely hooded cloak in dark green wool and with some nordic style pewter fasteners, and in... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

There may or may not be a party tonight.

I've invited a few people over this evening for a Yule gathering, and what with the weather being very cold, snow on the ground but streets reasonably clear (because the wind has blown a lot of the snow away) and 4 acceptances sent... I have to go out today and get food for it. I waited all day yesterday for a delivery half of which arrived last night around 7 or 8, and now am waiting to hear back from Sears about what happened to the second piece of the delivery, and when to expect it. The... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Looked sad for Charlie

as he had not heard back from The Wild Hunt project. So he sent the woman whom he'd met first, saying even though it turned out they couldn't use him this time, he'd be watching for other opportunities: "You haven't see the last of me!" He got a response almost immediately... paraphrasing... You mean you haven't heard from Bill yet? He particularly mentioned that he wanted to make use of your skills--I gave him your number... How would you like to assist with puppets, props, and masks? He's been... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Not my house.

I told myself every five minutes that the house was not likely to meet the expectations of the photos--wide-angled and thus skewed so the rooms and yard looked bigger than they are. In fact, that was the case, but not the deal-killer. The house is on a fast 4 lane road, and there is no street parking. None, not even a little! The driveway is short and would only accomodate one vehicle. So much for parties. And that was the deciding issue. We keep on looking. Sign in to see full entry.

More about Mom

Mom was embarrassed, maybe even ashamed that she never quite got the degree in Biology that she studied for, at the University of California, Berkely. I remember she mentioned it once, that she'd come within 3 credits of that degree before having to leave school to raise her baby daughter, Julie, after her husband's death. In fact, if her father--a high profile Washington, DC attorney--had not died when she was finishing high school, she wouldn't have gotten that far because he didn't believe in... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Many busy days...

Furniture has been shifting to make room for Christmas... and again, to make room for a nice electric fireplace to fit into a certain corner, necessitating clearing out a long low shelf and the hutch that sits on it, then moving the tv and its table out of the way... and those two items wound up right where the fireplace will go when it gets here next Tuesday. By then the tv will have shifted to the garage. I found a likely listing today for a house. It occured to me, a lot of money goes away... Sign in to see full entry.

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