Last Week of the Year

I extended my quiet Christmas into Monday. I feel like I've been running ever since. Jeff had two doctors' appointments and two physical therapy appointments. I had a doctor's appointment and took care of the NCNC Birds of Prey twice. On Tuesday one of the aviaries was locked from the inside, the Visitors Center was closed, and the staff was off. Luckily, I managed to find a key so I could care for Jasper. I also had my normal chores and errands, and Jace walks. 

I realize that I've been resisting writing, blogging, and working out for the past few weeks. Julia Cameron (The Artist's Way) writes, "Resistance always has meaning." I need to figure out my meaning. It's beyond being busy or preoccupied. 

I had a skin cancer removed about two weeks ago. I returned to the dermatologist yesterday so the surgeon could remove tissue around the margins. I'm not supposed to lift weights for two weeks. I had planned to hit the gym today and (maybe) tomorrow. I'm bummed I only made it to the gym once this week. I had hoped to be on a roll to start the new year. 

Cooking a duck breast for dinner tonight. I'm not hungry at the moment--we had a late lunch at Sedona Tap House--but will start prepping after I take Jace for his late afternoon walk. We do have all night after all. It's another quiet New Year's Eve for us. I don't need the parties and the fuss. No pressure. 

A Cold and Quiet Christmas

As I wrote about Thanksgiving, we're trying to figure out new Christmas traditions too. Last night we had my brother for dinner of Beef wellington, fingerling potatoes, and green beans with scallions from Whole Foods. It was pricey, but delicious. We have enough for another dinner tomorrow night.

Yesterday morning was one of the few times a year that it's horrible to walk a dog: cold, wet, and damp. But it got better and warmer each time I went out. Temps will rise each day up to the fifties by the end of the week.

For the Rest of Us

Happy Festivus!

"Another piece of the puzzle falls in place." That was Elaine's response to learning about Festivus.

"Frank invented a holiday? He's so prolific." That was Kramer's response. Kramer is intrigued and Festivus is back.

There are so many other storylines in this episode. The title "The Strike" relates to Kramer and H&H Bagels. Elaine is trying to recover a card for a free sub from denim vest guy. She gave him the card with her standard fake number. The number belongs to an off-track betting place, that's been taking her calls for five years.

Jerry is dating a two-face: Gwen looks good in some places and ugly in others. The only place she looks consistently good is the back booth at the coffee shop. 

Meanwhile, to avoid giving Christmas gifts at the office, George fakes a charity called The Human Fund and hands out "a donation has been made in your name" cards to his co-workers. When his boss catches him, he claims he celebrates Festivus and doesn't want to be persecuted for his beliefs. "They drove my family of our Bayside, Sir."

The gang ends up at Festivus dinner with the Costanzas, including Gwen who thinks Jerry is cheating on her with Elaine, George's boss, and two bookies from the off-track betting place. 

Festivus is back.

A Photo Post with Jace

It's been hard to get good photos of Jace. Here are my best options.

Jace came to us with one toy--a stuffed hedgehog. Jeff later told me that he read on youtube that many other beagles have a hedgehog as a favorite toy. 

Here are two photos of Jace on Thanksgiving Day with a festive collar. Spike and Lola both hated these collars. They also resisted wearing a coat. Jace is fine with both. I wonder if he will tolerate booties.

Winter is Here

Today is the first full day of winter and most of the country is in a deep freeze. We are reprieved for two days. Tomorrow temps will reach the low fifties but with a windy rain. Then temperatures plummet. I hope things don't ice over. Jace needs his walks. 

I love that daylight will increase daily, although it will apparently take a few weeks before it's noticeable. Winter is my least favorite season. I am trying to think of good winter things, but I'm not feeling it right now. I need to get through the next three months. I need to be positive.

A Photo Post Featuring Jasper

I've posted photos of the birds at New Canaan Nature Center. But I could never get a photo of Jasper--until recently. He liked to hide in his "house" in his aviary.

Here he's out of the cage to go for a walk. 

This photo marks one of the few times I saw Jasper out of his house. I guess he was hungry that morning.

Jasper is one of the few birds at NCNC that is capable of full flight. He is at NCNC because he imprinted on a human and wouldn't survive in the wild. 

In sad news, Hedwig recently died. She had been living at NCNC for 21 years after her right wing was partially amputated.

Book 34: She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb

Another library book sale book. I had previously read a book by McCrumb, If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O. I liked it, so I bought this book. 

The "She" in the title is Katie Wyler who escaped capture by the Pawnees in the late 1779 to return home to the Tennessee mountains. Katie appears to locals such as Nora Bonesteel each fall.  Historian Jeremy Cobb is retracing Katie's route to help complete his dissertation on her. Also walking the hills is escaped convict Hiram "Harm" Sorley, another who is unable to return home. Harm is suffering from Korsakoff's syndrome--a type of brain damage--and he thinks it's 1967.

Other characters are Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and his deputies Joe and Martha, Hank the Yank--a local DJ who is obsessed with Harm, Sabrina--a young, frustrated mother, and Harm's former wife and daughter, Rita and Charlotte. 

McCrumb sews these stories together in a patchwork of life in Hamelin, Tennessee.

A Case of the Blahs

What my mother and I used to call the blahs were the times when we didn't feel good, but couldn't label just what was wrong. Something just wasn't right. 

I had the blahs for the past four days. It wasn't how I wanted to end last week. I felt just about normal yesterday morning, but wiped out by the afternoon. 

Last week wasn't a total waste. I got some shopping done. I got my haircut before my hairdresser left for Florida for the holidays. Jeff and I went out for lunch on Wednesday with two friends to celebrate one's birthday. On Thursday we heard from another friend who was visiting family in the area, and the three of us went out to dinner. I'm glad that I felt well enough for those get-togethers.

As for today, I'm going to take it slow. 

'Tis the Season

Last Tuesday I heard my first Christmas song on the radio: it was Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives. Last Wednesday I heard my first Christmas carol in a store. Last Friday, I saw my first Christmas tree tied to the roof of a car. The Christmas season is in full swing.

I enjoy checking out all the Christmas decorations as I walk with Jace. Inflatable decorations seem to be getting more popular. I don't care for them--I think they're kind of tacky--especially when manger scenes are placed next to Santa or reindeer or Mickey Mouse. On Magnolia Street, several houses have types of "light shows" with revolving snowflakes or dots. One has a strobe light effect. 

Many people seem to think that more is more with holiday lights. One house has every surface of trees and bushes draped in strings of lights. Another has a rainbow of colored lights. This is one of a few areas where I agree with my mother--simple white lights look the best. 

Last Friday I brought all our decorations up from our storage bin. I've been purging over the past few years. Currently, I have a special ornament box, about four or five rolls of wrapping paper, and one plastic storage box, and two small artificial trees (only brought one up.) Then I emptied the box to see what we have and think about where to place things.

Onto cleaning and decorating. 

Book 33: My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem

Full disclosure: I was about halfway through this book but put it aside when I got sucked into The Cabinet of Curiosities. That's not a knock on this book, which I enjoyed.

Steinem started her life on the road, courtesy of her father. The family spent most of the year traveling around the country, buying and selling antiques, farm tools, and other household items. Living in India for two years after college taught Steinem the pleasures of communal travel. The key to her growth as a writer, activist, feminist, and person was to talk with other people and especially listen. 

I liked Steinem's discussion of political campaigns, especially the 2008 Democratic race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. She was moving in her stories relating to Native American culture and history. I loved reading about the Spider Woman of the Southwest--who names things and brings them into being. Steinem believes spiders should be the totem of writers. "Both go into a space alone and spin out of their own bodies a reality that has never existed before." I can now say I want to be a spider woman.

TCM Movie Review: The Doorway to Hell

I recorded this film in September and kept it until I could watch it again, which I did this week. I love the Warner Brothers crime dramas. I was intrigued by this one because Lew Ayres was top-billed. I don't think of him as a gangster. Hearing his name, my first image of him is an Ned Seton in the film Holiday.  Based on IMDB comments, many people didn't see Ayres as a gangster way either, especially with James Cagney in the film as Ayres' right hand man. I think Ayres pulled off the part--he could be menacing.

The film opens with a running printing press. I've seen this in several movies. Usually the newspaper displays some important plot point. Here it lists the film's credits. In the first scene Monk asks for his violin case. Of course, it has a gun in it. I thought oh, this old trope. Then I realized it was a new trope because this film was made in 1930 before the Warner Brothers gangster classics: Little Caesar (1931) The Public Enemy (1931) and Scarface..

I like Cagney's threat to another mob member, "If you don't watch your step, you're gonna find a way to treat yourself to a handful of clouds." He means "the kind that comes out of the end of a 38 automatic."

Throughout the film, Cagney is carrying on an affair with Ayre's girl and later wife. Since this is a pre-code film, the affair is treated as a matter of fact with no moralizing. Nor is Ayres' wife played by Dorothy Mathews punished for her indiscretion. 

Robert Elliot as the police captain epitomizes the tough cop seen in several films over the years. Again, I had to remind myself that this may have been the first incarnation of such a character in 1930.

I was disappointed when I couldn't find a reference to this film in my book, Warner Brothers Presents. The Doorway to Hell deserves to be remembered.