Ice Storm Photos from Hutchinson Kansas

We've got a major ice storm going on in Hutchinson, Kansas, where I live.

I wanted to share some photos with you, but it's difficult to move around town for any amount of time. There are trees and power lines across the roads in various places. As always, it's sporadic. Last night I had no power, but one street to the north they had power.



If you look in the foreground of this photo you can see the real problem - a power line just laying across the road. I was able to drive right up to it. I turned around instead of driving over it. The road was not blocked - there are so many things like this that officials just can't control it all. There just isn't enough manpower to do it.



Here's the problem in a nutshell. See how heavy the tree is? Now, look at the power line and notice it's bowed not only from the ice, but also because a branch is balancing on it. This is not good. It's on Sherman street in the Houston Whiteside area. Unfortunately for me, that's very close to my house so this probably doesn't bode well for me and my neighbors as far as power goes.



Here's another situation in another part of town. It becomes a guessing game - which will break first - the tree or the line.

That question has been answered in many places.

There are trees on roofs



On trucks...


in yards...



and across roads...



Many times you have to back up because the road is completely blocked.

I'm in my office and downtown has power - at least at the moment. I'm recharging all my rechargeable flashlights and the zune so I have a radio.

I still have no power at home, although I understand it was on for a couple of hours overnight. That would explain why I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortably warm I was when I woke up. Unless we get power soon, that will not be the case later today. I opened the drapes to let what little sunlight there is into the house. But, it's not really sunny - very overcast. It's 32 and supposed to go down to 20. If it would just warm up a couple of degrees or the sun would come out it would do wonders. But, they're saying we're getting another inch of ice tonight.

There are 11,000 people in Reno County without power. In a county that has only about 50,000 people that's a significant portion of the population. And that doesn't account for the rural electric, which estimates another 4,500 are without power. Hutchinson is the county seat of Reno County. Estimates are that 70,000 are without power across the state. Repeatedly I'm hearing that Hutchinson is one of the hardest hit areas - and it would seem that Reno County accounts for a large percentage of those without power.

Of course, you can't help but see the beauty in it, too. It would be easier for me to see the beauty if my house were warm.



Crews are out everywhere, but of course we're all impatient. They're not making any promises about when we can expect power. If it gets too bad, and my office continues to have power I can sleep here. There are two shelters, including one at Trinity United Methodist.

I will be leaving here soon to get something to eat. I don't want to open my fridge so am going to go out and get some food. I will continue to update from my phone when possible. Although I'm posting this to numerous places, I only post to the blog at www.patsyterrell.com from my phone so check there for the latest.

Tags: ice storm

Ice Storm Photo

Here's the problem in a nutshell. See how heavy the tree is? Now, look at the power line and notice it's bowed not only from the ice, but also because a branch is balancing on it. This is not good. It's on Sherman street in the Houston Whiteside area. Unfortunately for me, that's very close to my house so this probably doesn't bode well for me and my neighbors as far as power goes.

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Check the blog at www.patsyterrell.com for the latest. I can update it from my phone even when I don't have net access and power.

Ice Storm in Hutchinson Kansas

This is at the southwest corner of Severance and Third Street in Huthinson Kansas. It's about half a mile from my house.

I'm at my office where I have power. I will continue to update, but only to www.patsyterrell.com/blog.htm since I can post there from my phone. So, if you're reading this somewhere other than my page, check the blog at  www.patsyterrell.com for the latest. 

Ice storm and rain storm

I am back home. It's not miserably cold in my house but I'm going to want some heat in the next few hours.

it's still only rain. I think the weather forecasters have gotten over zealous once again.

But it's weird. There's ice on trees, lines, fences, etc. It's 32 degrees. It seems as it rains some of it is freezing onto coated surfaces and the rest is coming down rain.

We took pix but have no power to upload them. But it looks like I have power at my office so I will get pix online in a few hours. I'm going to sleep until daylight when I can see better.

There are huge chunks of trees in the streets and on people's lawns. The $400 I paid to have a big tree cut from beside my garage seems like money well spent right now.

Patsy
www.patsyterrell.com
(sent from mobile device)

Power crews are out working. As usual it's odd who has power and who doesn't. Houses on one side are dark and three doors down they have power. I would be mighty happy to go home and discover I had power but I didn't see any crews in my area. Pity.

Patsy
www.patsyterrell.com
(sent from mobile device)

Greg and I are out driving around. Lots of trees down. People just a few blocks away have power. The roads are just slushy but trees are coated with ice.

Patsy
www.patsyterrell.com
(sent from mobile device)

I can hear trees breaking and crashing and what I assume are transformers blowing. It's dark everywhere. The only other sounds are train whistles and the occasional vehicle.

Patsy
www.patsyterrell.com
(sent from mobile device)

Ice storm in Hutchinson Kansas

We are in the midst of an ice storm here in Hutchinson Kansas. I have no net access except on the phone. It's only raining so far but it's 32 degrees so it's freezing on the trees and power lines. My power has been off three times but it's on right now.

In the big storm of 2005 I never lost power so the fact that it has been off three times in the last three hours doesn't seem like good news. And it's flickering now.

I have the heat turned way up and the electric blanket on to keep things as warm as possible in the event the power goes. Doesn't it seem bizarre that something we're so dependent on is at the whims of the weather?

The cable company is rather laissez faire about the fact that people have no access to tv weather or the internet or phones for those who have their phone through cable. They said they'd get to it tomorrow.

Things look beautiful outside - if only it weren't for the threat of no heat.

Speaking of which... The power just went off again... And stayed off. I have 5 minutes of battery backup. Looks like I'm done for the night.
Patsy
www.patsyterrell.com
(sent from mobile device)

Bracing for an Ice Storm

This is the view of Main Street from my office. You can spot our new Christmas decorations on the light poles. They're wreaths with bells inside them. I took this a little after 5 today, but it was already twilight because of the rain. You can tell everything is wet. We're thankful for the rain at the moment, because rain is not sleet.



They're telling us it's going to be very nasty - sleet, snow, ice - a "wintry mix" as they love to euphemistically put it. The Governor has already declared all 105 counties disaster areas.

So far my power has been off once for about 45 minutes and it's flickering again. I'm not sure why this is, since there's just rain coming down. In the major ice storm of 2005 I never lost power. So, why it went off in the rain is a mystery. I find it very, very, very weird that at this point in our evolution as a society that we still have to worry about things like the power going off.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

I love everything about the holiday season. Strangers wish you a Merry Christmas, just driving to the grocery store means there are pretty lights to look at, you get cards from friends you don't hear from often, your house has pretty sparkly things in it, and, to top it off, there are presents! How can anyone not love it?

This, of course, is in addition to the religious significance of the holiday season for people of many different backgrounds. I'm already looking forward to Christmas Eve services.

When you think about it, isn't it really a lovely custom to drag a tree into our homes and stick baubles on it? When you think about the basics of what we're doing - bringing a tree into the house - it's somewhat astonishing. Of course, now they're plastic and metal and the baubles are electrified, but the basic idea of hauling in a tree is interesting. Bringing the outside in is no modern idea of home decor, obviously.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Questions People Ask Me at Christmas

Greg took this ornament photo the other night and I just love it. He's so darned handy to have around. Handy as a pocket on a shirt is the phrase, I believe... although Greg is far better than a pocket.

Each year people ask me lots of questions about Christmas. Some of them I expect - some surprise me.

1. How many lights are on the tree? more than 10,000

2. How many ornaments? I don't know. Greg estimates 2,000.

3. How long does it take to do the tree? I kept track this year and it took between 70 and 80 hours. I realize that's somewhat ridiculous, so I'm looking for ways to simplify it.

4. How many trees do you have? It varies every year. This year I have five in addition to the main tree. They are 2, 3 and 4 feet tall, with a taller one in the kitchen that's one of those tall, skinny ones.

5. Does your power bill increase? I don't know. I have an average pay plan so I don't know the difference. I had an outlet installed that is on its own circuit to run the tree. This year I have put more lights on than before and that circuit breaker has thrown. So, I've divided the load out over three circuits. Before next year, the electrician will have to come back and put in another outlet that is on its own circuit - maybe two more.

I am so weary of the breakers throwing. Four different electricians have told me that Christmas lights don't pull that much juice and that one circuit would be more than enough. Obviously, that is not correct. I'm not sure why I can't have as much juice as I want. I'm willing to pay for it. I keep employing people that can facilitate it, but - yet again- I'm out in the dark throwing circuit breakers. Where are these keepers of the juice then? No doubt tucked into their warm homes, with sufficient juice to run their Christmas trees. Juice. I need more juice. I want more juice.

6. What is your favorite ornament? I don't have a particular favorite. I have lots of special ones that people have given me or made me or that I've picked up on trips.

7. Did your mom decorate this way? No, definitely not. And I can practically hear her laughing from the great beyond whenever someone asks that. She put the tree up one week before Christmas - Dec. 18 - not a day sooner. And it came down either Christmas afternoon or the day after. She was "normal" and I'm a fanatic. However, she ALWAYS put up a tree - even her last Christmas.

8. Are the presents real? Yes. I cannot imagine that anyone has time to wrap fake presents but I guess people do or no one would ask that. This girl doesn't have time for wrapping fake presents.

9. How many people do you buy for? About 30 - mostly family and a few friends. But bear in mind that some of those presents are simple things - like ornaments for my Creative Sisterhood group.

10. When did you start doing this? I first started buying ornaments in 1984, I think. I had small trees even when I was in college. I had my first big tree after I moved to Kansas. My then boyfriend, Curtis, wasn't around for some reason, and Greg helped me haul it into my apartment, which was the lower floor of a house at Fifth and Adams in Hutchinson. It was not as involved as the trees I do now. But things quickly grew into the "mega trees" I do now.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Christmas Party - Part One

Tonight was my annual Christmas open house. When I set the date months ago, I had no idea we would have an ice storm tonight.



Of course, ice doesn't deter some folks, so we had a party despite the ice.









Mark came down from Kansas City and brought his mom along. Kris and John came from Wichita with their friend, Tom. And Ray drove in from Pretty Prairie, which is about 25 minutes away. It was a fun night.

Fortunately, when this was forecast yesterday, I slowed down my cooking, so I didn't make nearly the amount of stuff I usually do. I had plenty - even have some left - but there wasn't the normal variety. But, I think everyone had enough.

Kris and I, of course, had to take our usual "cute girl pic." Greg obliged and then suggested we expand our group, which we gladly did. That's Trish, me, Kris and Andrea.



Mark's mom has never been to the party before. I hope she had fun. She and Julie were enjoying chatting.





Trish and Jim have their house on a homes tour for their church tomorrow. I'm not sure if the weather will cooperate for them or not.



I love this photo of Ray and me and how Green Santa is looking down on us, as if he needs to approve our discussion. Greg graciously took photos for me, but we missed a few people. And, as usual, I don't have any of Greg. I've got to remember to address that in the future.

And, I'll get another chance. We've decided to have the Christmas Party - Part Two next Saturday night. So, if you didn't get to come tonight, come next Saturday. Mia decided to head back to Joplin after a concert last night in Wichita, because there was such a huge ice storm predicted for the area between there and Joplin. I think she made the right decision because it looks bad. So, I just decided I'd have another gathering next weekend, when the weather is supposed to be nicer, and then she'll be able to come too. So, if you still have the invite hanging around, just cross out Dec. 8 and put in Dec. 15.

As requested by some party goers, here's the recipe for

White Texas Sheet Cake

1 cup butter

1 cup water

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup milk

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup chopped walnuts

In a large saucepan, bring butter and water to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in remaining cake ingredients. Pour into 15 by 10 baking pan - batter will be thin. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, until done. Cool for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make frosting by combining butter and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil then remove from heat, add other ingredients and spread over warm cake.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Party Weather - Not

I took the day off to prepare for my open house tomorrow. I made a trip out for groceries and settled in to cook. Of course, a little bit ago I discovered I was out of powdered sugar so had to go back out. How could I be out of something as basic as powdered sugar? Who knows, but I was.

I'm not making as much as I usually do because I'm guessing I may have a small turn out. We are under a winter weather advisory from midnight tonight until 6 p.m. Sunday. Of course, the weather people have proven many times they can't really predict the weather, so we'll see if it happens. I'm just going to prepare for things being normal and hope they are.

I'm concerned about Mia. She came out for the party. She and Greg had tickets to a concert in Wichita tonight and I'm wondering if she's going to be able to come to the party. Hopefully, we'll know more about the weather tomorrow, but I wouldn't want her to get stuck in a storm. It's miserable driving in ice.

Susan already emailed saying she's not coming, which of course I understand. It's a three hour drive from the farm here and it looks like there's some nasty weather between us. I haven't heard from Mark, but I doubt he'll come from Kansas City. It's a pity, but of course, I have no way of foreseeing such things when I'm picking a party date. Maybe I'll just do it again next weekend for whoever can come if this weekend is too nasty. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Well, I'd best go clean up the kitchen so I can wake up and start cooking again. It's so much nicer to wake up to a clean kitchen than one that looks like someone has been cooking in it for a few hours. I'm not a tidy cook. Not at all. Those food photos I show here on occasion - if you notice they're carefully cropped.

I think I'll mix up a batch of fudge before I go to bed. Then the only "must do" tomorrow will be an angel food cake.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Quote of the Day - the Grinch, aka sage wisdom

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?  It came without ribbons.  It came without tags.  It came without packages, boxes or bags.  And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.  Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.  What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.  What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.  ~Dr. Seuss

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

New Banners

Did you see the new banner at www.patsyterrell.com/blog.htm?



I made three new ones tonight - as if I have nothing else to be doing. Just because you're such a nice person, I'm going to preview them for you. I hope it doesn't ruin the surprise when they eventually show up as headers.

And, again, I can't suggest to you strongly enough that you keep a professional photographer handy at all times during the holiday season. It facilitates such things to have images stockpiled. When Greg isn't busy photographing Ace Jackalope, he is available for photos of other cool things - like Christmas goodies.






There's a few thousand dollars worth of graphic design training for you - pressed into service for something truly important - Christmas banners for my blog. Money well spent.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Online Life and Real Life

When I first started blogging, someone who had been doing it for awhile gave me some advice, which I ignored. The advice was that you should not let anyone in your real life world know that you had a blog. She had abandoned three previous blogs because people she knew had gotten annoyed by something she wrote. For the past few years she has been blogging her life without anyone in her real life world knowing that they are being discussed online. And she discusses them in very raw terms.

I am just not a person who can have that sort of secrecy in life. I'm not exactly an open book, but I'm not good with secrets either. I guess I'm just middle of the road when it comes to my own life. However, I try to be respectful of other people's privacy and try not to ever say anything that would be hurtful or harmful to anyone. This means, on occasion, that I have to edit myself from saying everything I'd like to say, but it's a worthwhile tradeoff. It's much the same as you would do if you were talking with someone in person - I don't publish anything online that I wouldn't say to someone in person. And it's not always negative - sometimes I can't say something really positive about someone specific because it would put them in an awkward position with someone else.

Of course, I rarely mention anyone here except in passing - we went here, we did that, we talked about this, etc. etc. etc. Photos that include other people are limited to happy things like tea and bridal showers and afternoon walks and such. Whenever I talk about anything negative I do so in generic terms unless it's a situation that's long past like an old boss from my college days who was more humorous than horrible - at least in retrospect - and even then I don't mention names. College days would certainly fall into the category of "long past" in my life, and in this case I'm sure he's long dead by now, anyway. But, I digress...

I was thinking about all of this in the last few days when FaceBook retreated from its position on Beacon, which published what purchases members made online. MoveOn mobilized to get them to stop, and FaceBook did immediately, for which I give them credit. In the meantime, some people's Christmas gift surprises were spoiled, which is a pity. But, it made me think about the whole issue of our online lives and how they intersect our real world lives.

I see more and more opportunities for those lives to intersect and think that's where this whole thing is moving. In many ways I like that. There are a few people I've met in real life who know me only from the blog. It's interesting. My blog also keeps friends and family involved in my life, even though we don't see each other regularly. I think using the online world to enhance real life is one of the great values of it. 

I'm not a personality type that could keep a blog private, anyway, but I'm not sure why you'd even want to bother. These are all things that are being negotiated on a daily basis by people around the world. We live in interesting times.

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www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Presents

A few years ago I started doing "themes" with my wrapping paper. Now it has become something of an obsession.

Add to this my unnatural love of paper of all sorts, not to mention designs - specifically Christmas designs - and what you end up with is an assortment of wrapping paper that could cover enough presents for a small army. OK, maybe a medium sized army.

The day after Christmas I turn into Robo-shopper. Considering how uninterested I am in shopping in general, this is somewhat amazing. But, I get up at dark-thirty and drive the half hour to Paducah, and wait in the cold outside whatever store, to make sure I get a good deal on something. I need a deal.

One of my finds last year was this paper. It has stars on it - one of my favorite motifs. Of course, this wasn't the only wrapping paper I bought last year. It seems each year I buy two or three designs, despite I'll only use one each year. You don't have to be a math whiz to see that this leads to lots of rolls of wrapping paper in my house. I'm always certain that I'll find something to go with something I bought years earlier that will make it a perfect combination. As of yet that has not happened, even though I've added at least a dozen rolls that were good contenders for that. But I remain optimistic.

In 1991 I started adding ornaments to packages for my family - with names and dates on them. Some years I made them and some years I just added that info to something I bought. This year I found these stars, which are the perfect match for the paper. You knew the ornament had to coordinate with the paper, didn't you? Surely you did.  Last year I had red paper with silver snowflakes on it and the ornaments were silver snowflakes. That was one of my best combos ever.

Then there are the ribbons and name tags to coordinate. For many years I just wrote names on the back of the presents with a sharpie because I didn't want anything to detract from the look. This year I bought two rolls of ribbon that were 100 feet each. That was almost enough to do all these presents. I had some other ribbon that I've used on a couple of them. How much ribbon it took to do all these presents was a question I was asked multiple times at the homes tour yesterday.

And I bet two dozen people asked me if the presents were real. Who has time to wrap empty boxes? I guess some people do. When I was thinking about the questions people might ask these were not ones I expected.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Through Other Eyes

It's always interesting to see yourself through other people's eyes. This is reprinted, with permission, from www.thelope.com. Frankly, I couldn't think of anything to add, defend or embellish.

By the way, Ace Jackalope is quite the Lope about Town (and Country). It's always worth checking out his adventures.

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See Patsy's Tree

Welcome to December!

Wanna see pictures of something cool, that you can actually go see in person?



If the Christmas season has a singular icon to me, it's my friend Patsy's tree.

Not the tree in the foreground, mind you.



This Tree

Over 10,000 lights.

About 2,000 ornaments.

All of it crammed onto a 7 1/2' tree that generates enough heat that you can feel it a few feet away.

Patsy's tree is often the focus of "excess" jokes among her friends...well, mostly me - but we all look forward to basking in its incandescent glow.

And you can too, Sunday, December 2 on the Reno County (Kansas) Mental Health Association's Christmas at Home Tour. Patsy is Executive Director of the association and has put her house on the annual tour as a refreshment stop.



I enjoy orbiting the tree with a camera, like a space probe recording the surface of an alien planet.



Many of her ornaments are souvenirs of road trips. This snowman hails from Quebec.



Of course, I love the starburst.



The soldier is a souvenir from a trip to London.



There are several Jesus'...Jesuses...Jesae(?) from a shop near the Vatican.





Rankin-Bass, how we do love thee.



Patsy's mom bought her this Avon Ornament back in the 1980s. It is one of the first ornaments Patsy got as an adult.



Our friend Mark got her this cow. Well, actually, he got it at the Kansas State Fair for someone else and Patsy latched onto it, chanting "It speaks to me, it speaks to me." It had to be this cow, and no other, mind you. Finally, he relented chose a different one for its original intended recipient.



Ace will be hanging out at Patsy's place. If you like, she'll take your picture with him and I'll put you on this blog.



Santae abound.



Personally, I like these vintage reindeer.



Father Christmas himself will be in attendance at one of the homes.

For information on tickets and the five houses involved, see the Christmas at Home Tour website, email Patsy at patsy@mharenoco.org or call her at 663-7772.

This is now assembled into the blue and silver tree. I snapped this photo a few days ago when I had the ornaments for it gathered onto a tray.

I have LOTS to do in the next 36 hours. I have to get some clutter removed and some cleaning done and some decorating finished.

Perhaps I should be doing that instead of blogging. Hmmmm... there's an idea...

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Ben Kweller

I'm on a Ben Kweller listening fest today while I work.

I was reminded of him by last night's Carson Daly rerun. I had forgotten just how much I like his music.

How can you not like a guy who has lyrics in his songs like, "Butterflies are passive aggressive and put their problems on the shelf, but they're beautiful anyway?"

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Three Days

I have three days before the MHA home tour. I have to get everything done for the tour, including having my house completely ready since I'm doing refreshments here. I have a busy few days ahead. Oh my gosh, do I have a busy three days ahead.

The up side of it is that everything will be done for my open house on the 8th.

This is an opportune time to say - if you've been to my Christmas Open Houses before or ever been invited before or were expecting to be invited this year - and haven't yet gotten an invitation this year - it's not because you're being slighted - it's because I'm still working on getting things mailed. And because I have three days before the MHA tour (see paragraph one!). So, consider this your official invitation, with your other official invitation to follow at some point, hopefully before the actual event. Anyway... I hope to see you on Dec. 8, 6:30 to whenever. I'm mailing things as fast as I can but things that need corrections in the database for some reason seem to not be getting done in a timely manner.

Well, I must go and do more things to get me and my house ready for upcoming events! And, sleep... I must sleep... at least some... some time...

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

First Volley

I've sent the first volley of Christmas letters. I'm not doing it in the usual way this year and I can already see the error of my way, but - too late now - I'll just have to make do because I'm not going to reprint the envelopes.

Yes, I print the envelopes. I know - it's not as personal. But I send about 300 cards each year and stopped hand addressing them some years ago. I just can't quite work that into my world anymore.

Well, I suppose I could, but I run my life with a constant ROI assessment going, and that is just not something I'm getting a good return on investment with. Investment can be time or energy or money - and in this case it's time. Although when I'm fighting with the printer I'm not sure that's exactly true. I desperately want a printer that will actually print a stack of envelopes without jamming constantly. I've never seen one. My $80 printer does as good a job of it as the $1800 one I used to use at work.  They both suck at it.

Julie is coming over tomorrow night to work on cards so hopefully I'll finish the majority of them then. Of course, there will be a few dozen more that I need to update addresses for, or that got eaten in the printer and I need to redo, or that I had the wrong code in the computer for and will only catch when I go through it again. I try desperately to not miss someone and sometimes do. It's never intentional - just an accident that happens when someone who's not good with details is juggling this much detail.

End of the Weekend

Well, the weekend has ended - it's now officially Monday. I could use one more weekend day. My tree is almost finished. I've got maybe another hour on it and it will be done. I think this is becoming a bit ridiculous - the number of hours I spend on the tree. So, who knows, maybe this will be the last mega-tree I do for awhile. Of course, it's entirely possible that next year I'll be just as enthused about it as usual and do it all over again. It does take many, many. many hours to assemble it. But it's so darned pretty and sparkly when it's done.

Tomorrow I will finish the tree and start doing some of the other decorating - and the cleaning. By this time next week the homes tour will be over. Obviously, getting the house done is a necessity. I also need to bake for the refreshments. It will be a busy week.

I have so enjoyed the last few days of just being still. I have barely left the house for the last four days. Yesterday I went to Roys and did a couple of errands. Friday I did the early morning shopping and then ran to the post office to ask a question in the afternoon. Today I went out on the porch and hung a wreath on the door. I haven't even been in the yard. I needed some days like that.

But, I'm ready to rejoin the world tomorrow. I'm starting to want to see friends for lunch and dinner again. And I've eaten most of the leftovers from the cooking I've done the last few days, so the timing on that works out well. By and large I think I still need some quiet time, but some excursions to interact with the world will be good.

I'm working on the Christmas tree and I'm down to one of the things I love - putting on the ornaments. Many of my ornaments have special memories associated with them - that people have given me, I've bought them while traveling, someone has made them for me, or I've bought them to commemorate an occasion in my life.

I took a few snapshots to share some with you.



The blue and white tree in this one is an ornament I bought in Amsterdam. The painted ornament was from one of my Chick friends last year. We do an ornament exchange each year and that was the one I got. Oddly enough another year I got an ornament from Amsterdam from someone else. It was identical to one I bought while there, but I treasure them both. Also in this photo, in the middle, is an Easy Bake Oven ornament I bought a few years ago. I absolutely loved that toy. The elongated snowman is one Greg and I both bought some of one year. To the right of him is a non-ornament that I've made into an ornament that I bought in Egypt. It has a prayer in Arabic on it.The little stuffed cow is from the State Fair - Mark bought it for some friends and I just adored it. Next to that is the Grinch - I love that show. I spend large parts of the holiday season saying, "Little Cindy Lou Who, who was no more than two." And the Grinch is looking up at a London phone booth ornament I got there one year. The clear glass bell with the white and silver on it is one of the very first ornaments I bought. I have some bells and some balls that are the same design. I still love them as much as I did more than 20 years ago when I bought them.



The stuffed Pere Noel here came from Paris. The pink and purple ornaments were a gift many, many years ago from David Naylor, who I used to work with. There's a blue one in the same design. A bit behind them in the upper right corner is a clay tree I bought in Honduras. There's a London bus and at the bottom a beautiful hand painted ornament that Chris Baird, a former board member, gave me. You can see just a glimpse of an ornament Trish gave me with the white bow on it, and above that, a peek at the Amsterdam ornament I got at Chicks another year. I try to label all my special ornaments with the date and who gave them to me or where I bought them.



The brightly colored ball is an ornament I picked up in Virginia and to the right side is one of the counted cross stitch ornaments Leah made for me over the years. Behind that is a little woven bell I got in Guatemala. You can also see just a little bit of a baby Jesus ornament that nestles into the tree branches to the far right. I bought a couple of those in Rome and love to just have them placed in the tree. In the far left corner is a little alien guy toy - he's not really an ornament, but I love that movie and I needed an ornament. Needed.

I also buy ornaments to remember events that aren't necessarily happy, but are important nonetheless. I bought this little teapot ornament one day when I was on a day trip.

I had taken a day off from the radio station to hit the road, to do some driving so I could think. There's something about driving that helps me engage a different part of my brain and figure things out.

Even though that was some years ago I remember the day very clearly and the decisions I made as the miles zipped away. I remember stopping in a shop and seeing this ornament and buying it as a symbol of a new kind of life I wanted to make. It took more than five years for all the things I decided that day to come to pass, but that teapot was a symbol of what I wanted - a different kind of life where I could feel safe and secure - cozy - just like the teapot makes you think about.

I knew that would entail many changes - a different job, a different lifestyle, a different residence, and even some different friends. It all worked out well, but it it was tumultuous at times, as change often is.

Well, I must get back to decorating. One month from now it will be Christmas eve night!

Happy

Do you ever feel like the world is conspiring to make you happy?

Well, I do.

And the last couple of days are a prime example. Admittedly, there have been a couple of little snags - from the post office deciding the little cards I wanted to put in with my Christmas letter were "non-machineable" to dropping the 3/4 of a pumpkin pie I had left from yesterday and not only losing the pie, but also breaking the pie plate, which was one of my favorites. Oops. Oh well... I guess I didn't need to eat more pie. It was good, too. And the crust was good - I tried a new recipe. I'm always hunting for the perfect pie crust. And, yes, I know, my pie crusts are ugly. I can make them pretty or good - but not both simultaneously. This one was good.

Last night Terry dropped by and brought me some turkey and dressing his sister had made. I had finished my take out turkey from Roy's, so that was a nice treat. And, he's just such a nice guy to be thinking of such things.

This morning I woke up very early but there were no sales for me to hit until 7 a.m. when Office Max opened. It was 10 degrees, so I wasn't about to stand outside for a few hours.

I got to Office Max at 6:55 and waited in my car with the heater on until 6:58. By 7:05 I had purchased the three things I came for - all at great prices - and was back in the car. How could that be when there are huge lines all over the country?

Well, because corporate decided that our Office Max was not going to participate in the ad for black Friday. Of course, all of us had done just as the ads have been telling us to do and seen the deals online, so we expected to get the deals at our local store. People also had the ad from other newspapers. The local manager, fortunately, was smart enough to realize this and was prepared to let us have whatever they had in stock at the ad prices. I bought a Zune and a mini sd card for my cell phone. I also picked up an external hard drive for Greg.

So corporate's foolishness worked in my favor. I'm not complaining a bit.

I came home and crawled back under the electric blanket, napped for a bit, then got up and have had a lovely day of working on Christmas things and puttering around the house.

Then, tonight, the capper of the day...



Yes! It's snowing! I love snow!

I didn't even know it until I heard the weather. I couldn't resist going outside to snap a couple of pix, although since it was dark they're not the best.

The welcome mat was just starting to get covered.



And my little tree Bob planted in 2005 had a blanket of snow at its feet.



This would be one of those times that would seem perfect for the pajamas I wrote about recently. But, I'm in a sweatshirt instead, and intend to spend the rest of the night working on the tree and doing other Christmas-related things.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am looking forward to a full day of puttering around my house, working on Christmas things, and enjoying the day. I went to bed really early last night (10) so I woke up a little before 3. After trying to get back to sleep I just decided to get up and start the day.

I've already had a lovely breakfast of Roy's Turkey and Dillon's cranberry relish. I'm going to cook some of the traditional things later in the day, but I'm not a big turkey eater so I just got a take out order yesterday. Generally I don't eat any turkey on Thanksgiving Day - I fill up on the other goodies. So, by 3:30 a.m. I'd already had a much more traditional day than usual.

Greg's mom invited me to come to Joplin and I considered going to Kentucky, but I just desperately needed to have some time in my house. This is the first time all year I've had a few days off when I've stayed home. I really needed to be able to just enjoy being - without having a schedule or agenda. It's going to be a wonderful day.

I try to be thankful every day - I am a big believer in gratitude - but it's a lovely tradition to have a day set aside to remind us all to be thankful. I hope you have many, many things to count as blessings.

Starting Fresh

I recently read a number of books by Elizabeth Berg. A friend told me I would like her writing and I do. I think my favorite of the five I read was "The Year of Pleasures." It's about a woman who leaves behind her old life and starts a new one.

Those sorts of stories always appeal to me - maybe because I've done that a few times. It is a heady experience. I haven't done it in a long time and  part of me wants to again. Maybe it's a bigger part than I want to admit.

A few years ago I met a man on a trip who felt much more for me than I felt for him. He wanted me to marry him and move to his home country. Part of me just wanted to come home, put my stuff in storage, pack my essentials, quit my job, and move  to another country and another life. I never told anyone just how seriously I considered it. I thought about it. A lot. For a long time.

Unfortunately, the thrill of thinking about it was not in the man, but in the starting fresh and the newness of what that experience would offer. How would I work when I didn't speak the language? I couldn't just go and live there - I would have to get married - how difficult would that be to get out of? (And, ultimately, there's the problem - that you're thinking about getting out of something before you even get into it.) What kind of job would I find when I came back to the states? Now, with a bit more life experience, some of those wouldn't hinder me. Logic prevailed. Sometimes I think logic is what keeps us mired in the ordinary.

One of the questions I always ask myself when I'm tempted to do such things is, are you running to something or from something. It's often a mixture. And for me it's a conundrum because part of what keeps me from running at all is that I don't want to leave some aspects of my current life.

Obviously, leaving the life you know and going into a completely different culture is a pretty big change. Not to mention that there would be another person involved.

That, ultimately, is what caused me to stop considering it. I didn't love him. I wasn't going to love him. And what he thought was love was probably just intense fascination with someone very exotic by his standards. The problem with exotic is that it doesn't work well for every day life.

Daily life requires a lot of the ordinary, and that's the life he envisioned and wanted.  It was not then, nor is it now, the life I want. He didn't know me well enough to know those things aren't really my forte. Daily living requires a lot of attention to details like grocery shopping and laundry and sweeping the floor. Those are the very things I want to run from. But they follow one into any culture, anywhere in the world.

And, actually, that's not even really true. What I want to run from is the mundane. - in any form - from what the carpet nap is so I can set the vacuum correctly to the mindless prattle of small talk, which I abhor. Chores can be mundane, but they're not necessarily in that category. There are times I enjoy the satisfaction of neatly folded clean towels and my part in that. What I want is to have thoughtful discourse in daily life - it simply seems to be constantly shunted away because of all the attention one must devote to the "chores" of living.

The trick is that one must have the time, space and environment to have insight. And insight comes as a result of thinking about experiences. I view experiences - from travel to reading to conversation - as fodder for future insight. Fodder  + Thought = Insight.

Another important component of insight for me is to discuss it with others. It's there that it can expand into something more meaningful. I long for this sort of connection and conversation. I think it's what people mean when they say they want to be around smart people. "Smart" isn't about knowing facts - we can look up any fact relatively quickly - "smart" is about people's thoughts about those facts. I have very few people in my life who want to engage in this sort of conversation on a regular basis. It's something people always say they long for, but it's not something they make time for.

Ordinary life is filled with extraordinary moments. And I work at appreciating them - from a yellow butterfly flitting over the remains of my garden yesterday to the sparkle of a tray of blue, silver and white ornaments waiting to be hung on a tree. Those moments are experiences - and valuable ones. It's worthwhile to be in the moment - whether you're up to your elbows in dishwater or up to your eyeballs in laundry - be thankful you have food that messes up dishes and clothes that need to be washed.

The trick, as with so many things, seems to be in the balance. To balance being grounded by the mundane and having time and space to mentally and emotionally soar beyond it.