87. Simple, But Oh So Special!

Christmas eve was so very wonderful.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been  more family, especially  Trisha and  Robby.  We know they had a  lovely time too,  though.  Robby went to his grandparents home with his father and Trisha and her long time friend, Sherry from Calistoga, California, did the town in Switzerland.  Trisha told us that since life was so different now she decided to change things even more and had schnitzel for dinner.  She hasn't had meat pass her lips for thirty years or more and then she has VEAL!!  Imagine!  When she worked at Kuleto's restaurant on Union Square in San Francisco, if veal was one of the day's specials she wouldn't even tell customers about it.  When forced she quietly said it was made with small animals with huge brown eyes that stare up at you with great sadness.  We couldn't believe that she kept her job.  They must have really liked her.  Her daddy, who is the confirmed carnivore, said that was the best Christmas gift of all!

Holiday's are filled with tradition and  a special one at our house is the angel that tops our tree. Christmas of 1950 was a particularly lean one for Bob and his parents.  Bob remembers going to the Five and Dime Store and buying this homely little styrofoam angel.  She had her face and collar but they bought the little sparkles for her dress and glued them on.  She is simple, but oh so special. It's not Christmas until she is on the tree.  

Bud brought a bottle of Bailey's Irish Creme in remembrance of our dear old family friends, George and Audrea Ruptier.  For years George sent Bud the money to buy us a bottle for Christmas.  George had been Bob's daddy's best friend  since  before World War II.  Bob is his name-sake.  They were the youngest old folks we have ever known.  Our friend since school days, Marilyn, came from San Jose to celebrate with us, as well as Bud's girlfriend, Patty.  We had so much fun.  Marilyn brought the most beautiful ham that she glazed with orange marmalade and brown sugar.  Just plain YUMMY!  Preston who is ten now was just so gracious and delightful.  He had such a good time and fairly glowed when his Pepa made a fire in the Franklin and we had S'more's!  I can't imagine a better dessert.  (Continuing  special thanks to the Gammons for hi-jacking the stove.) Preston announced that he wanted his daddy to "keep" Patty.  We all concur!

We send our sincerest warm wishes to all of you.  We hope your Christmas stockings are as full of warm fuzzy memories as ours are.  Stay warm, stay full and stay happy!

86. Gurgle and glug!

Gurgle, gurgle, glug, glug!  My, oh, my, have we had the rain.  You can see the creek across the road from our back porch the water is so high.  We drove up the canyon yesterday to see the waterfall and we were not disappointed!  I don't know that we have ever seen it so strong.  A couple of days ago we were enjoying the incredible color of the leaves on the Golden Rain tree.  We have so few trees that turn fall colors, I can only imagine the beauty of the East Coast.  Well, anyway, I was enjoying the beautiful leaves, Bob on the other hand was thinking in terms of time with a rake.  

Our experience last week with Maggie and the Furry Friends was so rewarding and heart warming.  Villa Maria in Santa Maria is a board and care facility and most all of the residents just love the dogs.  The animals that were there that day were all experienced with Maggie being the exception.  She handled herself brilliantly, if I may say so my self.  One of the residents is blind and he really loved her with her long floppy ears.  Maggie just snuggled right up.  The sounds and smells didn't bother her at all.  We plan to go to two places on Christmas Day in the afternoon.  All of the members had their dogs all decked out.  Maggie had her hat, but I can see that we need to go shopping.  Gotta keep up with the "Joneses!"  A girl can't have  too  many outfits, now  can  she?!  There were lots  of other  dogs, but  I  started  taking

photos too late.  You get the idea though.  Oliver, to the right here, had lots of bells on his  legs.  He

is a rescue that, as you can see, is now very well loved.  We hope each and everyone of you can find something that warms your heart because if it warms yours, odds are it will warm the heart of someone near you.

85. It's the Best Medicine!

Sunday  the house was  filled with the  delicious and  yummy aroma of our annual batch of the much

maligned fruitcake.  To those of you who think of it only as the tin that gets passed from unwitting household to household..."Think Again!"  You just haven't tasted ours!  It is full of our favorite dried fruits, nuts, brown sugar and lots and lots of El Presidente brandy!  If you don't like citron, don't add it. It is about the only thing we make without fail at Christmas.  Our daughter, Trisha, was born on January 5th and as an adult orders it for her birthday cake.  We even send it to Switzerland.  This year we will coerce her friend, Sherry, to take it in her luggage.  Keep your fingers crossed that some dastardly fruitcake hater in security at the airport doesn't accuse  her of smuggling something  illegal. Maybe they will think that she is doing the country a favor.  But as for our house, we love fruitcake. Keeping Bob down to one piece a day will be the real problem.  

I also wrote our Christmas letter yesterday, as well.  The Christmas tree  lights were twinkling and the fruitcake was baking and I decided that if the mood didn't strick me then it never would. We used to get the kids together and take a funny family picture at the beach, in the hot tub or some other wacky place in Santa hats.  When changes in family dynamics happened we tried taking the photo during the year when we were together.  Now we just have three photos and hope for the festive best.  Our heart's are in the right place.  It just takes more planning than it used to.

Tomorrow is Maggie's debut at a senior center with the Furry Friends.  We are excited and we know it will set the tone for our Holiday Season.  She is so friendly and sweet.  When we take her out and about people love to give her a scratch and she loves it.  We are certainly glad to have her in our family.  She makes us laugh and you know that laughing makes you live longer.  Especially those big belly laughs.  Those are the ones that stimulate your internal organs.  It's a proven fact...l
aughter is the best medicine!  So my prescription for the
holidays is make a fruitcake and laugh, laugh, laugh.

84. Frost on the Pumpkin

Well, dear friends, there was frost on the pumpkin this morning!  I guess we are in for a cold winter...well, cold by my standards.  I spent my formative years in Iowa and have many fond memories of childhood snow  fun,  however, I'm a  little older now and  am very happy without snow

Bones ache a little and we have enough trouble navigating the gopher craters in the yard as it is, snow and ice would just spell more knee surgery. 

I could tell you lots of little stories about my walks to school from our little acreage out side of Ottumwa, Iowa, like how we stopped at the brickyard office to warm our hands on their potbellied stove or how we took hot baked potatoes in our coat pockets to keep our hands warm.  (Only the first was true, my Great Uncle Reese always said that it was so cold that the cows gave vanilla ice cream.) Bob always rolls his eyes and says "And it was five miles and up hill both ways." But then he is a Dallas boy.

I remember one really cold afternoon in particular.  I always wore warm snow-suits and mittens with a length of ribbon holding the mittens together and strung through the sleeves so they never got lost.  When I left home in the mornings, my mom always carefully tucked my dress into the pants.  I was supposed to do the same thing coming home from school.  She also supposed that the teacher would supervise and help when necessary.  With 32 children to attend to...I doubt tucking in my skirt was high on her list.  At any rate, I neglected to tuck in my skirt.  On the trudge home, we all decided that rolling and sliding down the snowy and hilly country road sounded like a lot of fun.  By the time I arrived home my dress skirt was frozen solid and sticking straight out like some crazed ice ballerina.  Suffice it to say that I NEVER did that again.  My mom never believed in corporal punishment, but her angry eyebrows and deliberate words made future expectations reality.

With the weather so chilly, I decided to gather up all of the hats and sweaters I have made for premies  and other little babies who need to keep their little heads warm.  I didn't realize I had made so many. If any of you are so inclined to knit or crochet for these in need, I send mine to "Stitches From the Heart."

Stitches from the Heart                   
4572 Telephone Road, #909
Ventura, CA 93003
http://www.stitchesfromtheheart.org
Toll Free: 877 985-9212
 
 If this baby isn't precious, I don't what is!


Well, it's Taco Tuesday at Taco Roco where tacos are a dollar and we can dine al fresco so Maggie can join us.   Bob and I like the Chili Verde, Maggie prefers the shredded beef.

83. The Best Black Friday

Our Black Friday was better than any shopping excursion could ever be.  Bob and Bud installed the chimney that Bud had made for the Franklin.  It is fabulous!  All it needs now is a couple of coats of fire resistant paint and a few saguaro cactus blooms that Bob will create and apply.  The minute they were done with the installation Preston and I got the fire going and made S'more's for breakfast. They are the breakfast of champions with fond memories of many, many camping trips to far flung canyons where staying up late was the norm and brushing your teeth and combing your hair was never required, your sweatshirt and jeans smelling deliciously of camp fire smoke.

 The chimney draws the smoke beautifully now.  A few nights ago when we had the first fire it smoked a little bit out the front, but the tall chimney solved that problem. We bought some twinkle lights to hang in the trees for a little ambiance.  Now all we need are a couple of rock shaped speakers to hide in the planter so music can fill the air.  I found in a catalog a fruit jar with little lights shaped like lightning bugs that I want to order if I can remember which catalog it was in.  I hate  it when I do that. "Should I order?  Shouldn't I order?  I'll think about it...yes!  I'll order...now where is that catalog...Hmm."  I see a pattern arising. At any rate, the little patio is coming right along.  We need to move the "Buck Rogers" bar-b-que back there now, too.  We tend to not use it because it is out by the work shop and not so convenient.  More Heart's Desire gravel and flagstone and "Voila!" A bar-b-que pit!  Life is so good!

We had to leave around 11:00 to go to Polly and Phil's for a special invitation to their family Thanksgiving dinner, so we were all buzzing around getting ready and suddenly realized the Maggie was no where to be found.  I know she is important to all of us, but those moments of thinking she may be lost were incredible.  We were all frantically looking in six  different directions. She usually comes the minute she hears us clapping.  You can hear her collar jingling as she makes a bee line to us because she knows she will get lots of scratches and hugs.  Well, there was nothing!  Finally I decided that I would go up the little canyon behind the motor home, as I have caught her smelling around back there before.  As I got near the motor home, I heard her jingling but couldn't see her.  I paused and called and clapped again and then heard a thump, thump on the window of the motor home!  There was her little face and her paws on the window.  When I had gone out there earlier to get the sticks to roast the marshmallows, I guess she must have sneaked in behind me.  I had locked her in and didn't even know it!  The poor little thing had been frantic hearing us call and not being able to come.  I felt terrible, but oh how relieved we all were.

I found this cartoon in the news paper and it just about sums up how we feel.