Pook rocks!

Snow makes a happy time

Pup prowled the park at a great distance, rolled on a flaccid tennis ball after locating it by smell, ate a stick, then settled into the snow. Taken with Pop's new binocular camera (Sharper Image, eh what?, a gift from a techie), there's only a hint of snow-on-the-nose, showing how snow makes a happy time. And it improved Pop's view of things, too.

December 27th

We did nothing. All day. It was good. OK, Linda took a walk. It was good. And I worked on the blog. You can see from this entry how much work I did. It was good. And Pook played at the playground on the fire truck. It was good.

Boxing day (but we didn't box anything)

Boxing Day was nice and bright, a pretty day to get out since Linda couldn't possible imagine boxing up Christmas the day after. So we decided to go shopping at Tiffany's and Sur la Table and Pottery Barn. We really went to get the trophy wife's ring cleaned, but I know better about Tiffany's. Then we found a chocolate cake Christmas tree ornament, and some cool cocktail napkins, 9 of them for the 8 reindeer and Rudolf, and some more icicles for the outside back window. And then off to Trader Joe's for some vermouth for the martinis. Oh, and we got pretty towels in red for the Christmas kitchen. So good and focused were we that we got out of Easton's traffic before the real shoppers even showed up. Home for some fish, and then we turned on Nutcracker (well, not really: we turned on Nutcracker after the kids left on Christmas Day, but I didn't remember to write it in, then). And ended the evening again in front of the fire, with Wally's new squeeky bone getting a good workout while accompanied by holiday music.

Christmas Day & kids

Christmas Day dawned magnificently, leisurely. Even with a late night beforehand, I (today, "Pop") still was up early, watching the eastern sky pink and violet. Pup enjoyed the out-of-doors, and we still could see the lights on the back as we came in. Turning on the tree, and breakfast starting, brought Linda to the day. We had a good vegetable tart, chard and onions and Parmesan, and croissants, and fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, and v-e-r-r-r-r-y crispy bacon: very good, says Linda. We opened our gifts and stockings including the pup's new meaty bone, and morning Christmas cards, and read the text message from Andy and T. Then we sat over coffee and recorded The Night Before Christmas for Colin-the-pup, even though this year the story was really for Jenny and Chris.

The plan was to not go fast, and the plan executed flawlessly. A walk in the park. Whacking the brussels sprouts off the stalk. More attention to the dog. A long wonderful talk with Barbara, while all the California crowd was napping but her, so we could hear about Pook. Making the pecan pie.

Colin-the-pup and Jenny and Chris arrived mid-afternoon, with the pup bright-eyed in his carrier and looking alertly at everything. He spent time on his mom's lap before we ate, in front of the fire, Wally looking on and marvelling at the similarity of cooing sounds offered a baby and offered a dog.

We pottered around for the entire rest of the day, the dark coming 3'ish or 4'ish or 5'ish and not noticing the time at all. Barbara called and we chatted again and Jenny got to chat as well. A good pork loin with mustard and tarragon; Chris finished the cabbage in cream with a flourish; we polished off the wine (moving to champagne plan B after plan A froze in the freezer while chilling).

We carried Colin around; we sat on the floor with the dog. And we ended the night after the kids left by enjoying the fire and the music, and drank just a little bit more.

Christmas Eve

While Linda was at the health club working out, I put lights out for the birds, along the back bushes. From the park at night, the house seemed to twinkle! We got things ready for Christmas, busy for two lazy flickers: prepped the pork, got the Boy Scout teams together to put out the luminary display at the church (a 1st for them) by driving a bus-load of candles and milk bottles into the car-packed church lot to off-load and then parking the bus in front of the house (not blocking the sleigh and 8 tiny reindeer), and going over to the 11:00 service for memories and fellowship.

We talked to Ben as he fed Pook, hearing of plans for California Christmas with the Sullivans all and Ellen too. And we heard from Andy and T as they were in San Jose toasting champagne and welcoming in the friendship of Christmas with Lynn and Doug.

For us, a late night, an enjoyable time walking the dog before all of us to bed at 1 am. (And no sleigh and 8 tiny reindeer. But then, with mama in her kerchief and I in my cap and all settled down for a long winter's nap, out on the lawn there arose such a clatter that I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter....)

Nancy

Nancy Brower stopped by after work, for martinis in front of the blazing fire and holiday music in the background. "I like the tree; the tree's not real crowded," she said, confirming all of Linda's executive design decisions. It was great to see an old friend, as we'd not spent time together quietly for several months. And pup whined and wiggled and brought her a special spit-covered meaty bone, to show how much he cared (cared, that is, to be paid attention to). So we paid attention to Nancy, too. Friendship.

The Christmas tree underway

Today, we brought in the tree. It had been carefully picked out by Linda and Wally, and standing in the back yard in a bucket of water. During the night, snow fell, coating the tree with a marvelous dusting that had to be shaken out to bring it in. We waited some time indoors, hoping the limbs would drop a bit so we could tell where to decorate big and small ornaments, and nothing happened so we made lots of executive design decisions. Well, that was the papal "we:" Linda made the design decisions.

I started by putting the lights on, but clearly not enough for my bride, since we only had 5 strings. Then I "helped", the following day, sitting on the sofa and handing out ornaments one at a time, so Linda could place. We chose mostly old ones, Radkos we'd picked up along the way together with pickles and hedgehogs and three little gold ducklings. At the bottom Linda put a big glass box, gold and magenta and white, that proved to be at tail-height. After it shattered into pieces, we put only the old paper ornaments made by Andy and Ben and Chris at the bottom, a just-right thing.

Linda & Barbara & Jack

Dinner was fun with our friends Linda Lorenz and her sister Barbara and Jack Hunter. A classic cassolet for the crowd, reminding us of Canada even if there wasn't any significant new snowfall.

Sitting around relaxing, telling stories, looking at the skaters on the bar-top which we'd gotten out (who had snow, even if not real) and enjoying each of the old dolls we'd gathered: the green, the pink-robed, and the blue Santas, and the red Santa above us all.

A rich Christmas Concert

Worthington United Methodist Church has a long tradition of offering holiday music, and we took our neighbor Dot to share this year's, on Sunday afternoon. Short and focused and rich, the choir sang John Rutter's Gloria (and there's a cut of the first movement on the sidebar!), which a friend in the choir said he'd practiced since September. The director trained with Robert Shaw and directs OSU's men's glee club, and the chorale showed it. Most moving? A rendition of Oh Holy Night by the head of Kilborne High School's music program. Most fun? The duet of Baby It's Cold Outside, and the final, fun tune You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch!

First snow, really

The morning brought our first snow. Sure, there was a dusting a week ago, and the ground's been frozen, but we've gotten an inch and more's coming. The quiet outside is marvelous, the smell wonderfully crisp and wet. Pup's ready for his treat on returning from outside: to lie on the floor and get his paws massaged with great waxy-protective "musher's secret." Think snow.

The 2009 Holiday Season Begins

For us, the holiday season always begins with our annual Holiday Open House, December 6 2009. This year was our 20th open house, a milestone we still smile about and shake our heads over.

We had a delightful time! Friends, neighbors, colleagues, people we keep on our list and send invitations to who never RSVP but show up, people who just remember it's the first Sunday in December and mark it on their calendar and don't even remember getting the invitation, people from across the country who send emails saying they're not heading North or East or whatever yet... a fantastic time to visit and reconnect.

Wally stayed up with the last guest, ChrisMoose. ChrisMoose came by the hand of our friend Liz Hager, who this year was the longest-lasting (yes, 2-5 are hours on the invitation, and Liz went home at 9). Liz raises companion dogs, and ChrisMoose was sent by Emelia, a yellow Lab / Golden mix of nine happy months' age, who signed her card. Wally and ChrisMoose invite you to share in our blog for this year's Holiday Season. Love, Linda and Mike (and Wally).

Then came the dawn

On the coldest night,

we two sleeping together --

how comfortable!

Samu keredo

futari nuru yo zo

tanomoshiki

Attention-getting

There's no doubt 8" of fresh powder is beautiful under the evening lights, and it's toasty in front of the fireplace. The Christmas tree lights still twinkle. It's also -13, and the wind chill brings it down more. Pup reports fun among the crisp smells, but snowball ice between the toes stops outdoor play fast. Yesterday, he nearly had to be carried in due to ice-up, but we made it back. Finding a fondly-remember frozen tennis ball under the snow is a joyful thing, but I'd hate to have to poop outside in stuff like this. Haven't heard from J&C: likely, they've gone to ground under blankets. Still, the fluffy trees and glistening light on the crystals make each morning attention-getting. Hope you guys in California get to play in the snow! Love, Pop.

Surgical Insertion

It is Monday and it has been snowing again.  Wally really had fun this morning running with his friend Dudley and trying to catch snow balls (the snow really wasn't packing much, so they were at a definite disadvantage).

We had a wonderful weekend with a brief but great visit with Andy and Teresa (A named it a "surgical insertion").  Chris and Jenny were able to join us on Saturday and, though the younger generation continued well into Sunday morning, we really enjoyed spending most of the day with everyone.  T and A brought wedding pictures with them and left many wonderful ones for us.

Now, some people probably think the holidays are over and our tree and decorations should come down, but not me.  We are keeping it all up at least until early February when the Dayton crew comes to spend some time with us.

Got to go now and prepare for some upcoming work in West Virginia.  Hope you are all well.

Love, Linda

The 12th day of Christmas

It's good to see snow, even a bit, on the back deck fence. We had a wonderful Epiphany evening -- the night celebrating the adoration of the Magi by the three wise men -- with friends. They had a candle-lit Christmas tree, a tree picked by hand from a farmer they knew, chosen to support and show the hand-made German ornaments they'd gathered. A great time, comparing Gary's stories of his first tree with my memories of seeing my grandmother's tree in a 4th-floor walkup in Chicago, the parlor doors open wide for the ten minutes the candles were allowed to burn. A bit of German sweets and ice wine didn't hurt, either, nor did the music. Ben called the other evening and told of their plans for the weekend -- dumping old stuff @ Volunteers or someplace, figuring how to get stuff moved to Thousand Oaks, wondering if Pook should go first and the dog stay behind and Ben be the bachelor or what, fun stories you might hear too. Linda and I look forward to seeing A&T and C&J. And I hope the snow stays, as pup: another tryout for his Musher's Secret paw wax to keep clumps from sticking to his feet!

Back from Vermont

Well, we have finally made it back to Columbus from Vermont. We weren't sure yesterday with the crazy rain-snow mix that seemed to reach everywhere on the east coast, but after a cancelled flight and delays, we actually made it in
earlier than we were originally supposed to!

I attached pictures of Chris' favorite part of the trip, one he termed, "one of the best days of fun", with the snowmobile trip. We had a blast, lots of snow, skiing with mom and sister Amy, and plenty of fun with the nieces and nephews. Also, a picture is attached of them in the snow. We are glad to be back home, although I miss my family a ton! And are highly anticipating the arrival and Andy and Teresa this weekend!

Jenny

Wondering how is the new year...

Slow start, but good, to the new year. At this on-the-floor time of pup digesting his breakfast (that's early a.m. ET), it's a moment to wonder how is the new year for kids. JR&T will be coming, luck has it, to visit this weekend -- Andy facing a near-term life of no vacation days termed the weekend free-flight visit a "surgical strike," but sure to be full of fun to simply visit. C&J are in the hinterland, but maybe back in the next day or so, so by then if not before I'll hear how things were in Vermont, maybe see some pictures we can post. And I think they'll show up over the weekend too. B&B&E&L are, most probably, in the midst of balance-home-and-work-while-commute: we heard this past weekend of their success in finding a possible place to live and child-development spot for Pook, and so I wonder how the possible is developing. But just heard a dog whimper, so it must be time to move on to reality. Later, maybe connection to new facts! 

My New Year's Card

I got a wonderful treat to begin the new year -- a card! My bride gave it to me, a great surprise. The day beginning this year was great: snacking on the leftovers from the Vietnamese shrimp salad, watching "Bringing Up Baby" on TCM instead of the Rose Parade, eating muffins from a mix that came from one of our open house guests, visiting fellow dog-walkers in the park (a two-mammal thing, as you'd guess), taking a nap (Gore's repetitive "The Assault on Reason" will help with that) to ready for the Rose Bowl, snacking on baby quiche, going overboard by eating more (the old corned beef from early this week), going to bed with the bride who gave me the card. And as the evening ended, a call from JR&T, telling of a relaxed New Year's Eve -- a 2nd treat! (Linda said in a previous post we'd heard from B&B&E&L about Thousand Oaks, and know we'll hear more after they've had a chance to sleep. And before I wrote this, I re-read T's great prologue to their New Year's, a 1st as bride for her -- and she got halibut & special potatoes & champagne that night! Now, I'm just waiting to hear from C&J about [1] arrival in Boston, [2] trek to Vermont, and [3] stories of family & snow(?)) Happy 2nd of January! Love, Pop.

Happy New Year All

It is mid-afternoon and all is quiet here.  Pop just went to bed to "rest" but will be up to see the Rose Bowl.  It is a beautiful, sunny, clear, cold day here --- just right for starting a fresh new year.

We enjoyed welcoming the New Year with our friends Linda and Jack and Linda's sister Barbara. Mike was excited to have people coming because he had an excuse to get out his John Ash cookbook and try some new dishes on us.  It was a great meal with all new dishes that started with a mushroom soup and included shrimp, pork and chicken (all different dishes) with rice noodles, interesting mushrooms and another type of noodle Mike will have to name.

Then, of course, we had a fire in our back yard fire pit.  It was a beautiful fire, but we failed to get pictures.  Poor Wally wasn't quite sure what was going on and had a tough time staying awake for all of it.  Pop and I managed only because we took a nap earlier!

We had an early New Year's Eve chat with Barbara (and Ben, a bit, but he was driving with no hands-free device) and it sounds like they packed a lot into the day and a half they were in Thousand Oaks.  Got a place to live and a spot for Pook --- wahoo!! What an exciting year 2009 will be for them.

I wish all of you an exciting, healthy, rewarding 2009!  Love you, Mom