Category Archives: My Life

New Year

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“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.”–T.S. Eliot

 

I intended during my holiday hiatus to do some writing for my blog and maybe tinker with my blog page design. I wanted to think about possible topics for future posts.

Well I did not get anything accomplished because a flu bug derailed my plans. I do think it was not the worst bought of flu I have had. I do get the flu shot every year in hopes of preventing an  infection. But it was definitely enough to knock me out for about a week now. So no thinking about writing and no writing. I did finish reading 2 books the past couple of days which shows I am getting back in the swing.

I read Michael Connelly’s latest book “The Burning Room” about one of my favorite detectives Harry Bosch and I read John Grisham’s book “Gray Mountain,” and liked the themes of little guy against big corrupt corporations and environmental issues. I have had several books waiting to be read and it is good to start getting into them. I read Louise Penny’s latest ” The Long Way Home” before Christmas. Still love Inspector Gamache and Ruth the curmudgeon-y Quebecer Poet with her pet duck Rosa.

The Christmas holiday time was great although my energy level was affected by this flu bug that was starting to do its work. I got to spend time with both of my kids. We did travel up north and had fun visiting my daughter. It was colder but there was sunshine.

Just waiting for my energy level to get up to normal. Still feel like taking a nap. Looks like it will be a quiet New Years as I recuperate. We’re thinking about Chinese food and DVDs.

Happy New Year!

A Few Favorite Things for the Holidays

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untitled Unknown Children, probably Carolers by Louisa Anne Marchioness via wikimedia

The best thing about the holidays for me is getting together with my kids. I do not get into a lot of shopping, decorating, sending out holiday cards, knitting, baking or making eggnogs. My husband sometimes will make the eggnog. I try not to drink more than one serving because it is a bit fattening but very tasty. I did have a pint of eggnog ice cream in the freezer and now somehow it is gone.

I appreciate all the yummy things Trader Joes  has on sale this time of year like Honey Walnut Fig Cream Cheese. Another great invention of theirs is Slicing Brie which is a little log of brie that you can slice for crackers. Great for entertaining or snacking. Guaranteed to add several more inches and pounds.

I do contact friends and family at least by email or Facebook to wish them happy which ever holiday they are celebrating. I give money to the Santa ringing the bell in front of the Salvation Army kettle. I like to buy a toy for Toys for Tots.

There is something else I like about the holidays. It is listening to the Christmas music on the radio. At least at the beginning of the season. They start playing it right after Thanksgiving. By the time Christmas rolls around I have had enough.

Many of the songs or carols take me back to when I was in Catholic school. They still raise my spirits when I first hear them. Like Come All Ye Faithful, The First Noel, Little Town of Bethlehem, Joy to the World, Silent Night and Angels We Have Heard on High. We used to sing some of them in Latin. Angels We Have Heard on High has the phrase ” Gloria, in excelsis Deo” ( Glory to God in the Highest)  and O Come all Ye Faithful in Latin is Adeste Fideles and here in part:

Adeste Fideles laeti triumphantes,
Venite, venite in Bethlehem.
Natum videte, Regem Angelorum;

Refrain:

Venite adoremus,
venite adoremus,
venite adoremus
Dominum!

I have a memory of singing that carol in a choir with my classmates. I don’t think we sounded like this via You Tube by Julio Fernanadez:

Others I like are Hark the Herald Angels Sing, We Three Kings of Orient Are, and Deck the Halls. There are others that I have learned later in life The Holly and the Ivy and O Come Emmanuel. I think O Come Emmanuel is beautiful. I first heard The Holly and the Ivy in an old  British film of the same title.

Of course we all sang Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

Do you have any favorite holiday songs?

My Writing Space

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Guilty Pleasure

My Writing Space

At present I do not have a separate room where I do my writing. I sit at our kitchen table and write on my laptop. I do have a couple of open rooms in the house that I could convert to a physical space for myself to write. These were my kids bedrooms. One still contains some of my daughters furniture and other belongings.  At some point in the near future I envision setting up one of these bedrooms for myself.

For so many years when my kids were growing up I did not have a space for myself in the house. I often thought how nice it would be to have a room to use as an office or just for my own space. Maybe it is because I have gotten so used to not having a room of my own that I haven’t set one of our bedrooms up for myself yet.

The environment can be less than ideal in a shared space like the kitchen. My husband often works at home. He can be going in and out of the room and talking to me. There have been many times when I get pretty irritable about being interrupted when I am on my blog. Especially when I am writing and organizing my thoughts. If the radio is on with music or news this can be another irritation. On my own I work in the quiet.

Space for writing is not just physical. It is psychological as well. It is taking the time out of the day to sit down, ponder and allow the creative process to begin. I need to carve out the time every day for myself to be creative in this way. To make a writing space in my day and in my life.

katgotyourtongueThis post is for the writing event on Kat’s blog Dandelion Fuzz. The event is open to all interested bloggers. Click on the link for more info.

The Holidays are Coming So Why Do I Feel Like a Grinch

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Here we are swiftly heading toward Hanukkah and Christmas.  I don’t get as caught up in the holiday celebrations so much lately. Why is that? I think my way of wanting to celebrate has changed. I realize that I celebrated the holidays for my kids when they were living at home. I still like to make Thanksgiving. I really like Thanksgiving. I think it engenders feelings of family warmth and togetherness for me more than the other holidays.

Now it is just me and my husband here in the house. The empty nest. Both of our kids are adults and making their own lives. We will be seeing them and spending time with them which is very nice. They both have their own ways of celebrating with their partners.

I don’t feel like decorating the house. It seems like house decorating could be rated on a scale. Some people really go all out and have their yards and houses covered with decorations and lights. I imagine the interior of their houses might look like a holiday craft magazine layout. Then on the other end of the scale is me. No outside lights or decorations and nothing on the inside of the house as of now. I noticed there are other neighbors who do not put up lights outside as well. I wonder if it has to do with religious differences.

My husband did not grow up with Christmas celebrations in his home or lights outside so he does not care and does not miss anything if I choose not to decorate. My son and daughter-in-law do have a Christmas tree and my daughter usually doesn’t for environmental reasons.  We all do exchange small gifts.

I don’t feel like making anything for Hanukkah either. We will probably light the menorah. We usually go to my son’s or to one of my sister-in-laws for Hanukkah gatherings.

My grinchy-ness could be that I don’t feel the need to decorate my house and make so many preparations in the past few years because my family has grown up.  Now I can take a break and enjoy being the guest at their houses.

I know I am fortunate that my kids are not too far away. My son lives nearby and my daughter is in the same state. We will be seeing both of them over the holidays. There are people who do not have families or their kids close by and that has got to be hard for them or they could be estranged.

If you have an empty nest it may be that the holiday celebrations have shifted to your kids homes as well. Or if your kids are too far away how have you decided to celebrate the holidays?

 

Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful-Let it Rain, Let it Rain, and Blizzard

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LA River
Thunderstorm via Pixabay
Donner Pass via Sierra College.edu
Mammoth Ski Resort via wikipedia
US Drought Monitor Chart

“Sopping, and with no sign of stopping, either- then a breather. Warm again, storm again- what is the norm, again? It’s fine, it’s not, it’s suddenly hot: Boom, crash, lightning flash!”

–The Old Farmer’s Almanac

We Californians don’t do well with big weather. After all, this is a sunshine state. The LA Times ran a story Wednesday about the Pacific Storm system heading our way and according to a JPL Climatologist Bill Patzert these storms have “declared war on the drought” and can bring blizzards to the Northern Sierra Nevada mountains. The ski resorts are happy to hear snow is on the way. It does increase our snow pack in the Sierras which brings us our water.

I can remember when I was new to Southern California and we would get a big rain storm. Intersections would be flooded and street drains overflowing.  I asked my husband why does LA have such a bad drainage system. He would say LA is just not prepared for a lot of rain.

One of the first winters in our house we had a big rain storm. It rained for about 14 hours straight. Well our property was not prepared for so much rain. We found out our back yard had a poor drainage system with the patio tilting down slightly toward our house. Well you can imagine our surprise to look out the patio door in the morning and see about a half-foot of water sitting up against the house. It was still raining and my poor husband went out to bail the water off our patio. He was out there in the cold rain bailing water. The problem was where to put the water. Our swimming pool was gradually filling up to the top. The water was starting to fill most of our yard.

A neighbor came to the rescue that year. He had a pool as well and anticipated our problem. He brought us a little electric pool pump he had. My husband set it up on the patio and attached a garden hose to it that acts as the drain and ran the hose around the side of our house to the gutter in front. That little pump was a real trooper and managed to drain the water off our back patio. We ended up buying one of our own. We did need it a few more winters. We did eventually get our patio re-done and put in better drainage in the yard. So we are in a much better position now for rain storms.

People tend to forget about the natural water channels here. Like the Ventura River which is usually dry. One year during a big storm, the river became a real river. Some people had set up a trailer park in the river bed. Well you can picture what happened. Many of those trailers were swept down the water filled river to the ocean.

People here have trouble driving in the rain and there are always traffic jams due to accidents. You haven’t lived until you have driven a low profile car on the freeway and had a truck pass you in a rain storm. The windshield of your car gets hit with a wave of water. It makes visibility a bit tough. And you want to look out for water pooling on the side of the road or at intersections or you can find your car hydroplaning.

I am happy that I do not have to commute toward LA. My work takes me to the areas outlying the metro area. I experience traffic but not on the scale of the traffic going into LA from here. I have figured out my route  that will avoid the freeway all together.

My husband still commutes several days a week into LA. He always anticipates rain with dread. He warns me when it is expected to rain and likes to keep apprised of the weather reports.

The rain started around 10 PM last night. I was awoken in the middle of the night. I heard the rain pouring down in buckets with some being blown toward our windows around 3 AM. It had been raining steadily for quite a while. I looked out into the backyard. So far not flooding. The drains are doing their job well.

Some Rambling Thoughts about Focus

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250px-Boreas by John William Waterhouse 1903 via wikipedia

“One way to boost our will power and focus is to manage our distractions instead of letting them manage us.” –Daniel Goleman

 

I get frustrated trying to take a photo because it is hard for me to be sure the image is in focus. I wear glasses for reading now and it seems that this does not help when I am trying to focus a camera or my phone to take pictures.

I have trouble staying focused in other ways at times. I can get distracted by interesting things on the internet and spend way too much time browsing. I am not a regimented person. Left to my own devices I enjoy following my own schedule. Which can mean no schedule. I can meander through the hours.

I do like having choices of what to do with my time.  If I have an appointment or need to do some work at a certain time I am good with that. But otherwise I really like to call my own shots.

It is easier to focus on things we enjoy doing.  Like reading an article that catches my eye, watching a favorite film or reading a favorite author.

Social media like blogging can be very alluring and distracting.  I am drawn into perusing the “likes” on my posts and comments.  I enjoy the back and forth chats I get into sometimes in the comment sections. But then it is harder to focus and organize my thoughts about what I may want to write. There is a need for a schedule or regular routine to better order my day when I have this time I do have. To structure it for myself. To bring things into focus.

 

katgotyourtongue

 

 

 

 

|KatGotYourTongue|

The Christmas Train

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Holiday-Lights-Train-hdr Santa Cruz via beachboardwalk.com

We were stopping overnight in Santa Cruz on our way up the coast to visit our daughter. We were meeting her in Sonoma. We wanted to break the drive up instead of driving straight through in one day. Santa Cruz is about half way.

We thought we would go to a Thai Restaurant for dinner that our daughter had introduced us to when she was living in Santa Cruz. As we drove up to the restaurant we noticed it was closed. This was Christmas Eve.  My husband started checking his smart phone for other places. If you stay on the main streets it is very well-lit. When you get onto the residential streets it is quite dark.

We were pulling up to a stop light and the street was very dark with a heavy mist in the air. I noticed some bright lights down the road coming toward the intersection. I wasn’t sure what it was until it got closer as the mist caused the lights to glow.

It was a train covered in beautiful Christmas lights and decorations. It looked like something from the Polar Express. It slowly came across the intersection and stopped.

We were transfixed. It was so beautiful. We could see passengers inside having a good time. Santa Claus was walking down the aisle of the train giving out gifts from his large sack.

Slowly the train began moving again and left the intersection behind. We sat there for a while looking after it. We did find another great Thai restaurant a while later. I did not know about the Christmas Train. I would love to take a ride on it if we are up in Santa Cruz again around Christmas.

Here is a video by Matt Corley via You Tube:

The Christmas Train is operated by Roaring Camp Railroads. The train in the video is shown crossing Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz.

The City of Paris

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The City of Paris in San Francisco was a beautiful department store that was founded in the years of the California Gold Rush. I remember it in its final location on Geary and Stockton. The store had an open rotunda which was a large open circular space that went all the way to the beautiful stained glass dome ceiling.

During the Christmas season the City of Paris filled their rotunda with a giant Christmas tree. The store fell on hard times and Neiman Marcus wanted to buy the property and tear down the building. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and many San Franciscans fought against it. Neiman Marcus won and they tore down the original building.

One happy note about this story is that they preserved the rotunda with the stained glass dome in the new store.  Part of the stained glass image contains the motto  “Fluctuat nec Mergitur,” which means It floats but never sinks.

City of Paris at Union Square
Rotunda Dome
Rotunda from old City of Paris
December 2007 Neiman Marcus SF Photo by Miguel Vieira
City of Paris

 

Historical information from the Nora Leishman article on foundsf.org and More history of the City of Paris