Live Long & Prosper

My brother, AJ, his wife, and son came over to visit yesterday.  It was great to see them and catch up on their busy lives.  As they were leaving I asked CA to take a picture. In the first one AJ's jacket flashed back looking, we decided, rather Star Trek-ish.  So he took off his jacket and we gave the Vulcan hand sign to express our wish for everyone in the new year.  Lame, but we thought we were funny.

On our way to Christmas dinner we were surprised to be stopped by the bridge up to let a coal freighter go through.  That's a very graphic sign of how not cold it's been so far this winter.  If freighters can still be coming through the St. Lawrence Seaway on Christmas Day something is very different.  I have always loved living in an International seaport so I'm going to challenge myself to knit up some hats and cowls for the Seaman's Church Institute's Christmas at Sea program.  They have a raft of free knit and crochet patterns on their website and I know I have some yarn down in the stash that'll be perfect for it.

When we came home from dinner the full moon was shining down upon us.  I thought it looked pretty swell hanging over the neighbors' lighted decorations.  I had to take Fifi down the other day as she had wriggled out of her supports in the wind and needs more than a quick and dirty fix in the yard.  I have an idea of how to beef her up a bit to make her a little more wind resistant.

A female Downy Woodpecker came for a suet snack this morning while I was doing my yoga and just as I finished a great, big crow came to perch in the top of the apple tree.  Those birds are big, but not as big as the raven that tried to cadge some of our picnic lunch in Yellowstone a couple years back.  That looked like a pterodactyl standing on the hood of the van.

December 26--1995 Noble Stock, 1538-2.  The woman with the blond frizzy hair closed her eyes and pressed her fingertips to her temples.  "I see..." she said.  Norah thought, if she says "a dark man" I'm going to scream.  It was hot and musty-smelling in the fortune teller's tent at the carnival.  Norah didn't believe in ESP or any other that other weird stuff but she kind of wanted to be proved wrong.  The woman went on, "...an obstacle, nothing you can't overcome but it will slow you down."  She opened her eyes, dropped her hands, and looked at Norah who said, "That's a little vague.  Could you tell me specifics?"  The fortune teller shook her head.  "I call 'em as I see 'em.  If I made this up, don't you think I'd name names and dates?"  That brought Norah up short because that's exactly what she was thinking.

I think I'm going to take a walk and then knuckle down to sewing a dining chair slipcover/play kitchen for someone's birthday in about eight days.
--Barbara