Wednesday, December 31, 2008



Christmas has come and gone...another great holiday season is about to join the "remember when" conversations and thoughts that we pull out when feeling nostalgic toward the end of each year.

I think most people would say good riddance to 2008, a year filled with pink slips, financial strain and political in-fighting and loss of "the American Dream". However, I think 2008 has taught us some very important lessons that I hope we will hang onto in 2009 and beyond.

We learned that alternative fuels do not necessarily cost anything or take years to develop... A bicycle or our own two feet will work nicely to pick up a carton of milk at the local grocer's or a few books at the library. 2008 also taught us that turning over a little plot of soil in the yard and dropping in a few seeds can yield us not only cheaper food, but better tasting...not to mention the wide variety available from farmers who only had to drive a few miles, as opposed to that bland head of lettuce that was trucked in from California.

I think we've discovered over the past year that "things" are not what make us who we are. If we live within our means and take care of the people around us, that is a better indicator of our worth than if we live in a half-million dollar, 4000 square-foot home meant to impress, as opposed to a modest home in which we can provide our families with the things they really need. The "keeping-up-with-the-Joneses" culture is no longer in style, thank God!

Most importantly, we have truly come to see our country...often referred to as a melting pot of cultures...as the land of opportunity for all as we elected as our next president a man many of us saw first and foremost as the most qualified, but who also happened to be a black man.


So, amid the setbacks we have moved forward...forward in thoughts and actions. I think we've accomplished a great deal in 2008. I am looking forward to 2009, to a new year of possibilities...but I will take with me the best of the past and try to avoid its mistakes.

Happy New Year!

Sunday, December 21, 2008


A White Christmas!!


Winter has arrived!! There is absolutely no doubt about that! Here in Central New York we received around 8 to 10 inches on Friday as a fast-moving storm moved through and wreaked havoc on the area all day. Of course, the husband believes that's the best time to go Christmas shopping...and he was right! The stores and restaurants were pretty empty!
This morning we have awoken to another round of the white stuff. Although it will be much worse north of us today, we already have 4 or 5 inches of new snow on the ground. To add to this, on the backside of the storm the winds will eventually turn into the northwest and send the lake effect snow off of Lake Ontario toward us. Significant accumulations are expected during the day tomorrow.
I wish I didn't have to drive in to work in the morning, but I am very excited to be able to safely predict a White Christmas!!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Four More Days!!


Every year Christmas seems to get a bit more hectic; but I guess that makes the satisfaction of getting it all done on time that much greater.

We got a late start this year with all of our holiday preparations and gift-buying, but with FOUR DAYS to go we are just about ready for the big day!! A few more packages to wrap...a few little things to pick up...pies and cookies and fudge to bake... But that is what makes it so much fun...the rush!! And the morning after, as we eat the left-over Christmas breakfast quiche, we'll wish we could wrap everything up and do it all over again.

But for right now, we can savor the anticipation as we tie the last few ribbons and sprinkle a little more sugar on the last batch of sweets. Everyone smiles a little more and complains a little less, and even the house feels a little cozier.

I love Christmas!!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

TRACK SANTA ON CHRISTMAS EVE!!!


Make sure you're in bed on time!! Track Santa on Christmas Eve as he makes his rounds throughout the world. Don't let him catch you awake!!
Click the Link Above!!

Great Grandma's Christmas Music


The holidays are such a nostalgic time. I've always wished I could have met my great grandmother. My mother had been very close to her, and she talked about her quite a bit when I was growing up.

Great-Grandma was born in England but was sent to an orphanage in Canada when she was very young, along with the rest of the girls in her family. She was adopted by an older couple looking for a boy to help with the farmwork...but they fell in love with her dark curls and bright blue eyes and took her home with them instead. (If this story sounds familiar, I suspect it's because Lucy Maud Montgomery brought to life a similar one with "Anne of Green Gables"!)

Many years later, a young man asked her parents for her hand in marriage and was told that she would not make a good housewife because she had learned to do farmwork and not the usual work of a woman. But, my great grandfather did not care. They married, and after he served in WWI, and their family had grown to include three children, they loaded their belongings onto a wagon and crossed the border into the United States, settling in the North Country...which is where I grew up.

I am proud to own several items that belonged to my Great-grandmother, including one of the trunks that she brought here with her. I also am the current care-taker of her collection of 78rpm records, which I like to think may have traveled underneath the rounded top of that trunk. It is an honor to me to own such a thing...and it is even more incredible to listen to the same sounds, scratches and all, that previous generations of my family listened to...and with the same technology, as I crank up the phonograph!

The video clip above is of "It Came Upon The Midnight Clear", performed by the Victor Oratorio Chorus. It is most likely from about 1915. (Sorry for how dark it is...it looked much better before I uploaded it...)

Merry Christmas!

A Quote From My Latest Recommended Read:

"When my generation of women walked away from the kitchen we were escorted down that path by a profiteering industry that knew a tired, vulnerable marketing target when they saw it. "Hey ladies," it said to us, "go ahead, get liberated.
We'll take care of dinner." They threw open the door and we walked into a nutritional crisis and genuinely toxic food supply......We came a long way, baby, into bad eating habits and collaterally impaired family dynamics. No matter what else we do or believe, food remains at the center of every culture. Ours now runs on empty calories."

- Barbara Kingsolver
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle