The Vestibular Monologues: Pottery and Pilates

Wrapping it in a bit of turkey has been helpful for us.

He's not a fan. That would work beautifully on Tigger, who is a turkey ho, but Mischa is picky about his snacks. Tuna was a better bet, but he didn't seem to want that much, either. Thank goodness we are almost done with the medicine.

Will he come at a can of sardines, perhaps?

He ate the acidophilus again this morning! Maybe he was just a bit off-color for a day or two? Anyway, we are *almost* done with the antirobe, so I will cross my fingers and stick it out. I feel so bad for him. He is such a brave, affectionate little soul.

Well, this year's singing season has come to a close. Yesterday's concert was everything I could have wished. Hardly a false note or mistake from start to finish, plenty of dynamics, lots of feeling. And the audience loved it.

My brother came, and he brought a date! He said later the evening did more for his holiday spirit than he could say. We are planning a double date so I can get to know the new lady, who might stick around. He says he is going slow, but that so far all the signs are good. It's great to see him happy.

Jim and I went to the after party, and the group sang a number of Christmas carols in four-part harmony. Great food, great wine, great company, great music. Doesn't get much better than that.

bravo!  

krnl said:

bravo! "> 

I know, right? I haven't felt that good in months. Can't wait for next season now, although I need the rest we will have over January. 

I have had several people come up to me recently and say they love my voice. Makes me feel so good, but squirmy all over at the same time. 

Oh! For anyone who is a Facebook friend, a video of one song is on my FB page now. Pretty, but so slow I almost can't sing along with it! 

  Just got home from the hairdresser (salon): Peggy, I'll send you a pic!

My coloured 'flash' is greeny gold, and matches the tinsel that was strung around the salon!!!! I embody the holiday Spirit!!!

Anybody know how to upload a video from Facebook to MOL? I have several great videos now from our concert night before last, but I don't know how to post them here.

Let's try something. If this works, this is a link to the Renaissance choir I sing with these days. Fingers crossed:

https://www.facebook.com/renrevival/?pnref=story

Oooo, it worked, it worked. So, if anyone wants to see/hear the videos from our last concert, there they are. I'm in the front row, at the far right side of the screen (far left from the choir's point of view) with the huge billowing white sleeves.

Very nice Peggy.

Lovely performance; and Eric likes it too!!!

Argh. We finished with the antibiotics for Mischa a couple of days ago, and this morning he is once again shaking his head because his ears are bothering him, and then falling down because one of his inner ears is out of order. So it's back on the antibiotics. I asked the vet if he could have a more tasty version made up by a compounding pharmacy, and he is going to do that. Since that will take a few days, I am picking up the icky one again today and will keep dosing Mischa with that until the tasty suspension arrives. 

*sigh* 

My poor boy. He is so sweet and patient, but clearly rather cross and befuddled that he keeps on having these problems, and even more cross that Mommy keeps shoving syringes in his mouth.

And this is quite an object lesson for those who don't think it hurts a cat to let it outdoors. Mischa was an outdoor cat when we adopted him at about four months of age. Yet he had managed to pick up toxoplasmosis, probably from chewing on infected rodents while he was living on the street. It can lie dormant for years, as it has in this case — Mischa is six now. But now that symptoms have arisen, we have to treat it aggressively or it could kill him. 

Please don't let your cats outside.

Peggy! I just became a real Santa's Helper!   yep me, with my tinsel hair!

D and I popped into the supermarket just after 5.30pm and on our way out, he said, ' there's Santa in shorts, stuffing the big green bags into his boot (trunk)!'. Sure enough, the man in checked shirt, shorts and sandals, with a sporty straw hat is  a working Santa, accredited in the London Times as one of the 12 best in the world. During the day he's at Robina shopping centre, working a 10hour day.

Santa was hauling massive garden bags full of fresh bread and pastries, and off cuts of deli foods from inside the foodhall. He had one assistant with another car, but a dozen trolleys drifting around the busy car park, so D and I helped herd them and wrangle the bags into the cars, for distribution to homeless and low-income families via a Foodbank. So sweet: he offered us a pastry each (we'd just bought some).

So, if you're looking for Christmas spirit and for the real Santa, I think he's on summer holiday over here!! 

  That is so sweet. 

I reached out to my brother this morning to invite him and his kids and even the woman he has been seeing for a few weeks over for Christmas. Holding my breath to see what he says.

Did I tell you that I am preparing a gift for my musical prodigy nephew? I found my Dad's first guitar while clearing the old house, and I am hydrating it now and will replace the strings. I have my fingers crossed it is in good shape after all these years. 

Similarly, I found my mother's Dad's wristwatch while going through a box. I am having it cleaned and will give it to my brother. It still keeps near perfect time.

heirloom  presents are so special, even when they're not in useable condition. Such a meaningful connection to family!

Doing any yarn work? 

no yarn work as gifts this year. I started to wonder whether people might secretly dread another handmade scarf from Aunt Peggy... Cold feet? I don't know. I'm just not feeling it this year. But I am knitting in a casual way for myself and Jum.

We've been talking about the signs that define a season: for me of the things that define the approach of Christmas/New Year is the beginning of scorching weather while you report on yarn and textile projects ( even though it's been a little while). Another is the difference in kitchen projects, the seasonal spreads that are festive but so different yet so evocative. 

Just not Christmas here without juicy crisp watermelon, dark sweet cherries, moist dark sweet rich fruit cake (that no one wants to eat)... And we still make brandy custards, bake hams, roast fowl, etc. But devour them poolside or on the beach, with leftovers as picnics under shady trees, at country racetracks or watching cricket or long yacht races...!

How cold is it there? Is it snowy yet?

"Hydrating"???

sac said:

"Hydrating"???

Give it a good soak in bourbon.  Gives it a rich, mellow tone... 

Oh, stop.   A guitar, like a piano, is made mostly of wood. Proper humidity levels must be maintained or the wood will shrink or even crack. This guitar was kept in a hard case in a closet for decades. So I soaked a small humidifier thing that hangs between the strings in order to make sure the wood is at a healthy level of humidity. 

In the basement, a constant battle rages between me and Jim: he is always lowering the percentage on the dehumidifier, while I am always raising it. The piano should be kept in nearly 50% humidity levels, but he wants to keep the room closer to 35% to keep mildew from coming back. That, over time, would ruin the sound board. And I can't be down there more than half an hour without starting to cough from the dryness.

I will preface this by saying, "Bah, Humbug!"

Now, to the business at hand. Does anyone know how to stop getting shared FB posts from friends whose posts I don't want to see any more? I had succeeded in getting rid of most of my ex-SIL's posts by unfollowing her and her children, but now I'm being carpet bombed by shared photos of her first grandchild, as originally posted by her daughter.

I have no real animosity toward the daughter or grandchild, but I really wish I could avoid seeing every moment of their holiday with Gammy unfolding.

I am no longer "following" either of them, but when they "share" each other's posts, I still get notified. Blech. Not a terribly big deal, but if I could stop seeing these things without having to go to the ungracious length of unfriending them both, I would be moderately gratified.

But on a nicer front, I got the last of the boxes and such from my parents' house yesterday. I am now officially housing the 16' boat I grew up sailing in over the summers, until such time as my nephew has a place for it. Maybe next summer we can get new sails and take it out on one of CT's many lakes!

I also finally brought in my parents' dining room hutch and cleaned it up to use. It feels so bittersweet to be filling it with my own stemware and platters in addition to things that belonged to my ancestors. 

I have been talking a lot lately at home about missing my family and the way we used to celebrate Christmas, and this morning Jim surprised me by bringing the Christmas tree up from the basement without being asked. 

We used to have real trees, but I had gotten tired of bullying him into buying a live one and then planting it in the spring. In this house, though, I wonder whether it would be really nice in the future to have two... The tall, artificial one, and a much smaller, living one to put in the yard in the spring. I could manage that on my own, and it would be so pretty in a front window while the big one hogs the family room.

Of course, with all these urges to work on cleaning and decorating the house, I am having a vertigo attack. So frustrating to be couch-bound when I want to put the tree together!

Oh Peggy, so much still going on for you!  

I'm really no help with Facebook, but maybe someone in Science/Tech would know?  Otherwise, if the pix are a nuisance, why not just unfriend at least the daughter?  I don't think she would be notified, would she??

As to Christmas trees, I love to have a fresh one, too.  If it's a nuisance keeping a tree alive, and another nuisance planting it, why not get a cut one?  They're a crop like wheat, not an attack on the forest primeval, and if you leave it out in the yard till spring, it provides shelter for birds and critters.  You can even hang seed cakes or suet cakes on it if it's accessible (but then, that's another task).  If the birds do take to it, it's cat entertainment?

happy/nostalgic holidays, and feel better!

It's all sounding so pretty and festive at your place, almost postcard. such a change from our dry dust and ant invasions!

I have read that live Christmas trees especially up in the northern hemisphere (where they're native) aren't great for asthmatics and people with persistent chest or throat concerns. So that might be something to watch for.

The FB photos thing: not that I understand it at all, could it have something to do with the photos are now entangled and shared 'in the cloud', or with the timeline entanglements? Ignore me: I'm just wondering aloud about terms I've heard people use.

http://www.techlicious.com/tip/complete-guide-to-facebook-privacy-settings/ 

I've tried emailing it, but our wifi keeps dropping out this morning. It sounds as if the problem might be in how she has her settings.

Actually, asthma is a valid point. I do have a sensitivity to pine resin, and always come up in welts on my hands and arms after putting the lights on a real one, living or cut. And yes, they do make me wheeze a bit. So perhaps artificial is a good way to go, with scented candles for atmosphere? I would love to find a tabletop wooden tree I can put a few ornaments on for the living room... Maybe I can find something colonial/primitive style in one of the local shops.

We are almost done with the clearing at my parents' house, so that's not really an issue any more. Just have to sell it, and that will be rough, but we are in the home stretch. And I can open boxes and incorporate stuff in our new house over time. I am having the most interesting reactions to this process... I am weepy and wistful/wishful at times (okay, a lot) but I also feel more at home now in this house than I have for some time. Combining my parents' stuff with mine is rather powerful.

I will try to post a photo of the hutch we just added to the dining room. It's very much a work in progress, but I love how the dining room is coming together now.

My parents' hutch, which was in their house for my entire life up till now. The contents are a combo of stuff from my grandparents and great grandparents, with many of my own pieces. It's a work in progress, and I had to consult the cats to see if they approved. Niki seems to be on board.

I didn't have the urge to incorporate my mom and dad's stuff into my own home. I have one painting my grandpa painted of a Norwegian barn dance with a fiddler the year I was born, 1947. The difference for me is that my sisters have their stuff and I know who has what and how well it fits into their homes. It is rather powerful. Once your nephew has your boat, the flood of memories will come again.

Oh one of my sons has my mom's turkey platter.  Having thanksgiving at his house that year brought all of the weepy, wistful , wishful feelings you speak of. A nice combination of ouch, oh my, and introspective peace.