St. Sylvester's Day

I always like that New Year's Eve is St. Sylvester's. I used to have the cutest little budgie named Sylvester, blue with a yellow face...he used to sit on my knee and say "Birds can't talk"...I remember one time I was sick, I fixed him a little spot on my blanket, sitting on a Kleenex, and we both took a nap together. Every once in a while I would open one eye to check on him and I would see him open one eye to check on me back, and we took care of each other.

Ah, my last day off. I did some bathroom cleaning today, and then had to get something to the post office, so I threw on a jacket and went out. Wish I'd changed shirts, because by the time I was out an hour, it was getting really warm (it went up to 65°F today) and I would have loved to have taken it off. Since I was out anyway, I went to the Borders at Parkway Pointe and to my surprise, found the January issue of the British "Country Living." I've never seen one of those for the next month during the present month before (if you know what I mean).

Finding that made me think of finding the November "Best of British" a few weeks back. Could it be possible they might have gotten the next issue? Yeah, I got drawn into Buckhead. Went through Mt. Paran Road, happy to see that so many people have left up their Christmas decorations through the new year this year. Last year, so many folks seemed to rip everything down right after Christmas.

Alas, the Borders in Buckhead still had the November one. I still hope that means they might have a December one in future weeks. I miss "Best of British." I did find "Sully's" book for $4, though, and something for James for Valentines Day.

Came home through the freeway rather than surface streets because I feared ending up behind yet another SUV doing 20MPH. I wanted to get home in 2010, not 2011. :-)

I made a chicken salad sandwich and sat down to work on yesterday's blog entry while watching "The Little Christmas Tree" with Lassie and Corey Stuart, the wonderful film The Gathering with Edward Asner and Maureen Stapleton, and "The Ghost of Christmas Past" from The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Then a surprise! James got out early! So he was able to come in and relax while I watched Rudolph's Shiny New Year, and as twilight came on we went out to supper at Ken's (pork chops, of course, and sliced tomatoes), then drove to Life University to see their "Lights of Life" display. We hadn't done that yet this season. They had a couple of new displays, including a "praying hands," and so many of their lights are now done in LED; the dragon looks particularly good with LED lighting.

For a New Year's treat we had ice cream at Bruster's. We were astonished to see that the IHOP was closed. Wow. I didn't think the IHOP ever closed!

And then we came home and did what everyone does on New Year's Eve...watched The Poseidon Adventure? What? You don't? We got into the habit when Fox Movie Channel used to show it back to back to back on New Year's Eve, one year the full screen alternating with the widescreen, another year the movie alternating with the movie with pop-up facts, one year with a documentary on Poseidon Adventure fans (and they say science fiction fans are odd!). They quit doing it the year of the tsunami.

Now we are watching the network festivities, listening to firecrackers going off outside, and holding a party on chat. Home with family and online with more family. good times.

Oh, oh! Happy New Year, everyone!


The House Without a Christmas Tree, Gail Rock
Another perennial favorite, this of course is based on the Christmas special of the same name. Rock's text fleshes out the characters even more: we learn more about Grandma's eccentricities, witness Carla Mae's home life that so appeals to Addie, and other details that add more to the story. The book tale is different in minor ways that don't detract from the television story and vice versa. A book to find if you were fond of the special and always wished for more of Addie.