Paint Your Palette Blue and Gray



Artwork by Dreama Kattenbraker

My community is not what one might call completely devoid of art, but I don't consider Roanoke to be a pinnacle of it, either. We have the Taubman Museum of Art, which I visit on occasion, and Hollins University has a museum that I enjoy. There are a few other smaller art museums around, too.

We also have some fine local artists. I have the work of some of them hanging in my home, as I like to support them. I especially like renderings of Botetourt or other landscapes. Some of my artist friends deal more in fantasy or expressionism, and I like their work as well. Just as I like to read in many genres, I enjoy many different kinds of art.


Painting by Fincastle artist Ed Bordett

I took a few art classes under Nancy Dahlstrom at Hollins. She is one of our local artists and currently has a show at the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum on campus through February 21. I am hoping to get by to see it.

Nancy was a great teacher. Instead of telling me that I couldn't draw (I can't), she would say something like, "That's a great line right there." But even I could see that my talent for visual artwork was lacking.

While I consider myself a creative person, my creativity tends to lie in my thinking and not so much in my doing. I have attempted needlework in the past, and done okay. But I am not very good at crafty things, or folk art, or anything like that.



Wood turnings by local
artist Willie Simmons

Sometimes I think I need to try different mediums. Pottery has appeal; I rather like the idea of getting dirty and throwing mud at something. When I was very young I had a rock tumbler that shined up stones, and I remember I liked that very much. I'm not sure what one does with shiny stones, though.

So while I enjoy arts and crafts, and love seeing the work of others, I feel quite inept in this area.

One of my photos
 

I do take decent photos, and perhaps there is where I should look for improvement. I have not trained in photography, so I feel I could take even better pictures with a few courses. I have read books about it and I took a class in the 1980s, so long ago that I barely remember it. Of course that was using film cameras, not digital.

I know just enough about design to be dangerous and to realize that taking a step in one direction or the other can make all the difference in a shot. But most of the time, I think my photography turns out well simply through luck. That, and the fact that I have always, even when I was using film, taken more than one shot of something, trying various angles to get the better view.

One of the things I would like to do is create something with my photos to sell. Notecards come to mind, but I am stymied by the process. I am not good at graphic design on the computer or making changes to tweak the pictures. I don't have software that "makes" cards. They also need to be professionally printed, I think.

I suffer from "not good enough" syndrome, however one might define that, and while I have sold enough pictures to newspapers and magazines to be considered a professional photographer, I certainly do not consider myself to be one.

At the moment, I have 29,786 images on my computer, dating as far back as 2011. So I take a lot of photos, almost 10,000 a year. Occasionally I go through and delete duplicates, or try to. After all, who needs 20 pictures of the same doe in the front yard? Apparently I do, since I take so many. It comes from trying to be perfect, I suppose.

One of my 1,000s of deer
pictures.

How do you feel about art, dear reader? Is it a part of your life? I feel like art is something that is dying as we focus more of our efforts on making money. Artists have lost their patrons and thus have had to become entrepreneurs. I fear many create what sells instead of what their heart tells them. Art should illustrate our lives and make statements. It can be a force for change, even, or a conveyor of messages, political, religious, or otherwise. Art is not respected by many, and people who want to become artists (or writers) are often considered flighty or otherwise not exactly normal by the masses.

Yet artists are also envied, because they live a life closer to the soul than most of us. They have to look inward, be introspective, and consider the many different perspectives available to them as they begin a project. They have to be self-starters or their work would never be started, much less completed. I think there is something in the artist that we all admire, however secretly. Perhaps we even covet that lifestyle, that freedom to create and be a creator.

I like art. I hope to make more visits to the local museums this year.

Starry, Starry Night

I have long been fascinated by the night sky. I feel a great affinity for the moon and the pull of her power. I love how she is a lamp for those who need to see in the dark when she is at full power, and how she hides away during the new moon phase, giving shelter to those who need and seek dark places.

Sometimes we all need to hide from the light.

When I hear about meteor showers, I stay up to watch the streaks fly across the sky. I have been known to pull my car out of the garage and watch through the windshield on cold nights.

I photograph eclipses, or try to, and I watch the International Space Station when it flies overhead. (It can currently be seen in the early morning hours; on Wednesday, January 7, at 6:36 a.m., it will be in view for a full 6 minutes in the Fincastle area.)

When my mother became ill, my aunt bought her a star. I don't know where her star is in the sky and couldn't find her name in any online registry, though I noted that most of them did not go back that far in their listings. I thought it was pretty cool to buy a star, though I don't think that star name has any "officialness" about it (The International Astronomy Union, founded in 1919, says there is no way to officially name a star after someone). Regardless, it was a sweet gesture.

One thing I do not know, though, is the constellations. I can find a few of them - mainly the Big and Little Dippers, which apparently aren't even listed in the modern constellations - but others elude me. Even with a map of the sky I usually cannot figure it out. That's pretty sad, given that there are 88 constellations in the current listings.

Many of the constellations relate back to Greek and Roman mythology or astrology. Among the names I recognize from a chart are Andromeda, Aries, Cancer, Cassiopeia, Centaurus, Gemini, Hercules, Hydra, Leo, Libra, Orion, Pegasus, Pisces, Sagittarius, Taurus, and Virgo. Of course, that is not all of them. You can find the list of them all here, along with what look like very complicated charts.

Perhaps this will be the year that I study the stars, gazing upwards with a sky chart to find those constellations. It would be a nice way to spend a warm summer's night, standing in the grass, smelling the scent of cut hay, and watching the fireflies blink.

The Time Their Great-Uncle Caught His Hand in the Hay Baler

From Sunday Stealing
2014/2015

1. What one event, big or small, are you going to tell your grandchildren about?

A. I have no children, and hence no grandchildren, but maybe I will tell some future great-niece or nephew about the time their great-uncle caught his hand in the hay baler and lived to tell about it.

2. If you had to describe your 2014 in 3 words, what would they be?

A. This year sucked.

3. What new things did you discover about yourself?

A. I have less patience than I once did.

4. What single achievement are you most proud of?

A. I still get up every morning.

5. What was the best news you received?

A. Personally, my best news was that my bleeding ulcers were finally healing, a year after they were diagnosed. In my marriage, the best news was that my husband would not lose his arm and/or hand.

6. What was your favourite place that you visited in 2014?

A. Barnes and Noble.

7. Which of your personal qualities turned out to be the most helpful this year?

A. Righteous anger. Hell, I don't know.

8. Who was your number one go-to person that you could always rely on?

A. My husband, along with a couple of friends whom I shall not name.

9. Which new skills did you learn?

A. I learned how to walk with a cane.

10. What, or who, are you most thankful for?

A. My husband.

11. If someone wrote a book about your life in 2014, what kind of genre would it be? A comedy, love story, drama, film noir or something else?

A. A tragedy with a moderately decent ending, in that the hero and heroine (my husband and myself) are not dead yet despite apparent efforts of the universe to put them into the ground.

12. What was the most important lesson you learnt in 2014?

A. I know "learnt" is a real word, but it's not one used much in modern English. I did not learn that, I already knew it. Otherwise, I learned how important it is to hold someone's hand when you love them and they are in pain.

13. Which mental block(s) did you overcome?

A. I don't know that I overcame any of them.

14. What 5 people did you most enjoy spending time with?

A. I am not going to list people, although my husband is always number one.

15. What was your biggest break-through moment career-wise?

A. I didn't have one.

16. How did your relationship to your family evolve?

A. I found out that my brother could be counted on to help me out in an emergency.

17. What book or movie affected your life in a profound way?

A. I cried over The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies even though as a last movie to a great series it totally missed the mark. The Book Thief (book, not the movie), also moved me.

18. What was your favourite compliment that you received this year?

A. Several people have told me I have great strength although I do not see it.

19. What little things did you most enjoy during your day-to-day life?

A. Looking out my window at nature as she passes by.

20. What cool things did you create this year?

A. I don't know that I created much of anything, except perhaps a little chaos now and then.

21. What was your most common mental state this year (e.g. excited, curious, stressed)?

A. Depressed.

22. Was there anything you did for the very first time in your life this year?

A. I went to the University of North Carolina's Women's Hospital.

23. What was your favourite moment spent with your friends?

A. Any moment spent with any of my friends is a favorite moment. I love the women I hang out with.

24. What major goal did you lay the foundations for?

A. I've stuck with physical therapy and I went back to Weight Watchers. I'm doing okay with the former and failing miserably with the latter, at least right now. Maybe it will get better.

25. Which worries turned out to be completely unnecessary?

A. For a while there I feared my husband would lose his arm, but he did not. I'm not sure that was unnecessary, though. I was worried that my ulcers wouldn't heal but they have, so maybe that one was unnecessary. I tend to worry a lot over things anyway.

Saturday 9: Kentucky Rain

Saturday 9: Kentucky Rain (1970)

Next Thursday, the 8th would be Elvis' 80th birthday, so we're celebrating The King. Here is this week's song.

Good song! Hadn't heard this one in a while.


1. In this song, Elvis hitchhikes across Kentucky. Have you ever hitched a ride?

A. Not exactly. Not with the thumb stuck out or anything, accepting rides from strangers. But I've hitched rides with friends.

2. Elvis received his first guitar for his 11th birthday, even though he'd asked his parents for a bicycle. As an adult, how often do you ride a bike?

A. I have an exercise bike. Does that count? 

3. When Elvis was a child, his family was very poor, often living in rooming houses or public housing. His classmates teased him for being "trashy," which left him shy. Were you more shy or outgoing as a kid?

A. I have always been introverted and shy.

4. While in high school, Elvis mowed neighbors' lawns with a push mower and a sickle. According to The Home Depot, one of today's most popular mowers is a gas-powered Cub Cadet with a self-mulching feature. Tell us about your lawn mower.

A. It's a blue riding mower. It's a Ford something or another and looks more like a small tractor than a mower. I can't drive it because I am too short. I have to sit far up on the seat to reach the foot pedals, and that makes the automatic shut-off beneath the seat activate and kill the engine.

5. In the 1950s, Frank Sinatra dismissed Elvis as, "deplorable." Yet by the time of Elvis' death, he had revised his opinion and said, "Elvis was the embodiment of the whole American culture." Tell us about something or someone you changed your mind about.

A. I used to think Ronald Reagan was a harmless president. I don't think that any more. I think he did more damage to this country than any other leader.

6. After Elvis was discharged from the Army, his first performance was on a Sinatra TV special, sponsored by Timex. Do you wear a watch? 

A. I do, and it is a Timex.

7. Coinciding with Elvis' 80th birthday, there will be an auction of Presley-related memorabilia at his home in Graceland. One item up for bid is a plush toy he gave to an Army buddy's wife in 1958 for the baby she was expecting. Do you know anyone who is looking forward to a baby in 2015?

A. Can't say that I do.

8. None of the items being sold at the Graceland auction actually belonged to Elvis at the time of his death. Everything left to daughter Lisa Marie remains in her possession. Do you have something you cherish that was given to you by a close relative?

A. Yes. A pair of scissors that belonged to my great-great-grandmother.

9. The US Postal service sold more than 500 million of the Elvis commemorative stamp. According to the Census Bureau, that was two stamps each for every man, woman and child in the United States. When is the last time you visited the post office?

A. We actually stopped in on New Year's Eve, but the post office had already closed for the day. We didn't realize it was closing at noon.

The New Role of Pets

When I was a child, I grew up with dogs. We always had a dog of some kind, and frequently we had more than one. We also had cows, chickens, exotic birds, and other pets. (We never had cats, though. My father hated cats.)

The dogs were dogs. The poodles came in the house sometimes but also stayed outside. They did not go on vacation with us, nor did they stay in motels. They did not go into Lowes when we went shopping. They stayed home and did doggy things while we were gone. We didn't worry about separation anxiety or if the dog food from China was secretly doing something to the pets. The dogs didn't sit with us when we watched TV or ate dinner, and they most certainly weren't sleeping in our beds.

About six months into my marriage, I came home with a black puppy. She was a mix of a terrier and a spitz, I think. She was not a large dog but she stayed outside. I brought her into the garage when winter nights grew cold, but she hated it. She would dart out the door as soon as I opened it for her, regardless of the freeze.

She had a nice dog house and she received a new bed and a blanket frequently. She had squeaky toys, and her dog food smelled bad but she seemed to like it.

The dog did not go on vacations with me, or take trips to the store, or spend time with me inside my home. I talked to her through the screen door, and petted her a couple of times a day (after which I would have to go wash my hands because I am highly allergic to pet dander). I took her to the vet for her shots when the time came, and once rushed her there when I came home and found her quite ill. I even shot a groundhog in her defense, the only time I ever deliberately shot and killed anything besides a snake.

She was my dog, not my best friend.

She lived for 17 years so I must have done something right with her, just treating her like a dog, and like dogs were treated when I was growing up. It took me a long time to stop watching for her after she passed away, because she would jump up and down in great excitement when my car came up the drive. I missed that for many years. I loved my dog even though I was allergic to her, and because of my allergies, we didn't get another one when she died.

However, I confess that in the last decade or so, the treatment of animals has perplexed me. Suddenly there are dogs in Lowes. Dogs in Kroger. Dogs in hotels. We stayed at a Hilton a few years ago that stunk so badly of wet dog that we had to check out and go elsewhere because I was having an asthma attack every five minutes.

I still like dogs, as a rule, though I confess I am afraid of large dogs. I don't like dogs in stores or hotels. When I see a dog in an aisle in Lowes, I go the other way. I have been known to actually leave a building with an animal in it, particularly if it is a large shedding one that the owner seems to have little control over. Why people think I get joy from having their animal sniff my leg is beyond me.

I don't.

I have puzzled over this for a long time. Why were animals suddenly being treated like children? Why have dogs (and cats, too, I suppose, though I have no experience with them) reached near-human status in our minds?

I finally found the answer. It's our isolation. Our self-imposed isolation. We have isolated ourselves to the point that we have turned animals into the companions that people are supposed to be.

This is the result of many things. Individual housing, for one, where immediate families and not extended families live together. Just a few generations ago, grandmothers and grandchildren and the folks in between lived under one rambling roof, or at least near each other, on the same farm, or next door in the city in similar tenement dwellings. Then we became industrialized, and families grew apart and away from one another. People moved around and stayed far away from their neighbors.

The more cloistered we became, the less social we were, until we have the closed and individualistic groupings that pass as society today. With the advent of the Internet, we have even less reason to interact with people on a human and humane level.

We don't entertain like we once did, either. I remember evenings when my parents had people over to play cards. The neighbors would come and games would ensue. The adults would sit at a table laughing, telling dirty jokes, and having fun. We children would play hide and seek, Chutes and Ladders, Hi Ho, Cherry-Os! or Monopoly.

Humans are social creatures. We crave interactions with one another. We need hugs, cuddles, kisses, and intimacy. Even the most introverted of us - and I count myself in that group - need other people from time to time. Somewhere along the line we determined that Vitamin T (Touch) was something undesirable, dirty even.

So we have distanced ourselves from one another to the point that we are singularly islands adrift in a vast ocean of consciousness, occasionally bouncing into one another but seldom connecting.

Pets, however, offer us that connection that we have eliminated and removed from our relationships with one another. Dogs can lick you, slobber all over you, jump for joy at your return, and dive into your arms, all without any disdain from a sneering great aunt.

That is why animals are now more important to many people than other people. We don't have best friends anymore. We have best animals.

It took me a long time to figure that out.

Thursday Thirteen! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Welcome 2015!

I can't believe we've reached the year when Marty McFly would be middle-aged (Back to the Future II, for the non-geeks). I don't have a hoverboard, and neither does anyone else.

In 1989, this year seemed so far away. I was only 26 years old and had my whole life ahead of me. And now here we are, living in it, and I'm 51 and will turn 52 in six months.

Life goes on.

It's Thursday 13 day, and I could make my new year's resolutions, but I am not up to that. I want to do something different, so I'm going to predict the new year in 2115. That's 100 years from now. What will we find?

1. Humans won't be top dog. Thanks to cyborg technology, machines will rule us.

2. However, that same technology will allow people to live a long time - almost forever (we'll make good slaves for the machines). We'll have mechanical arms and replacement parts. Maybe the revered engineers, computer programmers, and machine creators will even have total brain transplants. I'm sure that, like current health care, only the best and the ones with the most money will get that kind of attention.

3. Those machines will control the weather. Wars will be waged not with bombs, but with hurricanes and tsunamis.

4. Our homes will be solar and wind powered. We won't own them, either - we'll lease them. Everything will be leased, from our clothes to our food.

5. Everyone will have a little chip put in them at birth. Easy GPS and tracking, right?

6. Young people will get around on hoverboards. Older folks who can't have parts replacements will have hover wheelchairs.

7. Democracy in all nations will have been dead for 50 years, replaced with oligarchies run by the current shadow governments of corporations and the Illuminati. A cyborg will be president of the United Nations. The North Eastern and North Western United States, because of ancient nuclear capabilities, will be the most militarized and feared countries in the world. The Southern United States (the country will have split into three different areas in 100 years) will be a third-world, poor, and ravaged desolate area (it's not far from that now). Texas will belong to Mexico.

8. We'll communicate with telepathy, and our thoughts will not be our own. I suppose we will lease those, too. This trend will cause a whole subsection of humanity to flee cities and communities, and settle in remote and isolated areas, preferably separated off by tinfoil and aluminum fences so that the brain waves will not travel and be picked up by those dreadful machines. These people will be considered "subhuman" by others (but they will really be the only remaining humans).

9. The world will have one monetary currency.

10. We will only speak three languages: English, Spanish, and Mandarin (or some form of Chinese).

11. Colonies of wealthy people will have relocated to the moon. To make it easy to get the servants they need, we'll have space tubes that people can hop into and travel up there for work. They will speak in whatever language they want, I suppose.

12. More than 3/4 of the species that exist now will be extinct. We will not have frogs, bears, most birds, many insects, and other critters that make life interesting. Whole generations will think the only animals alive are dogs, cats, and cyborg humans.

13. War will be a constant and take place in every part of the globe, mostly over water and other natural resources.

My predictions are rather dire, I fear, but I don't really see much good coming out of humanity these days.


My other thoughts for 2015 regard you, dear reader. I hope that you have good health, prosperity, and joy in the days to come. May you be blessed (and let's not worry about 100 years from now. Most of us won't be here to see it, anyway).


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 376th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Emails Not Sent and FB Messages Not Posted

This is an email I started to send to my least favorite local hospital (biggest employer, located in downtown, you know the one):

Hello Nurse ____,

Thank you for follow-up email to my visit today to see about my ankle pain. It is very kind of you to write.

My take-away from my visit with Dr. _______ was that I have flat feet, I can try a change in orthotics and hope that stops the bones in my ankle rubbing together, and if that doesn't work, well, too bad. I was not given any options if that doesn't help. If I need to have custom orthotics, it would have been nice to have had some information about that. For example, does that require a prescription?

After my appointment I went to the shoe store as instructed and spent $200 on new shoes and orthotics, which may or may not help. In the meantime, I guess I am to tolerate the pain and keep limping along as I have for the last six months because I'm a 51-year-old overweight woman and therefore completely unimportant.

Dr. ____ probably did not spend 10 minutes with me, and he certainly did not seem to comprehend or understand that I am in a great deal of pain not only from my foot but that I also have other health care issues that affect my foot issue. I realize whole body medicine is a thing of the past, but honestly I am not just a body part. I'm a whole person.

I also realize it is not your fault that [hospital] cares so little for its patients. I was giving [hospital] a second chance but will not give it a third. Thus, I will not be back to see Dr. ______. I will try another doctor not affiliated with [hospital] if I decide to pursue this.

Happy new year to you. I hope 2015 is a good year for you, and that it is the year that [hospital] finds a heart. Goodness knows it needs one.

****

And then I started to post this on FB but didn't:

Not that anyone cares, but I still think [hospital] gives awful service and if I have my way, I will never again see another [hospital] doctor. I'm grateful they saved my husband's hand, but in my experience the doctors there treat women poorly and I do not get decent care at any of their facilities. I am treated as if I'm just in the way and certainly not like a human being. Even my husband has noticed that he is treated better than I am, and we both think it is gender-bias. You'd think a company with a female CEO would remember that half the population is not male.

****

This is just me ranting now here on my blog:

The health care in this valley is terrible. I have been lucky to find a good primary care doctor (not affiliated with any hospital, I might note) and a physical therapist (also not affiliated with any hospital or large health care provider), (and both are female), but otherwise health care here is more about popping pills and taking people's money than saving lives. I am so disgusted with the system that I expect I will die young just because I'm ornery enough to tell them all to go to hell and take their damn pills and leave me alone.

Some things do not work well as businesses. Government is not a business. Health care should not be treated as a business, either. They are entities unto themselves that have separate rules and they should not be lumped under the idiotic capitalistic money-hungry asinine society that we have created to keep people as slaves and servants to the monkeys with the money. For God's sake, will somebody realize that money is the problem and put the human equation back into the mix.

Goodbye 2014

Don't let the door hit you in the butt on your way out of here!

 

Hawk

I took these shots on a very gray day, and they did not turn out as well as I might have liked. My Nikon likes a little more light.

Sunrise, December 27, 2014

Sunday Stealing: Thank God This Year is Nearly Over

From Sunday Stealing

The New Year's Eve Meme

In 2014, I gained: more gray hair and wrinkles.

I lost: mobility.

I stopped: dreaming.

I started: getting old.

I was hugely satisfied by: my friends who rallied around me.

And frustrated by: my inability to get better.

I am so embarrassed that I: am not writing more.

Once again, I: spent too much time at the computer.

Once again, I did not: write a book.

The biggest physical difference between me last December and this December is: I am walking with a cane.

The biggest psychological difference between me last December and this December is: I am not feeling very hopeful.

I loved spending time: with my husband and friends.

Why did I spend even two minutes: thinking that certain people might change.

I should have spent more time: taking care of myself.

I regret buying: I can't think of anything.

I will never regret buying... even though with that money I could have ... Can't think of an answer to this, either.

I ate way too much.

I didn’t exercise enough.

Politics drove me crazy.

The most relaxing place I went was into the bowels of a good book. I haven't been away from home except for doctor's visits since 2012.

Why did I go to the trouble of being nice?

The best thing I did for someone else was I took care of my husband when he was injured.

The best thing I did for myself go to physical therapy.

The best thing someone did for me was to take care of me while my husband was injured.

The one thing I’d like to do again, but do it better, - I can't think of anything. I'm mostly just glad this year is nearly over.

Saturday 9: Marshmallow World

Saturday 9: Marshmallow World (1963)
Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here.

1. This song likens fluffy clouds to marshmallows. What does the sky look like where you are today?

A. It is a beautiful pale blue streaked with white clouds and contrails.

 

2. The lyrics refer to snowballs. Have you ever been in a snowball fight?

A. When I was a child.

3. Chionophobia is fear of snow. What phobias do you have?

A. Fear of Sucess

4. In 2004, Canadian school children raised money for charity by setting a new world record: the most snow angels made in 24-hour period. Have you ever participated in a fundraising stunt?

A. Not that I recall, unless working to sell BBQ chicken and baked potatoes can be called a fundraising stunt.

5. When marshmallows were first introduced, they were used for medicinal purposes. Specifically to soothe sore throats. What do you take when your throat is bothering you?

A. I gargle with a mix of vinegar, salt, honey, and tabasco sauce. Really.


6. Marshmallows are an important ingredient in the Rice Krispies Treat recipe. If you were asked to prepare something for a bake sale, what would you make?

A. Fudge.

7. Darlene played Danny Glover's wife in the Lethal Weapon movies. Do you enjoy action movies?

A. Sometimes.

8. Darlene's father advised her to always, "shoot for the stars." Share some good advice you've received.

A. Don't give up.

9. Will you be returning/have you returned any holiday gifts?
A. I will be, yes. I usually wait until the crowd dies down a little.

So This Was Christmas . . . in 2014

I took no photos. Not a single one.

We put up the small artificial tree, not the big one, right after Thanksgiving.

I made 9 pounds of fudge, not 15.

James made the sugar cookies from Pillsbury dough this year, and he made the cookies the size of plates.

On Christmas Eve, we had 15 people visit, starting at 1:15 and lasting until 8:15 p.m. Visitors included my aunt, my friend Diane (who gave me one of my favorite presents this year), my brother and his family, my father and his new family, and my mother-in-law. I served up lots of huge cookies, fudge, potato chips, meat balls, corn dogs, cheese ball, and a veggie tray.

Christmas Day, I rose from the bed at 5:40 a.m. and we had Christmas within 45 minutes or so. My husband gave me jewelry, clothes, and a food laminator (vacuum sealer).

We went to my mother-in-law's house and saw my nephews and sister-in-law. We were back home by noon. It was the first time in 31 years that we'd had Christmas at my mother-in-law's house in the morning instead of the afternoon.

I've already removed the wreaths from the doors, replaced my Santa flag with a snowman one, and taken away some decorations.

This year needs to hurry on out of here.

I am ready for spring.

Thursday Thirteen #375

Merry Christmas! I hope your Christmas Day is proving to be a splendid one.

Here are 13 presents I remember receiving over the last 51 years:

1. A blue bicycle with a Batgirl doll sitting on the seat (I was 5 years old).

2. Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots. I think that was my brother's game, but it takes two to play. He generally got the better toys as far as I was concerned. I wasn't much on dolls. He received the cool things like Legos and Erector sets.

3. An Easy Bake Oven.

4. A pair of cowboy boots (from my future husband; his first Christmas present to me).

5. A string of pearls (last year from my husband).

6. An RCA stereo (from my mother the year she died).

7. A food processor (from my father, 1989).

8. A set of luggage (from my parents, when I was 16).

9. A rocking chair (when I was 11).

10. An electric Epiphone guitar (when I was 14 or so).

11. Nancy Drew books. At one time I wanted to grow up to write Nancy Drew books, or something similar. That's still really all I want to do, I think. Who wants to be burdened with writing The Great American Novel, anyway?

12. A Nikon FG-20 film camera (in 1985). This was my first good camera, and I used it for newspaper photography up until the paper started using digital photos. I still have the camera. It was a great little piece.

13. My house. While not really a Christmas present, we moved in just after Thanksgiving in 1987, so I think it counts as a Christmas present. It was the best gift of all.

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 375th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Christmas Eve, 2014

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!

A big shout-out and a thank-you to my blog readers, who keep me on my toes and help me keep up with my writing and photography. I am very grateful to you for spending time with me.

I hope that Santa is good to all of you tomorrow, and that as things wind down, you find a moment to reflect on your year and determine to change the things that were not to your liking.

Best wishes to you, one and all!

Happy Holidays from Blue Country Magic aka CountryDew aka Anita

Little Christmas Eve

In Norway and Sweden, and probably other countries, this day is known as Little Christmas Eve. I love that! I think it's a super name for the day before Christmas Eve. So I call it that, now, too.

Traditionally, this is the day to put up the tree and decorations. I imagine that comes from a time when the Christmas season didn't start before Halloween. You know, before it became the Capitalist Holiday that it is now.

I learned of this tradition from my friend Inga, who lives in England but whose family origins lie in Norway. Many years ago, when she informed me of the day, I was charmed by the idea of it, though I am not Norwegian or Swedish, as far as I know. I still love it as a lead-in to the Christmas celebrations.

Christmas Eve has always been important to me, perhaps more so than Christmas Day. Christmas Eve is the day of anticipation, when the idea of tomorrow is so great that you might pee your pants in excitement. I know of no other day that brings about such emotional turmoil (of course, then there's a huge let-down after Christmas, but that's another blog post).

Today is also my nephew's 20th birthday.  He's a quiet young man, working through his sophomore year at Roanoke College. I think about how young he is - he grew up with computers and cell phones, and lives in an age of great uncertainty. I am not happy being an old person in our current society, but I am not so sure that being a young one would be much better.

When I was 20, I married and set up housekeeping with my husband. That was 31 years ago, so long I can scarcely remember being that age. I hope he takes advantage of his youth and health. Both are fleeting.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to Trey, and Happy Little Christmas Eve to everyone else.

May all your days be blessed.

The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies

You may not want to read this if you've not see the movie, though I will try not to give away anything. This is mostly my impression of the movie and the series as a whole.

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Yesterday we ventured out to see the final movie in Peter Jackson's vision of Tolien's tale, The Hobbit. The Hobbit is a prequel to Lord of the Rings, and as prequels frequently do, the movies raised a lot of questions, including the main one: if the elves and Gandalf knew 60 years prior to Lord of the Rings that Sauron had returned, why did it take so long for them to do something about it?

That question is not answered in its entirety in the theater release, so don't expect resolution. I have been buying the extended versions of The Hobbit, which includes more film footage and a story line not even included in the theatrical release, so perhaps the query will be better answered there. But I will have to wait until next fall sometime to learn it.

In my opinion, this last movie was the weakest of the six movies, which is a pity. One should not end something so wonderful as this series of movies on the lowest note. I never thought stretching The Hobbit out into three movies was a good idea because there simply wasn't enough material there. I liked Jackson's additions, as far as they went, but he either needed to veer away more from the book or simply have two movies.

Do not think I was disappointed in the movie. I was not. But  As movies go it was better than most, but I would rate it last of the six. I rank the movies (as movies) like this: The Return of the King, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Two Towers, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies. They should be watched in order, though, and taken as a whole.

One of the things that bothered me was the change in CGI and computer effects. They are better in The Hobbit, of course, than they were in Lord of the Rings. The Lord of the Rings was filmed 12 years ago, and the technology has changed. That being said, I would have preferred The Hobbit to have been filmed in the older technology. I think that certain CGI characters should have looked like they did in the older films. The nine ring wraiths, for example, should have looked the same as they did in Lord of the Rings. And the Eye should have looked as it did in the first movies, except perhaps less. If the Eye was at full strength in Lord of the Rings, then it should have been weaker-looking, not stronger-looking, in The Hobbit.

These are, of course, picky little things, things that a geek like myself would notice. I doubt most of the theater-going public pay that much attention. I daresay they don't watch The Lord of the Rings movies two or three times a year, as I do.

The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies was a weak movie because of lack of character development. There was precious little of it, even though the movie moved along very quickly for 2.5 hours. Aside from Thorin and Galadriel, character development was minimal. Blood, at least, was kept to a minimum even though there are a lot of deaths. There wasn't even much plot, to be honest. It was just a big battle, so it was aptly named.

This is not a stand-alone movie. Anyone who sees this movie who has never seen the others will be completely lost. They will wonder what the draw is and why people love the story as a whole.

As with books, I am not much on stories that depend on things that preceded them to make them whole. A story that depends solely upon familiarity with preceding books or movies to move it along seems to me to be poorly told.

I cried at the end of this movie as I bid farewell to these much-loved characters and this series of movies. The Lord of the Rings has touched me in a way nothing else I've watched ever has. Though the books as a whole are irritating to me because of the lack of women in the stories, as allegory and commentary on humanity and society, they are difficult to beat. And Jackson, to his credit, did add some women into the stories to help offset the total maleness of Tolkien's books.

So I bid my farewell to Gandalf and Bilbo, to Frodo and Sam. I kiss the cheeks of Galadriel, Arwen, and Eowyn. I will revisit you on the small screen in my annual forays, and I will see you all in my dreams.

Sunday Stealing: The Christmas Meme

From Sunday Stealing
The Christmas Meme


1. Do you send Christmas cards?

A. Yes. I sent out about 60 cards this year.
 
2. How soon do you start shopping?

A. September.

3. Who do you shop for?

A. Friends and family.
 
4. Do you put up a Christmas tree?

A. Yes.
 
5. If so, is it fake or real?

A. Fake.
 
6. Do you like tinsel?

A. We have it on the tree.
 
7. Do you use homemade or store bought ornaments?

A. Store bought.
 
8. Do you put Christmas lights outside your house?

A. We didn't this year but we have in previous years.
 
9. Do you put lights on the tree?

A. It came with lights.
 
10. How about popcorn and cranberries?

A. No.
 
11. Is there a wreath hanging on your door?

A. Yes.
 
13. Do you hang up your stocking?

A. Yes.
 
14. Does your family read "Twas the night before Christmas?"

A. No, but sometimes I recite just for fun. I know most of it by heart.
 
15. Christmas movie?

A. It's a Wonderful Life
 
16. Character from any Christmas Movie?

A. Scrooge
 
17. Christmas Song?

A. Do You Hear What I Hear?
 
18. Christmas Memory?

A. That time I asked for a BB gun and nearly shot my eye out. No, wait. That's a movie.
 
19. Give or Receive?

A. How about both?
 
22. Ham or Turkey?

A. Either. I don't really care.
 
24. White Lights or Colored Lights?

A. Colored lights.
 
25. Blinking lights or still lights?

A. Blinking.

26. Were you Naughty or Nice this year?

A. I was nice. I'm always nice. I'm so darned nice that nice just falls right off of me in the middle of the parking lot.
 
27. What do you want for Christmas this year?

A. I didn't really ask for anything this year except for a food laminator. That, my dears, is what I call a food vacuum sealer thingy.

28. When do you open your gifts?

A. Christmas morning, for the majority. But some I open early, with friends or family members. My brother and I have a tradition of exchanging presents on Christmas Eve.
 
29. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?

A. Well, it won't be a food laminator, even if I get one. My husband gave me pearls last year and I really liked those.
 
30. What's the worst gift you've ever gotten?

A. Well, it won't be a food laminator, even if I get one, since that is what I've asked for. I don't know that I've ever gotten a bad gift; I am always grateful for whatever anyone cares to give me. Now the worst Christmas bonus I ever received from an employer was a measly $2.00, which I considered a terrible insult at the time. I'd have rather he'd gone out and bought me a box of chocolates, which at that time he could have done for that amount of cash.
 
31. Who gives you the most gifts?

A. My husband.
 
32. Have you ever had a secret Santa?

A. Not in many years.
 
33. Do you like wrapping gifts?

A. I don't anymore. I used to enjoy it.
 
34. Do you put change in those red buckets?

A. Sometimes.

35. Do you burn a yule log?

A. Nope.
 
36. Can you name all the reindeer?

A. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixon, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph, and Olive the Other Reindeer.
 
37. Do you bake cookies?

A. Yes. I also make darned good fudge.
 
38. Have you ever seen your mommy kissing Santa Clause?

A. I'm not going to answer that.
 
39. Have you ever gotten a kiss under the mistletoe?

A. Yes.
 
41. Do you drive around and look at the Christmas lights?

A. Sometimes.
 
42. Have you ever left Santa cookies?

A. I'm sure I did when I was quite young.
 
43. Have you ever sat on Santa's lap?

A. Yes.
 
44. Who do you celebrate Christmas with?

A. My husband, my family, my friends.
 
45. Where do you celebrate Christmas?

A. My house, my in-laws house, my father's house, sometimes. In restaurants with friends. You celebrate Christmas wherever you are when you're with people you love.
 
46. Have you ever had a white Christmas?

A. Yes.
 
47. What part of Christmas do you look most forward to?

A. The end of it, at least, this year. I'm feeling a little less happy this year than I have in previous ones.
 
48. Have you ever had your picture taken with Santa?

Yes, I have.

Me with Santa in 2012. (That's my
father in the red suit. Really.)