The year's over...

... but the postings aren't, not quite yet.  December was very busy, with lots of family and travel.  So I'm behind -- almost exactly a month behind -- on my reporting.  I'll keep the blog alive for a few more days until I can get caught up for everyone on December.

In the meantime, wishing everyone a great new year ...

Rob left today

Rob has been here for a week and we've really enjoyed his being around.  It's been a quiet visit, as Rob arrived with a cold and needed some recuperation time (but he's a really nice guy and didn't leave it with us).  We've been out to choose our Christmas tree, we've played board games, and we had a lovely time as Deanne joined us for a few days.  He left this afternoon (the really unfair photo at the right shows him at the checkin kiosk in Cedar Rapids) and we hope he's having a good flight home as I write.  His freelancing seems to be going well and he's valued by the group he works with.  He is taking home some homemade butter cookies from a family recipe and with instructions to share them with Trista when he gets home.  He leaves a few traces like this toothpase tube that shows he inherited some of his father's cheapness!

First snow of the season

Last night Judy got an extra birthday gift -- the first snow of the season.  It's not a really heavy snow, but it came down slowly without a lot of wind so it sits lightly on every branch in the woods.  It's also a nice gift for our son Rob, who has always visited early in the year when we had lots of snow and he was able to go sledding.  Maybe we'll get in a run or two before he goes home!While the westher is beautiful, and while we really enjoyed seeing our daughter Deanne over the holiday weekend, we're glad she went home early yesterday and we're looking forward to seeing her again soon for Christmas.

Black Friday

Shopping -- is there a more dreaded word in the English language? Especially -- ESPECIALLY -- as in "Holiday Shopping"?  But sometimes one must bite the bullet and take one for the economy, so we went out shopping at 5:15 this morning to get something that had a limited number of items at the store. Even at a technology store the line was long, but we did manage to get what we were looking for.

But sometimes when you go to the store you see something that catches you by surprise. In a store that passes for a "department store" these days, I saw a display of something whose function is not entirely clear. The wag in me would call these "Christmas bedpans" -- after all, what else do they look like? -- but somehow it doesn't feel like that's their intended function. Who knows?

Family Thanksgiving

We have so many things to be thankful for that one day just isn't enough time; every day Judy and I tell each other how fortunate we are.  But for Thanksgiving day, we had even more reasons to be thankful.  Deanne was with us from Chicago, Rob was with us from Sacramento, and Rick was with us ... from across town.  We weren't sure just how many people we'd have for dinner, though, so we had a 22 pound turkey for five people.  But it was a lovely day, from seeing an eagle flying over the house to cooking (Judy), carving (Steve), eating (the Young People), to pie and a movie.  We hope your day was wonderful too.

Changing of the guard

A few weeks ago I wrote about the robins in our trees, but we've had a changing of the guard here.  Yesterday I noticed that I hadn't seen a single robin for a week or so, and today I saw a bald eagle in a tree by the Iowa River where they congregate in the winter.  In fact, we've seen eagles around for a couple of weeks, but they're getting more and more common as they come in for the winter.  Such wonderful birds...

The 2012 elections

I just saw this remarkably jarring image in a post that talked about the "Election Horror Picture Show" -- so (of course) I had to share it with the three of you who read my blog.  Doin' the time warp again...