Aaaaaand, we're off!
Thanksgiving
I traveled with Mudda, Cheese Bite and 2.0 to Caddo Lake where we graced Gator Lodge once again for three nights over Thanksgiving. Mom delivered up a meal to remember - traditional side dishes with an oven baked pork dish in lieu of a bird. Gator Lodge's proprietress made available a homemade chocolate pie and it was a gorgeous sweet ending to Thanksgiving dinner.
Meanwhile, my sister Hilary was "birthing that baby" in Tyler. Anniston Brielle was born the Friday prior to Thanksgiving and is doing well at home with Mom and family. I have a few photos of her, albeit from the hospital. I have yet to meet her! In the photos, though, I can see that she'll have dark, striking features. Right now I've dubbed her Annie: the pretty little Inuit baby. I'm trying my best to call her Anniston, though. I know that new parents probably grind their teeth when someone assigns a nickname, before the child has even started sleeping through the night. Anniston:
While at the lodge, there was a decent amount of sleep accrued, some game playing, construction of a gingerbread homestead and two unintended doggy dips into the lake. I'm not sure which parties were more astonished and frightened, the human ones or the canine ones. Both of our permadogs returned home smelling of eau du swamp and wore hidden vegetation for several days, but were none worse for wear.
I took the girls exploring one afternoon and, silly Aunt Hedda, assumed that the weather was too cool for snake movement. Ooops. I copped out and told the girls, "Oh, that snake is just confused." Another afternoon Mudda and I took the girls into Jefferson, where we took in a few sights and participated in a nighttime train tour of Christmas lights in the forest.
Here are photos contained in a Google Drive album: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B_O3uoGKcg9qVDRSbXVlOXN4YmM&usp=sharing You should be able to view the photos based on the settings I adjusted for the share. Please report back to the teacher if you do not succeed. Caution: the photos are likely in no logical order, nor are they labeled. I find that can be more adventurous, yes? Read: lazy.
A few things I learned or was reminded of over Thanksgiving:
1) Adolescent or pre-adolescent girls like to take a LOT of photos of themselves. Selfies, you know. There is an 8 minute long (EIGHT) niece-produced video still on my big girl camera of the girls singing, dancing and giving a Thanksgiving speech. I tried downloading it to my phone via my Eye-Fi wifi camera card/mobile app and my phone, in response, laughed (mockingly), coughed and then shut itself down for the night. I'll find the camera cord and get that jewel uploaded in time for graduation parties and wedding receptions.
2) Cheese Bite (niece Grace) cheats at the game of concentration. I fell for the very same "peer under the slotted patio table/ooops, I dropped something" trick she pulled on me at Gator Lodge over spring break - SAME MOVE. Side note: one of us accidentally dropped a card from the game (Sponge Bob version of concentration) and we helplessly watched it flutter to the thick vegetation atop the lake, below the pier surface, through the wooden slats. It was a lost cause, not able to be saved. So, we debated what to do with the matching card to its pair, talking out the scenarios that would face future game players with the set. Considering it was made of paper (cardboard) and small in size, we sent the card to meet its match in the lake.
3) Mudda is an excellent chef! Our pork dish with a beautiful mushroom sauce didn't survive leftovers, though. The glass crock lid accidentally collided with another surface and flecks of glass too small to be safely removed, 100%, remained in the dish. In another conversation of possible consequences, we opted to discard the remainder instead of risk eating glass shards.
4) I really, really, REALLY enjoy Caddo Lake and the Jefferson area.
In an attempt to DIY some Christmas gifts, Wende M. and I threw together a large batch of sugar scrubs (aka: "bath salts," but not the drug sort that makes people turn into zombies). Oh, don't get me wrong, we had a blast doing this and we were 100% successful, but I realized after the fact that the adorable little jars with semi-liquid-y substances in them would a) not pass muster with TSA security and b) were not guaranteed to travel well in checked luggage. I did, however, take with me from this event a recipe (stolen from Wende) for a delicious cocktail created from these simple ingredients:
Christmas
Charley Green and I traveled to historic Philadelphia to spend time with the Forans, Greens and Macalusos. Philadelphia during the holidays is ch-ch-ch-charming. We even worked in shopping on Christmas Eve, but it wasn't stressful or personal harm inducing because we were in the city proper (Center City), minus big box stores, suburban traffic or parking lots, all of which make me want to crawl into a fetal position and hide until March.
Nora Green Macaluso orchestrated a wondrous Christmas Eve meal at the Green household that was worthy of a Norman Rockwell portrait. The aforementioned cocktail was seemingly a hit and I played bartender for a bit. Bond Green even used some of the leftover Limoncello in her own martini of choice after Christmas concluded and she and Koke Green were left with a liberal portion of leftovers.
Christmas Day lunch was enjoyed at The Plough & the Stars, on 2nd St., between Market and Chestnut. This was year two, consecutively, for my experience at The Plough, but I want to say that the Greens and related clans have taken their holiday meals there before, some years back. I adore this place. It's quaint, warm and festive. One small concession to technology and modern day pub additions is a large screen projection, but you can see in one of the photos in the album below that National Lampoons Christmas Vacation was the viewing option that day. Ace! The Foran Grandmother, D., joined for the meal and she is - as we say in Texas and the south, a firecracker. I greatly enjoy visiting with her each year. Her stories of her elder family adventures remind me a lot of similar situations in my own wily family.
I finally gained entry into the mysterious and hopefully haunted basement, score! (sorry, Bond, I have a photo in the album below that contains Al's litter box in the laundry room/haunted basement - but it's a very organized litter box!)
Christmas photos, in no sequential order: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B_O3uoGKcg9qU1pUb3ZnLXp3T00&usp=sharing
Flash back to Texas and I returned to east Texas to spend time with Mudda, the girls and that ever-growing-more-comical nephew of mine, Brady. You know, of Batman under-roos and high heels (think: bridal suite in New Orleans) fame. The girls and Brady used Mudda's driveway as a canvas and drew the sweetest sidewalk chalk hearts and messages there before my arrival. Wow - what a reception! "Please, sir, may I have some more?" Here are just a few photos from that visit, complete with a portable toilet Christmas tree and its Santa (in a port-a-potty) topper: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B_O3uoGKcg9qV1NqOU8xU1RlTk0&usp=sharing I learned on this visit that Sasha, Mudda's talented Siberian Husky, is truly not a bow type of girl dog.
New Years Eve
This is a night that I normally would not even accept payment for venturing out into and Charley Green is of a similar mindset. This year, however, our holiday time off aligned with the opportunity to attend a concert of a favorite band of mine, Old 97s. Gold medal for Charley Green! Old 97s played in downtown Dallas on NYE and we lucked out with public transit rail being readily accessible from our neighborhood. Granted, we had to DRIVE to the rail station, but it's not far from the house and significantly worth it considering the automotive dangers on the roads that time of that particular holiday.
From all of the emails, texts, phone calls and social media shares, I know that many people enjoyed similarly busy (or not) and special holidays. I've been spending quite a bit of non-travel time logging sleep hours, reading and appreciating being a bit removed from routines.
I leave you with a photo of Bentley & Maggie's gifts they received from our neighbor dog, Jaxon:
