A new year, a new Blogger, though I hope the content remains untouched. I just tried to change the template and was unpleasantly surprised to find that all my sidebar links disappeared. It took a bit of fancy and panicked footwork to undo the change.
Like last year, we had a very quiet New Year's. A Dr. Who marathon to keep ourselves awake until midnight, a little champagne, a few bites of caviar, and asleep by about 12:07. In our defense, we were still on East Coast time*.
We spent eight days over Christmas with my parents and my youngest sister in Virginia, which was very nice. Time is slipping by at a really alarming rate** and as near as any of us could figure it's been three years since I'd seen my folks. So that was really excellent, despite a four-hour delay in getting there.*** I actually got packages sent off in a timely fashion, and found good gifts for everyone (no complaints so far, at least). The weather in VA was extraordinarily warm, and we trooped around several old favourites (Williamsburg, Jamestown), saw some new stuff (Yorktown, Fort Monroe), ate a lot, knitted,**** played with our Christmas presents,***** visited my grandmother, and generally had a great time. And the flight(s) back were actually early, and quite smooth. Except for the coda of motion-sick children vomiting in the gutter outside the terminal at San Jose airport while we were waiting for our ride home, the return trip was close to perfect. We were relieved, since we connected in Newark which had had trouble before Christmas.
Speaking of knitting (haw! Didn't think you were going to get away, did you?) I managed to get no pictures of any of the things on which I was frantically working before Christmas. The list: a vest, two afghans, a teacosy, a doily, and a Dr. Who scarf. I actually had to finish the vest (for me Mum, and a measure of how much I love her since stranded knitting in cotton is the Devil's work) on Christmas Eve day, since there were about a brazillion ends to weave in. Finishing it in front of the recipient actually worked out well, because she was able to choose the buttons (I couldn't decide and brought both options for her to consider).
I'd never heard of some of these New Year's superstitions, but I'm pleased to say that we're right on board with the whole "don't do dishes" one. Also, the "make a lot of noise" one is ably handled by the neighbourhood as we discovered when fireworks started going off from surrounding lawns. However, we failed with the "first footer" - we left the house before anyone else entered, much less a tall darkhaired man carrying half a dry-goods store - and our pantry isn't well stocked since we just got back from a longish trip and most shops were closed. Oh well.
Note to self: a good New Year's resolution, even though you don't normally make them, would be to start and finish some of the seventeen-odd knitting projects that you've got on deck, maybe starting with that sweater that R:tAG has been so patiently waiting for and that you haven't started since it's miles and miles of boring old dark gray brioche rib that just can't compare with all the lace goodies that make you drool.
Another note to self: Travelling with R:tAG after he's had a large serving of Ben&Jerry's "Coffee Coffee BuzzBuzzBuzz" is like travelling with a Yorkie on crystal meth. Avoid it.
* And in addition to the offical three hour time difference, there is the fact that my parents are early-to-bed type people (which we are decidedly not). The result was that our natural sleep cycles were almost completely reversed. It was effectively like travelling to England.
** We've been in California for almost two years! How is that possible?
*** Not because of all the snow in Denver, at least not directly. We went via Chicago, which won the Christmas Weather Coin-Toss this year.
**** OK, this was just me.
***** I got a dreidel, that traditional Christmas toy, but I have yet to paint it and until the little letters are on playing with it just leads to arguments. R:tAG and I also got a juicer, though we left that at home. Now that we are back, we are thinking of things to juice. The booklet says it's great for making breakfast, but we find that pancakes don't make hardly any juice and bacon makes way too much (full disclosure: this joke is from Red Meat). We did have Mimosas with fresh squozed juice for New Year's Day brunch though. Yum.
I just got my CA driver's license, having passed both the written and the driving test (without once referring to any instructional material, I might add... I am quietly proud). I am also pleased that they re-took my license photo. The first one was taken after a 2 hour wait at the DMV and without access to a mirror. If I want to know what I'd look like in twenty years after a nasty crack habit and being arrested for disturbing the peace at 3 AM, I now have a reference. Even the DMV lady said "Whoa!" when she saw it. Or maybe it was "Woe!" Either fits.
People wash their cars here a lot. Like, once a week. Perhaps as a consequence, car washes have evolved strangely. You drive your car up to the "vacuum station" and give it to the care of the attendants. Then you while away the wait in the fully appointed gift shop. This one reminded me of Home Again on Broadway. Clothes, hats, shoes, all kinds of candles and scented unguents, tchotchkes, a wall of wine, wine accessories... and the wall of the corridor to the cashier is glass so you can watch your car proceeding through the cleaning process. The cashier's room looks more like a hotel lobby; comfy chairs, coffee and tea. You pay the cashier for the car wash and whatever else you picked up, then stroll out to your shiny-clean car. It's positively decadent.
Upon reflection, car washes like what I'm used to (a la the PetroCan) are probably poorly suited to the climate. They probably had one too many cars roll out with their occupants parboiled and dead.
And the oil in my car is still there after the weekend's driving, and still even a reasonable colour! After my old "Check the gas and fill up the oil" Civic, this is a pleasant surprise indeed. I'm planning on making an exploratory call to the Honda dealership here, to see what's involved in replacing the speedometer plate (though I'm getting pretty good at the km->miles conversion) and maybe even installing air conditioning. Hey, it might be possible. Allow me my dreams.
Labels: life
