I say supper too, Lori! Must be a "Springfield" thing!!
All of my kids will be home on Friday. Tomorrow Neil and I are going to my
niece and her husbands for Christmas dinner. It'll be a nice "adult" time...before all the kids arrive. I just went to church for Midnight mass (which is actually 8:00...in the middle of the mass, all the lights went off...luckily, they had lots of candles going. It was really pretty...and the lights came on after about 10 minutes.
It is raining here now...making the piles of snow go down. I am sure it won't all disappear and that Santa will find his way, he'll have to pretend that its snow!
May you all have a joyous Holiday, filled with love and joy!
Happy Thoughts.............

It's nice to see someone else says "supper" besides me. My kids laugh at me cuz no one in L.A. seems to say supper; they all say "dinner." Anyway, Merry Christmas to all of you! Enjoy the holiday and your families!

It's Christmas Eve. Dave, Jack and I just finished supper and tracking Santa via Norad. He's in France. I'm waiting impatiently for the boys to arrive. For me, Christmas will start then.

God bless all of you wherever he finds you this evening.
- Pat

Thanks, Karen! I like the feeling of holidays and vacation, but I can't say I'm caught up in the holiday spirit. We've been lighting the Hannukah candles and eating "soofganiot" (the Hannukah donuts), but that's about all--but that's okay, I'm just taking it easy, not complaining....

karen, the words to the kenny loggins Christmas song you posted and the idea of knowing the spirit of the holiday reminds me of a fav poem of mine that was written by emily dickinson.

hope is the thing with feathers
that perches in the soul,
and sings the tune without the words,
and never stops at all,

and sweetest in the gale is heard;
and sore must be the storm
that could abash the little bird
that kept so many warm.

i ’ve heard it in the chillest land,
and on the strangest sea;
yet, never, in extremity,
it asked a crumb of me.

Yes, we have at least 15 inches of snow plus the winds are brutal. Windchills are way below zero...I went and got the mail, enough of being outside!
I spent the day with 3 of my teacher friends doing lunch and our little Christmas.
It was fun...instead of us cooking, we ordered Chinese...from the little trailer on Clinton Street. Pretty tasty and easy! Plus we ate at my house, so even better!
Stay warm...happy thoughts!

We are enjoying 15 inches of fresh snow. If the wind would die down this would be much less of a big deal.

Yes, yes, yes, it is snowing. We have had a foot of snow since Friday and it is snowing heavily now. Personally, the White Christmas thing is getting to be very overrated! I am tired of shoveling already....luckily, Neil is home today, so its his turn with that fun tool. We have had 2 snow days...1 late start and 1 early release...we are now on vacation until Jan. 2, when they scheduled a inservice day.
How crazy...a Friday...heat up a school for one day then a weekend...after vacation.
What were they thinking?
Drive carefully...I am hibernating today!

The concept of a white Christmas is no longer up for discussion, we are about to get smacked with a foot or more of snow and it has just started. Yikes! Guess we better hit the grocery store today.

watch out Kathi, if I'm getting it then I think you either already did or you will, right? How many snow days have you already had?

Karen when your family be home?

2 days 19 hours to go..................

3 days and 8 hours according to Norad; Santa is gearing up

Kathi try it again. She has reposted the opportunity because so many people missed it first time around and wrote in. It's under Oprah's gift to you (left side of screen about 1/4 of the way down)

I just checked the site and it seems to be available. It's good music! No versions of Grandma got run over by a Reindeer.

We sang those songs all week in Kindergarten...not quite like the mall...but I know what you mean, Lori! Talking about music, I guess I missed the Oprah music deadline because I couldn't get the songs to download...but thanks for mentioning it Pat!
Still snowing here.............

Avi's sister couldn't stop humming "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" when we were at their house the other day. When you go to the mall, you hear that song over and over, and it gets stuck in your head. I do love those Christmas songs, though.

Did you get your free download of Christmas music from Oprah? It's good stuff

Forecast for today: SNOW....SNOW.....SNOW until 3 am tomorrow morning....how much? We will wait and see. Another storm coming on Sunday with even more snow then todays...so stay tuned for the snow bulletin! Let's see if we end up with a early release!

Pretty scary about the broken gondola tower. You're lucky you missed that experience. It's been really cold here, too, and we can see the snow on the mountains in the distance, so I can pretend I'm in Vermont.

It's snowing here but starting to lighten up a bit just now. We have 4-5 inches of fresh on the ground. It's pretty in the trees out back. The delivery guys had to shovel a little to bring in my living room furniture . We ordered it a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving and it arrived today. Now we having more than one chair each to sit down.

We spent an overnight in Portsmouth early this week. Stayed at the Wentworth Inn. It was beautiful. We had a fabulous view of the ocean and the grounds. I spent the morning at their spa. Very very nice. I fell sound asleep during a facial. Yummy.

We visited with Kevin and Colin both nights, on the way down and back. They'll be home for Christmas next week and then we probably won't lay eyes on them for months. Colin has a new job cooking at a pub a couple of blocks from home so he walks. Kev is still doing his massage therapy classes and will finish up in early April.

We're going to the Bangor Auditorium tomorrow to enjoy A Leahy Celtic Christmas. We're looking forward to some holiday entertainment. It should be a good show. Like a Christmasy River Dance.

hi kathi, you are right. in the last three days i found snow all the way from whistler to vancouver to seattle to madison to champagne illinois and then all the way here to burlington and it keeps on coming. i can't tell you how many SUVs i saw doing dog tricks like- roll over and play dead. seeing SUV wheels raised in worship to the skies is a different look. i was fortunate to arrive here without more than a couple hour delay and i had no car issues across about 1000 miles of driving in the snow. my checked bag was not so lucky. i hope it will show up later this morning. i was also fortunate to be safely away from whistler. yesterday, a gondola tower broke on a gondola that i rode on four times- just two days before. i saw pictures with gondola cars hung like over ripe fruit. the good news is that it is not their new peak2peak gondola. on that one it is the highest you can be suspended from a cable in north america (i am pretty sure). so now i have to regroup and head back to the office. dum, dee, dum, dum

SNOW DAY....SNOW DAY.....SNOW DAY.....We are suppose to get 3-6 inches of white snow today...school is cancelled...I have mixed up bread and that is rising..got lots to do....and I suppose I'll have to shovel too...Another storm coming on Friday..bigger then this one...so....when to do shopping????? I have to make my granddaughter a birthday card...so that will be my first priority this morning (her birthday is Saturday and she will be 4)...
Richard you will find lots of snow when you get home!

well it was pretty cold on the mountains today at whistler and blackcomb. it was -20 C and with wind too. the snow was thin and terrain was limited. in spite of it all (including 20 minutes on a chairlift that stopped), it has been really fun. i found powder on some off piste trails and along the edges of the open trails. there are friendly people here and a real party spirit. i haven't been around the whole apres ski thing for a while. people from all of the former english colonies seem to have come here for the weekend. i guess we, in vermont, were an english colony too. wow, i guess i was with kindred spirits and the party following rebellion and liberation continues here. i think i will go back to the bar and buy a round for my new found mates and we will raise a glass to our liberation from victorian oppression, tea, and scones. i hit the road early in the morning and will drive five hours to seattle. then i start my three day journey home. it has been a long time out on the road, but it has had some very good moments. the high desert in new mexico was special. i see why georgia o'keefe dug it there. be good, have fun.

My God Richard, that all sounds exhausting. I like to travel but not like that for sure. How do you stand it.

We are iced in here also. The trees are beautiful but there are many branches down. Power outages like in VT but it's slushy on the roads as the temp. is rising it's "just" raining now. I think I won't go out though I have a water exercise class at 11:30. I have a little wrapping I could do like you Kathi and there's always the ongoing UNPACKING. Dave keeps reminding me that we haven't been moved as long I think and it's OK that we aren't able to find anything. It's driving me crazy.

You are lucky to be away from the Snow and ICE, ICE, ICE. Everywhere is closed today because of the weather. Trees down...luckily we have power here. It took Neil a hour and 20 minutes to drive to Brattleboro...now he is driving in MA where it is mostly raining.
So what to do on a snow day...hummmm....baking, wrap presents....I think it will be a good day!
Travel safely Richard....be careful snowboarding....got to watch out for those "old" Vermont bones.

hi. i am on a bit of a walkabout. over the last couple of weeks i have been in huntington beach, tempe, oakland, san jose, albuquerque, santa fe, portland, seattle, vancouver, and victoria. the funny thing is that my flight from santa fe to portland also stopped in san diego and reno. hey, that is nuts. the outcomes have been good. the prospects of remaining employed are always a concern and i am doing some high stepping these days to be walkin' fo' da' cake. saturday will be cool running at whistler. i will be snowboarding and the jamaican bobsled team will also be arriving in whistler this weekend for training in preparation for the next winter olympic games. sunday, i am off to chicago, madison, champagne, and home for a day. then i go to providence, boston and i am back to burlington for the holidays. i find it all a little odd that a person would travel as much as i am traveling. when is someone going to figure out that "beam me up, scottie" thing?

Yes, I think it is an especially friendly place! And I'm glad we're all still in touch.

Well Lori, I may not have been one of those guys, but I still liked you. Spfld. was one of those rare and wonderful towns where you can move away, (end of grade 5 and move back0; start of grade 6 and find your friends are still your friends. And here we all still are all these many years later. We're a lucky group!

Yes, those East School years were good, weren't they? I think 5th and 6th grade were 2 of my best years. I liked a lot of boys, not just Brian. There was also Chris Daniels, Ricky Vogel, and Dickie (not Richard!) Loveless. I was so mad that my family moved away after 6th grade. The next 2 years were downhill for me. Things only got better when we returned to Springfield in 9th grade, but by then everything had changed and none of those guys liked me anymore!

Patti, that's good you found someone from P.I. living nearby. I think it gets a little harder to make close friends when we get older, but I'm still in touch with friends from all different periods in my life--high school, college, Israel, and the ones in L.A. of course. Karen and Richard (and Brian) go back to grade school years. Wow, that's a long time! One of my best friends here in L.A. is 87. I can talk to her about everything. She's like a mentor to me.

Oh my goodness kathi,what a memory you just evoked! Way back in high school those young ladies who were involved in Jr Miss went to the Hartness House one afternoon to be interviewed by the judges and that was a question that everyone was asked! Something about how many best friends do you have and the importance of it being the count of one hand's fingers. Oh my goodness. I'm amazed your remarked brought that back to me. Of course my fondest memory of that day is that I had a head on collision with Mike Graham on one of the corners going up the hill to the Inn on my way to the interview!

My friend Barb and I did all the cooking...the whole idea was to make it a nonstress night for everyone at school...with all the construction, etc...we never see each other to talk. So, it was a nice time for them. I had fun, too....
I think sometimes all we have in common with others are our life circumstances...like school and friends with kids parents...work..friends with those we work with...high school friends...we don't always get to stay friends w ith all of them! I always feel your "real" friends stay friends no matter what. You are suppose to count on one hand the number of "real" friends you have..

wow that's a long time Karen, Congratulations to them!

Kathi, I can't believe you cooked so much for your party that's amazing. Did people bring something also?

I went to lunch today with an old friend from back in P.I. We were friends through our sons way back when they were in school in town. Over time as our kids separated so did we. Why do we do that I wonder. Is our children the only thing we have in common with people? Some probably and in others much more I'm sure. Excuse me i'm just have a little conversation here with myself. So anyway, I found out she and her family were living in a neighboring town, called her up and we hopefully will be grown up friends without our kids.

I'm making gluten free lasagne tonight. yum.................

Congratulations to your parents Karen! How wonderful...Whatever they have done, has worked!!! I agree with you...may we all be so lucky!
It is so cold here today...high was 14 or so...guess its really winter!

Wish we were all closer then we could do fun things like that for each other!!
Karen could decorate for us....I could help cook....and Lori, you could write poems about how nice your friends are!!! haha

Kathi, can you come cook for me?

The staff get together at my house went great! Everyone had a great time, eating and visiting....My friend Barb and I made all the food, so all everyone had to do was come. So with lots of good food (of course...we had: shrimp cocktail, meatballs, veggies, dips, spinach/ricotta puff pastries, ambrosia, spinach salad, marinated chicken, ham, potato salad...and probably more that I forgot..cookie trays for desserts. The next day, I get a note of thanks from the teachers and was taken out to lunch (didn't have to do lunch duty) by our principal and secretary. I was surprised but managed to make the most of it!!!
Just put my Christmas tree up (after going to cut one down)...I'll let it rest before decorating! Now to do shopping......

Boy trying to log into accounts and change my profile are a pain. If I don't remember part of a log in they can't sent it to me because I know longer receive mail at the address they have on hand. I was just placing an order from St. Jude's and had to completely re register. But I got it done.

I had an international evening with the folks at Time Warner and Dell yesterday. First fellow was in Pakistan. Interesting enough I guess but then I hd sever hours with mohamed in India. His is originally from Dubai and has been here in the us on two occasions meeting with friends. CA at Electronic Arts is where his friends are. So he and I were working on my laptop. I no longer have wire connectivity. no IP address. So I even took my Dell apart and remvoed the card for wireless but it help. My new warranty took 24 hours to kick in so I was supposedly going to speak with Mohammed again tonight about what they be doing for me next. The times are way off and i'm heading to bed but they are just up and at em over in Bangalore. I have taken a sleeping pill so I'm not likely to be very responsive to the call. Oh dear.......
We did speak about the situation in Mumbai. Bangalore is quite a ways away but Mohamed had many serious things to say about it. He felt there could have been nothing to be gained in such a terrible act. Many public official are in trouble and are quitting over their grave error.
I'm falling asleep by now.
karen V if you're reading thanks for the heads up on the Hallmark card virus. I receive 6 of them. They were all over the school email program. No word on if anyone opened them,.

Kathi, your grandchildren are so cute!

Karen, I'm also trying to fight the results of overeating the whole Thanksgiving weekend! The pounds stick like glue at our age. It's so annoying.

Now Avi's brother and his wife are going through a serious crisis in their marriage. Seems like they shoved a lot of stuff under the rug and just kept smiling, and now it's all blowing up in their faces. It doesn't look too hopeful right now. I think that if both sides want the relationship to work out, it will, but that doesn't seem clear in this case. They haven't been able to have kids, and that has put a lot of stress on their marriage. Life isn't easy.....

There was about 2 inches of snow....so only a 2 hour delay this morning for school.
It is actually quite nice starting at 11....and ending at 3:10...Made the day go by really fast!

SNOWING here....suppose to turn to rain later on....maybe a late start to school tomorrow!!! Fighting a cold which is very annoying because I dont' have time for that....we are having a staff get together here on Thursday night and I have too much to do...just don't feel like doing it now...maybe later.

My oldest granddaughter cried from here to Northampton because she didn't want to go home...how sad is that!

Today I'm just resting and taking it easy. We had all of Avi's family here on Thursday. I thought we'd be 23 people (with a few friends), but we were "only" 20. My sisters-in-law help a lot, though, so it really wasn't that bad. But then we had a replay on Friday--not with the whole group, but about 12 of us--cuz it was my mother-in-law's birthday. At least we got rid of some of the left-overs. I've never gone shopping on black Friday, and now after hearing the news about that guy in Walmart that got crushed to death from the crowds, there's no chance I'll ever go. What an awful way to die.

It's quiet here now as the boys have just headed back to Portland and Taylor is in her room talking on the phone with a friend. Usef Islam is on the stereo, Jack is napping in a chair and Dave is researching cameras. I was knitting but I got distracted and here I am! We sent some food home with the guys and hopefully the desert thing is about over. Overload!!!!

Taylor and I went to a knitting specialty store today for their big sale but we all avoided the whole black friday experience. Tonight will be quiet I imagine. left overs for supper and a movie from Netflix. I think we'll watch Hairspray. (the new one)

Happy days .................

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!
We just got back from my brother-in-laws house in MA. He made an amazing meal...and of course, many many desserts...I don't need to eat for a week. Neil was excited with a big screen tv and surround sound...It was like sitting in a movie theatre..anyways, I have decided that 2 l/2 hours in the car with tired cranky kids is really not that exciting!
I think that people are decorating now because Thanksgiving is so late this year.

I too like to take my holidays one at a time. I will do some Christmas decorating as weather allows after this weekend. I like to start with winter things like snow men and hold off on Santa till we're closer to the actual holiday. It'll be interesting to see what my new neighborhood looks like.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone wherever you are, whatever you choose to do. - Pat

Karen, I heard from Kellan. He very nicely gave me permission to use his art work. It's a very cool, wintry piece.

We have friends from P.I. stopping by tomorrow afternoon for a visit. Our first official visitors! then tomorrow evening in dribs and drabs we will have 4 more family members come for a few days. I'll be pooped by the time Friday night comes but it'll be the good kind.

My son Rafi said it sounds like college dorms for old people! That pretty much captures it.

Here in ME the Assisted Living Facilities are primarily not nursing homes and not afiliated with a hospital. The one you describe is very much like where both of our mother's lived for a while. Lovely private little apartments with optional dining areas that look much like a gracious dining room in a hotel somewhere. Many local entertainers and functions are held for the edification of the clientele. Many are still driving heaven help us and have garages and storage facilities. They're pretty nice. For me the biggest downer was not having your own "front door". Though the place my grandmother lived in for years in Milton, did have "front door"s to all the apartments. Very nice.

Yesterday our poetry group met in the Assisted Living Home where one of the women now lives. I couldn't believe how nice it was--a cozy, warm, nicely furnished house. She had her own room with a little garden outside. I said I'm moving there when I get to that age! It's so different from the nursing homes I've seen, which always seem kind of shabby, depressing, and stinky. They arranged a room for us to have our meeting in. We had a huge table loaded with refreshments. Some of the group met a little earlier so they could have lunch there, but I passed on that cuz I was imagining nursing home food like tasteless chicken, boiled potatoes, and jello......

Karen, I just checked out your son's site, too. He has an amazing imagination. I showed Avi the site (cuz he does graphic arts on shirts), and he liked the drawings, too.

Don't worry, Patti, I'm not sitting here grading you all on your spelling!

BRRRRRRRRRR..........
High in Springfield today was 20 with a cold wind blowing. I went out shopping to find my grandchildren snowsuits and boots so they will be able to enjoy the lovely winter weather in Vermont and Connecticut. I am snuggled under my fleecy blanket watching Food Network Thanksgiving cooking....such excitement!

I tried looking for an e-mail address on the site and didn't see it but that doesn't mean it isn't there. I'll send my e-mail adress to you through outlook. Thanks - Pat

Wow Karen i like Kellan's work very much. I was trying to find an email address so I could ask his permission to use his work as desktop graphic on my comp. I particularly like the Land of Frost. It seems quite apro po for right now. (think I spelled that wrong) Hope Lori doesn't notice, she always told me I was so good at spelling. .................

karen, kellan's work is so good and he has done lots of good work. he got it from somewhere- patience and grit.

Well, you learn something every day. I never heard that expression, but maybe I just don't listen to the radio enough. When I'm in the car, I usually just listen to one of my CD's--unless I'm in the mood for silence, which I am a lot of the time!

The sad part of these fires is that we are only hearing about the "stars" homes that are effected by them...Rob Lowe talking on Oprah...Christoper Lloyd...all that destruction is sad for all. Air quality, beautiful wildlife and land compromised in part by human error. Human lives fighting these huge fires is scary too...

Gas prices here are below $2...first time in forever. Sad for the people who booked their oil prices in at $4.89 a gallon and are stuck in those contracts. Someone is going to be making money somewhere! And its not the general public.

It is 17 degrees here this morning...very cold yesterday with the winds. HOpefully, those winds won't be blowing for recess today! Found my thermals!!
Have a good day everybody. Happy Thoughts...............

What is a CarBQ? Burning cars? They said one of the fires was caused by a bonfire. Our cars were covered with white ash.

Thanks for all the good thoughts about my surfer score friends! Doing it was actually very enervating.

So the party was this a.m. A rousing success! We had 8 ladies arrive. Several who had moved here in the last year and had not met one another. A couple who said they used to do this sort of thing but for some reason stopped. I imagine it's because so many of their neighbors left. Just a thought. There were moms with children who were a common age and did'nt know it. So we did a good thing on several levels.

pat, great surfer score. i think that having the party puts that one (never turn your back on the ocean) pretty high up there for a score, but you get to pick. it is a good time to take the surfer rules test after you have done a ton of personal work and change. it often shows that things are quite good even though you probably feel like you just got hit by a beer truck :-)

karen, i am glad that i do not have to do a daily drive in traffic. good luck getting to court. i also like how the price of gas is causing some people to slow down a little (me too).

Lori, do they report CarBQs in LA on the morning commuter radio stations? They do in Connecticut. Brave Kathi survived rain and CarBQs. By the way, I can tell you about a wild place to get a burger in San Diego if you ever head south. I also can tell you why the seahorse tatoo on the waitress's arm is upside down. It has to do with what she is doing when the seahorse is right side up. The tail is wrapped around a chicken cuz she likes 'em. She says you can imagine it to be whatever bird you like. I didn't really get that part. It looks like a chicken. What are you guys smoking in SoCal?

I'm glad to hear from you Lori, we all are. Too bad about the BBQ. ick.........

Driving in the pouring rain is definitely an accomplishment. At least you had something to look forward to at the end of the drive, Kathi.

Yes, Karen, we can smell the fires here. Smells like a barbecue (from animals getting burnt?). It's not right where we are, but it looks smoky at the horizon. They tell us to stay inside and keep the windows closed--and use the air conditioner.

Patti, you deserve a 10 for going through the surfers rules in public!